If you are a big bibliophile you may be like me and have thousands of quotes and snippets that you love from your favorite authors. Quotes Daddy allows you to not only search, and bookmark your favorite quotes but both include your favorites from books and add your own words of wisdom. A great Web 2.0 tool
You can also create a widget to include quotes on your blog or other website.
What is Web 2.0? I have been hearing this phrase kicked around for a few weeks but wasn't really sure what it meant. I am currently at a conference Sponsored by Classroom 2.0. We are discussing the definition of Web 2.0. It is very interesting that like many phrases we are defining it ourselves. We as participants in the system are creating the definitions by the way we use new tools and how we use the phrase. It is really appropriate that this definition is developing this way. The basic definition we have come up with is that Web 2.0 was a phrase coined by the industry to describe the web companies that survived the dot.com bust. One of the things that is key to the nature of Web 2.0 is the participatory nature of the web. Things like writing reviews in iTunes or on Amazon.com are examples of Web 2.0. There is also a philosophy shift from the web being a static resource for accessing information to being an interactive resource that participants add to the content as much as access it. There is also quite a bit of discussion about Web 2.0 being community and culture building.
So with that simple definition here is a link to my web 2.0 participation check out my Amazon.Com listmania list: Mitchell Jorgensen's Listmania Lists
There are lot of great ways to enhance learning. I remember very fondly Mrs. Marcum reading Raold Dahl's BFG out loud in 5th grade. She skipped the chapter about Body noises. It wasn't the book that was so great, I hardly remember the plot. Really the biggest impact it had on me was that I had to go find the book and read the chapter about bodily noises because she told us she was skipping a chapter. What was valuable was hearing an effective and animated reader read.
My Grandmother was a Drama Coach and taught my mother how to do "Readings" I learned from her and to this day I believe being read to is valuable and reading out loud to children is priceless.
To help enhance the Audio learning there are some great products available beyond the already widely available book on tape and book on CD.
A commercial venture that does allow subscription accounts for libraries. The files are specifically intended to be downloaded and used by multiple users. The state of Utah has an agreement in place so that all Utah public libraries have access to a NetLibrary collection and patrons can download and check out an audio file for 3 weeks. This is my personal favorite of the bunch because they are free. And if I ever want to listen to a book again (or it takes longer than 3 weeks for me to finish) I simply renew it just like a library book.
Playaways are a new format of audio book. They are essentially a pre-loaded MP3 player that can be checked out to students. Since they are pre-loaded and the content can't be changed I think there is not much more chance of a library having them stolen than of any popular book.
Audible.com is a commercial venture that allows you to either buy books, or subscribe to a monthly plan. These monthly plans then allow you to download audio books and play them on an iPod or other MP3 player. Great service, but pricey and doesn't allow you to redistribute the files as you would in a library.
Consider some of these sources for your audio learning.
Thanks to all the Participants in today's Conference. It was a great pleasure to be there with you. I felt like I had to go so fast and didn't really get to delve into all the things I would have liked to. I decided to blog some of the points I didn't have time to talk about.
I mentioned in the presentation many of the personal productivity tools and ways they can be used. Windows Live and Google Tools are two fantastic online tools that allow you to maintain control of your busy life and schedule. One of the IT Guys from Salt Lake Tooele Applied Technology Center pointed out that while there is a modicum of security with these online tools it is very easy for malicious individuals to introduce malware, bad code, trojans and other security risks. Like all other online tools it is good practice to be cautious with what you do and be aware that there are risks.
Student Collaboration
The area I didn't get to spend much time on was how these tools can be used in student collaboration. I mentioned briefly that GoogleDocs is an online tool that you an use for yourself, but one application I thought of was with class presentations. Often we as educators ask students to create a class presentation regarding a relevant topic from our class. This is a good educational practice. Taking this a step further, with GoogleDocs, an educator could require that students develop a collaborative presentation and require that they work with a student from a different section or class. This would force students to use a new tool to collaborate. Also, if you are a collaborator on the document then you can review the revisions that each collaborator has made and get an idea of what amount of work each student has done. See the Google Video about GoogleDocs to get an idea of how this might work.
The second example of an effective collaboration tool is GoogleSites. This is a tool designed to be used by commercial entities and schools to develop websites. It allows a manager (the teacher) to set up a group of collaborators on a site. This could be used for students to create a website about different topics from your class.
Communication Tools for students
Another key element in our students online lives is the lively discussions they have. The video mentions that students spend 2 hours on their cell phone, a goodly portion of that is probably text messaging. Text conversations go back and for all day. As educators we can harness part of this through online discussion groups. GoogleGroups, is one tool that allows you to moderate discussion groups. Most Learning Management Systems such as WebCT Vista, Blackboard and Moodle will also allow this. Additionally, there are other free discussion group softwares available if you do a google search for them.
Thanks again for your attendance at the conference and feel free to contact me. My email is listed here or contact info can be found at http://my.uen.org/53474
I really am learning and this blog is maintained both as a record of some of what I am doing as well as a place for me to train and teach others about creating an online presence. So please don't mind the dust. We aren't remodeling we are learning!
Visit some of my other blogs or the other blogs I find mildly entertaining for a more polished feel.
