Introducing Three New Teen Bloggers

The three students in my Web 2.0 Computer Applications course have been blogging since the beginning of September. Over the course of the last three weeks, they have learned about Blogger, Delicious, Google Docs, Creative Commons, Flickr, Google Reader, Technorati, and StatCounter. They have watched The Machine is Us/ing Us, a TED talk on the Predicting the next 5000 days of the Web, the infamous (and newly updated) Shift Happens video and countless Lee Lefever In Plain English clips.

This is my first time teaching this course and it is taking shape as we go. It occurred to me last week that excellent blogging happens when you are passionate about what you are writing. My students now have two blogs (see if you can tell the difference).

I am proud to introduce the following new teen bloggers:

• Jack, a sophomore, who is writing about technology at Computer Apps '08 and about baseball at America's Game.
• Matt, a senior, who is writing about technology at How to of F2 and about hockey at Hip Check Hockey.
• Doug, a senior, who is writing about technology at The Application of Technology and about football at Football: No Pain, No Game.

Please take the time to check out my students' blogs and leave them a comment if something strikes you.

Thanks!
-Liz

image source: Mexicanwave's photostream on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mexicanwave/2404978535/

Advice for Web 2.0 Newbies

Photo by pbo31

Angela Maiers, in her latest blog post, asked for some suggestions for people starting their Web 2.0 journeys.

Here are a just a few:

1. Start with the pedagogy - always remember that it isn't really about the technology, it is about the teaching and the learning. Technology is a tool, it is a means to an end. "It's not what the software does, its what the user does" - hugh . Check out Chris Lehmann's slideshow on Progressive Pedagogy and 21st Century Tools.

2. Jump in - you have to start somewhere, go for it. If you are reading this blog then you have already started. Take a look at my blog roll. Set up a Google Reader, start reading lots of blogs, and comment. Comment a lot. We bloggers love it when you comment. It makes us feel someone is listening. It is a great way to start the conversation.

3. Join Classroom 2.0, Twitter and/or Plurk - make sure that you include information about your self in the bio portion of your Twitter page and start sharing. Send out several Tweets before you start following people. Then look at my list of followers and/or people I am following and pick a few to start following. If they don't follow you back, you can always send a message with @username. That will get through to most people even if they aren't following you. I have a huge Twitter network, so @lizbdavis is the best way to get through to me on Twitter.

4. Start blogging yourself - the act of blogging has been an incredible learning experience for me. I never before thought of myself as a writer, but the more I write the more comfortable I feel about writing. Blog posts don't have to be long (and really shouldn't be) and they don't have to be perfect. Just get your ideas out there. Tweet your posts, link to other bloggers and you will be heard.

5. Attend conferences - Meeting my Online network face to face at Edubloggercon, Educon 2.0 and the BLC08 conference was an extrememly powerful experience for me. I really felt like I already knew people from our Online interactions. We just picked up where we left off and the real life conversations and friendships were inspiring and energizing. This made my journey feel so much more meaningful and immediate.

Dave Truss just posted this video which tells the story of his journey. He is a valuable part of my network and I wouldn't know him if I hadn't first done all of the things I've shared above.

Please share your suggestions and questions here!

Jott Faux Pas

I love Jott. Jott is a free service that automatically converts your voice into e-mail and text messages—anytime, anywhere, with any cell phone. Call Jott from your phone and leave yourself (or someone else) a message. Jott transcribes your words into text and sends it to your email or as a text message to your phone. You can also have Jott send you a reminder at a particular time. You can even Jott your blog...

Doh! Yesterday I went to Jott my husband, who's name is Rob, and instead Jott sent the reminder to my blog (notice they rhyme :o). In an ohnosecond my personal reminder was broadcast to the world. Fortunately, it wasn't anything too embarrassing. I've deleted the post, but if you subscribe to my blog, you may see it show up in your reader. Sorry about that.

Oops!
-Liz

Updated Delicious Screencasts

Delicious is a social bookmarking Website that allows you to save your bookmarks Online and retrieve them from other places. You can also easily share your interesting links and find useful resources by exploring others' saved bookmarks. I blogged about this great Online application more than a year ago. I also created several screencasts to explain how to get an account and save bookmarks.

Since that time, Delicious has been purchased by Yahoo and the interface has changed a bit. I've created two new screencasts using the new Website. I've embedded them below. Hope you find them helpful. Please feel free to share and link to these screencasts as you see fit.

Getting a Delicious Account


Saving bookmarks with Delicious