Thing 23

We certainly have covered a lot of material over the last several months. One thing I learned is that I needed to keep better track of my usernames and passwords. I rarely use g-mail, so I created accounts based on whether I thought I would use the sites personally or professionally ... now I have to consult my "cheat sheet" every time I want to log in!

Watching the video from Thing 1 again was interesting. I did wonder initially about how different the web could be. I always viewed the internet as a useful tool especially for research and just recreational "surfing" and reading articles. I was (and still basically am) a passive user, but I am trying to change and embrace Web 2.0 and this collaborative way of thinking.  That was an important theme in the video- that technology is changing. "The web is different . We are different"  It just takes some of us a bit longer to make those changes. It is difficult at times because searching, learning, and really using these technologies does take time, and sometimes there just isn't enough time. There have been  several lessons  that I know some of this technology would work beautifully, but with the pace of the curriculum and personal demands (and the need for some recreational time) I do find it hard to incorporate because of the time it takes. I will keep trying though!

For better or worse, our students are born and raised in this Web 2.0 world and this is the way that they seem to be most engaged... through collaborative digital methods. Not everything  in the curriculum  can be replaced with digital education, but it can certainly enhance some units. It is frustrating that the  majority of students (and many adults)  are so dependent on their devices and so willing to share every little detail about their lives or any personal creation, However, the trend is sharing and collaboration and it is true that students are more likely to create a better product if they know it will be shared "publicly" and not just read by the teacher.  Maybe this will improve student performance if they get more excited about the final product being shared.

In terms of classroom use, I plan to continue using a wiki for specific projects. If Edline does have a wiki feature in the future, it is something I will explore.  I am using Dropbox  more frequently, and plan to upload most of my school files to Dropbox this summer (I ran out of time earlier!) Delicious his useful for coordinating bookmarks both for school and personal purposes. If I can familiarize myself more with Prezi, I think students would like that as a way to present. I hope to incorporate the Science Friday "vodcasts" as warm-ups next year.  I would also like to brush up on my French (for no particular reason- just for fun) and the podcasts on iTunes will be helpful.

Learning about new web 2.0 tools will come from Mashable, consulting  my sons and students, and through staff development  like 23 Things. I enjoyed learning about all that is available, and although I will not use all of it, I will definitely use some. Thank you for your help and encouragement! 

Thing 22

I did try the link to the google site and tried to edit it the other night, but it did not have the option to edit. I did read through the teacher, student, and parent suggestions and there were quite a few that I will keep in mind. I was not as persistent as Jim, however, in trying to edit and add to the list and I gave up.  I have been on other wikis before that members of my team have created and I have edited them, so I am familiar with the process.

Below is a link to a wiki I started for a project done this year with students. I just sent emails inviting you in case to you want to look at some of the links to additional pages. We did a team project called IF Activist and divided students on the team into groups, assigned a topic, and had them choose sides. Our topic, as you can see by the wiki, has to do with a mandatory DNA database for all residents of our new country, Independent Fairfield. The project is based on a unit started by Paul Schluntz and Tom Everett "back in the day", but it has been updated and recently under Tim Ley's guidance, we have used pbworks wikis. 

http://dnadatabase2011.pbworks.com/w/page/36998733/Mandatory-DNA-Database

I initially set up the page and divided students into the Watsons and Cricks. Links to note taking sheets and helpful documents were provided, as well as a few guiding research questions and websites. I also gave each student a link to his or her own page to post information. From there, students ran with it. I took a gamble and gave them all editor privileges, and they were actually quite good about doing the right thing. Most of the students enjoyed using the wiki. It allowed them to collaborate, and check the progress of their teammates. There were student moderators who were also in charge of touching base with all team members. These very responsible moderators also posted their own links and kept a team work cited for the project. I enjoyed having the wiki for the project as well, once it was set up.

At the beginning, students in my group were invited to the wiki and given passwords, so only they could work on it. It was not available to the general public. I could received e-mails about updates, and I could check page history if there were any problems. There was a bit of friendly banter between student moderators after the fact- when they accompanied our team to the Tech Expo this spring.

It seems to me that a blog would be more for comments and editorials, and the information is shown in chronological order, with the latest entries visible and older posts are not. It seems more like the online journal of one person, with comments by others possible. A wiki appears to be better suited to class projects from what I have seen. It is like a website that "belongs" to many with editing rights.

Thing 21

It seems to me that wikis may be used almost like a class website or for a specific project that involves student collaboration. The example given in the video on how wikis work made it seem at first that it was similar to using google docs for collaboration, but it is much more than that. I have seen that wikis can be wonderful collaborative tools and kids seem to enjoy using them.

After glancing at the wikis listed, I viewed many examples of collaborative wikis. One that impressed me was Mr. Wildeboer's Integrated Science wiki from Fitch High School in Groton, CT. The original wiki listed is no longer actively used, but there was a link to his new wiki (or maybe a website). http://www.mrwfitch.com/

The site is attractive, well organized, and seems relatively easy to navigate. I like the tabs he has at the top of the page for parents, grading, social media, etc. along with links to his classes to the left. There are links to many documents,  his Twitter feed, and to YouTube, where he has Mr. W Fitch Science Channel. It is pretty impressive to me.

Hurdles that stand in the way of doing something like that- time and lack of skill. It looks like it takes a lot of time and know-how to set up and then maintenance would be difficult. I have enough trouble keeping my edline pages up to date! There seems to be so much more to do from the standpoint of the classroom teacher, and less time to get it done. I actually looked into creating a class wiki last summer on pbworks (several of my team members have their own sites) but when reminded of edline coming our way, I decided to put it off. I am not sure there is a need for both now that edline is being used in the district. I do see wikis being valuable for certain collaborative projects. I have used them a few times , and I hope the one I created this spring on pbworks can be used for Thing 22.

Thing 20

While doing Thing 19, I actually completed Thing 20. I used all three search tools suggested and found that I liked iTunes to search and manage podcasts the best.

When I first looked at EPN, I thought it looked like an outdated website. I explored some of the features and I liked the background information it provided. I also liked that it had middle and secondary school and student podcasts available. I did not find the site very user-friendly, however.

Podcast alley was a bit more user friendly for me, and there was a wide variety of podcast from which to choose. Using the genre menu was helpful, but I still found it somewhat difficult tonavigate.

iTunes was the easiest to navigate and manage for me. I like the visual aspect of the website, the podcast quick links menu, and the choice of audio or visual podcast types. Another feature I found helpful were the user reviews that accompany each podcast. The reviews were easy to find and helped eliminate a few of the podcasts that looked good, but were weak on content or boring. Having podcasts easily displayed in my podcast library is also a plus for me.

From iTunes, I did subscribe to the three I mentioned in Thing 19: Science Friday vodcast, Science Times, and How Stuff Works: Stuff to Blow Your Mind. I still need more time to sort through all of them!

Thing 19

There were so many podcasts from which to choose- I do not know where to start. I looked through so many on iTunes and educational sites. There were podcasts on French lessons that I may listen to this summer just for the heck of it. There were plenty of other languages too News, health, medicine, technology also available as you know.

I tried to focus on the science content and find a few that my students might find interesting. It takes quite a bit of time to filter through them, read reviews, and  choose what might work with eighth graders.

One podcast that I might try to incorporate next year is called Science Friday from NPR.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/science-friday-video-podcast/id220281403

  It is actually a series of  "vodcasts" that are 3-5 minutes in length and they might be good for "warm-ups" that lead to class discussion. There are many other podcasts available, but with lengths of 40-45 minutes, I am not sure our adolescent visual learners could stay tunes that long. Another couple are HowStuffWorks http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/stuff-to-blow-your-mind/id350359306

       The Science Times. http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=120316173
Both have podcasts that runs 20-40 minutes, with a wide variety of subjects. I am still trying to figure out exactly how to use them.... perhaps  as HW assignments when related to the current curriculum, or as enrichment for interested students.

Thing 18

I like the way there have been so many options presented for us to look through and then decide what we might want to use. A looked through Slideshare, Faculte, and Prezi. I had actually looked over Prezi earlier in the course at Skip's suggestion. I think it is interesting and a creative new way for kids to make presentations. I need to become more familiar with it myself before turning it over to the students. Maybe not, though. They will probably pick it up quickly and run with it! To me, it is all over the place with the zooming in and out, but I think the kids would like it because it has more "energy" than a typical PowerPoint presentation.

Speaking of PowerPoint presentations, I found that SlideShare had plenty of presentations to offer and some will be useful in the classroom. I did find a couple to share. We do a quick unit on Electricity and Magnetism (jammed in there between Genetics and Amusement Park Physics) This slide show reviews many of the things we cover ( with a good mix of text and illustrations - a bit long though).

Electricity and Magnetism - Basic Concepts

View more presentations from KANNAN

Earlier in the year, we do a unit on Bridges and study bridge types, design, and the forces acting on them before building toothpick bridges. The next slide show is set to music and just shows some beautiful examples of bridge architecture.

Beautiful Bridges Around the World

View more webinars from Ren's Creations

It is nice to find some presentations already made to share with students, and have them accessible from home if they miss it in class.

Thing 17

There were quite a few "online productivity tools" to explore! There were a few that interested me, and one that I plan to incorporate next year with students.

I signed up for an account on Rememeber the Milk. Perhaps it will help me stay organized and keep track of tasks better. In addition, 30 boxes was interesting and I can see its tremendous potential. I signed up and started entering events. I like the features it offers, like linking to flikr and your area for local weather. Repeating events, coordinating with others...it seems like it will be veey useful one I can fully set it up.

The site I will use professionally is Proprofs.com, to generate flashcards. I explored several of the sets already created and then created a set of 25 flashcards for our recent Genetics unit. The website could also be shared with students and they could make their own flashcard sets. Benefits are that it is a common middle school review method for some quizzes and it would eliminate using note cards. Students will like it better than the traditional method. I see no dangers in this tool. One danger in general would be becoming too dependent on these online tools.

Thing 16

Google docs seems like it is a very useful tool. It seems very much like Dropbox because both are stored on the cloud. I guess the main difference is that google docs is for documents and Dropbox can store anything (music, video, pictures) Do I have that right?

I liked that google docs indicated that you can now upload entire folders, although I have not done it yet. It will also be nice not to have to e-mail things to myself or others and have multiple versions.

In terms of using it to collaborate with colleagues at school, it could be helpful. My grade level colleagues and I share almost every lab and document we create or revise. Now it is done by putting folders on the S drive at school, which works well when we are at school. It does not work if we want to access something from home, which is where google docs would work nicely.

For student work, collaborating on lab reports would be helpful. There are also projects for which students create brochures and combined work cited. They would be able to access their work from any computer and make changes, provide feedback to each other, etc. It can boost productivity because of this, and the fact that they can publish their work for a wider audience. Work can be easily shared with peers and parents.

Thing 15

I have been meaning to set up a Dropbox for months now. I have heard about it, and I had been invited by my sons, but never had the time to do it. Using the link provided by my son gave us each a bit more free storage space on Dropbox. It was very simple to create a Dropbox account with the help of the video. It also inspired me to create an account on the Amazon Cloud to save downloaded music to be accessed from any computer.

Dropbox will hopefully solve the problem of the forgotten flash drive, and having different versions of documents on the flashdrive, and in my documents at school and home. With all of those documents on the cloud, I will have updated versions (or at least the same versions) each time I work on something.

I loaded the application at home and at school and I am in the process of uploading files from school document folder to Dropbox. It is a bit time consuming, however, since I seem to be able to transfer documents and not entire folders at once that I have on the O drive. I'll get there though.

I did create a folder to share with friends... my Lake Compounce folder for our upcoming field trip. I shared it with my 23 Things leaders (I know you have no use for it, but I was testing to see if you got the invitation and could access it) and with my grade level colleagues. Although we share documents on the S drive, this enables them to check it out at home if desired. (theoretically if it worked)

My phone is basic (not smart) and I do not have a tablet, so I will have to pass on the "extra credit".

Thing 14

I spent so much time on Delicious last night, saving and tagging, that I did not have the time to post. It was pretty easy to navigate the Delicious website. The videos are very helpful to watch, pause, follow the directions, and then continue.

I entered several websites that I go to for units done in class. I have a few bookmarked, but often I just google them. Sometimes I forget which ones I have used, so this will be useful as I build my delicious bookmark site. I think this will be helpful to share sites with my grade level and department colleagues. Once the bookmarks are organized, I think it will be even more useful. Now they are just randomly listed. I hope the link works.


http://www.delicious.com/mallozd

With the option to keep some bookmarks private, perhaps this site could be shared with students so they have could use the bookmarked websites for research projects. I am not sure that is how it could be used in the classroom, but with all of the Science sites bookmarked, it might provide a starting point for student research, and perhaps I can add to the collection by discovering other sites that people have bookmarked.

I do like the fact that Delicious is available from any computer. Although I primarily use two computers- one at school and one at home, there are times when I use others. While in a computer lab at school, using my son's laptop, or using a computer while away from home, Delicious makes the websites available from anywhere.

Thing 13

It does appear that the "new way” to bookmark is much better than the current way. I have often found myself at school wishing I had the bookmarks that I saved on my home computer and vice versa. Using Delicious will take care of this, which is a great advantage. The article on tagging was also helpful because it explained how to do it. When I was trying to tag photos on Flickr a while back, I was doing it by trial and error. Tagging with Delicious will also allow me to share bookmarks with others and see what others are using. I guess it replaces sending people links to good bookmarks when you find something. It may take some time setting it up initially, but once organized, it might be very helpful.

I do agree with Jim about the tag cloud. They look like a collage of words to me that might get the attention of some of the kids because it looks different, but I am not sure about their usefulness. Maybe someone can point me in the right direction. I tried to make a tag cloud from a few things... using a URL and trying to import a word document. Each time, it made no sense, so I ended up copying and pasting  the text of our science syllabus/course introduction  to make the tag cloud.  I did notice that it does not keep phrases together either. Critical thinking and problem solving came out as separate words. Perhaps I can display this tag cloud image at open house next year while I go over the syllabus with parents. I am open to other suggestions about their use.

acceleration atmosphere charge circuits circulation circulatory composition continuing critical digestive diseases dissection earth electricity experiment forces frog fronts function genetics immune inheritance laboratory law life-cell magnetism methods momentum motion movement muscular noninfectious nutrition problem reproduction science scientific sheep skeletal skin society solving structure study system technology text thinking third weather

created at TagCrowd.com

Thing 12

Here we go again, and hopefully no frozen computer this time! Thanks for the suggestions, but I could not retrieve it even though I thought there was autosoave as well.

I did create a Twitter account the other night and subscribed to several Science and Health  related sites (tweets... I do not know the right terminology)  I imagine once I get used to Twitter I might try using it next year for a few short assignments. Perhaps I could tweet a science current event or news of a medical breakthrough and have students respond to it. Another possibility would be to have students write a brief summary of an assigned article to read. Without a smart phone, I must limit my reading of tweets to my home computer.

I have a Facebook already that I created last summer. I was always curious about what kids were talking about, but resisted for quite some time. When my oldest son got an internship at Facebook last summer, I decided I needed to be on board so I knew what he was doing and could talk about projects he was working on. It was also nice to see the photos he posted of his summer in CA. He will work at Facebook full time upon graduating from college this month.  I have declined friend requests from current and former students who are at WHS, but I have reacquainted with former students who are "all grown up" and it is nice to see how they are doing. I have also connected with former classmates out of state and relatives in Canada and Germany. For me, relationships online through Facebook do not replace face to face relationships. They are additional contacts that perhaps I ordinarily would not have. I imagine for some people though, certain online relationships can be very meaningful. Others have thousands of "friends"... I do not see how that can be meaningful!

Social networking sites are very popular with kids today because they seem to be more of a "me" generation. Kids want to share everything about themselves and get the attention of everyone around them in some cases. They also get the instant gratification of near immediate feedback. It can be a positive thing though, if done in moderation. Kids can learn social and technical skills that they need to be competent in this digital age. It allows them to explore interests, communicate with others who have similar interests, and experiment with different forms of self expression .

Thing 11

For part A, I chose to create a Google Site, trying to be consistent with google and therefore keep the same username and password. To tell you the truth, I am finding it hard to keep track of all of them! I try to keep them consistent, but it is hard. I am not sure if I will ever use the google site. I considered setting up a classroom website last summer, but was reminded about edline on the horizon, so I waited. Three teachers on my team have google sites or another class website that they link to edline, but I do not see doing that.

I did explore Wix and looked at many of their featured websites... they are pretty amazing! Again, although they are pretty impressive, I do not feel the need to have a classroom website like that. There are too many other things to do and that would be one more thing to keep up with.

I must say that I just love colored pencils. They come in such pretty colors and when using them for a classroom project, I never have to worry if the network is down or if there is a computer lab available! (occasionally legitimate concerns)   All I need is a sharpener... I also need to investigate edmodo further. Apparently it is the leading social learning network for education. It seems like many educators use it for posting assignments (but we have edline) or for projects. Maybe it can be used by students to look for extra help. I am not sure where it fits yet.

Thing 10

I searched for something that would be helpful to my colleagues when we do the sheep heart dissection, and came up with this tutorial. It is done well (basically a narrated slide show) and it can be used as an introduction to the lab. I could not find the area to copy the html code, but right clicked somewhere and it gave me the option to copy it. Let's see if it worked!


Zerobio Sheep Heart Dissection

It is there, but just a tad large. I will try resizing later. Using keepvid.com, I was able to download this video and save it to my desktop as suggested. Now it can be used by all of the eighth grade teachers before the dissection next year if they are interested. I was not aware of this feature of downloading to a third party site until now, so I could not see how YouTube could be used at school. Now I know, and hopefully I can incorporate more videos into the classroom.

One more try at embedding... this one is a bit more fun than sheep hearts!

Thing 9

I have observed plenty of videos on YouTube in the past, but never signed up until today. YouTube can be quite addictive as well!  I like it because you can find a video on just about anything. It also gives people a place to show their talent or creations. I remember reading once that the new lead singer for Journey (not my musical taste, but an interesting article) was found when a band member saw him singing for a cover band on YouTube.

On the other hand, I dislike it because people can post videos about just about anything! As an example, last week there was a YouTube video circulating among some high school students of a fight at a Bridgeport high school. This led to more searches of school fights, and there were plenty to be found. It is unfortunate that there are not more restrictions on content. Occasionally videos are removed, but they get plenty of hits before that happens.  The comments that follow even a well done video (example- Taylor Mali's ) can also be offensive.

There are many entertaining videos I have watched of favorite musical artists, past and present and amateur musicians. The flash mob videos are also fun to watch…. Frozen Grand Central reminded me of those.  The list goes on!

YouTube is restricted at Middlebrook and it is understandable because of the questionable content students could access. There have been times when I would have liked access to YouTube for the classroom, but there has always been an alternative to be found.  In general, You Tube is probably not the best for classroom use with eighth graders. Teacher Tube might be the safer route for classroom use. 

Thing 8

Now you see it, now you don't! It was here... I did it yesterday, but I went back to try to embed the mosaic I made on Flickr and I lost it. I tried to follow Skip's video and I got all of the html code instead of the image, so I went to delete it and I lost the whole post. Oops! Skip, thanks for sending me the link to the video you made. I just screwed up!


http://www.flickr.com/photos/mallozd/5660843989/

Thing 7

Once again, what I thought would be a quick Thing took quite some time. I went through photos and added a bunch to Flickr, added titles, a few descriptions, tags and created sets. I can definitely see using Flickr personally to organize and share photos, but I have a long way to go!

Now, for using it in the classroom.... it might not be as easy as it looks if I understand it correctly. I can see it used as a tool forstudents to use photos instead of a PowerPoint presentation. It could also be used by students to illustrate writing pieces, like one called Scientific Summer we do at the beginning of the year. I also saw many subject specific slides , such as blood cells, etc, that could be used for the Circulation unit. No doubt there are plenty more, as you mentioned a collection of photos on Frog Dissection.  

What concerns me is using photos but having to get permission to use each one. Perhaps permission is needed only if you wish to post it somewhere, but showing photos in a classroom is OK? I also feel that there is not enough time to incorporate all of these wonderful things into lessons. There seems to be so much to explore and not enough time to do it!

Thing 6

Sea Lion basking in the sun at...
from Nikonmania

As is the case with the other Things, Flickr can be quite addictive. I browsed for a long time at various photos- subject specific for my classroom and things of a personal interest. I decided upon the photo on the right (and I hope I credited it correctly!) of a sea lion basking in the sun in Monterey California.

After the long, cold winter we have had, I am looking forward to doing the same this summer in Monterey with my family. Hopefully I won't look like this beached sea lion, though!  I find sea lions to be pretty fascinating animals. They are found all over North America and love sandy beaches. I have seen sea lions at aquariums and I believe they are pretty smart based on how well trained some are.  I prefer to see them lounging and "performing" in their natural habitats though. I have seen sea lions in San Jose, CA and Chatham, MA and I look forward to observing the sea lions this summer in Monterey (and perhaps mimicking some of their basking behaviors.)

In the classroom, I envision having students use Flickr for research projects - to incorporate some of the photos as visual aids. Flickr can also be used to share photos of classroom, team, and school events.

Thing 5

I think I definitely have the hang of subscribing blogs to RSS feeds.  The video refreshers were helpful, and since I did a bit of it yesterday I was able to search and subscribe by the methods illustrated. Especially helpful was Google Blog Search. I did not know that existed. It explains why some "blogs" that I tried to subscribe to yesterday did not work... they were websites, but not blogs.

I am still not so sure about the tagging, bundling, and sending my subscriptions to other people. I feel if there is a blog I want to share, I would likely copy and paste the URL and e-mail it. (I know, probably so old school) I will explore that further and probably go back and watch the video clip again from the other Thing.

I think organizing the folders is very helpful. When I want to scan the news, I check the headlines in the news folder (obviously) and it is a quick way to organize and see what is going on globally, nationally, or locally. I can also quickly scan what is going on at the colleges my sons attend and get quick information on my alma mater as well.

Professionally, I have a science folder for subject specific feeds and I have added content that pertains to the areas I teach. I will continue to add to that. In an Education folder, I have subscribed to the Free Things, CT Education Law, and a few others. I plan to add to them as well, but it will take some time to check out blogs. If I find anything new and outstanding, I will certainly share.

Thing 4

Apparently when I have information overload, I walk away from the computer for a while and come back to it later! I can appreciate the idea behind RSS- saving valuable time by having information come to me at one site rather than me going to multiple individual news sites and blogs. The idea of saving time with these technological advancements is certainly desirable. Again, the embedded videos were very informative and I was able to set up the Google Reader account, create the suggested folders and even subscribe to several news sites and blogs. I found widgets to use to subscribe on some sites and I had to copy and paste the URL for others. A few just did not work or gave way too many updates on things.

While watching the video on creating folders and bundles, I was a bit overwhelmed at the number of blogs that the person explaining had on her google reader. I am not sure I feel the need to share all the items with people or that anyone would really want them.  Tags to share individual pages rather than subscriptions might be helpful.

In terms of information overload, I think the RSS will be a good tool to help filter some information and have important news come to me. I plan to add subscriptions slowly so there is still not too much information. I guess in the next Thing, I will learn how to subscribe to more blogs!

Thing 3

After going through Thing 3 and exploring educational blogs in the classroom, I feel more confident that I will be able to incorporate a blog for my students in the near future. Especially helpful to me was the list of 33 ways to use blogs in the classroom or an educational setting. Even something as simple as having students post individual hypotheses before meeting with a lab group to perform an experiment would be a start. The Social Studies teacher on my team uses blogs for some units for students to comment and he says it is successful. Students seem to like it and he reads comments online rather that collect as HW papers to grade.

I am still amazed at the complexity of most of the blogs. I just don't know where they get the time to create something that complex (or at least it looks that way to me!) The first example on the list was incredible, with all of the links provided. I am easily sidetracked and ended up visiting Google LitTrips and spent some time at Google Body, which I will use as a resource for my students. Also fascinating was the link to YouTube Time Machine, allowing me to search a desired year (high school, college) for popular songs, TV commercials.  Maybe not so practical for a science classroom, but perhaps educational value in Social Studies!

As I browsed the blogs on the list, I noticed that some were a bit more simple and at least one was a collaborative effort with a teacher but produced by students. I did comment on a few of the blogs, and on the only other fellow 23 things traveler at this point. I changed a few of my settings on the blog, as suggested by the very helpful video. The embedded videos are helpful because you can pause, try what they say , and go back to them. I am looking forward to giving blogging a try on a unit with my students. After seeing the  possible educational applications, I can definitely see a place for them in future lessons.

Thing 1 and Thing 2

The main reason I am participating in the 23 things is because I want to learn more about web 2.0. Although I have dabbled in things considered web 2.0 (posting comments on websites, using Facebook, setting up a wiki on pbworks for a recent school project), I feel like I am still predominantly in the world of  web 1.0.

I would like to become more familiar with what our students are doing and try to incorporate some of these exciting collaborative technologies into the curriculum.  On a personal note, I do not want to be left behind in the technological world.  I want to be connected and be a part of the participatory culture.

During Thing 1, it was good to be reminded of just how much the younger generation's lives revolve around technology and how it is second nature to them. From video games, computers, e-mail and AIM to smart phones and texting- they have known nothing else. The shift of the "three Rs" to rigor, relevance and relationships is also important to note.

I do think that the majority of students get most of their technology education outside of the classroom. I know my students are much more technologically savvy than I am and I often rely on them or my sons to help me. In order to keep what kids do in school relevant and exciting, we do need to incorporate these collaborative technologies into the classroom. Students are digital learners and it is hard to compete with their digital worlds if we do not keep up with what's out there. That being said, there is so much to learn and it can be a bit overwhelming.

When it comes to writing on the internet, I will post on the blog as required by this course and I think being able to read comments from colleagues is helpful. I have used pbworks wikis and posted comments there to communicate with students, but that was to a limited student audience. Beyond that, I do not see myself initiating too many posts anywhere. For Thing 2 on blogging, I think it is great if people want to share their news and show their unique perspective but not everyone wants or needs  to publish things to a wide audience.

*** I guess I will learn more about Educational Blogs on Thing 3,  post on several blogs, and hopefully become more comfortable doing so.

Test Post

Testing to see if this really works!