Thing 21 - A Series of Tubes

What do you like or dislike about YouTube? Did you find videos that would be useful for teaching and learning? Is YouTube banned in your building?

YouTube, if nothing else, is an Internet phenomena. It's interesting and is a pretty big time waster for adolescent males... but I thin the most important part is that it has given voice to those without one in 'big media'.

YT might be useful in the class for T&L, but within a very narrow scope. I have used several video clips in class to bring things I couldn't do there to the students - like demonstrations of static electricity and hard drive damage, Bluetooth headset hacking, and other tech topics.

YT, like many of the other user-generated video content sites is blocked in my building, and I don't think I would like to see it unblocked. I can just imaging the zombification occurring now...

Thing 20 - RSS Revisit

Reflecting on RSS - I don't think I would be near as effective at keeping up with the news and technology 'stuff' I need to do my job without them.

My browser homepage is my Google Reader page, and - yes, it's an obsession.

Thing 19 - Mmmmm Del.icio.us!

I have been using del.icio.us for quite some time now and have found it to be one of my most used web applications. The ability to access my bookmarks from any browser increases my productivity exponentially.

The other use for del.cio.us that is helpful, is using it as a topical search engine. If i am looking for something in particular, I'll use a tag search and chances are I will find exactly what I am looking for in a few short minutes. The reason this works - is that del.icio.us is essentially a human powered search tool, instead of a text-matching tool, like Google.

Oh - and with regard to my earlier post about Melvil Dewey... well, it seem, librarians are embracing del.iciou.us and other tagging sites.

Thing 18 - Tagging Folksonomy,and Social Bookmarking

Using tags, or as it's know on the net - folksonomies - is very helpful in locating information. I am constantly using tagging on my own personal computer for example. In MS Vista, you can easily tag files and folders with your own words, so you can find them very fast as you need them. This works the same way out on the 'net, using sites that have organized their content using tags.

I'm even using tags to find other blogs in the 23-things project that use terms like 'thing' and 'resa'.

A disadvantage of using tags is that your description of an item might be totally different than others, and might not add to the larger group of users trying to find information. Additionally, there is a lack of precision when one describes something with a one-word tags.

I suppose if Melvil Dewey could see what was going on, he would not be amused.

Thing 13 - More Podcasts

I just added another podcast (or 'netcast') to my playlist: Cranky Geeks with John C. Dvorak. I kept forgetting that I wanted to catch his show, and Thing 13 reminded me to go get it.

I do wish there was a better podcast directory out there to find feeds. Performing my normal Google-Fu, I found a few more podcast rating/directory sites out there, but keep on going back to iTunes. A close second to the nice interface iTunes has would probably be ODEO.

Each of the 4 sites I visited have different rating systems, and different 'Top' lists of specific genre's of podcasts to download. I suspect that the iTunes list is a bit more well traveled than the others out there, so I think that's the one I'll stick with.

Learning to change

Here's another video that I will be adding to my toolbox. I am finding more and more that these short videos can say more than a single person standing in front of a group. This video was part of a presentation for the Consortium for school networking - enjoy!

Thing12 - Podcasts

As I posted on the 23 Things blog, I am a large consumer of podcasts. I have a pretty wide variety of 'stuff' I listen to on a regular basis, but to the point of podcasts I might use in class, I would answer it this way: I create my own podcasts for use in my class.

I have found that recording my lecture portions of my class with Audacity and posting them in our LMS helps my students in a couple of ways.

First, the students that miss class can review the lecture, and second, students can review the material at their convenience.

I also suggest podcasts for my students to put in their download list: Security Now, Buzz out loud, and TWiT with Leo Laporte.

Thing11 - WIKI WIKI WIKI (Again)

Thing 11 would like a link to a self-created wiki. Hmmm, which one to choose... I maintain about 5 of them on wikispaces, but each is open by invite only to keep the riff-raff out.

So - here's one that has been set up just a test. It's for my organization, the Kent Intermediate School District in Grand Rapids. I also have another one at WetPaint.

I have used a few other wiki hosts as well, including WetPaint, PBWiki, and at Google Sites.

The big difference between blogging vs and wiki'ing (I know.. it's not a word - yet), is that wiki's are much more collaborative in nature than a blog. Everyone can edit the wiki but not the blog.

Additionally, I see more (school) organizations OK'ing the use of a wiki versus a blog. The word 'blog' scares the admin folks sometimes. :(

Thing10 - WIKI WIKI WIKI

Thing 10 is a reflection on wiki's, their uses and hurdles of adoption and use.

I really do not see any downside in the use of wiki's in an educational environment. What better way to get people to collaborate! In my daily instructional practice, I use one of 3 classroom wiki's to act as a place where my students can interact with each other, and information from my brain can be stored.

Some of the hurdles at the beginning were getting the wiki site I was using unblocked from the Web(non)sense filter, but after that, I had no problems.

We have been using the wiki for collaboration and as a scheduling tool with members of our advisory committee as well. At the end of each semester we have IT professionals from business and industry perform interviews with our students. In the past the scheduling was done via email (UGH!) and led to many dropped balls and the attempt to heard cats.

After I implemented the wiki as a scheduling tool, all the problems magically melted away.

Thing9 - Online Image Generator

My job is to keep my students engaged... and sometimes, using comedy within my presentations are the little crests of the wave that get them from one topic to the next. Using image generators are not only fun, and engaging - they can create a bit of a visual point where words alone might not suffice.

Thing8 - Flickr Tools

After playing around in Flickr a bit, and with some of the fun AJAX tools online, I'm thinking I could use a few more picture/photos in my daily classroom practice.

I already use quite a few (in the hundreds) of pictures during the course of my IT classes, but can always add more interesting elements to the pictures by using photo manipulation tools.

So... here's my LOL CATS:

Now, if you have no idea what a LOLCAT is, then take a look at I CAN HAZ CHEEZBURGER.

I can't explain it... just go look for yourself - but be willing to waste about an hour of your life looking at page after page of cute animals.