Thing 23

My favorite thing or activity is a hard question. I guess I would have to answer Youtube, podcasting and building the blog. Youtube and podcasting just because I already had experience with them and it was fun learning a little more about them. Building the blog was challenging at first and my layout needs some work but it has really helped my understanding about blogs. I could see using LibraryNet and delicous for classroom purposes.
This class has helped this non-techi person be less intimidated by all the new technology. I am less concern about keeping up with all the new technology; knowing that much will be obsolete by the time I get around to learning about it.
What I have taken away from this class is that is that with the right tools the possiblities to new information about the world or subject matter is limitless. If I can learn to experiment with technology; I know I am able to teach it to students.
I guess my frustrations had more to do with my lack of knowledge than the class itself. I wasn't always sure I was doing things the correct way; but I know with technology much of what we do is with experimenting and trying out the new technology. I often got side tracked by subject matter and forgot the purpose of the lesson. But, maybe the purpose was to explore the possiblitites of each thing. Time management is always a problem when working on the web.
I would certainly consider taking another discovery class about technology. I would really have to consider the time factor. I sometimes thought I would never finish an assignment and have to walk away and process all the new information. It was a challenge but at time also very fun and certainly useful.

thing 22

Well what a process but I think I got it. First, I live in Loveland so instead of trying to go through the Ft. Collins library I thought I would check with Loveland to see if they have Netlibrary. They don't, they have an alternative called Front Range Downloadable Library. So I had to find my library card from Ft. Collins that I hadn't used in several years. I set up an account through them for Netlibrary. I don't have a mp3 player but they have an alternative to download the book onto your computer. I downloaded The Soloist which I have been wanting to read. It immediately put my computer into slow motion. My husband was not happy. I then removed the download. I guess I will need to ask Santa for an MP3 player because there are many books I would love to listen to if I had the time. Open Culture also has some great possibilities. I need a vacation to start reading.

thing 21

I have been listening to podcasts for a long time. I just didn't know they were called podcasts. It was interesting to learn that the term was the number one new word in 2005. I guess I am running about 3 years behind. I found it very curious that the food and drug administration would have information about podcasts. I quess it can become a drug of choice for some of us. I looked at ODEO and found it mildly interesting. What I ended putting on my RSS line was NPR's educational podcasts. I think I will be using that information more often than anything on ODEO. Now that I know what I am listening to I might be adding a few more RSS lines to my blog.

YouTube

I have been viewing youtube for a while due to my teenage daughter wanting to share videos with me. I think it could be very valuable in the classroom if used with discretion, but unfortunately this is not an option for us at this time. I have been able to view on video speakers and topics that I had only read about and it adds a new dimension when I am able to see what I had only read about.

Thing 20

Pachelbel Canon in D Major with Mozart's picture for whatever reason

Thing 19

I have been having way too much fun exploring all the different award winning sites. I set up an account with My Heritage and took a sample language lesson under Mango. To continue the lessons I would have had to register and I'm not sure if there would be a cost involved. I checked out the education site but I found Docstoc sync not to be very useful for elementary school or schools in general. I could have spent a lot more time exploring all the award winning sites. Although I'm not sure I would have awarded all of them awards.