Conclusion

For me this has been very much a huge learning curve, as I am not that computer savvy. While I was aware of face book, my space, e-books learning about just a few of the Web 2 sites has been great. I now have a google page for home which I have set up with what I want on the homepage.
Virtual Worlds is not for me but it was great to have a look, I probably wouldn't had even bothered if not for this course.
I have certainly found some great applications which I will certainly be using in the future.
The Web doesnt appear to be as scary now that I dipped my toe in the water so to speak.
Maybe I might just be able to keep up with my very much computer savvy kids and students.......

Task #22 EBooks and Task #23 Audiobooks

There is nothing like curling up with a good book and a coffee but for alot e-books and audio books are the way to go.
I know a couple of people who use audio books while travelling to and from work as they travel a distance everyday.
For those who may have reading difficulties, visual impairment this is certainly a benefit to them. Any sort of reading is great in my book (pardon the pun!!!!) I'm sure that as this grows in popularity so will the expanse of titles.
Cant say that I would use ebooks very much but certainly handy for those out of print books or books that you cant obtain from the local library.

#Task 21 Youtube and Teachertube

Once I started playing around with this and watched some of the videos, I lost track of time. I have used youtube before but mainly to view movie clips, video clips etc, not for educational activities.
My son needed to tie his tie correctly and guess what, they have a video for that. So yes some of the instructional videos can certainly be useful.
Youtube etc is blocked at our school so I had to access this from home. I did find some clips stop and start so for educational purposes this could be a bit of a pain.
Having said that I had a great time watching clips. I loved Conan the Librarian



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZHoHaAYHq8

Task 20# Podcasts

I had a great time exploring the sites. There is what seems like an endless array of topics to listen to and view. I found a few ABC programs I have missed so I shall be looking at them in my spare time.
I did find some of the broadcasts are quite long so unless you download onto an mp3 player or ipod and make these casts portable sitting in one spot for some(including me) could be difficult. I love how if you miss a program eg Gardening Australia it can be downloaded and viewed when it suits you.
Students today have so many amazing resources available to them compared to when I went to school (back in the dark ages!!!!)

Task 19 Rollyo

Decided to check out accounts created in rollyo with those who have completed this task. It took forever to load, so long in fact I ended up closing the site as it was going no-where fast. I have tried a few times now to open rollyo without much luck.
I can see that this could be a great application as its meant to be a fast and easy way to create personal search engines using sources you trust and know are worthwhile.
As a student if I had to wait as long as I have had to load sources I wouldn't.....

Task 18# Wikis

We don't use wikis here at school. I can see that they have pros and cons (like anything) What concerns me is other people can edit your work and replace it with inappropriate information.

Having said that, great for the class environment particularly group activities. Information can be added at anytime and edited. Also the teacher can view and comment on the wiki. I really liked this tool and can see its benefits.

Task 17# Delicious

No matter whether you are at home or at work you can access your bookmarks making this a wonderful tool
You don't have to use the same computer which is great for a class assignment as the reality is they don't get to use the same computer each time. You can tag sites and more sites added as you find them. This is a time saver for the student as they have access to relevant sites without spending time looking for the sites and wasting time.
For me personally I can see its uses particularly for hobbies I am interested it. I can bookmark all my favourite sites and have them at my fingertips

Task 16# Stay informed

Aside from subscribing to a few sites I think that is all I have to do here.

Task 15# RSS Feeds

I have played a little with this. It is certainly a time-saver not having to go through google. At the click of a button the sites you are interested in is there. Great for both personal and professional use. I am always looking for ideas and inspiration for library displays so I now have these "on call" on my igoogle homepage.

Task 13# & 14# My Space and Facebook

These 2 social websites are blocked at our school, and going by the length of time my kids would like to spend on them I know why they are blocked (pity I cant block these sites at home- I may get to the computer a bit more often)
I asked my kids what site they prefered and they were 50/50. One prefers facebook as more of his friends are on it, my other son likes my space. Alot of my friends (who are 30+) seem to favour facebook. Will I be creating my own "space" probably not in the immediate future I just get excited to get on the computer to check my e-mails.
I must admit I sometimes wonder if we posted their over-due library books on myspace and facebook we actually may get them back!!!!
I can see why libraries etc use this tool and like everything it has its place when used in the right context.

Task 12# Flickr

I have managed to upload photos and have a play. To me it was alot of mucking about. Like all things I suppose the more you use it the easier it is, however the amount of mucking about it took me I wont be in a rush to use it too often.

These photos were taken in Sydney - what a difference a day makes as we were in the dust storm yet the next day almost perfect.....

Task 11# Library Thing

I have really liked Library Thing. I can see so many wonderful uses for this application, not only to keep a record of my personal reading but a great way to get suggestions for similiar books on the same genre.
It could be used for suggestions for students on what to read, could be great for bookclubs. They could post a list of highly recommended reads for other students to enjoy.

Task 10# Online Image Generators

I really enjoyed playing around with this, much more than the virtual world. I will continue playing with this as the possibilities are endless

Task 9 Virtual Worlds

Yes there are some very clever and creative people out there who can come up with these ideas. These virtual worlds certainly reach a huge audience. I would say that these sites could become very addictive very quickly as you become more and more involved the the "virtual" world with the characters you create. I also think it could be dangerous not just for young people but adults as well who want to "escape" reality and would rather live in the virtual world.

Being a visual person myself I can see its uses educationally, the 3D aspect of the software could make learning more appealing rather than just text or video. Having said that I am not interested and dont have the time to "play" in the virtual world.

Task #8 iGoogle

Loved creating my own homepage. This I will use at home for all my personal selections eg weather in New Plymouth New Zealand where my parents live etc. At work however I will stick with using the Staff Intranet as it has all my "work related" sites that I need and use.
I still have along way to go with creating and altering my igoogle homepage but I am much more confident than before.

Task #7 Google Books

Wish I knew about this while trying to help my daughter with a uni presentation. I enjoyed searching for books both fiction and non fiction. Great to see that they included the ISBN numbers and where to buy the books. This is a tool that I will certainly explore further and use more now that I know alot more about it. What I really liked was alot of the books included previews, for those books that didnt have previews (I found this to be the books that I looked up that are "Standing Order" books still had a bit of a blurb in some cases they were more indepth than the back cover of the actually book.

Google Maps Task #6

I must confess I have used google maps before. I really like the visual as if I am not familiar with a street or area that I am driving to its great to get an idea what the street or area looks like particularly when going there at night time. Sometimes I find the directions seem to take you the long route so with google maps and the good old refidex I am happy and usually dont end up getting lost.. usually.

Google Docs Task #5

I really liked creating my own document. I can see it has a multitude of uses and of course you dont fill up the inbox of your e-mail account. Of course like anything the more you use it the easier it is. Looking forward to experimenting more with this.

What is this Web 2.0 Business

Task#4

After reading through screeds and screeds of info (brain overload) what I really wanted to know was the basics of Web 2.0 and what it is all about.

• 2 way flow of information between user and provider and back again
• relies on feed back and user partcipation
• connects to a large number of users
• A Web 2.0 site allows its users to interact with other users and to build a "network" and stay in touch with clients, family, friends
• always changing

I found some of the articles a bit too technical, however I have come to realise I have alot to learn to try and keep up with the 21st century.

Finally created a blog welcome to the 21st century Carole...