Thing #24

Wow, it's the end! Learning about Web 2.0 and the many tools available to educators has been very enlightening! My favorite tools include Animoto, various social networks, GrammarBase, Google Drive, Google Scholar, YouTube, and the PDF and file converter. I can see myself using them in my classroom for actual lessons rather than simply for fun and classroom decor. Not saying lessons can't be fun, but you know what I mean. :) Keeping this blog has made me realize how much technology has taken over the education field. I'm not saying it's a bad thing but we are far beyond blackboards, dry erase boards, and that old school overhead projector machines (remembering the ink getting all over my hand as a lefty I will not miss those!). As far as the sites where students would need their own log-ins such as Edmodo, I hope to keep those at a minimum. Someone I know whose daughter is in middle school has NUMEROUS log-ins for different subjects. I would hope in the future teachers would collaborate and use the same portal where all subjects are in one tight-knit area. Sort of like D2L. ;) Our students are growing up with this technology and it's up to us as educators to stay on top of the latest and continue learning and growing through training and various professional development.

Thing #23

I'm still shocked that I never knew about Creative Commons before this class. I know when I was keeping a blog when I homeschooled, I would do an image search and grab a picture to go with whatever I was talking about. Sometimes I would link back to it and sometimes I wouldn't. I know that's not a good thing. Although in my defense I never claimed a picture to be my own, but I know now that doesn't make any difference. As I'm typing this, something came to mind. A few years ago I took this amazing picture of my daughter face to face (there was glass between them) with a polar bear at the Memphis Zoo. It's precious and one of my favorite things. I was so excited that I threw it up on my homeschool blog. Unfortunately I never thought to copyright it and a year or so ago I saw some random person had it on Pinterest. I know they weren't necessarily claiming it to be their own, because if you see a cute picture on Pinterest you tend to just save it. I reckon I should look into copyrighting it, but I don't know what the statute of limitations is on it or if there is one? Moving on... The one example I saw that the 23 Things was based on someone else's work was the following note at the bottom of the page: Note: This project is loosely based upon the website 43Things (which allows you to set and track personal goals) and the Stephen Abram article titled 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006). The idea itself was based on this website, but it was tweaked enough to be different that it didn't no infringe on anyone's original work or idea. The 23 Things is also similar enough to the 43 Things that a note such was this was necessary.

Thing #22

Secondary ELA

Truth be told I did not care for LiveBinders. Maybe after seeing all the other bookmarking sites and learning about RSS feeds, I don't feel like I have room in my life at this point for another such site. I didn't really care for the layout and it didn't seem the most user friendly. I like the idea of it being a browser within a browser, so you don't have to worry about opening a link under a different tab so on and so forth.

Thing #21

I really enjoyed using Animoto and it was so easy!! What a great tool to use to compact your memories into one entity. I tried making the video on my very old computer that still has Windows XP (Ha!) and that didn't work too well, but it went smooth as silk on a Mac. I used a bunch of pics of my girls from 2011 when we lived in Memphis. Wow! I forgot all about a lot of these! :) I can see myself using this more for personal than teaching, but if I did use it professionally it would be good to put a bunch of pics together from the school year and maybe email it out for students to have. A virtual scrapbook if you will.