Friday, June 29, 2007

#7 Tech Interests

Hi,

Where to begin... Like all of us, I've been hearing and reading about Web 2.0 for months now. While I've known that there are many applications that can be used by educators, the problem was finding time to learn about them and try them out so that I could begin to see how I might use them and help others at school learn to use them effectively, too. There's just no time during the school year to reach that comfort level with these new technologies.

That's what makes this program so exciting. Not only is there time to play with these "things", there's a structure, some guidance about how to begin, and the opportunity to see and hear about what others are doing through their blogs. I find myself reading a few new CSLA blogs each day for support and inspiration.

Looking ahead, I'm anticipating the lesson on RSS feeds. I first heard about them in a church communications training I attended about a year and a half ago. Then at the CSLA conference last November I was at [Joyce Valenza's workshop] (NOTE-Irmapince reminded me that it was Alice Yucht' s workshop. Thanks for the correction.) When Alice talked about some of the new technologies, including RSS feeds. I was a little daunted because it seemed like subscribing to RSS feeds would be like subscribing to the list servs. it would be one more thing to check each day. I'd start receiving floods of information and have no time to digest it properly, let alone use it effectively! I've noticed that several program participants have mentioned that very problem, so I'm going into it with my eyes open (not to mention some good tips from them on staying in control.)

I've also been intrigued by the idea of using podcasts to highlight books and/or authors and am curious to know if that would be a good feature to add to my website and if so how I could do it.

The lesson on RSS feeds is coming right up, but I see that podcasts are near the end, so I guess I have a good incentive to keep on playing!

2 comments:

IrmaPince said...

Glad you are enjoying our format. Where did you get to see Joyce V.? Alice Yucht gave a workshop on RSS feeds. If I missed seeing Joyce I'm going to be very sad. :-(

Sherry said...

You're right. When I looked back in my notes Alice Yucht referenced Joyce Valenza. I've read some of her materials and seen her SLJ articles and mispoke (misblogged?) Thanks for reading and questioning my (mis)information. Yet another reminder of how important it is to check our facts-and to teach our students to do the same. And also to question something they may feel is not accurate by checking different sources.