Week 10, Thing 20: Web2.0 List

I must admit it, I bought my car using Craigslist last month. I also enjoy using Pandora.  Each person in our family has our own “radio station” set up, we have a few for different moods (sometimes we want calm background music, and other times we want to dance like crazy in the living room).  I had not thought of these two site as web 2.0 technology. I am more hip than I think I am!

 

This week I tried out Mango in order to brush up on my French, since I will be teaching an enrichment course in French at the end of the month.  I liked the first lesson. I may share it with my students. I signed up for a free account. However, with each move you make, Mango asks if you want to upgrade your account (not free). This makes it difficult to move from one lesson to another. The lessons were geared toward business travelers. 

 

Another site I tried this week that was not on list is Dabbleboard. This is a free Smart Board-like drawing and sharing application.  It was easy to use for webbing. I like that multiple users can edit the same drawing simultaneously. I want to try this with kids. We could make a genre map with this, or even diagram strategies to choose a good book. I have not tried printing yet! We do not have a Smart Board at school, but this has a few of the features.

I hope to continue to try out some of the other tools in this amazing list. Furl looks interesting as compared to Delicious, but I need more time to play.

Week 10, Thing 19: Online Productivity Tools

Just for the record, I am writing this in Google Docs.  I have begun using Google Docs for my lesson plans, so that I can work on them at home and at school without worrying about what version I last uploaded to my email account. I found that the template that I used in Word works fairly well in Google Docs. I figured out the spell check, and how to insert page breaks so it prints the way I want it to.  I can also let my assistant see my plans for days when I am out.

I also looked at SlideShare. I was somewhat frustrated by the error messages I got when I tried to search it, but the feature slide show “Death by PowerPoint” was entertaining.  Can we share Red Clover slide shows with this tool, rather than using email attachments, which do not always come through? Is there an awesome slide show for upper elementary students on using the Big 6? What about Website evaluation? How secure is this tool? Can student work be posted privately so that only parents and teachers can see it?  PowerPoint seems to work, but what about Digital storytelling apps like Photostory?

 

Week 9: Thing 18: creating/editing a wiki

I actually did this wiki thing over a month ago, but I forgot to blog about it! As I mentioned in my previous post, we used a wiki as an anchor agenda for a tech inservice in August.  Our district tech coordinator invited all us presenters from different schools to join a wiki in PBWikis. She actually issued the invitation via email the night before the presentation, but still I was able to edit the agenda and add links to the sites that I was presenting (like the new district library catalog, and a reading blog for students). It took me a few tries to figure out how to use the edit tab, but after that, it was easy. I have yet to start my own personal wiki. I like the idea of using it to plan a vacation – my husband and I can then both edit it. I would like to use a wiki for a pathfinder and collaborate with classroom teachers, but this has not yet happened. The school year is still young!