This one has been the most time-consuming Thing yet, as I have hit snag after snag learning to read carefully (and read again, and reread, then read what I read). It was truly a trial and error experience that I would not always label "play," which to me indicates fun and pleasure.
Alternating frustration and elation came as I misunderstood and wasn't successful at some parts and completed others. I did have to seek help from another "23 Things" graduate. Even discovering how to operate features on the computer, as well as navigating the instructions, was challenging.
Moving back and forth from home computer to school computer, from Safari to Firefox, from monitor to printed page, from instructions to play area involved some fancy dancing! All the above, while keeping up with the Rangers and their quest to win the ALCS, mind you, was tricky!
I tried to be Anal Annette in following instructions to the letter. The sample helped as---I confessed this in my first Blog post---I am not good at visualizing a finished product. The leeway given to be creative and add my own style and touches was the fun part, once I had a handle on the operations needed.
Finally, with great relief, I feel the finished product, my very own wiki page, is one I am pleased to let others know about. My evaluators may not be as thrilled, as I am still not sure about the Table of Contents. It does not look right to me, but I am pressing on in this technology trek . . . to Thing # 10.
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Thing # 8 Stretch
While exercising I watched a PBS special, "Michael Feinstein's American Songbook," because I enjoyed his singing and piano playing, the old World War II songs, Gershwin and other eras of music. As for the content of the program, it is astounding how much memorabilia the artist and many others have collected related to American music history. Sheet music by the tons, recordings of radio programs, recordings of WW II presentations heard only by our troops and then spirited away, video and tape recordings are in abundance in folks' personal and professional collections. People have built and arranged entire rooms to house such items of American music history.
Looking up Michael Feinstein in Wikipedia, I thought surely a person's bio would be straightforward, cut-and-dried, simple. I did find factual and pertinent information and even mention of many of the topics in the television special. But a visit to the Discussion tab revealed substantive exchanges among people about information appearing in the original post which no longer appears. The Revision History of the wiki was amazing in the length of the list of input by many participants---53 additions, changes or deletions on the first page alone, just dating back to 2009. My understanding of the Wiki dynamic grows by visiting Wikipedia. Since it is "open to the public" for editing, it was quite interesting to examine how the interactive process of a wiki works.
Looking up Michael Feinstein in Wikipedia, I thought surely a person's bio would be straightforward, cut-and-dried, simple. I did find factual and pertinent information and even mention of many of the topics in the television special. But a visit to the Discussion tab revealed substantive exchanges among people about information appearing in the original post which no longer appears. The Revision History of the wiki was amazing in the length of the list of input by many participants---53 additions, changes or deletions on the first page alone, just dating back to 2009. My understanding of the Wiki dynamic grows by visiting Wikipedia. Since it is "open to the public" for editing, it was quite interesting to examine how the interactive process of a wiki works.
Thing #8 What in the World is a Wiki?
A few of the wikis I looked at are:
1001 Flat World Tales
Code Blue
Discovery Utopias
Dr. Reich's Chemistry Wiki
Go West
Kindergarten Counting Book
Primary Math
Wikis are quite interesting items of technology that seem similar to web sites yet have distinct differences. Each one is individual in appearance and layout, with or without photos, graphics or art work. The intent in the educational ones are for Teachers to disseminate information to their students, with course syllabuses, instructions, explanations, schedules, assignments, projects, etc. Student comments, questions, work, photos and projects can also appear on educational wikis. Even young children can post writings, diagrams, etc. in a meaningful way for all to access.
The aspect of this tool for many people to participate in is a difference in a wiki and a web site. Material in a wiki can be input by many participants, edited, added to, etc., in a dynamic way, whereas a web site is static, to be changed only by the designer or web master. Contrary to building a web site, "There is no HTML to learn or any programming interface to master. You simply click on the wiki page’s 'Edit' button" to add, delete or change something.
Another refreshing difference in a wiki from a web site is the absence of advertising on most wikis. The wiki focused and to the point about the topic or project, with no distracting frills, no flashing messages, no tricky paths to follow to other areas of the web.
I can imagine how useful a wiki would be in a collaborative project with other teachers, with students to directly communicate crucial information, or to plan events involving many people. Even large family reunions, as a personal use, could be managed more easily than making a lot of phone calls or exchanging emails. They are superior to conference calls because there is a black and white written record of each participant's input. Wikis open up a new world of learning and communicating interactively, such as the solicitation for thousands of responses from students over the world to input on the Thousands Project.
1001 Flat World Tales
Code Blue
Discovery Utopias
Dr. Reich's Chemistry Wiki
Go West
Kindergarten Counting Book
Primary Math
Wikis are quite interesting items of technology that seem similar to web sites yet have distinct differences. Each one is individual in appearance and layout, with or without photos, graphics or art work. The intent in the educational ones are for Teachers to disseminate information to their students, with course syllabuses, instructions, explanations, schedules, assignments, projects, etc. Student comments, questions, work, photos and projects can also appear on educational wikis. Even young children can post writings, diagrams, etc. in a meaningful way for all to access.
The aspect of this tool for many people to participate in is a difference in a wiki and a web site. Material in a wiki can be input by many participants, edited, added to, etc., in a dynamic way, whereas a web site is static, to be changed only by the designer or web master. Contrary to building a web site, "There is no HTML to learn or any programming interface to master. You simply click on the wiki page’s 'Edit' button" to add, delete or change something.
Another refreshing difference in a wiki from a web site is the absence of advertising on most wikis. The wiki focused and to the point about the topic or project, with no distracting frills, no flashing messages, no tricky paths to follow to other areas of the web.
I can imagine how useful a wiki would be in a collaborative project with other teachers, with students to directly communicate crucial information, or to plan events involving many people. Even large family reunions, as a personal use, could be managed more easily than making a lot of phone calls or exchanging emails. They are superior to conference calls because there is a black and white written record of each participant's input. Wikis open up a new world of learning and communicating interactively, such as the solicitation for thousands of responses from students over the world to input on the Thousands Project.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Thing # 7 Commenting On Blogs
At the onset of this online course I did not really understand the difference in social networking and blogging. I surely did not understand that commenting was important in blogging. So I appreciated the insights shared on blogger commenting protocol. It just makes sense that if people take time to share their thoughts, they welcome and deserve to have readers respond. Conversation is at the core of learning, whether in person on in print.
After reading comments to my own blog, I experienced the value in commenting. We hear so much about dialoguing and discussing issues, as that is how people are generally programmed to be social and interactive by nature. What better way to be connected to a worldwide community of learners than to blog and exchange thoughts via comments. We can reach out to people all over the globe via the blogosphere with its aspect of commenting.
I understand and appreciate blogging more now and discern the difference more clearly in it and social networking. While both have great capacity for change and definite uses, I feel the educational value of blogging is invaluable. The interplay of thoughts at perhaps a more cerebral level than activities of social networking tools make the two animals by nature very different.
While both types of cyberspace connections cry for responses from the readers, I understand why commenting on blogs is different. It's a tool for confirming, sharing, rethinking and shaping ideas. Without commenting there would be only one voice, a monologue rather than a conversation.
After reading comments to my own blog, I experienced the value in commenting. We hear so much about dialoguing and discussing issues, as that is how people are generally programmed to be social and interactive by nature. What better way to be connected to a worldwide community of learners than to blog and exchange thoughts via comments. We can reach out to people all over the globe via the blogosphere with its aspect of commenting.
I understand and appreciate blogging more now and discern the difference more clearly in it and social networking. While both have great capacity for change and definite uses, I feel the educational value of blogging is invaluable. The interplay of thoughts at perhaps a more cerebral level than activities of social networking tools make the two animals by nature very different.
While both types of cyberspace connections cry for responses from the readers, I understand why commenting on blogs is different. It's a tool for confirming, sharing, rethinking and shaping ideas. Without commenting there would be only one voice, a monologue rather than a conversation.
Thing # 6 The RSS Adventure
As I wandered through various blogs out there in the blogosphere I realized how much reading there is to do daily to keep up with all the interesting matters. I also became aware of how focused I needed to be in such a pursuit to satisfy the 23 Things requirements, changing from one browser to another, one bookmark to another, noticing whether to copy and paste, click subscribe, add, follow, edit, preview, etc. The sheer mechanics of this adventure demand lots of concentration for me as well as visual memory and a kind of innate sense about finding one's way around the screens and layouts of so many pages of text and formatting.
One topic may contain so many titles to choose from that time could easily get away following various threads. It was intriguing and tempting to get off course. I am, again, amazed at the sheer volume of information out there to be sifted through. It is like the proverbial use of a straw to take tiny sip from a gushing fire hydrant.
It is fascinating that "techno geniuses" have devised a means for bringing the "news we want to use" to us by means of RSS feeds on topics that are pertinent to us. What a time saver. What a tool this would be for those doing research, as well as for the average lifelong learner who wants to stay current. Ah, technology! Thy name is truly incredulous!
One topic may contain so many titles to choose from that time could easily get away following various threads. It was intriguing and tempting to get off course. I am, again, amazed at the sheer volume of information out there to be sifted through. It is like the proverbial use of a straw to take tiny sip from a gushing fire hydrant.
It is fascinating that "techno geniuses" have devised a means for bringing the "news we want to use" to us by means of RSS feeds on topics that are pertinent to us. What a time saver. What a tool this would be for those doing research, as well as for the average lifelong learner who wants to stay current. Ah, technology! Thy name is truly incredulous!
Thing #5 Loss of Trees and Honeybees
Tornadoes in New York City? In Kansas, Oklahoma or Texas, for sure, but one rarely hears of them in The Big Apple. It was moving to read the personal comments of people who'd lived and worked around the earth-friendly giant trees ravaged and lost during the September 16, 2010, tornado that ripped through Brooklyn and Queens.
Perhaps a most unexpected and destructive aspect was that a huge colony of honeybees lived in one large tree cleft by the storm. The impact devastated the colony because of the demise of the one on whom its existence and operations depend, the queen bee. In a time when honeybees are dying in high numbers across the country, it is a double tragedy to lose both the bees and the trees, both of which are so necessary in our literal and figurative ecological landscape.
To think that a community of millions of bees was decimated due to the queen being lost and presumed dead, is sad. Marauders from other bee colonies came and stole the honey so that people could not salvage even it. Noble efforts to relocate the honeycomb, thinking to attract the queen and survivor bees, were not successful.
Reference was made to thousands of other trees throughout the area destroyed by the tornado, some in poignant detail. The piece was a sad commentary on the wrath of Mother Nature's less kinder side.
Perhaps a most unexpected and destructive aspect was that a huge colony of honeybees lived in one large tree cleft by the storm. The impact devastated the colony because of the demise of the one on whom its existence and operations depend, the queen bee. In a time when honeybees are dying in high numbers across the country, it is a double tragedy to lose both the bees and the trees, both of which are so necessary in our literal and figurative ecological landscape.
To think that a community of millions of bees was decimated due to the queen being lost and presumed dead, is sad. Marauders from other bee colonies came and stole the honey so that people could not salvage even it. Noble efforts to relocate the honeycomb, thinking to attract the queen and survivor bees, were not successful.
Reference was made to thousands of other trees throughout the area destroyed by the tornado, some in poignant detail. The piece was a sad commentary on the wrath of Mother Nature's less kinder side.
Friday, October 1, 2010
Thing # 4 - Blogging About Blogs
After sampling several blogs I realize they are as varying as individuals are, as creative as anyone cares to be, and as subject-specific as anyone has thoughts to share. The fact that blogs publish in a world-wide arena, and invite comments from world-wide readers, makes blogs an incredibly interactive tool and source of shared thought.
"How refreshing was the insight by on education's age-old quandary, to give homework or not. How paradigm-shifting was allowing blog-reading in SSR time, which introduces the idea of students having the choice to read blogs not just books at SSR time. How solid and convincing are the 13 reasons blogging is educationally sound for students in our time."
Blogging by its nature has students taking initiative to shape and express their own thoughts, to use their own voice in expressing thoughts, and to invite and evaluate others' thoughts. All these have built-in personal growth and ownership of learning in the blogging process. I understand and appreciate the value of blogging as never before.
"How refreshing was the insight by on education's age-old quandary, to give homework or not. How paradigm-shifting was allowing blog-reading in SSR time, which introduces the idea of students having the choice to read blogs not just books at SSR time. How solid and convincing are the 13 reasons blogging is educationally sound for students in our time."
Blogging by its nature has students taking initiative to shape and express their own thoughts, to use their own voice in expressing thoughts, and to invite and evaluate others' thoughts. All these have built-in personal growth and ownership of learning in the blogging process. I understand and appreciate the value of blogging as never before.
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