Thing 16

This has the potential to be very useful for collaborative efforts. I'm sure it is already. However, I need more practice and experience with it. I tried to create a document, but I am not sure if anyone else can play with it (edit etc.). I wanted to share with the world or even a few people, whose email addresses I thought I knew. But I ran into a problem. I got a window indicating that those friends could not share the document. Oh well! I'll keep experimenting.

Thing 15

Subscribing, unsubscribing, managing feeds and tags are not yet an obsession or a habit with me. However, as I gain experience and practice, I am sure that these activities will become a habit that increases the organization of and participation in the networks that become significant to me and my classes. A routine of reading and deleting or finding more useful connections will enable me to stay up to date on the topics I choose to follow.

Thing 14

Social networking is the key phrase in this tool. I've used bookmarks extensively on my own computer, but Delicious takes this practice to a new level. It will take some getting used to and a new perspective on organizing for the tags and student involvement, but my instincts tell me that this will become a useful tool for course work.

Thing 13

Naming and organizing tags will become an important activity for me as I begin to use a website that uses social networking as a means to share information. Naming files on my own computer has sometimes presented a problem in the realm of retrieval. Since tags can be used by a community of participants, finding the lingua franca will be of great importance.

Thing 12

I finally posted the solar storm for thing 12 after looking at a million widgets. I had trouble trying to post others and couldn't get both the widget and my blog on the same posting. Resorted to adding the widget from Blogger and then, creating the posting. I spent way too much time on this. I need to move on to 13.

Thing 11

Just as the reading of blogs seems a matter of pick and choose, finding blogs that elicit a sincere response seems to be an activity that is guided by the muse. So many ways to go, and time is a limitation. As educators, we need to make careful choices and provide precise instructions that define our curriculum and keep our students on task. An exchange of ideas is certainly essential in a learning environment but, as I learned from the last activity, some postings attract spam and editing becomes a necessary and additional task.

Thing 9 and 10

You Tube is ubiquitous. So many people (students included) talk about what they've seen on You Tube. I love languages and etymology. I stumbled across a site that discusses word origins and history but it is somewhat controversial. I am posting a link so you can make up your own mind. See for yourself.


Here is a lesson on the word "budget".