Thing #23 Summing Up! Is That All There Is?

When I started this task, it looked daunting. I wasn't sure I would reach the end. I feared I would get hung up on Things I couldn't do or understand. The finish line looked far away and uphill all the way!

x

And I was not a huge fan of online learning...don't have much experience in learning thru online resources. I knew I would miss the face-o-face interactions with my fellow students.

x

But I knew that was one of the major objects for me...learning by doing...by reading the directions...the FAQs...the help pages...reviewing the samples. One reason is because that is the way things come now...there are no more manuals...and more importantly, there is SO much stuff out there now that NO one can be the "expert", i.e. the teacher, of everything I need to know how to do.

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

All the fun sign generators! Google Reader, Google alerts, Google docs.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

letting me know I can do these things...that I can figure this stuff out on my own. Makes me want to find other fun things!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

How much I enjoyed it all...even the podcast!

It was very interesting to see the different reactions from all the different players and how we viewed the value of different things! nothing was consistent...thought that was very interesting...different strokes for different folks.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Nothing really...but I will join the consensus that is building for splitting a new group of Things into 2 smaller groups. I wish there was a way to get more Players to comment to each other...that is a critical component to social networking! Hopefully, folks will be more comfortable with the concept and do it more often in the future as they read and use blogs, etc. that they have discovered.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

AB-SEW-LUTE-LEE! Where do I sign up!

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?
One word: Fun!

One sentence: Life-long learning & social networking experiences all wrapped up in fun!

(yes, grammar teachers...not a sentence-- but sums up my thoughts any way)

I am looking forward to following the adventures of other Players now without the pressure of thinking I need to be working on my own assignments! I hope many of the Players who have seemed to embrace blogging will keep their blogs active and continue to share their thoughts and ideas on things that would benefit us all.

I think it is pretty appropriate that I finished this up on March 17th cuz I can tell you..I am jumping for joy and dancing a jig! I would have had fireworks going off in this blog...but they are banned in the city. I'll save my civil disobedience for more important things!

Hope I see you around the virtual learning pool!

Take care,

Froggy Wart

Thing #22 Nings

I have been using TeacherLibrarianNing for sometime now...looking at topics, seeing what's on people's minds, looking up members for various reasons...went ahead and made it formal and joined. Also joined the Texas School Librarian group tonight as well...I was a little behind the times and really did not realize this group existed or maybe I did and got it confused (easy to do in my mind lately) with the other one! I do want to support the efforts of the state group so one more sign-up...easy to do tho'!

I can't say that I have really used these resources...simply because I have a network...physically and virtually. As is well known, my circle is "tight"...we meet regularly, we communicate regularly, we collaborate regularly, we have forward-thinking/future thinking leadership, and we "argue" just enough to be a professional family!

I have built up a comfortable group of on-line experts that I look to for advice and counsel...albeit one-way mostly, ideas and information. It is amazing to me how easy it is to get anything straight from the horse's mouth these days!

But I will check in with the nings and will try to do so more regularly now.

Another thing I joined recently is not really a ning...more of a directory--The Edubloggers International Directory, but I find it fascinating because it is global. I have accessed the award-winning edublog lists for several years and now I can check out even more edubloggers through a new directory. If you have a few minutes, you might want to take a virtual world tour of people who are doing what we are doing!

See ya,

Froggy Wart

Thing #21 Podcasting...Can I Cast Someone Else?

I have been dreading this Thing since this whole L2P came together last semester! No, not the program, not even the material to include...it is a voice thing...my voice! I was thinking I would rope one of my kids into helping their ol' mom. Didn't happen...gee, they have lives of their own.

Podcasts (or picture-filled vidcasts) are all over the internet... I follow a book review site Just One More Book that is nothing but podcast reviews and interviews. Cool Cat Teacher includes an audio copy of her posts, but she must use a format that my computer doesn't recognize because I can't play them. There are hundreds of educational podcasts at the I-tunes store. The EPN (Education Podcast Network) brings together many sources of podcasts and arranges them buy curriculum or purpose. Many publishers include them as promotional materials for new books. Even the traditional communication tool NPR now has a podcast directory of many of its broadcasts.

Ok, a little bit of background about my podcast below. I used Photostory since I could not find a free host for an audio-only sample. The visuals you will recognize. I planned the order, wrote my scripting so I would not loose my place, unplugged my phone (no interruptions!), plugged in my headphones, took a big, deep breathe, and plunged in...and heard n-o-t-h-i-n-g. Messed around with the sound settings on my computer although all seemed right and tried it again...nothing, nada, zip, zero. Unplugged the headphones, turned up my personal volume a bit... and thank goodness, SOUND! All was good during the preview until I came to the picture where the sound ended about 30 seconds before the picture did...had about 3 of those to adjust. Whew!

Not the greatest sample I have ever produced. If I had had about 2-3 more hours and a bigger bottle of asprin (for my headache) and cotton balls for my ears so I would not have to hear it over & over & over (hey, forget the asprin, give me Pepto Bismol), I might have cleaned it up a little better.

It did scare me when it took almost as long to upload as Open Office took to download...Walked away for a bit and kept one eye on it in case the computer "blew up" from the attempt. All is well.

I will listen to podcasts. I will use podcasts as teaching tools. I will use PhotoStory to make teaching/learning tools..................................I ... will ... make ... more ... podcasts, but will line up voice sources!

Bye-bye for now!
FW

Hearing Game...of sorts?

Want to see if you can hear those funky ringtones the kids are using on their cellphones?

Check out this test (and info.)

Thing #20 "Tube"ing the Info..."shZAMZAR!"

I have been using YouTube and to a lesser extent TeacherTube seems like FOREVER...and probably in 2.0 terms it has pretty much been that long! Not sure where I would place the "tubes" on my scale of greatest thing since sliced bread, but it would be close to the top...guess you could say it is all a part of the broader resource videostreaming. Which IS very close to the top.
YES...I know videostreaming can be a pain inside our district, but the "concept" is fantastic and the experience will become that once again when the district gets all its little ducks in a row...

And YES, YouTube is blocked...mostly because there are blockheads out there that upload junk that wouldn't be good for schools to have popping up. But as much as I want things open...it really doesn't concern me too much at this point about YouTube...
#1 because educators have now discovered TeacherTube and are uploading much of their material there instead of the broader based YouTube.
#2 the little handy-dandy little gem of a tool called ZamZar that will take your YouTube video and convert it to something that will play in the district.


As with many things technology, I worked around the YouTube issue with a conversion program that required a player. Worked pretty well, once you got all the pieces in the right place, but then my colleague LP found this nifty little conversion program that converts a YouTube video into a format that will use a video player that already exits on your computer.

You submit the video to the site, they convert it and email you the results! It is so simple...YES it still has to be done at home because you initially have to access the video from YouTube. And that's a good thing. Means that you have to preview the material before using it!

It's free...you do not need to register unless you want some special additions. You do have to claim your conversion withing 24 hours of its arrival in you email. And the conversion can come fairly quickly...I have gotten mine from a few minutes to a couple of hours later. They were relatively short videos.

They have extended their conversion services beyond just YouTube. From the ZamZar blog site, they list the following video sources that they can convert:
Youtube
Google Video
Myspace
Revver
PutFile
Break.com
Apple Trailers
Dailymotion
Metacafe
IFilm
Grouper
Blip.tv
Just copy the link from the video site and paste it into the "Add URL" box on our URL file conversion page

So I hope blocked video sites and the ease of conversion will give you more freedom in using these useful tools and resources in your lessons, for you patrons, and for fun...when appropriate!

For the purpose of this Thing, I selected this video that Cool Cat Teacher Vicki Davis created and uploaded to TeacherTube.

If you STILL need to be convinced about 21st learning & teaching and the NEED for technology to be a apart of this change, maybe her message will help you. It's pretty simple & straightforward to me. But I have to admit...my cheese has been moved. I do still worry about the guppies in my pond!

Not much left now...will touch base with you again soon!

Froggy

Thing #19 2.0 Winners, What Fun!

I really took advantage of the directions on this one and looked at SWOmoz choices for award-winning tools that interested me.
I didn't necessarily think about finding things what would be "useful"....I just played!

But as with many things fun (and potato chips), I couldn't stop with just one. So here are the ones that bubbled to the top for me.

I love cute little widgets (almost as much as image generators) so I went looking at that category. And found a source called SpringWidgets. I added one to my other blog counting down the days until TLA conference, but don't bother looking at it in district. Same song, forgotten what verse...it's blocked! I clicked on the Widget Gallery and selected the one called Countdown to Summer...but what is cool is you can change the text to say what you what the countdown to be about...it is "posted" on a little yellow sticky note complete with push pins! I added a couple pf widgets from the "currently popular" on the home page...take a look towards the bottom of the side bar if you have a "light bulb moment" or need a "fortune." Treat yourself at home...of course!

Another award choice for me is Guess-the-google. TH first brought this fun little guessing game to my attention so I was glad to find it on the award list, play it some more, and get to write about it a bit. From the web site:

Guess-the-google reverses this process by picking
the keywords for you, the player must then guess what keyword made up the image - it's surprisingly addictive.

BTW...I do see some educational value in this particular little game...vocabulary building, drawing conclusions...ok, you can think up the reasons for using. I just want to play!

CAUTION: This fun little game is out on the WWW. That means it is available to anyone and everyone. The game is NOT the problem...some of the players are. Especially if they are high scorers. Their inappropriate screen names will appear to the right of the game screen...you can click into the game to get rid of the list. Do try the game for the game's sake and if you think it is useful in class, work you magic for figuring a workaround to the list of names should it hold some less than appropriate examples. I WISH there was a way to close that part...I wish the creator would realize his game would get more "press" if that element wasn't so in-your-face so to speak.

Update late Thursday night...the list of high scorers looks better than it did yesterday!

O, yes...it also takes Flash 8 to work, but that can be downloaded from the site should you need it.

When I found DonorsChoose.org on the awards list, it triggered something I had participated in earlier this year. I have a friend who applied for some financial assistance through this organization and was able to get some resources for her class...materials that had long-ago gone out of date and the school/district was not able to replace with updated versions. So she wrote the "grant" and after about 6 weeks, she was awarded her money, purchased her materials, received a digital camera to record the learning and has been busy sharing her "wealth" with her students. She will turn in a results report later this year.

As a contributor, it was easy for me. I wrote a check, but donations can be made online...partial or full. You can see a complete breakdown of the proposed expenses and how the request is to be used. I did a search for projects for here in Houston...there are pages and pages ranging from batches of spiral notebooks to a copier/printer!

Maybe this the way to go for something you need?
x

Can't wait to see the new list of web winners when it comes out in May!

Hopping towards the finish line...good night!

Froggy Wart

Thing #18 Open Sesame Open Sources

Some more tools for that ever-expanding toolbox.

Been using Google Docs, particularly the spreadsheet, for the last few months. For several reasons...

1. it's a Thing!

2. Spreadsheets, any spreadsheets are my nemesis, my Achilles' heel or any other negative term you can come up with. I just have so much trouble with them. I FORCE myself to use them to try and "get-over-it." I think I can finally say I can use them with text fairly well. Formulas..nope! Calculator for me!

3. Collaboration/sharing. Needed to share some information that could be manipulated or changed.

Like the fact that I have a place to park things on something other than my computer. Yes, thru the district I have some storage places, but it's limited for a variety reasons and by putting things in Google Docs, I can get to it when I need to, no matter where I am. And frankly, district storage makes me nervous...there are so many variables.

Downloaded and set-up Open Office. Took awhile. Felt like I was back in my days of dial-up waiting for my genealogy documents to open! Anyway, I know I will use it (despite the fact I have a perfectly good set of MS Office tools on both my home and office computers.) I know the district has been tossing the idea around of going with an open source resource so I want to be up on the idea if and when it comes.

It will not be easy for me. I am SUCH a creature of habit. I will use older versions of things just because I know how and don't need to change to do what I need to do. But I have come to the realization over the last few years that change or adaptation is necessary...need to keep moving to keep up. So I will tackle the various parts of Open Office "soon." I will find a project and force myself to get through it and come out on the other side. If you don't understand what I mean, go back and read my first posting about my first wiki development. Arrrggghh!!!

The Draw portion has appeal for me. I used Appleworks/ClarisWorks Draw for almost everything I did for several years "way long time ago." Never got over not having it when I made the move to MS products..UNTIL I let PowerPoint become my work surface. I use PPT for probably 90% of any product...be it graphic/photo manipulation to training materials. Hummm, maybe that's 95%. So it will be interesting to see how Open Office Draw factors into my methods...but the buttons looked so intimidating...SOOOOO many of them!

It will be good to have knowledge of something that more people could access and not have the software themselves. Again with the sharing and collaboration issues mentioned above. And I will try very hard to accept and use the presentation system, but o, my PPT...it's like that one old worn out pair of comfy shoes that are STILL in my closet...

But I will try, I really will try! I promise!

More later,
Froggy Wart

Thing #15 2.0 The Future is Us

Been doing the "library thing" for a long time and can't tell you how exciting it is to be immersed in this whole 2.0 version of "life in the library." Yes, with it comes the need to change...and I have handled it better than I ever thought because it has been so exciting.
And F-U-N!

One of the hardest things for me to accept was that in the 2.0 world I can NOT know all there is to know. I do have a responsibility to be familiar with as many things as I can so I can assist people within my circle of influence who want to use or experience something 2.0. AND I have to be ahead of the curve as well...I have to be the experimenter, the tester, the pioneer as much as I can.

There is so much choice in the 2.0 world. I have to be flexible and guide those who seek my assistance in the direction that best fits their needs. I can't make them do it the "old" way just because I'm more familiar (or comfortable) with that way. The user should determine the format, not be locked into a more traditional method.

But users have a responsibility as well. No one will know everything so everyone will have to learn parts on their own. That is one reason this 23 Things is so important to me. I have had to discover how some things work on my own with only the directions, FAQs, and samples. Even the teachers I support have to become users to a certain extent and must take on some responsibility to familiarize themselves with the 2.0 tools their students may want to use, simply because I can no longer "know it all." Teachers and librarians are going to have to be partners in this endeavour even more than in the past. None of us will be able to handle it alone.

The statements brought out in the video must be a wake up call that students are going to use the technology...with or without us! We need to rethink policies that keep them away from the very tools they find most useful and we need to provide the information as freely as possible to as many points of access as we can on a 24/7 timeline. And we need to understand they don't do these things in isolation...group dynamics is all a part of the learning process...no learning in isolation any longer.

And just a short statement about books because they are a part of this 2.0 picture as well. In my opinion, books will not disappear. The types of books we purchase for our libraries will change. We don't need the big, heavy, expensive research volumes...that info is available on line in much more appealing format...multiple users, printouts or emailed copies of only what is needed. Audio books, whether in a mp3 or "Kindle" format, are still "books." And yes, the beautifully illustrated picture books, the graphic novels, and the throw-away pocket book novels for a visit to the beach will still be around.

I think I said it before...choice. In many formats for many reasons. That's my view of 2.0. For now. Watch out, it will change!

Whew, Have finally caught up!

Froggy Wart

Thing #17 Playing Around in the Sandbox

I did go to the L2P Wiki Sandbox and made a few comments. I have been in other wikis as contributor so I am comfortable with the wiki experience.

What I did realize is, I have to jump back and pick up Thing #15...just leaped right over it, but don't want to neglect it. But that will have to come later.

Gotta walk the dog and then jump into bed!

FG

Thing #16: It's Been a Wiki of a Month

Ok, am updating my original thoughts about my wiki experience so that I can move onto other Things!

I did get two wikis created for two assignments I was given. The first one was an excruciating painful experience as are most of my maiden voyages into something new technology-wise. The second one was a much more positive experience...mainly because I controlled all of the variables this go-round.

I have to remember to work with the software and not try to make the software work with my pre-conceived notions. Once I remembered that, the second attempt went much faster and smoother.

I am fully committed to using wikis for other things now. I like the PBWiki format so probably will stay with it when I can. Again, that is something I have had to learn about 2.0 web tools...there are many that will do virtually the same thing. Find one or two, learn to use them and don't worry too much about all the other similar ones...personal choice should play into it.

I have reviewed many of the wikis included in the assignment over the last year. At first I was not too impressed because I saw many incomplete, messy-looking, or "dead" wikis...when I finally realized that many wikis are simply workspaces for team collaboration and that final "products" are probably elsewhere, it made sense.

The major purpose of wikis is the collaboration piece and I have participated in a few...most to just add an idea or thought and one to add multiple resources as I come across them.

I do plan to use the wiki format soon, but not for a collaboration in the normal sense. Because our district's source for webpages is changing and the current choice is not very easy to work with, I have decided to make a framework withing the district's software and add the bulk of my materials, resources, and notes to a wiki. It will be much easier for me to update and change to meet my needs...and I have the option of making it collaborative later!

So, ok, you can call me a wiki fan now...albeit on my own terms (as often happens with me.)

Moving on,
The Frog

P.S. Here are the wikis I worked on during the last month. The groups have the option of adding to and/or changing but so far I have not had any inquiries.
ScoreWrite Research Topics
A Raisin in the Sun Project