Is It the End or Only the Beginning?


Wow! You’ve completed the 23rd thing. Give yourself a pat on the back for finishing this program!
We hope you have learned many new things during Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers. And one thing you have learned is that Web 2.0 is anything but static. Changing, challenging, and exciting are hallmarks of Web 2.0. Here are some other things we hope you have learned:
  • It really doesn’t take that much time. You have some new tools—Livebinders, del.icio.us, RSS, calendars, social networks, and others that make finding news about new tools and ways to use them easy. You know how to use them to make keeping up easier. Of course, you can spend hours (and hours) playing around with Flickr or YouTube or other tools, but that counts as "improving your skills."
  • You know you can do it. Sure, there were trials and tribulations as you learned the new tools or struggled with glitches in the products, but you did finish and you did get the tools to work. That means the next time you see a new tool, you will be ready to figure it out and make it work for you. No fear!
  • It's fun to know and use these tools. Admit it, YouTube can be entertaining--and you can even see some uses for it in school. Some of the tools have more toy-like features than others which have a more obvious use. It is amazing what people will think of and more amazing what they create to enhance Flickr, Google, or whatever.
  • We need to keep informed. It is easy to get so involved in the day-to-day of teaching. In spite of all that work, we do need to stay up on what our students are using, talking about, and asking us for help with. As technologies continue to evolve, we need to be informed to evolve with them and guide the evolution.
Discovery Exercise:
1. Please give us some feedback by reflecting on your learning journey in one more blog posting. Here are some questions to guide you:
  • What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
  • How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
  • Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
  • What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
  • How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher?
  • How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
2. Where do you go from here? Some things you might want to do now are:
  • make a resolution to maintain your blog, use the tools you now know, keep up with new tools, and apply them in your classroom or job. Give yourself the gift of time—15 minutes a day, a Webinar now and then, conversations with classmates or colleagues about Web 2.0, whatever—but don't quit now! Put your resolution in writing in your blog!
  • every day, ask yourself, "What did I learn today?" Record your responses in your blog.
  • add your blog URL to your e-mail signature line
  • re-purpose your blog as your classroom blog
  • share your blog with your classmates, colleagues, and administrators
Thank you for joining us on this journey. Our hope is that this not the end of our learning together, but rather it’s just the start of something amazing …that will impact the way we work with our 21st century learners.
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Thing # 23

Creative Commons

Putting the ‘social’ into social networks allows us to freely exchange information. But with the free exchange of information comes the responsibility of how we share it, and how we give credit to the author of that information. Check out this video, “A Fair(y) Use Tale” and learn some history of copyright.

In the classroom, we are often faced with the challenge of determining when it is acceptable to copy something and how much an item [book, website, music, video, etc.] we can copy. Faced with declining budgets and little time, we are tempted to make the copies. But with the advent of file sharing, downloading, and RSS, we must acknowledge and teach the ethics of information gathering and sharing.

Creative Commons is a copyright license that allows us to choose to share our intellectual property. This course is designed under a Creative Commons license and is an example of how one can take a piece of information or a product and re-work it to make it fit your needs. By acknowledging the original authors, they have given permission for you to share. One place for good information about what's going on with the Creative Commons is Lawrence Lessig's blog. Lawrence Lessig is one of the Creative Commons developers and a Stanford University professor.

Discovery Resources:
Discovery Exercise:
  • Find an example or attribution that shows the Learning 2.0-23Things for Teachers blog was based on someone else's work and modified from its original.
  • Now that you know about Creative Commons licensing, how will you use it in the future as a teacher?
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Thing #22

Keepin' it Together: Livebinders

Did you ever wish you had a way to easily store, organize, and share your online resources? LiveBinders may be just the tool you need. Livebinders allows you to store websites, pdfs, word documents, and images in a convenient digital binder that is stored online. Best of all, you can share these web-binders, with anyone you like, and you can search for other public binders that have already been created.
Watch this short video about using LiveBinders -




Discovery Resources:
Here are some resources to help you explore how others are using LiveBinders:
Discovery Exercise:
  1. Set up your own LiveBinders account.
  2. Create three education-related binders in your account. 
  3. Find several resources to place in each of your binders.
  4. Create a blog post that tells:
  • What are the titles of your binders? 
  • Embed one of your binders in your post. Click on the Options button under the binder you have selected to share, and then click on Embed. Copy the code and paste it into your blog post.
  • Discuss how you might use LiveBinders in the classroom, including possible lesson ideas for students.
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Thing #21

Animoto


Make video clips like the pros!


You don't have to be Steven Spielburg to create professional video clips online. Animoto is a web application that produces professional videos using their own patent-pending technology. Animoto is the brain child of producers from ABC, Comedy Central and MTV who definitely know their stuff. Animoto analyzes your images and the music you use and pieces everything together to where it all flows perfectly in sync. If you don't like how your video turns out you can click the Remix this Video button and have Animoto automatically change it up for you or tweak it yourself. No two video clips come out the same which makes for hours of fun. Here is an example of one I did several years ago using some images from a trip to Disney World with our then two-year-old grandson.


Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

If you want a clip longer than 30 seconds it will cost. But, you can make as many 30 second clips as you want for free.

Discovery Exercise:
  1. Create an account on Animoto.
  2. Create a 30 second clip or Animoto Short, by uploading at least ten pictures. Still got the Flickr account? Animoto can link directly to it.
  3. Choose from one of the songs in Animoto's music library or upload your own music file to go with your clip.
  4. Embed your new 30 second clip onto your blog. There is a special code just for Blogger that you can use.
  5. Blog about your experience using Animoto.
(originally posted on Explore...Discover...Play: Learning 2.1 and used here under a Creative Commons license)
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Thing #20

YouTube and Beyond


In recent years, online video hosting sites have exploded allowing users to easily to upload and share videos on the web. Among all the video tools and applications in this area, YouTube is currently top dog, coming in at #3 on the list of most visited sites in the US and allowing users not only to upload their own video content easily but also easily embed clips into their own sites.

Did you know there are over 2,000 Youtube channels pertaining to science and education? TeacherTube is a hosting site for educational videos. Do some searching around YouTube and TeacherTube and see what these channels have to offer for educators. Of course, like any free sites you’ll also find some stuff not worth watching too. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t explore and see for yourself what the sites have too offer. :)

Discovery Exercise:
  1. Explore YouTube and find a video worth adding as an entry in your blog.
  2. Follow these instructions for adding your video to your blog.
  3. Try out one of the other video tools and applications available online. 
  4. Create a blog post about your experience. What did you like or dislike about Youtube and why did you choose the video that you did? Can you see any features or components of the site that might be interesting if they were applied to your classroom website?
  5. Link to the new tool you visited and discuss its possible uses in the classroom.

Here's a video from YouTube that I embedded. It's called What Do Teachers Make by Taylor Mali - I think you'll appreciate the message (warning: strong language).



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Thing #19

Beyond Facebook: Other Social Networks

1. Twitter and Facebook may grab the headlines in social networking, but there are many other social networks. Social networks are online communities created around interests with people-to-people recommendations and communication. These specialized social networks allow like-minded users to find and interact with one another, but it is important for educators to use these networks cautiously. In this Thing, we'll take a look at some of these networks and the best ways for using them.

Discovery Resources:

 The Teachers' Guide to Social Media

 My Five Best Social Networking Tips

Three Social Networks Teachers Should Try Out


Pinterest for Teachers

Discovery Exercise:
2. Find another social network that might interest you. Explore the ones mentioned already or one of these suggestions:

3. Write a blog post discussing the following:
  • What did you discover about the best uses of social networking for educators?
  • Are you a member of any online communities besides Facebook and Twitter?
  • Are any of these social networks appealing to you?
  • What did you find that was interesting and that you might use later?
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Thing #18

Explore Social Networking

Facebook and Twitter  are two of the most popular social networking sites available today. But who isn't a member of Facebook? If you're not, it's time to join so you can keep up with friends, family, and the College of Education. Please join our page; you know you want to know everything that is going on in and around the Claxton building! 

 Since Facebook is such a common part of most of our lives, we won't spend our time there; this Thing will focus on Twitter and how it can be used in education. 
Discovery Resources

What is Twitter?
Twitter Frequently Asked Questions
Twitter Tutorial
Twitter Hashtags for Education
Educational Hashtags

Discovery Exercises

1. Set up an account with Twitter if you don't already have one) and post the link to your profile in your blog. If you are uncomfortable using your real name, use an alias.

2. Look through this list of educational hashtags and find some related to your area(s) of interest. Search Twitter for those hashtags in the links above and see what new information you can find.

3. Write a blog post about your experience that addresses these questions. Why is it important that educators understand social networking? What new insights did you gain about Twitter? What did you like or dislike about your hashtag search? Can you see a classroom or school application for any of these sites?

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You're more than halfway through! Still having fun?? I hope so! Leave a comment and let me know how you're doing so far...
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