That's all folks....

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Yikes- I can't believe I did it! Victory at last! Not to sound dramatic, but this was a roller coaster ride of learning thrills. My favorite things include creating the blog, maintaining it, discovering all google has to offer, image generators, social networking, widgets:)and gadgets:), and I could name more. I have a whole new vocabulary file in my brain.

How has this program affected your lifelong learning goals?
My lifelong learning goals were more than met in this course. I did not know I had it in me to do so much discovering and learning through technology. It was really trying at times, but I never wanted to give up. I was always drawn back in because I know this knowledge is the future.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I now feel like somewhat of a techno-geek! I never thought I'd say that! I surprised myself with my risk-taking and exploring. I found patience deep within myself (ok, summer helped).

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I don't know that you could improve on the format or concept. It is what it is- overwhelming, challenging, and wonderful!!

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
I would because I am now a believer in forcing myself to figure out new tools.

How will what you have learned influence your practice as a teacher or school librarian?
What I have learned will influence me tremendously. It already has. I will communicate with my students and parents in all new ways. My students will be given the power to create, share and develop highly technical assignments. I won't shy away as in the past because I've supported my knowledge by learning much more.

How do you plan to keep up with new developments in web 2.0? Recommend a way that you have found to be useful.
Blogging will be the main way I try to stay up. My new memberships to 23thingsters and Teacher 2.0 will also be informative. I resolve to keeping up with my blog, even if I re-purpose it, to use as a reflection tool at least two times a week.

Thing #23

I joined Teachers 2.0/Ning and found it to be a resourceful site. I never knew about these other social networks. It is great to know we can socialize with like-minded educators all over the world with the click of a mouse! Ning, particularly teachers 2.0, was easy to navigate and had some interesting topics of discussion going on. I can see how this site could inform me of great conferences that will be held and speakers that may be traveling my way. I found a more private site for passionate teachers. It was a neat and informal way for teachers to share their ideas and help one another.
I have to think more on ideas for using social networking of this caliber professionally or in the classroom. I guess I could start a network for a book club or something of that nature where the kids could sound off about characters and plot twists, etc. Overall, these sites are extremely valuable for their efficiency. Teachers can approach them at times which are convenient instead of trying to gather thoughts quickly at an afterschool committee meeting. I'm so happy to branch out into these other realms.

Thing #22

Oh dear, facebook. I have literally lost hours of my life there-too fun. I recently was talked into getting an FB account so I finally started one on spring break. I use it more than my My Space account that my sister set up for me years back. Since I was already familiar with FB somewhat, I decided to search schools and join groups as the task suggested. I found alumni's for all my schools and joined those-too funny! I also found one for the NMHS Flag Corp and Big Blue! I also added some former students (recent grads) as well as former teachers of mine.
I think it is important for us educators to be familiar with these social networks, even though I was unsure at first. I think we should know how our students communicate and be able to reach them in those ways. I like that Fb is pretty safe and you only talk to who you want. Mine is set to "private" and invite only. I dislike the fact that people can put pics of you and everyone sees them. But, that's one of the things I enjoy is looking at pics of everyone, so go figure. I guess I can see an educational app for the Farm game thingy. Everyone I know is into buying land, crops, etc. I also think if a group joins a site collectively, they can bounce ideas off one another...all in one place at their own pace. Ultimately, it has been a great way to keep in touch with people since our lives are too busy to connect another way.

Thing #7b

Moving at the speed of creativity is a blog I follow on my Google Reader. Beth Still wrote a blog as a guest recently and it was pretty powerful. It was about finding balance between career and family. Who doesn't struggle with that? She teaches as well as conducts online classes so she is constantly connected to the world outside her home. She is on Twitter, email, chatting or something most of the time. Recently, she did an experiment and turned off her laptop, phone and blackberry to watch a movie with her husband only to realize she hadn't been disconnected in so long. She decided she must find balance in her life so her family time will not suffer.
I didn't find much else appealing on my reader today. The Flickr photos are always really cool for a little mindless break. I think I will change up the blogs I follow because some people haven't blogged in months and I would like to follow something more current.

Thing #21

It doesn't surprise me that Google is the most popular search engine as I use it frequently. Using it as a verb is funny, too. I just thought people said, "let's google it..." for fun. I set up a Google Alert and, since I share the computer with my husband, I thought I would choose the Dallas Cowboys. We are both big football fans so receive alerts on the "boys" will be fun for both of us. If it gets annoying I hope I can figure out how to stop it. I think the alerts can be helpful in education, too. I could set up alerts about anything from recycling efforts to schools in the news. I might do this on my school computer when I go back in the fall. Google Calendar was what I explored next. I set up a calendar with summer classes and will add personal events as well. I think this would be great to use for parent conferences, student/faculty birthdays, PTA meetings and I could go on and on. Sharing it with students/parents might be cool, unless they would have access to my account. I like that it is on my computer and not another thing to handle on my desk. Picasa Web albums were neat, too. I already had photos in mine, which I could not figure out. Maybe it's connected to my Kodak program somehow? Anyway, I like this as another option to Flickr, although most of my photos are with Flickr already. I could store school photos on Picasa and personal ones on Flickr in the future. I did not know Google had so many cool things to offer!

Thing # 20

The concept of Google Docs is great. I like that Google improved upon the overuse of attaching documents to emails. This seems so much more efficient. Three ideas I have for using Google Docs is for class collaborations, example assignments and completion sheets. I like the completion sheet for this class, as an example. I could use the spreadsheet to keep up with each student and what they are reading during SSR time. I use email daily to communicate with my parents. I like the fact that I could email them an example of an assignment I'm giving. Another idea would be to work on a diagram as a class where kids to collaborate and add their own details to the assignment. The presentation format could come in handy for class groups to add information to for showing other classmates. I could also use the presentation format to teach skills with my tutoring group, like a warm-up activity.

Thing # 19

Now that I've seen some Voicethreads, I realized that I've already used some in my masters class. My professor would put his lectures on these and it was great because I could listen, rewind, move forward and refer to later. Which takes me to my next point of how I could use them professionally. The ways are endless. For instance, I think of the snow day we had. Students could access a voicethread from me to get a content review or other information from home. I love the family heirloom pictures in the example. It would be cool to do this with your family and let them reminisce about the pictures by making comments. Voice threads are a great way to archive information to use and reuse. I could make some each year and build on the lessons. It doesn't seem too hard to use or create. I like that it uses still pictures. Can it use video? If so, I didn't see any. Maybe I just missed it somehow. Thanks for the new learning!