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Another Cool Thing

Wow! I feel like Rocky Balboa at the top of the stairs. Can you here the music? This has been such a wonderful experience for me. First, I would like to thank the academy. . .oh, wait that was a different speech. I would, however, like to thank everyone in my Education 5540 class. I have enjoyed reading your blogs, watching your videos, and just getting to know all of you better, really, thank you. And many thanks to Dr.Wall for giving all of us way more than what we paid for, really, thank you.

Thanks to the "thing" experience I've learned so much more about myself. Things like: I really want to be a Mac, I can survive on very little sleep, I enjoy having a blog, I really enjoy exploring the net, Facebook is not as bad as I thought it would be, Animoto is way too cool, Google has tons of cool features that I can't imagine having to live without, mashups are fun! Flickr rocks! Zoho writer is awesome! And I am so thankful for creative commons, wiki's and RSS feeds.

I will continue to keep up on the latest web 2.0 developments by reading blogs and by playing around on the internet. I have also subscribed to the RSS feed for the learning 2.1 blog. It's important for me to keep up with all the new developments because of all the awesome tools it provides for me as a teacher, a student, a lifelong learner, a social being and as a human being.

I would like to keep this blog but with different content, you know, re-fashion it into something else. And I hope that I will because I believe it is therapeutic; it's a means for expression and heck it makes me feel sorta artistic and even a wee bit smarter, and how bad can that be. Will anyone read it, you ask? Well that's not really the point is it. Is it? Nah, I don't think so. I mean sure, I really want others to share their comments, but if I am the only one who answers my questions I will never be wrong. On the other hand, if I should connect, now and again, with another soul who gets my insanity, that would be way groovy also. Either way I consider this knowledge, about blogging, that I have obtained from working the 23 things program, to be a gift, for which I will always be truly, truly thankful for.

Cool Thing #23

The original 23 things was created by a library technology director named Helene Blowers. She designed this program as a way to encourage her staff to explore technology. Since then 23 things has gone global! There are a hundreds of people and a plethora of sites that are using modified "things". In fact, 23 things has gone global!
So, as a result of Helene Blower's ideas and cool teachers like Dr. Wall, here we are actually doing, actually exploring and actually learning about technology, isn't that cool! But the coolest thing about these "things" is that we get to give all of this knowledge away. We get to help our future leaders get excited about learning all of the awesome unlimited number of ways they can succeed by using technology. We will help people obtain their dreams my friend. . .isn't being a teacher cool! Need I say more? Seriously. Okay, let me end by saying this: As teachers, I believe that Creative Commons will help us and our students to create and to collaborate in ways that may seem unimaginable to us now. We need to continue to explore. Are you with me? Come on, the sky's the limit! Free at last, free at last. Thank God almighty, we are free at last.
Let us create, let us share, let us remember that we are one!
Man, I'm having fun! How do you feel?

Cool Thing #22

A podcast, hhmm. I never even considered listening to or researching what a podcast was because I just figured that I needed an iPod. Well, thanks to this awesomely cool thing, I am dumb no more! Because today I learned that podcasting is available to me, as a PC.*
Of all of the directories listed in the discovery exercise I really (and I mean REALLY) loved the site LearnOutLoud.com. This site offers many podcasts on a variety of different subjects. AND in addition to the multiple podcasts offered, they also have a wide selection of audio books on the cheap. So, I listened to several snippets and added the rss feed to my Google homepage. There is so much content on this site I'm thinking of withdrawing from the university, and life, just so I can listen and learn and learn and listen to all of the cool stuff on this site. . .seriously. And who knows maybe in the future, after listening to some more self-help stuff, I will be ready to venture out into the world of podcast making, but until then I must listen to this personal growth podcast. Will you join me? You don't have to stay for the whole thing, just listen for a couple of seconds (by clicking on the link).
PERSONAL GROWTH POD

Lets Have Some Fun!

*Disclaimer: I'm not proud to be a PC. Someday I will be a Mac!

Cool Thing #21

These "things" just keep getting cooler! Animoto is a terrific site! It was incredibly easy to set up an account and equally as easy to create a short video. I wish I had more time to play! This site is also way cool because it can access my photos from flickr.
I uploaded a song from the Animoto library because I haven't done my creative commons homework yet and I was unsure about using other music. . . I mean I don't want to end up in the poky for violating some kind of copyright legal mumbo jumbo stuff.
Here is another great excuse, albeit it's true: I don't have a lot of photos on my computer yet because I have been too busy playing on the internet, um, I mean doing research, so the video is composed entirely of my dog, Gilda. I do plan on making videos in the future, with like real video footage, because it is so much fun. I usually use Windows Movie Maker but I hope that Santa will bring me an Mac, I mean Santa is real, right? Don't tell me, I don't want to know.