Thing # 10

Second Life is a 3D virtual world where users can interact with one another and explore places all over the world. I have an account and have tried to explore this technology, but I'm not interested. I don't want "virtual friends". I see many educational opportunities, however, with the age restriction being 18, I feel that it is just a teacher doing all the work and the students would only have the chance to watch. Maybe an introduction down in middle school and then the students would be able to use the TeenSecondLife in high school. I don't know.

Thing # 9

What a great place to see presentations. Slideshare and Slideboom were new to me. I found numerous educational projects already made and easily available to use. I spent my time searching topics that our teachers taught last year. Many of the powerpoints were very impressive. I liked that you could see how many people have viewed the presentation and their comments. The tags made it easier to navigate and find the topics I was looking for. I will share this one with the teachers as another resource to use. I also think that students could have a safe place to store their presentations. I love that it's free.

Thing #8

Screencasts are really fun to do. I have done these in the past during my library science classes. For some reason I can't get mine to work today. I used GOView.com. I like how simplistic it was for me to navigate. I didn't practice and when I get it loaded, you will see just that. However, I plan to use it this year in the library for teaching students how to navigate around our blog or delicious account. My screencast was done one the school delicious page so that teachers and students could remember what to do next. Hope to get this one posted soon. It's crunch time and I have to move on to the next thing now.

Thing # 7

I found this video on Blinkx.com




There are many different video sources. I have used hulu.com for over a year to catch up on TV shows that I missed during the week. As for educational videos, as long as you have the time they're out there. I was even considering using my library aides to search for different subjects. I just need to be aware that there are some inappropriate ones also.

This video was on PBS Video. I could not get it to embed into my blog. It is called Hunt for the Supertwister. It also contains videos of several other natural disasters.

Thing #6

YEAH-something I am familiar with. The I-touch is awesome. Kids love them and the apps are simple to download. There are so many apps from educational to recreational. I could literally spend days checking them out. Always something new.
In the library last year and we used them mainly as recreation. Ocassionally we used the internet. Some students actually preferred them to using the macbooks.
I think students would be able to do their podcasts, wikis and research easily together. I just have trouble with the size. My fingers are too fat and my eyes aren't what they used to be.

Thing # 5

Alright, when I started thinking of Microblogging, of course Twitter came to mind. I am not one to text everything I am doing, but I see some uses for the library. If students wanted to know about book fair, new resources, Family Library night, or even just school updates, this would be a fast, easy tool to consider.

However, my middle school students are all about their My Space accounts. I really am interested in making book clubs in the library during advisory this year. Who knows, maybe I will even get a group to join a book club group on their My Space account. Then we can discuss the book in between meetings.
The microblogging that intrigued me the most was the back channeling. I see tons of uses for this in schools. I went to TodaysMeet. I signed in and saw how easy this could be to set up. I think students would love this type of tool. It would keep the students engaged and accountable. I like that you can print the transcript at the end of the presentation.

Thing #4 Youtube and Teachertube

I enjoy looking at videos and I often get off task when I get on these sites. However, there are many worthwhile videos out there. When researching the Holocaust with 8th graders this year, I found several quick videos that were well done and appropriate to use.
Right now my 7th graders are using flip cameras to make book trailers. Both these sites were helpful in "consuming" quality trailers. We even got to "critique" the trailers and discuss some do and don'ts. Now that they are "producing" their book trailers, I believe their projects are much better then if we didn't have examples to use.

Below is an animoto that I downloaded onto youtube. I did it just to see if I could. It was easy. I however like the option of the delte key.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.