Thing #23 Summary about this program

It was fun doing the "23 things". Some the resources I learned I will use for sure, while some I will have to play more with before I start using them regularly. It was and eye opener to learn about all the technology resources available just a click away for free.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? For sure the blog. I always meant to start one and never did. This might be the beginning of a professional blog as well as a personal one. I really had fun with the photostory, even my husband got hooked into it.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? I have always been an online person. Most of what I read I do online so I now this is a good way for me to learn. The one thing I did while learning about "23 things" was play. It was cool to play with the technology presented and actually using it while learning at the same time. Great hands on that will encourage me to use this tools in the classroom.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? How easy some of the technology tools are to use and how much impact they can have in the classroom.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? I really liked the concept, it was easy to follow and do all the discovery exercises. Perhaps offering a sequel to 23 things.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Definitely. I learn by doing hands on and this was as hands on as it can get. I also liked the fact that I could do it from home. I guess I am online learner.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities? Great active learning experience.
7. Now go and comment on some of the other Players' blogs? I did as part of the discovery and will comment some more.

THE END !!! (August 5, 2010)

Thing #22: Nings

While looking around nings, I really liked ning for teachers (http://teacherlingo.com/). I liked how it is a place where teachers share tips, grant resources, and lessons among other things. I believe nings can be good for collaboration within teachers from different places and grade levels. We all learn from each other and this seems like a good resource to do it virtually.

Thing #21: Podcasts and Videocasts

I had so much fun creating the photostory. It was so easy to do I can't believe I had not done it before. This is a cool tool to use in the classroom. I had fun and can see my students "playing" with photostory to create different projects.

Here is my first photostory.

Thing #20: YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

There is just a great amount of videos on youtube and teachertube that can be used as tools to enhance teaching. It provides us with an extra tool to deliver content to students and reach all learners. I searched on teachertube for math videos. I ran a search for two digit addition and got a lot of results. Here is one that I liked.

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

For this thing I decided to play with whiteboard (http://writeboard.com/).

What is special about the tool?

For me whiteboard offers the ability to create documents that are not stored in one computer but are "portable" as they can be accessed from the web. You can share it, collaborate, compare versions and even keep whiteboard documents organized in a "backpack"

What are its useful parts, especially with regards to Libraries and school?

I think the fact that you can share it and collaborate (reminded me of a wiki) is very useful. A neat feature that I liked was that you can check versions of the document so you don't have to be afraid of losing information while editing the document.

How might you use this tool in your own setting?

I think that I can use whiteboard in the classroom to have students work on group research projects.

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

I have used Google Docs in the past to create .pdf files that I otherwise could not do since I do not own the acrobat version that will allow me to create such files. The convenience of a free online tool is well, it is free. Sometimes there are software programs that you do not used too frequently and it might not make sense to purchase the software. The advantages of openOffice are that it is free and runs on multiple platforms. The disadvantages are that it does not have all the nice features that office has and it is another tool to learn how to use.

Thing #17: Rollyo

Wow. Rollyo was so easy to use. This is a tool that I will for sure be using in the classroom for research projects. I feel more in control of the sites that students should access while doing an independent project. Here is the link to the sample rollsearch I created http://rollyo.com/marcela/marcela_travel/

Thing #16: Wikis

I had actually heard from wikis but never seen one, much less participated in one. When I was reading about wikis and "editing" in the sandbox the first thing that came to my ming was "shared writing". To begin with, I think I will used wikis in the classroom as a shared writing tool for different topics. Sounds to me like I will be able to integrate technology, writing, and whatever subject my students are writing about.

Thing #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

After reading "Into a new world of librarianship I came to the realization that the way we interact with libraries and librarians is changing and will continue to change. How? It seems that librarians and in my case, teachers, have come to be more than ever collaborating to find technology and relevant content to reach our students. for me it means that I can use the librarian as a resource, a person that I can go to and say: we will be covering x topic can you help me find information. Together we can find the information for x content or technology uses to deliver that content more effectively and it does not necessarily mean me bringing my class to the library but perhaps bringing some laptops to the classroom to allow students to access the information.

While reading "Away from the icebergs" the thing that came to my mind was that we no longer really have to go to the library, the library can come to us. With the widespread use of the internet we have so much access to information and we no longer have to make a trip to the library. I always find myself going online and searching for what I am looking for. More over if there is a book I want, I try to find it online and buy it there and download it so I can read it. For me it means that I want to find more information online. For the librarian it means that they become a technology trainer in a way so that they can deliver more information to the library patrons.

Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work

I spend quite some time playing at Technorati. I ran several searches on topics of personal interest and came across some interesting articles and deviated from my "Thing" while I read those. But, after playing with Technorati I found myself pondering which "tag" tool I would use more and II think that delicious won. I find it very useful to tag my personal bookmarks for organizational matters and school related bookmarks to share with colleagues to create a wealth of extra resources.

The one thing about tags that comes to my mind is how reliable those tags are when searching through them? A lot of people can tag something as math for example. If I run the math search so many things can pop up and I wonder how relevant all those things are and how long will it take me to search through those.

Thing #13: Tagging and Discover Delicious

Bookmark Tagging is a totally new concept to me and one that I am glad to know now. I liked delicious and Digg and think that these are great resources to manage bookmarks and access them from different places, not just one place. It is also great that you can share bookmarks with colleagues, that way you build a good data bank of bookmark resources that can be used by all the people involved. There are so many times that I am given websites at staff development, and quite frankly with the information overload I tend to forget about them and do not use them; with the social bookmarking sites I can easily and quickly tag them and perhaps those sites will become a used resource.

Social bookmarking sites can be really useful for research, not only mine but, to have classroom research project. Students and I can choose a myriad of sites on research topics that later students can use to do a research project. Not only can the students in my classroom benefit but, students from the grade level can use them as well saving us teachers some precious time and giving students access to more "selective" information.

From being able to access bookmarks from different places, tagging bookmarks so that you can actually use them more easily, sharing bookmarks, to research projects, the advantages of social bookmarking are enormous.

Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting

While reading about commenting on blogs, I found it very interesting that sometimes I do not post the comment that I wrote on a blog. I realized while reading "How to comment like a king (or Queen!)" from Cool Cat's blog. I read the blog, write the comment and I just never hit post. Once I have made one comment on a particular blog I keep posting on that particular blog, it is kind of breaking the ice for me.

The other point that I liked while reading about commenting was to ask questions on a blog to encourage posts. It made me realize that for the most part I write the blog as if I was keeping a journal, seems as if I am setting it up so that people won't comment. I should work on this but keep not promises.

My two most recent posts on blogs (that are not Library2Play) where on a mommy's blog and on a blog about horses. Both blogs interest me because I have a personal connections with them, I am a FTM who likes to read about mommy's who have kids about my son's age, I find things in common and some tips there. I also like horses and I came across a blog about horses used for therapy, which I am very familiar with and therefore felt compelled to comment.

Thing #11: LibraryThing

It was nice to play with LibraryThing. It seems like it is a great to keep a track of the books you have, read, or want to read. I have to admit to have so many books stored and simply forget that I have them. LibraryThing is a great tool to keep a catalog of those books I have or want. It was very easy to create and account and add books to LibraryThing. It was super easy to navigate and it was cool how when you go to the groups tab, some of the groups are related to the books that are in your list. I visited some groups and found one that I really liked and will be re-reading some of the books on my list as one of the group's activities. It reminds me of a book study only that I will be rereading some of my favorite books. I really liked the concept.

Thing #10: Online Image Generator

It was nice to have some fun creating images using online image generators. Not only was it fun but easy. I can easily see my students using the happy face generator (http://www.happyfacegenerator.com/) to create images describing different feelings. While on my journey using the comic strip generator (http://www.comicstripgenerator.com/), I found that there are a lot of images that ae related to topics that I teach. I think this will provide students with a fun way to create comics about topics in all content areas.

Thing #9 - Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

Which Search tool was the easiest for you?

I found that off course Google Blog Search was by far the easiest. I liked Edublogs' award winners because it was categorized. Finally, Technorati was super easy to search and find information.

Which was more confusing?

I found Topix.net to be a bit confusing. The layout seems to simple but I personally did not like it. All the searches I ran either return nothing or not enough.

What kind of useful feeds did you find in your travels? Or what kind of unusual ones did you find?

I liked that I found some magazines that I currently subscribe to have feeds (never had I bothered to looked at their sites to see if they had RSS feeds. Also on Technorati I found an useful feed for iPad applications.

THING #8 - RSS Feeds and Readers

What do you like about RSS readers?

I decided to setup the RSS reader using Google Reader. I liked how easy it was to setup. I really liked how you can keep track of blogs, news, information that you recurrently read and how it tracks whether it is a new item or not. I search and follow a lot of information online and I think this tool is going to help a lot.

How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?

I now for sure that I will use this in my personal life to follow news, blogs, and all of the information that I normally follow online. I think it will save time and will be easier to read the stuff I normally do.

How can libraries/teachers/administrators use readers or take advantage of this new technology?

There is a wealth of information online that can be very beneficial for teachers to read and use. I thing it you set up this new technology to follow educational sites you can easily benefit from reading those sites and it seems like the reader will save lots of time that is so valuable and appreciated when you are a teacher.

THING #7 - Google

I am a Google type of person. I've used Google for so many years and not only the search engine. I have to admit the only search engine I use is Google, and quite a bit of it. I had never come across Google Scholar, which now I will certainly use a lot more. iGoogle was an application that I had not seen before. I like that it gives you your "own" home page. I can certainly see myself setting up an iGoogle home page for the classroom and have my students help set it up. google earth is one of my personal favorites. I stopped asking for directions and landmarks since I discovered Google Earth. It is really cool to zoom in and see where you are going. I have used tis application in the classroom when teaching my students about countries, states, cities; It is a concept that is hard for some of my students to understand and zooming in and out between continents, countries, states, and cities makes a connection for some of my students. The last Google application that I want to mention is Picasa. I am not a scrap booking type of person plus my husband and I have family all over the world. We find that uploading and managing our pictures on Picasa allows us to share more of our lives with our families and friends plus it keeps our memories somewhat organized (sorry no link to this one, set as private).

THING #6 - Mashups and 3rd party sites

I spend a lot of time playing with the mashups and other 3rd party sites. Definitely a lot of classroom application using those sites. I particularly liked Bookr the best. I can see my students creating different books in all content areas, great to use as a center. Mosaic maker seems like it would be fun to use in the classroom for different projects as well.

THING #5 - Flickr

I have to admit that I had come across Flickr many time but never bothered to check it out. After taking the tour and looking at some of the pictures I liked what I found on Flickr. It is a great resource to use in the classroom to bring different images to students on a lot of different topics.

THING #3 - Blog and Avatar

I had been wanting to start a personal blog for quite some time but life events kept getting in the way of doing it. I am glad that I finally did set up a blog for "23 Things" now, I might set up my personal blog as well. Truth be told, it was easy to set the blog up. Hopefully I'll keep working with it to add more content to it. I think that it will be nice to have a class blog set up and introduce it to my students.

The Avatar was really easy to set up and add to the blog. I think that my students will certainly find it very entertaining to create and avatar.

THING #2 - Lifelong Learning

While reading about the 7 1/2 lifelong learning habits I came to the conclusion that the easiest one for me is goals and the hardest one is play. I am a goal oriented person and I work setting goals not only learning but in EVERY thing I do. The hardest habit for me is play, maybe because I am a goal oriented person, I get very focused and determined into what I do that I forget to play in the process.