Final Thoughts

My favorite discoveries out of the 23 things were the avatar, the graphics, and learing to embed the videos.  These will be the most helpful of the tools that I learned.  The news tools and feeds were interesting, but I will not likely utilize them.

 There are many tools that I will have to revisit and go into more deeply, but I was surprised to find that I will actually use many of these tools.  Unfortunately the most well intentioned professional development doesn't usually lead to tools that we actually put into our classrooms.  Especially a technology driven classroom - what a great training for my subject!

I really liked completing this professional development.  It was informational (with good information) and completing it at home and at my own pace was nice.  I don't have any complaints!

Thing #23

What a great website!  The students need to be able to incorporate ideas and media into their projects to present information.  The web has provided a great ways to access information and media for projects.  But with this has also come an easy way to plagiarize other's ideas.  Educators have to provide tools to help students with the issue of plagiarism.  Creative Commons provides this.  This website allows people access to media and information that can be reused without breaking copyright laws.  This is a great concept.  I teach copyright law in BCIS and will use the Disney video!  Loved it!

Thing #22

I liked the concept of the Ning.  It is great to use the idea of social networking in a common interest area to spark conversation and collaboration in interest areas.  I went to the Education Ning and the page is plain and uninviting.  The site is cluttered and busy.  The user doesn't know where to start.  It looks way to much like a busy website, there were so many links and text on the page that I didn't spend much time at all on the site.  I don't know that I would visit daily, even if there is valuable information there.

The Ning for Teachers was much more visually appealing.  There were still links and lots of text, but it was organized much better.  I would possibly visit this Ning.  

The key, I guess, for this type of site would have to be making it fun and valuable so that people keep coming back.  This could be a great avenue for teachers to collaborate on ideas for their classrooms and connect them with teachers they would never have come in contact with.

Thing #21

The podcast thing is really pretty cool.  I was able to add a podcast to my google reader.  I used the Educational Podcast Network to find a podcast and then pasted the RSS feed into my subscriptions.  The feed then appeared on the page.  It was as easy as that.  

This could be a useful tool for keeping up with information and presenting it to students.  It is also helpful that the computer compiles the information for you.  If teachers find and like a podcast that pertain to their subject area and the information is usually helpful, this could be a great tool for the classroom. 

Thing #20

I think this has been my favorite "thing" so far.  I have always wanted to figure out how to do this.  This can be a invaluable tool when presenting information to students.  I mentioned in another post a lesson that I do for Business Law where I link a powerpoint to youtube with videos of different torts displayed in movies.  The students love this lecture/assignment because of the video clips.  However, sometimes the links take a while and sometimes the links do not work.  This changes that.  Perhaps I could convert this "lecture" and make it into a blog and then link all the videos and the students could work through it at their own pace and then post comments and it would then become an interactive Internet-based class discussion, rather than a lecture.  Great!!

Thing #19

My Library Thing

I liked the library thing website.  It was very easy to use and research different things that you might want to read.  Also, with it being on the Internet, others are able to access the lists of books that you like.  This site allows you to read about what others think about the books as well as letting you post what you think.  Teachers could use this to find books for students related to their subject areas.  Students could use this tool to find books that they would like to use for projects or papers.  Teachers could post a list of acceptable books for a particular project for students to choose from, and the students could read reviews and input before making their choices.  Great tool for the classroom!

Thing #18

Wiki's are great interactive tools.  I know that many teachers in our school already have them and the students use and access them regularly.  I can see the value in this tool.  The sandbox post was interesting to click through and read and I actually saw a teacher from another district that I knew (if it's the same Becky Giles).  I think that a Wiki could be incorporated for BCIS as a coordination tool (there are 4 teaching) and it could be set up in a way that students use it as well.