Running searches in different modes definitely gave different results. Searching in posts gave way too many results and very non specific – most just containing one or two words of match. When I used quotation marks in posts I only got 2 results. Using the quotation marks I go no results in blogs, 2 in photos, and 20 in videos. That was unexpected. Who knew that there would be more videos than any other type.
Tagging is a great way to limit searches – something like power googling. Of course, you’re at the mercy of others’ descriptive powers…
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Week 6 Exercise 13
Del.icio.us seems like it will be very useful when I'm using different computers, like in August when I get back into the classroom. I transfered my bookmarks from Firefox so that I'm up to speed. One of the most useful things about this exercise was that it got me to get rid of the 98 bookmarks that had been set NOT by me. I realized that I don't bookmark much. I have my website as the homepage and the other things I use frequently I have memorized or they auto-complete when I start entering. However, I do have about 10 and will probably add more as I want to remember some of the cool things I've played with in this class.
I also checked out the comments of others who had bookmarked some sites. This seems like a good way to preview the usefulness of a site without having to go through it for alot of time. Some comments were very specific as to the grade level at which the info would be useful. I just read the first page of comments because going through the 300 or more is time consuming all by itself...
I also checked out the comments of others who had bookmarked some sites. This seems like a good way to preview the usefulness of a site without having to go through it for alot of time. Some comments were very specific as to the grade level at which the info would be useful. I just read the first page of comments because going through the 300 or more is time consuming all by itself...
Week 5 Exercise 12
Rollyo (or any selective search engine) seems like a great idea for teaching. It is great to limit the students' search to sites that are safe and specific to their topic. I'll plan to use this (or a similar) tool this year for student research.
For this assignment I created a search engine called MsCSocStudResources with sites for me to use in selecting information for my students.
For this assignment I created a search engine called MsCSocStudResources with sites for me to use in selecting information for my students.
Week 5 Exercise 11
The potential in these sites is incredible. I truly can't image the many ways to use them and my mind is boggled at the number of ways I CAN actually think to use them. Wow. I tried several of the sites and will definitely return later as I look for creative ways to solve life and work technology questions.
I tried Mango to brush up on my Italian for a future trip to Italy. The lesson was well organized and did alot of looping to increase practice and recall. I'm going to register so I can get to the more advanced lessons. I also sent the link to the rest of my family so they can prepare themselves for the trip. I love speaking and understanding other languages and may even dabble in something unfamiliar like Japanese...
I got a kick out of Roland's picture with hair and think that site will be fun. Thanks for the video tip, too.
I checked out the Ning site and can see the value of the specific social network. I did not join a network because I am not interested in any new information from a random source like this. However, I think it could be useful for class communication. How private it is? One site I checked out said something about membership but I was able to look at their photos, including their names, with no problem. Maybe you need to be a member to post. Do you think it would work within the privacy needs of a school situation? I am unwilling to post my students names with pictures.
I tried Mango to brush up on my Italian for a future trip to Italy. The lesson was well organized and did alot of looping to increase practice and recall. I'm going to register so I can get to the more advanced lessons. I also sent the link to the rest of my family so they can prepare themselves for the trip. I love speaking and understanding other languages and may even dabble in something unfamiliar like Japanese...
I got a kick out of Roland's picture with hair and think that site will be fun. Thanks for the video tip, too.
I checked out the Ning site and can see the value of the specific social network. I did not join a network because I am not interested in any new information from a random source like this. However, I think it could be useful for class communication. How private it is? One site I checked out said something about membership but I was able to look at their photos, including their names, with no problem. Maybe you need to be a member to post. Do you think it would work within the privacy needs of a school situation? I am unwilling to post my students names with pictures.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Week 5 Exercise 10
I've been working with these tools for the last several weeks. I finally was able to get a photo uploaded and modified. I had alot of trouble with my personal pc because of the security. Firefox also gave me some grief on the mac but today it worked when Safari acted up. Very strange. I've tried to upload the image I created on fototrix.com modifying an image from photobooth. I can't get it to work at all with pasting or using the url. It won't give me the html when I request it and it hangs trying to download the image. I'll come back to this later...
Monday, June 16, 2008
Week 4 Exercise 9
I've been exploring Blogline's search tool - love it. I found a podcast that I can exactly use for my students at 8D Spinning History.
I also found this ongoing support for Web 2.0 - you may have already seen it but I thought it worth mentioning. Classroom 2.0 Wiki.
I've added the edits and discussion to my RSS feeds. I wasn't sure which I'd most want so I figured I'd try both and then choose. I am definitely concerned about getting information without getting overloaded.
Does anyone know if I can mark the new messages as read without having to go to the site. Already I'm finding the news feeds overwhelming. I like to scan to see if there's something I want to read but, if not, I'd like to get them off the screen without having to go to that site. Any ideas?
I also found this ongoing support for Web 2.0 - you may have already seen it but I thought it worth mentioning. Classroom 2.0 Wiki.
I've added the edits and discussion to my RSS feeds. I wasn't sure which I'd most want so I figured I'd try both and then choose. I am definitely concerned about getting information without getting overloaded.
Does anyone know if I can mark the new messages as read without having to go to the site. Already I'm finding the news feeds overwhelming. I like to scan to see if there's something I want to read but, if not, I'd like to get them off the screen without having to go to that site. Any ideas?
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Week 4 Exercise 8
I signed on to the 5 RSS feeds. I had been aware of them before but didn't use them because I don't go online for news and have little interest in being sent more information. It is a burden to be bombarded... I usually read the daily paper and catch NPR in the morning and in the car throughout day. However, I'll give it a try.
I added The Loh Life from NPR because I do really enjoy Sandra Loh's comments and often miss the show. I also got some tech teaching updates. Plus, I signed up to find out about cool gadgets which may give me some good ideas for interesting gifts.
I did like the video from Common Craft Show and will definitely watch the others when I'm ready to start those tasks. It made it very easy.
I added The Loh Life from NPR because I do really enjoy Sandra Loh's comments and often miss the show. I also got some tech teaching updates. Plus, I signed up to find out about cool gadgets which may give me some good ideas for interesting gifts.
I did like the video from Common Craft Show and will definitely watch the others when I'm ready to start those tasks. It made it very easy.
Week 3 Exercise 7
I definitely agree with Jani that, if you haven't tried Wii, you really need to find a way. You're welcome to play tennis with me any time. I haven't tried the exercise program but I would like to go for it. I've tried Dance Dance Revolution and it exhausts me at the easiest level...
I'm interested in many technologies, but for now I'd like to learn about tools such as podcasting to help with student learning. Last year at the CUE conference I got started on how to actually do a podcast but I didn't follow up to use it with my students. I'd like to get more facile with producing podcasts and spend some time developing places in the curriculum where they will be useful.
A big concern I have about technologies in teaching is the amount of teacher and student time some of these 'cool' ideas can take. For the last 8 years I've maintained a website with weekly updates, general information, homework, grades, resources, etc. I'm not sure that it was a worthwhile return on my time. People use it more now with computer use being more ubiquitous but using time productively is REALLY important to me.
I'm interested in many technologies, but for now I'd like to learn about tools such as podcasting to help with student learning. Last year at the CUE conference I got started on how to actually do a podcast but I didn't follow up to use it with my students. I'd like to get more facile with producing podcasts and spend some time developing places in the curriculum where they will be useful.
A big concern I have about technologies in teaching is the amount of teacher and student time some of these 'cool' ideas can take. For the last 8 years I've maintained a website with weekly updates, general information, homework, grades, resources, etc. I'm not sure that it was a worthwhile return on my time. People use it more now with computer use being more ubiquitous but using time productively is REALLY important to me.
Week 3 Exercise 6
I played around with some of the elements of Flickr, including using the Help Forum quite a bit. It seems I have to wait another day or two until my photos are viewable to the public since I'm a new account. The other users responded clearly and quickly to my questions so I really recommend it if you need help.
I didn't find how to make my own images on Montager and saw that there was an unanswered question about it on the Help Forum. What would you use that mashup to do and do you know how to customize it?
I had some fun with Poster Maker, including creating a Fathers' Day card for my dad. Here you see a silly one of our cat reading. I haven't tried printing it out in various sizes but I guess you'd need to do that to make flash cards. That would be a fun assignment for students, I think, but I'd need to be sure that the learning was worth the time it would take to front load learning the application.
I will explore some of the other third party sites when I feel like meandering a bit.
I didn't find how to make my own images on Montager and saw that there was an unanswered question about it on the Help Forum. What would you use that mashup to do and do you know how to customize it?
I had some fun with Poster Maker, including creating a Fathers' Day card for my dad. Here you see a silly one of our cat reading. I haven't tried printing it out in various sizes but I guess you'd need to do that to make flash cards. That would be a fun assignment for students, I think, but I'd need to be sure that the learning was worth the time it would take to front load learning the application.
I will explore some of the other third party sites when I feel like meandering a bit.
Thursday, June 12, 2008
Dinner Bread
Dinner Bread
Originally uploaded by aLearner2
This is a 3 lb loaf of bread I made in May. The recipe is unbelievably easy and the crust is as if from a boulangerie. I started baking bread in college and have never gotten these results. Whoo hoo for crispy crust.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Week 3 Exercise 5
Flickr
Flickr does seem like a terrific site. Since I'm a real privacy buff I'm glad to see that you can limit access pretty stringently. I posted a cartoon to try the process but then deleted it since it wasn't my photo. I figured out how to get the photo comments to show up on this blog but I haven't figure out how to get the picture itself. I'll continue working on that tomorrow.
This is a GREAT tool for sharing class photos with students and families. That's been a challenge for me before this tool. Plus, for many years I've made a movie/slide show of the year which I show the students on the last day. How fun if they can show their parents each activity we record through the year.
Having Yahoo, Flickr, Gmail, Google Reader and more connected certainly makes it easy getting these accounts. But, it is creepy having my information so readily available to each...
Flickr does seem like a terrific site. Since I'm a real privacy buff I'm glad to see that you can limit access pretty stringently. I posted a cartoon to try the process but then deleted it since it wasn't my photo. I figured out how to get the photo comments to show up on this blog but I haven't figure out how to get the picture itself. I'll continue working on that tomorrow.
This is a GREAT tool for sharing class photos with students and families. That's been a challenge for me before this tool. Plus, for many years I've made a movie/slide show of the year which I show the students on the last day. How fun if they can show their parents each activity we record through the year.
Having Yahoo, Flickr, Gmail, Google Reader and more connected certainly makes it easy getting these accounts. But, it is creepy having my information so readily available to each...
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Week 2 - Avatar
Thanks for the various suggestions to get the avatar to work. Finally what did work was to save it to my desktop and upload it to the blog from my computer. Yea!
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Week 2 - Exercise 3 & 4
I customized this blog slightly and worked on my avatar. I created it on Yahoo but haven't been able to load it as an image on this site. If you click on Yahoo!Avatars on my homepage it is a link to the image I created. It's a picture of me in my math classroom in the middle of the cooking project that Jani and I developed. One problem seems to be that anyone who clicks on the link can modify the avatar... Help anyone???
Week 1 - Exercise 2
7 1/2 Habits
It was interesting to see characteristics of lifelong learning enumerated like that. I have always viewed myself as a learner because, frankly, I love learning. In almost every situation I ask questions, read, research, experiment, explore. It can drive my kids nuts!
I definitely accept responsibility for my own learning - at least since I've been adult, probably since I started working. It was interesting to do my MA program 20 years after college and see how much harder I worked and how many times I went over certain reading sections to be sure I understood. I think I would have had awesome grades in school if I'd taken that approach earlier in my life.
The hardest of the habits for me will be the setting and attainment of a single specific goal. I'm good at making goals and getting started down the path to attainment. BUT, I often start to make modifications well before I reach the original objective - you know - improvements... This can get me off track of what I really wanted to get done. I hope that this plan helps me move in a consistent direction toward a goal, achieve it, THEN start something else.
It was interesting to see characteristics of lifelong learning enumerated like that. I have always viewed myself as a learner because, frankly, I love learning. In almost every situation I ask questions, read, research, experiment, explore. It can drive my kids nuts!
I definitely accept responsibility for my own learning - at least since I've been adult, probably since I started working. It was interesting to do my MA program 20 years after college and see how much harder I worked and how many times I went over certain reading sections to be sure I understood. I think I would have had awesome grades in school if I'd taken that approach earlier in my life.
The hardest of the habits for me will be the setting and attainment of a single specific goal. I'm good at making goals and getting started down the path to attainment. BUT, I often start to make modifications well before I reach the original objective - you know - improvements... This can get me off track of what I really wanted to get done. I hope that this plan helps me move in a consistent direction toward a goal, achieve it, THEN start something else.
Week 1 - Exercise 1
I set up a Google Reader account and this blog. The process was fairly easy - thanks for the good directions.
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