Jim Klein is talking about Social Networking using Open Source software. Didn’t realize that he was going to talk about Elgg. I installed Elgg to use with my students about 3 years ago. When I used it with students it was a really good experience for my students. The part I liked best was the Access Restriction selection project so that they could decide who could see a post. If you’re interested in social networking with students, I encourage you to look into Elgg. If you’d like to take a look, you can use James Klein’s demo site at http://demo.saugususd.org.
Today I worked with a middle school teacher who was “referred” to me to help her integrate a SmartBoard into her classroom. She was new to the technology and was interested in learning, but had some considerable reservations about where to start and how to go about using the technology effectively. We spent about 45 minutes talking through the software and brainstorming ideas for her lessons and when I left she had high hopes for using the technology with her classes.
While 45 minutes is not a long time to really exact change on a teaching strategy, it did get her thinking about the next steps. She had no idea how to use the software though. I didn’t even know that she had recently gotten a SmartBoard for her classroom otherwise I would have reached out to her and scheduled a time to help her understand the possibilities that exist there. While I don’t believe that this is a unique position for a teacher to be in, it concerns me because in this instance, she just didn’t know the tools or understand the possibilities. Sure we provide trainings, but I can only be so many places at once. I guess it makes me wonder how many teachers are falling through the cracks when it comes to the supporting and meeting their needs when new equipment is brought forth. For how many teachers is it simply that they don’t know the possibilities and don’t know what questions to ask? As a Technology Integration Specialist, how can I find and reach out to those teachers who want to work towards integration, but don’t know where to start? Yes, there are many answers, but for me, every answer just brings up more questions.
A number of months ago I decided that I’d try out Twitter and see what I thought. I was immediately hooked. Suddenly, I was able to be connected to the thoughts of friends, acquaintances and others who I had been following for awhile, without having to wait for them to post a new blog entry. This was great, I joined some conversations and really gave twittering my all. While this experiment worked relatively well, I have two problems with Twitter.
- How can I keep up? I don’t really think I can. I’ve tried to be a part of the conversation… maybe I just don’t have as much to say as I think I should. But I just feel inundated with Tweets. I guess I feel as though it’s one more thing that is calling for my attention. Email is overwhelming… I’m not sure what the word might be for Twitter. There’s just so much great information out there that it could literally be the only thing I do.
- It’s blocked in my district. I haven’t really questioned this to this point, but my school laptop is my main computer and with Twitter being blocked there, it makes it hard to really jump in and actually give Twittering a chance. I can log in via my phone, which is fine… and I can check my feed via my Google Reader account, also fine. I guess it’s just problematic.
- I said two, but meant three. Finally, Twitter Spam sucks.
I want to be a Twitter-er, I just haven’t gotten there yet. I guess it’s time to try out a few clients and see if they can’t get around the blocks implemented by the district. Until then, I’ll just peruse my aggregator and keep up with thoughts from the fringe.
This is a week for new things. First Stumble Upon and now Twitter. Unfortunately, my district blocks Twitter so I was looking for a new way to use it and follow feeds. If I couldn’t post and follow posts from work, it wasn’t a realistic option. I even tried to use my phone for “tweeting” but I didn’t think it was a good alternative.
After some searching, I found Twitbin a Firefox plug in that connects to my twitter account and allows me to somehow access it though a sidebar in my browser. I don’t know how it works and I really don’t care. I can now follow the likes of Will Richardson, David Warlick, Bud Hunt, Clarence Fischer, Jeff Utecht, Steve Dembo and the other thinkers in this area. I’ve only posted a few “tweets” so far, but I find it an intriguing way to keep abreast of what these people are thinking about and doing.
I was a little skeptical at first, but I’m sitting at my desk while others are at the T + L conference. I was able to follow some of their thoughts and reactions (not to mention adding to the conversation) of the conference without being there. It’s an interesting practice. We’ll see how long I stay interesting in it.
This was all prompted by a blog post by Will Richardson that Bud Hunt’s blog pointed me to.
I know this isn’t new, but I just started using Stumble Upon as a way to find new stuff on the web. What I like about it is that it’s a Firefox plugin that gives you a toolbar and it has a filter in which you can decide which categories you’d like to stumble upon. It has a social networking side to it that I’m still discovering, but overall, I really like it.
If you’re looking for new things online, check it out. I’ve only just started, but here’s my public profile http://bbass3.stumbleupon.com/public/
In a recent training session from CSD I learned about a new tool for keeping your bookmarks online. I’ve been using del.icio.us for my bookmarks but I’m looking for a new tool. ikeepbookmarks.com is not it. There are a number of things that bother me about this site. First and foremost, there is no RSS feed. I want to be able to subscribe to others bookmarks to take advantage of the networks of which I am a part. Here are some of my current subscriptions as well as a link to a page of technology links created by CSD.
