Tuesday, December 16, 2008

SlideShare Favorites


Please check out some of my favorites!

Thing 10

I am so very much into Google Docs to help organize district information. It ranks right up there with chocolate! I have been introducing our staff (and anyone who will put up with me) to the idea of working collaboratively on documents.

For example, we are using the CraftPlus Writing Program. We have ordered a number of Maupin House resources, but as of today, I’m not sure who has what and who needs specific instructional resources. Grade level teachers are now collaborating to document their progress in terms of resources and needs.

I have created a number of spreadsheets and made them available for different purposes; each one is developed for one person or many to edit and/or view. Examples are district textbook inventories, grade level instructional resources, all students with IEPs, test data for planning purposes. Imagine, no more binders on the shelf!

Confidentiality is a huge issue for me and everyone else with access to some of these documents. I like the settings available and the tracking features. The most significant advantage is that no one person is responsible for sharing up-to-date information, even though one person several may have editing access. On top of that, if anyone’s computer goes belly up, all of the information is backed up and safe and sound on Google Docs. The download feature is nice for occasional backups also.

If there is a downside, it would be that I have so many Google Docs, I have to make sure that what I own and what I open is all tucked away in folders. The "all item" list is becoming lengthy. I must look into organization details and recommendations. By the way, the Help area is wonderful!

Monday, December 15, 2008

Thing 9

Here's a short silly little survey I created in Google Docs just to see how it works.
Please answer each question and click the Submit button when you're finished.
I embedded the survey in my blog (hopefully) with I wonder what will happen thoughts running through my mind. I suppose I could get serious about this but at the moment, it’s too late at night. I’ll settle for baby steps.

Thing 8

Social Bookmarking is wonderful! I want to build my del.icio.us bookmarks into something very shareable for others. I had great fun exploring Jim’s and realized just how much he enjoys cartoons and the potential for using them with instructional strategies in mind. I found some fabulous math links by looking through Jim’s favorites!

A good way for me to utilize social bookmarking will be to connect with friends who have the same special interests, for example, teachers who add favorites or bookmark quality links for specific core areas: social studies, writing, math, science, or special needs like specific research, or whatever. What a great timesaver! I like the way you can choose to add or not add specific bookmarks to be shared. I don’t share any links that are only specific to me such as on-line banking links. I also tend to bookmark lots of potentially good links, but I don’t save them to del.icio.us unless they are real keepers.

Thing 7

I have enjoyed many hours reading through blogs from our class and from the list of edubloggers. I find good ideas and suggestions in each one and tend to head off of the main path of our 23 Things toward fascinating new learning experiences. Each time I find an application or link of interest, I become intrigued and become lost in time…and cyberspace!

I am recovering from a severe diversion into Google Docs. I am most likely driving my fellow educators to the edge as they receive numerous Docs from me to view or edit. I’m starting to feel that I am neglecting other important things, like Thing 8, for example, so I’m going to cut this short.

Thursday, December 11, 2008