Thing 23 - Final Thoughts

I now know more than I did before. Summmer was a great time to spend time getting acquainted with different tools that Web2 has to offer. It was frustrating at times and I thought I was spending way too much time - but the experience was worthwhile.

In public schools we are limited on what sites the students can use. Anything that talks about social networking scares people. I think a blog would be a great tool for students to write. It would also be a great tool to discuss books. I realize that there is so much available for students to organize and put their ideas into a product. What is also great is most of this free. Thanks for the opportunity. I will be spreading the news.....

Thing 22 What did I learn today?

I do need to start spending more time browsing the Internet. I still spend 15 minutes in the morning and at least 10 minutes at night looking at the daily newspaper. Some of this time could be spent browsing the Internet. When you work with computers all day, sometimes I would rather not look at them a night. It seems to be more relaxing to read the news. I realize that the Internet can be so much more individualized. With your RSS feeds and subscriptions, you tell the computer what you are interested in reading about. I do thing I learned a lot from this experience. At least when someone talks about a Web 2 item, I will know what they are talking about.

Stick 21 - Beyond Myspace - Other social networking sites

I don't see myself getting too excited about myspace. It seems to be a lot of work and I am not prepared for rejection. Not to many people want me as a friend at my age. I do see other sites like Library Thing or a social network like Geni to be worthwhile. You find people that have the same interests or passions, and you share ideas. I think a good idea would be that you find lists of social network sites and post theses on a library website

Stick 20 Social Networking and Libraries

If you are dealing with anyone under the age of 25, you need to be involved in social networking. As an educator you hear all about the problems that social networking can cause.
Students need to know how to be safe on-line. I created a file on Facebook. I wanted to see how easy it was. Someday soon I will create a profile and add some pictures. Then I need to find some friends. My children have politely said that they will not accept me as a friend. Oh well!!
I would probably learn things I don't want to know.

Stick 19 Podcasting

I enjoyed articles that were on-line discussing podcasting. I didn't realize that the name comes from the I-pod and the word casting. I have downloaded podcasts to my I-pod from I-Tunes. There are many free ones you can subscribe to. I enjoy shows from MPR and Garrison Keillor shows. I am always amazed at how fast things can download as a mp3.

I think podcasting would be great for students. Students could create podcasts instead of writing a paper or giving a speech.

Stick 18 YouTube

This is one that my students just love but was blocked because of its content. It has so many wonderful things available that can be used to educate. It is a wonderful resource for teachers to use when creating lessons. The only problem is that as the article ("7 things about YouTube) states was that the videos may not always be available. There also may be concerns about using the content because of copyright violations. As educators we have more flexibility in using materials for educational purposes, but again we have to make sure we are not violating copyright.

Stick 17 ELM Productivity Tools

I could see where these tools will come in handy. Thanks for the hints on how to make it work with a proxy server. I wish I knew a way to convince my students that databases such as ELM provides can be so much easier and richer than anything that they can get on Google. I guess we can only show them what it has to offer and they will have to decide what they want to use. You can bring a horse water but you can't make him drink (or something like that).