Uploading Thing #11.5

This exercise; 11.5 Things, are the most challenging activites I have encountered. I don't think that I have attended any workshops in the last 5 years that can compare to the quality of information that I have learned through these activities. I am visual and I have included things that I learned in the "23Things" and hopefully I will continue to work on some of the things I am learning now. Top 5 things are: Wordle, Skype, Uploading and embedding video and the educational sites for teaching, Screencast/Jing, and Digital Citizenship. I learned something from each thing but the aforementioned were my best.
I have to mention Second Life because I would like to review this exercise if a class purchases property and has educational parameters for exploration. Second Life was exciting but confusing with the different islands and an assortment of lifestyles and conversations. It was limiting on the free site and confusing when I tried comunicating with others but I can see the potential. It would be beneficial to me if one or several of the things explored were revisited with some kind of instruction during the year; any chance? I hope that our district will continue to offer these things because I absolutely learn more than ever and it's relevant and useful. Please offer something related to these "Things" next summer.

Netiquette Thing #11

Wordle - Netiquette: ""

I become really involved when the topic surrounds etiquette and treating others with the proper respect but I'm also aware that there are a variety of examples that kids follow and education is imperative. After reading several articles on Digital Citizenship I am in agreement with many of the items expressed in Rhonda's article on "Digital Literacy and the Classroom". Sometimes our expectations exceed the quality of our teaching. The educational system like many systems have priorities and over the years those priorites have not changed as quickly as the times. Yes, respect and civility are extremely high on my list and I think it is still very high in the educational system but what do we teach and how are we setting the examples for our students. Digital literacy and citizenship are extremely important for students and teachers. We have to teach students how to move in the digital world and what the pros, cons and conseqences are based on certain behaviors in the digital world. Are we behind in education? Overall I would say yes; we can't teach the kids things that we don't have proper knowledge of ourselves. Again, what are the priorities.
The 5 things that I would teach students would be: Digital Literacy, Digital Security & Safety, Digital Law, Education and Access and Etiquette. I think students should know that there behavior online should not be any different than the expectations we have of them offline. We should explain that words are powerful in the negative and positive as well as the dangers of communicating information online. Treating others as we would like to be treated is simple but for some of our kids more is needed. I would add role play and explanations of the terms and examples of situations that they will encounter online and off. This is a really great topic that can help all of us.

Brave new World --- Thing #10

Thing #10
Wow, Second Life is amazing, confusing and limitless. I would like to explore vitual worlds with a tutor. I recreated an Avatar by the name of Case Starship and I explored the mainland and heard conversations, attempted to join groups and almost mastered the movements but what I was able to see and read led me to think that Second world would be great for students'. Teachers could create an envirnment for her class for several classes to collaborate on projects, create identities, jobs, homes etc and simulate our society on some level. Students would be able to understand the financial systems, collaboration, spending, shopping etc. The curriculums would suddenly take on a new image and excitement along with a focus and engagement that would involved more creativity and long term educational value. Second class is economical and if a school or class wanted more indepth learning there is low cost purchases of land to create whatever environment you are seeking. Etiquette, dress codes, appropriate language, parameters; there is so much to explore. As you can see I am a little excited with my limited experience; can you imagine what could happen if I were able to learn more?

Slide to Slide Thing #9

Thing #9
This particular thing was not as exciting or challenging as the other things but very educational. Students, teachers and professionals are able to create,embed, publish, upload, download, share or not any and all Power point presentations and slide shows syncing with music, creating webinars etc. I found a lot of information that I can use to inform through discussion along with some sort of presentation (ppt or slide show). I was very intrigued by the advertisement in Connecticut's Darien Library enticing parents to become more tech savvy it was titled; "21 Things for the 21st Century Parent". There is so much information out there to help in creating whatever you chose and for students it's a great resource as long as they are aware of the parameters.

Freeze Thing # 8

THING #8

I am still working on perfecting this particular application. I can use the screencast and jing on a regular basis because I am constantly providing step by step website instructions for parents, colleagues and students. Whether I am capturing the page, an image or making a video of the step by step process to the final destination; this will be great.
I decided to use a video showing the online enrollment process for Texas Tech correspondence courses; something that is used quite often. I am really excited about this application because it will simply the process for all involved. Jing was a great tool. I was not able to reduce the video to a thumbnail. I will try this application several times to attempt to do a better job.

ITouch UTouch Thing #6

Thing #6
I have attempted to investigate Itouch devices and have had the opportunity to play on many of my friends iphones and students' ipad's and I must say it seems to be very intriguing, educational, practical, not quite sure if it's economical but these devices are valuable. If teachers are are provided tutorials or have the technological knowledge to operate these devices students will be able to gain loads of information while enjoying the journey. The amount of information that I have learned in the last few weeks has been invaluable. This is our future and if we are really interested in staying current and involving our kids in the process there is no question that we must change many of the ways that we engage students'. I intend to purchase an iphone in the next days because I am really excited in the applications that are available to me and those applications that will help student find the proper resources to make informed decisions. One of the websites that I found useful was the "makeuseof" site: http://www.makeuseof.com; I was able to find out how to download applications to Itouch, Iphones etc. There are two applications that I will use; the GPAMe application because it allows to students to monitor there assignments, grades and calculate there grade point averages. This application also provides information regarding all colleges in the US including SAT/ACT scores profiles of the universities and he websites; that is wonderful! I also like the Dexy application which helps kids with the organization of notes and retrieving notes without much difficulty. I have a lot of research to do regarding these devices and the process has just begun. I made use of the spell check before publishing this post; let's hope that I made good use of this application.

Reeling Thing #7

This particular "Thing" was a little challenging but I really enjoyed the research. We have come so far from the Reel to Reel, 8_Track tape, Cassette, VCR, Camcorders, CD, DVD. TIVO, DVR, Webcam etc. It is amazing. The Creative Commons Licensing states that Fair use is not limited to a percentage but to the point. Why are you borrowing or using someones creation; the intent should be to make a point. You must clearly illustrate the relevance of using someone's creation and give credit to the creator. I chose to use a video regarding the transition to the 1st year in college. The creator is Rob Boscamp; a student at Texas A& M Corpus Christi. UTube state the following regarding copyrights:

YouTube hereby grants you permission to access and use the Service as set forth in these Terms of Service, provided that:

1. You agree not to distribute in any medium any part of the Service or the Content without YouTube's prior written authorization, unless YouTube makes available the means for such distribution through functionality offered by the Service (such as the Embeddable Player).