Finish Line!

I have made it- an enjoyable journey with ideas to be explored for the future. Some programs worth looking at might be online house design applications, etc.

Blogs & Wikis have a future in my teaching/learning.

To all, have fun!!

Nev O'Brien

#22 and #23 Downloadable Media

There are several ebook hardware readers available. Audio books are very useful for young children to have a book read to them. Websites that have free ebooks for download but the choice is limited in titles & file type- it would be great if all were in pdf format. Places like Amazon etc have both free & for sale.
After further investigation it seems Project Gutenberg has over 100,000 free ebooks.

Whilst I have tried several ebooks, they are very hard to read while in bed on a cold winter's day- and don't forget the need to charge batteries. Good idea coming on line more in the next few years.

#21 Youtube and Teachertube

Youtube has been a great hit to socially share private videos as well as tutorials for many of the popular programs. Probably if it's not on Youtube it has not be captured on video - yet. A part of the problem for schools using Youtube is its restrictive copyright- eg yes use the video but it must be live over the school internet connection. This can cause slow video, dropping of connection, etc. But if you want too use a particular piece of video it is a way to go. I would like to see an updated search function on the site. Full length movies are now appearing on Youtube (limited number, but a start).

Teachtube is much smaller in number of videos but has different copyright conditions & the videos are educationally based. Teachers/students need encouragement to post their videos here.

#20 Podcasts

Podcasting is a convenient way of automatically downloading audio or video files to your computer. You can then play this audio or video on your computer or transfer the files to a portable MP3 or video player. Of course, anything has further development & whilst 'Podcast' generally refers to audio, 'Video Podcast' (or 'Vodcast') refers to the distribution of video files in the same manner. With the use of electronic recording hardware becoming easier to use both audio & video (as per on most mobile phones) the students can record items & utilizing the Podcast programs to produce something that parents could download from the school website.

#19 Rollyo

Rollyo - create an individual search engine/roll. Seems easy enough to use.

#18 Wikis

Wikis seem to combine several Web 2 services into one application. One problem I see is one that  Wikipedia had & still has trouble in some areas (depends on who does the data entry). In the well visited areas, the data is becoming more accurate as area specialists corect/improve the published data.

Wikis are useful in the classroom as many students can add data & it can be checked by the teacher before being released to others (I know there are arguements against that review but in schools it appears to be needed). Many school based application managers have the Wiki written into them as part of the program.

In summary, Wikis are simple web pages that groups, friends, and families can edit together.

#17 Delicious

Delicious is a part of a suite of Yahoo. According to Delicious blog the bookmarking site will continue, into the foreseeable future, as an entity by itself. The idea of a secure personal web based bookmarking list is an item one could use. However, security on the internet is sometimes lax & anyone grabbing a list of bookmarking would be a great target for advertising- of course no company worth its salt would do that would it? At least, Yahoo ia up front about the adverts. Sorry, good idea but not for me.

#15 RSS and #16 Subscribing

Coming soon to a space near here. Need to do more research/reading before blogging.
Summary:

RSS and syndication  (Really Simple Syndication en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS )

RSS is a family of formats which allow users to find out about updates to the content of RSS-enabled websites, blogs or podcasts without actually having to go and visit the site. Instead, information from the website (typically, a new story's title and synopsis, along with the originating website’s name) is collected within a feed (which uses the RSS format) and ‘piped’ to the user in a process known as syndication.

In order to be able to use a feed a prospective user must install a software tool known as an aggregatoror feed reader, onto their computer desktop. Once this has been done, the user must decide which RSS feeds they want to receive and then subscribe to them. The client software will then periodically check for updates to the RSS feed and keep the user informed of any changes.

Many websites have RSS feeds available- the problem sometimes is to find the subscribing link.

ABC RS feeds

#13 MySpace & #14 Facebook

MySpace & Facebook are not my cup of tea. However, during the January Brisbane floods in 2011 the Qld Police Force Facebook page was certainly used as an uptodate website for flooded suburbs & roads. The article 7 things you should know about Facebook has some ideas that might be useful & others that caution its use/s in education.

A website for profesional development http://www.linkedin.com/ has some advanced features that allow exchange of discussion between professional people & as such would be useful for ongoing teacher PD. It has 100 milion members- small compared to Facebook.

No graphics still but will update later, if possible.

#12 Picture Sites

VoiceThread looks useful for storing videos for secure use in classrooms. It has several interesting features (some pay for use) on ed.voicethread.com

http://www.dumpr.net/ has many useful resources that could keep students on task & interested through puzzzles, easy drawing tools etc especially with Easter holidays coming on very fast.

graphics gone to sleep again. Try again later.

#11 Library Thing

Web 2.0 web-p[aces such as LibraryThing have opened up new ideas for people to share records for their books and other information resources. This makes these resources available for indexing by Web search engines. I found LibraryThing very easy to use. The search engine was clear, simple, and user friendly. Librarything.com is a fantastic place to find information on all sorts of stuff- a bit like Facebook but a social place for book lovers. 

Looks like the blog site is having one of those days as I cannot post any graphics.

#10 Online Image Generators

What a fun way to pass an odd hour or so!! Several sites had  a large number of choices. I thought about the fake magazine cover but even Photoshop could not airbrush my photo to an acceptable level. So I went for a grandad comic. Very easy to do with a lot of templates being available.

#9 Virtual Worlds

Second Life & WOW are OK but I am not into playing virtual world games. Second Life has some use in early/middle school education if used by a well meaning & skillful teacher to introduce students to onlne skills. Now  Exitreality has got my full attention- a 3D website program requires much futher investigation. Online adds might prove a bit distracting for some web users but being paid to have a web presence will attract some programmers.

#8 iGoogle

iGoogle makes it easy to establish your own filtered home page. I found it good to use what with the 3 major email programs being available to log into on the one page as well as being easy to add different areas of interest via selecting radio buttons on the intro page.

Google Books

Seems to have a reasonable list of books.

Google Maps

Google maps have enabled many people to obtain directions, how places look via its artial photos, roadside views from the google cars- what did we ever do without it.

#5 Further Google Spreadsheet

Easy to use, probably handy for quick calculations whilst travelling

Online Programs google Docs

#5 Google Docs is an online word processing program- reasonable features for a free program.



 

Trouble inserting second image

Web 2 Progress: Web 2 definition or can we really tag it

Web 2 Progress: Web 2 definition or can we really tag it: "'Web 2.0 meme has become so widespread that companies are now pasting it on as a marketing buzzword, with no real understanding of just what..."

Web 2 definition or can we really tag it

"Web 2.0 meme has become so widespread that companies are now pasting it on as a marketing buzzword, with no real understanding of just what it means."  (http://oreilly.com/web2/archive/what-is-web-20.html#mememap)   The answer could be that Web 2.0 is still developing as more people come to look at its potential & come onto the scene with new ideas on how to utilise the programs.

First blogg entry

Hi,
welcome to my first blogg entry on using Web 2 tools. I am not completely convinced that messages inside the Utube video are a reflection on life now or in the immediate future- you are responsible for what you put into life unless of course you win Gold Lotto or have rich relatives. But I am open to being convinced.

#2 On the main course page it would be nice to click on the web page & have a new tab open so the main page is easier to go back to rather than clicking the back button in some cases several times- too much exercise!!

#3 Library 2.0 makes a good point when it writes " it is about what the technology is allowing us to do".  As with all such things/ideas, just because we can use such tools such as bloggs etc the data is the important message that humans utilise to form their own opinions &  that data is delivered in a vaary of ways. Funny, we are talking about Web 2 tools but we are still doing the writing & reading  just via a different mode of communication.
Thanks
Nev O'Brien