Finito

We have been shown many differentWeb 2.0 tools, some of which I had very little interest in (eg Facebook, MySpace), but others I would have liked to have more time to explore.  I know! I could find the time if I wanted and I know I can revisit my more enjoyable ones at a later time, but I found during the 12 weeks I was obliged to keep on going on the week by week programme.  To have this overview of the 20 something tools was good, but from a personal view, I would have liked to see more tools with an educational focus and ones that can be used in a classroom/school library environment.  An opportunity to share ideas with everyone else doing the course would make the learning more productive.

Thankyou for your time in overseeing the course and I would recommend this to my colleagues if they had a wish to find out more about Web 2.0 tools.

Activity #22 and #23 E-books etc

I have been building up our school library collection of audio books over the past few years.  They continue to be popular with the struggling readers and our high numbers of ESL students.  It is a shame we are not allowed to make backup copies of the CDs as these get easily scratched/lost.

On a personal level, reading a book on the computer or Kindle etc does not appeal to me and before this programme, I hadn't read more than a page of a book online.  Not owning an IPad or Kindle and having a slow internet connection at home, I think I'll stay with the paper version for the time being.  At school where there is a faster download speed and the children have grown up reading from a screen, I can see a future for such media.  The sites I have looked at certainly have a wealth of material that could be used in a school environment and some of it free which is a plus when school finances are limited. It is worthwhile sifting through to locate suitable reading/listening material for the students.

Activity #21 TeacherTube

Like Podcasts, you could spend alot of time looking through these clips (especially when your internet connection is not that fast - I wonder if the NBN will lessen my waiting time?)

I chose to share this clip on my blog, but the other 2 video clips in this series are equally as stimulating.  This clip would be good to show a couple of my staff who still see the LRC as an added extra.  The clip emphasises that the library is an extension of the classroom and the lessons that the teacher librarian does should be planned with the classroom teacher and complement the learning that is occurring in the classroom.




I am trying to add this clip of The Hare and the Tortoise using the embeddable player.  I'll publish the post and hope it works.

<embed src="http://www1.teachertube.com/embed/player.swf"  width="470"  height="275"  bgcolor="undefined"  allowscriptaccess="always"  allowfullscreen="true"                                                                            flashvars="file=http://www1.teachertube.com/embedFLV.php?pg=video_233897&menu=false&frontcolor=ffffff&lightcolor=FF0000&logo=http://www1.teachertube.com/www3/images/greylogo.swf&skin=http://www1.teachertube.com/embed/overlay.swf&volume=80&controlbar=over&displayclick=link&viral.link=http://www.teachertube.com/viewVideo.php?video_id=233897&stretching=exactfit&plugins=viral-2&viral.callout=none&viral.onpause=false" />

Does not seem to work.  Maybe I'm not selecting the right parts of the code.

Activity #20 Podcasts

Wow, so much out there and if you go patiently searching you will find "stuff" that caters for your interests.  I thoroughly enjoyed The Naked Scientist podcast and while I was not interested in everything, I found myself spending alot of time here.  The EdPod had a current discussion about the Fed Government's plan to reward the best teachers with a cash bonus.  A great thought provoking argument from 2 well informed experts.  For me this highlighted one of the possibilities for using podcasts in the classroom, namely listening to the views of others eg debating, persuasive arguments etc.

Other ideas for using Podcasts in the classroom could include: Book reviews, short stories, giving a report after an excursion or a visiting guest author. Being able to embed these into a Blog or Wiki makes them even more appealing.

The Ken Robison Changing Paradigms article I have seen twice before.  It is a favourite with presenters at ICLT workshops. 

Activity #19 Rollyo

I have created an account for Rollyo and set up a Search Roll.
http://www.rollyo.com/johnrob1/exploring_space/ "Exploring Space"
This will provide students in primary school a safe list of sites to use when they are wanting information on Space and Exploring Space.

I am undecided on the benefits of using Rollyo.  In my school situation, it is much quicker to go to the Student Common drive on the server, create a folder in Favourites, call it Exploring Space and add the web sites to this folder.

Activity #18 Delicious.

Created my account OK but will think about retaining the Side Bar as I feel it clutters the screen.  The Commoncraft Youtube clip was helpful in explaining what delicious is all about. (all in this series that I have seen are worthwhile.)  At first I thought keeping my favourite websites organized in Folders in Favourites would be simpler than using Tags, but after playing around I can see the real worth of using Tags.  They will save so much time in doing advance searches for specific sites eg geometry games for upper primary could be found immediately by using the tags: geometry, games, upperprimary.  Better than creating 3 separate folders.

There is also great value in having your favourite websites available on-line so any computer can access them (home/work)

This is another site I will continue to explore and introduce to colleagues when I learn more and am more confident in knowing how to share with others. 

Activity #16 Subscribing to RSS

I have obviously jumped the gun here.  In completing activity #15, I did in fact subscribe to some feeds.  I should have read what was required for this activity #16 first and then completed #15.  Nevertheless, I did subscribe to ESA and Unshelved tonight and when I visited Google Reader noticed that a feed I recently subscribed to, had been updated.

I am impressed with how all this works and will be on the look out to subscribe to any other interesting blogs/sites I come across.