This is the end of this part of my journey to being a lifelong learner.  So the answers to the following questions are my evaluations of the assignment.

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?  I really enjoyed working with the Web 2.0 tools.  I would really like to spend more time on the websites that allow for animation, like GoAnimate.com and Voki.com.  I think these tools can be great for keeping the attention in the classroom.  It may even be a good idea to assign presentations to be done with one of them.

2. How has this type of program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?  A Master Technology Teacher, which I intend to be soon, is inherently a lifelong learner.  Technology changes so quickly that teachers of technology have to stay tuned in to keep up.  This exercise has led me to experiment with tools that I haven't tried yet and get a better grasp of the tools that are out there.

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?  I was surprised about PhotoPeach.  I hadn't ever heard of it, and I couldn't believe how easy it was!  I loved it, and I think I will be using it more in the future.

4. What could I do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?  The only thing I can think of for improvement is that as technology changes, you'll need to change the assignments to keep up.  At some point, some of the sites on here will become outdated 

Oh my goodness, Photo Peach is so awesome and so easy!  Uploading pictures takes about three clicks, you choose music from the options is has available, and this is the result:

Skype is a very helpful tool.  A couple of years ago when we were living in New Jersey, I took a two-week class in Washington DC at the university I mentioned in my last post, Gallaudet University.  At the time I had my three kids home with their daddy, so I used skype to keep in contact with them.  They were only 5, 3 and 1 year old, so it was so wonderful for them to be able to see me on the computer and hear my voice.

Now my in-laws live with us, but my husband's sisters live in the Philippines and Canada.  It is hard for my in-laws to be away from their other grandchildren and miss watching them grow up.  They now can use Facetime to chat every day.  I can use Facetime on my Mac laptop and my iPad, but since my phone is an Android, my husband just sent me an invitation to Tango.  Now he and I can video chat between our two Android phones.

The best thing about tools like Skype is that they are some of the most helpful technology tools for my particular subject.  Video phones have been awesome for Deaf people for the past few years.  In fact, because of the Americans with Disabilities Act, all Deaf people get a free video phone from the government.  But those of us who commonly associate with them don't.  Skype and tools like it make up for that.  Instead of having to use a go-between relay service for talking to my friends on the phone, now I have several options for talking with them directly.  That also gives me the ability to do so with Deaf people as guest speakers in my classroom.  I have a Deaf friend who teaches in Washington state, so she can't come

Podcasting

First of all I want to say that until Dr. Cozart told us that "podcast" was the word of the year in 2005, I didn't even know that there was a word of the year.  That got me curious, though, and I wasn't surprised to see that for the last few years the words are technology related, including the word "hashtag" for the year 2012.  No surprise there!

I looked for podcasts that I can use on iTunes U for Texas. I wasn't able to find any podcasts in my subject, American Sign Language, but I was able to find videos that are interesting to me, especially as I work on my Masters in Technology in Education.  I particularly enjoyed one video about online learning that is being used in Cypress-Fairbanks ISD, here in the Houston area.  It is one of a series called "Project Share."

Elsewhere in iTunes I was able to find some podcasts that can be used in my subject area.  There are a few podcasts for practicing fingerspelling receptive skills.  I also saw a great podcast about Gallaudet University's mission statement.  Gallaudet is a liberal arts 

Bookmarking

Since I already have an account on Delicious, I have been using it to bookmark the research that I'm finding for my project on school change.  Because I can tag my bookmarks in whatever way I want, it is so helpful when I go back to find articles or websites.  I just type in which bookmarks I want to see and the site gives me the list.

In continuing to play with youtube and iMovie I created a video today for my students in level one to use for practice.  Here it is!

This assignment is to search through youtube and find videos that may be valuable.  Of course you have to weed through a lot of videos that aren't worth your time as you do so.  One of the things I love and hate about youtube is that people post videos of themselves signing songs or teaching signing.  I love it because there are some very talented people to watch and inspire you.  I hate it because some people think they know ASL well enough to teach others, but they do it all wrong.  I have ASL students who look on youtube for ideas, and when they learn something wrong from there, it can be very hard to unlearn.

Since my professor added a clip of her favorite movie on her blog, I thought I'd look for clips of some of the movies I love.  Here we go!  I can't imagine anyone not loving this clip!

I played around with a couple of web 2.0 tools.  Here is a mindmap I created on Text2MindMap.com.
http://text2mindmap.com/e7Ur6s  It is clearly a tool that is limitless for teachers and students alike.  I know that I am a visual learner, and seeing my information organized into a mind map helps me to learn it so much better.  Students could use it as a study tool, and teachers could use it as a teaching tool.  It is a great way to vary your teaching methods to reach all learning styles.

I also played with GoAnimate and created this silly little video.  This would be a fun tool for students to use to create presentations.  This way, even the students who prefer not to speak in front of people can present on a topic in a way that uses their skills.

Click here to read full document.

Really, Wikis have unlimited potential.  I guess you could say that they are limited only by your imagination.  I logged onto Dr. Wilson's Technology Poppers Wiki where graduate students are posting ideas of technology "Poppers," or attention-grabbers for the classroom.  I added a little blurb about the Voki application I mentioned in an earlier blog post here.  (What high school student isn't going to suddenly look up at your PowerPoint when it starts TALKING to them??)  

Until this project, I really had no idea how popular Wikis have become.  I mean, everyone has heard of Wikipedia, but there are so many more out there!  As I browsed through some of the teachers' Wikis I realized how very versatile they are.  One that I particularly appreciated was 1000 Names.  Since I have young children, I really know how hard certain concepts are for them to grasp.  So a teacher created this Wiki where people all over the world were able to add their names in a numbered sequence.  I was thinking this could be a great new way to do 100s day for little ones!  How much easier would it be to create a Wiki instead of gluing 100 Cheerios to a posterboard!