Thing 23

I did it! I have completed 23 Things and I did it way before the deadline. Good for me. I'm usually one of those students who is waiting to the very end and has to spend the entire night before the deadline scrambling to finish my work. Not this time - this time I was focused and determined not to fall behind. I guess I had a little motivation from a friend of mine in my department. We motivated each other to finish and even used our PLC time to get things done. So what did  I learn? I learned a lot and I thought I already knew a good amount of techie stuff. I mean I am a computer teacher. I should be on top of these things and for the most part I was. New to me were RSS readers, social bookmarks and podcasting. These three items I either had no clue about or never really felt the need or desire to learn more about. Out of these three my biggest delight was social bookmarking. I have My Delicious account up and running and every day since learning about it I have tagged several websites to my account. My goal is to add every site that I have bookmarked previously to my  Delicious account.  I know I have wasted an enormous amount of time looking for sites I once encountered but can't seem to find even with my bookmarks. Something was definitely not working for me - but that probably no longer exists. I will continue using my wiki, blogging personally and professionally, embedding videos via Slideshare, uploading photos through Flickr, being entertained through RSS feeds and sharing information through GoogleDocs. I will continue my Web 2.0 learning beyond this last post.

Thing 22

Here is a link to my wiki. This is something I use daily for each of my classes. I use it to post daily assignments, class information, deadlines etc. Check it out!

thsbono.wikispaces.com

Thing 21

Since the beginning of the school year I have been using a wiki to manage my classes. It has been wonderful. I have created five different pages and I have them all linked together so all my students can toggle back and forth between them. I use a 'home' page to for each class that lists contact information, upcoming events and deadlines. Then each chapter is broken down into course objectives, lesson plans, class assignments and instructional videos. Each class has slightly a different look than the next. I can honestly say that creating this wiki took a little getting use to but once I found the perfect layout I was off and running. I will definitetly be using wiki's from now on.

Thing 20

I'm still having a hard time with podcasting and I'm trying to be open-minded here. I checked out EPN and Podcast Alley. I subscribed to few podcasts through Itunes and still did not find anything that was interesting or helpful. It seems like you would have to spend a lot of time weeding out the "junk" before you found any real useful information. I guess if I come across someone who is down right hilarious like Howard Stern then maybe it would be worth the effort but as of right now I will stick to the other web 2.0 tools I have encountered.

Thing 19

I guess I just don't get it. Podcasting that is. The several podcasts I listened to were boring and not very entertaining to say the least. (I will try to give podcasting another chance later but for now the verdict is out & it is not positive.)  So now everyone with an opinion and some basic technology and a lot of free time can create their own podcasts for people to listen to. Why? Why would I would to spend the time to subscribe and download to these - am I that bored? I guess I'm a little old school when it comes to mindless chatter. I like my radio. You are turn it on and it works - no downloading necessary.


Ok - I won't be unrealistic here. I can definitely see a few places where podcasting could come in handy. Perhaps being stuck on a long flight to Japan.  Don't they offer movies on those flights?

Thing 17

Productivity Tools


I've been struggling to find a really good productivity tool that I could introduce to my class. I've used mysticky to create sticky notes on websites. However, what I wanted to do with these sticky notes was not feasible. I browsed through Library and thought it would be a neat tool for my two boys to use. They have to keep track of all the books they have read but after realizing there was going to be a fee charged later I decided to scratch that from my list. Next, I checked out bubbl.us and Remember the Milk. I downloaded the App to my Iphone and found the functionality of the App pretty nice. My only complaint was I already had several App's that did the same thing. My problem is taking the time to enter the all of my "to do things" in the App. I did a little more research and found out that you could text your to do list through your Twitter account. This is where I had to stop. I was not about to create another account to have another set of to do lists floating around that never will get done. I did not create a Twitter account - this is one I can't get on board with. A little more digging and I found the option to actually add to your list by talking through your smartphone. Here is the catch. A fee! It is an additional 3.95 per month to use Jott which will allow you to call and directly add to your "to do list" through Remember the Milk. I knew there had to be more, and I wanted more but I'm not willing to pay for more.

Thing 18

I have been using Slideshare since the beginning of the year. I upload all my powerpoint presentations for my accounting and programming classes onto my wiki site. I love using Slideshare instead of loading the presentations via Powerpoint. Using Slideshare does not allow the students to send the entire presentation to the printer, which tends to happen a lot in my classes and eliminates the students from copying the PP to their personal drives. The only downfall I have encountered with this site is the time it takes to convert the PP into an embedded slideshow. If I'm behind in my lesson planning I can't always count on Slideshare to convert in time for the beginning of my class. Once I figured this out I have uploaded all the files that I need for the rest of the semester and when I need them I simply go onto Slideshare and embed the slideshow onto my wiki. It is very easy to use and one of the better sites available.

Below is an example of PP converted into a Slideshare presentation.

Ppt lesson 10

View more presentations from Linda Bonofiglio.

Thing 16

Google Docs is an amazing tool for all. My students are working on a business project where they are planning a small business from the ground up. All the information they gather and create for their business is then stored on a wiki. Many of the students have created Excel spreadsheets with Google Docs to keep track of their employees attendance. All group members can edit the spreadsheet weekly and the information is automatically transferred to their wiki account. It is such a wonderful tool and it was pretty easy to teach the kids how to use it.

I personally have not used Google Docs for sharing documents yet but it is something I plan on using in the future.

Thing 15

I'm still enjoying the RSS feeders. I have added the Detroit News feeds & Free Press. I like that you can individually select the feeds from the section of the paper that you are interested in. You don't have to search through the entire paper to find what you are looking for.

I wouldn't say at this point that RSS has become an obsession for me. With everything going on in my life with work and my own life I can't afford to be stuck on the computer reading blogs all day. I do have to admit that some of my feeds are pretty funny and it is quite refreshing to take a moment for myself and read someone else's witty sense of humor.

Thing 14

Probably one of the best web tools that I came across during this experience was social bookmarking and the Delicious site. Since learning about it I have used this site daily. I'm in the process of taking all of my saved bookmarks and adding them to Delicious. Every year I export my bookmarks to they can be imported back on my computer at work the following year. I will no longer have to do that with Delicious. Having the ability to Tag each site with keywords that help me identify the sites purpose adds an added bonus in my opinion.  Great web tool.

Thing 13

Social bookmarking is a neat idea however I don't feel that the site is that useful. Tags are based on what the user feels is relevant and the site itself is not organized in a practical way. Social bookmarking relies on others to accurately tag articles. Bookmarking in itself is a beneficial tool but I don't see the need for the social interaction right now. The site Delicious is very easy to access and use. Type in the Url, add a description and several tags and you are done. I will continue to give some more time before I totally rule it out.

Thing 12

Here is a widget I found that offers you quotes of the day.






This year I decided to create a wiki site to replace another online learning community website that I was currently using thanks to a colleague of mine. The wiki has made my life so much easier and is holding the student's more accountable for their own learning. Everyday the daily assignments are posted. Students are required to check the site within the first 5 minutes of class. All handouts, videos, examples problems etc. are posted to my site. This helps eliminate the "what are we doing today" conversation that I always tended to get. Were my students that eager to begin class that they needed to be the first one to know what we were doing? I highly doubt it. I'm sure it was more likely that they wanted to be the first one to complain about what were going to do. What ever the case is - now I simple say "check the wiki".

I am a frequent user of Facebook and believe that it is a wonderful tool available for people to keep in touch with family and friends that are not physically close to you. I post photos often of my children for my "friends" to see and I love to read the status headlines.  However,  with anything good,  always comes some negatives in my opinion. The biggest negative I have personally encounter with FB is lack of maturity by some. Using FB as a forum to vent personally issues they may have with other colleagues, friends, family members etc. I don't believe FB was intended for that.  Keep it light!!!

Thing 11

I can truly say that I'm a fan of receiving comments on anything that I have posted but on the flip side I don't usually leave to many. I'm very careful in my choice of words when I do decide to leave a comment for someone. I find myself double checking the meaning/grammar of my comments over and over again. I guess having friends that feel it is necessary to correct you on every little mistake you make has finally gotten to me.

I believe that leaving comments for people is way to acknowledge that you understand how they feel at that moment in time - that you can somehow relate to them without even knowing them. You can leave them a sense that they are not alone - or comments can be used to simple provide feedback on one's efforts. All in all comments are extremely useful in an educationally setting or for social networking. I will continue to use them and perhaps will feel less worried about what others will think of my words.

Thing 11

I can truly say that I'm a fan of receiving comments on anything that I have posted but on the flip side I don't usually leave to many. I'm very careful in my choice of words when I do decide to leave a comment for someone. I find myself double checking the meaning/grammar of my comments over and over again. I guess having friends that feel it is necessary to correct you on every little mistake you make has finally gotten to me.

I believe that leaving comments for people is way to acknowledge that you understand how they feel at that moment in time - that you can somehow relate to them without even knowing them. You can leave them a sense that they are not alone - or comments can be used to simple provide feedback on one's efforts. All in all comments are extremely useful in an educationally setting or for social networking. I will continue to use them and perhaps will feel less worried about what others will think of my words.

Thing 10

Here is one of the videos that I used to help make my son's scary face for Halloween. I found so many useful videos on Youtube that I wanted to practice doing so of them on my son before deciding which one to choose - but he didn't like that idea to much.

Thing 9

I absolutely love Youtube. Who doesn't? I use it all the time in my instructions. I found it quite silly to reinvent something that is already available to me digitally. With a few simple clicks I can found Accounting tutorials, step by step instructions how to do math for my 6th grader and even last weekend I use Youtube to help me paint a scary clown face on my 11 year old for Halloween. When people would say "how do you do this" I use to say JGI. (Just Google It) Now I say JYI. (Just Youtube It)

Thing 8

Well I took your advice and decided to have some fun. Using the site photofunia.com I was able to create the iamges on the left. In a few clicks as I was able to upload any image of mine to create these adorable photos.  Photofunia has many catergories that you can choose from. It's easy, no registeristion is required and the results are awesome. Give it try yourself!

Thing 7

Using sites like Flickr and Photobucket are fun and easy way to manage your photos. I have been meaning to move all of my photos off of my personal computer and from Facebook to one location like Flickr. I am concern that one day all of my personal photos will be wiped away because of a hard drive malfunction or a stolen password which disables my FB account. This assignment is forcing me to take that step.

Thing 6

The picture I downloaded is an image of the beach. I am counting down the days until my trip to Jamaica so I guess you can say I have sunshine on my mind.I didn't choose this particular photo for any reason other than it wasn't copyrighted. I found it quite difficult to find a photo on Flickr that wasn't restricted.



Thing 5

RSS Readers - love it! I have seen those three initials a lot in my tech training and I never really bothered to figure out what they stood for let alone how it was used. I have to say adding subscriptions to my Google Reader was so easy and practical. I bookmark so many sites and then still have trouble finding them again. Now I can simply link the subscription to the reader and the rest is done for me. Instant updating without any work. What could be better?

Thing 4

RSS - I have always wondered what those three letters meant. In the short little video it explained it all. I was able to create an account, add my subscriptions and start the news frenzy. It took less than 5 minutes. I can't wait to start adding more blog sites and all my favorite news links. What a great and simple idea that I hate to admit I knew nothing about until now. Thanks 23 Things for teaching me something new. I can't wait to share this with my students. What a useful tool this will be for them in college. All the wonderful sites feeding them updated information. I personally will be using this to keep track of all the cool blog sites I have recently found. Professional and personally this is a great tool to keep abreast of things without wasting time searching over and over for things you know you bookmarked but just can't seem to find. Organization is the key to being successful.

Thing 3

Blogging - what an amazing tool. How can anyone not love having the option to type your thoughts, or ideas or better yet to vent. How many of us want to vent about the students, the administration the politics behind education. We all do! Blogging allows you to do that. The sites are so easy and interactive to use. You don't need to be a techi to start blogging - anyone can do it.

I don't currently use blogging in my lessons. I do use Discussion Boards, which are very similar but I have not created an official blog site. Perhaps that is something I will try in the near future.

Thing 1 & Thing 2

I'm excited to begin 23 Things. I have heard great things regarding this course from two of my colleagues. So I decided to give it a try myself. I am a business/technology teacher and try to incorporate new technologies into my curriculum all the time. After reading Thing 1  I felt like I should be doing a lot more. I do online testing, blogs, wikis, email communications between students, surveys, etc. etc. I feel as if I am moving in the right direction with my students but I find myself struggling with the issue of TIME management & the issue of a few students not having access to a computer or the Internet. The more I do - the more I feel the kids just don't get it. My students in particular seem to struggle with the new instructional methods that I try to implement in the course. They don't like typing, they would rather write it out, they struggle with email extras like sending attachments, they don't know the difference between a Word doc. or a pdf file. So I end up having to back track and teach common computer knowledge lessons to my students which then interferes with the time that was set aside for the project. There is just not enough time to do it all.  The students I get are having less and less skills in regards to technology.