Week #7 Thing#18

I have been experimenting with the California Curriculum Connections wiki by adding some ideas for curriculum connections. One that I added is here: Idea: Create a magazine cover to introduce possible projects along the same lines as the articles indicated on the cover. Inside each student could expand on each theme as it related to him or her. This can be applied to almost any subject area. For a sample see: http://dejongsplace.blogspot.com/2007/06/week-3-thing-6-plus-curriculum.html

I also added another about creating a scavenger hunt for practicing path finding when doing research. I have only seen one sandbox item and I have not played there yet, but I guess I will because it is needed. Now, will my entry remain or be erased as in a sandbox with a stiff breeze, a hard rain, or a shuffled foot of a happy child?

I have returned to edit my original post after finding the sandbox-luckily there was no evidence of cats! I did not see a link to the sandbox. I only saw it mentioned as a recently edited page. I also did a search to see if I could find it. I arrived and left my mark. I am unsure if what posterity will see will be what was wanted; but as in a sandbox I played.

Week #7 Thing #17

There are a number of things I learned from the California Curriculum Connections wiki http://calcurriculum.pbwiki.com/. I saw the applications from the PBwiki site. It helped me visualize what I was seeing in the tutorials and sample wikis I had visited. By doing this "thing" I caught the idea of how to add pages and where they appear on the first page. There is much to do. As I went through the various pages for the weekly assignments in the SLL 2.0 program, I enjoyed the added curriculum connections. I am starting my own wiki as a laboratory for my learning. It will be a slow and ongoing process. I will then change it to become a fully functioning wiki as I gain skills and confidence.

Week #7 Thing #16 and curriculum connections

Wikis look interesting. They seem to have many applications from dissemination of information (some seemed more like a simple blog) to internal tools to help an organization meet and deal with communication needs. It seems a blog with specified access would be able to do much of the same. Perhaps the Wiki is simply a blog with almost unlimited access. I will have to look at the other sites more and review more of the information. I was impressed with many because of the vast variety of links and organization they demonstrated. These make me realize that I am going to have to keep working with some of the web tools available. I need to explore more sites beyond those listed. The one fact of this course is that there is too much to be able to know it all. My personal motto and belief is still true and continues to lead me toward life-long learning: I know enough to know I don't know enough.

Many of the wikis demonstrated an interesting method of tying the Internet into the classroom paradigm. It is a great collaborative tool. It allows a way to allow students to work together yet know who has contributed (up to the point shown by the computer via entry tags). It also makes a hard copy of instructions and possible help links available to the students.

Wikis can easily be used if they are allowed under school district acceptable use policies. this is one of the only possible barriers. In my Spanish classes it would be simple to create project wikis for historical or geographical projects involving group work. Each group would have access limited to their group members. Instructions regarding the specifics needed could be listed on the wiki. Each group would have to cite references, both print and non print. They would have to use some of the other tools available to add visuals such as graphs, pictures, maps etc.

They could also use some of the image editing and posting tools to create games or study tools for the class. Each person or group would have their tag on each entry to document participation and achievement.

As a library Media Teacher: this could become a great tool for scavenger hunts, book discussions, even library club presentations, planning and ???????

The only limit is the limit of the imagination and district policy. LOL

Week #6 Thing #15

I read the following articles regarding Web 2.0: "To More Powerful
Ways to Cooperate" and "To Better Bibliographic Services". In the articles there is a discussion of ways to 'harness collective intelligence" by "[touching] the entire web at the same time". This can and will effect libraries now and in the future. WorldCat seems to play a significant role in the future of libraries. Web 2.0 opens many avenues to increase and improve collaboration and exchange among many and possibly all of the internet community. There are useful and vital sites mentioned such as WorldCat that bring online searches and publishing within the reach of all. The tools that are available are within the abilities of regular people. There are tools to meet most simple publishing needs. A widening of relevence and authority will be forthcoming as things evolve and improve. Interaction is growing between users of information beyond just libraries. Contributors, experts, etc are becoming part of a meta search tool. OCLC (Online Computer Library Center) is an organization that is working to tie libraries and the web into a meaningful and productive union. For more information go to: http://www.oclc.org/default.htm For WorldCat go to: http://www.worldcat.org/

Week #6 Thing #14 Curriculum Connection

I plugged in some tags regarding my political views. I pulled in hits both for and against my position. The best thing was the ability to discover some primary sources directly or by following new tags, links or verbal comment. I realize there is little authority to many blogs, but they often provide the clues to valid, authoritative sources.

Week #6 getting my blogs tagged with technorati tags

I was unable to figure out the html to do this. Can anyone teach me?

Week #6 Thing #14

Exploring Technorati.com is really interesting once you see how well it works and how many options are available. I started the simple exploration of popular blogs. There is (as always) too much to see and to do. I first looked at blogs tied into earning $ from blogs. The old fashioned Edison Light Bulb went off in my head (LOUD DRUM ROLL), "Can I use a blog to generate extra funds for my future library?" An interesting thought for school fundraising. I then saw one entitled simply "43 Folders". I then followed some live links to sites regarding "GTD". This required finding out what the heck GTD meant:Getting Things Done. What a SCORE for me. I am always looking for a way to become more efficient and to beat my distractability. These comments may help me implement some great ideas that mesh with who I am. They may also turn dormant software into productive elements in my day.I was blown away by some of the technical tools in the gadget blogs. I was impressed by Skitch. I need to wait for it to become available for PC. As I explored some of the top searches, I had to retreat very quickly. It is scary to see what some people are searching, or I am too prudish.

Tagging seemed to really open up options for searches and brought to view optional search tags or keywords. It will be a big help up to a point, but it will also have a lot of imprecise hits. The blogs where I followed hot links seemed to be very useful as long as I was selective with my choices. there may be a problem in the public school environment because of the lack of filtering in the search engines. This will probably be overcome by filters in place at the educational sites. Then we reenter the intellectual freedom and censorship debates.

Now to see if I added my blog to technorati's search and tags.

Does anyone have a simple set of instructions to do this? I added the last tag into my Label section in an attempt to do the optional activity of linking my blog into technorati's search engine.