Google Spreadsheet

Using Google Docs is a breeze, as I stated in a previous post, however I'm having difficulty finding ways to collaborate using the spreadsheet. I think that the spreadsheet sharing allows for the document to be shared and viewed, however for our current project I am finding it difficult to add and adjust the information in the document. Possibly since the assignment was so open ended, it's difficult to organize and adjust open ended data, when it is all from different sources and may not necessarily be broken down in the same fashion. I do however think the spreadsheet would be convenient if students are keeping track of data at home with group members. They could all access the same bank of data and it would stay organized. I think if given a little initial structure, the spreadsheets could definitely be a good use of internet resources.

Connect Meetings and web conferences

The first connect meeting that I attended was for this class and also was my first real experience with any type of web-conferencing site. I have not even had this experience with social networking software or websites. Although initially the first meeting we had for the class started with a bit of technical difficulty, once we got going, it was actually a pretty successful meeting. I think that the issues that some of the users had revolved more around personal Internet connections rather than problems with the site. Overall I felt that this web tool would be very convenient for long distance work. I feel that for college level coursework, especially for instances such as this online course, that web conferences are definitely a necessity for communication. Although we have been communicating via discussion boards, nothing beats a more "face to face" conversation with your peers. For me personally I feel this would be most helpful for collaboration between colleagues if a in school meeting is difficult to set, although primarily I'm not sure how helpful the resource would be in a high school setting such as the one I am in. I think that this is definitely helpful for students to learn about and figure out how to use, because web conferencing can be a very useful tool, and I think will be much more prevalent in businesses and possibly education in the future. The biggest problem. besides working through the initial tech glitches, is finding a common meeting time as we have seen in this course so far. I have been able to only attend one of the meetings, however I feel that it was an extremely helpful meeting and am looking forward to future meetings as well.

Flickr

Browsing around the flickr sight was relatively easy. I actually had to search out the group for class and I found it first thing and I think that sharing pictures with captions is a way to really relay a lot of information to students. I was thinking about ways I can use this in my classroom, and I use so many models in my class, that providing virtual models and videos could be a great way to use flickr as a resource. I found it interesting on our poverty site that people chose to not only share images of poverty or a representation of poverty, but also maps and diagrams representing national statistics. I also thought that it was valuable that you could also use maps to pinpoint where the pictures were taken or what areas the images may be representing, and also an area for group discussions.

I really think all of the resources that we have been investigating are amazing and helpful, but I'm a little overwhelmed as well thinking of ways to incorporate all of these resources into a class with state standards and assessments without running out of time. I can think of so many ways which they could help my students, but now I have to think of ways to efficiently add these resources.

Delicious

Initially, I was unsure of how Delicious would be useful and helpful to this poverty project. When I signed up I didn't download the addon for Firefox, but after I read the instructions I found that the tool was much easier to use. It was so convenient to be able to easily tag a page while I was browsing through several pages. I also found the descriptions and tags made by others much more helpful when browsing through other profiles. I found that this tool was so much more convenient than a list of weblinks as seen on the wiki page. The interface is initially easy to use from my first impressions.

I think that this would be a great tool to use between students on a class, similar to what we are using now. I feel that if the goals of a course or activity involve gaining internet research skills, that Delicious provides a venue for students to share the resources and provide a little explanation from what they gained from each website. Teachers can also provide students with a list of resources and share these links with their students. As I gain more experience with this web tool I hope to find other ways to make it really useful.

Webinspiration

My first impressions of Web inspiration have all been positive up to this point. I think it's an interesting tool to be able to collaboratively build a concept map as a team. I think that the idea of working as a group to create a concept map. I think the idea of working collaboratively on a concept map is an ideal tool to collaborate ideas but not always necessary if you have classroom time. However I think that this can be a tool to help students outside of class as a reinforcement of the ideas and content discussed in class. Being a classroom teacher of science I think that this tool can be used to review concepts and work as an outside the classroom support system for complex concepts. It would be a helpful addition to a well structured web based class.

Discussion Boards

Something I find amazing about Web 2.0 tools is how addicting they can become. In the past, social networking sights have been addicting just to check on how friends and relatives are doing. But even more recently my experiences with Web 2.0 tools have become an addiction. The discussion board for this course is something that I find myself checking several times a day, to see what new additions and comments are made regarding the most recent topics. It is an easy and convenient method of communication on interesting topics. I use a similar tool in my Advisory classroom which acts as a literacy program and a "homeroom" for students. We have been using Goodreads to have discussions about the most recent books we are reading. I need to find a way to get my students addicted to those discussions as well.

Initial experiences with Web 2.0

Web 2.0 initially started for me with the social networking sites. I remember my time in undergrad when facebook was just becoming popular within colleges. Initially this Web 2.0 site was a very basic personal profiling website in which you could communicate with other students around the country. Since then it has really expanded and increased in capabilities.



Recently I had an interesting experience with Google Docs in a Professional Development meeting at my school. Currently we are meeting in small groups each given a task, mine being developing more student centered practices in our classrooms. Several of my fellow teachers and I were working on a document to organize our findings and we had to edit and access this document at the same time. Using Google docs we were able modify the same document at the same time. I was amazed by this because in previous classes taken at TC my group members and I would be modifying the documents at the same time and we just saved several copies and then had to make sure that all copies were up to date with our information. Google docs made the process so much easier.

I am looking forward to using several different Web 2.0 tools in this class as I am always looking for a new technological tools to help develop my practices and make my teaching life easier.