Thing 21- Podcasts and Videocasts

I had a fun time working with Photostory. This type of technology gives me another option from just using PowerPoint slides. I believe using podcasts and videocasts will enhance student learning and participation in assignments because they will enjoy and take pride in their work.

Thing 20- YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

Before this school year, I was unaware of all the different media resources and had only used YouTube. I have been using YouTube for a few years now. Having access to several media resources is key. There were several times, this school year, where I tried to view or download a particular video for my class and couldn't. A majority of the time this problem was solved by my technology specialist giving me a URL from TeacherTube or another media resource that allowed me to access the same video, but actually get it to play.

Since I am the ISS teacher at my campus I chose to embed a video on Classroom Discipline.

Thing 19- Web 2.0 Awards List

The Awards List is a great tool because it gives you a variety of top rated websites and blogs to use when conducting a search on a topic. All you have to do is choose a category from which your topic falls under, then see which sites have been chosen by other users as top-rated, credible sites to use for your search. Normally, when conducting a search on a topic using Google or Yahoo, you will get all kinds of sites, in which, you can use to conduct your research. This site helps eliminate a great deal of these sites and lets you hone in on useful, top-rated sites. The Awards List can help teachers set parameters for the sites used in their students research. This will help the students quickly find relevant information from quality and useful websites.

Thing 18- Online Productivity Tools

From what I can tell, Open Office is a great free-online tool. A "great free-online tool" is its major advantage. If someone does not have Microsoft Office on their computer, they can access Open Office for FREE. After playing around with Open Office, I can see that it gives you a similar look and feel to Microsoft Office. Open Office is also compatible with several different computer hardware and operating systems. The only drawback, I can see, is if the user does not have the Internet to access/download the application. Although I like the idea of Open Office, I don't see any need to use the online tool if you already have Microsoft Office on your computer.

Thing 17- Rollyo

Wow. Rollyo is yet another great application that can save individuals a great deal of time during their research. This is a great tool for teachers to use when assigning a topic for their students to research. I really like Rollyo because the teacher can some what be in control and set limits for students during their research. For my personal use, I created a Rollyo for my sport searches. Here is the link (http://rollyo.com/65andre65/sports/). I like this because it will only search for topics found within the perameters that I have already setup.

Thing 16- Wikis

Before working on this assignment, I had only used one version of the wiki, Wikipedia. Now that I have played around with different wiki's I have a better understanding of its purpose and its effectiveness. I wish I would have known about these types of resources when I was working on my undergraduate and graduate studies. I can see myself using wiki for student research topics and personal research. Wikis can help students with group think, brainstorming and research projects, by letting them keep an ongoing list of ideas that can be edited by others in their group.

Thing 15-Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

I like the idea of Library 2.0. Society as a whole needs to realize that you can't resist change but embrace it instead. The world has evolved into a technological based system and so have the students of world. I agree totally with Rick Anderson's "Away from the Icebergs" and Chip Nigles "To more powerful ways to cooperate." The best way for educational institutions to reach their students is through technology. This is where they spend most of their time during the day, so why not reach out to them through technology. Our goal as teachers is to make learning meaningful and interesting for our students. Using these types of technolgy will give them a sense of ownership and help them take more of an interest in their learning, because their input helps construct and improve the system. I can see the libraries of tomorrow consisting of more computers and less printed manipulatives.