#15 #16 RSS feeds / Subscribing

RSS feeds are a useful way to gather information succinctly that you are interested in. I think that the use of them to subscribe to different blogs has educational uses and allows users to group feeds to a wide range of resources. Good for students when they are doing specific research as they won't have to keep loading lots of websites. 

#13 #14 Social Networks

My son tells me "no-one uses MySpace anymore" and he has set up a FaceBook account for me. However, even though I have had a play around I can't see myself becoming addicted to it. I prefer to phone friends or meet them for a chat (I'm showing my age now!). Educationally, I can't see any enormous advantage. I teach in a high school which has an open space layout where many students use laptops and we are constantly telling students to get off FaceBook.

#12 Flickr

Venerie a photo by Phil du Valois on Flickr.

A scene from France in the last 7 days category. Took me a while to work how to blog the photo but I got there. Interestingly, Flickr is one of the few websites that have been blocked in the school I teach in. So no hope to use it with my students.

#11 Library Thing

I didn't know this website existed. Very easy to use and you can get full cataloguing for your own personal collection! Great for home use or boutique libraries. Don't think I would be inclined to use it in the classroom but could be used for creating databases and how to search them. I entered Keith Richards' biography "Life" in my collection and there were 500+ members(?), 16 conversations (discussions?) and reviews of the book. Another book I entered had only 1 member. Something I think I will come back to later on. 

#10 Online image generators

The image above was created at www.imagechef.com using the Rock Concert background and inserting an image and text. I found it very easy using this website and copied and pasted the html code. I also tried the JellyMuffin Image Generator but when I copied the html I got an error message about a tag. I couldn't find any way to save the image at this website. I also had a quick look at the other websites - lots of fun to be had! I think such websites have a part to play in secondary school classes as they offer students a chance to be imaginative.

#9 Virtual Worlds

Not my thing I'm afraid to say! I can see that computer gamers would probably love this sort of thing but as a teacher I can see that it would take up a lot of time and resources. I think for a lot of people (and me) there would be a steep learning curve. I would be interested to know in more detail how some of those American universities are using virtual worlds but believe the secondary school environment is a totally different situation. Anyhow, I have learnt a little bit more about what is available on the Internet!

#8 iGoogle

I didn't know what to expect when I read the intro - was I creating my own personal web page from scratch? In a way I am but I didn't like the look of my iGoogle page - maybe because I ticked most of the boxes in the intro for what I liked and ended up with oodles of gadgets. The screen looked so cluttered! I know I can delete gadgets, move the gadgets around and that with time I will get to know where each one is. I will need to explore it more before I am convinced it is the way to go .

With the latest version of Windows I am able to put gadgets on my desktop which are different shapes with vibrant colours eg one for a Google search, one for the weather, finance etc and I think I prefer this rather than having to load my browser. But I can appreciate the idea of iGoogle with having all your information needs in one place rather than navigating from one web page to another. It needs to be more appealing though.

Yes, Google seems too good to believe to work for. As their shares are about $600 the company is obviously making buckets of money and can afford. to hire the best people and provide them with lots of perks. I think I could handle working there though!

#7 Google Books

I haven't used Google Books before but as a librarian it is another weapon in the armoury that I can use. I tried it out on a book on an exhibition (An Edwardian Summer) that I viewed in Sydney in the new year and I half expected that it would not be there (but it was with a picture of the cover!). I suppose I expected Google Books to be mostly American books - I will explore it a bit further in the weeks to come. Yes, I would certainly use it at home and at work.

#6 Google Maps

I love this sort of thing. Google Earth,Google street view, satellite views of where you live etc. Good that you can create your own maps and share them. Great teaching tool in a range of subjects.

#5 Google Docs

I had never heard of Google Docs before but found it quite good. I liked the fact that you could save your document in different formats e.g. Word, pdf. The interface was quite easy to use and satisfied most of my requirements without the technical detail of Microsoft Word. The old-style pull down menus are still my preference to the new style ribbon in Word. Google Docs also others advanced facilities such as entering scientific/mathematical equations/formulae. The word processor would be adequate for most users and incorporates a wide range of formatting and cut/copy/paste facilities. I'm now going to have a go using the spreadsheet and presentation facilities!

#4 Web 2.0

I found the articles quite interesting with their varying opinion. The use of wikis, blogs, social networking sites and other new technologies is ever increasing in society and this is nowhere more obvious than in the senior secondary environment where I work. Libraries are well-suited to use the ever increasing number of these new Web 2.0 Internet technologies as they facilitate the sharing of information which is a key aim of libraries. I look forward to the introduction of new library services which incorporate Web 2.0 technologies into the education sector. Secondary students are generally not afraid to investigate new ideas and like to interact with interesting online technologies.

#1 #2 #3 Started the course

7.3.2011
Started the How 2 of Web 2.0 course
Visited Helen Blower's website and had a look around
Viewed the video "Students Today" on TeacherTube
Created a Google account and am creating my first Blog