Finito!

This has been a fantastic opportunity to sample all that Web 2.0 has to offer.  It has been unfortunate that my time spent on this discovery has been brief.  I have bookmarked most of the sites in my Diigo account and look forward to browsing through them when time permits.

Thank you for the chance to glimpse all there is on offer!

Audio books & downloadable media

I intend to buy an ebook reader soon (hopefully before the end of the financial year) to try it out.  I'm not sure if I will enjoy reading from a screen - guess I'm a bit old fashioned because I like the feel of a book in my hands and the physicality of turning the page.  Audio books will become part of our collection in the primary school and will be used to assist students that struggle with their reading.  The idea is that to listen and read may help them grasp concepts of narrative structure and the phonetics of the language.  Time will tell if the program works.

As a primary school library, I don't believe we will be investing in ebooks in the near future.  Students would need to purchase their own devices and that isn't likely to happen anytime soon, secondary schools and public libraries would have a different story to tell.  I am yet to investigate the detail of libraries and ebooks - issues such as the built-in redundancy of the books, how many loans etc. and whether it is more cost effective than carrying print versions, especially of popular titles.  It will be interesting to watch the developments.

YouTube and TeacherTube

Unfortunately YouTube is a blocked site at the school so we are unable to use it in a teaching or learning context.  I believe it can be useful in schools if it is used appropriately because it is a technology application that the student seem to relate to. If it was possible to link a task to a YouTube visual presentation it may give students more of an opportunity to grasp certain concepts or deconstruct some of the older images - such as 1970s TV commercials.  Same goes for TeacherTube, it is really just a matter of finding the time to explore, explore, explore.
A particularly good YouTube film was one from the U.S. from last year - can't find the link - but it was students from a school performing the Black Eyed Peas "I've Got a Feeling" but the words changed to "Gotta Keep Reading".  It was excellent...so good that the Victorian Education Department copied it for the launch of the Premier's Reading Challenge this year!  Yes, the power of YouTube. (and yes, these sites are bandwidth hogs...I've just used my monthly home allowance so my computer is sooooo slow).

Podcasts

I already subscribe to podcasts from 774 ABC (Jon Faine) and Radio Lab and my daughter subscribes to Hamish and Andy.  I find them a great way to catch up with interesting debates and discussions without locking you into a particular listening time - I can go for a walk, plug in and the time passes reallly quickly!  My lecturer at CSU using podcasts but in the form of a vodcast where there are visuals of lecture slides that accompany the audio - a great way to convey a message to distance students such as myself.
I have bookmarked the "15 podcasts to make you smarter" on Diigo and will get to them for sure when I have more time to explore.

Facebook and My Space

I heard recently that the Facebook community, by population, is the third largest 'country' in the world and I am a citizen. I created a Facebook page a while ago because I was interested to see how it worked.  I didn't put much in my profile, just schooling/university and miraculously, Facebook found me some 'friends".  The "friends" fell into two groups - people I had not seen nor heard from in 20 years or people I have never met.  Never mind, it was an interesting exercise.  I can see the allure of social networking for younger people.  The story on one of the sites about a student travelling to Budapest and using social networking as a research and contact tool is a very positive way of using sites such as Facebook or My Space.  Such sites do require users to have a degree of information literacy and understand that just because it is written, it is not necessarily true - the creation of false profiles undermines the trustworthiness of social networking tools.  In addition, users of social media need to be able to distinguish between the value of 'real' friends and 'cyber' friends.  If the perspective can be maintained and users are cautious, I believe social networking is a valuable and useful tool in todays increasingly 'cyber-connected' society. Although, I notice many businesses have Facebook and Twitter accounts, in addition to a website, and I often wonder why anyone would be going there, maybe I should have look and find out. 

Rollyo

I created a search engine for Sylvanian Families, my daughter collects these and, at short notice, it was the only thing that came to mind but I only had time to add two sites.  Link is below:

http://www.rollyo.com/editroll.html?sid=704643

I think Rollyo would be an interesting exercise for students to create their own search engines, under supervision of course.  Students could be engaged in a research project and given the task of creating a search engine relevant to a specified subject area.  An interesting tool to explore.

Wikis

Wikis are a tool that I have used in education mainly in the creation of pathfinders.  Using the curriculum as a guide I have created research pathfinders for the Grade 5 & 6 students for their humanities units.  Given time I will create more for the themes of Antarctica and the Human Body.  The advantage of using a wiki is that I can lock access to the information pages that I construct and students can join the wiki and add their work as additional pages.  This allows teams of students to collaborate and construct their own pages.  Being online, means that students have access to the web links on the pathfinder at both school and home.  I believe that the use of wikis is probably more suitable for a secondary school environment where students are (hopefully) more capable, independent information users and have a higher degree of information literacy.

RSS/Subscribing

I really pleased to now know about RSS feeds and have immediately set them up for the professional organisations I am associated with.  I believe this will be a time saving resource because I will no longer have to check for their latest bulletins, they will come to me.  For school use, I will have to try it out for a while and see which sites that we use also have RSS feeds.  As a primary school, it may not be as relevant as for a secondary or tertiary environment, I will keep an eye on RSS subscribing and see how it goes.

Delicious/Diigo

I started an account with Diigo because I was under the impression (maybe falsely) that Delicious was closing down and all accounts were to be transferrred to Diigo.  Diigo works under the same bookmarking principle and since I discovered the concept, am really pleased with the site.  I don't have a laptop for work and was constantly frustrated with the lack of access to my bookmarked sites when working from home.  I am still in the process of transferring them all to Diigo and, despite of the time it is taking to complete, being able to access the information I need when I need it makes the effort worthwhile.  I like the idea of creating your own tags ensures that information retrieval is efficient and relevant to your individual way of working and thinking.  Additionally, if your computer crashes, having the bookmarks stored in the 'cloud' means they are not lost.  Great site, fabulous concept.

Flickr

MCG aerials, a photo by Annie Harry on Flickr.

Taken from a helicopter on the first day of the 2010 Boxing Day Test Match (Cricket). Great shot, even though I'm not the least bit interested in cricket, because my daughter took it while on her first helicopter ride. I hope this connects to my blog - first time I've tried this exercise so fingers crossed!

Online Image Generators

Really enjoyed the Comic Strip Generator (as you can see).  I could see this as an engaging application for students, especially those that struggle with creative writing, to spur their imaginations.  BigHugeLabs looks great for creating all types of displays - can't wait to use it at school.  Jelly Muffin had some good things on it, but I was getting prompts to 'check out these singles in your area' - no surprise the site was blocked on the school network!

Virtual Worlds

I had heard of using avatars and virtual worlds but had never been interested enough to explore.  It is great to have the opportunity to glimpse another reality and can see why people (millions of them!) can be caught up with Second Life and WoW but I just don't have the time to explore them.  Exit Reality is an interesting 'add-on' for social networkers - I've heard that Facebook is now the third largest 'country' in the world.  Probably a generational thing, but the word 'friend' is thrown around alot in the 'virtual' world and I am choosy about who I call 'friends' - wouldn't like to come across any students in an alternate reality, real reality is enough for me.  I can see that Second Life may be an opportunity to try out new opportunities in an educational sense, but, personally, the virtual world is not for me (and was blocked on the school computers anyway).

Library Thing

Great idea for sharing books online and finding a 'like-minded' book community. I will be exploring the opportunity for setting this up for our school, not so much for cataloguing but a possible central point for students to see new additions to the collection.  Students could also add their own reviews to the site - would have to be checked what they are writing though!  I wasn't able to join up - on the verification page you need to add the author of a book cover they disply but the page is coming up blank.  I will try another day and on another computer.

iGoogle

I love iGoogle.  Why didn't I know this existed?  Maybe I need to spend more time exploring rather than just whizzing around the cyber world with a specific search in mind.  Oh, that would require more time than I already have...but I am glad iGoogle has been put in front of me.  A definite time-saver in itself - how many times do I go to the weather bureau for weather?  Or go to the ABC website for breaking news? Or look for recipes/movies etc...etc...? Now I can have them all on my own home page and I could not be happier!  Would it be possible for each student to customise their own page according to their interests?  It would have to be carefully monitored from a school point of view, but it may create some interest for them in the creation of such a space.

Google Books

I do use Google Books regularly for both home and work.  Although I have not purchased anything directly through accessing books through this search, I find it an extremely useful tool to determine if an item is still in print and available.  The bibiliographic information is helpful and the ability to preview the contents and limited sections of a book aide in the selection process for our library (a school library) so that you are not acquiring items sight unseen.  It gives me the ability to research what is available for each curriculum area of the school and get new ideas for the collection.

Google Maps

I love Google Maps and have used it for several years.  I was impressed that my accountant used it to work out the mileage used for travelling for work purposes - saves me having to remember to track my own mileage!  For use in everyday life, Google Maps has to be one of the most accessible of applications - even people who swear off computers and technology are easily impressed.

Google Docs

I found the chain icon to link my blog to Google Docs.  I will be interested to see how I will be using this 2.0 tool.  Fantastic concept, I'm glad I have had the chance to discover it, now all I need is the time to explore further and think about how I can apply this to my work life.  Maybe I just need a bit of space to play around and wish myself good luck.

Web 2.0

I have used a bit of Web 2.0 in the creation of a wiki research pathfinder for our Grade 5/6 classes.  I was really pleased with it and the opportunity it created for the students to explore new research pathways, but the teachers are not as enthusiastic as me.  They have once again stuck to getting books from the library rather than move to the digital resource.  The concept of Web 2.0, particularly wikis such as my pathfinder, mean that in a school environment students can access appropriate information remotely and school resources can stretch beyond the physical buildings and grounds.  I really like the collaborative concept of Web 2.0 where the flow of information and ideas moves from library to user/s and user/s back to library.  I look forward to the greater use of Web 2.0 in schools because the potential of the "change in interaction between users and libraries in a new culture of participation" ("A new approach to defining library 2.0", July 31, 2009, The LIS Eudcation 2.0 Project).

Newbie blogger

Just created the first blog for the course.  I did have one for my Masters, it is probably still there but haven't felt inspired to add to it.  I hope this one is more successful (and comfortable to use!).
Good luck to all in the course.