There is an interesting conversation going on over at John Green's Weblog about whether Google (and by implicaton, the Internet) is changing the way we think. (John Green is the author of the 2006 Michael L. Printz Award winner, Looking for Alaska.)
He's asked folk to read an article in which the author proposes that our thinking skills are going downhill. Considering what we're doing here with the 23 Things, I highly recommend going over there to check out the article and the comments...and to add your two cents' worth, if you wish!
I'll update this with MY opinion a bit later!
Monday, June 23, 2008
Sunday, June 22, 2008
Thing #16: Wikis
Hurrah for wikis! Getting everyone's ideas down in one place without everyone having to be IN the same place...woo hoo! The possibilities are limitless IF everyone has access to the technology. Teachers can use them for planning within grade levels, across grade levels...heck, in ALL kinds of planning! I'd like to have a wiki to help me collaborate with my teachers and another one set up for students where they can share book reviews and create lists of "must-reads." How about one to collect website resources for student learning? If you find a good educational website, let everyone know...add it to the wiki!
I'd like to have book clubs for my teachers, both for professional development and just for fun, but sometimes it's difficult to get everyone together. Perhaps a wiki is the solution (although I think the face-to-face synchronous interaction is an important part of a book club).
I wish I'd been able to use a wiki back when I was teaching eighth grade langauge arts. I taught three different sections a day, and often, these classes were reading the same shared reading passage. The students of each class would annotate a passage as I recorded the annotations on the overhead. They had complete ownership of the annotations, so as you can imagine, each class's perception of the piece was often different from the other classes'. First period might find something in the text that third period didn't. I was perplexed. How to share first period's observations with third period without seeming like I was pointing out that third period had "missed" something (and implying they hadn't done a good job)? With a wiki, all three of my language arts sections could have worked collaboratively as one unit and put all their ideas together as one shared understanding of the text. Fabulous!
I'd like to have book clubs for my teachers, both for professional development and just for fun, but sometimes it's difficult to get everyone together. Perhaps a wiki is the solution (although I think the face-to-face synchronous interaction is an important part of a book club).
I wish I'd been able to use a wiki back when I was teaching eighth grade langauge arts. I taught three different sections a day, and often, these classes were reading the same shared reading passage. The students of each class would annotate a passage as I recorded the annotations on the overhead. They had complete ownership of the annotations, so as you can imagine, each class's perception of the piece was often different from the other classes'. First period might find something in the text that third period didn't. I was perplexed. How to share first period's observations with third period without seeming like I was pointing out that third period had "missed" something (and implying they hadn't done a good job)? With a wiki, all three of my language arts sections could have worked collaboratively as one unit and put all their ideas together as one shared understanding of the text. Fabulous!
Thing #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries
How exciting it is to be a librarian in this age of technological and informational revolution! What 2.0 means to me...
1. It means the library as a network of people sharing, using, creating, manipulating information. The library is not necessarily about physical space.
2. It means collaboration. Not just collaboration among library professionals to make information more accessible to patrons, but collaboration between library professionals and patrons and among patrons themselves.
3. It means continual re-evaluation of the information needs we information users have and the information tools we have, and adapting our methodology. It is constant evolution.
4. It means the librarian as innovator and integration specialist, a person who can take new technologies and create ways for them to improve the way we find and manage information, and therefore, the way we live.
1. It means the library as a network of people sharing, using, creating, manipulating information. The library is not necessarily about physical space.
2. It means collaboration. Not just collaboration among library professionals to make information more accessible to patrons, but collaboration between library professionals and patrons and among patrons themselves.
3. It means continual re-evaluation of the information needs we information users have and the information tools we have, and adapting our methodology. It is constant evolution.
4. It means the librarian as innovator and integration specialist, a person who can take new technologies and create ways for them to improve the way we find and manage information, and therefore, the way we live.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Thing #14: Technorati and How Tags Work
Technorati is another one of those places where I could end up spending hours just surfing around. Anyone else out there sometimes feel voyeuristic?
First, let me give a little summary of what Technorati is in my own words to be sure I have it right. It's a search engine to find a particular topic in the millions of blogs in the blogosphere. You can search for blogs, blog posts, or simply by tags. Unlike Del.icio.us, where users/readers create the tags (post-publishing), bloggers/publishers create the tags in Technorati (pre-publishing). It's a way to find what the "unwashed masses" are talking about, what they think is news. It's a way to keep up with your favorite blogs (but don't I already have Google Reader for that?) or to see what everyone else's favorite is?
How can this be useful to me? Well, I do like to keep up with current events, and as a long-ago anthropology student, I'm interested in culture and pop culture, so I'm fascinated by what everyone is blogging about. I guess that's why I can get lost for hours poking around, moving from link to link. More specifically, though, I can search the topics that interest me and see what other "real people" think rather than "elitist" news, review, and publishing sources. AND, with the nature of blogging, I can actually converse with the writers! It's almost as if, rather than being consumers of news and information prepared by small numbers of people, the masses are actually the news MAKERS and information CREATORS now. I think that's very cool.
Can I see a use for this in the classroom? Not so much, at the moment, but then I haven't given it full thought, I'll admit. It WOULD be great to show students that "real people" write everyday, that there IS a purpose for being able to express oneself. No, we're not ALL going to be Judy Blumes, Stephen Kings, or Stephenie Meyers. But we ARE all writers in some form or fashion. Also, I can see myself using it to find appropriate topic-related blogs for students to follow. Say, birds again. Surely there are some bird-watchers and bird-lovers out there who have blogs about, well...birds. I could turn students on to those. Real-life learning through real-life interests.
As for tagging, I think it's great. I see benefits to both Del.icio.us type tagging and Technorati type tagging. I think bloggers should be able to categorize their own work with tags, but I think it's important for users/readers to be able to create their own meaningful tags, too. Now that I've explored tagging, I'll be doing much more of it!
And you may notice, dear reader, that I have added an "Add this to my Technorati favorites" button in the upper righthand corner of this blog. :-)
First, let me give a little summary of what Technorati is in my own words to be sure I have it right. It's a search engine to find a particular topic in the millions of blogs in the blogosphere. You can search for blogs, blog posts, or simply by tags. Unlike Del.icio.us, where users/readers create the tags (post-publishing), bloggers/publishers create the tags in Technorati (pre-publishing). It's a way to find what the "unwashed masses" are talking about, what they think is news. It's a way to keep up with your favorite blogs (but don't I already have Google Reader for that?) or to see what everyone else's favorite is?
How can this be useful to me? Well, I do like to keep up with current events, and as a long-ago anthropology student, I'm interested in culture and pop culture, so I'm fascinated by what everyone is blogging about. I guess that's why I can get lost for hours poking around, moving from link to link. More specifically, though, I can search the topics that interest me and see what other "real people" think rather than "elitist" news, review, and publishing sources. AND, with the nature of blogging, I can actually converse with the writers! It's almost as if, rather than being consumers of news and information prepared by small numbers of people, the masses are actually the news MAKERS and information CREATORS now. I think that's very cool.
Can I see a use for this in the classroom? Not so much, at the moment, but then I haven't given it full thought, I'll admit. It WOULD be great to show students that "real people" write everyday, that there IS a purpose for being able to express oneself. No, we're not ALL going to be Judy Blumes, Stephen Kings, or Stephenie Meyers. But we ARE all writers in some form or fashion. Also, I can see myself using it to find appropriate topic-related blogs for students to follow. Say, birds again. Surely there are some bird-watchers and bird-lovers out there who have blogs about, well...birds. I could turn students on to those. Real-life learning through real-life interests.
As for tagging, I think it's great. I see benefits to both Del.icio.us type tagging and Technorati type tagging. I think bloggers should be able to categorize their own work with tags, but I think it's important for users/readers to be able to create their own meaningful tags, too. Now that I've explored tagging, I'll be doing much more of it!
And you may notice, dear reader, that I have added an "Add this to my Technorati favorites" button in the upper righthand corner of this blog. :-)
Thing #13: Exploring Del.icio.us and Tagging
Del.icio.us is awesome! I'm such a dunce. I'd heard so much about it that I actually created an account several weeks ago, but I still didn't really understand how to use it. I've been saving favorite websites just like I used to do with Favorites in IE or bookmarking in Netscape. I couldn't figure out why I'd want to use it over those tools already built in to my web browser. DUH. Double DUH. *slaps forehead*
It's the TAGGING and ability to connect to what other people are also saving. You see, I thought of the tagging as just for me, so I could categorize MY stuff for MY benefit in finding it later. Hello? McFly? Now that I realize it's about searching the tags of other Del.icio.us users, I see the limitless possibilities. The only thing I don't like about tagging is the extra time it takes upfront. I don't always have the "get-up-and-go" to tag the things I'm saving. Or at least that was true up until now. Now that I see what a benefit it can be...well, it seems little effort. I like the way Del.icio.us gives suggestions for tags. I didn't see that at Furl, but I did like Furl's interface. I have both of them and I'm still experimenting with both to see which one I'll eventually start using exclusively.
The tutorial video for Del.icio.us was helpful, for sure, but I really had to concentrate. I felt it was over my head sometimes. I got the gist of it, though. I like the idea of using a tagging tool like Del.icio.us or Furl for shared reading lists. I can see students doing research and tagging good information so that other students researching the same topic can easily find it. Especially if they use a specific unique tag. I'll use the infamous second grade bird unit as an example. All of second grade is researching different kinds of birds. Student A in Mrs. Smith's class has chosen the hummingbird as her topic, and she finds a good article about hummingbirds. If she tags it with the template type of bird-school's name, then other students researching hummingbirds in the other second grade classes can find it. It's collaboration across the classes or even across the district. Not only are the students working to find information for themselves, but they are building a "toolbox" for others. I love it.
As for myself, personally, I found some neat stuff on vintage crochet, which has become my latest interest, especially doilies. I'm amazed by how "small" our world is becoming with our ability to connect with other people and their interests from across the world.
It's the TAGGING and ability to connect to what other people are also saving. You see, I thought of the tagging as just for me, so I could categorize MY stuff for MY benefit in finding it later. Hello? McFly? Now that I realize it's about searching the tags of other Del.icio.us users, I see the limitless possibilities. The only thing I don't like about tagging is the extra time it takes upfront. I don't always have the "get-up-and-go" to tag the things I'm saving. Or at least that was true up until now. Now that I see what a benefit it can be...well, it seems little effort. I like the way Del.icio.us gives suggestions for tags. I didn't see that at Furl, but I did like Furl's interface. I have both of them and I'm still experimenting with both to see which one I'll eventually start using exclusively.
The tutorial video for Del.icio.us was helpful, for sure, but I really had to concentrate. I felt it was over my head sometimes. I got the gist of it, though. I like the idea of using a tagging tool like Del.icio.us or Furl for shared reading lists. I can see students doing research and tagging good information so that other students researching the same topic can easily find it. Especially if they use a specific unique tag. I'll use the infamous second grade bird unit as an example. All of second grade is researching different kinds of birds. Student A in Mrs. Smith's class has chosen the hummingbird as her topic, and she finds a good article about hummingbirds. If she tags it with the template type of bird-school's name, then other students researching hummingbirds in the other second grade classes can find it. It's collaboration across the classes or even across the district. Not only are the students working to find information for themselves, but they are building a "toolbox" for others. I love it.
As for myself, personally, I found some neat stuff on vintage crochet, which has become my latest interest, especially doilies. I'm amazed by how "small" our world is becoming with our ability to connect with other people and their interests from across the world.
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Thing #12: Creating Community Through Commenting
I enjoyed reading the articles about commenting. I've commented on blogs before but never really thought about WHY I was commenting. It just seemed natural, as if it were "conversation." I guess I'm a basically nice person because it's never occurred to me to be less than courteous when commenting on others' posts. Most of my commenting has been to encourage others or to share my similar experiences with the blogger. Doug Johnson at Blue Skunk says, "Don't be a troll." I'd never heard the term before, but I don't know why not. Now that I think about it, I've seen trolls in my travels through the blogosphere.
The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.
I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!
The two things that stuck out to me as I read about "commenting conventions" is that 1) comments should contribute something to the discourse, and 2) they should be courteous. I panicked a bit when considering the first one because I've left the "You go, girl!" kind of comments that don't add anything new. I think it was Cool Cat Teacher who advised staying away from those. After I reconsidered, I felt a little better, though, because I came to the conclusion that CCT didn't mean that we can't leave simple words of encouragement. She meant that we shouldn't just leave it at that. We should be specific. Just as in teaching when we give students feedback. "Good job!" is not that helpful. It needs to be followed up with "You recognized every pattern correctly on your first try!" or something like that. When I was helping students develop their writing, I would say things like, "You've captured the moment here perfectly with your vivid verbs and the sentence structure you've chosen," (and I'd name that structure). It WAS a good job, and I admired the way they'd crafted their work, but I had to tell them specifically what made it work. It's the same if I leave a "You go, girl!" I need to point out exactly why I agree or feel the encouragement is deserved. As for the second thing that struck me, courtesy...well, even when we disagree, we can do it constructively. I hope that with this group of people, I don't have to explain that one much.
I have a question about time. What time frame is considered "still okay" when commenting on a blog post? For example, let's say I happen upon Blog XYZ and see a post that was made two weeks ago that I'd like to respond to. Is it too late? What's the "expiration date" on these things? Or maybe it doesn't have to do with time but how many posts have been made since then. What if there are 2 or 3 newer posts? Does it mean I shouldn't comment on the older post because it's lost currency? Help!
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Thing #11: LibraryThing
My favorite Thing so far! How awesome to be able to keep track of your books at home, but most of all, share them with others. That little YouTube video hit the nail on the head. It's a way for me to share the books I've read and how I felt about them with others as they do the same with me. I catalogued some of my books at home...couldn't do all of them, of course...that's a BIG project, and it was SO easy (especially what "cataloging" usually means to us librarians!) I loved to instantly be able to see how many other people have the same book I do, especially if it was a more obscure book than, let's say, Twilight, by Stephenie Meyer.
LibraryThing is a great way to network about books...like one big book club or book party. I'll use it to find suggestions for my next book, for sure. And here is the avenue for getting kids to share and talk about what they're reading. I used to have kids keep a list of the books they'd read over the course of the school year in the back of their journals. The reluctant readers were usually shocked and proud of themselves as they saw their lists grow. Wouldn't it be cool to have them keep track of that at LibraryThings? And the way it prompts them to dialogue about what they've read. Wow! I used to give students "talk time" after silent, sustained reading so that they could share their books with partners. This is even better.
So here are my questions:
1. What's involved in getting kids into this? I mean, what are the legalities of it? How would it ACTUALLY work? (I'm a big-picture person, so sometimes the details elude me.) What about parent permission to use it, and things like that?
2. Anybody out there worried that this is a government conspiracy to keep track of what people are reading? (Just kidding!)
LibraryThing is a great way to network about books...like one big book club or book party. I'll use it to find suggestions for my next book, for sure. And here is the avenue for getting kids to share and talk about what they're reading. I used to have kids keep a list of the books they'd read over the course of the school year in the back of their journals. The reluctant readers were usually shocked and proud of themselves as they saw their lists grow. Wouldn't it be cool to have them keep track of that at LibraryThings? And the way it prompts them to dialogue about what they've read. Wow! I used to give students "talk time" after silent, sustained reading so that they could share their books with partners. This is even better.
So here are my questions:
1. What's involved in getting kids into this? I mean, what are the legalities of it? How would it ACTUALLY work? (I'm a big-picture person, so sometimes the details elude me.) What about parent permission to use it, and things like that?
2. Anybody out there worried that this is a government conspiracy to keep track of what people are reading? (Just kidding!)
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Thing #10: Image Generators
First, let us celebrate...
My first double-digit Thing! WOO HOO!
I had to explore it in several sittings because this Thing overstimulated me like an espresso nightcap! So many options as far as what TYPE of image generator and then even more options within each one. Whew! I turned my son into Indiana Jones and created a National Geographic magazine cover with owls using the comic strip generator tool, and I put this mosaic together at Big Huge Labs simply by using Flickr tags.
My first double-digit Thing! WOO HOO!
I had to explore it in several sittings because this Thing overstimulated me like an espresso nightcap! So many options as far as what TYPE of image generator and then even more options within each one. Whew! I turned my son into Indiana Jones and created a National Geographic magazine cover with owls using the comic strip generator tool, and I put this mosaic together at Big Huge Labs simply by using Flickr tags.
Oh! And I created an irreverent little cartoon with Abe Lincoln asking for the location of the nearest Starbucks (comic strip generator). I won't share it, though. :-) I did notice that with the comic strip tool, many of the options weren't "kid-friendly."
These image generators are a great way for students to express themselves creatively on a variety of topics. It also requires them to sort/categorize, etc.
Thing #9: Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds
Hahaha! You can tell I hadn't looked at Thing 9 when I posted about Thing 8, but what a great lead-in!
Well! I certainly found some "odd" blogs out there as I tried out the different blog and feed "finders." It makes the post at Cool Cat Teacher about choosing your circle of wise ones highly pertinent. Be sure to know what it is you're lookikng for in a blog, too!
I found bloglines and google blogs to be the most useful for me, perhaps because they both shot me directly to an uncluttered search page, whereas Topix and Technorati's home pages were filled with busy text and images. I felt as though I had to wade through all of that to find what I needed/wanted: the search function. It was a bit intimidating. Also, I think I have a form of ADD or something similiar (plain ole lack of focus, hmmm?)because if I end up at a page that showcases blogs or news sites, I'll get super side-tracked and forget what I was there for in the first place. I'm a marketer's dream. Hehe...
I also discovered that bloglines and google seemed better for finding blogs while Topix (I think...I'm a bit addlepated at this point) was better for finding individual blog entries that are relevant to your search.
I couldn't help but search for feeds related to my personal interests as well as my professonial ones, so I checked out some crochet blogs and even discovered The Crochet Dude! I don't mean to be sexist at all, but it IS unusual to find a man so dedicated to crochet and crafts that he'd have a blog.
I also searched my own name at these sites, and eek! Amazing what they brought up in the search results. I created several blogs as part of grad school classes, and posts from each of them, as well as this one, popped up. As you can tell from this blog, I'm not shy about putting my real name out there, especially since all my blogs have been a part of my professional realm, but bloggers who're more secretive, beware!
Well! I certainly found some "odd" blogs out there as I tried out the different blog and feed "finders." It makes the post at Cool Cat Teacher about choosing your circle of wise ones highly pertinent. Be sure to know what it is you're lookikng for in a blog, too!
I found bloglines and google blogs to be the most useful for me, perhaps because they both shot me directly to an uncluttered search page, whereas Topix and Technorati's home pages were filled with busy text and images. I felt as though I had to wade through all of that to find what I needed/wanted: the search function. It was a bit intimidating. Also, I think I have a form of ADD or something similiar (plain ole lack of focus, hmmm?)because if I end up at a page that showcases blogs or news sites, I'll get super side-tracked and forget what I was there for in the first place. I'm a marketer's dream. Hehe...
I also discovered that bloglines and google seemed better for finding blogs while Topix (I think...I'm a bit addlepated at this point) was better for finding individual blog entries that are relevant to your search.
I couldn't help but search for feeds related to my personal interests as well as my professonial ones, so I checked out some crochet blogs and even discovered The Crochet Dude! I don't mean to be sexist at all, but it IS unusual to find a man so dedicated to crochet and crafts that he'd have a blog.
I also searched my own name at these sites, and eek! Amazing what they brought up in the search results. I created several blogs as part of grad school classes, and posts from each of them, as well as this one, popped up. As you can tell from this blog, I'm not shy about putting my real name out there, especially since all my blogs have been a part of my professional realm, but bloggers who're more secretive, beware!
Thing #8: RSS Feeds and Readers
I've had a Google Reader account for a while now. I admit, it's nice to have all my "stuff" I want to keep up with in one place. However, sometimes I feel overwhelmed when I log in and there are 50+ new things. I feel obligated to read each and every one of them, yet I know I probably won't have the time to do it. If I could only bring myself to hit the "mark as read" button every once in a while, but...if it's there in front of me, I feel I have to read it. I could spend hours just reading blogs and news feeds. I know that some of you feel that Reader helps you LIMIT what you end up reading, but for me, it seems the opposite.
Personally, I can use it to keep up with crochet sites, history sites, my friends' blogs, and what's up-and-coming with all my favorite authors. Professionally, it helps me stay current in my field. I can see my students using it, too. Imagine they are studying a particular topic or skill for a long-term project. They could each find sites pertinent to their topic and create Google reader folders for it...keep track of what's new over time. I'd like to teach my students to use it for their own personal interests, too.
I have a question: Is there a blog directory out there? If I'm interested in American Civil War re-enacting, for instance...is there a place I can go and see all the blogs out there that pertain to that interest? It would be nice if there were, but if not, could a library set up readers for the areas that interest their patrons?
Personally, I can use it to keep up with crochet sites, history sites, my friends' blogs, and what's up-and-coming with all my favorite authors. Professionally, it helps me stay current in my field. I can see my students using it, too. Imagine they are studying a particular topic or skill for a long-term project. They could each find sites pertinent to their topic and create Google reader folders for it...keep track of what's new over time. I'd like to teach my students to use it for their own personal interests, too.
I have a question: Is there a blog directory out there? If I'm interested in American Civil War re-enacting, for instance...is there a place I can go and see all the blogs out there that pertain to that interest? It would be nice if there were, but if not, could a library set up readers for the areas that interest their patrons?
Thing #7: Cool Google Tools
Cool Google Tools....have any of you tried SAYING that out loud? If you're successful, try saying it three times in a row without ending up with your tongue in a knot. Now on to the serious stuff:
Wow! Who knew there was more to "googling" than just simple searching? I have to admit that this is something I played around with the last time I tried 23 Things, but I only got as far as Google Documents and Google Calendar. I could spend another week checking out all the other great things Google has to offer.
First, in terms of the "simple" search, are all the little shortcuts and tricks. For example, type "define: beauty" to get a list of definitions for the word beauty from different websites. Searching has become so complicated, I think all students should have a class in just SEARCHING. It's the basis of about everything we do on the Internet, and yet so few REALLY know how to do it. Not many even understand how search terms work.
Google Documents: What's great about Google Documents is that your work is web-based so it can be accessed from anywhere. Recently, my fifth grade son was working on a big project at school that involved a text document. He needed to work on it at home, but barring my buying him his own flash drive (which I'm sure he'd promptly lose), he had no way to get his file from school to his home computer. The school district (not SBISD) wouldn't let him use his yahoo email to email the file to himself. If only his work had been done in Google Docs....(I suggested to the teacher that he could copy and paste his work into Google Docs, but she told me in no uncertain terms that she knew nothing of it and that was the end of the matter. I ended up buying him a flashdrive, but what about those who can't afford to go out and buy things like that spur of the moment?)
And don't forget Google Earth. It's another way for students to gain map skills, but more interesting. It's more concrete, and can really show them the relationship between continents, countries, states, cities, neighborhoods, streets, and so on. Our SIS has even used it to illustrate writing concepts, such as narrowing a topic or even the idea of details and exploding the moment.
And that's just a few things Google has to offer!
Wow! Who knew there was more to "googling" than just simple searching? I have to admit that this is something I played around with the last time I tried 23 Things, but I only got as far as Google Documents and Google Calendar. I could spend another week checking out all the other great things Google has to offer.
First, in terms of the "simple" search, are all the little shortcuts and tricks. For example, type "define: beauty" to get a list of definitions for the word beauty from different websites. Searching has become so complicated, I think all students should have a class in just SEARCHING. It's the basis of about everything we do on the Internet, and yet so few REALLY know how to do it. Not many even understand how search terms work.
Google Documents: What's great about Google Documents is that your work is web-based so it can be accessed from anywhere. Recently, my fifth grade son was working on a big project at school that involved a text document. He needed to work on it at home, but barring my buying him his own flash drive (which I'm sure he'd promptly lose), he had no way to get his file from school to his home computer. The school district (not SBISD) wouldn't let him use his yahoo email to email the file to himself. If only his work had been done in Google Docs....(I suggested to the teacher that he could copy and paste his work into Google Docs, but she told me in no uncertain terms that she knew nothing of it and that was the end of the matter. I ended up buying him a flashdrive, but what about those who can't afford to go out and buy things like that spur of the moment?)
And don't forget Google Earth. It's another way for students to gain map skills, but more interesting. It's more concrete, and can really show them the relationship between continents, countries, states, cities, neighborhoods, streets, and so on. Our SIS has even used it to illustrate writing concepts, such as narrowing a topic or even the idea of details and exploding the moment.
And that's just a few things Google has to offer!
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Back on the Playground
I ended up taking a time-out last time because I was so bogged down with other committments...such as work, family, and 6 semester hours of grad school. But I'm back and ready to play!
Here's a summary of what I did the last time I played:
Thing 5: Flickr
Flickr is a photo-sharing site where people can upload, store, and share (if they want) their digital photos. I got a little peeved that I couldn't transfer MY personal photos from another photo-sharing site, but the personal uses are not really important here. The important thing is that Flickr gives people a library of photos to choose from for various purposes and projects. I'm still a little confused about what I can use and what I can't, though, despite the explanations in Flickr Creative Commons. I created a Memorial Day Tribute Animoto using Flickr photos, but I'm hesitant to post it anywhere for fear I've misunderstood the copyright rules on the photos.
Thing 6: Mashups, etc.
Mashups take two applications and "mash" them together to create a new application. For example, combine Flickr with Googe Maps and get an application that track photos by where they were taken.
Now on to Thing Seven.
Here's a summary of what I did the last time I played:
Thing 5: Flickr
Flickr is a photo-sharing site where people can upload, store, and share (if they want) their digital photos. I got a little peeved that I couldn't transfer MY personal photos from another photo-sharing site, but the personal uses are not really important here. The important thing is that Flickr gives people a library of photos to choose from for various purposes and projects. I'm still a little confused about what I can use and what I can't, though, despite the explanations in Flickr Creative Commons. I created a Memorial Day Tribute Animoto using Flickr photos, but I'm hesitant to post it anywhere for fear I've misunderstood the copyright rules on the photos.
Thing 6: Mashups, etc.
Mashups take two applications and "mash" them together to create a new application. For example, combine Flickr with Googe Maps and get an application that track photos by where they were taken.
Now on to Thing Seven.
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