#14/Technorati

Technorati was a tad overwhelming for me in that there is too many things going on at the same time. I did claim my blog and I did put a few things on the watchlist. The popular blog was interesting to see what people are looking for and the tags that everyone is using.

My thoughts about tagging are that it could be very beneficial for locating specific materials, but one of the problems I see is that you receive several irrelevant choices because you can't control what other people are using as tags. You could possibly be missing some major information if you don't search by the appropriate tags. It may actually benefit students to "think" about how they want to search for their information and when they develop their own blogs they then have to determine what tags would be best so that everyone can find their blog. Critical thinking skills are essential to everyone and Technorati allows you to develop those skills while searching for information.

I am a little nervous about tagging my posts, but I am going to give it a shot and see how things turn out.

YIPPPPEEEEE!!!! It worked, I think.


SLJLibrary2.0

Uploading Images

Apparently I missed several activities that should have been done weeks ago, so I am trying to get them finished. The uploading of images was actually pretty easy. Lets just hope that everything went the way it was supposed to.

Delicious

Fortunately for me I already have a delicious account set up and I have to say that I use it quite frequently. I especially like being able to tag websites and classify them into their own folder in one or two clicks as opposed to using the old bookmarking system which had more steps. I find it especially helpful when I am beginning to gather resources for a particular project.

I was thinking of introducing it to students, but I believe that the IT Dept. has locked down the computers and the students would not be able to download the buttons for delicious, but either myself or a teacher would be able to create a folder for the students and then have them access the folder and then give the students access. I would hope that would be possible, but I am not sure if it is which means that I can tell them about it, but they would have to save everything at home.

As for the network badge, I really don't see a lot of use in wasting my time adding it onto the webpage.

Image Generators/Rollyo

The image generator idea is really great, but for someone who apparently doesn't think fast enough or understand how things work very quickly it is extremely stressful. It took me a really long time to get my image project done and I still don't think that its right. I pasted a picture into a template and have no idea how to manipulate the word bubble that came with the picture so that you can read it in its entirety. It will probably be a snap for the kids to do, but I have to say that I was ready to throw the computer out the window by the end of the evening.

As for Rollyo, what a great idea, but I see some potential issues in this tool.
http://rollyo.com/mscalpel/video_conferencing/
I put together a list of video conferencing/distance learning websites, but when I went to search it I received hits that were not necessarily appropriate to what I was looking for. I believe that one of the sites that I put in was a blog site which means when I type in zoos (for virtual field trips) I am getting hits on the treatment of pandas from Chinese zoos. When selecting resources for the rollyo, you must be very watchful of what websites you are listing, because I can see the kids clicking on sites that you believe are appropriate only to find out that it is a hit that is totally irrelevant.

Other than that everything went just fine. Is anyone else experiencing the same issues or am I the only one.

RSS Feeds

I actually already had a bloglines account set up from another class so instead of creating an account I went through and changed my feed list. I actually should get in the habit during the summer of checking my Bloglines account each day, so that I can stay abreast of what is going on in the field. I have some library feeds, technology feeds and specific softward feeds that will be helpful in encouraging teachers and students to use RSS.

I can see students and teachers developing Bloglines/Google Reader accounts so that they can stay updated on their favorite topics. My suggestion for anyone just starting out is to only select a few blog to subscribe to so that it doesn't get too overwhelming. The students or teachers could use bloglines for a particular unit of study in which they must gather current information. The only problem would be the "other information" that accompanies some feeds would be distracting to students, but it could also be used as a teaching tool in regard to opposing viewpoints, or bias in articles or even writing editorial style papers.

Once I become a little more familiar I may attempt to draw a few teachers in by finding a topic of interest that they would want to know more about (I guess that would apply to students as well).

Week 3

I never realized how many tools Flickr alone has available. There are soooooo many tools that you can't possibly get to them all. I tried a few different tools within Flickr, but every picture I tried kept coming out all fuzzy. I also had issues with the size of the pictures from Flickr. I tried to paste them into Paint and then edit the size, but it didn't work. It would be helpful if it designated the appropriate size of the image before starting the project and tips on how to edit effectively. I finally ended up making a mosaic which actually turned out really great.

The possibilities are endless for a Web 2.0 tool like Flickr. Flickr may be a way to engage reluctant teachers and students to use technology in many different ways.

I thought that the World Geography teachers could use this with their students to collect pictures of a particular area of the country and then put it into some type of project or use mappr to post pictures and then describe each.

I also thought that the Art teachers may be able to use Flickr to discuss the color wheel and shadowing etc. by using the information contained within Flickr.

Week 2

Out of the 71/2 habits the most difficult habit for me would be number three - viewing problems as challenges. When problems arise my first reaction is to deal with the problem head on and get it resolved as quickly as possible which stops me from doing what I had planned to do in the first place. I find that a lot of problems arise as a result of email. I have read that if you have things to get done that you do that first and then open emails since they most often bring you more work or more problems than you started with.

The easiest habit for me is number two-accept responsibility for your own learning. With life changing as quickly as it does I feel you have no choice but to become responsible for your own learning. Whether it be technology, cooking, learning a foreign language whatever is needed to become successful or to complete the task at hand. The students are so technologically more advanced than most faculty that it is up to them to learn the technology and software as it applies to the students. Students actually flourish when collaborating on projects with other students sharing what knowledge they have to make the most of the presentation.