Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Virtual Worlds
Can't say I am a fan of Virtual Worlds and I haven't changed my mind. I don't think this something I would want to encourage with students either. But is just my point of view and I am sure there are some positives involved - just not for me!
Image Generators
Image Generators are a bit of fun. I like using them to create signs to put on my IWB in the morning to get the students involved in the day - it might be a welcome message or a provocation for something happening in the day.
I really liked the doppelme website in which you could create your own avatar. I have added my avatar to my profile on blogger. I think this would be great to use with the students to create their own avatars to use with their own blogging ( something I intend to experiment with soon.)
I really liked the doppelme website in which you could create your own avatar. I have added my avatar to my profile on blogger. I think this would be great to use with the students to create their own avatars to use with their own blogging ( something I intend to experiment with soon.)
Social Networking Sites
Users be aware. A common sense approach needs to be taken when using any of these sites.
Facebook
After I watched the movie "The Social Network" I did have a great desire to deactivate my Facebook account but I do find it useful to keep in contact with friends interstate and overseas. It is great to see what they are up to and share photos with them. Not that I like sharing my photos.
Th trend of some colleagues to take photos at work functions and then post them on Facebook is something I don't like and try to avoid this happening or I request photos not to be posted. ( doesn't always work though)
Lots of Education groups are now creating Facebook Pages and I do use my Facebook page to keep up-to-date with information, news etc.
Twitter
I am a fairly recent to Twitter and I am actually finding it a really useful way of keeping up-to-date with trends in education, connecting with other PYP educators globally and finding out about some useful apps and websites. I have been looking for a good way to try and keep up with all the tweets. I have tried Nambu (only for Macs), Tweetdeck and recently Tweetbot. I recently attended a workshop and Seesmic was recommended as a way of keeping track of all your social network sites with one app. I am yet to check it out but I intend to have a look soon.
LinkedIn
I have recently closed by LinkedIn account as it was not something I could see as being useful. I think it is quite useful in the Business sector but have yet to see any advantages for it in the Education sector. I guess I could be convinced otherwise though. It did take me a while to see how Twitter could be useful. I like to remain open-minded about new tools and applications.
After I watched the movie "The Social Network" I did have a great desire to deactivate my Facebook account but I do find it useful to keep in contact with friends interstate and overseas. It is great to see what they are up to and share photos with them. Not that I like sharing my photos.
Th trend of some colleagues to take photos at work functions and then post them on Facebook is something I don't like and try to avoid this happening or I request photos not to be posted. ( doesn't always work though)
Lots of Education groups are now creating Facebook Pages and I do use my Facebook page to keep up-to-date with information, news etc.
I am a fairly recent to Twitter and I am actually finding it a really useful way of keeping up-to-date with trends in education, connecting with other PYP educators globally and finding out about some useful apps and websites. I have been looking for a good way to try and keep up with all the tweets. I have tried Nambu (only for Macs), Tweetdeck and recently Tweetbot. I recently attended a workshop and Seesmic was recommended as a way of keeping track of all your social network sites with one app. I am yet to check it out but I intend to have a look soon.
I have recently closed by LinkedIn account as it was not something I could see as being useful. I think it is quite useful in the Business sector but have yet to see any advantages for it in the Education sector. I guess I could be convinced otherwise though. It did take me a while to see how Twitter could be useful. I like to remain open-minded about new tools and applications.
Library Thing
Library Thing is an excellent tool for organising book collections. I think I could possibly use this to organise my classroom library and to keep a record of what is there. I might possibly use this with the students to help them with novel selection.
I am also thinking that this might also be a good way to keep track of the books we use in different Units of Inquiry. Then I would have a record of them no matter where I was.
Worth exploring further.
Flickr
Flickr is an easy way to add photos to blogs and other social networking websites.
The photo which I have added is form a trip to Thailand a few years ago.
The photo which I have added is form a trip to Thailand a few years ago.
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