Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed the class. I was able to explore some new things that I don't think I would have tried otherwise. Some of my favorite things were finding sites like Flickr and Creative Commons that have materials that my students can access and use in class. This has effected my lifelong learning by motivating me to check out some of these sites more and learn better ways to use new technology in my classroom. I was surprised that I hadn't heard or used a few of these sites. I am fairly up to date with technology but some of these things were new to me and I'm glad I got the chance to experience them. I don't think there's a lot I would change about this class. There were a few too many things relating to libraries though. I know that's where this was based from but we don't use the library in my classes and therefor it's not as important for me to explore. I would definitely take another class like this if it was offered. I loved that it was online and self paced. I will definetly use some of the sites and things I learned in my classes next years. There were some good reasources and I'm thankful I got to explore them.

Thing #23

The creative commons website will be a valuable tool in my classroom. My kids are always online trying to find pictures, music, etc. to use in projects and assignments so this would be a great site for them to use so they can make sure they are using something that they won't get in trouble for using. I noticed this at the bottom of this "Thing" -
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I hadn't noticed this before but now that you asked us to find something, there it is! It's great to be able to take something and modify it without having to worry about infringing on copyright laws. This is something my classes have always struggled with in the past.

Thing #22

I don't see Nings competing with Facebook or MySpace at all. To me, it seems completely different. The Ning sites I saw looked more like normal websites with the option to become a member. It reminded me of some of the blog sites I had visited before. I like the idea that you can join groups that share your same interests but I don't see the kids enjoying this like they would Facebook or MySpace. It definitely could be a useful tool to gather more information about something or to discuss a topic with others. But again, this could be accomplished through a blog or wiki so to me it's not reallu anything too special. I had actually never even heard of a Ning until this assignment so obviously they have not caught on like other Web 2.0 options out there. I probably wouldn't use this in my classroom.

Thing #21

Podcasts are another really neat option found online. They are a great way to have a "guest speaker" in you room that you would normally not have access to. In the past, I've made a podcast during a mac training session and it was fairly easy to do. I have used iTunes to find podcasts before. Today I also looked at the Educational Podcast Network and was able to find a few podcasts that might be nice to use in my classroom. I found several in particular about career education that I could use for my co-op classes. I will definitely check back to some of these sites when I'm preparing for lessons this year.

Thing #20

Having access to YouTube and TeacherTube is very valuable. I have been able to find many videos to show in my classes. For example, last year when the iPad came out, we wanted the apple launch presentation that Steve Jobs did over it and then had the students write out their opinions about it. It was a great way to see new technology. Searching on YouTube and TeacherTube today, I was able to find numerous videos that would be good to show in my class. I found this the Do You Know video that would be great to show in class:
Using video is the classroom is a great way to get the students engaged in learning and to help make a point.

Thing #19

I created an account and added a few book. Here's the link to my catalog. I added the Twilight books and obviously they were very popular. All but one had over 20000 people. I also added a book I just read about babies. This was much less popular with just over 300 people. I checked out the discussion about this book and found it interesting. The readers either loved the book or hated it. I guess it just depends on if you like that style of parenting or not. This site would be great for an english or reading class. Students could read reviews before picking a book to read.

Thing #18

Wiki's can be very useful in the classroom. I liked the idea of a top 10 list. I might be able to come up with a version of this to use in my computer classes. I might also be able to us a Wiki in my co-op classes. I could have the students post information about their jobs and the skills they have learned. Wikis are easy to use and most students have had some experience with them so they shouldn't have too much of a problem using them.