cipating blogs. If you do not receive an email within 3 days of sending the above information, please contact firstname.lastname@example.org again.
Tool #1 has been pretty intense. There was a lot to consider in getting started. The rest of the tool investigations should be a little less intense. You will be concentrating on learning about them and how to use them in transforming your classroom and integrating the new technology you are getting.
Enjoy your learning!
Common craft video sharing policy
Will Richardson of Weblogged-ed briefly explains this change in education:
Take a look at some more ideas about PLNs and the changing role of teachers.
One way you have started communicating with your PLN is with your blog. Blogs in being a part of the 2.0 or interactive digital world, are good places to find educators with similar thoughts and ideas.
The posts you write are the first step in the building of your PLN. The second, and equally important step, is for you to comment about ideas presented on other learners' blogs. Comments turn a statement into a conversation.
HOW DO YOU COMMENT?
Here is a list of things to consider when getting ready to comment on the post of another blogger.
Long-time and highly-regarded teacher-blogger, Vicki Davis, aka Cool Cat Teacher, shares her thoughts about how to comment in this post.
As you move through the various activities, select at least five blogs from the 11 Tools community where you will share your thoughts about one of their posts through your comments. The list of participating blogs is located on the right sidebar of the 11 Tools blog.
For your Tool #2 Post in YOUR blog:
1. What are your thoughts about building an online education community and participating in a PLN?
2. What point stood out to you from the commenting advice?
3. What five blogs did you select for your comments? (you may need to come back and add this information later by editing this post.)
See you 'round the learning neighborhood!
Image from MS Clip Art
The Flickr Creative Commons site makes using photos a little easier, and maybe even more fun!
Individuals have uploaded their personal photos and assigned one of six Creative Commons licenses to the photos. By choosing one of the six categories, you and your students will know for sure how you can use the photos you select. You will also have fewer problems with inappropriate photos by using this type of photo sharing site.
The folks that upload their photos add tags (or keywords) that describe what the photos represent. In looking for photos, you will use tags to find photos you want.
When you select photos to use there are a few things to remember:
1. The size of the photo file is important. Very rarely will you want to use the thumbnail size. The file is too small and when it gets stretched, the quality is very poor. On the other side, the largest file size can be a memory hog and make loading slow! The average size of 400-500 dpi is usually a good all-around size file to use.
2. The best format to use in saving pictures is jpg. The next most popular and easiest to use format is png. Try to save photos and other visuals in these two formats.
3. Here is some help in downloading pictures from Flickr Creative Commons and saving them to your computer so you can use them.
Ok, you have found a great place for you and your students to select photos. Now what kinds of things can you do with the photos? What results happen when you mash up two or more pieces of information?
IMAGE GENERATORS & MASHUPS
There are so many sites that allow you to upload pictures and create products with those pictures. Check out these sites and have some fun:
Big Huge Labs
Kid-Friendly Image Generators
Comic Strip Generator
Logo Makr - currently not available in district.
Spell with Flickr
How about creating a word cloud?
Make a book from Flickr pictures and your own words
Make a movie out of pictures, a few words, and some music.
How about trying a virtual poster or digital bulletin board full of pictures, hot links, and even videos?
For your Tool #3 Post in you blog:
1. Choose two dif