Yep.

1. I think my favorite things were the Animoto and LiveBinders. I think this is such a broad question that it's kind of hard to answer. This program has shown me that things are always changing online and with technology and that I need to not get complacent with my knowledge. I think some of the things that could be done differently with this format to improve the program would be to reevaluate the effectiveness of the links given and the actual 23 things. For example, I don't know if people these days really need to explore Facebook or YouTube. I don't have any helpful suggestions with what to replace these "Things" with, though.

2. Hopefully I'll maintain this blog. I like to write, and I like that this can be a place where I can come back to and reflect on what I've done through this class this semester. I didn't keep the same amount of paper notes that I usually do, so I'm using this as my notebook. I can come back and review the different places I've been and signed up on. I hope that, in the future, when I find new things with Web 2.0 or with any kind of technology I'll come back here and write for myself.

Thing # 23

I took a short cut and just googled "23 Things Original" and found this page. The header includes "If you are interested in duplicating or modifying this program for your organization, please see Program Notes on About Page and contact Helene Blowers for information." This, to me, shows that 23 Things was created by someone else and made available for modification. On APSU's own 23 Things About Page it states "Learning 2.0 - 23 Things for Teachers is based on Learning 2.0 - 23 Things. That program is based on the Learning 2.0 program that was designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director at the Charlotte Mecklenburg County Public Library system, with the support and assitance of several staff. Helene's program was loosely based upon Stephen Abram's article, 43 Things I (or You) might want to do this year (Information Outlook - Feb 2006) and the website 43Things." 


Now that I know about Creative Commons I will be even more aware of copyright. I will pay attention to what I'm going to use to make sure I'm using it in the proper manner so that I won't open up myself, the school, or the school system up for any liability. It's great to know exactly where to go to find sources and what tags to search for when I'm on sites researching material for lesson plans. 

Thing # 22

Educ 5540

The three binders I've created are Educ 5540 (for this class), Poetry, and Literature. I've only made Educ 5540 public because I like the option of keeping some binders private. Eventually, once I get more resources, to where I think maybe they will be beneficial to others I'll make them public.

The thing that gets me is that this is one more thing that may have been better earlier in the semester. I could have used this to place everyone's Website of the Day website into.

I can see a lot of uses for the classroom with this. It does not even necessarily have to be a graded project-- I think this would be a great research tool for the students while they're creating projects or preparing to write a paper. Also, as a way to differentiate instruction a LiveBinder could be used to assist students in creating a "reference" page. Instead of creating a paper reference page students could place their resources/references in one binder.

Thing # 21

Make your own slideshow at Animoto.

I was really pleased with how easy it was to use Animoto. It was easy to navigate, easy to upload, and the choices were pretty much laid out as easy as I could have hoped it to be. I already had these images pre-made on my computer from another video I had created (through Movie Maker) and this Thing took me less than five minutes to complete. It was so, so simple. I can see it being used by the students as a way to create different slide shows, maybe for projects or maybe just because they're bored and there's free time in class.

Thing # 20

I'm still amazed at some of the stuff that the 23 Things is asking us to do. Explore YouTube is one of the ones that kind of dumbfounds me. I have to keep reminding myself that Thing # 20 was originally posted in 2008.

By October 2008 YouTube only had 15 hours of video uploaded every minute. In 2010 it was up to 24 hours every minute. YouTube's own press statistics say that over 60 hours of videos are uploaded every minute. I'm not saying that in a first world country, in a suburban/urban area that it is NOT impossible that someone is not familiar with YouTube, I just think it would be incredibly rare and I'm not entirely sure if a graduate class actually needs to explore YouTube now.

I like how user-friendly the site can be. I really dislike, though, the recent homepage changes they've made. When you have subscriptions you get a list of videos recently uploaded. The old homepages allowed you to ignore/hide videos you didn't want to watch or have already seen. This update has removed that feature. I'm not a fan of having to scroll through uploads repeatedly.


That being said, this is one of my favorite covers:

Thing # 19

I'm a member of a very few online communities. Some of them I consider to be very private communities, made up of only trusted friends and friends of those trusted friends. Some of them are very, very public -- like YouTube. I like being connected to people, especially my friends.  I like being able to communicate with them even if they're in Mississippi for work or I'm in Tullahoma for training. My friends are very important to me, a kind of second family, so being able to take them where ever I go is liking be able to take the best parts of home with me.

I use IMDB all the time, but mainly for trivia purposes. The other week a friend was telling me how she didn't like Julia Roberts but there was one movie she had been in that she really liked. IMDB came out on the phone and we both looked through her credits until she realized she really did like Julia Roberts, it was Nicole Kidman she had a problem with.

Occasionally I go on last.fm, but I've tended to use Pandora more specifically to avoid the social, online community of last.fm. Sometimes I want to just listen to music without reading other people's opinions on this thirty second of the song. Saying that, I do like how other people can recommend bands that I might like.

I will definitely use What's On My Bookshelf and goodreads. I love reading so having access to communities where I can trade/receive books and also get good recommendations is so great. As soon as I get this posted I will probably spend a good amount of time exploring these sites tonight.

Thing # 18

I honestly can not believe that this is still a Thing. In 2008, when this Thing was first published on the APSU 23 Things blog there were only 100 million users. Now, there's 845 million. It's the number one social networking site. I have absolutely no idea how anyone, in a first world country, has not heard of Facebook. Even if you don't have a computer, television talks about it all the time. Even if you don't have a television, radio commercials are constantly telling us to "like" them on Facebook.

I like Facebook. I originally set up an account there about 5 or 6 years ago but didn't use it at first because I didn't really see the point in it. Then more and more of my friends started signing up. We started connecting and I really enjoy the fact that I know what they're up to even when they're a world away. I have recently found and reconnected with my best friend from 2nd grade who grew up into a Marine.

It's important for educators to know how social networking sites work for a lot of different reasons. They need to know what kind of information that their students could have access to if they don't secure their personal pages. I can see a school application for this, and particularly a class application -- teachers can create class Facebook page as a way for parents and students to stay connected to what's going on. It would create an almost instant communication forum.