Thing # 23 - I finished :)

Wow! this has been an incredible experience, specially since I did it in the last 5 days!!!. It was kind of overwhelming, but completely worth it. I'm glad I finally took the momentum to get through it. I learned soooo many stuff, that I have to go back to my postings to remember the things I said I wanted to use in my class.... um, almost everything!!
Ok to answer the questions, because it can take a little long.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Oh, there are so many! OK, on the top of my mind I have to say PhotoStory, maybe because I just completed it, but it was so easy and fun. Although I was a little reluctant at the beginning when I thought I had to record a whole speech, but then I figured out it doesn't have to be that complicated, and loved it! Also the mashups and online image generators were pretty cool, and I have a lot of photos to work it on. And, OF COURSE, creating my own blog. It just opened another world that I had no idea of, it broaden my resources and expanded my thinking. Awesome.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
First of all, I didn't know there are so many things still to learn! As mentioned above, it opened a whole new world. Technology and the web is an ever-changing phenomena, and it's important to keep up with it. As the title of my blog says - you (can) never stop learning.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Well, something that surprised me a lot was on Thing # 19: Web 2.0 Awards list, that they are 500 2.0 tools on the web.... what??? and I thought I was learning most of them.... wow, it took me by surprise.... I was missing all of that?? I had no idea what Web 2.o is, and now I find out there are even awards for it!
There are several take-a-ways: I'm definitely using Rollyo for my student's searches. Also, I started using Delicious right away, as well as LibraryThing.

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I really don't know if you need to change anything. Everything is so self explanatory and useful, I don't see any flaws in it. If I think of any later, I will update my posting.

5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Of course! To tell you the truth, before staring, I wasn't very excited about it; maybe that's why I started so late. But when I began to see how fun it was, I was completely drawn to it. Probably that's why I was able to finish in such a short time! Anyway, I will sure sign up for another session. As long as it is as user-friendly and laid back as this one was. There is still a lot to learn!

6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
INTERACTIVE
You'll never believe what you've been missing!

Thing # 22

I think I like Ning better than Wiki. It's a specialized social networking in where people contribute ideas and experiences of common interests. I think it's better organized. It has blogs, discussions, groups... everything you may need. I've never heard of it before, but I can see there's a lot of people in it. I liked Teacher Ningo, it looks like they have lots of useful information and resources. I also liked Future of Education Ning, it is more of a discussion/forum kind of site, but I bet there are some interesting conversations.
A new thing learned!

Thing # 21 - two more things to go, phew!

I enjoyed creating my PhotoStory - it was easier that I thought it was. It's just as simple as attaching the photos, writing or recording the story, selecting a music and viola! done. I was so easy that I'm thinking of tons of ways to use it in my classroom. I've seen other teachers making end-of-year presentations with all the pictures taken during the year, but for me it just seemed like a lot of work.... until now.
I chose my sister's dog, Bella, as the subject of my photostory. She is just so cute and I've taken lots of pictures of her, so I just did a little presentation of some of her photos. Enjoy!

Thing # 20

I've been to YouTube before and I think is a great resource for ANYTHING; you name it, it's probably there. I can totally understand why the district firewall won't admit it, some of it may not be appropriate for kids. I found this cool video about Web 2.o and all the tools we've been exploring in 23Things. It's called Networked Student. It sets an example of a high school student that uses all the resources that the Internet has to offer to do research on a project for a class. He uses GoogleScholar, Deliciuos, RRS feeds, blogs, etc. I thought it was pretty interesting because you can see Library 2.o in action.


I also tried TeacherTube, but it was a little bit too slow for me. The videos took a long time to download and buffer (it may just be my Internet connection). Also, the searching wasn't very specific. It's also a great tool, specially if it's narrowed for instructional and educational purposes, I'll explore it when I have more time.

Thing # 19

How interesting to see all what the Internet has to offer... summarized in a page! I was impressed. I was happy to see most of the ones that I've learned through Library2Play, now I feel I'm kinda like in the loop.
I had to click on most of the ones that drew my attention, sure enough a bunch weren't free, but the free ones were good as well. I likedPandora Radio - very easy to use, it finds Internet stations to listen to any music you want. Just with an artist's name it will find you a station that plays that music style. Also consider Last.fm

Thing # 18

I'm glad I had the opportunity to explore GoogleDocs. When doing Thing # 7 I mentioned I was interested by it, now I actually used it! They have functional templates like the budget planner, calendar, spreadsheets, etc. I think they're useful when you want to share it with someone else. Another plus is that it is done via the Internet, so you can access it anywhere. But it is one of the downsizes as well, because there isn't an Internet connection everywhere.
I was also curious about OpenOffice, specially since it's already on my computer and I didn't know it! So I went ahead and explored it for a little bit. What I liked about it is that it has other applications like Draw and Math, which includes a equation editor.
Other than that, it's pretty much like Microsoft Office so it just depends on your liking.

Thing # 17

Rollyo is a neat idea. It will help me a lot in my classroom for students' research. I think is kid-friendly and takes away the worry of what the students might find in the Internet, but of course, you will always have to be there to supervise.
Here is the link of the RollBar I created, It's for when they have free computer time, they can search for instructional games. http://rollyo.com/garzon/kids_activitiesgame/
I will eventually add some more kid friendly websites to it, but so far, so good.