Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Thing #18 TeacherTube, YouTube and User-Generated Video
There are a lot of good 2-3 minute videos on TeacherTube! The one that I chose for my blog was "How Not to use PowerPoint". It is funny and very informative on some do's and don'ts when making a PowerPoint. This particular video How Not to Use PowerPoint would be good to have on the library website for students to see as a quick review before diving into their project.
Saturday, March 22, 2008
Thing #17 Explore Web 2.0 Award Winning Apps
I am so impressed with Myra's class. After exploring various award winning Web 2.0 applications, I think that she has picked the most user friendly and useful applications for us to learn!
I tried using Yelp to see if the city guides and reviews would be helpful for a 6th grade social studies unit at our school. It was geared for the tourist vs. any real educational city information. Then I tried using Rollyo. This site allows you to build your own search engine. I personally prefer the del.icio.us account that Myra introduced us to earlier in this class. With the del.icio.us account you mark your favorite sites through this Internet tool vs. just adding favorites to every computer that you use.
Next I explored Farecast. This site offers free predictions on the possibility that fares will rise, or wait to purchase your ticket because fares will drop. You can set up fare alerts or get predictions to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean! I think that a lot of people would use this application for their family vacation plans or a college student flying back and forth for winter and spring breaks, etc. This tool seemed user friendly and fun!
Swivel was another fun Web 2.0 tool. This site had endless charts and graphs in all kinds of designs. This site could be useful to students working with a lot of data.
Newsvine hooked you up to all of the top newspapers and headlines in the United States. It also gave you the local weather for your city! This site would be useful to students who needed a quick way to stay on top of current events.
Medstory is the Web 2.0 tool that I will demonstrate at our next class. Our health class and some of the science classes are always doing research on various health issues. It is hard to keep up with current nonfiction books, so the Internet seems to be the most up to date source of information for the students to use. This site complements www.WebMd.com that the students use a lot for their projects at our school. Medstory has you search a topic, then breaks that down into 8 different headings with numerous listings under each heading to refine your search.
This was a fun Thing #17 to explore!
I tried using Yelp to see if the city guides and reviews would be helpful for a 6th grade social studies unit at our school. It was geared for the tourist vs. any real educational city information. Then I tried using Rollyo. This site allows you to build your own search engine. I personally prefer the del.icio.us account that Myra introduced us to earlier in this class. With the del.icio.us account you mark your favorite sites through this Internet tool vs. just adding favorites to every computer that you use.
Next I explored Farecast. This site offers free predictions on the possibility that fares will rise, or wait to purchase your ticket because fares will drop. You can set up fare alerts or get predictions to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean! I think that a lot of people would use this application for their family vacation plans or a college student flying back and forth for winter and spring breaks, etc. This tool seemed user friendly and fun!
Swivel was another fun Web 2.0 tool. This site had endless charts and graphs in all kinds of designs. This site could be useful to students working with a lot of data.
Newsvine hooked you up to all of the top newspapers and headlines in the United States. It also gave you the local weather for your city! This site would be useful to students who needed a quick way to stay on top of current events.
Medstory is the Web 2.0 tool that I will demonstrate at our next class. Our health class and some of the science classes are always doing research on various health issues. It is hard to keep up with current nonfiction books, so the Internet seems to be the most up to date source of information for the students to use. This site complements www.WebMd.com that the students use a lot for their projects at our school. Medstory has you search a topic, then breaks that down into 8 different headings with numerous listings under each heading to refine your search.
This was a fun Thing #17 to explore!
Thing #16 Learning a Language
LiveMocha.com was introduced to the web in September 2007 according to a New York Times article Learning from a Native Speaker Without Leaving Home.
I was amazed that there had already been over 200,000 users on this site in six months! LiveMocha is a social network using native speakers to help other people wanting to learn their language.
I set up an account on LiveMocha and was impressed that there were four different levels of Spanish lessons that I could try immediately. I think that I need Spanish 101, little or no exposure to the language! The lessons are self-paced. There are three sections with the lessons, learn, practice and share. Within minutes of being on this site I had someone asking if they could IM me! I am going to talk to our Spanish teachers at our school and see if they are aware of this site.
I was amazed that there had already been over 200,000 users on this site in six months! LiveMocha is a social network using native speakers to help other people wanting to learn their language.
I set up an account on LiveMocha and was impressed that there were four different levels of Spanish lessons that I could try immediately. I think that I need Spanish 101, little or no exposure to the language! The lessons are self-paced. There are three sections with the lessons, learn, practice and share. Within minutes of being on this site I had someone asking if they could IM me! I am going to talk to our Spanish teachers at our school and see if they are aware of this site.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Thing #15 Audiobooks and eBooks
I was amazed at how many audiobook and ebook download sites there were to explore. There are many free download sites available.
"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic novel by Jane Austen that is a required summer reading for the 9th grade honors class. If the student is having a difficult time understanding the book or "getting into" the book, hearing it via an audiobook might be a good way to get them interested in the book. Check out "Pride and Prejudice" on the Online Books Page. This site also gives supplementary information to the reader/listener. There are links to themes, lists of characters, etc. which provide valuable insight to help the reader understand the book better.
My daughter recently read "Treasure Island" for a language arts assignment. She had a hard time getting interested in this book. I found the free audio book on Free Classic Audio Books. I wish that I would have discovered this sooner! I think that she might have enjoyed the book better if she could have listened and followed along to some of the chapters.
I think that there will always be a need for the hard copy of a book! Too many people like myself have a book in hand while waiting at the doctors office and waiting in the carpool line. I like to be able to pick up a book and read a chapter in a quick amount of time. The audiobooks are great for long trips or walking on the treadmill!
"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic novel by Jane Austen that is a required summer reading for the 9th grade honors class. If the student is having a difficult time understanding the book or "getting into" the book, hearing it via an audiobook might be a good way to get them interested in the book. Check out "Pride and Prejudice" on the Online Books Page. This site also gives supplementary information to the reader/listener. There are links to themes, lists of characters, etc. which provide valuable insight to help the reader understand the book better.
My daughter recently read "Treasure Island" for a language arts assignment. She had a hard time getting interested in this book. I found the free audio book on Free Classic Audio Books. I wish that I would have discovered this sooner! I think that she might have enjoyed the book better if she could have listened and followed along to some of the chapters.
I think that there will always be a need for the hard copy of a book! Too many people like myself have a book in hand while waiting at the doctors office and waiting in the carpool line. I like to be able to pick up a book and read a chapter in a quick amount of time. The audiobooks are great for long trips or walking on the treadmill!
Thing #14 Podcasting
Podcasting is a means of distributing audio content over the Internet, usually via RSS (Really Simply Syndication). I listened to a podcast from SirsiDynix Institute with Greg Schwartz, the supervisor of Electronic Services at the Louisville Free Public Library. He said that you can subscribe to feeds with topics of your interests and be alerted when there is a new podcast available. You can customize and personalize exactly what podcast you want to listen to and you can control when you want to listen to it!
A teacher at LYMDSR was going to have her students listen to a particular podcast for a class assignment. The students can download the podcast to their ipod and listen to it at their convenience. Another option is to listen to the podcast right at your computer. You can play a podcast over and over again, stop and start it, etc. You don't have to turn on your radio at the exact time to listen to a broadcast!
I explored some of the podcast directories. I personally liked Findpodcasts the best. It listed categories and then various titles. It indicated how many hits each title had.
A teacher at LYMDSR was going to have her students listen to a particular podcast for a class assignment. The students can download the podcast to their ipod and listen to it at their convenience. Another option is to listen to the podcast right at your computer. You can play a podcast over and over again, stop and start it, etc. You don't have to turn on your radio at the exact time to listen to a broadcast!
I explored some of the podcast directories. I personally liked Findpodcasts the best. It listed categories and then various titles. It indicated how many hits each title had.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Thing #13 Experiment with Google Apps
iGoogle is one of the products available under Google Applications.
iGoogle is so easy to use and customize to your own interests. I have set up an iGoogle home page for myself. A few of the links that I have showing on my page are:
- Longmont weather and time
- Top stories
- Mapquest
- fitness tip of the day
- places to see before you die!
iGoogle can be accessed from any computer because it is online vs. just on your particular desktop. You do need to have a Google account (which is free) before you can use any of the Google application products.
There are about 24 different products that you can use under Google Applications. I did experiment with the Book Search. I am a visual person so I like to see the covers of a book. I entered "Science Fiction" and it shows the book covers for this genre. I recognized some of the covers that we have in our library and didn't realize that they were in the science fiction category. The next time that a student comes in the library asking for a science fiction book, I know several more that I can show them now!
The Book Search was OK, but I like my own customized Book Review tab under iGoogle better.
A fun gadget that you might want to add to your iGoogle page would be myrecipes.com
Do you ever get home from work and need a quick meal idea? You can go to your iGoogle page, quickly check the headlines, weather, and search for a recipe in just a matter of minutes vs. opening up each website.
The iGoogle application could be used in a library for students to have a quick link to the top news, book reviews, technology news, etc.
Thing #12 Open Source Applications
Google Docs is an example of a web based application that is an open source software. You do not have to install the application on your desktop, it can be accessed and used from any computer around the world! I think that the neatest feature is that multiple people can make revisions to your document online and you do not have to email everyone with an attachment! You can keep track of which version has the latest revisions because there is only one copy and that is ONLINE! You can also control who you want to see and edit your document.
I experimented with the Google Docs spreadsheet. It took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the different tool bar, but basically it works the same as the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I think that there are fewer tool bar options on Google Docs, which might make it even easier to use than Excel.
A possible practical application for the district media clerks might be to post your schools actual dollar and quantity purchase amount for fiction and nonfiction books on a Google docs spreadsheet. Holli at DMS would be able to use this as a comparison of funding when talking with principals. Another use might be to keep your own schools expenses online (without viewers) vs. using Excel on Citrix. See my example spreadsheet.
Zoho Writer is another example of an open source word processor application. It has many of the same features as Google Docs. You can share documents online and you do not have to email and use attachments. I spent more time playing around with Google Docs for this assignment.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Thing #11 Wikis
Wiki = quick in Hawaiian!
Here are some of the things that I learned about Wikis during this assignment:
I did find some great wiki thoughts on marketing which coordinated with some of my ideas for the assigned section of the Media Clerks Manual Wiki.
I feel so much more comfortable about Wikipedia after this assignment! I had been somewhat hesitate to have the students rely on this website for their research information. Now I know how to show the students the history about their site, and especially how to explore other links related to their topic!
Here are some of the things that I learned about Wikis during this assignment:
- free
- simple
- easy and fast way to create a community website
- benefit from the expertise of other people
- basic control buttons are EDIT, SAVE, and LINK!
- endless links to other sources on the same topic
- initial information entered is constantly changing and ongoing
- Ward Cunningham is the original creator of Wiki
- most comments/additions to the wikis are added by people who have a passion for this topic
- easy to glimpse at the history of each article and verify validity
I did find some great wiki thoughts on marketing which coordinated with some of my ideas for the assigned section of the Media Clerks Manual Wiki.
I feel so much more comfortable about Wikipedia after this assignment! I had been somewhat hesitate to have the students rely on this website for their research information. Now I know how to show the students the history about their site, and especially how to explore other links related to their topic!
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