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