Oh! ....and One Last Thing



The 23 Things blog was incredibly informative and I learned so much more about Web 2.0 than I ever thought was out there.  My biggest take away from this is that there is an abundant wealth of tools for teachers to use, the only task is finding them online.  It just helps me know that I can find whatever I might need.

 

My favorite exercise in the 23 Things blog was learning about the LiveBinders.  This is something that I will absolutely use because it is both helpful and organized - and I can organize exactly how I want.  I also think that it was easy to see how applicable livebinders are for the classroom.  While I could think of classroom uses for many of the websites in the 23 Things blog, actually carrying those things out seemed a little daunting.  I like the easy application of this one.

 

I am a scientist and a life-long learner at heart, but this blog has made me see how fast technology is changing.  I have grown up with technology, but it is easy to get comfortable with what you know and never explore then new things out there.  As a result of this blog, I have been challenged not to let my knowledge of technology become stagnant, to keep learning what is possible. 

 

As far as criticisms, I don't have too many.  Each "thing" is pretty lengthy, but I think that is a direct result of just how much there is to learn about Web 2.0.  The biggest thing I noticed is that, even just a few years after the 23 Things blog was created, many of the included sites are not so novel anymore.  Mostly this has to do with the social media sites, and it might be neat to include Pintrest, the latest social media fad.  It is another great tool for teachers to find inspiration from others.

 

I think that this blog has really shown me how technology can make a huge difference in the education of a student.  I want to use as much technology in the classroom as I can, science is a great place to use it, and I like the resources I can make available to my students through a class blog, wiki or webpage.  These are the biggest take aways for me in regards to my educational practice.

 

Collaboration is a big way that I plan to keep up with Web 2.0 developments.  Following popular education blogs, sharing with other teachers online and just talking with my co-workers at school are great ways to keep up with what is going on.  Also, my husband is a technology "nerd" (and I use that term in a good way!) and seems to always know the new stuff that is available, he will also be a great help in keeping up with Web 2.0.

Thing #23



Creative Commons is a neat idea, especially for educators.  As a teacher, Creative Commons liscensing can be very useful in ensuring that work your create and make available to the public is used in the ways in which you intended it to be used.  I think it also gives other teachers a peace of mind knowing that lessons or activities, etc., that they find on the internet are legitimate resources they are allowed to used.  I am not too sure that I will be creating grand things to share online right when I start teaching, but once I have been established in the profession to see what things are most effective, it would be a good thing to share these ideas with others.  

 

As far as shoing that the 23Things for Teachers blog was based on somene else's work and modified, it is expressly explained in the credits section on the blog.  I have included a screenshot of it below.

 

 

Thing #22



 

 

Today I spent far too much time exploring and playing with LiveBinders.  This might be the single greatest discovery for me throughout the 23 Things Activity.  I am an organizer, and my world is happy when everything has a place and is neatly put away in it.  This is largely why I really liked LiveBinders - it allows you to organize dozens of websites from all over the Internet in whatever way you like.  As I created my LiveBinders, the first one I made ended up being a binder that I could give my students access to in order to find supplemental information on what we are presently learning.  I began a binder entitled Cell Biology, it is by no means complete, but I have made a good start on some things that would be helpful for students while we studied cells.  This binder is included below.  I also created a binder like this called Genetics for a similar purpose.  The last binder I made is called Science Teaching Resources.  Often, as I am looking for information, (and this has happened a lot with many of the learning activities I have done for this class) I will stumble upon a website that I think is really great and would be helpful in the classroom.  This could be videos or worksheets or activity ideas, anything, and this binder allows me to have a spot to keep all of these resources in one spot.  Very convenient! 

 

 

Thing #21

In this "thing" we got to play around with making our own video on a neat site called Animoto.  This is a quick and easy site to create videos using your own pictures and video clips.  They have a limited music library available, but it is easy to upload your own song bytes for use.  I made a free 30 second video on this site using pictures imported from Facebook.  Animoto made it incredibly easy to do this by having a menu option for "import Facebook Album."  This was fun and super easy to use.  If you were just wanting to put something together quickly that looked nice and somewhat professional, this is the site to use.  I like making my own movies in iMovie, but that is far more involved, so this would be great to use if I was just wanting to put something together to show my students. 

 

The video I created is made with pictures from an Ohio State - Navy Football game I went to with my family in 2009.  I was still an undergrad student at Ohio State then, about to start my senior year.  This was an especially fun game to go to becuase my husband (then fiance) is a West Point graduate, so the Army - Navy rivalry is also engrained in me, and it was fun to watch OSU play them.

 





Make your own slideshow with music at Animoto.

Thing #20

It is interesting to think that YouTube was still a relatively new site when the 23 Things were created, and now, just 5 years later, you'd be hard pressed to find someone who isn't familiar with it.  I have been using YouTube for quite a few years now and love the convenience it offers in finding videos.  I have used it to find instructional videos for the classroom as well as enjoyed perusing some of the funnier videos in my spare time at home.  

YouTube is a great supplemental aid in teaching, especially in science where animated videos of cellular processes, things that cannot be seen otherwise, are becoming more accessible.  This could also be of great use for school libraries to create an online video library as a resource for students and teachers.

One of the thins I love most about YouTube is its plethora of funny videos.  I truly believe that laughter is medicine for the soul, thus these are typically the kind of videos I seek out on YouTube when I am just looking around.  The video I have included is called People Falling Off Treadmills and it is one of the funniest things I have seen in a long time.  Enjoy!

Thing #19

Other Social Networking Sites

 

 

Facebook and Twitter are the biggest social networking sites, so it was interesting to explore some of the lesser-known, perhaps more mature, networking sites out there.  TeacherPop was neat, and you will find their badge at the bottom of my blog page.  They are full of interesting posts and helpful videos. 

 

I perused the list of other social networking sites listed in Thing 19 and found some that I had used, like IMDB, Flixster and Yelp, but had never joined.  I did, however, love finding the GoodReads social network site.  I am an avid reader and thought this was a great site!  It's like iTunes for books, and can recommend good reads based on books that have been interesting to you in the past.  I always joke that Barnes and Noble is my happy place, so this was a great find for me!

Thing #18

Facebook!

 

 

Social networking through Facebook is something that I have done for a while, and truly enjoy.  I was in my undergrad when Facebook first came out and was only available to students with college email addresses.  Facebook has changed a lot since its inception and I think it is important for teachers to know just how much social networking is a part of the lives of students today.  Social networking has the ability to be a great resource for reaching students and supporting their learning, but it can also have negative influences via bullying or inappropriate student-teacher communication. 

 

I like Facebook for its social aspect, but I would be hesitant to use it for my class.  Although you can create a class Facebook page, it is also linked to the social aspects of Facebook and I want to keep clear lines between my personal life and my professional life.  Students just don't need to know everything about me.  I know I can put security settings to keep students from being able to find my profile, but I just don't want to take the risk.  I would much rather create a classroom blog or wiki that is specifically designed for educational purposes.  I did not sign up for a Twitter account because I absolutely do not want one.  I understand that it can be used in a positive way for the classroom, but I just don't have any use for it and would rather not create another social media account.

Thing #17

Tagging & Social Bookmarking with Delicious

 

This was a neat "thing" to learn about.  I had never heard of Delicious, but thought it was a great idea for bookmarking websites and could see how helpful the social aspect of this would be for teachers.  When I signed up for my Delicious account I linked it with my Facebook for an easier login and it automatically brought up sites relating to science when I searched "educational technology."  It was neat that Delicious was able to retrieve my "interests" from facebook and apply them in the search results for websites that also coincided with educational technology. 

 

I can see how this would be a great way for teachers to keep track of educational websites, but I think this site would be more beneficial for teachers to use to plan and enhance their lessons rather than for use with students in the classroom.  It is a great source for teachers to find new ideas and lessons from others, as well as fun sites to enhance lessons with students. 

 

 



Thing #16

Web 2.0 Organization Tools

 

 

Customized start pages was the first organization tool discussed in this "thing."  I chose to create a start page using iGoogle because I already have a gmail account, so it would be easy to link my email, RSS feeds and calendar right to this start page.  It was really easy and I liked having all of the information that I am interested in right there on the start page.  I am always wanting to know the day's headlines and looking up new recipes, so it was neat to have both of those things right there on the first page.  I probably will not keep the iGoogle start page, mostly because Google is phasing it out and it will no longer be available after November of this year. 

Online Calendars are great!  My husband and I use Google calendars because it automatically syncs our schedules so we are always up to date with the other's appointments and such.  I also really like that online calendars can automatically sync to your smart phone.  I also use this tool between my Mac's iCal and the calendar on my iPhone.  It updates in one go, so I don't have to retype appointments, due dates and the like multiple times. 

To-Do lists can also be very helpful.  "Remember the Milk" is the only site of the 3 mentioned in Thing 16 that is still available for use.  The other 2 have been phased out.  This is now an app and an online program.  Personally, this app seems somewhat redundant for me.  I already have "Notes" on my iPhone, which is also quick and easy for writing to-do lists.  I am not a big "list" writer, so I don't see the need in downloading an app just for this purpose.

I think that all of these online organizational tools can be useful in the classroom.  Start pages can be placed on classroom computers for students to have quick and easy access to information they might need.  Online calendars are great for teachers and students to use to remember assignments, due dates and test dates.  To-do lists can also be helpful, especially if one wanted to keep "work" and school to-do lists separate from home lists.

Thing #15

Wikis!

 

 

I had heard of wiki's before, but never really understood how they worked, so this was a great activity in getting to understand them better.  I really like the concept behind wiki's because it allows for students to collaborate without needing to be face to face.  This is what really struck me as how I could best use wiki's in my classroom. 

 

I am going to be a science teacher, so while there may be room for some debate on issues, on the whole the class will be based more on observable facts.  I thought that wiki's could be a great place for students to work together on projects or current events topics in science.  I like that if I were to set up a class website, I could monitor student collaborations - helping students explore areas they might not have thought of or helping to keep them on the right track if they were to veer or get stuck. It's a great way for the class to be interactive with each other and with the teacher.

 

I edited the APSU 23 Things wiki on the Web 2.0 tools page about the site Quizinator.com.  I thought this was a really helpful site for teachers to use in creating quizzes and tests, and wanted to share that with others who visit the site.  It was very simple and user friendly.  I only wish I had more options for fonts and such to really make things creative.