#21 - Week 9 - Podcasting

I must admit that I wasn't exactly sure of the definition of a podcast. I pretty much picked up the general idea from context clues, but if I listened to one, I probably couldn't have told you that I did. I realize that I have listened to hundreds of podcasts over the last few years, namely the "LATEST NEWS" podcasts on my Internet provider's home page. I've also listened to podcasts on my favorite sports websites (espn.com, foxsoccer.com, steelers.com, etc).

I checked out Podcast.com and PodcastAlley.com to locate a few podcasts that I could add to my Bloglines account. Once I re-consulted the directions (after some trial and error) for adding the RSS feeds, I added two podcasts to my account. One is educational, while the other is definitely informative, but only for a sports fan. The first podcast is called EscapePod, which is dedicated to science fiction writing and reviews. Out of any genre, science fiction is my favorite, so I wanted to add this podcast so that I can receive updates on the latest science fiction works hitting the stores. The second podcast is titled Pardon the Interruption, which is a daily show on ESPN that I often miss because I am still at work when it airs. Now I can always check it out whenever I want, even if I have to work late.

#20 - Week 9 - YouTube

Aaaaaahhhhh......YouTube. What a great innovation. I have wasted many an hour clicking on a specific video and then clicking on any video even remotely related at that video. YouTube has that Amazon thing going - "If you like this, you'll probably like this." YouTube doesn't exactly word it like that, but you know what I mean. More often than not, they are absolutely right - I do like the related videos that they suggest. That's how I get lost on YouTube.

Even though YouTube can be extremely useless (but fun), it can also be used as a learning tool, as long as the user is pushed in the right direction. There is a virtually endless number of instructional and/or educational videos on basically any topic or subject. Navigating around YouTube is really easy - I like the basic search feature of the site.

As far as specific videos go, I usually try to find music videos that I can't normally see on music video channels, or I look for soccer related chanting and singing. Aside from the Philadelphia Union, which begins playing May 2010, my favorite soccer team is Liverpool FC. The fans are (usually) pretty boisterous, and I enjoy watching videos of them singing on the famous Spion Kop. Although there are a lot of songs and chants to choose from, my favorite is a pretty simple one that isn't sung as often as it once was, but is still classic. It's title is "We Won It Five Times." If you type that phrase into the search engine, there are many clips of it.

#19 - Week 8 - LibraryThing

LibraryThing is probably the easiest tool to navigate that we have been introduced to this semester. I have searched for certain books from time to time and have stumbled on the LibraryThing website. However, I never thought about creating an account and went on my merry way. I think I should have considered exploring the site more thoroughly. It is very easy to set up, navigate, and the option of tag searching lets a user narrow down the amount of information that he or she wants to choose from or sort through. I added several books that could be used in conjunction with my lesson plan. It took about fifteen minutes to determine if the books were relevant to the lesson and catalog them. Not bad. Not bad at all.

http://www.librarything.com/home/thetralfamadorian

Note: I'm sorry, Dr. Farmer, but I am not sure how to create a link to the above webpage. I have been searching for a while now, but all the information that I found explained what a link is, but not how to link a webpage. If you respond to this, can you please give me a pointer or two on linking the webpage? I know it's not difficult, but I just can't get it right. Thanks.

I also completed a second WebQuest lesson plan that involves more web-based activities. It is posted on the class wiki. I am not looking for a different grade or anything like that - I just thought I should, and that it will help me out in the long run if we have any other assignments related to the lesson plan.

#18 - Week 8 - Zoho Writing

Zoho Writer is an excellent tool that eliminates a lot of the extra steps necessary for word processing "the old-fashioned way." Out of all of the web technologies that I have seen this semester, this is one that I will probably use most in the future. The tutorial is informative, but not overwhelming. Every web innovation always tries to show its potential users that it is the greatest advancement of all time, but the Zoho crew actually made me believe them that they are indeed top notch. The tutorial/introduction was that convincing to me. I created a simple document - just a greeting to anyone from LS 589 - and saved it to my account. I did run into a little trouble, though. I attempted to add the document to my blog, but I, uuhhmm, couldn't find it at first. I eventually found it after I first published this post, so that is why the chronology is a little off. In retrospect, adding the document was pretty easy - I just had to find it in the Drafts section of this blog. Anyway, Zoho Writer looks to me to be an extremely useful tool that I will more than likely return to often.

LS 589 - Welcome to the Land of Zoho

Welcome those that are reading this from LS 589!

 

I will be trying to post this to my blog.  If you are reading this right now, then the post worked.  That makes me happy.  This is one of the coolest tools I have seen so far this semester.  I will definitely use it more often.  Take it easy, everyone.

OK - So I didn't post this exactly right initially, but I did figure out where the greeting went and it wasn't permanently lost in cyberspace, which is good. I guess most pieces of information aren't permanently lost in cyberspace when you think about it.

#17 - Week 7 - The Sandbox

Man, I had a tough time on this exercise, to be perfectly honest. I'm not sure exactly why. Creating the lesson plan wasn't a problem, but figuring out where and how to post it certainly was. My main snag was figuring out how to create a link of the lesson plan in the Sandbox. Once I finally got over that hurdle, everything was aces. Here is a link to my WebQuest lesson plan:

http://classroomlearning2.pbworks.com/f/LS+589+-+Lesson+Plan+-+Jonas'+Fate.htm

Sunday, 11/1/09 at 7:36 PM - UPDATE! UPDATE! - The above lesson plan is a solid one (in my humble opinion, of course), but is probably not as web-based as it could and should be. I put together another lesson plan that incorporates more web-based activities. The lesson can be found at the following link and also on the class wiki:

http://classroomlearning2.pbworks.com/f/LS+-+Lesson+Plan+-+Space.htm

Note: I'm not sure why the above links are not directly sending the user to the webpages. I couldn't figure out how to "link" them.

#16 - Week 7 - Wikis

Fortunately, I - and many of my classmates - are familiar with wikis. Not just because we use Wikipedia at times, but because we had to set one up for one of our previous classes. I like the idea of complete and total collaboration. No one person can really bully his/her way into becoming the ringleader. It's about checks and balances, and no opinion or critique is more valuable than any other opinion or critique. As far as sharing and adding reviews and/or editorials goes, wikis are very cool to use. The Blogging Libraries Wiki and The Book Lovers Wiki are great examples of this sharing of ideas. However, I do have some reservations about the most famous wiki of all, Wikipedia. I know my credibility is somewhat shot because I mentioned in the first sentence that I definitely use Wikipedia at times, but how can that information be trusted? When people go to that website to look something up, more often than not I'm guessing they're assuming that the information is reliable. That's a big, big assumption, and if you are using it as an absolute factual resource, then you are taking your chances.

I don't mean to be a downer, because I think wikis are an excellent learning tool. I think it goes something like this:

Sharing ideas/opinions/reviews on wikis = Really useful and helpful

Sharing 'facts' on wikis = It can be reliable, but it can also be difficult to separate actual fact from information that someone perceives as fact but actually is a little off