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.

Thing 18

I have continued to check to see if my registration has gone through, but after one week I am thinking it is not going to happen. When I played around with Zoho I found it easy to use, but I don't think it was any easier than Microsoft.

Thing 17

I am having problems finding Rocky Mountain PBwiki. I checked several blogs and found that others had the same problem that I had.
Later as I was exploring 2.0 I found the PBWiki site, but I was not able to do any exploring as it required that I create a wiki which I am not wanting to do at this time. I have been having some problems with my Spy ware getting way to many cookies.

Thing 16

Wiki
It was fun learning about the origin of the meaning of wiki. My first thoughts about wikis were the problems of reliability and accuracy. But, the example of the camping trip made me start to think about uses that don't necessarily require accuracy such as a family wiki site. I found a fun one for students
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior where young people can write and edit books. This is truly a collaborated effort.

Thing 15

The quote on Will Richardson's blog seemed so true with all the new developing technology.
"The illiterate of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." -- Alvin Toffler
The unlearning part is what seems the most challenging to me. Our students, I believe will find it easier to do the unlearning part than the teachers that teach them. The social tagging, folksonomy and all the collaborated social-networking as described in wikipedia will open up learning doors for our students that were more difficult in pretechnology days. Learning 2.0 has opened up communication to a new level. Even our new president elect uses Obamatwitter.

Thing 14

I spent a lot of time trying to pull up information through the blogs and tags. I'm not sure I have a handle on it yet. Often I would get distracted by other information that looked interesting. I guess it could certainly be a time management problem using technorati to get to the information that you would want to find.

Thing 13

I set up my own Del.icio.us which was very easy and did 2 tags. I found it very simple to use Del.icio.us and it lead me to some interesting web sites that I might not have found on my own. I think if I am to get the most out of this bookmark I need to learn to tag clearly and meaningfully. Also, my techi vocabulary is expanding although I'm not sure if I always use it correctly.

Thing #12 Rollyo

I liked the easy of searching for my topics but I think I am missing something. I kept thinking what is the difference if I did a google or yahoo search and just put the sites in my favorites folder. I think it means one less step doing my research using my favorites folder. I guess I am not understanding the big picture.

Thing 11

Wow! I really enjoyed the library thing. What a great way to connect with others with similiar interests and to find other books that might be interesting. I still haven't figured everything out about the Library Thing that I want but it will be a site that I will be using a lot.

Thing 10

After trying to figure out the generator designs several times on 2 different days I have decided to give it a rest for now. Maybe I can come back to it later and put a design together. I am just frustrated now.

Thing Number 9

I look up the search engines that you suggested. I found topix extremely unuseful. It was even a little distasteful and offensive. Sydic8.com I was unable to get any information it just kept trying to download. Techorati was more useful but I probably wouldn't use it to find feeds. I quess I just have my favorite web sites that I like, and as I go to them I will see if they are feeds that will work in my blogline.

Thing Number 8 - RSS

I'm not sure if I know enough about RSS and newreaders yet to say I truly like them. But, I think the possibilities for liking them are there. It would be a time saver for collecting information on specific topics to research or interests to follow. Although, sometimes I like surfing the internet because it leads me into paths I might not have followed if everything came to me. I'm am wondering though if it is also a better way for others to track my interests and try to sell me things. Another form of excessive junk mail.
I think for schools or libraries it would be a great way for students who are researching or keeping up with the latest news about specific subject areas.

Thing Number 7 -Technology

I have been using a computer for over 25 years and the rate of change is really beyond my comprehension. I remember when I went to college and the basement of an entire building took up the space for one “computer”. The first class I took was learning how to write code. It was totally incomprehensible to me. What I really valued the most from the use of a computer was the keyboarding improvements over a typewriter. I found I could type something in less than half the time just because I didn’t have to correct my typing errors. It was the stone ages before computers. I know it sounds so simplistic now but I really am not that old. I love the fact that I can look information up on the internet quickly and easily. I remember the card catalogs in the library and having to check each book to see if the information I wanted was in it. In reflection computers/technology have been a great time saver in many ways but it but they can also suck up time.

Straight No Chaser 12 days

Take a listen to the Straight No Chaser group performing the 12 Days of Christmas on the Video Bar. It is one of the funniest and best performances I've seen. The group first performed at Indiana University. Someone saw a YouTube recording and 10 years later they got back together to make a DVD.

october 17th, 2008

I am still wandering around this blog trying to learn how I can post my comments.