Twitter in Plain English

Courtesy of the Common Craft Show - Twitter explained. If you prefer the version without subtitles, you can go directly to their website.

Why spell checking is so important

I think this pretty much speaks for itself. Thanks to @TeachaKidd on Twitter for the link.

Photo credit: Act like a professional

You know you're a geek when....

You squeal upon discovering that Wikispaces has added a new feature. There I was editing one of my wikispaces and I moved my mouse up to boldface a word I had just typed and "Bam!" there it was. A new bold little "A" icon with color stripes underneath it.

Could it be?

I clicked it and that's when I let loose a squeal that embarrassingly attracted the attention of my office co-workers. It wasn't the squeal that so much made my cheeks rosy, it was having to explain the reason behind my outburst. Laughter followed of course, but they all know how much I love using wikis and a few admitted that they, too are happy to now have that option. One person even said that this was the happiest she's seen me in a long time.

Am I that pitiful? No, I'm a just a geek who grins and yes, squeals when I get new techie "toys", even something a simple as text formatting. Here's hoping Wikispaces gives me plenty more reasons to squeal in the future. For page level access, I might even dance on my desk.

Wikispaces Blog » Blog Archive » Bringing Color to Your Wiki via kwout

Web 2.0 Tools for Educators - Sesson 1

I wrote not long ago about my new toy, Adobe Connect, that I was to use for a web-based professional learning course on Web 2.0 tools that I'm facilitating. The first session, which was designed as an overview of the course with an intro into Web2.0, went very well. Since our elementary teachers get out of school much earlier than middle and high school teachers I have two "start" times on the days that we have synchronous discussions. I stagger it to begin at 3:00pm and then again at 3:45. The sessions are also recorded so they can review if needed later.

Everyone seemed excited about using Adobe Connect - a relief to me. I wasn't sure how open they would be to this type of professional learning, but so far so good. Keeping my fingers crossed. In addition to using that for synchronous discussions and teaching, I am also using a private Ning social network to post homework assignments. The ning will also serve as a place for them to reflect on what they are learning in a "closed" setting. However, anything they create as a part of fulfilling the course requirements will be posted on a protected wikispace. I'll post where it is once they have begun to publish projects to it.

Just a little about the course, it is designed into modules. They are not required to complete all of them, but must participate in the first overview module. The rest explore a variety of Web2.0 tools. To complete each module, they must fulfill the assignment requirements, most of which will be project-based along with some reflection responses. If you would like to take a look at what is being offered, I have it posted on my Tech Tips for Teachers wikispace. If anyone has any great sources out there, please share them with me!

Photo credit: Flickr