Taming the Web

What a great resource audiobooks are. I didn’t realise that there were so many collections out there on the net. I checked out LibriVox and found a large collection of audiobooks. The only problem I have with these collections, though it is only minor, is that all the books are recorded in an American accent. In any case I will certainly be making use of these tools to download audiobooks for my students to listen to.

A few other great sites to check out for audiobooks are OpenCulture and Kids Learn Out Loud. Even though Kids Learn Out Loud is aimed at an American audience, it is a great resource for students in K-6.

Well You Tube certainly has had an impact since it appeared on the net a few years ago. It has allowed greater freedom of information, thoughts and opinions on a variety of topics. I guess due to the lack of censoring on You Tube, schools have not fully embraced this tool. It is only recently that I have been allowed to unblock the school filters to allow YouTube to be available to teachers. The answer lies I think with teaching our students the skills and values necessary for them to choose to view appropriate rather than inappropriate content. The fact is that inappropriate content is always going to be out there.

By the way if you want a place to store your favourite You Tube, Teacher Tube or Google Videos, set up a Vodpod. This way you can share your collection with others who have a similar interest.

Tonight I took a look at some library blogs. I was really captivated by Helen Blower’s blog. I could just sit and read her posts for hours. They are very interesting and oh how I wish I had that much knowledge about technology. One thing I am finding with these social technologies is that they are very time consuming. I appreciate how Helen made the point of valuing time out on weekends from emails, comments, replies etc. It is really important I think to have a balance. Well while visiting her blog I came across another exciting Web 2.0 tool. It is called Snap Shots. I have added it to my blog. Hover over the speech bubbles in the sidebar and you will get snapshots of the links.

I just started using Google Reader today. The interface is not as user friendly as some of the other Web 2.0 tools but I know when I get more familiar with it I will feel more comfortable using it. Well I subscribed to six feeds including ‘The Sydney Morning Herald Technology Headlines’ and I just have to share their latest feed with whoever is reading this blog. The feed is on the sidebar and it is titled “Sydney Archbishop launches Facebook for the faithful”.

This afternoon I explored Library Thing. Fortunately I didn’t need an email address for this site to become a user. I could just select a username and password and my account was created. Once I logged in, I did a search for some of my favourite authors and all of their published works came up. I added the books I have read to what is called ‘MyLibrary’. Linked to each book were all the comments and discussion that people have had about them. I imagine this tool would be fantastic for librarians who have a blog. They could use it to post the latest books purchased for their library and visitors could keep updated by checking the blog and reading the reviews attached to them. Oh by the way, you can add ‘MyLibrary’ to your blog by clicking on ‘Your Profile’ and on the sidebar there is a link ‘Put Your Library on Your Blog’.

This task was so much fun. I just didn’t realise how many tools there are out there that can be used to manipulate photos. Today I went to the site Image Generator and selected a tool called ‘Face Magazine Covers’ to create this graphic. It was very simple and just involved uploading a photo and selecting a magazine cover that I liked. The two merged and then I was given the option to download the photo and save it. So here I am on the cover of PC Magazine. I guess I am now famous! Well… at least on this blog anyway.  I can’t wait to explore other image generators.  There are links also on the sidebar to these sites.

Tonight I created a Flickr account.  This is a Web 2.0 tool that allows you to share photos with family and friends.  To create the account I had to also create a Yahoo account to get an email address.  I have started to record all of my addresses and passwords in a notebook so I don’t forget them.  Anyhow I uploaded a few photos of my recent trip to Malaysia.  Linking these to my blog was a bit tricky.  I had to go to the tools menu from my Flickr homepage and create a flickr badge.  Then I copied the code into a text box widget on my blog.  Crazy I know!  I think I will be bilingual by the end of all this.

Well here I am about to embark on a new and exciting journey, a journey that is Web 2.0. Today I created this blog dedicated to documenting the trials and tribulations of learning how to use 23 popular and well known Web 2.0 tools. Through my experience I hope to create a path for other teachers to follow and inspire them to integrate Web 2.0 tools across the primary curriculum. Although I am still only beginning my Web 2.0 journey, I have recently created two other blogs which I use with my Year 3 students. You can view these at www.bookwrap.edublogs.org and www.friendsabroad.edublogs.org I have been using these blogs to motivate my students about technology, reading and learning. Through this blog we connect with a Year 4 class in London to share our narratives and knowledge about significant sites in Australia. Feel free to take a look.