Wrapping Up

I have learn so much in this course. Now - just to find the time to go back and use everything. I have so many ideas floating through my head.

working on my CMS project

I have found this fairly easy to use (Moodle). I am going through the list of requirements and am a little stumped on if I meeting everything.

What a great tool!

www.talkr.com

Check it out. It converts text from a blog site to audio for free.

class coming to an end

I just got done looking at the descripition of the CMS course project and I am looking at the timeline for completing this course, I feel like I can't breathe. The time has flown by and I feel like I have learned a lot but I know I still have so much more to learn! This course has been a series of first for me. I have never created a web quest, podcast, wiki, website or anything else. I have enjoyed the challenges and I am looking forward to including some of my new tricks into my current instructional practices but for now just getting everything done on time is my goal. :)

Good comparisons

Heres ia a link to a site where the author of a story used 50 different web 2.o tools to tell the same story. He compares them to each other and lists the stength of each tool. I found this to be amazing!!

http://cogdogroo.wikispaces.com/Dominoe+50+Ways

Using wiki's in education

I was doing some searching for examples of what people have done in the educational area using wiki pages. I do believe there will be a huge shift in how information is presented in a traditional classroom as the generations of people who grew up with computers begin to enter the teaching field. I am not sure that all the seasoned teachers will make the shift but there will be some that look at the computer as a wonderful tool and begin to explore ways to use it.

It is amazing what is out there, anyway, I ran across this site and thought it was great

http://teaching-with-technology.wikispaces.com/Wikis+in+Education

getting back into action

After being out of town for a week I am trying to get caught up. While in Austin I was lucky enough to stay at the Dristill Hotel with an unbelievable history behind it. The hotel engineer gave our group a tour one night in search of Col. Driskill's ghost, many in our group swore they smelled his cigar, I wasn't so lucky but it was still a very interesting story. You can check out the history behind the hotel at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Driskill_Hotel. We were also fortunate enou to tour the capital building and watch the famous bats fly out from under the Congress Street bridge. The confrence sure required a lot of hard work (which not all of them do) but it was a good trip and I came home with some fun ghost stories.

Can we live without the internet?

The last two days I have been in constant contact with my boss and the state ODE office gathering the data I need to complete the project that I have to present tomorrow at the NRS confrence. The beauty of it all is I didn't have to pick up the phone once or carry a ton of reports to gather the information I needed or receive feedback from Ohio. I was a little nervous about being the sole representative from Ohio here and it has been a lot of work but the internet made the end result possible. I think the presentation is good and I am comfortable saying - yes this is reliable data I am presenting. Without the internet, my presentation would not be possible. I would be able to put something together with the data I have but it wouldn't be as relative as what I finalized today.

worki ng from the airport

I arrived at the Columbus airport today expecting the usual long lines and crowds. Boy was I wrong! I was the only one at the check in counter and there was only one other person going through security. This leaves me with a lot of time at the airport that I wasn't expecting. I have finally gotten the wireless network connected but it is giving me some problems. I was not able to log into Second Life. The computer would think about it for a while. Show the screen then freeze. I am thinking it must have something to do with the connection here. I am also not able to send emails :(. I am going to try to work on the Wiki page, hopefully I can get something productive done while I wait for my flight. Wish I were going somewhere cooler - Austin is going to be very hot this time of year.

podcast

I have been working on my podcast. I have listened to it many times and inserted music in the middle where there is a pause. With the information that I am presenting (how to create a query in Access), there isn't much need for music. Although I still do not like the sound of my own voice, I can see where this could be a helpful teaching aid.

podcast

I found it very helpful to listen to feedback on my webquest while looking at the quest. This was more beneficial than flipping between email (text) and the quest. I can see where I could use this in conjunction with my webquest, since my students will need to submit a presentation to me. Just need to get over not liking the sound of my own voice :)

pod cast

I am very excited about the use of podcasting in conjuction to what I do. The biggest problem is I don't like the sound of my own voice. I am hoping to find someone in our department that has a better voice and won't mind doing some for me.

really cool site

While searching for web2.o topics I found the best site. I have spent most of the evening checking out the programs listed. This has been so much fun. I am amazed what is out there. Check it out http://www.slideshare.net/heasulli/web-2-tools-for-education-compatible/

Finishing the Webquest

I have looked at my webquest and walked through it so many times making sure all the links work correctly. I think that I have looked at this so much that I am not sure I can effectively evaluate my own webquest, it is like proofing your own report. Some people can, some can't. I can't because I know what I meant to say and it seems like it does... Make sense, anyone else feel that way?

Second Life

I received my invitation today to Kent Island. I enjoyed going there and seeing how this program can be used, I was beginning to wonder! I found the quickest way to see everything on the island was to fly over it. It made it much easier to find different buildings and friends - yes someone else was there at the same time. I explored the buildings that other classes are using. I am excited to be something besides a happy face during the next class discussion!

webquest

The idea of creating my first webquest was a little scary. I think that learning a new software (expressions) while learning a new skill was the bad part. I made my storyboard in word since I know that software and spent the evening transfering it over into expressions. I have to say there were a lot of simularities - although tables gave me a hard time. Using a premade template was great and things went better than I expected. Hopefully linking the pages and completing the project will go this easily :)

Second Life

OK, it is 11 on a Friday night and I just logged off Second Life - it is sad when my second life character is having more fun on a Friday than I am :)

I would have concerns about putting my children into this site. My son (11) watched over my shoulder and helped me find my way around but I would not let him do this unsupervised.

It was fun, and I can see having a meeting in here with my peers but not so sure the people I instruct and support could handle it.

How time flies

I can't believe how fast the week goes by. It is hard to get to everything that needs to be done. I am finding the blogs to be a fun - almost like having a diary - and it is very interesting to read what others have been up to as well

Know anyone over 55?

Do you someone that needs some help understanding the vocabulary that goes along with computers? This site is great! It states you must be over 55 to enter but I am sure there are some people slightly younger that could benefit from it as well :)
http://555webhelp.com/

Do you know the terminology?

I found this statement on a website while surfing on how to teach computer skills to adults.

Most how to pages on the internet today are not easily understood by many of us over fifty. In addition often middle aged people lack the computer skills for using the internet which creates an educational gap.

Thinking of the Wiki assignment, I think this should be kept in mind. Some of the people that may use the site might not be as comfortable with the computer as we are. There is a large teacher population that is very fearful of technology.

Thoughts anyone?

where to start

I am finding it very hard to focus only on the task at hand while surfing the net. I decided last night I must print my outline for the WebQuest and not allow myself to serf on information outside of the project. I kept finding that I wanted to make the project bigger and bigger with the new information I was finding. Anyone else have suggestions about not loosing yourself to the world wide web?

We all need tools to help us improve what we do, here is a great site for that

I need to come back and spend a lot of time here. It had wonderful ideas and information.
http://www.c4lpt.co.uk/25Tools/Tools/about.html

Sites for publishing simple web pages

http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/
http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/blog.html
http://literacysource.wordpress.com/

those long long url addesses

Found a way to make it easier to type in a long url address
http://tinyurl.com/yoqbrz
I thought this was neat! Give it a try

using blogs in education

This is my first blog site so I am doing a lot of searching for tips. I found this site while searching for tips on creating a good educational blog site, I thought it had some good suggestions and good things to think about before setting up and using a blog. http://theedublogger.edublogs.org/2008/02/13/tips-on-blogging-with-students/
I hope others find it useful as well

First Week of class

I have been reading and surfing the net. I am feeling very overwhelmed right now. Figuring out what project(s) to take on and how to get started seems like a huge undertaking right now. I am hoping that I can take it step by step and get where I need to go. Figuring out the first step(s) seems to be the hard part.