Thing 7: Communication Tools

This segment of 23 Things focuses on Communication.
I set an account with Google Groups to explore the 23 things group there, and I also signed up for the Educational Technology Group.
In the last few months, I've really been active with Twitter, following many Educational Technology "Gurus" and have gained many cool insights from what I now consider my "Personal Learning Network."


I also started texting more with my phone, though mostly to my wife! As my kids move toward adolescence, I'll probably start doing that more, so I better practice now!
I would like to look at a comparison of Google Talk vs. Skype and other communication tools, such as AIM.
I also want to look at using other appliances to Tweet, such as my
phone, but haven't done that yet.

Thing 6: Online Image Generators

Big Huge Labs image generators as mentioned in the previous post, are really easy to use. Here is our puppy on the day we got her, in trading card form.

This would be a great way for kids to create cards on people, places or topics that they are studying. Then they could be printed out for study guides.

Another image generating site is Imagechef. Imagechef requires a login and verification that you are over 13. There are hundreds of templates, including license plates:

Some of the templates are just fun, but others could definitely be used for powerful imagery.

Thing 5: Fun with Flickr

• At the risk of getting really lost in all the cool things you can do on "Big Huge Labs: Flickr" site, here is the poster I created.
  
  
  It was quick and painless, and now my photostream is linked to some really fun tools I can use with my Flickr photos, such as:
• Maps
• Pocket Albums
• Jigsaw Puzzles
• Badge Makers
  Movie Posters
• Calendars
• Magazine Covers
• Wallpaper
• Trading Cards
• Photo walls
• Etc...

Thing 4.5: Blog Post from Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.
Here is the photo that I altered using Picnik. It was quick, easy and painless

Thing 4:Photosharing with Flickr

I signed up for Flickr back in the fall, and uploaded some photos I took of New York. Then the parent of one of my son's friends sent some pictures of a Lego competition they were in.

I recently posted some photos of Minnesota's Statehood Day, and am hooked! Using the suggestions from 23 Things, I added notes to a few photos. This allows you to enhance images and add interesting facts, a great tool for student projects.

Using the "Blog" tool, you can easily add an image to your blog from Flickr, such as the one below. In Flickr, this photo is tagged, noted and mapped! Then I made some changes to the photo using a 3rd party site called Picnik. Picnik allows you to edit the photo very easily on-line, though some of the more interesting features required a premium account.

Here is the original, and in the post above, you can view the updated photo with Picnik.

Thing 3:RSS

Really Simple Syndication or RSS is a huge shift and one of the guiding principles of Web 2.0-"Make the information come to you!" I used to go to news sites and others that had information I was interested in, and read, often finding that there had been no updates. Now, I use Netvibes as my aggregator, and organize the sites I read by topic-tabs so I can get right to the information I'm interested in. If there is an update, I roll my mouse over the topic, and view the first few lines of the post. If it interests me, I can click on the post to view it within Netvibes, or click to view the Web site. Another nice feature of Netvibes is that the comments actually show up in the aggregator, unlike other readers where you only see the original post.

For this project, I decided to try Google Reader, as I have not used that aggregator as yet.
My initial response is that it is not as pretty to look at compared to Netvibes.
One nice feature is Google Gears, a browser enhancement that allows you to view up to 2000 posts, while you're offline!

Thing 2:Library 2.0 and What I hope to get out of 23 Things on a Stick

Response to Library 2.0
As a technology integrationist who has spent the last 9 months immersed in all things Web 2.0, I feel that John Blyberg's post on 11 Reasons Why Library 2.0 Exists and Matters, is spot on.
If Web 1.0 search engines were not enough to give people pause and rethink the Modern Library, then certainly Web 2.0 must.
In Web 2.0, the whole issue of "authority" has been blurred.
Students researching a topic may use Google, and find the notes of other students researching the same topic and take it as fact. It may even happen to "older students!" If Wikipedia has more in-depth entries and is more up-to-date than traditional encyclopedias, should it not be used as a starting point for research? By requiring students to evaluate the information in Wikipedia or other encyclopedias, we are giving them a valuable skill in critical thinking. This is a change from the Library 1.0 world of viewing everything in the Library as factual. This critical thinking is an essential 21st Century skill, and the 23 Things on a Stick project is a great way for librarians and media staff to embrace it!

Why am I completing 23 Things on a Stick?
We learn by doing. We could sign up for a class and sit back and passively listen to an instructor tell us about Web 2.0 tools, but without the hands-on experience, we would not gain the same understanding. The 23 Things on a Stick project is a great way for library staff and other educators to gain experience with Web 2.0 tools in a structured format that will allow them analyze how they may use these tools in their work.
I hope to get further practice with some of the Web 2.0 tools I am familiar with, as well as expand my breadth of knowledge so that I can run a 23 Things course for educators in Edina, Minnesota this summer.

Thing 1:Welcome to my 23 Things on a Stick Blog!

Hi,
I'm Michael Walker, Secondary Technology Integrationist with Edina Public Schools.
Here I will explore the 23 Things on a Stick, and blog about the experience.
I then hope to use this experience to create a Moodle Course for this summer with my staff, that can then be exported out for use by others in Moodle.
On the left, I added the slideshow feed from my latest Flickr photo set from the "Statehood Day" celebration at the Minnesota capitol.
I can't wait to get started!!