Thing 9: Slidesharing

Slideshare is a huge boost to my professional development because of its amazing archives. There are so many presentations shared there, and I like the Slidecast audio feature and look forward to trying it out when I get back to school.
authorSTREAM's live presentation application is a huge benefit for distance learning since there is a chat feature for discussion, as well as Skype capability.
I really tried to like 280 slides because of its potential for students, or even for teachers creating PowerPoints away from home. It doesn't feel intuitive for me, because of my Office background, but I'm sure my students will learn it quickly and easily without the necessity for relearning. I do not like the fact that you can't seem to upload existing presentations, unless I am missing something.

I like these three the best so far, and each has its "best used for" potential. When I uploaded the same presentation to two different sites, I found this one from Slideshare went very quickly. But I did have to register.

Christian Growth Final

View more documents from sgiddings.

This one from authorSTREAM took three times as long to upload and convert, although I uploaded as a guest instead of registering.

Christian Growth

Uploaded on authorSTREAM by aSGuest21385 Upload your own presentation

Both presentations were just fine, with all the exterior links working, but only the Slideshare presentation kept all the original colors. On the other hand, the authorSTREAM allowed me to change my title, while the other used the title from my upload.

Thing 8: Screencasts

I chose to do more reading on screencasting before I began and found this interesting blog post by Jon Udell on O'Reilly Digitalmedia, which gives more tips to help prepare for your first screencast. It helped me build confidence to start.

Then I worked with GoView to create a screencast for my second grade students showing them how to use GoogleImages to find a photo for their animal project. Here it is:


or here is a link to the project:
http://goview.com/?id=aaa8b22a-e657-460d-bef5-804b657f945c

It did require a download, but I found it extremely easy to use, cut out sections, and add titles. I really like the 3-2-1 countdown to help me prepare mentally. I would definitely do this again, at school, with tutorials for databases, Accelerated Reader, using the library catalog, and other software I have on school computers. It could be a huge timesaver.

Thing 7: Video

Blinkx has some wonderful, educational videos. The only drawback is that most are preceeded by advertising. I watched video on dinosaurs, Mars, volcanoes and other science topics.
I was unable to view or download video selections from the National Archive link, but had no trouble when I searched GoogleVideo directly for individual subjects however. These were wonderful, authentic historical selections which will be very helpful in the classroom.

PBS had amazing video, including this one on the migration of butterflies which would have application in the elementary classroom. Just the introduction to the NOVA program would be enough for the younger students. I also like the fact that you can see the transcripts. It doesn't appear as though these videos can be downloaded, only shared by link or purchased from PBS.

Totlol has some cute commercial videos for the younger ones, including some Thomas the Train shorts which could be used in character education contexts, however, there are changes in the works for this site, with the possibility of fees being charged in the future. Joining is required to view content.

Google video is easy to search, manipulate, and download. Here is a short 1 minute video on the Masai people of Tanzania that could be used in a geography class.

NeoK12 had wonderful, short, educational options like this one on the northern lights which is difficult to explain but has more value for students to see.
SchoolTube had this cute student-made book review on One Potato, Two Potato, the Bluebonnet Award winner this year. It seems to be a good forum for student-published work.

Thing 6: itouch

This post sent me scurrying to the apple store at the mall. The sacrifices I make... It was a daunting task to enter the store with all those teens during the summer and were those clerks speaking English? It's hard to tell with all those acronyms. Not having an iphone or itouch, or dare I say, even an ipod, I'm not sure my observations will be on the mark, but here goes.


I like the QuickVoice application for recording, and I think that would be useful remembering key points of a lecture, dictating homework assignments and conducting interviews, as well as potential application for foreign language studies.


Googledoc, dictionary.com, GoogleEarth, and Wikipanion applications would have value for research and writing.


winremote is something I would like to use as a teacher with a projector since it is much less expensive than the typical media cart set up or tablet.

Here is the itouch official download video tour, including downloading application instructions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OF_8EOJ2o8c

Thing 5: Microblogging

Just found this twitter from Joyce Valenza that seems a propos to our discussion:
joycevalenzaClay Shirky's TED--How Twitter Can Change History http://bit.ly/9JbOd
According to Shirky, China is trying to hide unrest, but because media is produced locally, by amateurs, quickly, and in abundance, it can no longer be effectively filtered. Shirkey states that media is global, social, ubiquitous and cheap. It is no longer IF we want to operate in this environment but HOW we will adapt to it.

I have facebook and twitter accounts already which, frankly, I don't use much. I am afraid I am still more of a consumer of media than a producer of media. I am still more private than transparent in my worldview. I do enjoy keeping up with my college kids in a less obtrusive, casual way. I personally found twitter4teachers very helpful to get started finding people to follow.

I think the idea of backchanneling is amazing. I've never participated in that kind of activity. That would free teachers to stimulate critical thinking if simple questions are answered on the spot by peers or moderators. I think every speaker tries to feel the pulse of the audience and this would help. Phones are banned at our school, but students still manage to text under the table. I'm thinking that a moderated backchannel on Tiny Chat would be a more productive activity, kind of like "If you can't beat them, join them."

Thing 4 - Creating/Posting Video

I found this activity to be enjoyable, but frustrating. I used both PhotoStory 3 (Microsoft download) and Windows Movie Maker to create a book trailer for Paint the Wind by Pam Munoz Ryan. I ended up posting the wmv file to Youtube Education and TeacherTube. The uploads were the easiest part. The music was the hardest part. I think I am ready to get a site license to Soundzabound just for ease of use and copyright protection. Here is the youtube embed (TeacherTube reviews the upload and posts it after 24 hours).



I like having more creative control over the end product, but animoto is definitely snazzier than what I can create. I think book trailers are really helpful to promote reading and I intend to make more, but youtube is blocked at our school. We can't see most of what's on neok12 which is a shame. I know my library students will have more fun making book trailers than the usual reports and I look forward to seeing what they will produce. I am also hopeful that teachertube will not be blocked.

Thing 2 Animoto Book Trailer

Thing 3 - Skype

I use Skype at home, but not at school. We don't allow Skype at school because of bandwidth limitations. I love the makeuseof site which I don't remember seeing last year as a resource. I found this index and started looking at some of the resources listed there:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/30-tools-and-tips-to-make-your-skype-better-all-free/
I think the recordings of Skype and answering machine widgets are the best tips.


The hard part would be trying to find a class to connect with, I imagine. I don't think epals provides for a Skype interface, but this wiki helps you find other classrooms to connect with for and offers many other resources for making the program more applicable to education. http://wikiskype.pbworks.com/Skype+in+the+Classroom

This site refers to an author interview with Cynthia Leitch Smith conducted by a high school in Austin. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6515247.html That is something I would like to do very much.

The following site was very helpful, very basic in how to actually begin teaching the program to students and Vicki Davis gives helpful tips such as giving a grade and checking profiles. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/10/using-skype-in-classroom-or-just.html

I think the best applications are to include absent students via Skype, to conduct interviews with experts and authors, to have cultural exchange "show and tells" with students from different countries, and to conference with parents after hours, especially with an out-of-state parent (which you would probably want to record).

Thing 2 - Bookr

Bookr is amazing! I get so frustrated shelling out big bucks for a little book of pictures and minimal text to help the younger grades understand key concepts. Here is a link to a book I created in a short amount of time. To read it, turn the top or bottom corner of the page.




I can see myself using this on a weekly basis for "the littles". They will certainly find this more fun and much easier to see. I will say that the site is mostly intuitive, but a little tricky. For instance, you can't save your work that I can tell, so you need to have a good amount of time to finish and publish your work. Also, some of the flickr pictures are inappropriate. Try searching hot or heat tags and you'll see what I mean... Probably uploading your own pictures would be safer is you are going to have students make books.

Thing 2 - Wordsift

I am already familiar with Wordle. It's fun and easy for students to use to find the main idea. So this time I explored Wordsift and I really love its potential. It does everything wordle does, (without all the creative, colorful options) and much, much more. I especially like the links to definitions in the visual thesaurus, the links to other sites, and less so the clip art. It does have images that are inappropriate for younger students who can use Wordle comfortably most of the time unless an inappropriate wordle is featured on the home page. I chose to wordsift my first posting on Thing 1. It came up with some fun connections and youtube sites that were helpful. I think students will especially benefit from the visual dictionary which will help them identify key words for searching. Besides the occasional clip art issues and lack of creative freedom, I'm also not fond of the fact that you can't remove common words like you can in wordle.

Thing 2 - Glogster

Here is my first attempt at Glogster. I think it will be fun to create lesson links for students, but I don't think it is intuitive or easy enough for elementary students.


From a teaching standpoint, though, it's much more interesting than a pathfinder in word!

Thing 2 - Voki

Thing 1 2009

After watching the Networked Student my first reaction was "Hey, that's me -- thanks to 23 1/2 things!" I've not continued active blogging on this blog, but my PLN is intact, my wiki works, and my connections are so much richer than this time last year. So, I started asking all the college students I know about their PLN's and, guess what... they don't have one, at least not for learning, just for social networking. Their MP3's have only music. Their twitters are for fun. Their youtube use is voracious, but the sillier the better.

So I think there is still a great need for librarians and teachers to help them exploit the full potential of their tools. Personally, I am in an elementary library, so I will just keep teaching the tech basics, showing what's out there on the net, explaining intellectual property and promoting literacy of many kinds to try to get them ready. Another important role is to encourage my teachers to keep learning, to get their PLN's going, and to see what's out there to help them in their job of teaching in the classroom.