THING #23 - Creative Commons

It seems that the 23 Things website was created under an attribution license.


                                         This is the license that allows others to modify your work as long as they attribute the original work to the author. The logo above, from the CC website and its description match the CC license marker shown on the 23 Things website.

I think Creative Commons is a safe alternative for reproducible content from the web, especially content like photos and clip art that we all use in our work. Even though you do a reasonable search for free (as opposed to for fee) work, you can never be sure that there isn't some fine print that could get you in trouble. CC licenses all of their contributors so that any risk is born by them, not the end user. While we, as educators, are unlikely to have to worry about our work being used commercially, you can never tell where your work might end up. If you use content that is not appropriately licensed, and later decide to share your work with someone else, at that point you lose any control of its use. For the classroom teacher Creative Commons is not only an easy resource, it is also a safe one.

Thing #22

THING #22 - LiveBinders

http://www.livebinders.com/play/play?id=689261

I created a Resource Library for Technology lesson plans just titled Technology. I can always use ideas for lesson plans, especially since I seem to run out of cool ideas at the wrong times - like when I'm trying to write my weekly lesson plans. There are lots of ideas out there and good web sites that organize by content. The times when I run out of ideas are when I am trying to create a lesson that relates to other parts of the curriculum. My kids need to realize that the computer is just a tool that they use to accomplish things - and that those things usually fall in other parts of the curriculum.

The LiveBinders site is very simple to use. I could probably create more levels in complexity, but I like the idea of having all the content similar in nature and individual sites identified by a tab. I would like to be able to edit the tabs. Reading abbreviated html addresses on the tab is a little awkward. It would be convenient to rename the tabs by a shorter name.

                                       

Grandboys

THING #21 - Animoto
What better thing than to show pictures of your grandkids!

Grandboys

Animoto is kind of cool. It's an automatic program so you don't have to do anything to crop, edit, modify - you just load pictures, pick background and music and let it go. It is one step up from the slideshow features of a cell phone picture function which just shows pictures in sequence. I could be used when you take pictures in school to set up a show for the kids. Only downside is that, except for the free 30 seconds, you have to pay for it.

THING # 20 - YouTube

Now here is something I can get into. You don't have to join YouTube to get access to their content. All you need is the link. I'm getting links to YouTube videos from friends all the time. I have a friend in Hawaii who sends me all the Table Tennis related links - the test videos of the new ball, table tennis tricks, and the latest, the history of table tennis from a BBC documentary. YouTube is a library of video - from the sublime to the ridiculous. There are clips that I have used in the past, like "Who's on First", clips that are current, and clips that you could use in the classroom. I've embedded the "Who's on First" just because it is such a classic and if you've never seen it before - YOU NEED TO!
YouTube for the teacher is a resource library unlike any other. I remember when I was in corporate training we used lots of videos to support our instruction. We had a video library - all in videotape - that took up a five shelf storage rack. If one of the videos didn't get put back in place you had to do without it. With YouTube - and the other video resource sites - all you have to do is type in a URL, turn up the sound, and you're ready to go. I know that there are sites that are more specific, but why bother? Searching for a video clip is so easy, linking is so simple, playing is a no brainer.

Thing #19 - Other Social Networks
I think the TeacherPop Ning could have some uses in sharing ideas. There does not seem to be much activity on it except for those of us who have to join as a class requirement. There are so many sites out there that one more may just be the one that broke this camel's back. I looked at some of the other Nings - I looked at the Open Source Food Ning - I like to cook. It looks like an interesting site, but there are commercial sites that do the same thing and more - like Allrecipes - that are far larger and have more content. Unless you are just into joining things, which I'm not, less is better and I like to find a single site that meets my needs and stick to that.
I am not a member of any online communities - other than those that I have had to join. The time involved in maintaining a presence online is not a luxury I have at this time.

THING # 18 - Social Networking

I'm probably going to get in trouble for this post.
We have been required to join so many sites in this course that my email account is getting clogged with a bunch of junk I don't want. After the course is over I'm going to have to do a thorough housecleaning - deleting all these sites that I will never use.
I am not going to join Facebook or Twitter. I do not have time for social networking and I don't want my name - or even a screen name linked to my account - out there for anyone to access. I know they are supposed to be secure, but there have been numerous instances of these networks being hacked and personal contact information being sold to the highest bidder. I have been hacked before and I'm not risking it again.
I don't see any educational value to social networking. It is an activity for those people who have too much time on their hands. Twitter advertises itself as a means of telling everyone you know "What you are doing right now." I'm sorry, but "At the coffee shop drinking latte" is not information that I need to share with the world. I can't think of anyone I would want to share it with. We have cell phones, email accounts, text messaging - all means of keeping in touch with those who need to know. Anyone who needs to let 200 people know that they are drinking coffee has other problems to deal with.
I don't think I have to remind anyone of the problems teachers have had with their facebook content getting out on the web. The easiest way to stay safe is to not be out there to begin with.
I like to think of myself as technology savvy, current and up-to-date, and connected to those around me. But I don't need Facebook or Twitter to enable me to stay in touch with those I love.
I may fail this exercise, but the requirements for joining sites have gotten out of hand. There are other ways of learning about the world of technology than having join every site out there.
I am much too busy for that!!!

Thing #17

I think one of the drawbacks of modern technology is that it is so pervasive in our society. There is so much of it that it is almost impossible to keep track of it. When I read the description of Delicious, I was intrigued. I - like everyone else - bookmark the sites I use regularly. In my case it's not educational sites, it's all the various sites where I have to pay bills, manage utilities, keep track of credit cards, etc. They are all on my personal computer and bookmarking makes them easy to access. While I have been between homes for the last two weeks - and without Internet access or computer - it became apparent how convenient it would be to have an online bookmarking capability. Delicious looks like a really good idea.
It does do what I expected, but it is contains a lot more information than I need for a bookmark site. I don't need to know how many other people have looked at the site. The tags I guess have an application, but how I would use it escapes me. I know there are secure bookmark sites out there that just bookmark sites for you without doing all the extra social aspects that Delicious offers - I just haven't bothered to look for them.
I guess my problem is that I'm a computer curmudgeon. I use a computer all the time as a tool. The social aspects of the Internet, however, don't interest me at all. As far as the school environment, I can see setting up a set of approved sites for students to access using a tool like Delicious, but there are far simpler ways to do the same thing, without the potential risk of being hacked on the Internet.

Thing #16

THING #16 - Getting Organized

Has anyone but me noticed how many things we are signing up for?  Every exercise seems to require signing up for 2 or 3 web-based applications. After the course is over I'm going to have to spend a day cleaning house.
I chose my Yahoo home page as my customized start page. Since I already have it up and running - have for years - and I added RSS feds to it a while ago. It is completely customizable - you can move things around, add or remove items, get current news and weather. It also has a calendar, although I don't use it. I like the Yahoo page because it has as its mainstay an overview of current events. When I don't get a chance to see the evening news - like on school nights - this is how I stay in touch with what's going on in the world. Since it already is my homepage, I will keep it.
                                               
I looked at a couple of calendars - they're all pretty much the same - after all they're calendars. What else are they going to do? Make soup? I use my Iphone calendar to keep track of everything. That's why I don't use the Yahoo calendar. The same rationale goes for 30 boxes and Remember the Milk. I keep my appointments, meetings, reminders, to do lists all on my phone. So I just signed up for a bunch of stuff I won't use.
I definitely believe in using these kinds of applications. When I have senior moments, my phone is my savior. Most of these apps will link - or sync - to your phone, so if you want to have all that stuff in two or more places, go for it. My phone stays with me wherever I go, so I don't need the other apps.
As far as finding tools that I would use at school . . . If I don't use it for my personal life, I can't see why I would add duplicate functions for school use. Definitely use them - but I only need one.

THING #15  -  Wikis

When I was living in Hawaii it struck me as odd that the name for a Wiki was the same as the Hawaiian word. It is one of those words that you see all over the place. The public transit is call Wiki Wiki and all sorts of convenience stores are called Wiki Wikis. The Hawaiians like to say a lot of things twice. It's a language thing.
 I have worked with Wikis before. I even had one for a while to stay in touch with my customers when I had my own business. I was not familiar with the idea of a sandbox. I looked at the sandbox link and saw pages from all sorts of people and from a long time ago. I tried editing one post, but, considering I didn't really have a reason for changing someone else's entry, I left it alone and created my own page, sharing a photo I found while exploring FLIKR.

I'm not sure the exercise was productive for me because it wasn't like an actual wiki response, where I would add to or correct something that someone else had posted.

I can see a value to wikis in the classroom. It is one more way of creating communication and interest within the classroom. Most of the classrooms I have seen, however, have very limited computer access and it is usually used simply as a platform for playing specific programs. Maybe in high school this would be more applicable.

THING #14  Go With the Flow

Flowcharts and mind maps - boy that that take me back to my training and development days.
In the corporate world of training & development we used to use all sorts of graphic organizers in teambuilding exercises, training sessions, and organizational development activities. All that kind of work was done on whiteboards or flipcharts and then posted around the room as a way of saving the content. I have created many of these kinds of graphics in PowerPoint - usually when they could be created in advance - but these freewares are a step beyond that.
I played with two of them for a while - bubbl.us and mindmeister.com.
I was not impressed with bubbl.us. It seems too difficult to operate - not intuitive, as something should be when you are in a freewheeling, fast-moving creative environment. I'm sure if I practiced with it for some time I could become more proficient, but right now it seems a little awkward. I would be more comfortable with a flipchart.
On the other hand, Mindmeister is a easy, intuitive programs that lets you create a bubble that is automatically connected with only one click. All you have to do is type in the text content. It's even easier than a flipchart.
The Gliffy flowchart maker is also a great program. It has a number of different functions - floor plans, org charts, networks, venn diagrams - all designed in advance and all you have to do is type in your individual specific information. It is as easy as select, type, or select, delete and you're done.
The only other comment I would have is that I need to find some way of saving these little programs for the future. They are not the kind of thing you use very often and it would be so easy to lose track of them. Googling might help you, but I'm sure there are at least 75 other similar programs out there that would show up on a search. I need to develop a personal "suitcase"of all these little programs and save it somewhere.