23 Things

Well, it has been a long but wonderful journey this semester. I look back at all that I have accomplished via 23 Things and LiveText and cannot get over the amount I have learned. I have been introduced to so many new tools and elements of technology. I use to think myself very tech savvy but now..... I compare it to waking up one day and realizing there are 6 more continents on this Earth to explore!
I have enjoyed the class, Dr. Wall, and my classmates. I hope to see all of you around in the near future. This is a class that I think every education major student should take. I am confused as to why some people are not required to take it. The benefits of this type of class are endless.
I know that there were a couple of things that I learned that I might not use in the future but I would say at least 75% of everything I learned will be used. I realize that this is all apart of the process of being a lifelong learner. In order to continue learning I am going to need to always be up to date on the resources and tools available to me. There are really no excuses for not knowing what Web 2.0 is!
I think the best suggestion was to give ourselves 15 mins a day to explore and maybe take in a webinar. I think I could listen to a podcast, read a blog or tweet or comment in a chatroom. This is important, this goes to us continuing our education and continuously better educating ourselves. Interaction with colleagues and the community will keep us connected, especially if we work with little kids, we will need as much adult conversation and interaction as possible!

Thing #23 Yay!!!!!

Dr. Wall's 23 Things is loosely inspired from 43 Things I Might want to Do this Year and the 43 Things website that is a goal setting social community network. When you go to the 43 Things page you are presented with tags for all these things that people want to do. The only thing I noticed was that a few of the tags should be combined. I believe if they were there would be only.... 43 things on the page when you view it. There were tags for "lose 10 lbs" and "lose weight", these could have been combined. The 43 Things I might want to do this Year website is more directly related to technology. I believe that a lot of these items we have covered. I think that it would be a great website to send or forward on to friends and family that you know "thing" they are tech savvy. Then maybe they can have the same eye-opening experience that I have had this semester. I look at the list and see it as a general guideline for all things technical that we should be ensuring that our students are capable of doing. The list should be broken up into the items that all elementary school students should know and be able to do and then the middle school ages... that by high school our students would be masters of these tools and be more fully prepared to enter the read world where these tools are very much so at use.

It was kind of funny how we started the semester off with Creative Commons in LiveText and are just now ending the semester with Creative Commons in 23 Things. In all honestly I believe that it should have been much further up on our list, like #5 maybe? Thankfully we had the class lesson on it, otherwise I may have been at a high risk of copyright infringement throughout the 23 Things project, outside of the Fair Use policy. This is a very serious issue that should be addressed immediately with students. I think that once they understand it they should be held responsible for it. My only other thought was to limit the search abilities on school computers strictly to the Creative Commons Search option.

Thing #22

I found the Educational Podcast Network to be the most user-friendly. I was listening to the HeartBeat Radio podcast. I was amazed that it was produced by elementary students. I realized that students are so much farther ahead than I have been thinking. These students created podcasts that were interviews. The were interviewing each other about their favorite parts of classes. They had a continuous very intelligent dialogue going on. I believe that if these were played for students they would be interested. Kids will listen to other kids before they listen to adults. I know that in my LiveText project I referred to the possibility that I could record a podcast if I was going to be absent. I know see that the podcasts can be for the students to record too! I think that it would be great to start with student reading aloud their favorite book, poem or short story. Then teaching them to add the music and introduction would create a higher level of learning.

Thing #21

Animoto was very easy to use. I immediatly saw the potential application for this. I ended up using it as a possible project for my WebQuest. I know some kids are more creative then others and some are more technical than others. I had the final product of my WebQuest be a visual element that could be a video, powerpoint or comicstrip with mash-up images. Animoto, like a majority of the other tools we have learned about would be great in the classroom. The more that I am learning the more I can see myself using it in the classroom and realizing that I potentially could have a really great class and one of those rooms that students "love" to go to,
I think that Animoto goes well with learning about YouTube. If I ever wanted to create a nice photo montage and put music to it I could create this project and then upload the final product to YouTube.

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing #20

I like YouTube. Before I made myself a Facebook account I had used YouTube to upload videos so our family and friends could view them. From the Ning Network I discovered Dr. Walls posting about YouTube having an educational part. I think that is great. I know that a majority of the students will be familiar with YouTube, but showing them the educational side of it will help them. They will be able to find and discover videos that will be helpful to them and to their projects they may be working on. I think that if students create their own videos for a project they should upload them on YouTube and share the link with friends and family, show them what they are learning and doing in school.

This is a video that I took on a Whale Watching cruise a couple of years ago. The show we saw was amazing and I was told a once in a life time experience. The cruise narrator said that in 12 years of working she has never seen such a show. Of course we wanted to share it with our friends and family.

Thing #19

At first I found it amusing that I had never once considered that there might be a social network or community out there other than Facebook and MySpace! I really need to learn to think outside the box and out of my comfort zone. I googled and found PictureSocial. My hobby is photography. I originally started my undergrad with a minor in photography but have long since pushed that to the back burner. My husband actually is getting interested in it lately and has resparked my interest. I found this site to be a great source for diving back into the Photography community. Seeing as photography is a visual art, being able to see other photos that have others have been taken, learning their techniques and tricks of the trade is great. Being able to ask questions and seek out help from people that are more knowledgeable than me and those that are amateurs like myself is great. I believe that whenever I am teaching and getting into an area that I may not be familiar or comfortable with it will be important to search out peers in these type of social networks.

Thing #18

This "Thing" was so funny to me. This was about the only Thing that I was able to think "Oh... I got that!" I started with a MySpace account about 6-7 years ago when it was first popular. Then when Facebook came out I was very resistant to changing over to it. Eventually I created an account because my little sister, my dad and my mom had created accounts. At first I found Facebook to be boring because there was not the same opportunities to make it unique and personalized with color and graphics. Eventually though, I realized that it was more professional, user friendly, and I found that I was using Facebook more and more. I am now a full-time Facebooker and I rarely check my MySpace account anymore... maybe, every other week? What I love is that Facebook does a better job of putting you in touch with old classmates and co-workers, even family! My grandma has officially joined the Facebook community at Christmas. I love it, she still lived in Michigan and she came down when my husband and I first bought out first home. Now she is able to keep up and follow all the things we are doing to make the "house" our "home. I do wish that she had been a part of this sooner, like when we were over in Japan, there were so many things I was posting on a daily basis to keep in touch with friends and family in the states and to share our new lives with them.
I would see this as being a social tool for the classroom. If a group was created for the class, then parents and even students that have accounts could join in. I believe that even more so than a blog, this would be a good place to post pictures of activities in the classroom or just a quick daily update on how the school day went.

Kate Newsham's Facebook

Thing #17

My first reaction to Del.icio.us was that I almost wish when we did our Diigo class account we had used it. I really do like all of the information and great websites that our Website of the Day provided. I just felt that at times it was difficult to scroll through all of the posts. I know that there were tags that we could look up but I like the visual presentation of this site. I immediately added it to my Google Reader. I was not able to find the "socialbookmarking" tag though, when I typed it in it told me there were no bookmarks with this tag. Can anyone help me here???
I believe that this ties into being useful if I had a classroom blog, wiki, homepage or chatroom. I love how all of these pieces are tied together and just assist in making one another work better. I think that this website itself is possibly to fair advanced for my hypothetical "fourth grade reading class," but then again, who knows? Children are so far advanced and tech savvy compared to myself these days!

Thing #16

I really enjoy most Google Apps. I created the iGoogle home page for myself. I immediately was showing it to my husband and telling him he should make one. He has a similar function on his MacBook where he can put a lot of widgets or apps on his dashboard, so when he views it he can see a calendar, the weather, news, etc.


I also used the MSN Calendar. I liked that it already had US Holidays marked on it. I think it is an important tool because I am becoming a very busy person! Between school and working two part time (although thankfully flexible) jobs, I need to stay on track of where I belong and when.

I found Zamzar to be a great tool, it converts almost any file into another format. Especially since I work on PCs and my husband works on a Mac. We are often having problems when I want to send him a file, especially if it is a video clip. When he is deployed and gone for a long time I like to send pictures of everything going on while he is gone. Now that I have a new cell phone that takes pretty good videos, I like to send him video clips, like of our puppies playing together, the storm we had blow through last weekend, etc.

Thing #15

I found the Wiki experience to be great. It was as exciting as when I first learned about blogging. I have often referred to a "classroom blogspot" in my LiveText project. I use it in reference to it being a place for students to post homework, comment on each others work, etc. I believe now that this whole time I should have had a classroom wiki. The students should have been uploading the images they created, the poems the wrote and their other assignments into a class wiki. I like that we had a wiki already set up for 23 Things that we were able to jump into and just start working with, editing, and exploring.

I am taking the challenge and using Wikispaces to create the Wiki I would have had my students submit their work to. Kate Newshams Reading Class Wiki

Thing #14

Here is a Mind Map I started with Bubble.us. I found this site to be amazing and really wished that I had discovered it much sooner. I believe that bubble charts or concept webbing is a great visual way to brainstorm. This can be used when trying to take a lot of pieces of information, like standards being taught, and seeing how they might connect and relate to each other, what can be taught together, etc.
I liked Gliffy too. I found Gliffy to be another source that I wish I had discovered sooner. The ability to create a flowchart is till there, I do not believe it to be as easy to accomplish as with Bubble.us though. What Gliffy does offer is the ability to also create a floor plan, as we created out classroom drawings. You do not have the option to give as much detail, such as texture or fill effect, but it is a very quick, easy to use, way of creating a layout or floorplan.

Thing #13

Using Zoho Docs was very simple.


This is my gradebook for LiveText, I imported it into Zoho Spreadsheets and then used the published function. I did note that you can actually still work within the spreadsheet. Publishing the work was as easy to figure out as publishing this blog! I think that being able to access these documents via the internet is very beneficial. We will now be able to do without any type of portable memory device if need be. These documents could be sent to colleagues for review, editing and input. I was interviewing for a job at one point where I would have been a personal assistant for a contractor... I would have been able to work from home, he kept all of his work on Google Docs and I could view everything that he had and work within the document and/or retrieve any information that he may need over the phone if he was on a job site.

Thing #12

I started with the Google Calendar. I found the calendar very easy to use. My first thought was that I need to figure out a way to get the alerts to my husband, he never can remember what I am doing. There are times when I get done at an interview, doctors appointment, etc, I will find a dozen missed calls and voicemails wondering where I am. After that initial thought I began thinking how important this would be for myself as a student and once I start teaching. There will be many deadlines, steps to a project or meetings in the coming years. It will be important to keep track of them. If I made a public calendar as a teacher it could have all of the assignments, projects, tests or reading for each class and be accessible to he students and/or parents.



I found iGoogle to be very exciting too. The first thing that caught my attention was the weather 5-day forecast. I am obsessed with always knowing what the weather is. At first glance it reminded me of the way the Dashboard can be set up on a Mac. I have never worked with it very much but my husband has is account set-up, when he clicks on his dashboard the weather shows, calendar, sticky-notes, etc. I think the gadgets were the most fun. I added ones that were silly, simply because I like them, like the turtles and penguins, I love turtles and penguins. Then I added the important gadgets such as FOX News and the weather radar. Even the To Do List gadget, I am the queen of lists, especially to do lists, then there are the shopping lists and the items to bring lists. It is a sickness, I have lists everywhere, I blame it on my mother. I then spend a large portion of time moving, minimizing and deleting the assortment of gadgets all over my iGoogle page. I believe that this is a great resource for us as educators but for our students as well. We are moving into times where we do not need to know all sorts of information, we need to know how to search for information. Making an iGoogle page like I have creates every possible type of search, weather, news, movie times, recipes, sports, etc.

Thing #11

I started with Bloglines to search for special education related blogs. I began my search with "special education" I was hoping to find something relevant to follow. I did not find their "search"to be very useful. Maybe because I had a broad topic, but I was looking for bloggers that were only special education related, not just scanning the blog titles for that phrase, I would come across items that were just news feeds of who the new special education head of the department was for such-and-such city.

When I was reading the Cool Cat Teacher Blog I found a bit more success, and not through any search engine. When it suggested that we look at the "blogroll," I did. From there I started looking at other blogs on that roll and adding the ones I liked to my RSS feed. I was traveling from blog to blog when I came across a post that was titled Stop Reading-Skim Dive Skim. I clicked on the blog, began reading, then stopped, and started cracking up as I realized I was literally doing, letter for letter, what the blog was discussing. So often we read anymore by skimming, stopping and reading or "diving" more in depth at key points and then skimming on.

With Technorati I had a little more success in my search for a significant special education blog. At first, searching for "special education" turned up nothing, but without the quotes I had some results to search through. The one that caught my attention was Teaching All Students I found this to be a mix of good usable information and a good source of personal tales. The writer is a special education teacher and often blogs about using technology with his students.

Thing #10

I found the RSS to be an incredible piece of technology. I am a little crazy about things. I check the weather every morning. Whenever I have down time I am on my phone reading the Top Stories and the "Strange News" from the Associated Press. Now if there was a way to link the RSS feed with my Facebook and my banking accounts I would be set. I must spent 20-30 minutes every morning.

I think that this would be a great resource in a social studies or current events type of class. If the class had a Google Reader and subscribed to certain reliable and credible news sources it would be a great way to start each class. I think that an English or Language Arts teacher might use an RSS feed if they assign blogging to their students, they may use it as a journal assignment, having the RSS feed will help check each students entries. In the same manner, if a teacher uses a blog like I suggested in a previous post they may set their RSS feed to monitor each blog related to each class period to just monitor if the students or parents are commenting.

I created the public page. I am currently sharing two funny stories from my "Strange News" AP feeds. My Public Page

Thing #9 cont. again

fortune cookie
Originally uploaded by Kate Newsham

This image was created with Fortune Cookie Sign Generator. I discovered it through the Sign Generator link posted on 23 Things. I believe that it could be used to create scavanger hunts or other activities in the classroom. Little messages can be put on the fortunes. I also think that any of the other sign generators have the potential to be used in the classroom, its great to cover the walls with unique quotes or rules, especially with younger ages.

Thing #9 cont.

book
Originally uploaded by Kate Newsham

This was created with PhotoFunia. This is a fun website for creating creative images. This is the same type of image generator that you would use to create magazine covers. This could be used to highlight a new student, or student of the week. The way that my image is represented in this book could be a creative cover for a students project or report, with an image of the subject in the image generator.

Thing #9

in the eye
Originally uploaded by Kate Newsham

I used FunPhotoBox. This is another image creator. This website also offers the ability to put a face on another head or a head on another body. The image generating possibilities are endless but it spans creativity. These can be used in projects, in the classroom for artwork. In the younger grades the children faces can be put on bodies of a professional they want to be when they grow up and displayed in the room.

Thing #8 Cont.

Pets
Originally uploaded by Kate Newsham

I liked working with the Mosaic Maker. I found it easy to work with and to understand. I connected the source to one of my photo albums in Facebook. I had over 30 picture in the albums but only needed to use 13 of them. I went back through Facebook and reordered the pictures so that the first 13 that the Mosaic Maker pulls were the ones that I wanted to use. Other than that, the mashup was very user friendly. I can see this being a possible opening page for a great PowerPoint. Your title could be in the center, and then the various subjects or following slides could have a pictorial representation in the other 12 squares. The rest of the PowerPoint could be navigated by just clicking on that square to go to that slide and the connected information.

Thing #8

My Presentation

I used Splashr to create a slide show of my trip to Venice, Italy. It took me longer than usual to figure Spashr out. I didn't feel that they had a sufficient guide or step-by-step instructions. I had separated my pictures on Flickr into two different sets, flowers and Venice. I wanted to create the slide show of just my Venice pictures. I caught the box that let me put in my Set ID, unfortunately in other mashups they required the whole url. I kept trying to work with the url that I copy and pasted from my Flickr page. I was about to give up when I decided to try just working with the numbers of that url. Sure enough, it worked just fine after that. I then had more fun trying the different players and figuring out which one worked the best with my photos. I can see this being used an any subject, but I believe that it would be great to show multiple pictures to introduce a new topic. It might not be time to start giving the students a lot of information to be copied down, just a visual introduction.

Thing #7

colour flower
Originally uploaded by Kate Newsham

I found Flickr a lot of fun to work with. It was very simple to understand. I really liked that I was able to upload multiple photos at one time. There were not step-by-step instructions in 23Things to finding the group, sending a photo to the group, or sending the photo to our blog, but nonetheless it was rather easy to figure out.

I can see Flicker being of great use in the classroom. I think that it would help, with younger children, to give them a pool of images to use with a project and decrease the possibility of any inappropriate images making their way into projects. I also believe it can be used as a library to pull from for showing students a lesson, visual aides or videos. As far as the photos being in a public space, well if they cannot be seen by the public then they most likely shouldn't be posted on the world wide web! If they are private, then mark them private and only allow certain people access, or if it is that private, then send them via email only.

Thing #6

Writeboard

Writeboard won second place for Collaborative Writing and Word Processing from Web 2.0 Awards. I found it to be a very easy to navigate and understand website. It immediately struck me as having great potential to be used as a tool in the classroom/school. I believe that it can be used for constructive peer editing. At a elementary level, students can work in pairs or groups on peer editing/correcting each others assignments before turning them in. I believe at a middle school level it could work well for a language arts class as a daily or weekly homework assignment. Have a very poorly constructed piece posted and request each student to log in and find or make one correction. The way the tool works it will be easy to see which students make what correction. I believe that at a high school level it can work in peer editing. Most students should be able to edit their own papers by that grade level, but it is important to get feedback or have the opportunity to run an idea off another student. This would promote team work and encouraging students to use the resources (other people) as well. The nice thing about the versions function and user function is that the teacher can follow and track how much editing is being down, if one student is relying on another student to make many corrections, many suggestions, and eventually, in essence, write the paper for them.

Thing #5

"School 2.0" is much like Web 2.0, it is a concept and a frame of mind. With all the technology available to us as educators, we are learning and teaching in a completely different way then ten or even five years ago. Richard MacManus summarizes in his post "that's what Web 2.0 means to me - everyday, non-technical people using Web technologies to enhance their own lives and businesses. The Web is an infrastructure, a foundation. What we create and build on the Web is what Web 2.0 is all about." This is a parallel transfer to School 2.0, we are using Web technologies to enahnce our teaching lives and education of our students. We are taking what is available to us in the Web infrastructure and building off of it our knowledge, our lessons, almost anything we wish to relay to our students.
I believe that School 2.0 is not the future of education, but the now of education. We, as educators, and the persons responsible for the developing minds of children that will be our future leaders, have to be committed to prepare them to function on the world they will be entering. The world of the Web 2.0, or most likely Web 3.0 by that time. We have to prepare ourselves by staying on the forefront of technology development and share it with our students. We need to take every opportunity possible to incorporate it into our work with students so that it becomes second nature. Yes, they still need a foundation outside of technology, they do still need to know how to multiply 56 x 93 without a calculator but they also need ot know how to write it into a forumla on Microsoft Excel.

Thing #4

Commenting is dialogue it is a form of communication and interaction, key concepts in a successful community. We are living in a virtual community nowadays. Our worlds can be broadened through the internet, we can learn new things, talk with people from around the world and virtually visit just about anywhere.

The reading material provided gave me a lot to think about. I like Cool Cat's blog to being with, but her blog about commenting was very insightful. When commenting on other people's blogs we have a responsibility to uphold, yes, freedom of speech, but there is still a matter of respect and knowing you audience. It is important to contribute, it lets the blogger know, via your comment, that they were heard, what your vote on the topic may be and in the end it attracts attention to your own blog. People will always be curious, and it is common to start clicking on the blog commentator's blog to learn more about them.

Another reading, 10 Techniques to Get More Comments on Your Blog had some great suggestions. I think the important techniques are key concepts to consider when holding any type of dialouge. If the same techniques are considered when forming or teaching a lesson they will help create a lively discussion in the classroom. A few of the techniques are to invite comments, as questions, be open ended and interact with the comments that are left.

I chose someone to follow from each class. I started with Cassidy Fischer from 3040-01 section, she caught my eye when I first visited because of her enthusiasm for the 23 Things. She has a lot of great ideas for how to incorporate the technology things that we are learning.

Next I found Kenneth Allen to follow from 3040-12. I was reading his blog and recognized some of his frustrations with different items that I had encountered myself. I have commented to him, and I hope he comments back, maybe we can help each other out with these tricky things.

In 3040-15, I am following Nick Newsome, why? Because we have almost the same last name, actually you should say mine more like the way his is spelled. I found his blogging to be interesting, in fact when he mentioned Facebook, I went and looked for him on Facebook.

In 5540-81, our class, I am following Debbie Smith, her titles of her blogs caught my attention. I am wondering if it was the same for her other followers, she has a lot. I never gave any thought to my titles being anything other than Thing #1, Thing #2, Thing #3.... and so on, so much for claiming to be a creative person!

Last but not least, I chose to follow Jamie Edwards from the 5611-W1 class. It appears they are already done with all of their things. I am curious to see if they will continue blogging or set up new blogs. They also felt that they were internet savvy, I used to think that, but 23 Things has opened me up to a whole new world.

I have been following Bud the Teacher since setting up my RSS feed. I like following him because he teaches technology in Colorado. His blogs typically relate to technology somehow. Most recently he was blogging about Learning 2.0 and a type of conference that is being held in Colorado, when I linked to that information I was inspired by the statement "Education is conversation. Conversation creates change."

eLearning Technology is another blog I follow, again, because it is technology related. The blogger, Dr. Tony Karrer, did teach at one point but his educational background is in Computer Science. On one of his most recent blogs I found myself with a good laugh. I was skimming through the content, then stopping to read specifics, and then realizing that I had just done, verbatim, what the blog was about, Skim Dive Skim.

Thing #3

The first thing that pops to mind is using the blog to open a dialog with the parents. I don't know if it would be likely for daily updates but maybe at least on the weekends. I am sure that a general schedule is given out to the parents in regards to the class, activities, assignments, etc. If your teaching a younger room it might be helpful to have a more current, weekly update posted on the blog. Yes, there are always letters home to the parents, but in the new era of a "greener planet" it would be wonderful if we could cut down on some of the paper. I would start the year, with a letter (yes, ironic) or in the initial open house/meet and greet, by outlining my intensions. I would ask that the parents take some responsibility to check the blog on the weekends. I would also encourage that they comment, interact, and try and be more involved with their children's education. For example, when given a year long schedule at the onset of the new school year, Joey's mom might not remember that on week 17 they will be studying plants. But if she checks weekly, at the end of week 16 she will see that they are studying plants the following week and might spend the weekend with Joey out in the garden or go for a nature walk and set the stage/interest for the coming week. Maybe Suzie's dad works in at a nursery and sees the blog, responds, and asks if he could come visit the class, bring plants, and talk about his job. I understand that for the most part the same might be achieved by e-mails. I do believe in a little bit of competition though. If I had sent out an e-mail to all the parents they would not know what one another responded with. This way they can see that other parents are responding and interacting more and it might drive them to interact more. This could also foster new friendships, finding things in common, Joey and Suzie might not get along in the classroom, but if their parents learn that they share a common interest in plant/nature and decide on a play date at the park, it role models for the children the building of a friendship.

In regards to an older class, I believe that I could use the blog as an interaction between them, their parents and the teacher. I know, from personal experience, that the most common response to "what did you lean today?" is "nothing." If the parents know what went on from the blog a more direct question like "did you find Romeo and Juilet interesting?" can potentially instigate an actual discussion.

Thing #2

I found that creating the blog was rather simple. I love to cook and bake, so to me it was as simple as following a recipe. I am also a very creative person, I believe in time I will explore the format and templates and make them my own. I have already changed the template twice and then changed some of the color scheme. As far as the naming of the blog, sometimes the simplest is the best, my name!

I found that creating the avatar was a bit more frustrating than creating the blog. In the end, it boiled down to my misreading (okay, skimming...) the instructions. I went to the website and just started creating the avatar. I was getting frustrated as to the inability to click on certain selections that I wanted. When I went back to the 23 Things, I realized that we were instructed to create and account first! Once I created the account, I then got down to what I wanted. I created an avatar that generally looks like me. Right down to the heels for footwear. I don't particularly care for the style of the heels, but I do love heels and figured it was better to represent that than nothing at all. I think my avatar is something that might change periodically depending on my mood as well. So time will tell...

Thing #1

I would like to say that the easiest Habit is the 1/2 part, the PLAY! It is always easiest to play. Thankfully I am a Lifelong Learner. I like to learn, I always have. If I could get paid to just attend school and learn, learn, learn, I would be set for life. Correction... if I could get paid well!

On a more serious note, I believe the easiest habit for myself is the first one, beginning with the end in mind. I am a goal oriented person. I am known for making lists, making lists for my lists. I believe I learned this from my mom. I have continued to live by it because I know that it makes life so much easier. I start my day with a list, chores, errands, things to buy, things to accomplish, people to call, etc. At the end of the day I will have a sense of accomplishment, if I have completed everything. If I haven't completed everything, then I can evaluate what things may have hindered completing the list. This works well for learning, I enter the learning environment knowing what I want to get out of it in the end. I know that it is on me to make a list that will get me to the end goal and to follow through if I want to "know" the material. This leads into the second habit, I know that I am responsible for my own learning.

The hardest habit would be having confidence in myself as a competent and effective learner. I have always had a passion for school and learning. I also always thought I would love to teach, I am glad to finally be working towards my goal. I do feel though, that it had been awhile since I was in the educational or learning environment. I am worried that I won't be as effective of a learner. Its a fact, information is easier to absorb the younger you are and I am not getting any younger!

I am hoping to learn more about Web 2.0. I have always considered myself very tech savvy. Amazingly I am learning in the first couple of weeks of this class that I have been standing on one continent and am just discovering there are six more to explore! My baby sister has had a blog for two years now, since she was 15 years old. I have followed her blog but never once thought about setting one up, what I would write about, or how to go about it. Surprisingly it was rather simple, following step by step instructions, just like a recipe for cooking or baking. I do not believe those people who claim they can't cook, just as I am sure Professor Wall doesn't believe that any of us can't create a blog. I am eager to explore. I am a traveler, I have been to a number of other countries physically, so using my metaphor I am looking forward to virtual exploration now.