Thing 33: Travel 2.0

The timing of this thing is perfect as we finalize our trip to the Southwest this summer.
I started by looking at the Notes from the Road blog, Eric Gauger's images and travels around the country. The image to the right is one he took in Arizona. Next I used the Virtual Tourist site to look up hotels in Glenwood Springs, Colorado as we start making our way back. Finally, I checked out Hotspotr, to find out locations for wireless access on our trip. I'm going to have a hard time around the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, and in the Black Hills! Guess I'll be off the grid!

Thing 32: Google Maps and Mashups

For this thing I created a map in Google Maps for our trip to the Washington, DC. I have explored this a bit in the past, and have also implemented a Google Earth project in a similar fashion for the French Immersion students at Valley View.


View Washington, DC Trip in a larger map

Thing 30: More Ways to Use RSS and Delicious

In the last few months, I've really gotten away from using RSS, and have been teathered to my Twitter PLN! I like using Netvibes for RSS as opposed to Google Reader or Bloglines because of the ability to have a public side to the feeds. So for this thing, I looked for something new that I hadn't looked at before and focussed on Spreed! Spreed is a aggregator site that takes specific feeds from different categories and allows you to read the articles at a certain speed!
The tool allows you to view the text starting at 240 wpm and increase it up to 1500 wpm! Apparently as you get used to the dark background and light text, you can increase your speed.
I topped out at around 450 wpm.
Not sure I would use this.

Thing 28: Customized Home Pages

I have been using both iGoogle and Netvibes for awhile.
I agree totally with Web Worker's Head to Head assessment: Netvibes wins by a mile!
Here are my reasons:

• The public and private side (My 23 Things portals are on the public side)
• The easy ability to add feeds and customize the pages.

Now they have many layout formats too.

Thing 26: Join the 23 Things Ning

I had actually joined the 23 Things Ning back in thing 20, so this time, I added the badge and updated my profile page, then commented on a few others, and added a reply to the More Things...How far along are you? Thread.

I like Ning a lot, and am a member of about 6 different groups. Unfortunately, Ning is blocked ino our district, so it isn't convenient to access.

Thing 25: Blogger's Tool-Kit

When I first read over Thing 25: The Blogger's Tool-Kit, I was a bit overwhelmed. There looked like too much to do! Then I decided to break it down, and it wasn't so bad (For the most part)...

In the '>20 Usability Tips for Bloggers article, I was a bit troubled by number 12. For those of you with a Diigo account, you will be able to view my comment!
After reading the article, I decided to plug away at the task of trying 4 of the gadgets listed.

1. First I added Odiogo, a tool that allows users to listen to the post. I thought this would be a great way to add Universal Access to blogs, though most people with vision problems would be using another tool.
2. Under Comment Tools, I chose to add Disqus. Disqus allows you to make commenting on your blog easier and more interactive, I'll have to see if anyone comments on this to gather it's value.
3. Since I had used ClusterMaps and Google Analytics before, I decided to try gVisit. By first pasting some script into my page, and then clicking on this link, I can track viewers to my page to see where they are from. Again, with time, I'll see how successful this is.
4. For the Photos and Photo Tools feature, I chose to try FlickrCC, a site that allows you to search for Creative Commons Licensed photos. I found the one below, taken by Doug Wallick. Within FlickrCC was the option to edit the photo in Picnik, a free Web 2.0 editiing tool. So I modified it a bit based on the license that said it could be modified.

Overall, I spent over an hour and a half completing this thing...Too much time I think. I wish it had been broken down into smaller things. Luckily for me, the next two things are almost done!

Thing 24: Refresh Your Blog

For this activity, I changed my blog theme, and then worked on developing an avatar.
After trying the Yahoo Avatar creator, I decided to try the South Park version. I also played around with the Simpson's version. I'll let you decide which version looks best:

After doing that, I played around with the look of the site. I copied a template from Pyzam.com and followed their directions. Not sure I like the look....

Since finishing 23 Things on a Stick last summer, I have worked on my EdinaTech blog, and have commented a lot on other people's blogs. I have also cultivated my Personal Learning Network on Twitter, and as of today have 1583 updates, follow 251 people and have 323 followers! On to the next thing...

Welcome Back to the Things!

Last summer, I facilitated a great group of educators participating in 23 Things on a Stick. From the Web site:

23 Things On a Stick is the Minnesota twist on the Library Learning 2.0 program
developed by Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte &
Mecklenberg County and adopted or adapted by many other libraries and organizations since then.
23 Things On a Stick was developed by the seven multitype multicounty library
systems as part of the staff development the multitypes offer in their regions.

It's an opportunity for educators to explore Web 2.0 tools, to extend their learning and the learning of their students. Participants will create a blog to share their learning and comment on each other's experiences.

This year, I'm facilitating Round 2, including some folks who are "gluttons for punishment", and are continuing to add to their learning by trying "More Things on a Stick!" I look forward to learning with them!

Thing 23: The End!

I completed the survey, and now am officially done with 23 Things. I'm ready to start working with staff here in Edina.
Click here to view the Edina 2008 23 Things on a Stick homepage.

Thing 20: Social Networking sites

Thing 20 asks you to join Facebook or Myspace and add some friends and then write on a few walls.
I joined Facebook earlier this year, and now have around 15 friends. I also figured out how to connect my Twitter tweets to my Facebook posts, which has made things much less complicated. I like Twitter as a networking tool, because it forces you to get to the point, in 140 characters or less! At first I didn't get it, but once you start following people, like Will Richardson or Steve Dembo, or things, like the Mars Phoenix lander, it's pretty cool!


I've also created a Ning account this year, but have yet to really use it much.

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 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 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!!