Tech Pro-D Tools

@betty-ann, thanks for the positive feedback! My ...

2008-08-30T19:11:00.000-07:00

@betty-ann, thanks for the positive feedback! My hope was that this series of posts would be helpful to anyone starting out blogging.

By the way, your blog looks great! the slide show in the right side-bar works really well.

As someone who attended the workshop, I think it w...

2008-08-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

As someone who attended the workshop, I think it went very well! I've already passed along the link to this blog to two friends that I persuaded to try blogging. I think most teachers just aren't familiar with it, especially in an educational context. I'm setting mine up to be a classroom resource for parents (since my students are too young to do it on their own).

@Sarah - I'm exhausted, but I'd say the workshop w...

2008-08-28T18:25:00.000-07:00

@Sarah - I'm exhausted, but I'd say the workshop went well. The turn out was lower than I'd expected, but that was probably a good thing! There were eight participants, most of them new to blogging, and I felt like I was able to help everyone without being run ragged or having people wait forever for me to get to them. I'm going to post my reflections in the next day or two. Thanks again for sharing your resources and your reflections on your blogging workshop.

@Ken
- thanks for the compliment!
- re: the video--I feel that I know pretty well from the comments you have left with me and elsewhere so I realized that it was not an attack; I enjoyed having to justify my choice!

Fiestas of anniversay in Arequipa Peruhttp://gviph...

2008-08-28T09:46:00.000-07:00

Fiestas of anniversay in Arequipa Peru
http://gviphoenix.blogspot.com/2008/08/happy-468th-birthday-arequipa-per.html

Hi Claire, I myself am a very visual learner and I...

2008-08-28T09:32:00.000-07:00

Hi Claire, I myself am a very visual learner and I find the commoncraft videos simple and easy to understand. I think that using media like this enables a teacher to reach many more learners than just using the written word, and young learners in particular are growing up in an environmnet where multi-media presentation of information is what they are used to.

Tēnā kōrua Claire and Sarah!@Sarah - I'll second t...

2008-08-28T00:39:00.000-07:00

Tēnā kōrua Claire and Sarah!

@Sarah - I'll second that. I have a few friends and colleagues who are considering starting a blog. For those that choose Blogger, these resources would be a great place to begin.

@Claire - Fantastic resources! I'm glad you didn't take me too seriously when I queried the video you posted on blogging :-) an excellent starting spot for any would-be-blogger.

Ka kite
from Middle-earth

Nice set of resources, Claire. How did you feel th...

2008-08-27T21:19:00.000-07:00

Nice set of resources, Claire. How did you feel the workshop went?

Kia ora Claire!There is no doubt in my mind that e...

2008-08-24T14:19:00.000-07:00

Kia ora Claire!

There is no doubt in my mind that every person sees things in different ways. What permits one person to see clearly and understand something can seemingly confuse another. It is this strange property of diversity, and it is often far more diverse that we'd believe it to be.

Many have attempted to analyse it. Myers-Briggs personality assessment is just one attempt that tries to explain the patterns in peoples behaviour and thinking ways.

I am a visual person. That's to say I like to see pictures, but I'm also good at interpreting words and sentences if they're well written.

I am aware that for those whose word acumen is not as good as their visual perception skills, the fine description you gave in text may tend to confuse some, leaving them none the wiser.

BTW I like your description! Thanks for spending the time on it :-)

Ka kite
from Middle-earth

Hi Ken,I've thought about the use of video in blog...

2008-08-24T09:02:00.000-07:00

Hi Ken,

I've thought about the use of video in blog posts for a while, see here and here. When I look at the comment thread in Dean's post that you referred to, the sense that I get is that people are advocating that you have to use the right medium for the message. I definitely agree with that. When I selected the video above I thought that it gave a good description, and that the visuals helped to reinforce the idea of what a blog is. In addition, there is an element of humour in the video (with the hand gestures and the quick brushing off of the paper graphics) that I thought would provide a little levity for the intro to my session.

"It fascinates me the popularity of videos to convey information that can be conveyed in a few sentences in a txt, twitter or even on a blog." So my question is how do you explain blogging to beginners? I could give the following explanation, but I'm not sure it totally encapsulates what a blog is:
A blog is a website where the author can post text, video, audio, and or images. The 'posts' are displayed with the most recent one at the top of the webpage. People reading the posts can leave comments. The comments are like the conversation pit of the blog.

What do you think?

Thanks for leaving a comment Ken; it's definitely made me think a bit more about choosing the right media for the job!

Kia ora Claire!Yup, I think I knew what a blog is....

2008-08-23T22:56:00.000-07:00

Kia ora Claire!

Yup, I think I knew what a blog is.

It fascinates me the popularity of videos to convey information that can be conveyed in a few sentences in a txt, twitter or even on a blog. I wonder if the attraction of videos isn't a passing phase, that's already on the wane. They tend to be busy, and do not permit reflection the way a blog might.

And this is my point about this particular video. I'm not so sure that it is the best use of the medium. My recent comment on Dean Shareski's post explains more of my thoughts on this.

Ka kite
from Middle-earth

Sorry Claire for some reason Edublogs anti-spam is...

2008-05-10T18:20:00.000-07:00

Sorry Claire for some reason Edublogs anti-spam is stopping me posting this comment. I will post here then try again.

Claire, Rick is correct.

All my images are 450 px wide or less. I take my screenshots using SnagIT. Resize to 450 px then add the extra text. Then I upload to my blog. And don't resizing after you've uploaded into a post (in your dashboard). If size is wrong then upload new image.

Hey Alison, thanks for checking it out!

2008-05-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

Hey Alison, thanks for checking it out!

Great new blog, I'm going to end up learning somet...

2008-05-06T15:31:00.000-07:00

Great new blog, I'm going to end up learning something about this blogging business if I'm not careful!

One more site for Google Reader!

Hi inpi, I'm glad you've found this blog useful. G...

2008-05-02T14:50:00.000-07:00

Hi inpi, I'm glad you've found this blog useful. Good luck with the comment challenge!

Hi, Claire! Thank you for your Blog! It is ver...

2008-05-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

Hi, Claire!
Thank you for your Blog! It is very useful to me, as I've just started learning about web 2.0 and school.
It's easy for me to fulfill the requested activities for today because I've almost never posted a comment in any of the blogs engaged in Comment Challenge!
I'm also having a great time even laughing at myself, because I've the feeling to be learning very practical and wonderful things, but, at the same time, they never seem to work with me, when I try them, and then, somehow, without me fully understanding, they suddenly work!
I surely will be visiting your blog soon, with my young students, to learn more about using our friend Google; thank you again.

Hi, Claire, I'm back! Thanks for the acronym clari...

2008-05-02T11:26:00.000-07:00

Hi, Claire, I'm back! Thanks for the acronym clarification. :-)

Thank you, too for your comment on my recent post re: educators managing their digital identity... the link in your post goes right back to mine, though, when I think you probably meant for it to go somewhere else...

Try, try again?

Oh, here's the link to the Comment Challenge that ...

2008-05-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

Oh, here's the link to the Comment Challenge that Sue and I have been referring to.

Hi Shelley, thanks for checking out this blog! Pr...

2008-05-01T07:35:00.000-07:00

Hi Shelley, thanks for checking out this blog! Pro-D refers to Professional Development (basically extra training/learning to improve professional practice). Guess I've fallen into the trap of using too many short forms and TLAs (Three Letter Acronyms) :-)

Glad you're excited about the Challenge - we've ha...

2008-05-01T07:34:00.000-07:00

Glad you're excited about the Challenge - we've had excellent response. Although I'm already feeling tired (been a lot of organising).

Great use of screen shots here; talk about making ...

2008-05-01T06:04:00.000-07:00

Great use of screen shots here; talk about making commenting easy!

I do wonder about the title; not sure what Pro-D means.

Out here exposing my ignorance (again) for the sake of learning!

Thanks Sue! Now isn't that 2 blog gifts; leaving ...

2008-04-29T07:51:00.000-07:00

Thanks Sue! Now isn't that 2 blog gifts; leaving a comment and adding us to your Google Reader?

BTW, I'm looking forward to the comment challenge.

Congratulations on your new blog. Here's your blo...

2008-04-29T05:10:00.000-07:00

Congratulations on your new blog. Here's your blog gift. I've added it to my Google Reader and look forward to your posts since I'm a Gooogle-a-holic.