Thing #24

1) I was surprised by the Animoto (Thing #21), the information about wikis (Thing #15), and how important comments are (Thing #4). I did not expect to encounter so many different Web 2.0 technologies that I didn't liek and couldn't see using personally or professionally. I love technology, and I understand most of the basics about computers. I guess I'm just an internet hermit though. I like my technology separate from "the web". The only improvements I would make would be a "facelift" go through and update things that aren't relevant anymore, or appear old, like the 2009 awards from the beginning. I plan to keep up with developments through my personal interests and my techie husband. He usually give me a heads up about new, upcoming websites and technology.

2) Feel free to follow me on my website - sarahliz.info anytime!

Thing #23

The 23 Things was based off of this idea. Now that I know about the creative commons I will be more strict on using copyright materials in class. I am not used to teachers caring about copyright laws. I would also think that there would be "wiggle room" for educational use, but I know now that there isn't. I also think that should change, maybe not for "private schools" because that would ne harder to regulate, but for public schools there should be some room for educators to use familiar characters, stories, and even movies in order to help the students absorb the material.

Thing #22

I made this really fast, but I did make two other binders that were private becuase they hold information about my other classes. Again, I don't see a lot of usefulness in this type of website for me. I use desktop folder, bookmarks, and real diners for keeping my information, and I cannot imagine a time where I would actually need to share this type of information with someone else. My other binders are Ed Pych and SpEd. This one is Ed Tech. This method seems too cold and impersonal for me to use in the classroom. If I wanted to give them supplemental website I would included them on the class website.

Thing #21

I did this video of some personal pictures fairly quickly, but I like it! Animoto seems really fun. I can imagine taking picture of my students working on projects and turning them into cool music videos like this. I think I would definitely use this tool again.



Try our slideshow maker at Animoto.

Thing #19

I commented and uploaded a picture onto Ning. I am not interested in any of the other social networking sites. I don't have a lot of friends, and the ones I do I like to interact with outside of the internet. Social media has never had a history of interesting me. I only just signed up for Facebook and Twitter three years ago (when I like like 23). I see more harm than good in social networking, so i try to keep out of it as much as possible.

Thing #17

I don't get social bookmarking. It seems like an idea that someone came up with because they didn't know how to properly manage a bookmarks list in their browser. Also, the complaint about your bookmarks only being in one place is negated by Safari/iOs features that sync your bookmarks from your computer to your phone. I use folders in my bookmarking menu, so my bookmarks are always organized and easy for me to find. I can see the appeal in easily sharing your favorite sites with other etchers, but I think it all become too much too quickly. Tags or not I think that social bookmarking gets out of hand and unmanageable very fast. Like our class Diigo account. It's hard to find exactly what you're looking for and not everyone tags the same way.

Thing #16

Since I have a google account that i use regularly I choose a start page on iGoogle. I chose the winter theme since it's Christmas time, and I removed a joke section. I will not make it my permanent home page because I like to go looking for what I want rather than have a bunch of information thrown in front of me. I actually do, kind of, use an online calendar. It wasn't listed, but iCal allows me to share calendars with my husband. we share a bills calendar that reminds us of when to pay bills, and a calendar for our dog to remind us about his shots, groomings, and flea treatments. I love iCal because I can take it with me wherever I go because it's on my phone, computer, and my online iCloud account. I also use the reminders app, but usually only for grocery list. I don't like to-do lists because they can overwhelm me too easily. I would certainly use iCal for school.  could make a class schedule and plan special dates to easily keep track of it all. I might even put is major upcoming assignment dates for my students so that I can remind them and I won't forget.

Thing #14

I used the bubble.us and MindMeister sites. I started off with my ideas for a research paper on Montessori. I liked both of these (they were very similar) because they flowed nicely. I did prefer the look and function of bubble.us just a little more than MindMeister. It looks a little my feminine to me because my friends and I use to draw bubble around our notes we would pass in class sometime when we were younger.

Thing #13

I made this in Google Docs, drawing. I did not like Zoho. I can't see myself using it in the future. I would use Word first and Google Docs only on the fly to fix an obvious error. I'm too nervous about losing and misplacing my files "in the cloud" so I don't like web-based applications. Google Docs is a more familiar format than Zoho which is why I would use it before Zoho.

Thing #15

I loved the wiki video! Actually using the APSU sandbox wiki was really fun too. I think wikis are very useful and I would love to use one in my classroom. Students could edit in whatever they liked and exercise control over their wiki space. I added my Thing #8 to the APSU Sandbox wiki.

Thing #18

I am already a member of Facebook and Twitter. I do not believe that these social networking site are appropriate for professional usage. With the recent change to Facebook, any of your friends can see things as simple as what you liked on someone else's wall. So, if you absent-mindedly like an adult-humored joke on a friend's page then your students and their parents might see it. Twitter's character length would restrict for making any really important announcements via that media.

Thing #20

I chose this video to go with one of the podcasts I selected for the LiveText assignment. I want to show that students different ways of enjoying the same story and figure out which one they prefer and absorb the most knowledge from. Personally, I love Youtube. It's easy to use and has more videos than I could ever watch. Professionally, I am hesitant to use youtube because of what might show up in the suggestions afterwards. I wouldn't want to expose my students to anything that was inappropriate and there is a lot of inappropriate videos on Youtube. However, it was very easy to find this video. It was the third result and a clear choice to me.

WebQuest

I made a WebQuest. It was actually kind of fun! Here it is in case you want to check it out!

= )

Global Warming