Thing #8

I liked using the Splashr mashup. It was very easy to use. I simply typed in the tags I wanted to include in my search and the presentation style, and it generated a slide show of different photos with those tags. The presentation it made up for me is here: http://splashr.com/show/postcard/beaches,summer,fun,clouds/25/
This site could be used in your personal life to share photos with your friends. The only downside is you don't know the photos they are going to use, so you may want to preview the presentation before showing it to others. Personally, I think sharing photos is a great way to stay connected with friends. Instead of writing a simple status, you can upload a photo and show your viewers exactly what you're experiencing from your point of view. A picture really is worth a thousand words. :)

Thing #7

My experience using Flickr was very easy. The different tags you can search and explore made it simple to find almost any image you could imagine. I happened to see the tag "beaches" and clicked on it because I love summer and the beach. The image I found was very beautiful. The sunset on the beach was a very peaceful scene. Along with the photo, Flickr also provided the user that uploaded it, where the photo was taken, and even what kind of camera was used to capture the shot. Flickr is a great site to find interesting photos. http://www.flickr.com/photos/yury-prokopenko/4273239329/
This photo was taken by Yury Prokopenko.

Thing #6

Using the Web 2.0 Awards site, I was able to explore the Ustream tool. This is a live video stream that anyone with a camera and internet connection can use to post videos. The viewer can watch the action as it happens or anytime after. The viewers can also chat while the video is showing. This site is popular with celebrities and their fans because it makes the fans feel a part of the action while viewing a live ustream. I liked that the site was free and pretty simple to use. It is easy to get lost in your computer for hours viewing all the different videos available on the site.
   I think this site would be useful in future classroom settings. Especially for older students, they could receive lessons from an expert across the world. Or it could be used within the same school for the principal to deliver a message to his/her students. www.ustream.tv

Thing #5

      The first article I chose to read was "Web 2.0 A Guide for Educators." The article pointed out an important fact: "The web has replaced libraries, classrooms, bookstores, and paper." Thousands of books are now available online, so there is no need for printed books and therefore no need for bookstores and libraries. Anything can be typed and on the internet and made public for everyone to see which eliminates the need for paper. The article also pointed out that the internet has made a shift from passive to active. It has become a place for people to interact and share their thoughts. It reported that 55% of people age 12-17 use social networking sites to communicate with others.
     The other article I chose to read was The Horizons Report. I thought it was interesting how it has become so simple for anyone to capture, edit, and share videos online. Video sharing sites continue to grow at some of the most prodigious rates on the internet. Video sharing can be both negative and positive. It was also interesting to learn that a new phone for every six people on the planet is manufactured each year. Most of these phones come with mobile broadband capabilities. This means that even poeple who do not have computers can have access to the internet through their mobile phone, putting the internet in even more hands.
   "School 2.0" means to me that technology is playing an increasingly important role in learning. It means that I will have to educate myself on the new technology in order to keep up with my peers and compete in the workforce. For schools of the future, technology will be almost impossible to escape. Almost every aspect of learning will have something to do with technology. As stated in the article, the internet is replacing libraries, books, and classrooms so these things will soon become nonexistent to kids in the future.
  

Thing #4

Commenting is important in creating a sense of community because it makes the writer feel like someone is actually "listening" and their ideas are important. It increases interaction and fuels healthy debates and differences in opinions. From the reading, I agree that it is important to be courteous in commenting on others' posts and replying to your own comments. Disagreeing with people is natural but it should not be done in a negative way.
The blogs I chose to read were random and were

1. Crane's Thing #3
2. Jessica Steward's Thing #3
3. Lynda Courtney's Thing#4
4. Kilmer Collaborations Thing #3
5. Jessica Miller Thing #8

For Crane's I found it important that he recognized not everyone will have access to a computer. As an educator, you must take these kinds of things into consideration. I thought it was cool that Jessica Steward included in her post how her blog would be helpful to other people in the program. I liked the personal intro Lynda Courtney used in her post for Thing #4. This brought me insight into her life. Kilmer Collaborations had good ideas about how the blog could be used in future classrooms. The pictures Jessica Miller chose for her post for Thing #8 were very beautiful and interesting. I tried to leave all positive comments on others' blogs.

Thing #3

   A blog will be useful to me throughout both my teacher education program and in my future classroom. During my teacher education program, I can use my blog to share my experiences with other people in the program. I can write about my student teaching experiences, what I have learned from other educators, and ideas for teaching activities. In my future classroom, my blog could be used to communicate with the parents of my students. Since I plan on teaching kindergarten, the blog would be geared towards the parents with a few simple interactive links for the students. I could use it to post pictures of the class, as well as their artwork, writing, etc.

Thing #2

Creating my blog was pretty simple. The only thing I had some difficulty with was adding the avatar to the actual blog. My avatar reflects my personality because she is wearing a pink dress. I am very girly and feminine so I wanted my avatar to be the same. I tried to get it as close to real life as I could. I didn't add any extra accessories or anything because I'm a pretty simple, straightforward person. The more I use the blog, the easier it will be for me to navigate the webpage.

Thing #1

    The lifelong learning habit I found to be the easiest was Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind. This was easy for me because this is something I do each time I set a goal. If you do not have some sort of vision for how your goal is going to turn out, it is easy to lose focus. The habit I found to be the hardest was viewing problems as challenges. It is easy to get discouraged when problems arise. Instead of giving up, use this as an opportunity to persevere and excel.

    By playing with the Web 2.0 tools I hope to learn to better navigate through websites and just become more "internet-savy" in general. Technology is not one of my strongpoints so I hope this will improve my computer skills. So far, I havn't had any issues in setting up the blog. The screenshots were useful in my experience.