Week 14 - The last Thing - Finally!

Thing 19 - The very last Thing

Congratulations, you made it! You have independently completed 18 Learning 2.0 Things and hopefully you learned a lot and feel empowered to tackle new technology that might come your way in the future. Only two last tasks remain before you are done with this assignment!

Thing 19 Learning2.0 Tasks
1. Summarize your thoughts about this program on your blog.
2. Submit your blog URL to your Learning 2.0 Assignment on Blackboard on or before midnight April 30, 2010 so I can give you a grade.

Week 13 - Tag Clouds

Thing 18 - Tag Clouds

Tag clouds and social bookmarking are common on the Web. You came across them at the Flickr and LibraryThing sites earlier in the semester. It is high time to have some creative fun and create your own tag cloud using Wordle.


http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/246567/500s_Dewey_Decimals

Thing 18 Learning2.0 Tasks
1. Check out the Wordle Gallery to get inspired.
2. Next, create your own Wordle based on a School Library Media related topic.
3. Include your Wordle in your blog by creating a screen shot of your wordle and inserting it as an image. For capturing better screen shots download the free program called Jing.

Week 12 - Podcasting

Thing 17 - Podcasting



The term podcast is a merger of the words iPod and broadcast. You can think of a podcasting as blogging on the radio where people broadcast their podcast using the computer and internet. Real podcasts are published as RSS feeds so you can subscribe to them using podcatchers such as iTunes or similar programs to automatically transfer new episodes to your computer or mp3 player for listening (or viewing as some podcasts are video - vodcasts).

Podcasters put their podcasts online and create an RSS feed for them. Listeners download episodes or subscribe to podcast feed to become regular listeners. To find podcasts you can use podcastalley.com, epnweb.org. You can read more on how to create a podcast in this beginners guide to podcasting.

To listen to a podcast you need a computer with internet connection or mp3 player. To create a podcast you need a digital audio recorder that can create mp3 files and space on a server to put your mp3 file online for other people to find it. It doesn't have to cost much to create a podcast if you use free programs such as audacity (digital audio recorder) and podbean (create account to store your podcast).

Many universities have their own podcasts (available through iTunes U.). If you are curious you can check out some USU podcasts. National Public Radio has podcasts for a lot of its program freely available too.

Thing 17 Learning2.0 Tasks

1. Use a podcast directory to find podcasts about a school library media related topic.
2. Listen to the podcast and write a blog post about what you learned.
3. Be sure to include a link to the podcast in your blog post.
4. Download and install iTunes
5. Use iTunes to subscribe to a free podcast on any topic (iTunes store => podcasts)

Week 11 - Online Video

Thing 16 - Online Video

Online video hosting sites such as YouTube or TeacherTube allow people to share videos online. While some of the video content on YouTube is highly dubious, other content can be very educational. If you are wondering how to do anything technology related you can do a YouTube search and more often than not somebody has posted a video on it. For example, if you want to know how to add video to your blog (one of this week's tasks) simply type "how to add video to blogger" in the search box and pick a video to watch.

NOTE: YouTube is often blocked in schools. If there is a particular video you want to show your students you can download a Firefox plugin called Download Helper that allows you to download the video. Use Format Factory to convert the downloaded video into a format that you can incorporate into a PowerPoint presentation (.wmv) or play offline.



Thing 16 Learning2.0 Tasks
1. Explore YouTube and find a school library related video to add to your blog.
2. Embed the video in a blog post (using the embed code to the right of the video).
3. Write a post about the video you chose.