Monday, July 14, 2008
Homage to Olive
With this blog I'd like to pay homage to Olive Riley, the world's oldest blogger, who passed away on July 12th, at the age of 108 in Australia. Olive had a great zest for life and her blogging interests certainly kept her mind fresh. According to a great-grandson she enjoyed communicating with people all over the world - including some in Russia and the U.S. This reminds us that instructional computer applications are not just for the young, but can be shared with and prepared by people of all ages. In her final blog Olive wrote of singing a happy song every day of her life - pretty neat advice.
Monday, July 7, 2008
webquest templates
I constructed my webquest called "Ask Roland Smith" at zunal.com.
Here is the link http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=13865.
This was the first webquest I've ever done. I looked at a number of webquest templates and chose this one because it looked easy to work with and because it has separate pages for each stage of the quest. Also, it was free. It is kinda neat to be "published" and have a URL that can be accessed by anyone anywhere. But while I was working on it, there were times when I regretted not having the freedom to add graphics here and there or to differentiate the text to made something stand out. It was simple to make, but then I couldn't customize it. Isn't there always that sort of trade-off in life? I wondered if I could just make the webquest in a wiki or something from scratch. I wasn't sure if that was ever done. Then Alex shared his wonderful PowerPoint solution. Now that I've done a webquest, I feel more confident about experimenting with out avenues next time. Isn't that was learning is all about!
Here is the link http://zunal.com/webquest.php?user=13865.
This was the first webquest I've ever done. I looked at a number of webquest templates and chose this one because it looked easy to work with and because it has separate pages for each stage of the quest. Also, it was free. It is kinda neat to be "published" and have a URL that can be accessed by anyone anywhere. But while I was working on it, there were times when I regretted not having the freedom to add graphics here and there or to differentiate the text to made something stand out. It was simple to make, but then I couldn't customize it. Isn't there always that sort of trade-off in life? I wondered if I could just make the webquest in a wiki or something from scratch. I wasn't sure if that was ever done. Then Alex shared his wonderful PowerPoint solution. Now that I've done a webquest, I feel more confident about experimenting with out avenues next time. Isn't that was learning is all about!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Web 2.0 and politics
Today's political candidates and their campaigns must be techno-savvy.
Last night I got a phone call from my congresswoman explaining that she was conducting a live townhall meeting and asking me to please stay on the line so I could participate in the event. I really didn't have time, but I was tempted to see how it works.
John McCain's website includes the candidate's blog and "McCain Space Community" where you can sign up for your own site. The senator encourages his supporters to "get the word out" by posting on social networks.
Meanwhile Senator Barack Obama's website has "Obama Everywhere" with links to facebook, my space, you tube, flickr, digg, twitter, eventful, linkedin, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsianAve, and DNC Partybuilder. You can sign up for text messages from him and even download ringtones with Obama greetings in which you hear the phone ring and then, "Hello, this is Barack Obama......"
Candidates at all levels of govenment can interact with their would-be constituents through blogs and websites. Technology and Web 2.0 is changing the political landscape. Informed citizens must be techno-savvy, too. And there-in lies another reason for teaching students to use technology in school.
Last night I got a phone call from my congresswoman explaining that she was conducting a live townhall meeting and asking me to please stay on the line so I could participate in the event. I really didn't have time, but I was tempted to see how it works.
John McCain's website includes the candidate's blog and "McCain Space Community" where you can sign up for your own site. The senator encourages his supporters to "get the word out" by posting on social networks.
Meanwhile Senator Barack Obama's website has "Obama Everywhere" with links to facebook, my space, you tube, flickr, digg, twitter, eventful, linkedin, BlackPlanet, Faithbase, Eons, Glee, MiGente, MyBatanga, AsianAve, and DNC Partybuilder. You can sign up for text messages from him and even download ringtones with Obama greetings in which you hear the phone ring and then, "Hello, this is Barack Obama......"
Candidates at all levels of govenment can interact with their would-be constituents through blogs and websites. Technology and Web 2.0 is changing the political landscape. Informed citizens must be techno-savvy, too. And there-in lies another reason for teaching students to use technology in school.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)