Why Subscribe: An RSS Feed Sales Pitch for CFF Coaches

Overwhelmed by information, resources, and the amount of cool new Web 2.0 apps you want to learn and hopefully share? It can be too much some days. Between the listserv and your log you are left with little time to find valuable info that might actually fit into the various curricula of your CFF teachers.

Why not let the the internet work for you?? Use a Web aggregator and RSS feed.
Aggregators - (def.) Let the information you want come to you!!!! (Web 2.0 knows how busy you are.) Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper." Once subscribed to a feed, an aggregator is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update. The content is sometimes described as being "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" with email or IM. Unlike recipients of some "pushed" information, the aggregator user can easily unsubscribe from a feed. -To put this is a simply as possible - it is much like your newspaper arriving on your front porch. Only digitally!

*BloglinesStudents can learn how quickly information changes if they allow Bloglines to deliver the RSS (short for "real simple syndication") feeds for whichever sites they register. This is especially appropriate if they are researching current events, science, and other swiftly changing topics. The site allows users to share their feeds with others.

Google ReaderWith Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email. Stay up to date Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. You can also use Google Reader's built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family. Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.

Check out this video from Common Craft about RSS feed and how it works!

Let me work for you

I know. I know. You see me coming towards your door and you think . . . "How do I possibly fit more into my lessons, curriculum, day, etc.? I barely have enough time to cover the standards - let alone the extras."

I understand. I'm aware. But technology is here, and it's here to stay. So if the only way you'll accept that is by kicking and screaming then let the tantrum begin. :) I want to make sure that you know I am here to be an asset to you. I will help you to understand the best ways to implement technology into your class.

• If you want to do some thing innovative, let me know and I will find you resources and help you to teach the lesson.



• If you want a refresher course for any of the software or hardware programs (MS Office, Smartboards, etc. I can help you out



• If you want to create a blog, or a wiki, or a podcast etc. I can help you out.

Let me know how I can best be of service to you. Please feel free to comment here, email me, or find me!

What is Web 2.0?

Web 2.0 isn't really anything new that you don't know about. It's the internet that you are familiar with, (nothing like taking a simple concept and renaming to make it unfamiliar, eh?) although, it's more about sites that come to you, are user friendly, and user created. The world changes rapidly and the virtual world even more so it seems.

Some resources to help explain 2.0 even better:

Listen to this terrific podcast by Chris O'Neal that is designed to provide an overview of Web 2.0 for educators who aren’t yet familiar with web 2.0 tools or concepts.


In the post, "Back to the School with the Class of Web 2.0," blogger/Web designer and programmer Brian Benzinger provides his own list of useful Web 2.0 applications for the classroom teacher, highlighting his favorites with education in mind. He also details Web 2.0 cases in education, including educational blogging and podcasting.

History teacher and Web 2.0 guru Will Richardson's podcast and blog, "Speaking of History," is a great example of how classroom teachers can utilize Web 2.0 technologies to excite their students.

Some tools for educators:

Blogging - (def.) a blog is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual, with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

*Blogger
This is a really easy-to-use site that allows even non-technical types to start a blog in just three basic steps using a range of templates. Most first-time bloggers use this platform. The site was started in the dotcom boom of 1999 and is now part of Google.

*Class Blogmeister
David Warlick created this site specifically for classroom educators who want full control over the blogs created by, read by, and used by students. Teachers can evaluate, comment on, and publish students' blogs in a controlled environment.

*Edublogs
An easy-to-use blog-creation site with customizable templates (themes) for educators, K–12 and college students. Blogs created with it will include links to Chalkface, an assessment tool; to IncSub, dedicated to online projects; and to BlogSavvy, which helps bloggers become better bloggers.

Wikis - (def.) What-I-Know-Is. A wiki is a collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

*Jotspot
Recently purchased by Google, Jotspot has more features than other wiki sites, and is intended for businesses as well as education. Jotspot allows users to create Web-based spreadsheets, calendars, documents, and photo galleries, all without having to know HTML. It also offers varied levels of access from read-only to full editing.

*Pbwiki
The site's slogan is "Make a free wiki as easily as a peanut butter sandwich." Educators can use the wiki to create a multi-user Web page or to have students write online collaborative essays or develop PowerPoint presentations.

*Wikispaces
Another site dedicated to educators, it offers sites with three levels of security: public (viewable by all); protected (viewable by all but editable by members only), and private (viewable and editable by members only). It is free to educators.
-Check out Mr. Auvil's General Music Class Wiki project!
-Check out mine, which I hope helps to better explain this tool. It's WIKI-rIFIC!

Aggregators - (def.) Let the information you want come to you!!!! (Web 2.0 knows how busy you are.) Aggregators reduce the time and effort needed to regularly check websites for updates, creating a unique information space or "personal newspaper." Once subscribed to a feed, an aggregator is able to check for new content at user-determined intervals and retrieve the update. The content is sometimes described as being "pulled" to the subscriber, as opposed to "pushed" with email or IM. Unlike recipients of some "pushed" information, the aggregator user can easily unsubscribe from a feed. -

To put this is a simply as possible - it is much like your newspaper arriving on your front porch. Only digitally!

*Bloglines
Students can learn how quickly information changes if they allow Bloglines to deliver the RSS (short for "real simple syndication") feeds for whichever sites they register. This is especially appropriate if they are researching current events, science, and other swiftly changing topics. The site allows users to share their feeds with others.

Google Reader
With Google Reader, keeping up with your favorite websites is as easy as checking your email. Stay up to date Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. You can also use Google Reader's built-in public page to easily share interesting items with your friends and family. Google Reader is totally free and works in most modern browsers, without any software to install.


Social Bookmarking - (def.) Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to store, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web pages on the Internet with the help of metadata.In a social bookmarking system, users save links to web pages that they want to remember and/or share. These bookmarks are usually public, and can be saved privately, shared only with specified people or groups, shared only inside certain networks, or another combination of public and private domains. The allowed people can usually view these bookmarks chronologically, by category or tags, or via a search engine.

*Blinklist
Educators can create individual lists of recommended sites by tagging bookmarked sites. They can also create and serve as a moderator for a collective Blinklist Space, to which students can contribute recommended sites.

*del.icio.us
Bookmarking a site is an excellent idea, and using del.icio.us allows people to store and find bookmarks from any computer with Internet access. Using tags helps users organize bookmarks into virtual folders, which is helpful for group research projects.

Stumbleupon -
A little bit different (but definitely fun!) StumbleUpon discovers web sites based on your interests. Whether it's a web page, photo or video, our personalized recommendation engine learns what you like, and brings you more. You can bookmark your favorites and come back to them by commenting on the content of pages you, well, stumble to.

Photo and Drawing

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help, tutorials, and plugins. Compare to Adobe Photoshop - and yet, it's FREE.

*Google SketchUp
This sophisticated drawing tool is ideal for creating three-dimensional models of houses, schools, and other objects in a community for a classroom project and placing them into Google Earth. It offers "real-time" shadow-casting and thousands of predrawn components.

Microsoft Photo Story 3 for Windows
powerful and free download allows users to create super slideshows (with motion, music, and narrative) from just a set of digital photographs. It is an excellent tool for student presentations.

*Tux Paint
Geared to a younger clientele, Tux Paint provides a colorful, easy-to-use, and fun online drawing application with some relatively sophisticated features such as Magic tools (they create realistic bricks, grass, and mirror images), plus Rubber Stamp, Shape Tool, and more.

Photo Sharing/Editing

*Flickr
Although commonly thought of as a place to show off one's prowess as a photographer, Flickr can be very useful for group work. The Organizer feature, for instance, allows individuals to add photos to a group pool. Photos can also be organized by tags, which would make for some collaborative decision-making.

Picasa
Find, organize and share your photos. Picasa is a free software download from Google that helps you: locate and organize all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects to your photos with a few simple clicks, and share your photos with others through email, prints, and on the web: it’s fast, easy and free.

Piknik
Photo editing made fun. Picnik makes your photos fabulous with easy to use yet powerful editing tools. Tweak to your heart’s content, then get creative with oodles of effects, fonts, shapes, and frames. It's fast, easy, and fun. (And my favorite, FREE.)


Video

*EyeSpot
The site's slogan is "Movie Making For all Of Us," and it adheres to that slogan by providing easy-to-use editing tools for producing sophisticated finished products. The site advocates sharing by posting finished films to blogs, and allows users to view such posted films.

*YouTube
Purchased by Google in 2006, this video-display and sharing site has become the most popular of the group. It is the place to be seen. Unlike some others, it is used for storing and displaying videos only and offers no editing capabilities.


Podcasting - (def) (iPOD broadCAST) An audio broadcast that has been converted to an MP3 file or other audio file format for playback in a digital music player. Although many podcasts are played in a regular computer. You can create your own and post the file (to a blog, wiki, the school web page). Think about it . . . you can record directions, lectures, explanations of difficult concepts, etc. and your students can access them - whenever.

to create-
Audacity is free, open source software for recording and editing sounds. It is available for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, GNU/Linux, and other operating systems. Learn more about Audacity... Also check their Wiki and Forum for more information.

or for more information, check out this article by Corey Deitz,
"How to Create Your Own Podcast - A Step-by-Step Tutorial:So, What Exactly is a Podcast?"


Web-based Word Processing -(meaning, no more can the, "I-don't-have-Word-on-my-computer-at-home" excuse be given)

*ajaxWrite
The two big advantages are that the program can read and create MS Word files, and it has the look and feel of MS Word, making it more intuitive and eliminating the need to learn a new program. Files can be saved to a computer or server. The program requires Mozilla Firefox browser, which is available as a free download from Mozilla.

Google docs
Create and share your work online .Upload from and save to your desktop. Edit anytime, from anywhere. Pick who can access your documents. Share changes in real time. Files are stored securely online. It's FREE!

*Zoho Writer
As the site says, "Access, edit, share documents from anywhere." The program accepts a wide range of file formats, including PDF, RTF, and even HTML. It also offers support for multiple languages, a significant advantage for ELL classes.

Web-based Spreadsheets

*Numbler
A big advantage of Numbler is its similarity to the look and feel of MS Excel. Multiple users can work with a spreadsheet, view changes in real time, discuss changes, and edit the master. Users can import data from and export data to desktop spreadsheet applications.

Presentation Tools

*Microsoft photo Story 3 for Windows.
This powerful and free download allows users to create super slideshows with motion, music, and narrative from a set of digital photographs. It is an excellent tool for student presentations.

*SlideShare
Teachers may create a mini-lesson slideshow to explain or enhance a concept, and student teams may create their presentations and post them. Presentations are accessible from any computer, and users are able to post comments.

Google docs
Create and share your work online .Upload from and save to your desktop. Edit anytime, from anywhere. Pick who can access your documents. Share changes in real time. Files are stored securely online. It's FREE!


Search Tools

*Technorati
This tool specializes in searching through the 57+ million blogs out there, and also highlights the videos to which many blogs are currently pointing at any one moment.


Task Management

*Google Notebook
No more laborious and frustrating copying and pasting from Web pages to a Word or Excel file! This new tool allows users to clip and save text, images, and other Web data to one or more Notebooks without leaving the site. The notebooks are accessible from any computer with access to the Web. They can be organized and edited, and they can be made either public or private.

*Ta-da Lists
Offers the option of sharing lists with the world or just with a few people. Educators can maintain a list of lists to determine the status of various projects in a particular class. One unusual feature - a dot before each list indicates progress or lack of same. The larger the dot the more is left to do on that particular list.

Online Calendars

*Google Calendar
This free online shareable calendar service allows users to add events and invitations effortlessly or share with others. Teachers can set up calendars for each class and include information about class topics and descriptions for each session, activity, assignment deadlines, test and quiz dates, etc. It can also be useful for managing group projects.


Mapping

*Google Earth
This mapping product combines satellite imagery from around the globe with Google search capabilities. Its navigational features allow users to explore the world and gather geographical information by zooming in from space to street level views. It offers tools for measuring, drawing, saving, printing, and GPS device support. Teachers can use Google Earth to get students excited about geography, economics, and demographics.

*selected resources taken from "Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools" by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum.