Thing # ∞ - One Last Thing... Or Is It?

Because I am ALL OUT of creativity at this point, I'm just gonna copy-paste and answer some questions.

* What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I liked almost all of them, so it's really hard to pick a favorite. The ones I liked least were about the applications I'm most familiar with, like Facebook and Google Docs -- but that's only because the applications weren't so shiny, and I wasn't as actively curious.

* How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
I feel SO accomplished having completed this. I love to sit in a class and learn, but it's harder for me to do something that takes so much self-motivation. The feedback and comments really helped, and the fact that the subject was interesting to me (and was something that allows my Web 2.0 experience to closer approximate my husband's) kept me going. Maybe now I'm in the Long Tail of Teachers Who Grok Web 2.0!

* Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I love being able to join my husband in conversations about our wikis!

* What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I think a major improvement would be to add the "update" email information to each of the Things' blog entries. For example, in the Update #3, you link to "other brainstorming/mind-mapping tools" for Thing #14. It would've saved me some time (in the form of tab-swapping) if you'd listed those links under an UPDATE: heading at the bottom of that Thing's page! Aside from that, though, it worked out great! I don't know if I'd've had a fruitful an experience without the knowledge I already had, though!

* If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
DEFINITELY. But probably only if it was offered during the summer. Haha, yeah, my answer is "definitely probably."

* How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?
I'm not sure yet. It will definitely change the way I think about my teaching.

* How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
You've already shared that with us! I can do a Google email alert, or put a blog on my RSS reader! That Learning 2.1 page was pretty, um, heavy.


I will definitely share my experience with my administrators and co-workers. I've already shared the 23 Things page with my mom, who just got high-speed Internet for the first time!

As for the future of this blog... Hm... I'm pretty anal, so unless I continued with the enumeration, I'd have to rename and reformat it. I might start another one, though... I can't imagine having enough time (even 15 minutes!) after school starts.

But.

The Things have shown me that they are indeed powerful, especially when used in concert to make life online more efficient and informative. I have only one year of teaching under my belt, so using all of them this year is a virtual impossibility (pun, of course, intended). But I'll use baby steps, and hopefully my power as an educator will rise, exponentially.

Thing #23 - Twenty-Third Power

Ah, copyright.

Things are changing so quickly, as more and more information exists. It's impossible to control this spread of information, and Creative Commons helps create almost an "honor code" of copyright. There are people who thing that copyrighting works is evil. Creativity today is based so much on the idea of mashup, and who's to say that the greatest artists ever weren't using other's ideas?

I know the Learning 2.0 - 23 Things blog was based on someone else's work and modified from its original form because it's duly attributed to its original authors, and the sidebar features Credits that show up on every page of the site!

Wow! Serendipity! Check out what just showed up on my RSS Reader: A Copyright Sliderule that tells you what rights you have with any work, based on its publication date! Cool! (via Lifehacker)

I'm crazy-glad that teachers and education professionals are cool with sharing content - I don't know what I'd do as a teacher if I didn't have Google to help me. And now, I have Google, and wikis, and social networks, and all these new resources at my disposal! Woo hoo!

Thing #22 - Podcastaway

Ah, travels in podcasting directories...

I visited the Educational Podcast Directory. It featured an annoying, uninformative menu-based search system. Any podcasts listed were categorized, but not by any useful terms.

Podcast Directory hurt my head. TONS of paid advertising can be really misleading, not to mention visually cluttered. As for results, their top listings definitely sounded less-than safe for work (especially in a kid-centered environment).

Podcast Alley also had some NSFW options... but they have a Kids & Family section, where I found Byte Size Science. Neat! Added to my reader.

Oooh, Learn Out Loud looks way better - more polished, appropriate, and topical. And they have an age range search! I can look for great music/chants for my students there.

Honestly, I think iTunes' free podcast section is the easiest to use (though not exhaustive in its supply/range, unfortunately).

My husband and I love listening to This American Life, an NPR production that plays on the weekend while we're running errands. For road trip purposes, he loads entire episodes onto his iPod, and we plug it into my car and listen, even in the middle of nowhere, yay!

I endeavored to go into iTunes and link to the podcast, but instead of opening the Store, I went to the show's website and have linked to their web-based player. This summer, we heard a poignant tale of the way pets affect our lives, so, without further ado, here's Ira Glass with In Dog We Trust.

I don't know if podcasting is right for my kids. They're almost computer novices -- in fact, I've been trying to figure out how to teach them word processing this year in time for the Science Fair -- so I think I want to concentrate on the basics. Maybe later in the year I'll do our read-alouds by podcast, so I can get stuff done in class while they listen at their mobile laptops! I could also send them to Learn Out Loud to find podcasts that interest them for "free time" in the lab!

Thing #21 - Animotorized!

Animoto is down. Be back later with content!

UPDATE, NEXT DAY: Wow, that was some work! I got my photos loaded through my Flickr account (which took a while), and then apparently they don't allow m4a format, just mp3... So, after 20 minutes of reformatting adventures, I got the song I wanted loaded. It's rendering now...

The video is made of photos I took at a Sigur Rós concert a few years ago at Bass Hall in Fort Worth. It was an amazing concert, and I chose one of their new songs to be the soundtrack to my photos.

I will DEFINITELY use Animoto to make a few "class videos" for our holiday and end-of-year parties. Hopefully, by then, they'll take care of the bumpiness and lag time. Again, I'm hoping they allow these videos through the firewall.

Right on, they're done rendering - let's give this a go!

Ok, here's a link to it!

I tried to get it to embed, but scripts wouldn't work right and my blog's not showing up on their Blogger interface! Grrrr.

Let's try the Flash option here:



Yay! There's my video! Loverly!

Thing #20 - YouTube, iTube, We All Tube for YouTube!

I heart YouTube!

My favorite thing about YouTube is they way they immediately link to related videos. One night, I was bored, so I searched for "baby laughing," and I was fully entertained for at least half an hour, following the related video trails.

My all-time favorite YouTube video is of prison inmates in the Philippines doing a rehearsal of Michael Jackson's "Thriller":



Gotta love it. And in the related videos, you can see several other routines the prisoners did - just look for the orange jumpsuits!

The biggest dislike I have about YouTube is the commenters! I have, quite literally, never found an intelligent or interesting comment under any of the videos I've seen. (I may not be looking under the right kids of videos, though, so no offense if you guys have commented!)

I'd like to offer "Video of the Week" as a reward for my class. If everyone turns in their homework, they could get to watch a video of my choice. First up? Fainting Goats!!!



I would love to be able to use this on my campus, but I'm not sure if we could get past the firewall... And if by accident, a questionably-appropriate link showed up in related videos, my job could be on the line. Has anyone worked around this? Do YouTube imbeds work in front of the firewall?

Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to your library website?

Thing #19 - Nets Work!

I'd never heard of Ning. But hey, it looks cool. I signed up, commented, and added a photo of a pie I made Thursday (from my phone, yay). I hope we stay in touch!

A lot of social communities are interesting to me. I'm used to looking at the Internet as a place to go out and find stuff, not as a place to interact with people. (I say that, but I LOVED the online dating scene back in the day.) I don't feel I need a personal relationship with people on a message board to get information, but I'm sure it helps! Just like teaching kids!

My additional community I chose to examine was Goodreads. Here's my profile: Link. I have the traditional "to read," "currently reading," and "read" shelves, but I added two: "Class Library" for books appropriate to either read to my students or let them read; and "Professional Library" so I can keep my "teacher books" separate and easy to find.

I'm going to use Goodreads to track my class library! I'll use the "class library" shelf I've created to make notes about books' contents (and maybe access to online stuff about the books).

Thing #18 - MySpace or Yours?

I'll say a few things about MySpace, but not a lot. MySpace, despite its popularity, hurts my eyes (the sites I see aren't clean, slick, or simple). I like that it's given the record industry a run for its money, and that it's brought people together, but its user interface, search features, and ultra-customizability (too bad no feature says "The wallpaper, automatically-glaring music, or flashing image you are about to install will drive people away!"). It is useful for music artists, but the level of interaction, basically messages left on a "wall," seems to be about all there is.

As for Facebook...

Wow, this one required zero work to set up; I've had this puppy done for a long time: Here's my Facebook profile!

I use Facebook for my personal life - I went to high school in Indonesia, so I know people from many regions, and Facebook makes it easy to reconnect and stay connected. I obsessively check my feed; I update my status through Twitter several times a day, and I can spend hours poring over others' friend lists and Walls.

I think we as educators need to know about the trends in social networking because they're followed by our students. I'm not on a school-based network on Facebook (I think wikis are a better way to collaborate professionally). I might track students on one of these sites, though. Maybe principals can set up their Friends lists with all students!

The biggest thing I've learned through using Facebook is that the Internet (and especially Web 2.0) really does shrink the world. People who live 13,000 miles away can feel like they live next door to each other. I love that! Also, I've been really interested to see what third-party apps are out there. I don't want to install many on my page, but I love that companies let their APIs "loose," and people come back with some great stuff!