Wow, technology!

I was trying to get up to date with all the the blogs and feeds I follow and it is a never ending battle. The incredible number of resources jumping up everyday makes it impossible for me to ever be able to explore and experiment with all of them. Just the number of sites that allow for a variety of methods of digital storytelling boggles the brain! How to choose, which is best and how do you find out? I do follow many wonderful people on twitter and really enjoy their amazing output but again, how to keep up? I have resigned myself to the fact that I will miss some amazing things (I am actually expected to work here!) and hope that because so many people post and tweet about the really good stuff I will be able to see it at some point. That does not mean I will actually get to play with it, but maybe I can send it on to someone who will.

I have a friend and colleague at a Catholic school near me, she tries so hard to keep up but she is the technology teacher, tech support person and technology professional development person. There is just not enough hours in the day for her to even begin to explore a lot of what is out there. I am afraid most teachers, even technology teachers are in that boat. There is just so much and way too little time to find out what works best. They just keep trying, following the educational technology leaders and trying to find a way to use just a small piece of what is available. So much of what is new and exciting is not going to get a shot because we are all stretched too thin, so many really wonderful things end up disappearing before they even get exposed to the general population.

I find this both encouraging and disheartening. Wow, the possibilities and at the same time OMG, how to even begin to use this enormous resource. I am blown away by the possibilities, I have a friend, a young ex-coworker in Japan, he went there to teach English a few years ago. In the past we would just have lost touch over time, now he blogs and I can follow him and read all about his amazing experience. I love it! That is the encouraging part, the disheartening part is that in the midst of his life he has so little time! I guess that what we will all experience in life and work in this new age of technology!

Just my random thoughts!

Great TED talk by Gary Flake on Pivot, a new way to look at the web.

Great YouTube video made by a middle school to promote reading!

iLearn Technology » Blog Archive » 20 iTunes Feeds for the 2.0 Teacher

Great resource for teachers who already use 2.0 tools and those who would like to know more!

http://ilearntechnology.com/?p=989

georgetownblogs - Twitters and Tweets

Just what is the web 2.0 stuff all about? Twitter, what the heck is that and why do I care?  Who blogs and why, do I want to?  These are just a few of the questions the new developments on the web engender.  Social networking, social bookmarking, tweeting, we are hearing all about this and our students are doing it.  Here is a great wiki (another one of those terms!!!) that helps you to understand this and also to see the variety of tools and resources available to help.  Take a look and join the 21st century!

•  

• georgetownblogs - Twitters and Tweets

  tags: georgetownblogs, web 2.0, blogging, twitter, wiki

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Interesting blog on "back channels" posted by Jeff Utecht, really food for thought. I really like the notion of a focused conversation outside of the presentation but I could see how that would be very distracting. I also was interested in his description of the process of learning how to use such a conversation. He talks about people first randomly commenting in a very unfocused and personal way then gradually figuring out how to use the conversation to understand the presentation. I could see how many educators would become frustrated if it was not focused immediately and deciding it was too distracting and not a good tool. His observations are some what different but I don't see many people taking the time to use and learn back channels. If you are curious and would like to know more here is the link to his blog. Take some time to read it, I was not a real fan of the idea until I had read a couple of his entries and then thought about it some. I think I can see why it might be a good way to explore a presentation more thoroughly and but would like to find an opportunity to try it out.

Haven't posted for quite awhile, we have been busy getting ready for new laptops for the teachers and students. So much work gathering the old ones and getting them off to be recycled and then waiting for the new ones to come in. Anyway, I am looking at Twitter with new eyes. I have so enjoyed following all the tweets coming from NECC, you people are awesome. I am very jealous, but so glad there is a way to keep up with all the activity. I have really enjoyed twitter these last couple of days although I will admit that it has been time consuming because of the furious number of tweets coming in. I have also been exploring the idea of using Twitter in a school environment. Not so much with students, our teachers are just not ready to go there but as a communication tool for us and also for parents. I am not at all sure how that would work, and I am sure there would be some serious questions from admin types and also from parents. While social media is interesting many of them find it very scary! There are a lot of preconcieved notions to work through before that kind of thing can be adopted. I read some great articles on corporations adopting social media and their guidelines, I think these can be good tools to deal with many of the issues that are bound to crop up.

I was amazed to read about the many social networking tools that are being marketed to corporations now. Very Ning like in appearance, but of course with a cost. When you start seeing something developed as a product you know it is becoming mainstream! My aunt is using facebook, my very elderly aunt! She is now friends with my daughter and her husband on Facebook, how cool is that? THAT is mainstream.

I have been using Twitter for a couple of months now, really trying to decide what it is all about and if it is worth the hype. I have discovered a couple of things. One, and this was a total surprise!, it is an ego boost. The first time some "real" followed me (by that I mean not someone trying to sell something, a lifestyle coach or robot) I thought OMG, this person chose to follow me! I mean several people chose to follow me after I started following them but this person went first! Okay, not a huge deal but still it was a bit of a boost!

Another thing is that you definitely need something to manage your "tweets", I use tweet deck, I also tried Twitbin but I don't like the way it makes my browser screen smaller. (it opens up on the side of your browser). Tweet deck pops up a message that you have a tweet or a direct message or a reply. So far I like that best.

I find that I have learned about people who I was not familiar with. I have also found a lot of new resources.

All of that said, I do find it difficult to go through and a lot of times I just don't want to read through the status updates in order to get to something more interesting. Also, I follow quite a few blogs through Google Reader, it is hard to keep up with that, this is just one thing more that takes time.

I do like the idea of creating a PLN (Personal Learning Network) with lots of resources to help me. I am also learning to let it go sometimes, I just don't have time to read everything so I am learning selective reading habits. Also, I am very easily distracted, (one of those adults who found out later in life that I have ADD, explained so much!!!) so it is sometimes overwhelming, but I am learning how to filter better.

I read a couple of months ago that I had to give it at least a month and I had to get enough people to follow. I am now getting to the point where I follow enough people and have given it serious use for a month. I have to admit, the jury is still out!

pagetweet.com - spread your message!

I am seriously exploring Twitter, trying to figure out if it is as valuable as so many people feel it is. It has been a couple of weeks and I am only now getting a handle on how this might work for a teacher. I have looked at some apps to keep up with tweets, read a number of articles on how to best use Twitter and how to build a community (will provide links in the links blog). I am beginning to see where it might be useful, I am not sold but not seeing it as a totally dumb thing now. (yes I did in the beginning!) If you are interested there are some good places to find the info you need. I would recommend you explore these options and some of the others I posted in the Technology Links blog, read what people have to say, develop a group to follow and then give it a month or two. It is taking awhile for me to really get into it but it actually could prove to be useful.

• pagetweet.com - spread your message!

  Love this, lets you shorten URL for twitter.

  tags: twitter, URL

the nest site is a list of people to follow, you can find many familiar names here. I started here and then started following others as I found them.

• Directory of Learning Professionals on Twitter

  tags: twitter, education, professsionals, web2.0, janehart

This next article is at the crux of the matter, we are using these tools to learn more, and develop skills.

• Creating a Personal Learning Network with Web 2.0 Tools ‎(Building a PLN)‎

  • tags: pln, Web2.0, pd, personal learning network, professional development

• twitter4teachers / Technology Coordinators and Specialists

  tags: twitter, friends

• Thirteen Interesting Ways to use Twitter in the Classroom - Google Docs

  tags: twitter, education, classroom, ideas, socialnetworking, classroom2.0, web2.0

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating | Making Teachers Nerdy

• Educational Blogs You Should Be Investigating | Making Teachers Nerdy

  tags: education, blog, teaching, blogging, edublogs, teachers

Every teacher should have a few blogs they are following, here is a list of good ones.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Great Links for Educators

I have spent several years book marking sites using various tools. I started with Backflip, used that for quite awhile, then changed to Delicious and then to Diigo which I am currently using. I loved each one of them and still do. I have tried a few others also but none I liked as much as these three. However, there is so much out there and I am saving so many sites that sometimes I find something I really think is great and I lose it. Yes I have lists and I am trying to tag carefully but I still cannot always find what I want and I often forget about something really great so don't even know to go looking for it. I started sending some links to my blog when I really wanted to remember them but realized that was not quite what I wanted, now I have a blog all set up just for links. Now this may get to be a problem too, there are so many good resources and tools out there on the Wild Wild Web. But it is a small way to deal with a big problem! Any way that said here is a link to that blog.


Great Links for Technology Educators

PDFVue Beta : Edit, Annotate, and Share PDFs for Free

• PDFVue Beta : Edit, Annotate, and Share PDFs for Free

  tags: pdf, tools, editor

Edit PDF files!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Magnetic Poetry

• Magnetic Poetry

  tags: poetry, magnetic, literacy, language arts

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

This is a fun way for kids to write, there are  a lot of options here to allow kids to write a variety of poems and stories.

Okay, this is really dumb but I had a website that I did not want to get lost in the wealth of websites I post on Diigo every day. So I was looking for a way to mark it especially so I could find it quickly. Low and behold I discover (never looked before) that I could post it to my blog as I book marked it in Diigo. I feel like an idiot, I am supposed to be the really tech literate one! Anyway I have posted two here. I think I will start a new blog for these sites so it doesn't get mixed up here but it was very cool. I now have two posts of these websites that I really want to keep in mind! Will wonders never cease here on the web. I keep trying to stay up only to find there are so many sites I have never seen and certainly don't have time to visit. It is amazing.

Mrs. Tenkely’s Computer Class

• Mrs. Tenkely’s Computer Class

  tags: resources, technology, education, elementary

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Wonderful computer resources for elementary students in all curricular areas. 

Convert PDF to Word (DOC) Online — 100% Free!

• Convert PDF to Word (DOC) Online — 100% Free!

  tags: pdf, conversion, doc

  • The Most Accurate PDF-to-Word Converter

    Using our PDF-to-Word conversion technology, you can quickly and easily create editable DOC/RTF files, making it a cinch to re-use PDF content in applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, OpenOffice, and WordPerfect.
    Best of all, it's entirely free!

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Google News Slide Show

Random thoughts

I have spent the week helping our new teachers get ready to begin the school year. I always feel like I am bombarding them with information and they begin to look dazed! Anyway that is much the same way I am feeling right now. I have been looking at the Diigo forums I belong to, trying to keep up with all of the blogs I subscribe to and look at any websites I feel might be useful for my teachers. In the meantime we are learning to use Drupal in our district (OMG) that was a tremendous learning curve! I am working hard to stay ahead of the game and am supposed to find the time to put together a proposal for a workshop on Squeak. I love technology and I am always one of those people who say that I love the wealth of information that is now available to me but I am truly overwhelmed! I just don't know how everyone keeps up. I was looking at a website that featured Web 2.0 tools and it was astounding!!!! For those of you who are curious here is the site Go2Web2.0.net I know many of you have already see this but I go back everynow and again and look and am always amazed. The first time I saw this site I could not believe how much was happening and I was just learning about it! Then I went to NECC this summer and was just blown away. Like always I feel that the people there are early adopters and there is this huge number of people who would have been totally lost in the mix. That said however, it is a sign of what is to come, and it is truly beyond my comprehension. I saw so many people who were doing so many exciting things and discussing the things to come! I am flabergasted right now. I just feel so lost in this world of technology and I hope that someday I will catch up! In the meantime, I remain humble and try to add my small words to the wealth of words out there!

I read an interesting article today about Social Networking and Communities. The comments were as interesting as the article itself. It discusses the fallacies of creating a "community" for marketing or brand loyalty. I really found the view that all of these people are out there creating community when in reality no community exists, it is a group of users or customers who have no other interest in common and not real interest in interacting with each other. Communities share interests, goals, passions, issues and they connect with each other, at least that is my take on it. I do belong to a social network that I feel is a community, we all have common goals and we support and help each other. Yes it is all online but the passion we share for the topic joins us into an online community. Is this going to be the same as the community you belong to in your family, school or neighborhood? No, it is a different animal but it is a community none the less.

We belong to communities of towns or neighborhoods, we don't necessarily share a passion or goal. In fact, often we are at odds with our goals but that does not take away from the idea that it is a community. I looked up community in Wikipedia, and what I took from that is that community has a common ties, a neighborhood or town is tied by the location in which they live. This would make a marketing ploy of trying to claim a community of users or customers false. These are people who want a product but they have no ties to one another. But other instances of online social networking would lead to communities, no matter how closely knit. Facebook in fact is a community with a wide variety of communities within it.
The blog was Marketing Conversation New Marketing and Social Media by Abraham Harrison LLC and the particular article was The fallacy of community . It is particularly relevant to educators who jump on a band wagon without always having a clear idea of what they are doing or why they are doing it. Like all groups or communities (yes we are a community, we share ties) we want to be "with it", we want the latest and greatest. But we have to be careful that we don't put the wagon before the horse. Community is already there, we don't necessarily need to create it. But we do need to be careful how we bandy words and ideas around or they become trite and useless.

These are just my thoughts, read the article and let me know what you think.

Things I learned about Second Life

I know that a lot of people are skeptical about this as a useful feature of the web, at least as far as education goes. And I will admit to some of that myself, but I do think a part of that is the newness of it and my age. It is hard to just accept this "world" as a place to do business or to be educated but what I saw a NECC really did influence my thinking some!

First I spent quite a long time talking to a gentleman from Indiana University in Pennsylvania, he is a docent for Second Life and is used to taking newbies like myself around the world. I had already created an identity and avatar but really had trouble figuring out how to get around. He definitely helped me with that and also to understand how a University uses a product like this. He had introduced it to the University Staff some time ago and gradually they began to see the potential. They have created Islands to help students explore ideas and concepts they learn in the classroom. As an example they have an island devoted to archeological digs and the instructors create simulations of actual digs they have participated in. The students can them explore the digs and learn more about what was found and also how it is preserved. He explained that many museums and universities have a presence and teachers can explore them with their students. While students under 18 cannot create an identity a teacher can use a projector to take the students into the island they want them to see.

I met another woman who had a book club. She had one in SL for adults and university students but also had created one in Teen Second Life. That I have not explored yet but what a great idea!

After talking to many of these people I began to see potential for this kind of web feature, letting students explore and create virtual worlds that represent the different areas they learn about would be very engaging. I can see students exploring Jamestown and becoming a character in that world.

Anyway these are a few of my thoughts about Second Life.