Monday, August 2, 2010
Thing 14 - Delicious
As I mentioned in thing 13, I already had a Delicious account. I may decide, though, to start from scratch, as I uploaded all of my bookmarks and am going through the process of adding tags and deleting sites that are no longer helpful. It would be great if Delicious automatically deleted non-working sites, but I don't think that is the case...I also need to play with adding the buttons to my browser- I use Mozilla, mostly, at school, and Internet Explorer at home. I also have Vista at home (ugggghhh!!!) and it has way too many obstacles for web 2.0. I do, however, love Delicious. I also use LibraryThing for social bookmarking- it is a web catalog of books that I have read, and I can add tags and see what other users suggest. It is great- I highly recommend it.
Thing 13 - Tagging & Social Bookmarking
Tagging and social bookmarking are the perfect solutions to too many websites! I had so many sites that it was ridiculous- even though I had created folders for those sites, it was just too much. Of course, the other issue was not having sites at home that I had bookmarked at work (I noticed a couple of years ago that our network at school seemed to save bookmarks with your login, so I was able to access bookmarks from different machines, but it was still unwieldy). I found a way to import my bookmarks into Delicious, but it has been a long process to add tags and make up for the switch from folders to tags. I also seem to have issues with the Delicious and Tag buttons- they don't always show up. I need to play with it once I get to school to see if I can be automatically logged in when I go online. I thought it would be interesting to create a tag cloud using my blog:
access account ago although appropriate barbara blog blogthis bookmarks buzz class college comments create creative delicious discussion email facebook flickr folders google home images imagine issue life lyons obviously personal posted professional save school share sites social students tag teachers template think twitter uploaded used video visual wilton work years
created at TagCrowd.com
Thing 12 - Widgets
I have wanted to play around with widgets for a while. I'd like to replace the text titles of our databases, for instance, with widgets that are logos for the databases. I just haven't had....time! Here is a cool widget with a word of the day in languages of the world, which I found on an education site:
Here's my Voki: what a cool tool!
Get a Voki now!
So far, I've had the most fun with widgets and mashups (lions and tigers and bears!) I can see using Voki to get the kids started on a task. I wish the recording could be longer than 90 secs! I am getting comfortable adding code, although the blog is so simple....I am starting to think about changes I'd like to make to the library webpage, and how overwhelming Dreamweaver can be...not as user friendly, so to wander off from the blog and apply some of these things will be a challenge. I am curious about our new web platform. Hopefully it will be as user friendly as this blog! I am on other Social networking sites- I am on Facebook, although I am VERY low-profile there. I use it to keep in touch with family and friends. It's great for sharing photos, news. I keep thinking about the comment the student made about having to "power-down" to come to school. As a library media specialist, I want to be sure to meet the kids "where they live" - in the online world. I can also, hopefully, model the importance of unplugging to have meaningful, face-to-face contact.
Here's my Voki: what a cool tool!
Get a Voki now!
So far, I've had the most fun with widgets and mashups (lions and tigers and bears!) I can see using Voki to get the kids started on a task. I wish the recording could be longer than 90 secs! I am getting comfortable adding code, although the blog is so simple....I am starting to think about changes I'd like to make to the library webpage, and how overwhelming Dreamweaver can be...not as user friendly, so to wander off from the blog and apply some of these things will be a challenge. I am curious about our new web platform. Hopefully it will be as user friendly as this blog! I am on other Social networking sites- I am on Facebook, although I am VERY low-profile there. I use it to keep in touch with family and friends. It's great for sharing photos, news. I keep thinking about the comment the student made about having to "power-down" to come to school. As a library media specialist, I want to be sure to meet the kids "where they live" - in the online world. I can also, hopefully, model the importance of unplugging to have meaningful, face-to-face contact.
Thing 11 - Connect
There are not many people with blogs in this group, but I did comment on the two that are listed. I had collaborated with an AP US class that blogged last year, so I have experience with this. I also read the articles on commenting, and I believe that, as professionals, these "rules" are somewhat second nature to us. Obviously, we should be respectful, succinct, helpful and add to the discussion when possible. I think that giving students immediate feedback, not only from their teacher but from their peers, is one of the most powerful parts of blogging.
Thing 10 - Video 2
This is one of my favorite videos of all time:
Jessica's daily affirmation
Whenever I have a bad day, I'm gonna play this one!
I have a blog for book suggestions. What would be great is to have students use a flip camera to get book suggestions from each other, and add it to my blog!
Jessica's daily affirmation
Whenever I have a bad day, I'm gonna play this one!
I have a blog for book suggestions. What would be great is to have students use a flip camera to get book suggestions from each other, and add it to my blog!
Thing 9 - Video
Youtube is something that I have enjoyed very much, although mostly for personal enjoyment. Now that we have the use of it (as teachers) at the high school, I imagine that I will use it more. I now have an account, and left a comment on a video that my daughter uploaded three years ago (she actually produced in in the fall of 2005 for a college science class.) It is clever and funny, if I do say so myself, although I won't link it here, as it is for a college level audience, and therefore not always appropriate. It was done as a rap song, and I left her a comment to say it only gets better with age!
By using Youtube, teachers can work against the idea that students have about having to "power-down" when they come to school. The biggest challenge is to find the time to find videos with educational value, preview them for appropriateness, and save them in a place where they can be accessed when needed.
By using Youtube, teachers can work against the idea that students have about having to "power-down" when they come to school. The biggest challenge is to find the time to find videos with educational value, preview them for appropriateness, and save them in a place where they can be accessed when needed.
Thing 8 - Mashups
....What else can I say? I could waste alot of time having fun! I'll have to think about how this would best be used with a class...obviously, art classes would have a great time with it. Creative writing journals could also be given a wake-up call! I tried the montage using the tag "metaphor", an idea I picked up from the video, and I thought it could be a great enrichment idea for an English class- click on each photo and name the metaphor it depicts. I could see alot of these being enrichment activities. A fun activity for mentor group, too.....hmmmm.....
Next I went to big huge labs and used the FX application to give a photo specials effects. I took this photo on a hike in NH, here it is, followed by what it looks like in charcoal, from the FX application:
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