Moving from Blogger to Google Sites

"YouTube Google Sites Logo." 19 Dec. 2008. Google Sites Tour . <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_KnC2EIS5w>.

Until recently, Google did not have a web-design tool worth using. But with the launching of Google Sites this all changed. The product is becoming stronger and stronger every month as their development team continues to add features and flexability.

So the question becomes, when does one choose to post their work using the layout of a Blog, or design their own web-site using a tool like Google Sites?

• When the theme is sequence-oriented, a Blog works great. For example, posting daily lesson plans, students submitting work in sequential order, and hikers posting a daily log of their trip.
  
• However, when the theme is topical in nature, a web-site seems to to be much more appropriate. The challenge I was having with this Blog is there was no logical way to organize the topics, and wading through 40 Posts is certainly not very efficient. Here's a tutorial by the Google Sites team to get you started.

Meanwhile, I used Google Sites to rebuild my complete web site, including restructuring all the Posts on this eLearning Blog to make them easier and more intuitive to find.

Come join me at this new location and see what you think about this great Web2.0 product.

Remote Computer Sharing

Tech Support and Training --- from a Distance

Products: TeamViewer and Ammy Admin

I live in a world of tech support, where being onsite is often not possible. Sometimes I need to take control of a machine to diagnose an error, configure software, transfer files, provide training or demonstrate a process.

Following are two of my favorite products for remotely sharing any computer from anywhere. Both products are free, secure, firewall-friendly, and take only a few minutes for even a novice to implement.

Clients can observe or interact as you remotely drive their computer.

Note: I want to emphasize that these tools are not designed to remotely manage your home or work computer while you are away. LogMeIn is a great tool for that type of application.

---

Product #1 TeamViewer

TeamViewer (connects PC's and Mac's). Supporter (person providing support) | Instant Customer - Partner (person receiving support) Note: Administrative privileges are not required (if you select Run rather than Install), as nothing resides permanently on your computer. Note: If you're using a Mac to support a PC (or visa versa), be sure that both parties download the same version (ie., v3 or v4) Note: You may ignore all warning messages that may be triggered by XP or Vista. Supporter: Go to http://teamviewer.com/download, download, then Run the Full Version Contact your instant customer (partner), preferably by phone, to provide additional verbal instructions and support. Instant Customer (partner) Go to http://teamviewer.com/download Run the Quick Support. Instant Customer will view a unique ID# and Password. Instant Customer provides this information to the Supporter. Supporter Supporter simply enters the Partners ID# See illustrations: (example: 164 341 023) Press 'Connect to Partner' and enter their Password. Voila --- you are now connected and support is a keystroke or mouse away. Transferring files is also a few clicks away (either direction).

---

Product #2 Ammyy Admin

Ammyy Admin (remotely connects PC to PC) Reliable and user-friendly tool. Quick to setup --- even for a novice! Operator (person providing the support) | Client (person receiving the help) Note: Administrative privileges are not required (if you select Run rather than Install), as nothing resides permanently on your computer. Operator and Client: Go to http://ammyy.com, and click the following button: Hit Save. Then open and Run the file. You may ignore all warning messages that may be triggered by XP or Vista. Operator: Click the Operator tab. Ask the Client for their ID, type it in the box, and press Connect. Client: Client: Click the Client tab. Provide your ID# to the Operator. Press the Start button. Press the Accept button when the operator is connecting. Voila --- you are now connected and support is a keystroke or mouse away. Transferring files is also a few clicks away (both directions).

So which one do I prefer? I narrowed all the recommended products down to TeamViewer and Ammyy Admin. My preference is TeamViewer, mainly because it supports both the iMac and PC. It also appears to be significantly more professional, has a long list of well known corporate users, and offers great support and documentation.

However, periodically the work session may crash (meaning the 'connection' is dropped). One simply reconnects and continues working. As any tech support person knows, it's always nice to have an alternative tool in the bag of tricks. Ammyy Admin is simple and fast so that's my second choice.

DropBox - The Future of FileSharing & Syncing Data

DropBox is a brilliant piece of web-based software that allows for storing and sharing of files between computers. It behaves like a remote online hard drive, and removes the hassles of networking local computers, carrying flash drives, etc.

But more important, it is a simple way to seamlessly and automatically sync data between computers --- PC's, Mac's, and Linux.

Example: sync your work computer, home computer, and notebook computer.

Watch a short DropBox video, or take a Tour.

Scenario #1:

• Download DropBox onto computer #1 (PC, Mac, Linux)
• Install DropBox
• Login with your email address.
• A DropBox Folder is created inside of the Documents folder (or wherever you choose).
• Drag all files (any filetype) into the DropBox Folder
• They're instantly synchronized with a Dropbox folder on the DropBox website.
• Access these files by simply logging into getdropbox.com from any computer, any time, any where.
  

Scenario #2:

• Download DropBox onto computer #2 (PC, Mac, Linux)
• Use the same Login (email account) as computer #1
• ALL files from PC#1 are synchronized on computer #2 (regardless of platform)
• Edit or add files from either computer and they are instantly synchronized.
  

Free storage up to 2 Gig. Small fees for up to 100 Gig.

Google Chrome (browser)

Google released a lightening fast browser that focuses on running web-based apps.

A smarter implementation of Javascript rendering makes pages more responsive and let your browser do more than one thing at once (multi-task).

It's crash-protected -- by using smarter memory management each tab is independent and one crashed tab does not impact the others.

It's built on Webkit, the browser framework used to power Safari and the iPhone.

Download at: http://www.google.com/chrome

Find more information on installation and essential features.

CatchVideo.net (download YouTube videos to your PC)

CatchVideo.net

This is a very fast (and free) video converter.

1. Simply copy/paste the URL of a YouTube or MySpace video.

2. Select the type of video format you wish, including:
.avi, .mov, .flv, .dvd, iPod

3. Select the Convert/Download button

4. Save it on your local computer.

Great for backups, burn to CD or DVD, transfer to iPod and a host of other uses.

Catchvideo.net. Try it soon.

Voice Thread

VoiceThread is a simple but powerful Web2.0 tool.

One can upload images and create an audio narrative to go along with each image. Audio comments can be left by visitors, and the narrated slide show can be emailed or embedded in Blogs and websites.

Consider the image below. It's about an exciting, free web-based product called Scribblar. I used VoiceThread to take the images, narrate over the top, and post a nice 3-minute video that is much more effective than just an image.

Imagine posting several photographs of a World War II veteran in action, then having this person annotate while viewing the photos. Or imagine a student posting photographs or scanning images of a project then speaking about each picture.

VoiceThread is as simple as uploading pics, documents, or presentations and simply annotating over the top.
After recording one can share and publish the results. Just copy the URL or the Embedded Coding into an Email, Blog, or Webpage.

Scribblar

Scribblar is an interactive white-board with tons of bells and whistles.

There's nothing faster or easier for effective online collaboration. Great for online training, tutoring and creative brainstorming.

This free web-based application is real-time multi-user with live audio, text chat, image uploading and sharing, and tons of tools (pencil drawings, shapes, highlighting, and more.)

I observed a student teacher who prepped a few Scribblar pages, then invited his kids to participate. He simply sent them an email and a few clicks later they were in and participating.

Consider the following example: uploaded image; tools to add lines, shapes and angles; live audio and chat.

You may wish to view this short 3-minute video describing the Scribblar diagram below.

Try it out at scribblar.com

Post 36: Teaching Ed 556 (Secondary Pedagogy)

I'm excited to be working as an adjunct professor with George Fox University this year. In addition to supervising several student teachers, I also have the opportunity to teach Ed 556, Secondary Pedagogy, with an emphasis on Technology Education. I've met with several instructors, support staff and administrators (on campus), and their philosophy of education is just wonderful.

The course will evolve as the semester progresses, so feel free to periodically check in and add Comments and Suggestions.

Welcome back to school

Welcome back to what will hopefully be an exciting school year for you. Just a kind reminder too, if you have a cellphone to either turn it off or put it in vibrate mood, and of course there is no use for cellphones in a learning environment. listen

Powered by Jott

PS: The above recording will be used later in the wksp to discuss the value of cell phones in the classroom.

Post 35- Rethinking our K-12 Schools (using Web2.0 tools)

Hood River School District (Janice Patton, Curriculum/Instruction)
West Sylvan Middle School (Allison Couch, Principal).
George Fox MAT students (Kathy Sansone, instructor for student teachers)

1. Welcome (do cell phones belong in a classroom?).
   
   
2. 1-Page Handout for Goals and Hands-on Activities
   Presentation | Gmail | Blogging | Adv. Blogging
   
   
3. Reasons to rethink our K-12 schools
   


• 
  
  
• Hood River and Sylvan Slideshow | GFU MAT Slideshow
  
• Shift Happens, so Pay Attention (engaging with todays kids)
• Relationships -> Relevance -> Rigor = Results
• Web2.0 to the rescue
  
  
4. Web2.0 Tools --- Quick Overview
   
• Post 12: Jott (cell phone Posting to Blog)
• Post 14: Del.icio.us - social bookmarking in 3 minutes)
• Post 17: OSLIS - (MLA cite referencing)
• Google Sites (KISS web design)
  Dale's Site (for staff development. Tons of examples)
  Barry's Site (integrating emerging technologies into education)
  
  ACTIVITY (Task 1)
  
• 
• Gmail (Tutorial) opens the doors. Let's Get Started!
  Create a school-based gMail account.
  Example: hr-mrjones@gmail.com
  Email your partner -> reply -> attach file -> reply
  
  
5. Blogging Demonstrations
   
• Blogging in Plain English (3 min)
• Blogging for Educators (teachers/students)
  
• School-blogging Interview video (3 minutes)
• Blog-ology
• Ed-556: Teacher Blog and Student Blog
  
• Dale (Freshman Science) _and_ Doug (blogging wksp and Mr A's blog)
  
• Fresh Start (alternative HS)
• Janet's Powerpoint in Google Presentation (Nat'l Parks)
  
• Willamette MAT group Blog to post their Community Service experiences (rather than the original plan of passing around emails). Another MAT blog where students uploaded and Posted their Powerpoint presentations titled "Our Dream School."
  
  
• Building a Blog (post #21) | Create, Post, Modify
• ACTIVITY (Task 2) Create a school-based blog titled Welcome to my Blog using the criteria in our Goals and Hands-on Activities
  Tutorial (Post 27 is step-by-step)
  
  
6. Google Docs --- Word, Sheets, Presentations
• Google Docs in 3 minutes! My Google Doc Examples (share/publish/post)
• Post 27: Tutorials for Gmail, Google Docs, Blogging
• ACTIVITY (Task 3) Create a Google Doc titled My Classroom Rules following the criteria in our Goals and Hands-on Activities

Post 34: Podcasting in Simple English

Curious about Podcasting?
Common Craft's video says it all, in simple English, in 3 minutes.

Post 33: Leadership in the Age of Technology

Presentation to Lincoln County School District administrators.
Smaller District with a big vision, and making it happen.
Addresses leadership in the age of digital natives and digital immigrants.
Digital natives are rapidly becoming our new teachers.
(PDF version GoogleDoc version)


Slide 14: Making it Happen. Teacher and Student Blogs.

Post 32: DrGunZ Video

As a teacher or administrator, how would you respond to a student who sent you the following video on YouTube? Take a careful look at the various components and imagine some creative applications and responses. Remember, most of us are digital immigrants communicating with a digital native.

Post 31: Hood River Workshop

The following message was created by a cell phone call I made in front of the Hood River HS faculty. The phone-call used Jott (a free Web2.0 tool) that not only recorded the message, but converted it to text and automatically posted in this Blog. Take a moment to reflect on what this means.

Hi, welcome to the Hood River School District. We are here at one of the elementary schools. It's nice to come up here to visit and meet with you guys. I hope all of you leave with something that you can start doing tomorrow that will help impact kids. Listen (recording)

The presentation title was "Possibilites - Tools, Tips and Topics." I began by taking several minutes to quickly create a Hood River Blog. I then took a few pictures and uploaded them to Google Photo (picasaweb.google.com) and uploaded them in a new Post in their blog. Low tech, immediate results.

Post 30: The Power of Pull

"Instead of fear of failure learning (i.e., push learning) such as experienced in most schools and many training settings, learning needs to be irresistible and help learners unconsciously acquire information. In effect, learning should be:

• Interesting, fun, interactive, collaborative, cool, compelling, exciting, social or friendly, challenging, authentic (simulations for instance), flexible (learn when want to learn), user generated, captivating (draw learners into it—learning is a perk not a terrible experience)
• Simply stated, an alternative to the regular classroom.

The Power of Pull: Imagine walking by a bakery and encountering the tantalizing smell of your favorite cookie being baked. It would be almost impossible to resist going in and partaking. Learning can, and should, present the same attraction for learners. Ideally, it should be irresistible. With the pull-technique:

• Draw the learner to the knowledge.
• All learners have different modes by which they learn best.
• The top three are visual, aural and kinesthetic.
• Some people learn by reading and seeing — they are the visual learners and will absorb information most effectively this way.
• The aural group learns by hearing. They need to hear information in addition to seeing it to fully absorb and embrace it.
• The third group needs to do, that is, have hands-on experiences to deeply seat the information in neural circuits.
• While one of these styles may predominate in an individual, it is important for training to incorporate all three modes to create a varied and interesting learning environment."
  

Gillette, Charlie. "The Power of Pull." Norwich U. (Jan. 1 2008):4.20 Jan. 2008 .

Post 29: Welcome Newport High

Welcome to Newport High School. We know there's no use for cell phones in education for kids and teachers so we have to make sure we're not allowed to use them. However, maybe there are some things we might want to consider. listen (recording)

The above message was created by a cell phone call in front of the Newport HS faculty (this is how I began the presentation). Jott (a free Web2.0 tool) not only recorded the message, but converted it to text and automatically posted in this blog.

While the principal (Jon Zagel) did some preliminary staff meeting activities, I quickly created a Newport HS Blog and uploaded some pics and a video taken moments before. Enjoy.

See Post #22 for the Workshop Agenda.

Post 28: Sketchcast Web2.0 tool

OK --- just another little Web2.0 tool. But, it won't take you long to realize that Sketchcast.com sure has alot of potential. It took me 3 minutes to create this great little demonstration of Website Layout and Design strategies. Just remember, a picture is worth a thousand words --- and one just sketches and talks, then Posts the results in Blog or website. Imagine the possibilities.

Post 27: gMail, Blogging, and Google Docs Tutorials

Are you looking for a set of activities or tutorials for setting up a gMail Account, Blog, or Google Docs? Look no further. I created the following activities using Google Docs, then Published so they would be available to everyone. Feel free to link to these activities or send any ideas for improvement.

1. Lesson/Tutorial: creating a gMail Account

2. Lesson/Tutorial: creating and posting a Blog

• View video: Blogging in Plain English (3 min) and Blogging for educators and students and Creating your first Blog (2 minutes)
  
• Creating a Blog and Posting (using Google Blogger)

3 (Hood River). Lesson/Tutorial: Customizing Blogger

• Editing the Profile
  
• Inserting images, videos, docs, sheets, presentations and more.
  

3 (Sylvan Middle School). Lesson/Tutorial: creating and effectively using Google Docs

Post 26: Willamette U. - M.A.T. Workshop

Drew Hinds and Chris Brantley (MAT instructors) invited me to do a mini-workshop which I titled "Blogging and other Web2.0 tools in Education." Too much to discuss in too little time, but I got the vision out there and the MAT group is already running with it.

Sara (one of the MAT students) assisted in creating a MAT group Blog to post their Community Service experiences (rather than the original plan of passing around emails). They also created a second Blog to open up discussions and support from within their group. Very impressive!

MAT Web2.0 Agenda of my presentation follows:

1. Welcome (and cell phone <-> blog demo)
2. Web2.0 discussion and demonstrations
   
• Slideshow (via Google Docs Presentation)
  
• Share some current world statistics -> Relate to Todays Kids -> Web2.0
  
3. Web2.0 Tools (bj-workshops.blogspot.com)
• Google Docs (word, sheets, presentation) and share/publish/post
• CatzWalk, Clothing, Delicious, E-LearningPresentation
  
• Del.icio.us (social bookmarking) and OSLIS (cite referencing)
• Voice-Thread and avBlogger Audio Recorder
  
4. Blogging Demonstrations
   
• Teacher Demo's:
• Blogology (post #2) and Dale, Doug, Kristin; bj-workshops (post #16)
  
• Building a Blog (post #21)
  
• Create, Post, Modify

Post 25: Web Design Layout and Design Tutorials

Online Video Tutorials specially designed for learning how to create great web sites. I'm using Camtasia Studio for the production and experimenting with varied outputs.

1. C.R.A.P. (Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, Proximity). Layout and design principles behind every great website. (YouTube Version) (Google Version)

2. HTML Editor: create a new webpage using a free editor called SeaMonkey --- by Mozilla, the folks who make Firefox. (YouTube Version) (Google Version)

3. Modifying an existing webpage using SeaMonkey HTML Editor. (YouTube Version) (Google Version)

Sample: Before and After (to increase Usability, Readability, Comprehension).

• Strategies include: less text, shorter sentences, use of bullets, pull-quotes, and annotated images.
  

Post 24: VoiceThread

VoiceThread is a free, simple, powerful Web2.0 tool. One can upload images and create an audio narrative to describe each image. The result is an impressive annotated slideshow.

Example: imagine posting several photographs of a World War II veteran in action, then having this person annotate (speak) while viewing the photos! Or imagine a student posting photographs or scanning images of a project then speaking about each picture.

VoiceThread is as simple as Click/Upload images, documents, or presentations and simply annotate (record) over the top.

After recording one can share and publish the results. Just copy the URL or the Embedded Coding into an Email, Blog, or Webpage.

Sample #1: Learning about Acute Angles the fun way. Also introduces a web-based whiteboard called Scribbler.



Sample #2: Old photographs uploaded and narrated over the top using VoiceThread.

Post 23: I'd like to welcome...

I'd like to welcome you to the E-learning conference at Newport and a little reminder to turn off your cell phones or put them in the vibrate mode and of course I'm sure we can't think of many applications of this tool in the classroom. Listen

Powered by Jott

--- If you're viewing this Post for the first time it is important to understand that all the Audio and Text you see above was automatically posted and generated by simply using my Cell Phone! Yes, Jott translatted my audio into text! I began the conference by calling the Jott toll-free number and simply recorded a message. After I hung up Jott took over and did all the rest. A few minutes later this Post magically appeared.

Post 22: E-Learning Workshops

Web2.0 Tools, Tips and Topics in the E-Learning World
Nov. 5, 2007 Newport, Or. Conference Flyer and Jan. 16, 2008

__ 1. Welcome Newport HS staff.

__ 2. Begin with small slide show (via Google Docs Presentation tool)

__ 3. Demonstrate a few Web2.0 Tools - with Tips and Topics (via my Google Blog)

• Post 02 - Blog-ology (teacher posts question -> student responses)
  
  
• Post 16 - Teachers: Blog4Staff Workshop and Dale's teacher blog posts
  
  
• Trip blog online2.org/alps and YackLive (walkie-talkie)
  
  
• Post 05 - Why Google Docs rocks (videoYT) (video2)----(docs.google.com)
• demo: German2IntroG.Docs, MMC_Unit 10
  
• Post 10 - Google Docs -> Create/Edit/Share
• Publishing and Tecker911 Demo1 Demo2
  
  
• Post 12 - Jott (use your phone: converts audio to text -> send-to email or blog)
• Post 19 - A/V Blogger (audio recorder). Post to blog or webpage.
• Post 15 - UStream (audio/video recording and Live Broadcasting)
  
• Post 07 - YackPack record/post audio; synchronus or asynchronus (barryj-gmail, POD group)
  
• Post 14 - Social Bookmarking (del.icio.us) video
  
• Post 17 - Cite Referencing (OSLIS and Zotero)
  
• Post 18 - Why RSS (or ATOM)? video1 or video2 (Feedburner and GoogleReader)
• Image and Video uploading (Google Images/Video; Flickr; YouTube; others)
  
• iGoogle (CMS) and Web2.0 Tools

__ 4. Follow-up workshop on Blogging. Leave with your Blog up and running!

Post 21: Building a Blog (Step by Step)

Let's begin by viewing a great little video titled "Blogs in Plain English?
Creating a blog is pretty simple. The following steps include some great tutorials (short videos, annotated illustrations, and step-by-step instructions). One can cut to the chase and create a Blog in 3 minutes. However, if you are new to Blogging then it is wise to walk through the following steps:

1. Create a Gmail Account (if you don't already have one) using this step-by-step tutorial.
   
2. Create your Blog using this step-by-step tutorial (several video clips and illustrations).
   
3. Configure your Blog using this tutorial to modify settings, update personal Profile, and more).
   
4. Activity 1: create a new Post, Publish it, and send the URL to a friend.
   
5. Activity 2: Practice logging out, logging in to Blogger, and Editing a Post.
   
6. Activity 3: For those with a little web design background -> experiment with Edit HTML.

Tracy's Testimony to value of Blogging follows:

I attended the eLearning Guild’s Annual Gathering this year and one presentation really hit home for me. The speaker mentioned that since he had started blogging, a year previous, he had learned more from blogging and reading the blogs of peers than he had in his entire academic career. I though to myself “Ya, right? Who’s going to believe that?” He knew the audience was thinking the same thing and said to just try it and experience it yourself.

So the first thing I did upon my return was start my own and behold he was right. I truly believe I have learned a great deal from this simple process. Blogging is a wonderful way to learn directly from one another. Each day I read many different postings from people I then can summarize, analyze, draw my own conclusion and post my own ideas and thoughts on those same topics. By doing this one simple example of peer-to-peer learning/teaching I am able to learn a many new things each day and expand my existing knowledge on those topics of which I am already aware.

Post 20: Circuit Training Sheet (S.Sheet Demo)

The following spreadsheet was created using GoogleDocs Web2.0 spreadsheet tool. No brainer to use, and simply select Publish to Blog when done.

Post 19: avBlogger (Record Voice/Video)

Userplane's avBlogger is a great Web2.0 tool that lets one record audio and/or video.

• Fully web-based. Just register on their website (avblog.userplane.com)
  
• Record -> Play -> Save -> copy/paste coding into your blog or webpage.
• Many possibilities (like recording for foreign language, giving a speech, etc.
  
• Select the Play button below to listen to my first audio recording.
  

A/V Blog
by Userplane

Post 18: RSS --- Really Simple, really important

Always chasing information? Spend too much time locating your favorite sites to see if any new content (feeds) have been added? Yes, del.icio.us (see Post #14) is very helpful for locating your favorite 'static' sites, but the logic is really backwards. Why should you do all the chasing?

Enter RSS. Often called Really Simple Syndication, this process simply collects all the sites of your choice (called aggregating) and 'pushes' all the updates back to you, and all in one place.
This 2-minute video says it all (video 2)

Key Advantages of RSS to Educators:

• Students that blog their assignments or research or reflection/journaling -> all updates will be sent to the instructor in one place. No more chasing.
• Or, when researching any topic, simply subscribe to the leading news agencies, data-rich blogs, and other key resources and let them syndicate (push/send) you updates as they become available.
  
  
• Keep track of news, podcasts, photos, blogs, just-about-anything of interest.
• Reading on the internet requires two separate skills: one, the quick analysis to find what is worth reading, and the second, a switch to slow analysis to carefully consider what has been found. What RSS does is allow students to make this distinction, to receive content as "bits" easy to scan, and then to select what they want to read.

Subscribe to an RSS feeder today. Bloglines is a favorite for most folks, and here is a nice step-by-step tutorial; but if you're already a Google fan, go with Google Reader as it integrates nicely. FeedBurner (recently purchased by Google) offers site statistics and much more.

Other great RSS tutorials and information:

• Reading & Writing - Blogging and RSS (exceptional!)
  
• Web2.0 Tutorials [RSS]
• Signing up for Bloglines
  

Post 17: Cite Referencing (MLA Citation Maker)

Students and teachers often use information off the Internet to produce a report, presentation, lesson plan, web page, etc.
Examples typically include images and text. Giving credit to the authors is always recommended, and an industry standard for the correct format is called MLA.

Using an online tool called MLA Citation Maker is as easy as: 1) click on the appropriate category, 2) fill in some basic information, and 3) let the online software do the rest.

This great tool will generate the correct format and all one has to do is copy/paste it their document.
OLSIS, ."MLS Citation Maker." OSLIS.1 Jan. 2006. 15 Oct. 2007 .

Post 16: The Doug and Dale Team

Following my demonstration to a small group of students and administrators at Sprague HS, the Adkins brothers (both master teachers) went to work.

• The building principal approached both of them to begin implementing a plan to expose Web2.0 tools to the staff. The three of us met for several hours to refine a plan of attack --- which was little more than to take some of the ideas they began shortly after the presentation.
  
• Dale developed a Blog to post his Lesson Plans and important links for his Science classes. Parents and IEP folks are always requesting this information!
  
• Meanwhile, Doug developed a Blog to post the Lesson Plans for a Teacher Workshop on 'Blog Design' whereby each department would spend one hour in the lab and leave with their own Lesson Plan Blog.
  
• Doug also started a 2nd Blog to share ideas with staff and students. And most exciting, he now has all his students create their own blog for his course (and they are all posted in a table of contents).
  
• And Ms. Thompson posted Spanish 1 Lesson Plan Blog that also includes Audio recordings.
  
• What I appreciated most about this process is all of this occurred within 1 week after the initial presentation to a small group of students and several administrators who were in attendance.
• Shift Happens (and very quickly) when you work with the right people. Find an administrator who will support change, and find your 'lead teachers' who have vision and the respect of the faculty. That is a winning combination.
  

Post 15: Ustream.TV (live broadcasting)

If you have a webcam and a microphone then here's a great tool for live andio and video broadcasting to a worldwide audience. If you don't have a webcam, then UStream still broadcast (like a radio) using only audio (voice).

One feature I especially like (besides being fully web-based and free) is the ability to record your broadcasts (video and/or audio only) which can then be posted to your blog or website for playback at any time.

• It's SPAM free, Safe and Secure Site, Parental Controls for Minors, Privacy Settings - Puts You In Control, and ZERO tolarence for Inappropriate Behavior.
• Once you're registered, this tool is as simple as hitting 4 buttons: Start Broadcast, Start Recording, Stop Recording, Stop Broadcasting.

Use your imagination for educational applications, including:

• Daily or Weekly Live Broadcasting (invite others to watch and listen).
• Record and deliver a speech; Playback and re-record until it's perfect; then submit it (the URL) to your instructor. If you record using the video (as well as the audio) it's like giving it live in front of an audience you don't have to look at :)
  
• Record your foreign language words/phrases, practice, and submit to your instructor.
  
• Record a F2F interview (Live and/or recorded) and post on your Blog or Webpage.

Here's a link to my UStream video's. It's pretty empty, but I wanted you to see the options.

Post 14: del.icio.us (delicious) Social Bookmarking

del.icio.us is a social bookmarking website, which means it is designed to allow you to store and share your favorites/bookmarks on the web instead of inside your browser.
Here's a great 3 minute video that says it all.

• This has huge advantages, as you can now access your bookmarks from anywhere, anytime, no matter whether you're at home, in a library, on a friends computer, or accessing the Internet from your cell phone, Blackberry, or iPhone.
• Second, you can choose to share some (or all) of your bookmarks publicly so friends and co-workers can view them for reference, amusement, collaboration, or anything else.
• Simply enter the URL and as many 'tag' descriptors as you wish and let them do the managing. You can place their Toolbar on your browser, or go to their website, login, and voila -> there sit all your favorite sites.
  
• Another beauty of this tool is their use of tagging. When you use their tool to add a Favorite/Bookmark it is called tagging. You enter key words to describe the site. Then, to locate the site in the future, simply use their 'Search' box and type in any key word(s) and voila -> guaranteed to locate the link you're looking for.
• Awesome tool --- go sign up now at http://del.icio.us
• Add this into your IE Toolbar
• Add this into your Firefox Toolbar
  

Post 13: YackPack Live Voice (Chat Tool)

1-touch, 2-Way Audio. Fully Web 2.0.

• Another great feature of YackPack is a live voice tool they call Walkie Talkie Widget.
  
• Schedule a time to have everybody meet at your Blog (or website) and hold a Live-conference or work session?
  
• Simply press the 'Live' Button to Talk. Everybody else listens.
  (the image in this Post is just a picture. Use full LiveVoice button at top of Blog)
  
• Take turns, or talk all at once. It's Live, it's easy, and it's a great tool for collaboration.

A demo of this tool is located at the top of the vertical navigation bar in this blog.

Talk LIVE to anyone currently viewing our blog. It as simple as: 1) Speakers turned on to Listen; 2) Microphone turned on to talk, and 3) Press the LIVE! button and begin talking. Voice over IP technology is wonderful.

Post 12: What the heck is Jott? [audio to text]

This post was created by using my cell phone.

• Using new Web 2.0 software called Jott I am able to call a 1-866 number, state the recipient (like 'Blogger' or 'myself' or Andy) and just talk.
  
• After I hang up, Jott takes over and converts my audio into text with amazing accuracy.
  
• It then posts the converted text to my blog or sends it as an email including both the text and audio to the recipient.

No typing, just talk.
Click here to listen

Post 11: iPhone post to Blog

I'm cruising the countryside in central Michigan and experimenting with my sons new iPhone (he's driving, of course). Amazing, innovative, incredible tool.

• Used the iPhone Maps feature (map and linear instructions) to direct us to a small music store and arrived without a glitch.
  
• Opened up the iPhone Browser and processed my Email. Connection speed wasn't the greatest, but what can one expect in central Michigan.
• While in the browser, I opened up my Blog and posted this.
  
• We also used the iPhone to watch a full length movie . This device has the highest resolution of any device currently on the market.
  
• Also listened to music (8 gigs holds alot of songs --- and data, too).
• Of course this device works anywhere (either WiFi or satellite).

Who needs a laptop when traveling?

Post 10: Google Docs & Peer Editing

OK --- Google Docs is exceeding my expectations. Better take this Web2.0 App seriously.

• I just spent the last 30 minutes synchronously co-editing with the author of a new online PE/Health course. The author/creator posted the Syllabus as a Document in Google Docs and sent me an invite to co-edit.
• We're literally watching each other type as words appear on the screen.
  
• I used the built-in spell checker and Saved, and she added colored-notes for my opinion on certain topics. We continued to update based on each other notes and suggestions.
  
• Both of us noticed the changes instantly and neither of us lost any of our updates. Geez --- how do they do that?
  
• This is just too cool to put into words.
• A revision button let's us look back at previous versions all the way to its conception.
  
• Had we sent attachments back and forth this would have taken forever.
• And here is a Circuit Training Journal Spreadsheet that was created in Google Docs. I just hit Publish and it's available for everyone to view!
• And don't forget about their new Presentation tool (virtual version of Powerpoint).
• And when we were done, I simply hit File, export to .pdf and .html to offer students other view options.
• One click to Post this doc to a Blog.
  

-> Google Docs demo (Student Project).
_