Web 2.0 MCS

I believe that I enjoyed the class even more the second time around.  So much was so new to me and it was difficult for me to implement much of my new learning last year as I am not a classroom teacher so the need/ability to apply what I learned in meaningful ways was not there.  Seeing everything a second time and having others on site using the tools helped tremendously.  It has been really exciting to see how the tools are being utilized in our classrooms.  The changes and implementation have really been exciting.  All our visitors this year have been amazed at what our students are doing in classrooms everyday.  You can almost wath the visitors’ heads swim as they listen to our students describe what they are doing.  I look forward to watching our Web 2.0 use grow and change over the next few years!  I have to say I am so proud of all the work, time, effort that the MCAA teachers have put in to the course and the integration of these tools into teaching and learning in their classrooms!!!

One of my favorite RSS Readers is Educational Technology Guy.  I have to admit I had not visited my reader recently so had fun catching up on some of them especially the Educational Technology Guy.  His posts are very easy to read and very applicable.  What I love about the reader is that it is easy to skim and find those topics you might be interested in reading in more depth.  I just need to remember to check it more often.  One posting I enjoyed on Educational Technology Guy was Science Minus the Details.  It takes complex science topics and makes them easy, which would have been very helpful to me when I was a teacher since I did not have a very strong background in science.  I enjoyed perusing some of the topics.  I also found an interesting movie that takes you through the past decade in seven minutes.  Very engaging and could lead to some really good social studies discussions.

I really like google docs and have explored these numerous times.  My problem is remembering to use them.  I like the idea of using these in place of some of the things we have tried to use the wiki with.  Things that I think would work better using google docs would be our quarterly school newsletter – everyone could just add their info rather than emailing it to me or posting it on the wiki which I then have to copy and past to another document.  Also, we are trying to do a wiki book study.  This may be better as a google doc – will ponder what this one might look like.  Google docs would also be a good place to work on revising documents such as our school calendar or handbook.  I am going to commit to exploring/thinking about using google docs more often – in place of emailing multiple copies of docs or as a way of collaborating outside of the wiki.  Another thing to add to my to-do list!

Well, that was frustrating!  Audacity was okay to use although I prefer the podcasting site we used last time better – MyPocast Recorder.  It was much easier to use and seems like a better place to start.  I’m sure there was good reason we used Audacity though…right?  My biggest frustration came from exporting to an MP3.  The Lame software seems to be exactly that, lame.  It took me forever to get this working right.  On the moodle site it says to download it and follow all directions but there are no directions.  Of course the problem was a simple one, it was a compressed file and needed to be decompressed but that was not intially clear.  I just could not find the darn thing.  Grrr.  Adding it to Schoolfusion was simple though.  Mine is on the faculty page.  Hope you enjoy it! Ha!

I previewed a number of NPR Education podcasts and some from Techstuff – an interesting assortment of topics in each.  I do love being able to pick and choose what to view/listen to.  If it is not what I thought it was or I’m not getting anything out of the cast, it’s easy to move on to another topic.  Along the same lines, if I hear something I think others would find valuable, it is easy to share.  I like getting the information on command rather than trying to listen to a particular broadcast the “old-fashioned way” as I would never find the time in my schedule.  I could see sharing podcasts or portions of them with staff members at meetings or directing individuals to specific topics they might find valuable.  One problem sometimes is finding the right podcast.  Searches I have tried seem to pull a lot of podcasts that fit the topic but not perhaps what I am looking for – if I get too specific, I get nothing.  This is something I will need to continue to refine.

Yeah!  My slide show is finally working on my computer – love it when I can figure these things out!  You can find it by clicking on the slide link below and it is also posted on my wiki (below the skydiving picture) that you can get to by clicking the wiki link below.  Success!

For some reason, my slide show is not showing on my computer.  Not sure what is going on but am tired of trying to figure it out.  I have linked to it below in two ways – to slide.com at the My Slide Show link and to my wiki where I think I embedded it (again, not showing on my computer) at My Wiki link.  I love creating slide shows and hate that edublog doesn’t allow it to be embedded anymore – guess they need to make money some how!  Haven’t tried to put it on facebook yet but may do that with some of the many, many, many pictures from trips that I want to put on facebook but don’t seem to have time to do.  Perhaps on this upcoming break!

My Slide Show link

My Wiki link

Love flickr! I am a very visual learner so pictures make learning so much more interesting and engaging. I see many, many classroom uses with flickr. The pics can be a great way to introduce a new, unfamiliar topic; in-house field trips; vocabulary/word study; geography; story starters and so much more! It is so easy to get lost in the pics. I chose to search pics on flickr that were non-work related   Could help but look up pictures of SNOW!  All of us in education love the “threat” of snow and the possiblity of an extra day off.  Could it be? 

 http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharif/84770325/

Shahram Sharif

I find these sites to be a little overwhelming – so much information in one place.  Some of the information I found on OER Commons was interesting – I searched “leadership”, “STEM”, and “Engineering”.  But some areas (STEM and engineering) were quite lacking in usable material.  More than a few times, the links I clicked on connected to pages that were no longer active which can be frustrating especially if you think you found something really good.  I do question some of the content on these sites since it seems there may not be a lot of oversight on what is posted.  I pulled up one article on leadership and noted a number of grammatical and spelling errors.   I really liked CC  Content as it makes creative commons sites easy to find.  I will probably use that more often than OER.

I believe creative commons is a necessity with the internet.  The internet makes an individual’s work much more accessible – this accessibility not only benefits the user but also the creator.  Allowing other creative commons with your work also benefits both parties.  As educators, creative commons allows us to share more and a greater variety of examples of various works with students.  It also allows more people to view a person’s creation, helping to get their name, creation, art to the world.  I do think it is still important to teach others to acknowledge, recongize and abide by the author’s wishes for use of their creations – i.e. copyright.