Week 2: Pictures & Reflections

This week was a busy week in IP&T 287. One of the most interesting things things I created was my new wiki website. It may be found with the below link:

http://misskris.pbworks.com/

This last week opened up a whole figurative hall of doors for me as I learned about web 2.0. Web 2.0 are programs and websites that allow for interaction on the internet. This could include chats, blogs, wikis, etc... I learned that these sites could help make a classroom more organized and fun if used. For example, I built a wiki on which I posted an edited picture, a google map, a calendar and many other things that could be useful to a class!

I learned that creating a wiki isn't as hard as I thought it would be! Since I am used to blogger, there were some differences I had to acquaint myself with and adjust to, but for the most part, it was simple to create easy, accessible pages.

This week, I also signed up for an account and explored Goodreads. I had never even heard of Goodreads before, but I am glad I have heard of it now. It's a social networking tool so people can rate, compare and discuss books. I joined the Early Childhood and Elementary Education Books group and even added a book to the bookshelf and started a discussion. Below is a screenshot of my comment in the discussion:

In addition to this, I created an account on Diigo. This is a tool that helps people organize their favorite websites and findings on the internet. I added some of my favorite bookmarks onto my account. Here is a screenshot:


In addition to this, I also added a new blog to my Google Reader- a tool that helps one to read the various posts of all the blogs one follows. Since I have many friends with blogs, I had done this before so this was the easiest part of the assignment I had to do. I 'starred' one of the entries on this educational blog. Below is the screenshot:

I think the most difficult thing I had to do was when I had to figure out Diigo. I signed up for an account but I had to wait for an email confirmation registration from them. I waited a while, but I didn't realize that it had gone to my junk account, so I sat for a long time thinking that it had never come. But once I checked that and started working with it, everything else flowed smoothly.

I think the most useful thing I learned was how to create a wiki and embed information in it. I had seen people do this before and I had always wanted to know how they did it! I know I will definitely create such a website when I am a teacher.

I learned so much about web 2.0 and loved it, I just had to tell a friend. So this morning I called my cousin, who is a high school teacher, and told her all the new possibilities I now know are available to us! Below is a screenshot of our google chat:

As you can see, this was a great week!