Final Post

Life-long learning goal - one reason I chose to pursue a degree in computer science after leaving the education field was because I knew it would be an evolving field. I started out in the mainframe days, so it has been challenging and adventurous to try to keep up !! This project has introduced me to Web2.0 tools that I hadn't seen at conferences. It has also been very helpful because I have been able to view the posts of others and get new ideas. As far as continuing the program - keep it going - this is only the beginning.

One word - enlightening.

Thing 17

What a myriad of tools that are available. I looked at skype, logmein, and yousendit. Skype can be used to text with someone over an internet connection and is very useful in the tech industry with support. Logmein is used to log into a remote desktop. Yousendit is used for file-sharing and they host the files.

I looked at yelp in more depth. I will definitely use this when I travel. It has reviews for restaurants, shopping, etc. for all the major cities. I have used trip advisor in the past, but will also take a look at yelp. In order to really "test" it out, I took a look at the reviews for Chicago and found the info to be accurate.

Check it out.

Thing 16

Screentoaster - great tool for demos. I chose to do a screencast of maintenance tips for keeping the RBHS email system running smoothly for users. We have a lot of staff members that wonder why the loading of their email is so slow. They forget to delete messages in the inbox, sent folder, and trash.

Here's the link to my demo:

http://www.screentoaster.com/watch/stUEpWQEdARFtZSVtdX11dUFVV/mailbox_maintenance#

Thing 15

I think voicethread is fantastic !! I can see all types of uses for this with students of any age. I definitely think that this should be shared with everyone.

Thing 14

I heard about wikis several years ago at the ICE conference. Of course, wikipedia was the topic. I think wikis can be useful for the classroom, but also in the business world. In the tech department (which I added a page for us on this wiki) we could use it to journal installation notes. Another useful tool could be to keep current ongoing notes on a project. This would have been particularly helpful in my consulting days or when I was in a multi-building district separated from the rest of the tech staff. We got together every Friday and caught up or exchanged numerous emails.

Thing 13

Animoto - fantastic !! I will definitely share this with my colleagues. I've enjoyed using the RBHS dog pictures in so many different ways - website, flickr, and animoto.

Thing 12

Copyright is something everyone needs to understand and respect. Great website and a great tool for teaching students how to be creative and share it.

Thing 11

I collect cookbooks, so some may not consider it reading, but to me it is. I signed up on goodreads and my username is drfried.

Thing 10

I set up a ning network when I was doing a lesson for Kathy Peterson on web2.0 tools. I also recommended it to a teacher last year after an inappropriate photo was uploaded by a student on the forum site she was using. I told her ning had the capability of monitoring things better than the forum site.

Thing 9

Going along with my theme of dogs I added my flickr slideshow to my blog and labeled it "17 Things that chew". I also added a daily "feed" of puppy pictures.

Thing 8

I really like Flickr. I used the same dog pictures as I did for my website. I did have a problem adding the slideshow to the sidebar of the blog and having the entire picture show up. So I added the slideshow to the bottom of the blog. I can envision all types of uses for flickr - both professional and personal.

Thing 7

RSS feeds - it's a very convenient and easy way to follow information that you access on a regular basis. I signed up for a news link, cooking links, and the people I am following in 17 things. I think it is much better than all of the emails I have filling my inbox with the sites I currently subscribe to.

Thing 6

I had a lot of fun with my very simple website. I decided to share my love of dogs with the rest of the RB staff. I sent out an email to request dog pictures and was very happy with the response. My website is rbhsdogs.weebly.com. Check it out !!

I think weebly is great if you need a simple site. It doesn't have all the features of more sophisticated web publishing software - but hey - it's free !!

Thing 5

My twitter account is drf8701. I have followed Wes Fryer, Vicki Davis, and Sara Moulton. I have seen Vicki several times at the ICE conference. I have also seen Wes' presentations at ICE and most recently at a 1 to 1 laptop conference. Sara Moulton is a chef that I enjoy watching on PBS. She had shows on the Food Network when it was in first began.

Thing 4

Google Calendar - yet another great aspect of Google. I can see it being useful, but the concept of shared calendaring is available in many other apps - student management systems, exchange server/outlook environments, etc. I think it is a good alternative if there isn't a shared calendar feature in the software you are using.