Are we offering the best eduction for our students?  View the video below.

View this video to view one version of the idea of a 21st Century Student.

This class has been quite a learning experience for me, not only learning the Web 2.0 skills, but understanding how technology can have a real impact on the learning of students, and also how it can actually be implemented in a variety of ways in the classroom and used as effective teaching strategies.
I was not quite sure or not quite convinced that using technology tools such as blogs, ipods, podcasts, could enhance a students learning in the classroom prior to taking this class. I knew that it probably had to because there has been research and documentations confirming the positive impact of technology in the classrooms. I can now realize how this could be. Not only do the tools engage the students but they also provide opportunities for a different style of learning that mimics the daily lives of our students. The article I read that made the remark that students are not ready to “power down” when they enter a school building, really stuck with me. I guess I wonder why we are fighting the use of technology instead of embracing it.
My favorite tool was the designing of the wikispace. I am planning on continuing using my personal family wikispace and am encouraging staff members to incorporate wikispaces to create portfolios in the fine arts department, especially. I was impressed with the use of podcasts as learning tools as well. I have shared with several staff members the impact of a test review on a podcast, as one example. I also enjoyed using the photo editing tool, Picnik – I will continue to use this in my personal and professional life.
Even though this class took a lot of my time, and I do wonder if I spent more time than others, it was most worthwhile. The awareness of all of the tools available is very useful to me in my role. I can engage in conversations about implementing technology in classrooms and actually have an idea about what I am talking about! I can listen to others talk about these applications, and understand what they are talking about!
I would take another class like this if it were to be offered. I would appreciate a film editing program and a chance to work with Picaso.
Participating in “23 Things” has opened my world to the uses of technology for teaching and learning.

Wow!  That was fun!  I wasn’t sure how much work it might be to set up a wiki account and it really took me a while to come up with a reason to establish an account when my sister called me and wanted to share a bunch of information with our family members and have them add and delete information as needed.  I then had a reason for a wiki space.  The name of my page  is the loomisfamilywiki.

I found the site actually quite easy to create and anticipate that it will get used and added to often – we will see what my family members think.

A wiki is different than a blog because anyone can manage the wiki and blogs can only be manged by the owner of the blog.  A  wiki is a group effort blog that is out on the web.  If I do not want editing done by anyone, I would  not use a wiki.  For example, I would not post my entire course syllabus and daily coursework on a wiki – I would use a blog.

I enjoyed this “thing” more than any of the others.

I viewed the video and read the article on Wikis and wish these had been around when attending college with all of the group work expected from us a students.  I can certainly see the value in using them for collaborative efforts.  Also, I have been responsible for planning family events recently and since my family is scattered throughout the United States, and we don’t communicate very well, establishing a Wiki site would have saved all of us a lot of time!

OK, on to educational Wiki’s.  I again looked at several of these sites.  Some of them looked great, however, I noticed that they were not being used as the appeared intent – it made me wonder why, of course.

I will mention two Wiki sites that I did enjoy viewing – one I will pass on to a colleague, and the second I will use for my own professional development.  A language arts teacher at our building is reading “The Giver” and I found a Wiki site dedicated to the author Lois Lowry.  Not only will this be a valuable resource for her, but it is a great example of how to share literature and authors with others.  The Wiki site that I will refer to is titled “Mentoring, Leadership and Change:  Designing compelling experiences for 21st Century Learners.”  This site offered many opportunities for collaboration among leaders along with many resources. The site even listed music selections that would complement leadership topics!

I am not sure that Wikis will fit into our building at the moment. Not all of  students have access to the Internet, so I feel some may be left behind.  However, I do think teachers should begin to introduce and use Wikis in a small, appropriate way in their teaching.  We are building up a great collection of computers and technology in our school building so more students are able to experience these opportunities to learn through technology.

100 ways to show children you care

I was able to download a video from YouTube with no trouble at all using KeepVid.com.

I have been unsuccessful in embedding a video in my blog, obviously.  I am unsure about what plugin to activate.  I am unable to locate an Embed-Allower plug-in.  I will need to work on completing this task with some help from colleagues who have completed this course previously. I finally found the Embed-Allower plug-in and all works. I am glad that is solved.

I have viewed many YouTube videos in a variety of settings, at school, in church, at home, etc… but I did not have an account and had never posted or read any comments before completing this “thing”.  I spent some looking at Education Leadership videos today and found that I enjoyed the videos with few words and good graphics.  The lecture type videos were difficult to watch, however, the short educational leadership quotes  were interesting.  I feel I could use these types of videos for school improvement meetings, staff meetings, and perhaps professional development days.  I like YouTube for the most part, but am disturbed by the lack of editing.  It is amazing how one can find anything using this site!  Our school does not have this site blocked – I wish they would block the site to prevent students from viewing at will.

I certainly enjoy and appreciate the videos that bring historical events alive!  I have spent hours listening and looking at live performances of great musicians of all types.  The historical aspect is certainly an advantage for our students in their learning of these types of events.

I searched around the Slideshare site and found it difficult to narrow down a search to locate a presentation I would consider using.  I then decided to look at the VoiceThread site.  This tool is very usable in many capacities – for the educator and the educated.  I looked at several different presentations and viewed the tutorial.  I liked the presentation one high school biology teacher created for her students to use explaining how to use their newly created blogs for her classroom.  The title was simply “Blogging Tutorial.”  This tutorial explained using many of the tools that we have learned about in 23 Things.  There were many positive comments regarding this tutorial from viewers as it offered detailed and useful instructions.

Yes, there is so much out there and how do you know about all of it and how does one use it.  As I am taking this class, and continuely signing up for so many new applications, it makes me very confused!

I looked at three web 2.0 application from the provided list.  The first I choose was Blabberize – it sounded fun.  I did not complete a project as I don’t have any sounds readily available to me.

I then went to bubbl.us for online brainstorming.  I created a web but did not find anything fascinating about this application, perhaps there was more to it than I could see.  I probably would not use this application.

Finally, I opened up Zoho Show.  I created a PowerPoint presentation.  I enjoyed having fun and new templates and backgrounds to use for these presentations.  I am a bit leery about making these presentations for the entire public to see.  I will use this application.

I am happy to learn about Creative Commons as I am always hestitant to use anything published and violate copyright laws.  I once heard that educators are the biggest violators of copyright laws- a fact I have never been proud of, being part of the group of educators.

I have never really noticed the CC on webpages – I tend not to look for anything unless I have  purpose, however, I will begin.  I am glad you referenced many sites that are accessible with the CC on them.

With my limited knowledge of this and thinking about student use of the internet to create projects, I believe this will be more of an advantage than disadvantage for student and my professional use.  As students are aware they have legal access of different picture, songs, text, etc. and they site them accurately, this can add to what they need to create.  A disadvantage, or course, is that they may always look for something to “steal” rather than create their own.  I have found, however, that most students after a few attempts, prefer to create their own, rather than duplicate what they have seen.

Thanks for bringing the awareness of CC to me!

I spent quite a bit of time listening to podcasts and exploring all options, for professional and personal purposes. I found the EPN site easy to navigate, but I didn’t find any podcasts that I found particularly interesting.  On the other hand, I enjoyed the variety the Podcast Alley offered and did not find using the search field to narrow down the choices of podcasts a problem.  I am not sure how to listen to all of the podcasts – am I to download a program to listen?  Can you listen to these podcasts through ITunes in any way?

My favorite way to access and listen to podcasts is using ITunes.  I have subscribed to CNN for Students and will encourage the social studies teachers to use in some capacity for their students.  The 91 reviews listed on the page were highly encouraging and most of them were written by students that enjoyed listening to this podcast during their school day!  I have never heard students excited to listen to current events – I am excited about this Podcast.