It's been a while.

One Last Thing.

Well the roller coaster ride is almost over. I do have to say this has been my favorite education so far, even though I spent most of the time wanting to pull my hair out, it is definitely challenging. I think this class provides a lot of great information, but it's almost too much in a condensed time summer course. I know we have all proved that it can be done regardless of being technically challenged, but I'm sure we are all feeling the effects. My favorite part was learning about all the free productivity tools that are available on line. These tools will be very useful in the future. Probably the most surprising thing I learned is Facebook is not as evil as I thought. I'm not sure how well I'll keep up after changing web2.0 tech after this class but hopefully I'll find what I need to know. It would be great if Dr. Wall could link the ever evolving 23 things on to teacher pop to help us less technically savvy people. I have found a lot of great tools and will be using them to keep organized and in touch with current news in my fields of study. I would like to keep my page updated but not sure how well I actually do it. I'll probably at least use my flicker account now that I have it. I don't know what else I would add or change to the class than providing a warning for those who take it during a short semester.

Thing # 4 and you thought I couldn't count

Well now that the other 22 things are down we're back around to # 4. Commenting is needed in an online community so people know they're not just talking to them selves. Another benefit to commenting is you may be able to provide information or encouragement they other wise would not have. The Blogs I commented on were Shannon's because I agreed with her on the amount of time it takes to accomplish some of these task on line. I commented on Mitch's blog on how podcast can be useful even without posting them online. I had to agree with Lori G. on how feed readers were going to make a difference on the amount of junk e-mail I would receive, and I informed Amber where she might find more School House Rock videos. The last class mate I commented to was Brittney on here great idea for using wikis to go global. My blog search led me to Brad Kimberly's Blogging-Iraq page. He was blogging about how Iraqi dirt gets into every thing and I let him know that three years after leaving Iraq I'm still finding dirt in electronics. The last blog I commented on was on The Fat Girl's Guide to Living. I was looking for blogs on recreational kayaking and found their post on larger people and kayaking. The post talked about kayaks with larger cockpits but I noticed they didn't mention sit on top kayak which have plenty of room for any body. I'm part of a large group of kayaking family and friends and this is problem we see a lot of people misinformed on. Hopefully my comments will help someone.

Thing # 23 Creative Commons

Creative Commons is a great site to ensure the material you use is legal and that you set a proper example of media use for students. I plan to use Creative Commons for my media needs on my future assignments. I also plan to have my students use Creative Commons so they can show their legal use of content on projects. I found this attribution at the bottom of the Web 2.0 / 23 things page.

Thing # 22 Podcast

The podcast I listened to for exercise was from the Dave Ramsey, I'm not always able to listen to the show on the radio so it's nice to catch it later. Dave has a lot of great and simple advise on personal finance. and believe excerpts from his show would be great for my class. I added the RSS feed to my reader so I know when the most current shows are posted. I found the podcast through podcast directoy.com which I found pretty easy to use and it provides a lot of topic areas to look through. I believe I will create some of my own podcast later on to help supplement lessons.

Thing # 21 Animoto

One of my favorite Taylor Mali Poems "Labeling Keys"

Thing # 20 Fun with Youtube

Thing # 19 Other social networks

It looks like you can find a social site for just about anything. I did like the teacher librarian Ning when I took a look at it but have not joined. I do not belong to any online communities as of yet other than joining Teacher Pop but I have found a couple that interest me. There is one site I've start to join but membership is pending until I can submit some paperwork. I will probably find some networks for hobbies I enjoy and a couple pertaining to the subjects I intend to teach. I definitely believe these more specialized site have the potential to provide a good source of information on almost any topic.

Thing # 18 Social networks

Well I've joined the evil forces of face book. I 'm having a little difficulty navigating around the site but found getting started really easy. I can see how this could be a good site for tracking down colleagues you haven't communicated with in a while and staying in touch with other teachers, but not really sure how it could be used in a class. I found that it is easy to find people and it appears I have a lot of friends and family that use this site. of course since I'm not a real social person I may be blind to its potential uses.

Thing # 17 Tagging and Social Bookmarking

Delicious has to the potential to be a great tool for teachers who use it. Being able to create a bookmark that can be from any computer and can be tagged to quickly organize information, can make easy to find material for a class you may not have used in while. It also a great advantage to see what other people have tagged the same way and find material you may not have found other wise. I'm a person that uses a lot of bookmarks and I constantly jump from one computer to the next or rebuild my main PC. I usually transfer my bookmarks between computers with a jump drive, but this will make bookmarking so much easier.

Thing # 16 productivity tools

Some of the productivity tools in this exercise were just what I've been looking for. For the start page I had to go with iGoogle. One because I like they page set-up and appearance better than the others, and two it just makes since with all the other Google tools I'm using. You know, One stop shopping. I liked the set-up of Ta da list over the other two so I gave it a try and found it might be useful for keeping list when traveling a lot or a desk top check list in class. My favorite tool is the sticky list down load. I used the post-it programs 30 day trial during the spring semester to keep track of projects on my net book and loved it, but I didn't want to pay the $20 to keep using it. The sticky list works almost the same as the post-it program and best of all, it's free.

Thing # 15 Wiki-wiki-wiki

Looking at the wikies in this exercise gave me some good ideas of how they can be used. One way is having students set up a wiki for working on group project and giving them an easy way to share information and organize their project out of class. Another idea was to use a wiki as away to gather information and stories about a particular place, such as putting together the history of a small town. I found using the wikies easy and will probably use one for setting up future family camping trips.

Thing # 14 Going with the flow

For this exercise I tried out the Mindmeister mind map and the Gliffy flow chart. I did not like the mind map at all, I found it difficult to manipulate and just frustrating to use. The Gliffy flow chart on the other hand was fun and easy. I really like all the image options and how it has image banks by topic as well as the ability to import your own images. I need to draw up network and wiring diagrams sometimes and Gliffy is a great tool for this. It would be very useful for creating time lines or process posters to place on a classroom wall.

Thing # 12 More Google fun

For thing # 12 I played around with I-Google and Google alerts. I-Google is fun since you can set up all the information you want including quick access to G-mail. The news feeds are nice and some of the games are fun as well. I like Google alert because I can have search for web pages and notify me through Google reader. Google alerts would be great for finding the latest information to use in class and you can set the search to a narrower scope than the feed reader.

Thing # 13 Zoho test drive

Thing # 13 is pretty cool. Zoho appears to have a lot of the same features as office and being accessible form anywhere is a big plus. The ability to export files in so many different formats is really nice as well. I don't know that I would be a complete convert from Office, but Zoho could definitely be useful on the road. Well let me wrap up this doc and see if I can post it to the blog.

Thing # 11 RSS locators

I really am not having much luck with thing # 11. I have tried the different locators but have not found them easy to use. I still end up looking through a lot of information and not finding what I'm looking for. Google blog search has been the easiest for me to use, but that's not saying much. I do like how the Topix site provides links to local news and post. The thing I found most aggravating was finding a link on one of the locators that appeared to be what I wanted but when I got to the site it did not have an RSS feed. I'm sure there are people that can use these locators effectivly but I find the best method for me is to search sites I know have the content I want and hope they provide anRSS feed.

Thing # 10 RSS Feeds

Using RSS feeds seems to be a pretty handy tool. I went with Google reader since I'm working to make Google a one stop shop for my on line adventures, the fewer I.D.'s and passwords I have the fewer I'm likely to forget. Google reader is fairly easy to use and I like the drag and drop ability of moving followed sites to different folders. I believe this application could be very useful for teaching a finance or government class. I can simply create folders for different subjects and receive the latest news feeds from repritable sources on those topics. It would make a search easier and faster to see if there might be anarticle I would like to use in class that day. RSS feeds could be useful for any teacher but especially helpful to those teaching current and specific subjects.

Thing # 9 Image generators

I went to happy face generator.com and sign generator. org to complete thing # 9. Both sites were fairly easy to use, just find a smiley face or sign that you like and type in your own message. Once you have the final product you want just use the save picture as function to save it to you computer. I could see possibly using these sites to create personalized signs to insert in a power point presentation just to draw attention to a specific item but beyond that I would not see much use for them. I suppose these sites might be fun for students to create images for their social pages.

Thing # 8 More fun with flicker

Bubbie Puzzle, originally uploaded by J.Lane_TN.

I used Big Huge Labs.Com to create this puzzle picture from my Flicker account. Using this sit was just as easy as using Flicker and it post your creation to your photo stream when your done. This application is more for fun but the mosaic application would be great for getting photos of land marks and places and creating virtual tour of historic sites or different cultures. I could possibly use a mosaic to illustrate what category items might fall under in a planned budget. With this site you receive the same privacy features as flicker or you can chose to save the photo directly to a computer without putting it on line, So privacy is not a worry.

Thing # 7 exploring flicker

Baaaa, originally uploaded by J.Lane_TN.

Over the last couple years I have seen a lot of images on flicker but have never started my own account. I thought about it a few times because photography is another hobby of mine and I have a lot of pictures I would like to display, but I was not sure if it would be to much of a hassle. Now that I have completed thing #7, I see it was not that hard at all. I would probably use this site more for personal use than for a class, but it might be useful for a teacher to keep parents up to date with class projects and activities. The privacy features that are included could ensure that only the family members of a class were able to view the photos and help to promote the safety of the students. Flicker was easy to use and fun as well, if not just a good excuse to look through old photos.

Sarajevo at sunset

Sarajevo at sunset, originally uploaded by J.Lane_TN.

This is one of my favorite pictures from Bosnia.

Thing #6 Web 2.0 tools

The site I decided to check out was Wayfaring.com. I probably spend the majority of my online time either on Google earth or some other mapping site. I really enjoyed this site because you can create your own maps and share them with everyone. You can also search for maps that other people have made and use tags to find specific kinds of maps. This site would be great for a history or government class where students can create maps of historic places and events as well as include notes and pictures of attached to way points. Maps can also be set to allow anyone to edit them so you could start a map of your local area with information and ask any one who views it to add information about where they are. Under the best maps tab you can find maps by Wayfarers all over the world sharing their favorite places and trips.

www.wayfaring.com

Thing # 5 My take on School 2.0

The idea of school 2.0 is one that all levels of education will have to embrace to remain effective in preparing students to be productive in modern society. Schools are now provided a wealth of educational opportunities through the internet and other technologies that were unimaginable when I was in school. Teachers and students can gain instant access to answers and problem solving tools that would have taken weeks to find in printed text just a decade ago. The first and only time I used the internet in school was in late 1994 for a group project in my senior English class, of course no of us had a computer at home or had any clue what the internet was. After we were unable to find information on our topic in the school library the librarian suggested we look it up on the internet. We told the librarian what information we wanted to find and she searched it out for us and let us read through it for what we wanted to print. Now I'm willing to bet that almost any fifth grader can navigate the web as well if not better than I can. Web technology skills not only provide students with more and better information than printed text, but provide them with the technical skills they will need in the working world. It is almost impossible to find a job that dose not require the use of some form of keyboard and visual interface in the current job market. The real challenge to schools will be ensuring that the technology needed is available, and teachers will have to make sure that work performed on this technology will not put students without the same technology at home at a disadvantage. Technology will only increase from this time forward and like it not schools and teachers will have to adapt.

Thing #3

Given that I would like to teach personal finance I think a blog might actually be a useful tool in the classroom. A blog can provide a medium in which I could post helpful tips for budgeting and saving for students to view, as well as, links to sites with consumer information and other financial planning tools. Even if I teach government a blog can be useful for posting local news so students can see their local government at work. I am not a big fan of computers or online communities but I can see ways they may be beneficial.

Thing # 2

Well thing #2 has proven to be a bit of a challenge. First is the confusion of having to complete thing #2 to start thing #1 which brings about the question whether thing #2 is actually thing #1. I suppose this can bring about a chicken and the egg argument. Setting up the BLOG site for Thing #2 was easy initially, but once the page was created I found it a little more difficult to navigate within the site. I don't believe I have done to bad especially since yesterday was the first time I have even seen a blog page. Creating the avatar for my page was not difficult in itself but like others in the class I had trouble getting my account confirmation through AP Mail. The title of my web page reflects my efforts to work on habit 7 1/2 from thing #1 (play). I have spent too many years working myself into the ground and causing myself to burn out. In the last couple of years I have worked on taking things more slowly and ensuring to take the time to participate in the activities I enjoy. My avatar is a pretty real interpretation of me, I do the work that I need to, but as soon as I find a chance I on the water or in the woods.

Thing #1

Thing one of the 23 was pretty easy to complete. The website and slide show were easy to navigate and the content was fairly familiar. I started the path to life long learning early and have continued on it ever since. There is always something new I have to learn or at least learn more about. The hardest of the 7 1/2 habits to follow is habit #3, viewing problems as challenges. Much of my problem stems from careers where problems were not an option, only immediate solutions were. I never failed to learn from those experiences when the were over and remembered the solutions when similar problems arose, but never looked at a problem in the moment and thought oh goody a challenge. The easiest habit for me would be habit #4, having confidence in myself as a competent, effective learner. I have never doubted my ability to learn new skills and subjects, it may be a little slow sometimes but I know once I get the idea I will have a good understanding of the content.