FINALLY DONE!!

I have learned a lot from this whole experience. There were some activities that I really enjoyed and some not so much. As I said before my favorite was Image Chef and Animoto. I see how many of these activities would benefit a teacher and their students. There were some items that could be updated for this class. For example, the social networking activities. I do plan to use the tools that I learned about in the future.

Thing # 22 Livebinders

My Livebinder contains Special Education materials that will be useful in the future. It was easy to create and is a good place to store important materials. I liked that I was able to see other people's binders and tabs that are similar to mine. This is a good place where teachers can share their materials and ideas.

Thing # 23 Creative Commons

I searched for other places that are using Learning 2.0 and found a website for librarians in the UK. I  noticed at the bottom of the website it had some restrictions through Creative Commons. I believe that it is important for teachers to be familiar with  Creative Commons because they create a lot of different materials. Before this class I was unaware of Creative Commons. I will use this in the future and teach my students the importance of this tool.

Thing # 21

Make your own slide show at Animoto.

This was so much fun and easy!! My daughter helped me pick the music and when she saw the final product she could not stop laughing. Animoto was very user friendly. This would be a great tool for teachers to use. They could create a video for their class (with parents permission of course).




Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

Thing # 20 Love Youtube

I love YouTube! It has helped me get through math several times. I learned how to do the purl stitch in knitting. One night really late I wanted to try a new stitch. It was too late to ask anyone. Amazingly, I found several videos on YouTube.This is a wonderful place for learning. It's also a great place to laugh! I wacthed this video several months ago, but everytime I watch it I can not stop laughing :)

Thing # 19 NING TEACHER POP :/

This was my  LEAST favorite Things to do! I had to request to be a part of this. While waiting I forgot about this THING! I have tried time and again to get a badge on my blog and was unable to do so. So, (sigh) I guess you can figure that I was unable to get widget on my blog. I think it is a nice place for preservice teachers to get some helpful advice from others. I know I will need all the advice anyone has to offer. I begin student teaching in the fall so maybe I will revisit this site.

I was able to post on one person's page!

Thing # 13 Google Docs

Thing # 18 Social Networking

I used to have a Facebbok account and I deleted it. When I first began to use it I loved it. I thought what a wonderful way to keep up with friends and family that live far away. I just got tired of it and how some people portray themselves on it. I still keep up with friends and family by calling them personally or texting. It's much better to hear their voice.

I did create a Twitter account just for this class. I rarely use it. I do think it could be a useful tool for teachers to send their students and parents quick messages pertaining to school. For another Thing I used an educational Twitter.  I liked her tweets because she provided a lot or reading resources and links. Here is my link to my Twitter:
https://twitter.com/#!/nwilliamson2

Here is Sandy Flemming's Twitter account. She posts useful resources for literacy.
https://twitter.com/#!/tutor1235

Thing # 17 Delicious

I think Delicious is a great tool for teachers to use in their classroom. Students can use this when working on group projects and and want to pull all their resources together. Teachers can post resources for their students to use at home. For example, math websites so they can have extra practice.  This tool makes it easier  to  access my favorites anywhere I go. I also like that I can see what other people have bookmarked and what they think of it. I did not care for Digg, but I liked StumbleUpon.

Thing # 16 Getting Organized

I already have an iGoogle homepage set up on my personal computer. I love it because I have it set up to meet my needs. I have both of my email accounts, news, weather, sticky notes, and a couple of other widgets for entertainment. I think it makes it easier to have everything on one page. I like to change my background theme every couple of days just to have something new.

 I also already use iGoogle calendar. I find this very useful because I can access it at school or home. I like that it emails me a reminder of what I have scheduled for the day. This is a great tool for teachers because they can plan at home and see it the next day at school.

I created a Remember the Milk account and I think it is too much work. I already have sticky note reminders on my iGoogle homepage and iGoogle calendar to remind me of things I need to do. I would recommend iGoogle homepage and calendar. I love these tools and use them on a daily basis. I like having everything already connected to my google account without having to create a lot of different accounts. 

Thing # 15 Wikis

I am not crazy about using the information from wikis. I have always been told that the some of the information is not valid. I do see how it can be convenient for students for communication like the camping example in the video. I posted my Thing # 9 in the APSU sandbox because I enjoyed that activity the most thus far. I found the fact that information can be changed by different people interesting.  How are people supposed to know what is a true fact? I had a difficult time navigating and had to look some stuff up on YouTube. I was not that crazy about this activity. 

Thing # 14 Flow Charts and Mind Maps

I chose Gliffy for flowcharts and Mindmeister for mind mapping. I did not use Bubbleus because I did not want to wait for an invitation.  I found both the Gliffy and mindmeister sites user friendly. Gliffy provides a SWOT option which focuses on strengths, weaknesses, opportunity, and threat that a student can analyze.  I had never seen but would be good for older students. It also provides Venn Diagrams which I am a big fan of and use for myself to help study. I also really liked Mindmeister's format. I never thought I would say this, but I like the big icons the site provides. I believe teachers and students would both benefit from these sites.

Thing # 4

Why Commenting is so important?

Commenting is so important because it allows people to share ideas and stay informed. If blogs were only one sided you would not be able to see others perspectives on a subject matter. The sharing of ideas helps us grow academically and personally.

I will come back at the end of the course with the information of the blogs that I have commented on.

Thing # 12

I set up an iGoogle account and loved it. I am going to use it as my homepage from here on out.  It was fun selecting a theme and selecting gadgets to use. I applied local weather, news, and jokes. I love to keep with all these items. Google has so much to offer other than just a search engine. I also checked out Google calendar and found to be useful. I like that I am able to keep up with all my activities in one place. iGoogle and Google calendar are both useful tools that teachers can use in their personal life and in the classroom. Teachers can post activities and homework assignments on the calendar and access it right from their computer. The iGoogle tools allows teachers to set up their homepage with items that interest them and relate to school activities.

Thing # 11

Finding Good Feeds

Which search was best for me?

I found that the Google search tool was best for me. It was easy to use and did not have a lot of items on homepage. I really liked that there was only one place for me to type in my interest.

Which was confusing for me?

I looked at Topix and Technorati and there were too many options and items to choose from on the homepage. I like it when all I have to do is type in my keyword and not have to waste time looking for the place to type in the keyword.

Thing # 10

I am not big on surfing the Internet. I did set up a Google Reader account and subscribed to several different things. This is not something that I would really use in my personal life. To me it is similar to adding something to my Favorites. Maybe if checked a lot of different items online it would be more beneficial. There is one thing that I liked about it and it was that I was able to look at posts from different blogs at the same time. I do like to read education blogs to get ideas so I would use this as an easier way of keeping with them.

Thing # 9

I used ImageChef  http://www.imagechef.com/ for this exercise. I really enjoyed this activity as much as I did the last. I have never used any type of image generator so this was a new experience for me. This website provides many different templates to check out. These tools would be so much for the classroom just to put a little excitement and color into lessons. I love the beach so I thought it was pretty neat to use a beach scene where the water washes over the sand.

Thing # 8

I think this was my favorite Thing to do. I enjoyed uploading my pictures to see what it would look like. The puzzle and mosaic maker are my two favorite. I love to scrapbook and the mosaic maker is similiar. I think for the classroom it would be fun to use all of the different mashups for classroom pictures (with parents permission of course). I think kids would love to see themselves in different ways.

Paws Thing #7

Paws, a photo by nwilliamson2 on Flickr.

He is the new addition to our family. I thought creating a Flickr account and setting it up was user friendly. I did have some issues sending this photo to my blog. I think it could be a useful tool in the classroom but I am not sure right now what I would use it for. It is great for sharing photos with family and friends. I have friends and family scattered everywhere so I may use it for my personal use. I am still unsure how comfortable I am posting photos on the Internet. I am so afraid that someone will misuse the photos and the Internet is forever. I set all my settings to private so it should be okay.

Thing # 6

The web 2.0 tool I decided to use was the GoodGuide. This tool allows consumers to check how green and safe products are that they purchase. I found it to be pretty cool because you are able to type in a product that you buy and it breaks it down into how it effects society, the environment, and health. It even has a mobile app that you can use while your shopping. It makes it possible to make a decision right there in the store before buying. The only set back that I saw was that sometimes it does not always have the items that I purchase on there.


http://www.goodguide.com/

Thing # 5

Teacher 2.0

I checked out Teacher 2.0 and I really enjoyed this perspective. It's a great website that has tons of information. The author Aaron Smith conducts podcast that allows teachers to share technology information and techniques they utilize in their own classrooms. He also provides lesson ideas and links on his blogs. I found a couple of his suggested ideas to be great. He mentions delicious.com and how it's a great way to share saved information with multiple computers.  He also gave me a lead on a math blog since my power point is going to be math.

Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators

The next one I read was Web 2.0: A Guide for Educators. It discussed how technology has changed the way we live and learn. Many young people are already using Web 2.0 by using social networks where they are able to stay in touch with people all over the world. Children can learn from a wide variety of ways that do not always include a textbook. Through blogs and podcasts they can gather large amounts of information.

School 2.0

School 2.0 means that learning does not always have to happen in a classroom. Children can learn while at home and within their own community. Children need to be aware of their community and what it has to offer. School 2.0 to me means that the traditional ways of learning of just reading a text book and listening to your teacher is a thing of the past. Those methods are no longer enough for our children to keep up. While I was in school I RARELY used a computer or any type of technology. My daughter is in the first grade and is able to navigate the internet and computer with ease. She taught my mother how to log on :). I believe in the future schools will be more technologically advanced than we ever dreamed. It does make me sad in a sense because several months ago on the news learning how to write in cursive in schools was up for debate. Many thought it was not necessary because much of the work is now done on computers.

Thing # 3

I found it pretty easy so far setting up and registering my blog. I do plan to use a blog and/or website in my classroom. I think it is something that will benefit teachers, students, and parents. It is a great tool to post homework assignments and class news. This way there is little room for error. I also think it is a good resource for parents to keep up with what their children are learning in the classroom. As a parent, I would love it if my daughter's teacher had a website and/or blog. There have been many times after school when I asked her what she did and her response is 'I don't remember'.

Thing #2

My experience in creating my blog was very interesting and at times frustrating. As I became familiar on how to navigate the site I became more comfortable. I had a hard time deciding what my font, colors, and background should be, and I imagine I will want to change them frequently. When naming my blog I wanted to keep it simple and something easy to remember. I am not very creative when it comes to naming things (I let my daughter name all our pets).
The avatar I made for my blog was the first one I have ever created. I found it to be easy and the instructions on Learning 2.0 website very helpful. I designed my avatar to resemble me as best I could. I wanted to use features that did not resemble me but decided it would take too much time going through all the features. I used textbooks as my accessories because I feel like that is all I do. I think a blog would be a great way to communicate with parents and children, as well as, help them learn how to use technology. Overall, I found this activity fun and can see the usefulness in the classroom and personaly.

Thing #1

After watching the tutorial about lifelong learners, I discovered that the hardiest task for me would be using technology to my advantage. When I was in school we did not have many opportunities to use computers or any other type of technology. Even while I was earning my B.A I did not do much except type papers and check emails. I do not like to sit in front of a computer and when we had Christmas break  I did not open my computer except to confirm my classes. Schools today are using more and more technology in the classrooms and it is a wonderful tool for teachers and their students. I am sure that the students will be teaching me a thing or two when it comes to technology. The easiest habit for me is having a goal in mind.  I like to set daily and long term goals because it keeps me on track. I think of graduation ( major goal ) on a daily basis and I know if I work hard and do my best I will get there. After I have completed a goal  no matter how big or small I feel very satisfied.