Creating My Own Social Network

Whew!!! My own social newtowrk. I feel like i am already a part of so many other people's social networks...and now I am ready to synthesize it all and combine it into a one-stop-shopping experience for me! To create that, I am planning to utilize iGoogle. I already have iGoogle set up but the configuraiton is from many years ago. My goal: to update/add/remove to make it current. Plus, create a work tab and personal tab...I am all about organization! And right now I feel lost without my own "method-to-the-madness" in place!

That will be a work in progress.

A semi-completed goal: to consolidate usernames/passwords. For some sites, I have more than one log-in! How did I let that happen?? Sometimes my work account, my home account, my google account. Yikes!

For example, Blogspot- I have two accounts there. Who knew? For this class, when I set up my blogspot, i used my work email, forgetting i already had an account through google. When I log on using my work email, I automatically get logged off of google...If I am logged in to google when I try to access BlogSpot, it logs me on to my former account, which is the wrong one for this class. I need to recall which account is which and how to sign on to get me where I want to be. Sound confusing? Try living it! Then, a thought: there MUST be a way to combine these two accounts! I looked it up, and voila! found an answer: Open the one account, invite another user (ME- as a google account user), accept the invite, give new guy (me!)admin right, remove old user (still me!) from account- and there you have it. Blogspot consolidated. Like I said, Whew!

Time to explore iGoogle. Putting all my hopes into using it as the ultimate online organization aide. Stay tuned...

Interesting Opportunity

Today I had a chance to participate in an ITS meeting sponsored by the PA Dept of Ed. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss the ITS certificate, its competencies & requirements and how they may need to be "tweaked" given the new assistive guidelines for students with learning disabilities. The bulk of attendees were the higher ed decision makers. the creators of the ITS cert program.

The conversation was rich to say the least! So many "experts" in one room, each one very passionate about their field, methods and procedures. Each one very interested in the role of the ITS: what should be expected of the ITS? And once we determine that, how to train individuals to prepare them to assume the role of an ITS?

At first i was confused...Admittedly, I was the least knowledgeable in the room concerning what the certificate means and how to attain it. First thing I realized was that to enroll in an ITS cert program, you only need an undergrad degree- but the undergrad degree need not be in the realm of education...hmmmm, working in a school, advising educators on how to use technology in their classroom, but no education background. Odd. Now I realize that not all ITS certified people look to be hired in schools...but any role that trains others should have some sort of educational background. One instructional design course is not enough! A course about education principles is a necessity (in my opinion). But that is not the case in reality...

Next lots of discussion centering around what the ITS needs to know. BACK UP...what is an ITS? Is there a consistent definition??? Let's start there. Each institution defines the role differently. How can we determine what an ITS should know if a single definition of what an ITS is cannot be developed? Even if we had that definition, the question of what an ITS should know can be broken down...what should an ITS know to receive the cert. What does an ITS need to know once employed?

lots of thoughts...good, healthy conversation! It was a very enjoyable day. I do not feel like we reached any "answers", at least not in the traditional sense of 2+2=4. But, as with any worthy experience, the process was much more beneficial than the product!!

Exploring WEB 2.0- FOR ME!

There are soooo many things to learn, explore, expand on, and make real in our lives. In the past, I flirted with social bookmarking...I dabbled in aggregators and RSS (and even helped create a few podcasts attached to an RSS!), and thought about the best way to share and make use of WEB 2.0 tools. And then...POOF overload. and i went back to my comfortable way of doing things! Emailing items back-and-forth to myself. Exporting and importing bookmarks (silly!) And joining every site that came down the pike! Blogger, Skype, DimDim, Elluminate, Edublogger, Facebook, MySpace, MAGPI, Delicious, Twitter, MUSE, Wikispaces, Voicethread, Blabber, etc etc etc . However, without taking the time to identify a real, practical reason for using the sites, my membership (as well as my recollection of username/password) began to fall by the wayside.

Recently, I re-visited some of the sites mentioned above...for example, Delicious. I now maintain online bookmarks. I also make use of the Outlook feed, AND, I personalized Google so some of the informaiton I wanted immediate access to was readily available (such as recipes, thought of the day, puzzles). But that is only part of what I want to explore!

In retrospect, many of the Web 2.0 sites I have visited lately are for use in the classroom. How can we use this with students? How can this enrich the learning experience? I am looking forward to tapping into this class (at least initially) for ME! How can I make use of WEB 2.0 to make MY life easier?