Summary

This has been a great adventure! I have loved the format of independent, on-line learning outside the classroom environment, typical of the 21st century learner. I'm excited to continue to learn about and use these tools and resources, both personally and professionally. Some of my favorites that I can use are:

the experience of blogging and social network capabilities, www.boingboing.net
some of the mashups like www.krazydad.com/fungames.php , http://bighughlabs.com/flickr/deck.php , FD Toys (same URL), www.imagechef.com

I also enjoyed learning about new resources for students including the Learning2.0 and Library 2.0 tools, wikis and widgets, and web-based applications! I especially liked Zoho,think it's a great resource for students who may not have access to expensive software and loved the flexibility of online publishing and collaboration. http://zoho.com . I'm excited to try podcasting with kids and loved the resource Beginner's Guide to Podcasts and Creating Podcasts.

My only thought for improvement would be to have all of the assignments at the beginning of the course so that students could decide where and when to spend time in areas of interest. I would definitely take another class like this!!!! :)

Audiobooks

This was interesting. I was excited about the fact that I could access these resources 24/7 from anywhere! I thought it was wonderful that you can access full electronic texts and the 3460 books available. Some of the features were great....compiling favorite lists, previewing, emailing finds,etc. I was disappointed that Ipods and Zunes couldn't be used. Some of the titles that I saved were:

A Mind at a Time, Melvin D. Levine
Power of Full Engagement, Neal Bascomb
Teach Like Your Hair Is On Fire: The Methods and Madnees Inside Room 56, Rafe Esquith
The War of Art, Steven Pressfield

Cowcast!

I found this great resource on Podcastalley. com. I also think the Forever Geek site with the "Beginner's guide to podcasts and Creating podcasts"is wonderful and am looking foward to experimenting!

http://forums.creativecow.net/podcast/rsscow.xml

YouTube

Thoughts on YouTube.......another new adventure! I really enjoyed some of the features like the playlist and Community page with contests for aspiring videographers, journalists, etc. with assignments that could be used in the classroom. I think it would be so relevant and exciting for kids! I'm frustrated of course with our filter that is blocking some good resources and hope that we can find a way to access the good stuff!

Bob Dylan Live ( almost!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ced8o50G9kg
OK..let's see if Bob Dylan will play for us!

Web 2.0 tool awards

I could spend lots of hours perusing www.seomoz.org, but one tool that immediately caught my attention was under the category of Art, www.visualcomplexity.com/vc/. This site "specializes in the visualization of complex networks". It is a collection of "data turned art" and is also call Information Visualization. A number of years ago while completing my master's degree I wrote my thesis on the influence of the computer on Fine Arts. So, I am always fascinated by how new technology continues to create!