Twitter

I have to agree with what other's have said, I didn't find Twitter all that useful for education.  I didn't really know who to follow because it didn't seem like there was much to say about educational interests in just a few characters.  It felt more like status updates that I'm not really interested in.  I'm not sure it is something I would incorporate into the classroom?

PLN

I found GoogleDocs extremely useful.  I love how easy it is and the fact that it compiles data and puts the information into charts has already impacted my professional life by saving me time and giving me the tools to present great PowerPoints.  I really enjoyed working with and following others with Delicious.  I have found some good ideas from seeing what other people have found.  We use Calendar through Outlook where I work, but it was great timing for this class to introduce Doodle.  And outside Vendor just set up a meeting using that tool- I'm glad I knew what is was and how to use it!

There were things about the Wiki that I liked, and things that I didn't like.  I think it can be a useful tool with less people and smaller projects.  It was very time consuming when I was not able to Edit the page because it was in use by another classmate.  I also found it difficult to know where to post things at times and having to page through so many entries from previous classes made it very time consuming as well.

I will continue to work on developing and using a PLN because I believe it is essential to stay current, and quite frankly, keep up with my students!  Sharing these ideas with others is important for many reasons, including the fact that it helps to continue growing your own PLN.  A great way to share ideas, tips, and "how-to's" is to create a blog as a resource for colleagues to become aware of these tools and be inspired to use them.

Week 7 questions

• Looking at others' links: Go back and look at the websites collected by the class under the tags. Are there any there that you want to save to your own list?

The website I want to save to my own list would be the Online Colleges website in Sommer's delicious bookmark.

• Choosing tags: How has your own list of tags grown? Were you consistent in using tags? Did you use many tags for each link? Did you use synonyms or stay consistent in your use of terms? Did you change your mind about tags you wanted to use? Did the tags used by others impact your choices? Did you find yourself using the same tags across different tools (e.g., del.icio.us, your blog, wiki pages)? How would you approach teaching tagging to students?

My tags have grown by a few each week.  I have been consistent in using tags, but probably needed more becuase I had redundency in my tags.  I didn't change my mind about tags I wanted to use and I stayed consistent.  The tags used by others did impact my choices because they alerted me to new tags that I could you.  I did find myself using the same tags across different tools.  I would approach teaching tagging to students by following their peer's tags, using a larger variety of tags and always being open to new tags they see others using.

• Tag clouds: Check out your Tag log or cloud (under Tags - My Tags). Which tags have you used the most often, other than those assigned for the class?

The tag I used most often was education and college.

• Annotations: Did you add annotations to each link? Why or why not? What would be an advantage of doing this?

I did not add annotations to each link, however, I now see that it would have been useful so I could better track my tags/searches.

Connecting with others:

• How could you use del.icio.us to connect with others interested in the same topic? Try this for one of the tags you used for a topic in this class. Who did you find used many of the same tags and bookmarked things of interest?

I found other students by using the same tag that appeared to be following the same subject.  This helps in the research process especially when working on large projects like a thesis.

• How might you use the Network feature of del.icio.us? Try this with one other person (not someone in the class, but someone who appears to have a similar interest).

I could use the network feature by connecting with others interested in the same topics by getting various points of view from other professionals all over the world.

• How could you use del.icio.us or a similar product (Diigo, BuddyMarks (filtered), Scuttle (on own server), FURL) among a group of people like students in a class or a group of friends?

These tools could be used to do research gathering for classroom projects and demonstrations.  They could also be used to see who is using research tools (and what tools they are using) for papers,etc.

Web 2.0 tools

One of the Web 2.0 tools I have found that would be great in the classroom and one administrators should use is the blog.  I think having a blog is a great tool where instructors can give updates on projects, helpful "hints" for course work, deadline reminders, class cancellation notices, and even an area where students could post comments/questions.  Fortuneately, where I work, it would be up to the instructor and not administration, so there wouldn't be much "convincing" that would have to happen.  The value to the students is great especially when considering you can give helpful hints on projects and post class cancellations so they do not waste a trip to campus.

Delicious

Delicious is an interesting tool that I actually thing will help in my thesis research.  I believe Sarah blogged that it felt a little intrusive to use other's bookmarks, but it is helpful!  I like that you can create idea lists (like vacation destinations or even recipes to use in the future).  I really like that you can follow your favorite user's bookmarking (like Diane Ravitch :).  Overall, I think it's a great tool that I will continue to use even after the class if over!

Web 2.0 Tools

Google Sites is a great to help even the most technology challenged build an easy and useful website.  I actually used this tool to help my friend build a website for her newly launched business...great timing!

Concept Mapping was a great tool and I really liked the outline format that helped with easy organization.

Photobucket is a tool that I have used quite a bit over the years and it works well for me when posting images for marketing programs and marketing for support for students clubs!

Benefits of Twitter

I see Twitter as a great benefit to the classroom to update students on due date reminders, classroom activity ideas, and even class cancellation notices.  Twitter or another microblogging tolld can be used in education for many things including announcements for events, field trips, promotions, activity schedules, and even meeting outcome updates.

Transforming Learning

Incorporating technology into the classroom can be difficult when I only see my students for 50 minutes twice a week.  I do however like the fact the technology can provide more opportunity for collaboration and projects outside of the classroom and time constraints.  I do feel that adding blogs to the classroom helps students tremendously.  Being able to post previous work as examples has helped students come up with their own topics and final projects by seeing examples of others....I know it has helped me in this class!

Curriculum and Technology

Alan November discusses four things students should learn about technology:

1. Global empathy
2. Social and ethical responsibility on the web
3. The permanence of information posted online
4. Critical thinking about the information found online

I enjoyed the article and agreed with him on many points, especially about teaching students of the permanence of information posted online.  I do think that many students do not realize the web is archived every few days.  That is definitely something that needs to be taught and emphasized to students.  I think that next year I will do an exercise similar to the one November describes in the article to show students how "deleted" items are not truly deleted.

del.icio.us

I think del.icio.us is very useful in being able to network with others with the same interests and goals to broaden knowledge and resources.  It helps save time in researching sites by having other assist in researching the same topics and using their links and ideas.  I think it is a great tool that makes research so much easier.

Diigo vs del.icio.us.

I do like the way del.icio.us. simplifies bookmarking pages and I also like the ability to find what others are bookmarking that are following things of similar interest.  However, after researching Diigo, I am so impressed with all of the technology that can be incorporated.  Diigo allows you to access it from a variety of devices, uses digital highlights and sticky notes.  It also allows for active e-reading and is interactive.  I will definitely us Diigo going forward.

GoogleDocs

I knew of GoogleDocs but I had never used it before (although I definitely had a need, I never had or took the time to learn how to use it).  I have to say I LOVE GoogleDocs.  This will make my life so much easier when serving on committees like curriculum creation, department chair, etc.  I think it will also be great in the classroom for surveys and even for my thesis research.

Professional Wiki

I have found the Wiki Student Tech Stories to follow (http://studenttechstories.com).  This Wiki gives ideas and updates on technology for students and how students are using technology today.  It offers good ideas for the classroom and staying connected with students.

Wikis differ from a blog because blogs are typically about one person posting ideas, thoughts, etc.  Although a blog has the ability to have others post, they aren't necessarily intended for all to have equal access to editing rights like a Wiki.

Wikis for Professional Development

Although there are things abouat the Wiki that I do no favor, (like the ability to delete other's posts, or being "locked out" when someone else is editing the page) I do like being able to have multiple users update information.  Instead of sending countless emails back and forth with several updates to manager, the Wiki allows users to update information from a single site eliminating errors and maximizing time.

I believe I will incorporate Wikis in the office with staff having access to make updates, however I do not believe it is a tool I will use in the classroom.  I feel it would be difficult to manage student projects and posts with other students having access to delete or change peer postings.

Using blogs in the classroom

I see instructors using blogs in the near future at my school to update students on events, contests, course information, and even a place to display their work.  Blogs can be used as out of class activities for students to work on (or work on as extra credit).  Sharing ideas and collaborating with peers offers a great learner environment for students.  I have already seen a few faculty members use blogs for some of these reasons.

Useful blogs

Bridging Differences
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/Bridging-Differences

I was introduced to Diane Ravitch's blog from a previous class.  Bridging Differences blog has posts by Diane Ravitch and Deborah Meier who can have opposing views on education, but both always strive to improve education and schools by sharing idea on what matters in education.

This is useful in my professional development because it allows me to become more familiar with the current K-12 system.  Since I work for a community college, I do feel removed from the primary grades, however I have come to realize that to be an effective instructor I need to know about the type of background my students are coming from.

This Week in Education
http://www.thisweekineducation.com/

The blog This Week in Education is about updated educational news and politics.  I find this blog useful in my professional development because the posts have everything from comic clips that I can share with my students to educational news and views to Youtube videos.  The blog posts are an easy and fast read for my busy schedule and it helps keep my informed on many issues.

What I want from this course

I would like to incorporate more technology based projects into my classroom and into student assignments.  All of our classrooms have been converted to "Smart Classrooms" which means they are able to support most technology right in the classroom without having to go anywhere else.  My students have varying levels of technical savvy, and I am hoping this class will help bridge the gap I have with the more advanced students.  After reading this week's assigned reading, I see now more than ever how important it is to stay up to date with technology.