Thing 23!!!

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really enjoyed all of the exercises--I like learning how to blog, the mashups, using all of the google tools, and del.icio.ous

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I learned that even though I am pretty tech savy there is so much that I still don't know and that I need to continue to learn more. Everyday there is something new related to Technology and to keep up with the kids and give them the best education I need to continue to learn all that I can.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
There are so many more tools out there that I didn't know about!
I'm very glad that I took this class and the format was great for a summer class.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I liked the format- I thought it was easy use and very well thought out. Some of the videos were very basic and had monotone audio-that was difficult to get through. Other than that the videos and tutorials were very helpful. I am a very visual person so having the information presented in a video was very helpful!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would choose to participate. Like I said in the second question, it is very important to continue to learn everything you can about technology and the applications/tools that are available.

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?
Wow! Best use of my time for a technology class!

I would offer one suggestion to people though...I started working through each of the activities and then would continue without posting to my blog. I figured I would go back and post a few posts at a time...this is not the best way to do this class. You tend to get wrapped up in the exercises because they are fun to do that going back to blog can be difficult and you can get behind. Blog right after finishing and then continue with the next exercise.
Thank you so much for offering this class!! It was great!!

Thing #22 Nings

Nings were very interesting to learn about. I like that they can be geared to a specific topic. This would be very useful in a classroom setting especially in High School and College to have discussions outside of class continue. The fact that many kids/students now adays spend so much time on sites like Facebook and Myspace they might find using a Ning for a class more appealing. Like this class this summer. It doesn't feel like "work" it has been fun.

Thing #21

I love photostory. I had fun putting together a story about my puppy Chase. I could really use this in the classroom. The kids always love seeing themselves on TV. In the past I would play a slide show of the pictures from an activity or special event during our quiet time and they love it. Photostory is really easy to use and I like that you can add audio much easier. Now I just have to find my microphone to my computer to give me even more audio options! Here is my photostory: (trying for the tird time--I think the file was too big at first so I did some editing and resized it.)

Thing #20

I'm glad that I read ahead on the Library2Play assignments. I have been looking through YouTube and Teacher Tube all week. I knew about both but never really took the time to explore either one. I had better luck usually with YouTube in the fact that the videos seem to load faster. On Teacher Tube the videos paused a lot to buffer. However since Teacher Tub will run in district is a big draw. Especially since I found a lot of useful videos for my science units.
Here is one that I found

It is nice having a resource that has so many videos available for instant viewing.

Thing #19

I really liked Farecast for searching for Travel-flights, hotels, etc. I can't believe I haven't come across this site before.
I also have had fun playing around with My Heritage. It is really interesting.
I started this assignment a few days ago. I couldn't really decide which one to focus on so I decided I should just give myself a few days to play around with everything that I could. (and I'm still playing!)

Thing #18- Online Productivity Tools

I did not use the Open Office but did use Google Docs. Since I already had a google account I decided to go that route instead of downloading Open Office.
It was really easy to upload documents that I already had. This will make it easier to access my documents. I like that I can have access from any computer and won't have to remember to bring my zip drive. This will be really helpful at work to add documents that I work on at home. Then I can get to them whenever I need to. Now if I can find time to add everything to Google Docs to get me ready for school that would be great!

Thing #17 Rollyo

This is a great tool. I do have to admit that I grumbled a bit when I had to register for yet another site....but....I'm glad that I did. This really helps to narrow down the many sites that you could possibly search. There a several sites that I use a lot when I'm looking for recipes and it is nice to search only those sites verses the million that are out there. I'm in the process of making several Rollyo searches but here is the link to my cooking search.
http://rollyo.com/smfoster/recipes/

Thing #16

I really liked how easy the wiki was to use. Sign in was easy and adding to the wiki was so simple. It would be a great way to collaborate on a topic with out having to meet face to face. Wikis could be used to cut down on the meetings upon meetings that seem to build up during the school year. It seems as though a wiki could be started to begin the discussion so that when a meeting is plan you already have the discussion started. It could be a wonderful way to move a meeting along and increase the productivity during that meeting. Resulting in less face to face meetings but still reaching the your goal.
I also like that it can be used for anything for work to planning a trip with friends. It seems much easier to use than sending tons of emails back and forth to everyone.

Thing #15

After reading all of the articles, blogs, etc it really made me realize how much things have changed since I was in school. I've learned the new technology and have always been interested in technology so it was as obvious to me how much our lives have changed. I realized it when I was reading about how librarians jobs are changing. That is when I realized that I rarely stepped foot into the actual library in college. I had so many resources that made my research possible with out spending all day in the actual building. As a teacher I use my school library so much more than I ever have before. I think that has to do impart because of our WONDERFUL librarian. She is a graduate of this class and has implemented many of the Web 2.0 resources into our daily life as teachers and staff. It made me really think back to several years ago when I came to the school--our library has changed so much. (In a good way)
I have to wonder though--will the physical library building become a thing of the past since we have moved toward web based resources so much more? It seems odd to think that "going to the library" could take on a whole new meaning for my kids in the future....will they even know what a library like I know it (shelves of books, a library card, librarian to help you find that special book) looks like?

Thing #14

Working with Technorati was interesting. I was able to find a lot of different blog post. Some even led me to articles in some of the Online Newspaper Websites about events that I hadn't read about.
I'm not really sure though how this can help me in my classroom. The only way that I can think of right now is that it can help me find blogs about classrooms and education. However because blogs are opinions you have to be careful how much credibility you give the posts. It has be interesting reading and the tags make it much easier to find and search for you subject matter.