Well, by the looks of me, it's been a tough week all around. It's interesting to me to actually experience wanting to just throw my machine. I'm not used to names of things I guess. Perhaps because I usuall
y am a visual person and so many items we've explored are visual "twitter, wetpaint, 2.0, on and on" I'm feeling more than a bit overwhelmed. I'm hoping to begin thinking of all these things as just tools to get my job done, however right now, I'm not clear as to which tool does what (see table below).To add to my delight, I just spoke at a district meeting. A fellow speaker was up next. I had connected my laptop (a MacBook) to the Infocus and did my gig. He looked at me with an overwhelming, "Help, this is a Mac!" look. We were only on the web and looking at a secured site. Someone from the audience was brave enough to say "Yup, that's how we feel when you get talking!" Thankfully, the keynote speaker's topic was "Working with a Sense of humor" I"m going with that thought this week...
I think as a geek (much less of one at this very moment), I jump in with both feet and go for it. However, this week with a "grade" riding on my success\failure I really understand how myaudience\class\peers may feel after working with me. I pledge, to be clearer with my words, and to check in now and then to see if they are accomplishing their tasks.
Jeff may have to do with me!
I welcome anyone to edit the chart (okay, maybe it's a table) below... This can be our experiment in how to translate to others don't you think?
| This weeks Mystery | What it does (or what I can compare it to) | Why should I use it? |
| Blog | ||
| RSS Feed | ||
| Google Docs | ||
| Wiki | ||
| Twirl | ||
| Wetpaint | ||
What is that ringing I hear?
3 comments:
Hi Patti - Why do you use torchgirl?? Just wondering! :) I can relate to how you are feeling! Somewhat overwhelmed.. somewhat bewildered! How do you think your school would welcome the 2.0 tools we are working with in this class? That is my quest I think.. is how to professionally approach my principal, tech department and sup's office to get these used at my school.... What an undertaking.
For the questions you posed about each of the items.. here goes..
Blog - It is used for thought, discussion, learning, sharing, and can be used in the classroom for communication between people all over the world. What better educational lesson is this for our youth of today?
Twitter - Still not so sure about this one? Just an update page on what is going on that very moment in someone's life.. but also provides some educational value or potential???
RSS Feeds - Well, this may be the most overwhelming of them all... there are a zillion RSS feeds out there and I have subscribed to one zillion and one of them so far.. and yet to look at hardly any of them yet.. how to focus?? Help??? Very cool idea if you are focused on one or two maybe that you love??
Google Docs - Different idea.. not sure how I would use this with students in the classroom? Hmmm? I am a spreadsheet girl myself.
Wiki - One of my favorites.. and I think something valuable to use in the classroom with students to communicate with others all over the world.. It is password protected and seems like the school might be able to be OK with this.. We already use Moodle.. but the Wiki is better.. and is adaptable ... very much like the myspace or facebook that they are so used to using.. so they would really like it I think..
Twirl.. .OK.. no clue...
Wetpaint.. cool wiki product ... would like to use in my classroom...
hhmmm...let me take a stab at this...if not for you...for me to try and see if I know exactly why we use these tools.
Blogs: Idea engines. The journal book of the 21st Century. What makes blogs different is their ability to connect to other information through hyperlinks. It's that linking that makes blogs so powerful and that makes the web...well...the web. I encourage you to link anything and everything linkable in your blog post.
Twitter: Some people call it micro-blogging, but it's more then that. It's a stream of disconnected thoughts from people you find interesting. There's power here....stick it out, let it run in the background and in a couple weeks time we'll talk. ;)
RSS Feeds: If there is nothing else you get out of this course it should be to learn how to use RSS feeds. Information flowing to you not you going to where information is. You are training the web to work for you...and that is a time saver!
Google Docs: So much power here. Word, Excel, PPT, all online, all free, and the ability to collaborate, view, and make public documents you want. How I'm using it right now. I uploaded our new AUP document that was in Word to Google Docs. I then shared the doc with our 11th graders who now have editing rights. They are commenting and making suggestions on the document. We will then talk about it, take their input and have a discussion around the new AUP. All outside of class, all digital, all collaborative.
Wiki: A very open collaborative tool. A good place for most teachers to start. Easy, understandable, has a "get it" factor.
Twihrl: Just a program that allows you to have Twitter running and not have to be in a web browser.
Wetpaint: What I believe to be the best free wiki service out there. Also offers ad free wikis to educators (scroll to the bottom of our wiki for links)
Did I pass? :)
I think as a geek (much less of one at this very moment), I jump in with both feet and go for it. This is a very common statement for anyone who deals with Technology. I was the geek as a systems engineer and I'm still a geek as an educator because I love to play with new hardware and software. Jumping in with both feet, makes you a great techy teacher. Fear nothing in technology, take it all on. None of us are experts at every part of technology, but we try. I love your sense of humor! I think Jeff did a great job summing up the different tools we have been using. Now is I could only think of something "useful" to see on twhirl :)
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