I have to say that this week I am very appreciative of the time I have spent this year with WC!. I started an online college course this week and without the exposure to all this new technology, I am sure that I would have been very overwhelmed. This online class has already reinforced to me the way education is changing and the fact that we need to prepare our students for what is ahead. Many of our students are exploring technology on their own, but there are others that really need encouragement and guidance to get out there and try something new. I am one of those adults that needs some guidance, and that is why I was excited about WC!. I am going to try to turn around and pass on this gift of technology to those students that come across my path.
Guess what! I was watching the Divinci Code with my family last night and noticed that in one of the scenes (where they are manipulating the painting “The Last Supper”) I realized that one of the characters is using an airliner. It was cool to see the technology in action. I wish I had one in my house. Of course my husband said that only a geek like me would get excited about something like that. I told him that geeks rule the world.
Okay, last night I put my heart out there about my concern about my children’s use of the Internet. Gabby very wisely responded. While reading my own post and Gabby’s response, I noticed that some words appeared in blue. As I put my cursor over the word, “Husband,” a box popped up asking, “Looking for Husband? Find a comprehensive listing…” Perhaps it is late (for me), but I guess I just didn’t expect to find humor on our WilliamsonConnects blog tonight. I found it a fun surprise.
I keep seeing postings/articles about the advantages of kids using the Internet. I feel that I am not doing my own two girls justice by keeping them off so much; however, they feel that there is nothing wrong with wanting MySpace accounts. They feel that since all their friends have a Myspace, they should, too. Actually, in looking into it, most of their friends do. My own sister lets her 16 year old daughter on as well. Her reasoning is that she is well aware of who her friends are and what their interests are. (This came in handy at prom time last year.) I guess I am just stuck between allowing them to be Internet (and socially) savvy, and wanting them to have a whole lot more maturity when putting themselves out there. Do I just close my eyes and hope for the best (knowing they can’t get on anyways without myself or my husband plugging in their passwords)?
We are supposed to make sure we do a couple of posts a month. this is my second one and I have nothing to say except this program frustrates me. I have to get a new password everytime since the password I set does not work all the time. Just watch if I ask Jamie at class, it will work. Time to leave for Williamson, see you soon.
Well, after playing around with Diigo for a little while, I found it to be much more friendly than Delicious. I love the highlighting and notes for bookmarking. As someone who is online surfing for information on a broad band of topics, I think this is a great feature. I look forward to exploiting it more, and growing my own list of resources!
I spent my vacation catching up on things I needed to do on the computer. Setting up a Diigo account was one of them. I found myself spending that time before bed, not watching TV, but instead looking for new resources to bookmark. I have a Delicious account but didn’t really use it that much. So, I thought I would start over with diigo. I was struck by how similar it was to facebook and plurk. I posted a picture and added a couple of friends. I got hooked up with a lower school group that shares resources. This is such a great tool, as is delicious. I found many smartboard resources for all subject areas and it is really nice to have a place to store them all. I just wish I had more time. There is so much available out there and not enough time to try everything out.
I have been using Delicious (lmiller2) for about 2 years and have loved being able to access my favorite sites (both professional and personal) from any computer. I decided to check out Diigo and just setup an account (lmiller2). Currently, I have only bookmarked a few sites – I would like this to be a bit more organized than my delicious account. I am in the process of thinking how I would best like to tag things – especially sites to be used to enhance math instruction for my 3rd – 5th graders (grade level or by topic).
Diigo appears to have some of the characteristics of social networking – not sure I have time to comment on another site. (Currently have a Facebook account and am plurking.) Two features that I think I will find useful are the ability to highlight and to post notes about the article for future reference. I’ve decided to use Diigo for the next couple of weeks and then decide which I prefer and best meets my needs. Regardless of which I choose, I will definitely continue to be a social bookmarker!
Thanks to our participation with Williamson Connects, we were able to get Delicious unblocked at school (to share anyway). I had an account before that I hadn’t done much with, but I’ve now spent time “cleaning” it up and adding my links I had all over the place. I’m about ready to share it with the teachers I provide support to. I’ve kept it a strictly school related resource for them (and myself). I enjoy the ease of adding tags, but I’ve learned to not keep adding too many different tags, but to make and use ones that I can continually add to and will be relevant for teachers without overwhelmin them.
I feel that I am reiterating, but I just want to put this out there that I, too, am loving Plurk. I have even gotten my husband signed on. My only problem is that I am feeling so drawn to it that I need to join a Plurkers Anonymous Chapter. On Plurk, someone mused about how awful it would be if Plurk stopped working. I agree. This is the first time I feel that I am using the Internet to connect with people close by and far away. Thank you to Carol Fox and Jamie for introducing me to this new world!
I love delicious. I did it at home first and was able to upload all my favorites. It took just a few seconds. I have been working on adding tags. I am finding that is harder than I thought. I will probable go back and change some but now my home links are available anywhere I go and I love it.
My next job is to sign up for Plurk. I feel like the early entry. Twitter did not do it for me but Plurk appeals to me.
