Thing #17: Delicious Tagging & Bookmarking

For some reason Thing #17 almost made me give up.  I reviewed all of the tutorials and bookmarking sites without any issue.  When it came to joining Delicious, that was when my progress stopped.  I could not join or register for about three days because the window froze when I attempted to accept their terms. I could've been on Thing #20 or so by now.  I sat down again this afternoon with my twelfth grade daughter at my side I was finally able to get through with her help. I was so glad to finally have access. But, then again, I was frustrated because she did the same thing I did and it worked like a charm.  Go figure.

After hearing what a great bookmarking tool Delicious was and dealing with the defiant website, the excitement of exploring the site dissipated quickly. I did see how it could be beneficial for educators to create and organize their bookmarks. Teachers can use Delicious to add their own favorite sites to share with other teachers of the same discipline and find new ones too.

Thing #16: Organizing with Web 2.0 Tools

For this Thing# 16 post I have to talk about the starter page, an online calendar or to-do list  tool, and another tool that would help to organize myself better.  The starter page I chose was Symbaloo.  I liked this tool because it looked a lot like the desktop of my PC with the various icons and such. It did not take long to figure out how to use it. There were just endless tiles or webmixes to choose from that you could easily spend a lot of time browsing if you are not careful.  I would use this tool for school. 

The calendar tool I picked was Remember the Milk. It is super easy to use. Coming from a non-techy person, that says a lot. So kudos to Remember the Milk for making a to-do list tool simple.  I liked the name of the tool too.  As a mom, I am always trying not to forget what we need to get from the grocery store.  After living overseas while raising young children, and having to shop the odd hours of our local  commissary, we've gotten in the habit of bringing home a gallon of milk every time we went to the store.  The name of this tool can help me to remember to check my list.  At least, that is the intent.

The other tool I chose was Habit Forge. The focus of this tool is to provide users support in breaking a bad habit by substituting it with a good habit. It sends you reminders to try new habit everyday for a certain amount of time. It also connects you with others who are trying to do the same thing.  I liked this because I have wanted to start doing more exercises and it is hard for me to make time for myself to do so.  I would use this tool for personal use.

I would recommend all three of these tool to others.


  

Thing #15: Wiki World

I will say that I am/ was one of those people who did not trust any Wikipedia like sources. To me, it was pointless to go on a site to get information that could be changed the next time you access the same topic. I did not see why I should bother with such a source when anybody can change it and not be qualified to do so. I knew the information could be edited, but in my mind it would be a constant battle and exhausting.

Well, after this wiki experience, I can say that I see the advantages. The knowledge gained from the wiki world has opened my eyes to how it can be used.  I am still a little pensive about it.  But, I can see myself using a classroom wiki for students to post some assignments that their peers can comment on and learn from each other and for parents to get a glimpse of our progress.  I like how the Westwood Schools Computer Science wiki was only editable by the teacher and students and the public could view it. That would be how I would set up my classroom wiki.

As for the apsu23thingssandbox, I had no problem opening an account and logging on. I did have trouble inserting my screen shots though. It was frustrating, but I figured  it out. It is just a matter of jumping in and figuring out how I could do certain things. Before I introduce this type of tool to my students I will make sure I can do everything they are expected to so I can guide them. Otherwise, it would waste precious class time trying to figure out the kinks to an application.

Thing #14: Going with the Flow

I chose to open accounts with Gliffy and Mindmeister.  Flowchart.com was quickly ruled out due the wait time for an invite.  I just did not feel like waiting for an invite to access a website, especially when there are other websites I could use.  Mind maps and flowcharts differ in how they can be used.  Mind maps can be used as a brain storming tool, where you are trying to come up with as many related ideas as possible.  It is more useful for a person to clarify their ideas.  From what I understand, flow charts can be used to explain the process of how to do something for the benefit of a group or, for our purposes, our current or future classrooms.

I guess I could use the mind map to set up a plan for one of my projects. I just don't see myself doing that at the moment.

As a child, I do not recall my teachers placing a lot of emphasis on using mind maps to organize our thoughts.  Flow charts were not even mentioned.  With that said, I can see myself using mind maps to help students brain storm ideas for projects and such.  I have found after a lot of reflection that flow charts can be useful in visually presenting SOPs for classroom management.  Here is my test flow chart on how students can find out about assignments. Keep in mind that this is meant for middle school students. Let me know what you think.