Thing 19 Podcasts

I have already looked at podcasts, and made one for a class I took. I couldn't figure out how to get it from my computer onto my blog. Doesn't it have to be online first like our pictures did? I didn't poke around much on any of the sites. Rather, I looked, but I didn't listen to very much. I guess I'm like most of us, I'd rather LOOK at something than just listen to it.

Thing 18 Videos

I had seen utube some before. I wish there were a way to block students and give teachers access. I thought I'd lost everything I'd put on my blog when I tried to paste my video to it. I was in the wrong spot and it wouldn't paste. When I looked at my blog, only my writing was there. I didn't want to upgrade to a new template and kept searching for a way to go back, since they said they would save my old one. I finally went ahead and found a "new" template that was really my old one. When I viewed it, it was back to normal. I really had dreaded the idea of going back and trying to add everything all over again!

Super Librarian!

Thing 17 ELM

I'm glad you included this. I hadn't taken the time to look at ELM, just new it had articles. I don't have a public library card so was limited in what I could see. It looks very useful. I did look at a few Jr. and middle school articles and felt they were a much harder reading level than what I anticipated for the age.

Thing 16 Research Tools

I did find these research sites useful, especially since I also teach English, but I have run into very similar ones elsewhere. Some of the handouts are good. I wasn't able to look/download anything on the MEMO link that I followed. I'll have to try that at school where my computer isn't so old. One thing that always amazes me is how stubborn students are about not changing how they search on computer. The Ask Jeeves style of typing in an entire sentence is so ingrained in them, that to try to teach anything about Boolean searches hits a solid wall.

Thing 15 Games

Interesting, but not my thing. I didn't take the time to actually join either pirates or Second Life. I was intrigued by the Teen Second Life idea that some libraries are doing. It said, among other things, that students could create a video in Second Life and load it onto their Facebook account. I could really see some kids getting into that. So are the books that are available on Info Island also available in life? (I assume that is the point.) Or are they all research centers like the medical one? I guess i won't know unless i sign up and look for myself.

Thing 14 Library Thing

I am really excited about this Thing. What a time saver this will be! I can find out what books are being read, select one, see how others have cataloged it, and and put it on my wish list all from one spot! I also liked putting it on my blog, super easy once I figured out that a widget goes under gadgets. Very cool! I bookmarked several sites from the links you had. It should really be fun to use in so many ways!

Thing 13 Productivity tools

I just finished my iGoogle homepage. Very easy to use and I even found a couple of English class widgets for Dictionary and Grammar. Lots of choices, especiially for theme! I put my Google reader on it, but would like links for my regular email and blog. Now I know how so many kids have their own homepage! I tried out Pageflakes. It didn't have near as many options. The To DO List can send you reminders, which is neat. But the choices it has for things weren't really what I can get into unless I want 10 cartoons on my page. Even there, tho it does have many cartoons to choose from, I'd never heard of most of them. I ended up deciding not to save my page. It sent me 2 email reminders I had set up. does that mean my page is still there? MyYahoo! was a disappointment. I expected it to be more like iGoogle. I never did find where it downloaded the widget I tried to add. It had very few themes of other options that I liked. Two things I did like were that two news sources were "local" being from the Fargo paper and WCCO, and that I was able to add my flickr account. it did not let me pick which pictures I had on it and I suppose I have to sign in each time, but it was still a nice touch. I also like the Britannica news. it had really interesting things on it that were videos. I did save this one. I could only get one of the calendar sites to download and be a calendar, and it cost money. Ta-da list is very simple and easy to use. I created two lists. Remember the Milk had several things you could do with your lists. It looked really neat, but I lack the energy or need to create a file there. With all the these, it is interesting to see how we are going our own way, inviting people along for the ride, and yet getting more and more organized as we do so. I am having problems imagining the office worker of the future. Will they stay at home and actually work for several companies, depending on where they are in the Internet at the moment?

Thing 12 News Sites

What a way to lose yourself and all track of time!! I thought Digg and Reddit were fairly similar. Kind of like flickr with words. A great way to find info or opinions on many, many topics. Newsvine would be a good site to use for more serious info like research. I think I had the most fun on Mixx. I found news, pictures, videos... but then again, Stumbleupon was quite fun and had a great variety also. They were all easy to use and lead their users from topic to topic to topic.... I finally bookmarked them all plus several things I found while browsing them.

Thing 11 Delicious

I have been using Delicious for about 2 months now. I signed up at a workshop. So this was review. I do love using it. I especially like that I can go to their name on my toolbar and just look for the tag I want, and can see all tags in case I forgot what I called it. Very usable and quick. Yet I still have access to my regular bookmark, which is quicker for those few items. Since I live 50 miles from my school, it is wonderful to be able to organize in both places at once!

Thing 10 Wikis

I was doing this too late to be allowed to edit the 23 Things wiki, but I loved reading everything people had done. Very usable tool and looks like a fun time for all! I can hardly wait to have a class try using it for something. Now I just have to think of the perfect problem for them to solve together....maybe world peace. Actually, they do make a commercial using iMovie. Maybe this would work for a planning tool for that.

Thing 9 comment

I see that when I published that post, I lost my smiley face and comment.

Thing 9 Collaboration

I just have to try this out! I am writing in Zoho and am going to post it as my next blog entry. I am curious about how it will transfer with added items in it. This really has a lot of different font colors available. But I didn't tell it to go back to black after inserting the picture, and cannot move the picture . When I changed font size, it moved the picture for me. It was very easy to upload and I can resize it after pasting. It looks like a very easy to use, neat tool!! This showed up as a draft in my blog, so looks like it worked fine. I tried Google docs. Not as many bells and whistles and couldn't figure out how to post to blog, although I could have started a website. Still, very usable.

Thing 8 Slideshows

I made a slideshow on Thumbstacks. Fought and fought until I realized that the background slide is for all of them. It's a touchy program and deletes things when you're not looking. I liked finding all the slideshow/PowerPoints that are available. Very neat. Zoho was really easy to use. I couldn't get it to access my Flickr account, but once I found my pictures file on my computer, I was glad to see that I didn't have to start from scratch after adding a picture. it takes you right back to the file you were in! I also noticed that you can rearrange slides by dragging them. Not the case in Thumstacks, although neither seems to let you add a slide. Zoho will let you create a copy next to any slide, which you could then clear and make into a new one. I also like that you can tag your presentation. it made it easy to find mine. I found the whole site very easy to use with many options!!