We are happy to have you participate in this exciting, independent learning adventure!
In this self-directed course you will complete 23 Things to become familiar with a variety of Web 2.0 tools. Everything you need is available here so that you can work on your own time, at your own pace.
Using the links on the right, be sure to read the FAQs and Tips for Success. Then, when you're ready, begin working through the list of 23 Things (go in order). Enjoy your learning!
Wayne RESA’s 23 Things is based on The Learning 2.0 program originally designed by Helene Blowers, Technology Director, Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County, and has been modified for use by Wayne RESA. The original program is 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.
Blogs are websites containing entries (called “posts”) which appear in reverse chronological order, with the most recent post at the top of the page. Traditional websites require a bit of tech know-how, but blogs are easy to create and can be maintained by almost anyone, making them a great choice for classroom and educational use. Blogs first appeared as personal online journals, but now are used for all purposes and by all types of people, including organizations. Watch this video to learn more about blogs:
To complete Thing 2 you must: A. Create your own blog B. Register your blog in the 23 Things project C. Reflect on Things 1 and 2 on your new blog
A. Create Your Blog Now that you have an idea of what blogs are, let's see how easy it is to create your own! This is an important task, as you will be using your blog to reflect on your progress throughout this 23 Things program. At the end of each Thing, you will be asked to post to your blog – and project facilitators will read your blog to verify that you have completed all tasks.
There are many blog services available. We will be using Blogger. Watch the following video to learn how to set up your blog, then go to Blogger and create your own. To sign in to Blogger use your Google account information. Be creative when naming your blog – do not just call it "23 Things."
B. Register Your Blog Once your blog is created, you must register your blog address by completing the following form. Remember, your blog address is "_________.blogspot.com" - it's the unique address you gave your blog when you created it. Be sure to click the Submit button after you've entered your information.
Once you've registered your blog, within 24 hours, it will be listed under “Participant Blogs” in right-side column of this website. That's so others can see what you’re doing – an important part of becoming an online community of learners. Note: If you are just browsing this website as a guest, please do not register your blog address. You may work your way through the Things, but facilitators will not be monitoring your blog.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 1 & Thing 2 At the end of each Thing, you will be asked to post to your blog. Your reflective post should provide insight into what you’ve discovered and learned. Write about what worked, what didn’t, what you might try in your classroom, any surprises, frustrations, or eureka moments. We will offer some blog prompts. You do not have to answer all the questions nor should you feel limited by them -- they are just prompts to get you thinking. Make sure that the title of each blog post refers to the Thing that you are writing about (by number) -- give this first post the title: Thing 1 and Thing 2
Why are you participating in 23 Things? What do you hope to learn? What new insights did you have during Thing 1? How does writing on the Internet, knowing anyone could read it, change how you write or feel about writing?
At the end of 2006, Time magazine’s Person of the Year was ‘You'. The cover showed a picture of a computer with an actual mirror in place of the screen, reflecting not only the face of the reader, but also the idea that 2006 was the beginning of the new improved Web. While this article is now nearly six years old, the development of Web 2.0 tools continues. This second generation of web-based services and software is characterized by its user-generated content and its capacity for facilitating collaboration and sharing between users. In the past we were primarily consumers of information but Web 2.0 allows us to also be producers of information using tools such as blogs, wikis, podcasts, and media sharing.
Our tech-savvy students, who have never known life without the Internet, use these new tools daily, but mostly outside of school. The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has stated, “Today’s education system faces irrelevance unless we bridge the gap between how students live and how they learn.” When students use 21st Century technologies, they are able to meet their intrinsic needs to form communities, ask questions, and earn audience and attention. Today's students will spend their adult lives in a multitasking, technology-driven, diverse world, and they must arrive equipped to do so.
How can we as educators harness the power of these new technologies to engage and motivate students in the classroom? And how can students effectively use the tools to create, communicate, collaborate?
To begin answering these questions and to complete Thing 1 you must: A. Read the article, "A Day in the Life of Web 2.0" B. Watch the video, "Pay Attention" C. Read the blog post, "Web 2.0 Is the Future of Education"
A. Read this article "A Day in the Life of Web 2.0" by David Warlick. This article gives an excellent description of the application of Web 2.0 tools in a middle school setting.
B. Watch the video, "Pay Attention" Watch the following video and think about how it relates to the use of technology in your educational setting. Are you using any of these technologies or are these ideas completely new to you? Could you begin implementing some of the ideas described?
Congratulations! At this point, you've completed Thing 1 and you’re on your way to learning about Web 2.0 and how it can enhance teaching and learning at all levels. Your next step is to complete Thing 2.
Now that you've subscribed to a few blogs using Google Reader, what do you do next? You'll want to start reading your blogs regularly - just like you routinely read your email. And also, as you find more blogs you like and subscribe to more feeds, you'll need to organize your subscriptions.
To complete Thing 5 you must: A. Learn to read and manage your subscriptions B. Search for blogs of interest to you C. Reflect on Thing 5 on your blog
A. Reading and Managing Your Subscriptions Watch the following video to learn more about using Google Reader.
B. Search and Subscribe Now that you know how to subscribe (it's O.K. to look back at Thing 4), it’s time to find blogs of interest to you. Have a look at these two blog search tools and subscribe to any interesting blogs you stumble across. Create folders and organize your subscriptions in a way that makes sense to you.
Google Blog Search: This is a keyword search. Just type in your search term(s) – all your results will be from blogs and not other sites. Do notice that your search results indicate how long ago the blog posting was made.
Technorati: When you enter a search term, be sure to indicate whether you want to search for blogs or posts. Click on "Refine your search" at the top of your results list to narrow your search results. You can also click on Blog Directory and browse blogs by category.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 5 RSS can be a difficult concept for some to grasp right away - what questions do you have? It's easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of blogs out there - how do you handle information overload and how do you think RSS might help with that? Find anything in your searching that you'd recommend to others?
As you begin reading more blogs, you may find it difficult to keep up with all the new posts. Or, perhaps your students start blogging -- how will you manage to visit thirty or more different blogs on a daily basis? Fortunately, there is another Web 2.0 technology that has changed the way we receive new online content. It’s called RSS. Some say RSS stands for “rich site summary” while others say it stands for “real simple syndication.” Either way, what matters is that RSS is a cool tool that you need to be using.
After setting up an RSS account, you will learn how to subscribe to blogs and other sites that publish new content on a regular basis (like news headlines). These sites offer “feeds” of their updated content. Whether you subscribe to one blog or a hundred, all you have to do is visit a single site and be instantly updated on what's new on all your favorite blogs. Watch this video to understand more about how RSS works.
To complete Thing 4 you must: A. Log in to your Google Reader account B. Subscribe to blogs using three different methods C. Reflect on Thing 4 on your blog
There are a variety of RSS services - called aggregators or feed readers. One of them is Google Reader. It's a useful aggregator because it stores your RSS account online so that you can access it from any computer. No more having different blogs bookmarked on different computers.
A. Log In to Your Google Reader Account Go to Google Reader at reader.google.com. Since you've already created a Google account, just sign in to Reader with your Google account information.
The first time you log in, you will see a welcome screen. Your next step is to start "feeding" your reader by subscribing to a few blogs.
NOTE: The updated version of Google Reader uses a red SUBSCRIBE button instead of the Add a Subscription button as shown in the video.
3. Use the Subscribe toolbar button (Subscribe to Will Richardson's Will)
Now that you've subscribed to several blogs, you'll want to become more comfortable using Google Reader to organize and read your blogs. Thing 5 will help you learn to do just that.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 4 How might you use RSS in your personal or professional life?Which method of subscribing do you prefer? What didn't work or doesn't make sense?
As you've seen, blogs are easy to create and maintain and can often be created for free using one of a number of blog services. They also encourage interaction through the use of comments and many services allow users to upload media (images, videos). For these reasons, blogs are great classroom tools. Educators use blogs as student writing spaces, classroom organizers, professional reflection spaces, and for many more purposes.
Take a few minutes to have a look at these education-related blogs. Some of them are intended to be used with students, others are not. Remember that people express themselves in different ways and you may not enjoy everyone's writing style or the content of their blogs. They are merely examples of how educators are blogging.
Then, give some thought to how you might use a blog in your classroom. Read this good post for some ideas.
To complete Thing 3 you must: A. Post a comment on this blog B. Post a comment to another blog of your choice C. Look at your blog settings D. Reflect on Thing 3 on your blog
A. Post a Comment Scroll down to the bottom of this page and you'll find a link to "post a comment." Clicking it will allow you to leave a comment about this entry. Go ahead and do that. Then, remember that you can leave a comment for any of the 23 Things assignment entries. (However, if you have a question that needs an immediate answer, it's better to email us!)
B. Comment Again Comments are important in the blogosphere. They provide feedback to the blogger, allow the blogger to get to know his/her audience, and connect bloggers who write about similar topics. Now that you're in a commenting mood, go back up to the list of education blogs (edublogs) listed above and post to at least one of them. Or better yet, visit the blogs of other participants in this project (listed on the right) and post a comment on one of them. Depending on the blog service used and settings applied, posting comments may require information like your name or email address, or they may allow anonymous comments. Some might have the comments setting turned off and not allow you to leave any at all.
C. Your Blog Settings Login to your blog dashboard and have a look at the settings, including how to turn comments on/off (but do not turn your comments off, as we will leave comments on your blog!) Watch the video for a brief overview of blog settings.
D. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 3 How might a blog support the work you do? How might you use a blog with students? How might they respond to a blog assignment? What concerns do you have about educational blogging?
Not too many years ago, only those with expensive equipment and advanced technical skills could produce digital video. That began to change as equipment became available to the average consumer. Today, equipment is cheap and ubiquitous – we can even capture video on cell phones – allowing just about anyone to produce digital video, anytime, anywhere, about anything.
Enter YouTube -- the premier video sharing site which made posting video to the Internet as simple as possible. Users create free accounts and, with a few mouse clicks, are able to share their videos with a worldwide audience.
In the spirit of Web 2.0, YouTube is about more than just posting video. It’s also a community. Users provide feedback by adding ratings, typed comments, or “response videos” to the videos they watch. The result is a worldwide community that is connecting, collaborating, and communicating through video. And this community is having influence beyond the Internet as YouTube videos are often featured on news and entertainment television shows.
Searching YouTube, you’ll find videos on just about anything, from old movie clips to teenage video journals. Be aware: although there are some rules against inappropriate content, there are still plenty of videos which are unsuitable for the school environment. That, along with the fact that watching online videos uses a lot of bandwidth, means that YouTube is restricted in most districts. You may want (need) to complete this Thing at home.
To complete Thing 9 you must: A. Explore online video B. Sign in to YouTube and leave a comment C. Reflect on Thing 9 on your blog
A. Explore Spend some time exploring YouTube. Search for your favorite television shows of the past, the subject area that you teach, favorite musical artists, or any topic of interest. At the bottom of the video screen look at the rating, number of views, comments, and video responses. If you find a video you enjoy, look to the left at who the video is from. Clicking on the name of the person will direct you to their YouTube page. Click “videos” on their page to get a list of all the other videos they’ve uploaded. Not sure where to start? Have a look at some of these - some serious, some not so serious.
Extra (not required): if you are interested in the history of YouTube and its impact, watch this hour-long presentation by a Kansas State University professor: An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube -- don't let its title put you off, it's absolutely entertaining and fascinating.
In addition to YouTube, there are other video sharing sites, some designed for a specific audience. Have a look at TeacherTube and SchoolTube, both of which feature school-friendly user-created video for teachers and students.
B. Join and Comment Sign in to YouTube using your Google account information. Then, rate and leave a written comment on at least one video.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 9 What do you like or dislike about YouTube? Did you find videos that would be useful for teaching and learning? Is YouTube restricted in your building?
Photo sharing websites have been around since the 90s, but it took a small startup site called Flickr to catapult the idea of “sharing” into a full blown online community. Photo sharing is simply the publishing or transfer of a user's digital photos to an online site, enabling the user to store photos and share them with others – either publicly or privately. Flickr has become the fastest growing photo sharing site on the web with over six billion images, and is known as one of the first websites to use keyword “tags” to create associations and connections between photos and users of the site. (More about tags in Thing 13.) The key element that makes Flickr so unique is that online collaboration and community are interwoven as main components. Flickr also provides safe online storage of your photos.
Watch this video to better understand how photo sharing works.
Photo sharing with Flickr incorporates visual literacy into teaching and learning. Students can search for photos to help with research or projects, and educators can upload photos for classes, school events, special projects and so on. Think about using Flickr for presentations, art history/appreciation courses, geographic or historical tours, writing prompts, digital portfolios, field trips, simulated travel for foreign language classes, visual documentation of school events and student artwork, digital storytelling, and illustrating poetry. The possibilities are endless.
To complete Thing 6 you must: A. Explore the Flickr site B. Search for and download a photo C. Reflect on Thing 6 on your blog (include the photo you downloaded)
A. Explore Flickr For a quick overview begin with the Flickr Tour. Click on "Start the Tour" button. (It's not necessary to create your account yet - we'll be doing that later.) When you've finished the tour, watch the following video to learn about ways to explore the pictures on Flickr.
B. Search for photos Go back to the main Flickr page and try searching by tag. Tags are keywords people use to organize their photos. Enter a tag in the SEARCH box. Try volcano, Thoreau, frog, perspective, happiness, or some of your own. Remember that all photos are self-tagged by the person who uploads them. Your idea of the meaning of a tag may be something entirely different than another person’s. Also be aware that because anyone can upload photos and tag them as they wish, you may come across images during your search that you feel are inappropriate.
Find a photo you want to download, and click on it to go to its page. To download the photo, right-click on the image and choose "Save image as..." Rename the photo and save it in an appropriate folder so you can upload it to your blog later.
Be sure to consider copyright laws when using pictures from the site. When viewing a photo on Flickr, scroll down the page and look in the right column where you will see rights to the photo under Additional Information. If it says All Rights Reserved, you do not have the right to use it without obtaining permission from its owner. A good solution is to use photos that have Creative Commons licensing which gives certain rights to users. Flickr photos licensed under Creative Commons can been accessed by using Flickr Advanced Search or the online tool Compfight. (Be sure to choose Creative Commons only at the top of the Compfight page.) The Library of Congress also has a collection of public domain photos on Flickr.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompt for Thing 6 Create a post on your blog about one of the photos you downloaded. Why did you choose a particular photo? What is it about the photo that you found interesting? Be sure to include the image in your post. Use Blogger's photo upload feature to do this.
Flickr is a great site to see other people's pictures, but you or your students may want to upload your own. With a free Flickr account you can upload 100MB of photos each month. Imagine a collection of photos for Civil War study, a frog dissection, or a geometry project.
To complete Thing 7 you must: A. Sign up for your own Flickr account B. Upload photos C. Reflect on Thing 7 on your blog
A. Create Your Flickr Account Watch the following video to learn how to create your account. Then go back to Flickr and do it!
B. Upload Now it's your turn to upload some photos to Flickr. Here's another video to show you how.
You may want to add the tag RESA23 to at least one of your uploaded photos and mark it public. When you search the tag RESA23, you will see photos that all the 23 Things participants have uploaded. Note: We have learned that you must upload at least five photos before a search for your tags will work.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 7 Think of ways you may be able to use Flickr in the classroom or in your work and share your ideas. What issues might you face?
You've found a video on YouTube (or other video sharing site) that you want to comment on and share with others. What do you do? You could give them a direct link to the video. Or, better yet, you could embed the video into your blog (like we've done on this blog) with your comments right next to it. In places where YouTube is blocked, you could also download the video using a third-party site. For this Thing, you'll try both.
To complete Thing 10 you must: A. Embed a video into your blog B. Download a video C. Reflect on Thing 10 on your blog
A. Embed Find a video on YouTube that you’d like to share with others and embed it into your blog as part of your reflective blog post.
B. Download Videos cannot be downloaded directly from YouTube, but they can be downloaded using various third-party sites. Download the video of your choice, using one of the tools shown here. Please keep copyright laws in mind -- you may show downloaded videos in your classroom under Fair Use guidelines, but do not upload the downloaded video file to other sites.
Like many Web 2.0 sites, Flickr has encouraged others to build online applications that use images found on the site. As a result, many people have created third-party tools called mashups. These tools help you find, organize, and use photos in various ways. You can locate photos based on color, create mosaics of photos, use photos in games, and much more.
There are also online image generators that use photos from your computer, from Flickr, or from other sources. Most of us don’t have the time or artistic talent to create specialized graphics or logos for projects, but online image generators let you and your students create many types of images – framed pictures, posters, comic-style captions, and much more. Students can create trading cards of authors, scientists, historical figures, or concepts they've learned. Other possibilities include creating a calendar with images related to what you’re studying that month, a billboard advertising an event, or a magazine cover featuring a project team. You'll come up with plenty of ideas.
This Thing is all about self-discovery and exploration. If you have colleagues who are also participating in 23 Things, you may enjoy exploring together.
To complete Thing 8 you must: A. Explore some fun Flickr mashups B. Play around with online image generators C. Post the result of your efforts on your blog D. Reflect on Thing 8 on your blog
A. Try Out the Following Flickr Mashups These tools are fun and it's easy to spend a lot of time! In fact, it could become your newest hobby! You will need the latest version of Flash Player enabled for some of these. Spell with Flickr - We used this tool to create the header on the RESA 23 Things blog. Flickr Color Pickr - lets you find public photos in Flickr that match a specific color. Sudoku with Flickr- – Instead of numbers, use images in your Sudoku puzzles. Flickr montager - Enter a tag and this site will create a mosaic comprised of images. Flickr Memry – Traditional memory game created with Flickr images. B. Play with Image Generators Using the links below explore several image or text generators and play with them. Some require you to simply enter some text; others use images. Each works a little differently, so get in there, read the instructions, and create. Big Huge Labs - Here you might want to try the motivational poster, badge maker, magazine cover, movie poster, Jigsaw, or trading cards. ImageGenerator.org - This site represents one-stop shopping for image generators. You may find it more challenging to use than Big Huge Labs, but it definitely has possibilities.
C. Place Your Creation on Your Blog Often adding the image you created to your blog is as simple as copying and pasting the embed code that the page provides if you know how to do that. If not, just right-click on the image and save it to your hard drive before using Blogger’s image button to add it to your post - just like you did in Thing 6. Be sure to include a link to the image generator you used. And remember good taste - your fellow 23 Things participants may be reading your blog.
D. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 8 In the same post in which you placed your creation, briefly describe your experience completing Thing 8. Which of these tools intrigues you and why? Was it easy, frustrating, time-consuming, fun? Share some of your ideas for using the images you can create.
Web 2.0 is all about community. The tools provide a function -- Flickr for sharing photos, YouTube for sharing video, etc -- but they also create a place for users to interact, exchange ideas, and connect. These communities bring people together regardless of geographical location, age, race, gender, physical ability, or any of the other ways that we might differ or separate. Formed around common interests, online communities often establish their own characteristics, norms, expectations, and terminology.
One way that connections are made is through comments. Commenting is a very important feature of many Web 2.0 applications, including blogs. For new bloggers, it can be thrilling to receive that first comment from some random, unknown reader. It suddenly changes the way we feel about our blogs and our writing. We become more invested, more careful of what and how we write, because now we know someone is reading.
While you may be doing this 23 Things project independently, you are a member of this online community who have come together to learn about Web 2.0. What are your fellow learners doing? How do they feel about this project? What new things have they discovered? For this Thing, you will reach out to other members of your community and make connections.
To complete Thing 11 you must: A. Comment on participant blogs B. Reflect on Thing 11 on your blog
Then, take some time to explore a few of your fellow participants' blogs (listed on the right). Leave a comment on 3-5 different blogs.
B. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 11 What do you like / dislike about leaving comments? How did you feel when you received your first comment? Why do you think commenting is so important in online communities? What might this mean for students who share their writing online?
In thing 13 you were introduced to the idea of social bookmarking and tagging. One of the greatest advantages of social bookmarking is that you can access and add to your collection of bookmarks from any computer. Here are a few ideas for using Delicious in your teaching: - Build a shared reading list - Conduct research and share with peers - Share student links for a classroom project - Use a group tag to share resources with a working group - Share links to current news items related to classroom discussions
To complete Thing 14 you must: A. Explore Delicious B. Create your account and begin bookmarking C. Reflect on Thing 14 on your blog
A. Explore Delicious Many users find that the real power of Delicious is in the social networking aspect, which allows you to see how other users have tagged similar links and also discover other websites that may be of interest to you. You can think of it as peering into another user's filing cabinet, but with this powerful bookmarking tool, each user's filing cabinet helps to build an expansive knowledge network. Watch the following video and then spend some time exploring Deliciouson your own.
B. Create Your Delicious Account Now create your account. Here's a video tutorial to walk you through the process.
Now you can begin saving bookmarks. Watch this final video to learn how, and then save at least 10 bookmarks to your account.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 14 Include your Delicious username in this blog post so that others can view the bookmarks that you have chosen to share. Then reflect on how you think social bookmarking can be used in your teaching. Does Delicious seem to be a tool that can enhance your productivity?
Social bookmarking is a system for saving a website so you can return to it later. Instead of saving “bookmarks” or “favorites” on a single computer, you save them to a web site accessible from any computer. And instead of organizing bookmarks into a subject folder, you can assign them multiple labels (tags) so they can be associated with a number of topics. Your bookmarks can be shared publicly or you can save them as private - viewable by only you. Social bookmarking is also powerful in that you can search what others have found useful. There are a number of social bookmarking sites. We'll be using one called Delicious (formerly called del.icio.us).
To complete Thing 13 you must: A. Learn how social bookmarking works B. Understand tagging C. Reflect on Thing 13 on your blog
A. Learn About Social Bookmarking Watch the following video to better understand social bookmarking.
NOTE: The Delicious site has changed since this video was created. Don't panic - we have updated instructions for you in Thing 14.
Then read this article to learn more about social bookmarking.
B. Tagging In some of our previous Things we've already mentioned tags – when searching for blogs using Technorati and when searching for and labeling photos in Flickr. Tagging is the process of assigning keywords or “tags” to online content. In the same way you stick labels on physical objects, you use tags to label digital elements such as web links, blog posts, photos, or other user-generated content. Once you assign a tag to an object, you can easily find that object later by searching the tag. You can assign multiple tags to a single object, and different people can assign different tags to the same object. Tagging is very “Web 2.0” because it supports social networking, sharing, and empowering users as well as producers of information. Tagging represents a significant shift in the way digital data is sorted, saved, searched, and shared in the 21st century.
Other terms related to tagging are folksonomy and tag cloud.Folksonomy is derived from "folk" + "taxonomy" and is very different from traditional subject indexing. Perhaps the most important strength of a folksonomy is that it directly reflects the vocabulary of the users. A tag cloud is simply a visual representation of a collection of tags with font size representing frequency of use.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 13 Share your thoughts about tagging. Is tagging a useful way to organize your digital resources and why? What do you think are the advantages and disadvantages? What is important to think about before assigning tags to bookmarks or other Internet content?
Well, it's probably been a few weeks since you've set up your Google Reader account. Have you been checking-in to keep up with new posts? If it's been awhile and you're feeling overwhelmed by a large number of unread posts, just take a deep breath, exhale and relax. Keep in mind that subscribing to feeds is only helpful if you take the time to go back and check what's new. When checking Google Reader becomes a habit, you'll really benefit from this tool.
In this Thing, you'll learn about new types of feeds to which you can subscribe, and you'll also go back and clean up your Google Reader account.
To complete Thing 15 you must: A. Subscribe to a news feed B. Subscribe to a tag feed C. Clean up your subscriptions D. Reflect on Thing 15 on your blog
A. News Feed In addition to blogs, you can subscribe to a growing number of news feeds. Using one of the subscribing methods covered in Thing 4, subscribe to at least one of the news feeds available on the following sites. Each site offers a number of feeds based on news topics. Select the feed you want, and add it to your account -- for most of them, you will need to copy the feed address (the URL) to paste into your Google Reader account using the "Subscribe" button.
B. Tag Feed You've explored Delicious and learned about tags. Now, you can subscribe to a tag to keep up with all the sites saved under that tag. The format for a Delicious tag feed is: http://feeds.delicious.com/v2/rss/tag/____________ where the blank contains the tag to which you want to subscribe.
Watch the video then subscribe to a tag of your choice.
C. Clean Up Your Google Reader account may be getting cluttered by now. Perhaps there are some blogs you no longer want to read or maybe you need to reorganize your folders. Take some time to do some "RSS housekeeping" now. The "Reader settings" link (click on gear-like icon at top right of Google Reader page) takes you to your Settings page where you can clean up and reorganize your subscriptions.
D. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 15 Is RSS becoming easier to understand? Do you recognize new benefits of using this tool? Do you remember to check your feeds regularly? Has it become a habit (or obsession!) yet?
Another way to build community is to provide interactivity to your blog. This can be done by embedding add-on elements into your posts. Called widgets or add-ons, these are little extras, sometimes interactive, that give your blog something special.
For this Thing, explore a variety of widgets listed here (or find some on your own) and embed at least one into your blog.
Take our poll:
(FYI... had a really difficult time getting two widgets -- both the Voki and the Poll -- into this one blog post)
To complete Thing 12 you must: A. Explore blog widgets and embed one into your blog B. Reflect on Thing 12 on your blog
A. Embed a Widget Explore this list, select one and add it into your blog post. Look for embed code (review Thing 10 if you need help embedding) and copy it using the "Edit Html" tab when writing your post. You can find more by going to your blog settings and clicking the LAYOUT tab, then click "Add a gadget" to open the list of widgets.
Polldaddyinteractive polls - like ours Miniclockjust what it says, a mini clock ClustrMapsvisual map of who visits your blog -- look at our Clustrmap on the front page of this blog, we even have a hit from Africa! Vokispeaking character like ours (may not work with Firefox) Google Gadgetscollection of Google widgets Widgetboxhuge assortment of widgets Widgetbox: Educationlist of education related widgets PBS Teacher Activity Packs education related widgets
B. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 12 Review the widget you selected. Are you getting comfortable with embedding code? Do you belong to other online communities? Are relationships formed online as meaningful as face-to-face relationships? Why do you think Facebook and other social networking sites are so popular with kids today?
How can we learn how to use all the Web 2.0 tools out there? It seems a new tool pops up every day. Who can ever keep up? Using Web 2.0 tools means having a spirit of adventure and a willingness to do some exploration, often with little or no instruction.
There are so many Web 2.0 tools that are designed to help us get organized, create, and share with others. Some work well, some not so much. Each of us have to play around with the tools and make decisions about which ones we will incorporate into our work. No one uses ALL of these tools, just the ones that make sense for what they want to do.
This Thing is designed to give you some choices and a chance to try out some productivity tools on your own.
To complete Thing 17 you must: A. Explore an online productivity tool B. Reflect on Thing 17 on your blog
A. Explore Select one of the following tools to explore - or find one on your own. Set-up your account (if necessary) and play around with the tool. Be prepared to offer a review on your blog.
bubbl.usbrainstorm online with this free, concept mapping tool Zoho Showcreate, edit and share your presentations online Remember the Milkcreate task list, share it, get reminders 30 Boxesonline calendar LibraryThingpersonal online bookshelf Doodleonline meeting scheduler Flashcarddbcreate a set of virtual flashcards for study
B. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 17 Give a review of the tool you explored - what worked, what didn't work, how might it be used in your personal or professional life?
Web 2.0 is all about collaboration. Using easy-to-use online tools, people around the world can work together in ways never before possible. Google offers collaborative workspace with Google Docs, their online word processor, spreadsheet and presentation editor.
With Google Docs, you can create, store and share in a secure, real-time environment. That means you and your friend in, say, Australia, can be editing the very same spreadsheet online - at the exact same time.
Users have to log-in. You already have a Google account, so you'll use that email address and password to log in.
Watch and learn more about this collaborative tool.
Then, watch this video to hear what teachers, principals, and students have to say about using Google Docs for learning
To complete Thing 16 you must: A. Log-in to Google Docs and update a spreadsheet B. Explore Google Docs C. Reflect on Thing 16 in your blog
A. Update a Spreadsheet We've shared a spreadsheet with you. To access it, go to Google Docs and log-in using using your Google account info (the same email and password you use to access your blog). You should see a spreadsheet titled "23Things Learners-Riverside MS." Click on the name of the spreadsheet and add your details.
B. Explore Spend some time exploring Google Docs. Try creating a new document or spreadsheet. Try uploading one from your computer. It takes awhile to get used to the feel, but it will make sense the more you play with it. At any time, you can click SHARE and give others access to your files.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 16 How might you use this tool in your personal and professional life? What issues come to mind about using this tool with students (ie, they need email addresses to log-in)?
Now it's time for you to experience using and creating a wiki. There are a number of wiki creation tools online, but we will be using Wikispaces which offers ad-free space for educators.
To complete Thing 22 you must: A. Edit an existing wiki B. Create your own wiki C. Reflect on Thing 22 on your blog
A. Edit the 23 Things Wiki Go to the wiki at 23things.wikispaces.com. We've already started a list of ideas for using wikis in education. Add another idea of your own. All you have to do is:
1. Click on "Edit this page." 2. Scroll down and click to place your insertion point at the end of the list. Press Enter/Return. 3. Add your contribution. 4. Click on "Save." B. Create Your Own Wiki First watch this video.
Then go to Wikispaces to create your account and your first wiki. Once you've created an account with Wikispaces, you can create multiple wikis. Experiment with adding and formatting text, inserting links, images, and video. Here's how:
Try some of the other widgets too. Have fun - you can't break a wiki! For additional video tutorials explaining the features of Wikispaces, go here and click on the drop down menu to choose your tour.
C. Reflect - Blog Prompts for Thing 22 In your blog post be sure to include the link to your wiki. Then discuss your feelings about using a wiki. How does a wiki differ from a blog? When is one more appropriate to use than the other?
Slideshare is for presentations what YouTube is for videos -- a place where you can post your work and benefit from what is shared by others.
Before Slideshare, posting PowerPoint presentations to the Internet was not an easy task. Now, it's as simple as can be -- after creating a free account, upload the presentation and get a unique URL so others can view it online.
One of the best features of Slideshare is being able to search and view the work of others. There are some great presentations available there that can be used as is or to generate ideas for your own. Like YouTube, you can rate and comment on the presentations.
Slideshare presentations can be downloaded or embedded onto other sites, such as blogs. Here's an embedded presentation that you can click through using the arrows at the bottom (notice its great use of graphics, color, and text -- no boring bulleted lists in this one!)
To complete Thing 18 you must A. Explore Slideshare B. Embed a presentation into your blog B. Reflect on Thing 18 on your blog
A. Explore Go to Slideshare and search for presentations on subjects of your choice. Be sure to click the links at the top to view the most "Popular" and most "Downloaded" presentations and have a look at some of them. If you are a PowerPoint (or other presentation software) user, you may want to create an account and upload your own presentation.
B. Embed Find a presentation to share on your blog (of any content). Look for the embed code -- remember when you embedded the video? Same thing. If you need to review how to embed, see Thing 10.
B. Reflect - blog prompts for Thing 18 What did you like about the presentation you embedded? How might Slideshare be useful in the classroom? out of the classroom?
The first time you log in, you will see a welcome screen. Your next step is to start "feeding" your reader by subscribing to a few blogs.
