Thing 23

Final Reflections

In my leisure time (what little of it there is) I like to design and make jewelry. Before learning this craft I had never heard of crimping pliers. They are used to “crimp” a small bead at the ends of your beading to ensure that your necklace or bracelet doesn’t come apart. There are other pliers that can be used but once I discovered the crimping pliers I would never choose any other tool for that job. The right tool for the job makes all the difference. Thanks to 23 Things I now have a large repertoire for teaching and learning using Web 2.0 tools. I am a happy camper. So today for example when I sat in a meeting where a document was being edited by a group and one person was attempting to capture all the various suggestions for edits and changes, I immediately thought WIKI!!!
My new tools will help me to ensure that various tasks are done well, easier to do, done more efficiently and more likely to accomplish the intended goal. There are some challenges however and I’d like to offer my list of pros and cons.
Pros

• I have an increased number of communication tools at my fingertips
• Time can be saved when multiple contacts are needed to edit a document (WIKI, Google doc)
• Tools allow for easy sharing of work
• Decreases or eliminates distance barriers, encourages global communications
• Data collection widget allows you to hear from those who visit your site
• Don’t have to know HTML, scripts are provided
• Increasing amounts of information are available

Cons

• I still prefer face to face contacts for some tasks. I like to see facial expressions, gestures etc in attempting to fully understand someone’s point
• May miss cues that you can observe when working in person
• Some tools rely on user preferences i.e. tags are not “standardized” and don’t mean the same thing to everyone.
• Information overload!! Bloglines brings in way too much to read at one time if you subscribe to prolific bloggers
• Can’t always control or know who’s responding
• Limited to page, object formats if you don’t know scripts or HTML
• Information overload. 2 cautions: increased information does not guarantee increased wisdom and all information presented does not necessarily meet “standards”. How do you know information can be trusted?
• Lots of advertising on some sites
• Equal access is not available for all stakeholders
• Sometimes difficult to control who sees or has access

That’s my 2 cents worth. Now I will make some choices of which tools to get good at and explore them more. Hey 23 Things, what’s next? As always, thanks for listening. Leslie

Thing 15

When I subscribed to 2¢ Worth I had no ideas how many articles were going to show up. I did discover the clippings link which allows me to save any part of the post I choose in a file. It gives me the option of reading them later, keeping it for future reference and sharing them with others. I don't feel so bad now when I "Mark them read" and they disappear. I'm not so worried that I missed something or eliminated something of importance. As always, Thanks for listening. Leslie

Thing 5

I recall a statement in the 23 Things introduction that warned not to be suprised at changes and differences that might be encountered. Got it - I did struggle with subscribing -not only because of instruction changes but apparently the Vista operating system does things differently too. I was able to subscribe two out of the three ways -like the bookmarklet the best. Lot's of stuff to read but like my Ipod its what I chose and want to read. That increases the likelihood I'll actually read it. I think that would work well for a principal - initial set up might be intense but once you get it going you can stay informed about your favorite topics and ideas quickly. Thanks for listening.

Thing 4

I could sit for hours and click that NEXT BLOG link and randomly read each one - If I had time! As much as I'd like to do that, I can't. So-o-o-o-0 I have to pick some favorites (which is another challenge), and then I can stay up at night :) and up to date on the latest posts.
I liked the folder aspect of Bloglines and being able to organize them by topics. It's kind of like having new book chapters sent to - you get to watch the story unfold. I also like the fact that I don't have to go check but that info is sent to me. Lee LeFever's explanation was too funny!! Love that low tech explanation of high tech information.
Still struggling with thinking about how a school principal might use this. Communicating with staff comes immediately to mind, things like weekly notes, calendars of events etc. It seems especially helpful for times when there is a need to notify and update frequently. It would also be wonderful to engage teachers in dialogue around instruction - I just worry about the time. Thanks for listening...Leslie