Facebook

In the past I was a member of My Space, but eventually moved to the social network Facebook, www.facebook.com. I found My Space to be much more complex, and cumbersome to use. Facebook is clean and quite simple to navigate through. I like having the ability to click on one of my friend’s photos and go into their Facebook home page. It allows me to see what they have been up to and see if they have added some applications that I might enjoy as well. It really is a great way to keep in touch with friends and family. Facebook allows me to post my photos, interests, and play games with friends online. I also enjoy the ability to post photos of friends and family in their Facebook account. My favorite feature with Facebook, is its ability to automatically search for people within my local area or network. I don’t have to hope I enter in the correct name, username or e-mail address to find someone of interest. It is a great big time-saver and allows me to add or invite many more people then I might normally do.

Ning!

I was invited by Joe to join Ning in Education, education.ning.com. The appearance and set up are almost exactly the same as Classroom 2.0, and then I realized the same gentleman, Steve Haragon developed this social network as well as Classroom 2.0. They are pretty much the same thing. However some of the social network groups on Ning venture out into many other topics, not just education and this site may not be suitable for all students.

Ning is a simply put together site, and has a search engine to look for other social groups, these vary from dance to music and football. I'm not sure if there is a social group that hasn't been created? Let me know if you come up with one. In the future I will be more likely to search for groups and topics of interest using Ning then I will be using Classroom 2.0.

Classroom 2.0 Further Review

After further review, I have discovered more of the options available to me at Classroom 2.0, http://www.classroom20.com/. I began my deeper evaluation with this social networking site by editing the look of my page to help give it a face lift and a little personality. I'm not set with the look I've come up with, but enjoy the thought of being able to explore different possibilities. I also added my ED 693 blog to the RSS feed site on the left-hand side, so others can read what we are up to if they like, and get our opinions on some of the resources we have been reviewing. I think having an RSS feed could be very beneficial for specific sites you might want to share with other educators. Another benefit, is the ability to use Classroom 2.0 blog. I tried it out and it worked fine, but didn't have as many editing options available as other blogs I've used in the past, they have kept is simple, not necessarily a bad idea.

Classroom 2.0 also allows an individual to download music to the site, but I didn't . I still have a hard time looking at this social network as anything other than a professional site. In delving into the option tabs at the top of the Classroom 2.0 page, I enjoyed the ability to join some different groups that have already formed and the possibility of eventually starting up my own group based off educational interests. I recently joined the "I heart Google" group, in which they discuss different ways Google can be used in a classroom with students.

The last feature I liked was the video's, I looked through a few pages, and found a few that would pertain to my interests, such as the video that discusses how to begin using second life. I am a novice when it comes to Second Life, and although I'm a member and have an avatar, I still know very little about its features.

I"m still not sure if this will be a social network I stick with in the future. I suspect it works really well for many people, but I may not be one of them. I have Classroom 2.0 on my Google Reader and that will help keep me utilizing the site for now.

Social Networking

For Social Networking sites I joined Classroom 2.0 as asked, and already have an account with Facebook. Classroom 2.0 is still really new and will potentially be a great resource for meeting and discussing education with other teaching professionals. Facebook is more of a personal Social Networking sight and a place where I believe one can cut lose and have some fun. I worry a little bit about the attitude that could potentially come along with Classroom 2.0. If that makes sense? It would be nice to find a sight that allows or feels like it would allow the two P’s; play and professionalism. Maybe in time I’ll find a better fit.

Home Page Syndication

I consider myself officially confused. I’m not confused by the content or by the concepts of the course, but by which information I have stored where. Did I already put it in my blog, on my bookmarking tool; oh wait how about my home page? Yikes! I think that all these online resources are awesome, but just feel overwhelmed. I think that I will certainly know by the end of this course which of these online resources will work best for me personally and professionally, but this is going to take some investigation and time.

This week I joined http://del.icio.us/seidelna as my Social Bookmarking service as noted in the blog below and yesterday I made iGoogle my Home Page Syndicator. Since I already use the Google calendar, Blog and Picasa Web Albums options, I decided to keep things simple, located in one place, and most importantly in this stage of the game - remember only one password. I think that this could prove to be a timesaver by allowing a person to check all of there RSS feed sites in one place. It is helpful especially to know if they have been updated or not. I like having the option with iGoogle to have the weather, and news updates as well on my home page. In a few days I will report back on my experiences with the review of my syndicated resources.

Social Bookmarking

For our Social Bookmarking assignment I have joined http://del.icio.us/. The reasons I chose to go with this bookmarking sight is its simplicity. For the time being I have added bookmarks and they are in a list on my sight http://del.icio.us/seidelna. I have not yet figured out how to lump sights together based on categories or common themes. Another reason I have chosen to join del.icio.us is that my instructor for the other course I am taking this summer, ED 633, is using it. I have never heard of social bookmarking sights before this summer. I even have very, very computer literate friends, that didn't know what the heck I was talking about when I asked them if they had a social bookmark account. I was hoping to get some ideas of other bookmarking options. Oh well! Maybe I taught them a thing or two.

Joining the service was very simple, all I had to do was register by providing my full name, username, and password. Once logged in I began adding my desktop favorites and the sights I've discovered through my blog and wiki searches.

I added far more then five resources to my bookmarking service. Listed below are the five resources I chose to use to locate new sources from other del.icio.us subscribers and what I added to my account.

1. Traveling Stories (http://www.traveling-stories-magazine.com/) which led to The Travel Rag (http://www.thetravelrag.com/)
2. Teachers-Teachers (http://www.teachers-teachers.com/) which led to Space for Kids (http://www.gigglepotz.com/space.htm)
3. Pandora Radio (http://pandora.com/) which led to NPR Radio (http://www.npr.org/)
4. Wikia (http://www.wikia.com/wiki/Wikia) which led to Educational Wikis (http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis)
5. Alaska Teacher Placement (http://www.alaskateacher.org/doku.php) which led to Educator's Reference Desk (http://www.eduref.org/)

This experience was helpful, I thought using my interests to find other resources a nice alternative to searching with Google. Most of the sight I found were appropriate for what I was looking for and I think the majority of the sights I found through social bookmarking will remain in my de.icio.us account. Using the tags was very helpful in finding the topics I was interested in. The only drawback I can think of is if someone doesn't label their tags the way my brain thinks. I look forward to exploring this resource much more in the future.

Elluminate

This will be the second course I have taken that uses Elluminate as a classroom communication tool. I am glad to see this type of technology being used in distance courses. Through my short time taking distance courses, I have had them delivered via the web, the web and Elluminate, just Elluminate, and as audio courses. With distance courses, I learn the best when there is a personal connection. Elluminate allows me the ability to hear a voice, it makes the other participants, and instructor of my course real. It's easy sometimes to forget that there are actually real human beings involved when technology closes off the personal interaction of traditional face to face meetings.

These are a few reasons Elluminate is a great classroom or business tool...

1. Allows for personal connection and interaction.
2. Can increase productivity with real time feedback.
3. It isn't terribly expensive.
4. Allows for people from all over the world the opportunity to meet with out expensive travel or relocation.
5. Instructors can give guided exercises, or professional can give proposals using the whiteboard or application sharing tools.
6. Presenters can assess understanding and comprehension.
7. Gives the ability for participants to use their voice to ask questions, and rephrase if necessary to make sure they understand concepts or ideas.
8. And lastly, Elluminate allows for breakout sessions and group work.

I look forward to learning more about Elluminate and it's functions in our future classes. I hope to become more efficient with its functions, and in time feel more comfortable as a presenter with this tool.

Wiki Findings

We have been asked to explore Wikis as a communication tool. As before we have been asked to search for two topics based on our profession and another based on our personal interest. First I went to www.wikia.com and www.wetpaint.com. Wetpaint was more pleasing to my eye, however I found wikia easier to search and find the topics I was looking for, so I signed up with wikia.

I have decided for this complete web quest assignment to keep my topics (professional & personal) the same. I think this will allow me to get a better idea if blogs or wikis best suit my needs. I started this search off with my personal interest, travel. Immediately I found World Wikia, http://world.wikia.com/wiki/World_Wikia. As with the travel blog I researched, this travel wikia sight is also categorized by continents. I went immediately to Asia, then searched Thailand, and ended up on Chang Mai. While looking over the Chang Mai wiki sight I noticed only one post was listed under the Hotels and Lodging section, so as our assignment asks us to do, I made an edit and added a guesthouse I stayed at in my travels in Chang Mai. The URL is http://world.wikia.com/wiki/Gap%27s_House:_Guest_House. I posted a brief description and the link to Gap's online. As a first time wiki editor, I had some minor problems. Well really, I didn't know what the heck I was doing. However today when I look at it, it looks just fine. I think they need to have better instructions or a tutorial to help out newbs like myself. Oh well, practice makes perfect.

I do plan on coming back to this wiki in the future. Mostly to see if anyone will have added to my edit, or deleted it. Also I will return and use World Wikia as a reference and search for more information for my next overseas travel.

In relation to my profession, I found a wiki that may be of interest to me in the future. This wiki is called Wikia - Science and Nature and is located at www.wikia.com/wiki/Science_and_Nature. I was happy to see that it not only had its main topic links (broad links) but also other links on more specific science or math topics. I began by checking the biology links on this wiki, but none of them were geared towards elementary education. So I tried the mathematics wikia which was nicely broken down into topics by educational level and concentration. Only after further exploration of this site, I decided these are not wikis I would post on or return too. It wasn't that the sights didn't look credible, but they just didn't have what I was looking for. The information was pertinent and correct, but not something I could easily use in a classroom.

Blog Site Review

So as mentioned before we were asked to look at two blog search engines of sorts, http://www.blogcatolog.com/ and http://www.globeofblogs.com/. I preferred blogcatalog.com and therefore chose to locate two professional and one personal site of interest. In the hopes of coming away with some new ideas, I chose to evaluate two blog sites that discuss science and children. I'm hoping they will have resources that I can use in my future elementary science classroom.

The first site I reviewed was http://www.kidscience.com/. At first glance I was drawn to the site. Looking at it initially, I saw what I would consider a great lesson idea, and links about science resources and science units geared towards K-6 grades. Upon further review of the Backyard Jungle exercise, I became really excited at the fact that this was a practical idea, and the idea of being able to share each students backyard with others from around the world at the PBS Kids Backyard Jungle website was fantastic. I did not sign up for an account to further delve into the concept, but typically PBS doesn't disappoint me. What amazed me was that there were over 53,000 backyards in the Backyard Jungle database. This idea has already got my mind generating ideas for a future unit on our backyard ecology and it's importance in the balance of the ecosystem. Not only did the author, The Olson Family, list this idea, they also followed it up with other related books, resources, and games. This blog is really young, started in May of 2008, but I look forward to its continued evolution.

I found a second blog site designed towards science and children, http://www.sciencejunkies.com/. This is another relatively young blog, started in February. This website is not as organized as the last, and I didn't feel that it was something that I could use to formulate lessons or units, but use more like as a funny or silly facts to be shared with students on random concepts. For example, "It's a Gas" briefly describes the air that comes from our bottoms, and then includes links to delve deeper into the phenomenon known to many of us as passing gas. I can just see discussing this idea with a class of fourth and fifth graders. Could be pretty interesting none the less. Most of links take you to other sites that offer games or interactive activities for children. I need to explore this site more to see if it would be a blog I'd actually benefit using in the future.

Lastly, I chose to do my personal interest blog site on the act of traveling with the blog http://www.traveling-stories-magazine.com/. I have visited several countries and continue to be intrigued by other cultures, religions and history. I was very impressed with this bog. It had just what I was looking for. The blog was well organized and had topics listed by continent. Since I have been to Thailand, I began looking at the Asia posts. I soon realized that the site posts different writings from a multitude of travelers based on topics that range from a prison and hotel that are side by side in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia titled "A 5 Star Prison" to the trials of travel in "Lucky Woman." I found this site very intriguing, and honest. I loved reading about the places and adventures that other fellow travelers have been too and learn more about their experiences. I will continue to read this blog and possibly even subscribe to it in the future. I could see myself sharing with others about my travels to to Asia and Europe as well.

blogcatolog.com vs. globeofblogs.com

Our first assignment is to review two blogs, http://www.blogcatalog.com/ and http://www.globeofblogs.com/. These are not ordinary blogs, they are like blog dictionaries, each of the above sights is a blog society that allows bloggers to find all their blogging needs and information in one place.

To be honest, I found it difficult to find blogs that represented what I was looking for. We were asked to locate two blogs that would be purposeful in our profession and one blog site based off of personal interest (to come in my next post). I'm not sure if I wasn't searching with the right keywords, but the blogs that came up didn't meet my expectations. I may have the wrong idea of what this blog social scene is all about.

Of the two, http://www.blogcatalog.com/ or http://www.globeofblogs.com/, I preferred blogcatalog the best. When the web pages first appear my eyes are aesthetically pleased with blogcatalog. The web page flows and is easier to read. It appears that the web page uses the principles of design, unlike globeofblogs - where everything is in box's that all look the same. Globeofblogs is too uniform and difficult for me to distinguish what is what, and when I went to use the search option, it didn't work. I eventually found the weblog searches link and found the browse by topic and its breakdown affective. I think the ability to get ideas and information from other individuals in different countries is a wonderful concept as well.

However in the long run, I'm drawn by design and functionality more then the possibility of global idea exchange.