Techie Tuesday: Online Resources

With the billions of websites out there, it is sometimes hard to find the exact ones you would like to integrate into your daily life.  Where can you go to find the perfect websites?  Sorry, but there isn't a quick answer to this.

Know What You Want

You need to first know for what type of site you are looking.  Maybe you are having trouble keeping up with your favorite websites.  You know the drill.  I found the most awesome site on (insert fav topic here), and now I can't find it. You need a bookmarking site!  I personally love Diigo.  It isn't enough to just sign up for a site. You have to also prepare to use it.  How can you do this?  Here are a couple of examples:

• Use the Browser Add-on for your work and home computer.  This makes it super easy to "click and add" a website.
• Use tags.  By tagging the websites, you are able to search by topic.  It's like your own digital filing cabinet.
• Use your smart phone.  Most smart phones have the capability to automatically save websites to your bookmarking site such as Diigo.  An app will even allow you to access your sites on the go!

Search for What Fits You Best

Maybe you are looking for an online site on which to keep notes.  Honestly you have to search and find the one that fits your style.  Here are a few examples:

• Wikispaces
• LiveBinders
• Diigo
• Evernote
• Google
• Jjot 
• Zoho

Talk to Others

Oh, you want something even more "real life"?  How about couponing?   I'm sure you have watched at least part of an Extreme Couponing episode.  I must admit I have been greatly intrigued by the amount of savings.  I've even tried out a few tricks using the Sunday Circular and weekly sales.  There is a big difference in what I am doing and the $1000 savings you see online, which brings up another key component in finding online resources, TALK to others!  Yes, this seems like a simple option, but sometimes it is used last or not at all.  If you are looking for something, there is someone else that is already using it (or looking for the same).  If you can't find someone, turn to a social site such as twitter and ask others!

FYI Another colleague (friend) and myself have truly been interested in couponing.  We have looked around, but not found the huge deals "like TV".  Through talking, we found out that another one of our colleague's, Peggy Lacobee, is having great success with couponing.  She is actually presenting Techie Tuesday for this week on just that! Here are a few resources she shared:

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/
http://www.couponsthingsbydede.com/
http://coupondivas.com/

What resources would you like to find? Do you have a favorite to share?

Techie Tuesday: Geaux Google

Techie Tuesday is coming to you a day early, because I'll be spending the rest of the week at the lake. It is my second favorite place to relax; the beach is number one!

Google is so much more than a search engine! There are numerous tools you could use daily, some of which will save you time. A gmail account IS NOT required for a Google account.  You can register with Google using any email address!

If Google is one of your favorite search engines, you have probably been to the site numerous times, but have you looked at more than the search engine?  Though we wont cover ALL things Google, look along the top bar and follow the "more" and then "even more" link.  WOW and this list doesn't even touch all the tools in the lab!

The full Geaux Google online professional development is located at eTechie.  For this blog post we will just look at a few highlights from the PD:  Advanced Search, Books, iGoogle, Scholar, and Voice.

The Advanced Search option can tremendously cut down flipping through pages of Google results.  When I search "digital citizenship," I get over 1.5 million results, but I'm actually looking for a PowerPoint.  By using the advanced feature, I can just view the PowerPoint files, and I quickly get my list narrowed down to less than 1000.  Believe it or not, I can narrow it down further by only looking at .edu domains.  Now I have right at 100 results!

Google Books is basically a huge source to preview books/magazines or even access full books/magazines. When you search for a topic, you will get the results similar to a typical Google Search. On the left nav bar you can limit your findings such as Full View and time period! Do a sample search and see what you find!  Would you believe there are over 10,000 free full view algebra books on Google Books? I could take up a small manuscript with ways to incorporate this into your classroom, so I better stop here;)

iGoogle is our next stop! take a look at the introduction video.


How is your Voice? Do you have friends trying to track you down on different phone numbers between home, work, and your cell? How about annoying phone calls that you answer on accident? Google Voice is now open for everyone for free (other than international calls)!

Scholar is a great option to search for professional articles. One of the best features is the advanced search in which you can really narrow down your results. Most of these articles are free and you can even sign up for an email alert when new items are added on your search topic.

I searched what would be a relatively new topic, "iPads in the Classroom" and still found over 400 results. When searching "IPads in Education," there were over 10,000 results. This is a very powerful tool that most of us would have loved when writing research papers.

If you want to access the full Geaux Google online professional development just follow the Geaux Google PD link!

What are some of your favorite Google Tools?

Techie Tuesday: Get Glogging

Most of you have heard of blogging, but what about glogging?  Glogster is a fun way of easily making a poster with the ability to embed images, music, and videos.  Many teachers assign topic related projects such as posters, essays, and PowerPoints.   Instead, why not give students the option of Glogging? Teachers are even using it as a presentation tool (follow the two links for examples).

In my multimedia class, we have been studying the use of iTouch/iPhone in education.  This week they used web 2.0 tools to present some of their  findings.  Several students opted to present using a glog.  Here are a few examples for their "mini project":

Algebra 2

High School Trig

Dance

The above student examples are actually their first attempt at using Glogster. Creating your first glog is pretty easy.  Just make sure to create an account first or it will be hard to find what you created! Jazz up your next class project with Glogster!

What tools do you use to jazz up your projects or presentations?

Techie Tuesday: Get Techie, Get Healthy

It's New Year's resolution time and health clubs as well as weight loss program memberships have skyrocketed!  This year more businesses than ever before are offering healthy lifestyle incentives such as gym memberships earning  you a $100 bonus, luxury vacations, and more.  Does your job offer such incentives?

With two-thirds of Americans overweight or obese, we are truly in a crisis situation which costs US companies an estimated $13 billion per year.  Technology can be used to help improve almost anything from time management to professional development.  How about for developing a healthy lifestyle?

There are numerous FREE websites and apps to start you on the journey of a healthy lifestyle.  Let's take a look of one such website, Sparkpeople.

SparkPeople is loaded with every resource you could need to develop healthy habits.  If you are wanting to lose weight or even just trying to eat healthier there is a step-by-step program to do just that.  They even have another site, SparkRecipes, filled with great alternatives to your typical recipes.  Here is a brief overview of what they have to offer for FREE:

Tools
Tracking tools for food and fitness
Goal setting tools
Reports
Planner

Healthy Life Styles
Nutrition
Fitness (including plans and videos)
Motivation
Wellness
SparkDiet

Your Health
Health A - Z
Condition Centers
Health News

Community
Message Boards
SparkTeams
SparkPages (blogs)

Yes, there is even an app for SparkPeople!  You can input food and exercise (as well as other facts) on the go or just view your results in a variety of reports.

Here are a few more sites you might want to check out; some of which made it to the top 20 most popular health websites:
Prevention, Real Age, Weight Watchers,

iPhone App

Couch to 5K ~  This app takes you step-by-step off the couch and to running 5K, seriously!

A special thanks to @magic101 (Jackie Sharp) and @melching5 (Melanie Ching) for their app and site suggestions for this week's Techie Tuesday!

Techie Tuesday: K-12 Online Conference 2009

Have you ever wished you could attend a particular conference or workshop only to be short time and money? There are numerous conferences with backchannels to allow you to attend on your own schedule via Ning, Twitter, Wiki, video, or website.

This week is part of the K12 Online Conference 2009. The theme, Bridging the Divide, might be termed perfect as they invite participation around the world.  As with most large conferences this one started with a pre-conference keynote.  This is followed with two week's of over fifty presentations.  The K12 Online Conference is much more than a backchannel for an existing conference.  It is an entire conference held online.

You can attend the K12 Online Conference via live events online.  What if you missed one of the scheduled events?  That is the great part!  You can watch the video or read through their ning-blog-wiki.

The K12 Online conference will also continue to host live events twice monthly during 2010 through K-12 Online Echo webcasts on EdTechTalk.  Go to their site now and check it out! http://k12onlineconference.org/

What other educational online events do you enjoy?

Techie Tuesday: A- Z Resources

While digging through some old files, I came across an old PowerPoint, ABC Teacher Resource Websites.  Of course it was fun going through the old resources, but it also got me to thinking about all the numerous websites currently available.

I sent out a few tweets, dug through my Diigo files, and the result is a current A - Z of Awesome Resources!  @melching5 also sent an awesome link to numerous resources!

Would you like to add to the links?  Visit my wiki page to continue building this list of resources!

A - Assignaday, Animoto, Alltop, Audacity	H - Hulu, Hotmail, Headerbar	O - Open Source	V - Voicethread
B - Blogger, Blabberize	I - iPhone/Touch Apps	P - Posterous, Podomatic	W - Wikispaces
C - Cozi, Calendar	J - Jing, Jog the Web	Q - Quia	X - Xtranormal
D - Diigo, Delicious, Doink	K - Kerpoof	R - RSS	Y - You Tube, Yaca Paca, Yahoo
E - Edu 2.0, Edublogs, Evernote, Elluminate	L - LessonWriter, Linkedin	S - Slideshare	Z - ZDNet, Zoho,
F - Flickr	M - My Note It, Mixbook, Moonk	T - Twitter, Trailfire, TeacherTube
G - Glogster, GOOGLE	N - Netvibes, Ning	U - UStream

Techie Tuesday: What's your Inspiration?

Inspiration Software has been around for several years, but have you been inspired to check it out?  For this week's Techie Tuesday we will look at Inspiration and how it can be used in the classroom.

According to their company website, Inspiration is an essential tool to visualize, think, organize, and learn.  What makes this software special?  With the explosion of web 2.0 sites, there are numerous free online graphic organizers such as bubbl.us and Mindmeister.

If you simply want to create semantic maps/webs, one of the free online organizers would probable fit your need.  If you want more, keep reading for highlights on Inspiration Software.

One nice component of Inspiration is how you can create a graphic organizer and with one click it can be changed into a formal outline.  Students can create a web with shapes and/or clip art filled with information.  Then it is transformed into an outline using the hierarchy of the web.  These graphic organizers include concept maps, webs, and idea maps.  The outline can be built upon using other components such as a dictionary.

Other key components include the following:

• Video and sound integration


• Templates


• Curriculum Packets

To get a varieties of class integration possibilities, I asked my fellow teachers for ways to integrate Inspiration in their classroom.  Of course bribing them with a free copy of Inspiration always helps them respond quickly:)  Here is a list of ideas to integrate Inspiration into your classroom:

• Draft and Revise writing assignments


• Research


• Visually explain math concepts and problems


• Planning (project, web site,etc)


• Semantic web of a Country


• Transform the semantic web to an outline


• Use the audio part for students to review


• Concept mapping


• Brainstorming


• Story maps


• Character analysis


• Book reports


• Creating storyboards for PowerPoint presentations


• Defining new terms


• Assist teachers in planning lessons or units


• Plot Summaries


• Historical Cause and Effect


• Cycles (recycle, weather, etc.)


• Developing a course or workshop


• Lab Procedures


• Show relationships


• In foreign language classes create an organizer that shows the English word on one side and the foreign language word equivalent on the other side with pictures as hints.


• When studying a poem, in the center concept list the name of the poem and the connecting lines contain phrases from the poem. The sub-concept explains the words in the phrase and the literary technique used such as personification.


• Faculty/district - responsibilities of committees

So are your Inspired?  What other software or sites for graphic organization are your favorite?

Techie Tuesday: Flying with Eagle

This week's Techie Tuesday focuses on a new online assessment tool provided for Louisiana teachers.

Louisiana, the Pelican state, has created an EAGLE:  Enhanced Assessment Grade Level Expectations.  This program provides immediate feedback to teachers of their student's knowledge of designated GLE's.

Don't worry, we are still the Pelican state!

Basically a teacher logs into the Eagle system, creates a test, and distributes it to his/her students.  All test items are aligned to GLE's and teachers can use the Eagles pre-made tests or create one using the item bank.

Creating your own test from scratch takes four easy steps.  After you fill out a test overview:  select the area of content (ELA or Math), grade level, and test name, you select "assemble test".

• Select your Content Standard, Comprehensive Curriculum, or Passages (ELA only).


• Pick a standard/unit, GLE, and items that correspond.


• Click "add to test".


• Repeat this process to add additional items.

So, you don't have time to create a test from scratch?  EAGLE has you covered.  Just go to the "Edit Test" tab and click "pre-made."  Select the subject area and grade level and this opens a list of pre-made tests including one for each Comprehensive Curriculum unit.

Tests can be pre scheduled giving teachers the option to set class and individual goals, time limits, and calculator options.  Scores are immediate for multiple choice, short constructive response, and interactive items.

You can analyze your student's performance using any of the six progress reports.

• Content Standard


• GLE's


• Test and Content Standard


• Test and Question Type


• Test Questions


• Instructional Need by GLE

Are you ready to get started?  Each Louisiana Parish has trained personnel.  Contact your Region TLTC or parish school board office.

If you aren't from Louisiana, do you have a similar program you would like to share?

Techie Tuesday: Feeling Bloggy?

A Blog, web log, has a variety of purposes in education. Why don't all educators blog? Probably one of three reasons:  they don't feel "tech savy" enough, aren't aware of the various uses, or think it will be time consuming.

Blogs are one of the easiest ways for an educator to interact with students, parents, and the community.  You are able to post information, keep an online journal, disperse information, and share.

Are you still asking yourself, "What is a blog"?  Visit this video, Blogs in Plain English,  before proceeding further.

So, what about the need for technology skills?  If you are able to send an email, you are able to blog.  Free sites such as edublogs and blogger have made it easy!  For either, you basically create an account, activate the account via email, and sign in.  For those with technology phobias, edublogs has you covered with a quick post option right when you log in.  Simply type and publish.

Are you not sure of how to use a blog?  Here are some ideas to get you started:

Share materials and resources
Create a class website
Hold online discussions
Start a book club
Invite guest student posters
Set-up student blogs
Establish a newsletter via blog posts
Create an administrator blog for your thoughts and invite guest posters
Personal webpage on your favorite topics

Check out other blogs for ideas.  Do you need even more ideas? Check these out.

Now, how about time consumption?  If you focus on your thoughts and not the coolest theme or pictures to add to posts, then it only takes as long as it would to send a detailed email.  Some of the best blogs are the simplest in form.

Are you feeling bloggy?

Techie Tuesday: Top Ten Favs

As an educator,  it is often hard to narrow down favorite websites much less find new one's to test-out.  So, this week Techie Tuesday is bringing you ten favorite sites to check-out.

To select sites, I simply sent out a quick tweet to my Twitter PLN, Personal Learning Network, and as always within a few minutes my top ten list was formed.  Humm, was this just a quick way for me to get this week's blog post out?

Well I must admit, the post and subsequent message board are usually completed on Monday night, but no, this was a great way for me to get other people's website ideas.  This blog wouldn't be as fun if you just listened to me!

Let's get right to it.  Here are ten sites for you to check out including a brief description:
1.  Blabberize blabberize.com


Any picture can be turned into a blabbering picture.  Just select a picture, pick a mouth, record sound, and your picture is blabbering! What could students blabber about for your class?  How about that book you had them read or maybe last week's report.  They could even give you current events from the news or review for a test.


2.  Trailfire  trailfire.com

Do you have a list of favorite websites for a particular lesson or unit?  With Trailfire you can place a sticky note on each website.  These notes can be questions or other dialogue for your students.  Each note connects to the next webpage you want them to visit thus making a trail.  Need a variation?  Maybe your student could make the trail and add notes for key facts.


3.  Lesson Writer lessonwriter.com


Are you reading across the curriculum?  This is your one-stop-shop:)  You simply find a text you would like to use, copy and paste into Lesson Writer and it creates vocabulary, grammar, comprehension questions, and graphic organizers for you from the text.  Maybe you need help differentiating.  Yes you can even differentiate instruction!


4.  VoiceThread  voicethread.com

VoiceThread allows you to group conversations in one place from anywhere in the world.  Load documents, images, videos about a topic and share!  Comments can be left via telephone, websites, audio file, video, or voice text.

5.  Posterous posterous.com

Have you wanted a class website or maybe even a blog, but thought you weren't tech savy enough?  Can you email?  Then Posterous is the site for you!  With a simple email you add to the site.  YES, really!  The subject is the title of the latest post, and what you type is the body of information. You can add pictures straight off the internet with a simple drag drop of you mouse onto your Share on Posterous toolbar. You can see where I checked out posterous here.


6.  SlideShare slideshare.net

Have you been wanting to use slideshows in your class, but just don't have the time to make them?  SlideShare is the place where people all over the world share their slideshows.  You simply search for the topic for which you are searching.

7.  Wikispaces www.wikispaces.com

A great wiki site with the option of an educator site, so you don't have ads appear.  Check out last week's post for more wiki information.

8.  Diigo  www.diigo.com

A great social bookmarking site that allows you to not only organize your bookmarks but also to share with others, post stickies, and more. Here's another previous post for more Diigo information.


9.  Ning  www.ning.com

Have you ever wanted your own social network? Nings can be used by students or teachers. When you make a Ning it is focused on a particular topic such as a unit or subject.  Members are then allowed to join the Ning.  Together everyone adds information through posts and message boards.


10.  Twitter twitter.com

Now what top ten would be complete without a mention of Twitter especially since these suggestions came via tweet.  A special thanks @kimwoodard @sheasmith @ericcole @teachntech00 and @wavewash

What is your favorite site?

Techie Tuesday: Wiki Anyone?

Most teachers and students have heard of Wikipedia, some in controversial circles.  But have you actually taken a look at wikis from an educational perspective?

Close to the same time Web 2.0 was coined, Wikipedia was blossoming into the current 2.5 million articles.  What made this encyclopedia different than any other?  The ability for everyone to collaborate in building it!

How could you use a wiki in your classroom?  Let's start from the beginning.  What is a Wiki? Basically a wiki is a website that uses wiki software.  This software allows you to edit pages in real time.  Wikis are used in a variety of collaborative tools.  For this post we will focus on uses in a classroom.

You can limit wiki membership, so only your students are allowed to add and edit information.  You can also open membership to other classrooms for collaboration.  Wiki's are for the geeky and challenged techie alike.  If you can type in Word, you can have a wiki.

There are so many uses of wikis in the classroom.  What better place to cover wiki information than the collaborative education queen, Vicki Davis aka @coolcatteacher (see below).

Wikis in the Classroom View more presentations from coolcatteacher.

One of my favorite ways to use a wiki in the classroom in as a collaborative "binder".  Previously I referred to this as a notebook, but it is so much more.  Each student has an account and instead of keeping a notebook, they are required to add to the class wiki on a weekly bases.  Each unit has a page, but today they started asking to add additional information such as "Welcome to the Classroom" to help students that enter after school starts, email directions, etc.

It will be interesting to see the changes over the next few weeks.

Here are a few more ideas for wikis in the classroom:

• Class Website


• Writer's Corner


• Research Paper


• Student (or teacher) portfolios


• Project

What is your favorite classroom wiki idea?

Techie Tuesday: Take Your Student's Online

Are you looking for a way to both save time and better meet your students' needs? How about an online classroom?

Better yet, how about a FREE online classroom?

Edu 2.0 could be the answer!   Edu 2.0 is similar to Blackboard or Moodle.  The only difference is that it is 100% FREE and super easy.  You can even create a school site to manage all your teachers and students.  There is a thorough discussion board for help as well as superb one-on-one assistance!



So, what are some of the features?  I'm glad you asked.  Check them out below:

• Class/school calendar which is exportable and all items (lessons, tests, etc) are automatically added to the calendar


• Lesson plans with ability to add files, websites, etc with just a click of a button


• Various Web 2.0 components such as blogs, wikis, collaborative groups, debates, feed, and chat


• Threaded message board


• Various assessment options such as quiz, free form, discussion, survey, and offline.  There are automatic grading options similar to Quia.

With Edu 2.0, students are able to access directions as many times as needed.  They also have access to lessons and resources at school and home.  Teachers are able to save time with auto grading and by having lessons readily accessible for absent students.

Is it time you took your students online?

Techie Tuesday: 31 Day Challenge Days 20 - 23

Anyone up to a challenge?  How about two?

I've been slowly working my way through the original 31 Day Challenge by Darren Rowse. It is hard to believe there are only 7 more challenges remaining.  As you read in my last post, my class and I joined another challenge - 2009 Blogging Challenge.  This post is actually a reflection on my 31 Day Challenge, but if you are looking for some blogging fun or maybe you would like to just improve your skills, there is still time to join both challenges. 

My last post actually summarizes and reflects on my reader survey for day 20. Throughout this challenge Ive been discussion various things with my PLN. Some of those are readers. The 31 day challenge has been a great kick start to getting readers:) For day 20,  I revisited a survey I conducted awhile back on web 2.0 and wrote a post on the results last week. I will definitely come back to this at a later date and run more surveys. I used poll daddy and it was very quick and easy.  Day 21's challenge asked us to make someone famous, like I have that ability :) lol.  I did include @ccroad in my last post and asked readers to add her to their twitter.  

I really enjoyed day 22's challenge to make readers aware of my blog basics.  There were several topic to choose from and I basically choose to cover the creation of my blog and it's purpose.  This is a great reflection to do regularly!  I am actually still working on day 23 in which we were suppose to go on a dead links hunt. I used the one Sue suggested, W3C link checker. I am still checking links. It did find categories that I had made when creating the blog, but didn't actually use.  This is a great resource.  After I finish the blog, I will be checking out our school website for deadlinks!

So are you ready for a challenge?  If so, here are two for you to consider:

1)  31 Day Challenge  

wiki:  http://31daychallenge.wikispaces.com
contact:  Mrs. D  tidertechie@gmail.com

2)  2009 Challenge

blog:   http://wyatt67.edublogs.org/2009-all-the-challenges-in-one-spot/
contact: Miss Wyatt  tasteach56@gmail.com

Techie Tuesday: All Aboard? Survey Results

Towards the end of January, I wrote an All Aboard? post asking for opinions on helping other teachers "see the power" of learning more about web 2.0 and creating their own PLN.  This post included a Poll Daddy survey of the following:

• Where would you suggest a teacher get involved first?


• What is your favorite PLN or Web 2.0 website for newcomers?


• What web 2.0 tools should a teacher not be without?


• List an activity you would include in a workshop for teachers.

Are you ready for the results?

Some interesting facts about this survey include the fact that all of the respondents took a little over 6 minutes to complete the survey and represented at least 5-8 countries.  The exact number of countries can't be determined because three respondents were listed as an unknown location.

Here is the breakdown of the results:

• Where would you suggest a teacher get involved first?
  
  
  
  • Workshop x 3
  
  
  • Twitter x3
  
  
  • Other x 4
  
  
  • Blog
  
  
  • Forum
  
  
  
  


• What is your favorite PLN or Web 2.0 website for newcomers?
  
  
  
  • Del.icio.us
  
  
  • Classroom 2.0 x 3
  
  
  • Wordle
  
  
  • Sue Waters PLN sites x 5 Edublogger Personal Blog PLN Wiki Mobile Technology in TAFE
  
  
  • Don't have one- difference for different participants
  
  
  • Michele Martin
  
  
  • Tech4Learning Connect
  
  
  
  


• What web 2.0 tools should a teacher not be without?
  
  
  
  • Del.icio.us
  
  
  • Diigo
  
  
  • Twitter
  
  
  • Digital Camera
  
  
  • Blogs:  example - Edublogs
  
  
  • Google:  igoogle, google docs, google earth, etc.
  
  
  • Voice Thread
  
  
  • Skype
  
  
  • Virtual Classroom:  example - DiscoverE
  
  
  • Wikis:  example - wikispaces
  
  
  • Forums
  
  
  • ask500people
  
  
  • Audacity
  
  
  • Notaland
  
  
  • Prezi
  
  
  • Photo storing and sharing:  example - flickr, animoto, bubblr
  
  
  • Podcasting:  example - audacity, podomatic
  
  
  • Wordpress
  
  
  • PBwiki
  
  
  • Screencasts
  
  
  • Ning
  
  
  • Facebook
  
  
  • YouTube
  
  
  • RSS reader:  example- google reader
  
  
  • Zoho
  
  
  
  


• List an activity you would include in a workshop for teachers. For these responses, I copied their ideas below.
  
  
  
  • Activity 1:  Pass out or take out your digital camera. Ask participants to form into small groups and give them a simple photography assignment. Give them fifteen minutes to go take the photos and then report back. I've done this, you can't get them back in the room! They laugh, they have fun, they run all over (we took over the hotel lobby where I was doing the workshop!) and they learn how energizing, interactive and useful it can be to use digital photography and visual literacy in the classroom.
  
  
  • Activity 2:  Voicethread...learn how to develop one and try it out with students. Share it with parents.
  
  
  • Activity 3:  Create and add to a collaborative wiki. (suggested by two survey participants)
  
  
  • Activity 4:  I have never done this, but I just think it is the greatest idea.  I can't remember where I learned it from- giving out your twitter name and mobilenumber and getting delegates to text your twitter account with instant feedback throughout the day.
  
  
  • Activity 5:  Start a blog with a local topic flavour.  Get them to begin posting and commenting before they leave. Then show them examples of educational blogs that are in use.
  
  
  • Activity 6:  Live interaction with others worldwide - eg through Twitter, Skype or virtual room
  
  
  • Activity 7:  Use blogs and wikis for teaching
  
  
  • Activity 8:  I would literally walk participants through setting up a blog and writing a post so that they could see how easy it is.
  
  
  • Activity 9:  Voicethread - find up to 3 images (use creative commons search if that doesn't make it too difficult) and use it to describe a belief that you have about how students learn. Include text and voice recording. Invite someone in the room to make a comment on your voicethread. (Or, a small group could create a joint Voicethread of their main beliefs.)
  
  
  • Activity 10:  Form small 'creative clusters' so that people join with a friend or two to practice something new like Delicious or Google Docs. The biggest impact activity we have done recently is to Skype in another educator to join the chat.
  
  
  • Activity 11:  Just Tweet:)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  What does this tell me?
  
  
  First, I want to visit some of these sites that I haven't incorporated.  I have checked out a few, and they were blocked by our Smartfilter:( Second, I should have found a way to incorporate "other" with a place to type the "other".  I wonder if those three people in question on were referring to the same great place, and I just missed out on it.
  
  
  I'm really glad that "workshop" was one of the desired methods to lure other teachers.  We have one this summer and I hope it is met with a great response. I'm trying to get a few twitters out of the faculty before school lets out.  We have one so far, @ccroad.  She hasn't had time to see it's full potential yet, so drop her a line or two, and a follow.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Lastly, I am extremely thrilled with the fact that the results show that I am on the right track with web 2.0 integration!  To think, this journey really just started in November.  The activity ideas are great, and will be implemented in same fashion.
  
  
  Was anyone surprised by del.icio.us ranking as one of the favorite web 2.0 site, but Diigo didn't?  I am a Diigo user, so I would like to know if I'm missing something by not using del.icio.us.

Techie Tuesday: 31 Day Challenge Days 12 - 20

Yes, I realize that today isn't Tuesday, but why not get a jump start on next week's blogging?  

I have finally completed another week of the 31 Day Challenge.  This was definitely a "one thing leads to another" challenge week for me.  I have gotten very good at day 12's task to introduce myself to other bloggers.  This task was much easier due to my twitter addiction:)  I decided to branch outside of my PLN and googled to find someone blogging about high school reform.  I found Mike's blog post about small learning communities.  I quickly emailed him an introduction and question about his work.

For day 14 we were asked to analyze our blog competition.  Mine is so new that I actually spend more time looking at other blogs for ideas not for competition:)  Day 15 asked us to make our posts sticky by adding rss feed to the bottom of posts.  So I created this feed image.  Im still working on getting it to work correctly.



I wasn't able to complete the day 16 challenge, because I can't add the code to my blog.  It was still informative to sign up and learn about the heat map. I might create one for our school website:) This led me to my most time consuming task...day 18:  sneeze page.  I decided to create a sneeze page about the 31 day challenge hopeing more of our teachers would decide to join at a later date.  When I went to add the page my theme caused the nav link to no longer be one nice neat line and instead became a double.  Im sure some of you can guess that this led me to searching for more themes...which led to creating a new header...which led to editing my widget sizes....

I guess it was time for a new look, but I really wanted to wait until summer to venture into a new theme.  I really want a three column so maybe that will come later.

Thank goodness the next two tasks were easy enough:) I already respond to all comments on my blog and interact with my PLN and readers frequently.  Ok, not so frequently over the past few weeks but I was snowed under:)

Techie Tuesday: 31 Day Challenge Days 6 - 11

Oh, the irony I found in day seven's challenge.  Have you ever been lackadaisical about something only to have it bite you back?

While completing day seven's challenge to plan the next week's posting, I thought to myself, "This won't take long 'cause I already have it figured out."  Maybe I should have stopped right then and gotten started on actually writing because an entire week flew by while the plan remained just that a plan.

I really enjoyed the day 8 challenge to comment on a blog that I haven't commented on before.  I visited everyones blog or emailed them.  I tried to do this again last week, but seem to have too much on my plate.  On a good note, I did get my daughter wedding invitations created and mailed on time:)

Declutter?  I can't get my house decluttered much less my sidebar.  I did switch around a few things on my sidebar for day 10.  Honestly I need others to comment on likes and dislikes to know where to go from here.  I do have two category links, but wasn't able to get one to delete.  Maybe someone reading will have a solution to this!

I LOVE Google statistics!!!  It is so great to be able to see where your visitors are arriving from and what they look at while visiting.  The students are amazed at all the locations that are popping up on our cluster maps!

As far as the actual statistics that I went through, my bounce rate was lower for twitter visitors and the about page statistics have gone up tremendously since the start of this challenge - thanks challenge participants;)

My favorite two challenges so far have been the about page and the google statistics.  What is your favorite challenge activity?

Techie Tuesday: 31 Day Challenge Days 1 - 5

A few week's back I was catching up with my google reader feeds and spotted Sue Water's post, Life is One Big Top Ten In it she mentioned

One of my Top personal blogging I want To-Do’s is to revisit the 31 Day Project by working through Steve Dembo’s 30 Days to Being A Better Blogger!

Oh cool, there are directions to being better at blogging without all this trial and error (oh, and error). I started the 31 Day Challenge by myself while out for Christmas break.  I was actually also working the Steve Dembo challenge to Be a Better Blogger.  I thought hey these are quick little tasks, I can do two at once:)  



Reality check!  I first of all spent more time than I originally thought completing the challenges.  Not that they are hard.  I just have a very active brain and one challenge leads to another idea, and another, and you get the picture!  So I decided to only complete the 31 Day Challenge and then skim Steve's.

Via Sue's Suggestion, I tweeted that I was starting the challenge to see if anyone else wanted to join in.  That is when I met Bill and then we met Ana and Pam.  Basically one thing led to another and then Sue posted about the challenge and we are currently up to 15 participants.  Of course, that could change any minute.  

So how has the first 5 days gone?  GREAT!

I feel that day one is a vital part of building your PLN.  Each email, comment, or twitter response acts as building blocks to build your Personal(professional) Learning Network.  Day two I will probably visit several times during this challenge.  The audit of a blog by people outside of you local support system (or family) is GREAT! I loved Jenny Wood's idea to post a poll and then send out a tweet.  I need to change a few things from my latest audit via Sue Water's.  Then I want to tweet and poll:)

Joining a forum (day 3) is a great resource.  I found it helpful to search for various topics as well as expanding my PLN members.  The interlink activity for day 4 is a great idea I had never thought about. I will do more of this as I add posts to my blog.  Of course there had to be another challenge I would want to visit more than once, about page audit (day 5). I completed this challenge and am already ready to revamp again.  I think I might be visiting day 2 and 5 every week:)

Techie Tuesday: 2.0 Red Tape

Do you ever feel like you are wrapped in red tape so tight you are unable to move?  In order to implement an innovative classroom technique/project, we sometimes get so caught up in trying to "straighten out" the red tape that we end up with eyes focused on the tape instead of our original  innovative idea.

I have been fortunate to work with excellent principals who are "all about the students" and allow the freedom to dream big.  When I began teaching at Minden High, I had a one computer classroom. Implementation of technology to broaden skills was key to reaching student learning styles.  My first purchase was an Averkey in order for all students to participate in tech rich lessons by connecting our channel one tv to the class computer.  By the time I took over the computer education courses, my math classroom had grown into a model room which included a class set of Palms, Smartboard, projector, mini lab, and CPS.

Why then did I get so focused on the red tape of web 2.0 implementation?  While I searched for a blog, wiki, etc that would be ok'd by the "internet filter committee," I totally revamped the class website four times in three years.  Each time making it just alittle more interactive with approved components and each time falling way short of what I was imagining.  Granted the students didn't mind; they were perfectly happy with a class website and the ability to journal and message the teacher.  My eyes were focused on the compliance within smartfilter.

November 2008 marked the first time that a blog was allowed to be added to the website approval list and thus not blocked.  You guessed it...Edublogs!  To say I was ecstatic would probably be an understatement:) I quickly started building the blog and learning about all the new widgets and such I could add to this now interactive site. Of course it would have taken much longer to learn the ends and outs if it wouldn't have been for Sue Waters, James, and Dr. Mike at Edublogs.  To finally have these great tools to use with my students was like a dream come true, but I also quickly realized that there was a lot I had missed out on waiting to cut the red tape.

So what would I do differently?  First of all I wouldnt have focused on smartfilter compliance and instead would have had my eyes on the world of web 2.0.  To do this I would have read more, researched more, and reach out more.  Secondly I would have focused on my own PLN instead of only focusing on student's use of web 2.0.

What components do I think would have been my first stop?  That one is pretty easy.  I would have created my igoogle page  (for organization) including the google feed, and joined Twitter(for socialization).

More on these first stops on next week's Techie Tuesday.

What first steps would you recommend for a web 2.0 newbee?