Discovering something new

Discovering something new -

•   The website that I looked at is  - http://www.go2web20.net/

Babble.com

The 1^st Web 2.0 site I selected was babble.  This website helps you to learn a new language.  I tested using Spanish.  The site has both a beginner and advanced section.  The beginner section started with common words and how to pronounce the basic conversational phrases.  There was also a review/quiz at the end of each section.  I wanted to find a website that is free and can help me become familiar with Spanish for a trip to Spain this summer.

I will ask the language teachers what they think of Internet sites that can be used to supplement instruction.

Micello.com

The 2^nd Web 2.0 site I selected was Micello.  This site allows you to save indoor venue maps.  The maps can be saved and accessed on a computer and phone.  I thought it could be an interesting site to see the inside layout of places (museums, shopping centers, attractions).  You can search and then combine or mash-up maps together.  I checked out the site and found it difficult to use.  I found a local museum and shopping center but was distracted by the Twitter messages of people inside the buildings.  I was able to view all the Twitter messages including all the inappropriate and foul language included in all the messages.  This site would not work out well for school.  I like the idea that you can create and personalize maps of places you want to visit on a vacation. 

Fullcontact.com

The last website allows you to sync contacts between several social media sites (Facebook,  Twitter, Linkedin).  The site helps you to organize and add photos and key contact info and clean up contacts.  The site has option for business to organize a contact management system.  I think this site could be useful for personal organization and but not classroom use.

Bookmarklets

The two sites that I tried was the Printliminator & the Keepit Youtube site.  The Printliminator site is useful for saving ink when you need to print.  I think I can use that myself and also recommend it for my students when they need to print in class.  The Keepit Youtube web site is something that I can use for my blackboard site.  This week we were talking about how Youtube videos links do not work very well when we try to insert them in blackboard.  We were discussing that we needed to convert them to an mp4 format and then insert them.  This website converts the Youtube videos to mp4 and the video looked great.  I liked not having the advertisements during the video and not having the links on the side.

QR image response

The idea of the QR barcode image is interesting.  I struggled with finding an application that made sense for me.  I researched and found that this is a great marketing tool.    I have a friend who is trying to launch a new counseling services business and I thought that the QR link to her website would be a good idea.  In addition to my friends business I could present this idea to the marketing teacher at my school.

Marketing - QR image

Marketing QR - new counseling services in Doylestown, PA

Fill up your tool box

Shortener site – goo.gl http://goo.gl/Kbch6 (Wilkes classes blog) http://goo.gl/nIePa (School web site) Shortener site - Tinyurl http://tinyurl.com/skutzblog (Wilkes classes blog) http://tinyurl.com/skutzsharepoint (School web site) Fill up your toolbox I tried out two URL shorteners Tinyurl.com and goo.gl. Both had unique features that I liked. Tinyurl gave me the opportunity to customize my new name. I could choose a name that I could easily remember. Goo.gl did not give me the option to select the shortener but organized everything together on one screen. I think that these tools are useful for links that I need to visit frequently for both classroom and personal applications. I also think that these tools are good examples of 21st Century web applications. In the Intro. to Web class that I teach I can create an activity that explains how shorteners can be used to organize important links. Shorteners are also useful tools for Twitter and internet, email and mobile marketing.

Web 2.0 new technologies

Dig Deeper into the Mainstays The site that I chose to dig into is Pinterest. Pinterest is a Web site that people can add images of things that interest them. Included are a description and a comment under the picture. Pinterest was under the category of Curation. I didn’t know what Curation was and I looked it up. Curation is a social-media Web site that people gather collections of things that interest them and they share them. I’ve heard these sites referred to as “inspiration boards” or “mood boards”. While researching I found Rockzi and Tumblr. Rockzi is so interesting. I looked at the recipe category and spotted several recipes that sounded awesome. I also found a website that had a web-based application for spreadsheets. The software was “Smartsheet”. This software had many innovative applications for interactive spreadsheets. The software included interactive links to files, built-in discussion threads & comments, file sharing/limiting users and build-in calendars. I shared the details of the website with my husband who is an accountant and uses spreadsheets everyday. He is going to look into the Web software for the company that he works for. I also started thinking about how I could incorporate some of the tools into my Business classes. Next, I moved onto Pinterest. In researching Pinterest I found that this website started in 2010. The Web site has become very popular according to TechCrunch “By January 2012, that number of users increased to 11.7 million, making it the fastest site in history to break through the 10-million unique-visitor mark, for this, it has been valued at $1.5 billion.” Pinterest may be a site that can be used to gather subject/content related information and share with the class. It may also be useful to gather examples for marketing advertisements and display for the class. Something that is clear to me is that kids are using social media for communication with their friends and the logical progression is into education and business. Our district is very conservative and reluctant to grant use to many Web 2.0 sites but students should be informed.

Unit 2 - Using Web 2.0 technologies

Using Web 2.0 technologies I spoke with a social studies teacher who is using discussion threads and also Google Earth. We focused on how Google Earth can be used for research projects about European countries in her class. I’ve used Google Earth for a research project where students create a virtual tour to colleges they are interested in attending and companies they may like to work for in the future. The Social Studies teacher said that she chose Google Earth because our district has the software downloaded for easy access for all students. She said that Google Earth allows students to zoom in and view the cities and towns that they are researching about. The Google Earth presentation is more interesting and engaging than a simple PowerPoint presentation. Google Earth also opens links to external sites that are related to the topic. We both spoke about the pro’s/con’s of using Google Earth for presentations. The students liked using it and thought it was fun. Several problems we both had were related to students saving the .kmz file and exporting the tour file for grading. We both worked out several kinks and thought it was a worthwhile Web 2.0 project.