Thing 22 – Social Networking

I broke down and created a Facebook site a few months ago. It’s not that I am against social networking, it is just I have not found the time to really get into it either. It is truly amazing I am communicating with people that I have not talked to in over 15 years. We got invited to a Christmas party with my old high school crowd that never would have happened if I had not joined Facebook. But I still don’t get on it very much and I have always been a horrible communicator.

I thought that Ning was a great idea. The students are really into MySpace and Facebook and I know that they would really relate to the social networking look and feel of the educational networking site. It also allows the teacher to set the site up based on a specific topic if that is what they chose. It gives the students one place to go for the assignment.

I found one post that said basically ‘I need help with . . .’. I liked that aspect of the site as well because there are often times that I need to just post a help question and I don’t know who to ask.

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Thing 7c – Google Reader

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/12/12/second.life.relationship.irpt/index.html?eref=rss_tech

Virtual world, real emotions: Relationships in Second Life

This was in one of my RSS feed for CNN. It is a story based on the web based Second Life. I have been following some of the crazy stories that are associated with Second Life.

This article is about marriages real and ‘in-world’. Sometimes the people that get married in Second Life then meet and get married in real life. There has already been a Second Life divorce because of an affair.

This ‘WORLD’ is totally crazy to me. I don’t see how people can spend 18 hours a day on a web site with their cyber-family instead of living in the real world. I am sure we will here more about Second Life in the future.

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Thing 21 – PageFlakes

The example pageflake pages helped me get a better idea of how to use this as an educational tool. It does seem to have a very busy interface. I hope that would not confuse younger children, but I  guess that depends on what you add to it.

I love the idea of creating a pageflake for SharePoint and having a place where webmasters in the district can go and read blogs about SharePoint or just post a message on the frustration of learning a new tool. Even adding the funny YouTube video might lighten things up a little bit.

That is something that I will be working on over the holidays. I will say this is a little more complicated than I anticipated.

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Thing 20 – Google Docs

There are literally thousands of ways you can use Google Docs in the classroom, professionally, and personally. I wish that I knew about this tool when I was still teaching. Setting up a document for groups to collaborate on a project is an awesome idea! And a great way to get around the No E-mail rule in our district. I love the fact that you can track what everyone is saying just in case a student tries to get ‘cute’.

I have already filled out two different Google Docs forms for different Christmas parties that I am attending. It is a great way to let the host know what you will be bringing to the party.

Professionaly, I think I will use this to help my Teach 21 teachers and survey what area that feel they need the most training on and what times are the best. This list could go on and on . . . . The more I learn about Google the more amazed that I am.

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Thing 19 – Video Sharing

This is a Song about Ghetto SharePoint tool. This was just for fun so no offense.

I actually have never really taken the time to search YouTube or Teacher Tube before but there is certainly a lot of information out there for class room learning. I usually just watch the silly video’s that my husband finds on YouTube.

I didn’t really think there would be a lot of How to Videos, but there really are. I think Teachers could upload student lab video, plays, reading, etc to these two site to access a global world wit their information.

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Thing 18 – Create a Podcast

It was much easier than I thought to create a bare-bones podcast! Great!

Subscribe Free  Add to my Page

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Thing Seventeen – Intro to Podcasting Resource

The first thing that hit me with this Thing was Grazr. l think this in itself could be a fabulous Classroom tool. The teacher sets up relevant pod-casts for the classroom and subject being taught that day and students can pick the ones that peek their interest. The Widget Jerrie provided was great!

I listened and subscribed to the One Minute How Tos – And listened to one on making PowerPoint surf for you. I think this is a great way to use PowerPoint and make it less boring and more interactive! Everyone has PPT but not everyone has Flash and other interactive tools at their fingertips.

I also listed to (or tried to) to several blogs by Teachers Teaching Teachers and Geek!ed!. I found that talks I selected were not very focused and it was a little annoying to just listen to friendly banter when I was hoping for great information.

I have taken a podcast class, but I would not say that I am proficient. This is a big area of weakness for me which I would like to learn more about. I am excited about creating a podcast in Thing 18.

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Thing 16 – Library Thing

What a cool tool. I don’t that I would personally use it at this time. But I do love to read. I will read whatever is recommended or I find on sale of an office book trade room. My favorite books are romance novels bl.y Regency Romance. I read these if I just want to completely check out and go to a different world. I also love move controversial author’s such as Jodi Picoult.

I think teachers could use this in the classroom to help students actually categorize books. I am horrible about picking up a book, reading it, and loving it, but then not know who the author ended up being. The tool would really help!

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Thing 15 – Delicious

http://delicious.com/marycatherine.phyfe, My delicious account. I think that delicious is a great web 2.0 tool for organizing information. I can’t wait to import my own favorites into my account when time permits. I am actually very ‘AR’ or organized, but I have not utilized this site as I could to help me in my job.

As an ITS, we have to research and help teachers with technology projects and trouble shooting. I know that I have researched the same topic several times. If I used delicious then I would only have to go to my account and look at my tags for a particular topic.

My fear is probably the social bookmarking part, I would hate to lead someone a stray with bad site informaiton. I guess that I need more confidence in myself and my researching.

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Thing 7b – Google Reader Redux

WOW!!! Certainly overwhelming is where I will begin. Truthfully I have not been in the habit of checking my google reader . . . so when I checked I had thousands of articles to read. I hope to get more Web 2.0 savy and this become more of a routine. I was relieved to read Jerri’s comment about blogging and that you don’t have to read all of them that come in but only what interests me.

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/12/05/yahoo-testing-ways-to-make-those-search-ads-pop/

One article I read from Tech Crucnch was on Testing ways to make search ads pop. Ads popping up on school computers is already a problem. We can’t promote a specific organization, however, now on Yahoo the ads and the company logo’s image will also display. The image (in my mind) is more alluring than the text that displays. It relates to people visually and stays with them.

I respecit google in the fact that they don’t allow this appear. It makes our jobs as educators a little easier.

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