I'm done!!!

But not really. This of course is just the beginning.

I have been pleasantly surprised at how I have taken to many of the tools that have been presented. Massively surprised at how useful the Google suite is - now to get Google docs unblocked for kiddie use!!!!

So nice to be encouraged to look at particular sites (mostly very useful!) and being nudged all the way was essential (as was the automatic extension of time!). And I am feeling reasonably confident of having a better idea of how teenagers communicate, study and research - possibly one of my main aims of the course in the first place.......

Thank you for the ride.

#22 eBooks and #23 audio books

I like this idea. I have a great old Douglas Adams one on tape which I used to love listening to in the car when travelling heaps of distance. So I am slightly used to "reading" a book in an unconvential manner.

The audtio books should be great for me - the radio is no good during the week anymore (finally getting too old for triple J, but too young for Nova and I hate commercials!!) so this would be a great time to "read" a book (something I haven't had time to do for ages).

Whilst I love the "feel" of a book, imagine the environmental saving in paper, manufacture, delivery and storage.

#21 Youtube and Teacher Tube

Well, I have been using the former for finding heaps of excellent maths resources (right up to extension level) which I have pinned to moodle. Whilst the kids can't view from school (but I can now, yippee!!), they can from home. I haven't made as much use of Teachertube yet, mainly due to a lack of time. But will be - in fact it has just reminded me to look for work on complex numbers, and I found heaps. Our maths association also gives frequent links to good online stuff. Lots of useful info out there if you think to look for it........

#20 Podcasts

Now this is one that I had made some use of in the past. I had downloaded Happyfish to "catch" my podcasts but I found the auto download when on a quite limiting plan was a problem!! And also finding time to actually listen to them!

Having said that I have gone in and added an RSS feed to iGoogle for ABC Grandstand sport. Also jumped to JJJ for Dr Karl. Informative stuff that I'm wondering when I'll listen to (just did!! Found some great stuff about Eratosthenes working out the circumference of the earth with stick)...... but a great asset.

#19 Rollyo

Okay, getting the idea after playing for a bit. The hard part is the inspiration for what I regularly search for!!!

I've added a search roll for complex numbers (a new topic for my kids, and one where there are limited electronic resources at school) and have added sites with some nifty explanations (including a complex number calculator! How cool).

Sticking this one in delicious too.......

#18 Wikis

Well, a word that I first really heard at a SDD earlier this year, but had no idea what it was. Now I have a much better idea!

I guess it's more like a conversation board, with the 21st century twist of not actually needing to talk to anyone! But we can garner opinions of others, or put ours out to the world.

I have just added a wiki via moodle for my new extension 2 class. Let's see what we can make of it. I am hopeful that they will make good use of it to collate group summaries and encourage significant interaction (and I can be there to ensure the accuracy of the content). This is a very hard course that they will more likely survive with copious assistance from a variety of viewpoints - I can't provide that all the time, so having access to their own classmates understanding will I expect be most helpful (much better than what I had to do at Uni!!! Leaving copious phone messages for a lecturer was not fun or good use of my time!).

#17 Delicious

I LOVE this and have cheated and been using it since almost the beginning of this course. I was tipped off at a development day and am so happy that I jumped to it early.

How cool. No more cataloging of favourites and still having to hunt for a site when you want it. Now I just tag with a range of useful workds and list a tag when I'm looking for a site - no need to even remember the exact name!!! Brilliant.

I haven't made a great deal of use of it remotely yet, mainly on the home PC. But I know the functionality is there.

I have not yet investigated looking at others with similar bookmarks. On my to do list.......