Putting the Twit in Twitter (and Other Random Thoughts...)

This week's topic-Social Bookmarking and Networking.  For me, a little bit of dread, as these are ideas I dread introducing to my staff, who easily get overwhelmed by topics such as e-mail and Power Point.  So, where do I go from here?  A few ideas...

• Twitter in the Class-Unfortunately, I can't use this as much as I want (my district does not allow for cell phones in the class).  However, I could experiment with this on assignments.  I think that it could be a quicker way of getting assignments, links, activities, and other information out to your class.  More importantly, it can be done OUTSIDE of class time!  Furthermore, it could allow kids to contact you with support or continuation of the topic right back to your Twitter account.  You would have immediate feedback (isn't that what we want, anyway?), and you would also be informed of who has responded to your posts.  There is potential there; I think the main issue is that many of us don't know how to correctly use it.  I fall into that category as well.  However, I'm attempting (follow me @bryandadamaja) to become more active in my use of it.
• Ning-The Social Networking site.  A bit like a wiki, with a little more for connections for similar styles in between.  I think that there's some merit to this as well; it sure would save me a lot of time from digging through archives for good links when there are thousands out there like me who may think the same way (scary thought there...)  Unfortunately, I won't be exploring this with my class---there are age limits, and I don't have 13 year olds in my class yet.  Maybe if I change grades.  However, this could be a good benefit for the teachers to have their own network, and to see that there are branching opportunities out there.
• Delicious-This is a bookmarking site, and one that I've used frequently before, well, at least in waves.  You know how life gets sometimes...  Anyway, I think this may be the one that I use first with my class.  I get frustrated by the amount of links that get lost by students, staff, me, etc.  I think through the class and the reading, I became a bit re-energized though this.  I'd like to go through this with my class; it may help them to discover new blogs, sites, activities, research articles, and countless other things that they normally wouldn't remember.  I think this will be my emphasis, especially as we have research papers to do for the next 2-3 months.

That's what stands out for now.  I'm testing out a few new ideas (Jing-although to the tekkies out there, I doubt that's new at all.) and learning through my successes and failures.  For me, it's vital that I immerse myself in this and actually attempt to use it, or else it disappears, like so much else in my life when I don't make it important.

Well, as always, please share, post, argue, do what you want.  Your opinions are greatly appreciated here.

RSS-PECT, find out what it means to me!

For this week's class, we started talking about RSS.  I remember going into a little bit of RSS a year or two ago, and sure enough, I found my Google Reader site (with 850 unread articles!)  Needless to say, I haven't checked my Reader lately.  Now it's time to get back into it, but it's important to get into why I need to try this again.

Right now, I'm currently managing 45 websites from my students, along with the Moodle page for the school, the wiki page for my class, and another 45 websites that my students just created.  It's literally a guess-and-check hunt to try to see if everyone is updating their pages.  That, and it takes a LONG TIME to check everyone's page.  As a result, I'm trying to toy around with RSS to set up a feed in which I can get automatic updates from my students when they update their sites.  This would allow me to directly visit the sites that I know have changed, and be able to evaluate and assess right away.  I think I was overwhelmed with RSS 1 year ago; now, I'm looking at it for purposes to help me manage my time and efforts better than I normally do.

I think that it will also help me with organizing the sites that I visit for information.  I tend to visit 15-20 sites every time that I'm on the web, and that easily takes an hour or two.  Again, to better manage my time, I really should subscribe to my favorite sites, and filter through the updates to see what I want to read and what I don't.  I think I really just need to have the time to sit down and set this up.  Of course, it's due for class this week, so that may motivate me a bit to get it done.  In all honesty, though, it may help me cut 30-45 minutes of jumping around and searching sites---instead, I can have it all sent to me.

Overall, there's a lot to be learned about RSS.  I don't think that I'm an expert by any means.  However, I do see myself becoming a bit more comfortable with using it.  I think that as I understand it more, I'll become more effective at utilizing it in my everyday routine.  The key now is to just start using it.

Anyway, here's the link to my Google Reader---follow if you'd like, or give suggestions as to what I'm missing.

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/corcoranbryan?hl=en

Well, that's a wrap.  As always, leave any feedback below.

The Quickie Wiki Review

After exploring the blog last week, this week focused on the wiki. For the class, this was nothing new. We've been using wikis for a while; actually, since the first class.

So, then, what's the goal this time? Using them as a teacher, not as a student. I'm actually OK with this, as I had initially planned to do this last year; I just kept putting it off until it was the school year. I placed it on the backburner, telling myself that I'd do it next year.

Looking at some of the wikis this week, and talking about it in class, I'm going to try to motivate myself to start it up again. I'd like to start it up in either my Language Arts or Writing course; there are a lot of projects that I do, and it may allow for better pacing for the kids, as well as me. Sometimes I tend to fly by the seat of my pants. Creating a wiki for class usage may allow me to have the foresight to see ahead to other classes or dates. It sure would make my principal, happy, too, to see my planning (because if you looked at my planning book, you sure wouldn't believe that I prep!)

At the end of the day, it all comes down to the fact that I need to have an idea in my head of what I want. I think that's the issue. I'm not sure exactly how I want to set it up. The nice part about a wiki, though, is that I can change it if I don't like it.

Well, that sums up this week. If I actually get to making the page, I'll post it on my blog. Thanks for reading, and have a good one!

Taking What We Learn, and, Actually, Ummmm, Using It!

Well, for this course, it feels like a bit of revisionist history. We're going over Web 2.0 tools, and it feels like a bit of a refresher course. There were some things we went over in class (wikis, blogs) that we've been using in our studies over the last year or so. However, it seems as if there have been innovations with these tools, or at least new uses for them since they were introduced. I'll go into that now.

It looks like the main focus is the blog. Now, obviously, I've been blogging for a while. Exploring some of the other blogs in class, though, I've been inspired to try out a new type of blog. I already have a website for the class; I think I'm going to develop a blog for my class as well.

Why now? Especially since there's been a website for over a year? Simply put, opportunity. This gives me more opportunity to connect with the families, and to update them on various projects that we're working on in the class. It also provides other avenues for the families and the students to post their questions as well. I think that providing as many possibilities to connect to the students and families as possible can only be a good thing. I feel bad starting it this late in the year, but I can use this as a building block for upcoming years. You gotta start sometime, right?

Well, keep your eyes posted to my blog. I'm sure that I'll update it with my attempts at a class blog, and I could use all the advice possible.

Until then....