Thing # 23: Summary

Yahoo!! It was great ride, and I am finally done with my 23 things.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
My favorite discoveries were to create my own blog, my avatar, and the online image generator. I also liked watching and embedding the videos from YouTube and TeacherTube.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
This program has definitely assisted and affected my lifelong learning skills. I usually learn better when I see the person who is teaching and there is a face to face interaction. This was a great experience, and I feel more confidence in me.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was surprised by all the cool Google tools, and also Web 2.0 Award list. I am definitely going to go back and refer to it. I did not know that blogs, podcast, and audio books would be so easy to make and share.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I loved the program; it was really good and very well organized. All the instructions were very clear and easy to follow.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would definitely participate in another discovery program. This was lot of fun and learning.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
Getting ready for FUTURE and Mind Boggling.

Thing # 22: Nings

Nings is a great place for social networking. I looked at Ning for Teachers, it is a good place for teachers to connect and share ideas. I did not find any good lesson plans for high school Science, and for some lesson plans I was redirected to EdHelper.com Teacher's Blogs were good read and interesting.

Thing # 21: Podcast and audiobooks

I enjoyed making the photostory on our Houston. I wanted to post my podcast, but did not want to register for switchpod, I have already registered for lots of different things since I started 23 Things.

Thing # 20: YouTube and TeacherTube

It is fun to watch videos and is very addictive.

This is a great video on Youtube. Shift Happens: Educational (Technology) Reform



Following is the video I found on teacher tube is about 11 Things Children Teach You About Weight Loss

Thing # 19: Web 2.0

I did not know that there will be so many options to choose from. I had used few sites, like craigslist, monster, picassa, etc, but this list is great. I liked the list as it is organized by categories. I tried the games and entertainment, I could not play Zango, as I needed administrator rights to run the games. Doof was good and had lots of games.

Some of my favorites sites were the www.fixya.com in questions and advice, as I had questions on how to uninstall and install microwave, and this site helped me with that. I also liked www.zillow.com. Zillow is a real estate website with a bird's eye view, it gives the value of the house and the neighboring houses in that area. You can also see the mortagage interest rates.

I loved the Web 2.0 awards, next time I have to look for something I am going to refer back to this list, and also share it with my friends.

Thing # 18: Online Tools

Google Docs is very good, I tried opening, uploading, and importing the files as document, spreadsheet, and presentation. It is very user friendly, and it has all the basic features.

Advantages of using these tools is accessibility, we can access from any computer any where, sharing the files are also very easy. And most of all it is absolutely FREE!! One disadvantage is that you have to be online to see the files, most of the time internet is available, but when it is not available, you won't be able to access it.

I did not download the Open Office, since I use google for lot of other things as calendar, photos, etc.

Thing # 17: Rollyo

Rollyo is great way to create our own search engine. Registering and adding own search engines was easy. This will also keep the students on task with research, should be a lot easier, less time consuming, and also safe way to surf the internet.

It is nice that there are preselected sites and then we can add or delete from the list. Students and even us teachers have to spell the words correctly to search the sites.

Thing # 16: Wikis

Wow! I did not know that there so much to Wikis. I often use the Wikipedia, to get the supplemantary information and often wondered about how much information there is.

I can see how useful a wikispace could be in my classroom. This would be a great thing for them to do when they are working in teams and can work collaboratively on their projects. By creating a wikispace, teams would be able to share research, ideas, add and edit content without having to email or even meet together after school.

I also added my entry to the Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki. That was very easy to use. I was concerned about changing or deleting other peoples comments.

Thing # 15: Web 2.0 and Library 2.0

The video about the Library of the future: "A Vision of Students Today", is great. I agree that Libraries of tomorrow, even five or ten years from now, will look substantially different from Libraries today. I feel like SpringBranch ISD is a great district to work for because we are already learning about the new technology, and can introduce it our students as well, so they will ready for tomorrow.

I like the idea of OCLC, Online Computer Library Center. Connecting people to knowledge through library cooperation. The world's libraries, Connected.

I read all five perspective on library 2.0. What I understood about Library 2.0 is that you can use it any time of the day, and also eliminating the barriers between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible with search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning.

Thing # 14: Technorati

Technorati is a great website to search for blogs. I searched for Library2Play and found the site immediately. I was not able to search my blog on Technorati, may be I have to register and claim my blog to do that. I did not register my blog though, as it was optional. I have already registered myself to so many things since I have started doing the 23 things, I do not want to register any more.

Thing # 13: Tagging and Del.icio.us

It is a great way to bookmark pages, and we can use it on any computer. I always add pages that I visit often to my favorites, but when I am using a different computer I have to search for them again. This is wonderful, I don't have to waste my time searching for it.

Tagging is a very nice way of organizing the bookmarks. Del.icio.us is great, and it also gives popular tags and recommended tags.

Thing # 12: Creating Community Through Commenting

Commenting is definitely an important part of blogs.

I liked all the Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting. The two points that I thought were important are to Be Polite and Don’t be condescending. Some times people think that if they don’t see each other they can write mean things, since they don’t know them, and nobody will know who wrote that comment, but that is not true. We should always be polite and also saying it nicely when pointing out errors.

I also posted comments to our Learn2Play community members and also outside this community.

Thing # 11: Library Thing

This is a great website. I don't read a lot of books, but this year I started listening to books on CDs because of my long commute, and got hooked on to it. I have added 10 book titles to my account, and will add more later. This is a great idea for the book lovers, and they can share ideas, rate them, add comments etc.

I joined two groups, Hogwarts Express and Science Fiction Fans.

Thing # 10: Online image generator

Comic Strip generator is really cool. My students can get really excited about this, with all their creativity.

I liked all the image generator tools, Body Switcher was fun and I tried playing around with my husband's picture. Scrapbooking, adding props, and special effects was great as well. Lots of fun stuff.

Thing # 9: Useful Library-Related blogs and News Feed

Google Blog search was easiest for me to use, and I was not even able to open the Syndic8. Technorati was easy to use as well. Bloglines is a winderful way to search for blogs.

Topix.net was good, as it focuses on news and media outlet RSS feeds for information.

I have not explored Atomic learning that much, but I am thinking I will give my students informtaion on this so they can get quick answers to their questions.

Thing #8: RSS Feeds and Reader

I like the concept of RSS feeds. That way the news and the blogs will come to us, instead of us searching the web. It is an easy way for to be alerted when content that interests us appears on our favorite Web sites. Instead of visiting a particular Web site to browse for new articles and features, RSS automatically tells when something new is posted online.

I have added the Science news and blogs on my account and also some bollywood sites for my personal interest. I was little confused by the orange icons. I can use this in my class to get the latest Science News.

Thing # 7:Cool Google Tools

I didn't know google had so many cool tools.

Google Calendar is great. I added friends and families birthdays, and some appointments. I am going to add the SpringBranchISD grading dates, progress reports and report card pickup dates also.

I was already using Picasa Web Albums to share my pics with friends and family. It is very friendly and easy to use.

Google Earth is awesome. My husband had showed this to me few years back and I had fallen in love with it. I looked for my old school, and our special hangout places.

Google Advanced search was good, I had not used this before and it will be very useful for my students when they are looking for very specific information.

Thing # 6: Mashups and 3rd party sites

Wow! The possiblities are endless. I created the photo mosaic, it took me some time to replace the pictures and edit them. My students can use the mosaic or the trading cards when we are covering periodic table. They can select an element or a group and describe its properties and put the pictures with it. Mappr is a great tool, I still have to figure it how I am going to use it in my Science class.

Thing #5 - Explore Flickr

Flickr is really cool, I was lost in there for hours. Here is cool picture I found on City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (Spain).

Thing # 4 - Register Blog

I have registered my blog, and hopefully I will get the official welcome email indicating that I am registered. It has been a real good learning experience for me so far.

Thing #3, Set up Blog

My blog is set up. It was lot of fun creating the avatar.

Thing #2 - Pointers from Life long learners

The easiest thing for me is to accept responsibility of my learning, I enjoy learning new skills. The hardest things are to view problems as challenges and have confidence.

Thing #1, Read Blog

Looking forward to learning 23 things while playing. Sounds like fun.