Thing 10

Here is a video of one of my favorite groups--The Doobie Brothers.



2010 and I'm still listening to the music. Don't you love their hair?

Using KeepVid I was able to download a video. The method was easy to do, and it is a good way to be able to show YouTube videos at school.

Thing 9

I thoroughly enjoyed using YouTube. I liked watching the music videos and reruns of old TV shows. The downside is the amount of time it took to view everything. There always seemed to be one more thing to find. Perhaps if I used it more often I wouldn't have gotten so drawn into it.

I found some useful videos on Teacher Tube dealing with Excel spreadsheets and charts. Also, there were some good videos on Internet safety. YouTube is restricted on our school computers, and I understand at least one reason why--it can be very distracting.

Thing 8

Thing 8 was a lot of fun, but very time consuming. There were so many different ideas to try. Both sites offered good links and many choices. However, I enjoyed using Big Huge Labs and just worked my way down the list and tried anything that looked interesting. Each of the links I tried was easy to do and easy to download the final result. Using the same picture each time, I was amazed at the different results I received.

Some of the links presented create projects that students do in my computer classes. The difference is that I have them use Microsoft products or Photoshop Elements. It would be interesting for my students to see how to do both versions and to compare the final results.

Thing 7

Using Flickr was a lot of fun. Flickr was easy to set up and to use. The instructional video was good--but unnecessary as the directions on the web site were easy to understand. In my quest to respect family members' privacy, I faced my biggest obstacle as all my photos seem to have a family member in them. That was easily overcome when I realized the photo subject didn't matter as much as learning how to use Flickr. Therefore, photos of my yard were used.

Flickr could be used in the classroom to store photographs for student use. The teacher could upload the photos at any time to make them available to students. Students would be able to access them during class. The obstacles I see would be how to keep the students on task as it is easy and fun to search for various subjects. Also, if a student started to search, he/she could find inappropriate photographs. Another obstacle could be having a classroom of students searching for the same photographs. Would they all be able to access them at the same time?

Thing 6

I wasn't too sure what subject to choose when looking for photographs. Then I found some beach scenes which caught my attention. This is a photograph of a beach at sunset. I enjoy looking at this seascape as I grew up near the ocean. I was drawn to this particular photograph due to the colors. They invoke a feeling of peace and serenity. Also, it reminded me how the beach looked at the end of a fun-filled day.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/elpresidente408/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

">

Thing 5

RSS was easy to do. The instructions provided were uncomplicated and concise. Searching for blogs took some time, and I don't believe I found anything that unusual. I was glad to connect to the blogs recommended and have found them to be informative. In my personal life, I find this a great way to keep up with the news. No more searching for it--it comes to me. My only problem seems to be the time factor. Searching for blogs and keeping up with them is time consuming. More and more I seem to be tied to the computer, both at work and at home.