Thing #14: Be A Reader of Blogs

The blog I chose to read was a Dissertation Research Blog from Kansas University's Library, since I plan on going back to school in the spring.  The very first thing I noticed was my inability to read the goal of the blog, which was in small white letters pasted over a picture.  Otherwise, the appearance of the blog was nice and easy to read.  The blog posted learning opportunities on the campus and had research from other government institutions.  There were sections with dissertation handouts, Web 2.0 Tools,  and other resources.  Something I really liked about the formatting was a FEEDJIT that tracked recent visitors of the blog on a world map.  If I were a huge blogger, I would have one on my mine.  

Thing #16: The Backchannel

The Beckley training provided me with my first opportunity to use Today's Meet. I thought it was so neat and provided a tool that was a step above Polly Everywhere.  It's a great way to effectively incorporate cell phone use into a lesson.  Below is my response to the TIS TodaysMeet Question.

Thing #17: Twitter in the Classroom

I have a Twitter account of my own and today made one for our class.  We are initially going to use Twitter as a communication tool with students.  We will send notices of two hour delays, school closings, and class activities.  We will then expand to using it as a public education tool for informing others about our class achievements, such as when students obtain GEDs or certifications, present at job fairs, or participate with community activities.  To help build our followers, I'm going to add the Twitter widget to our class website.  The final phase of Twitter use will be students providing comments about our daily modules and also sharing links and resources that supplement our lessons.