Back To Blogging... and Slogging!!

I'm baaack!! With a little push from my friend bitdepth (check out his blog it's very cool!). Seems like forever since I have posted anything and turns out it has - no real excuse, I haven't run out of things to say or thoughts that make me go hmmm..., just never seemed to get around to it. Plus there were those whole Twitter and Facebook distractions - but I'm back - really, I am!...

So tonight thought I'd post about something I've been up to - as I sit here dripping on to the keyboard - I'm just in from what I affectionately call (well, not so affectionately when I'm actually doing it...) slogging - think of it as periods of walking interrupted by periods of very slow jogging (slow + jog = slog- elementary!! :-)). The good news is that I slog now more than I walk and I'm out about 45-60 minutes a slog - my city is a good one for slogging - pretty, with lots of hills and flat bits (I'm really good at finding the flat bits and downhills). I feel great and I know I'm fitter, so I'll keep it up until the snow flies and then I'll head to the gym for the winter...

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A new feature here is that I plan on ending with a link or site that I find useful or interesting or one that just makes me go Hmmm.... Today's site is Ron Berks's - Ron is Professor Emeritus of Biostatistics and Measurement at The John Hopkins University and a master of the use of humour in the classroom and of all things PowerPoint - check him out at LinkedIn too. Ron is amazing and very generous with amazing stuff (stuff is a technical term) and lots of wisdom for educators and presenters. Hmmm...

Back Up Out Of The Twitter Rabbit Hole And Other Musings...

Hard to believe that it has been almost six months since my last blog post - I truly did fall down the Twitter rabbit hole - was (and is) to type out that quick and witty (well I think they are witty) 140 charcter stream of consciousness than it was to sit down and think of something almost sensible to say...

Another advantage of Twitter is that with TweetDeck, I could kill two birds with one stone - tweet and post to Facebook (in fact other than Birthday greetings, I have not used the Facebook interface since I installed TweetDeck almost a year ago...).

While I find Twitter a good way to stay in touch and to get info - depending on who you follow it's almost a "headline" RSS feed - there is still very much room in my life for a blog and for other folk's blogs too (although I must confess I have not looked at Netvibes in months either - something I must get back too.

We're nearing the end of another full and busy academic year here at the College - convocation is next week and we are already in next year mode - seeing prospective students, looking at enrollment numbers (ours are great!), and all in all getting sorted out for another academic year - there is no longer any "down" time...

The two big pieces of tech news for me over the last few months are all Apple related - the release of the iPad and today's announcement of the new iPhone 4 - there is definiteky an iPhone 4 in my relatively immediate future, as for the iPad we have oredered some to try as teaching and learning platforms and to become more informed about their capabilities as we know students will strat showing up with them this fall.

I see the iPad as primarily a consumption machine, not a creation machine - Ira David Socol on his SpeEd Change blog has an interesting post on the iPad - check it out. I think the jury is still out on if the iPad can be successfully used as a learning tool in PSE - I suspect that in some programs it can and in some it cannot. I plan on using one this summer and fall as my " go to meetings" machine - note taking, file retrieval etc. I'll post on how it goes.

My cross Canada virtual trek continues - I think I'm somewhere in Saskatchewan I'll be updating those posts shortly - I did the Bluenose Marathon 5 KM walk/run this year for the third time - my goal was sub 50 minutes and I finished in a chip tine of 50:07.9 (shouldn't have tweetd at the 1 Km mark :-)). You can see my hard-earned medal above...

Well it is so good to be back up from deep in the Twitterverse - I've really missed that 141st character and all the ones that follow. Time to think and muse on what will be here next. Hmmm...

Vacation Blogging - My 21st Century Summer Reading List

Remember getting those summer reading lists when you were in school - titles to be read for the next school year? Spent summers doing almost anything except reading what was on that list? Then later, after school was over, making up lists of bookd you wanted to read for pleasure while on vacation or just sitting outside enjoying the weather?

Well, my summer reading list has morphed into vacation blogging. I'm on vacation for the next few weeks and have a list of things that have been making me go hmmm... for a while. Now that I have time, I plan on getting these things posted. Here's the list:

• New skills for learning professionals
• Meta skills for learning professionals
• Informal learning
• Twitter signs of success - business and adult entertainment
  
• Can Community Colleges Save the U.S. Economy? (or any national economy for that matter)
  
• Twitter in the classroom - twitter clickers
• OS X plug-ins
• Sarah Palin's rant
• Version numbers
• Canadians and Traffic Shaping
• Wal-Mart and the Environment
• Must "read" audio books

And I'm sure there are more, but that's my list for now. Better get started, but I see the Sun - maybe a walk first. Hmmm...

Blog or Twitter? Twit or Blogger? Will Ever the Twain Shall Meet? Hmmm...

I've been blogging now for over three years and I really like doing it - it gives me an outlet to say what's on my mind - literally the things that make me go Hmmm... But there is a new sheriff in town and that sheriff is Twitter.

I've been twittering (tweeting? the language is so cool :-)) for well over a year now, but until recently it's mostly been "Home after work", "it's raining out", "off to do laundry" - after all, the primary question that Twitter asks is "What are you doing?". But in the past few months I've noticed a change in how many of my friends (followers, followed?) are using Twitter. They are using it to share information, send links, talk about conferences or meetings they are attending (live in real-time too - very cool) and generally using it for lots more than just a "What are you doing?" tool.

Twitter has become a microblogging tool - a way to blog in 140 characters or less - now for those who know me, and for those who read my posts you know that getting me to say anything coherent in 140 characters or less is a herculean task :-). I'm like Blaise Pascal (or Mark Twain, or T.S. Eliot - someone said it...) - "If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter". I was never one of those students who EVER had to worry about not hitting the word count on an essay assignment, and talking for 30 minutes is easy - it's the 5 minute speech that takes so much time.

For me that is the conundrum of Twitter and Blogging. It's easy for me to answer the "What are you doing?" question within the 140 character limit, but how do I say anything meaningful? That is a skill that I need to learn and to follow the example of several of my friends and colleagues who do an amazing job of saying meaningful things and sharing great stuff (stuff is the universal technical term) with Twitter.

I really like the real-time "live" nature of Twitter. When I attend conferences I blog the days events - keynotes, sessions I attend, things I did or noticed - it's my way of absorbing the day and reflecting on it (and a great way to share the experience too). With Twitter I can do that as it happens - now that is so cool - I just need to develop some concision (yes it is a word :-)).

The other piece that has made Twitter more relevant to me as an information sharing and discussion tool is the technology I'm now using. I've gone from a simple digital text-based SMS cell phone to an iPhone using an application called Twittelator Pro that gives me an easy way to "tweet" no matter where I am. With these tools I can connect live from anywhere. I'm off to a couple of conferences this Spring (one as a co-presenter - CNIE), and I plan on tweeting from both theoughout the day, and then blogging each evening on the day's events - to me the perfect combination of tools...

So is this the end of blogging as I know it? I don't think so - I will still write scads on things that make me go Hmmm... I will never be able to do that to my satisfaction in 140 characters or less. I still have the need to be wordy and verbose (sorry it's in my nature), but I see Twitter as a valuable addition to my tool set of information gathering and sharing and I can tell you that from now on when I tweet (yes I am a Twit :-)), it will be more than answering "what are you doing"? With Twitter I will be able to find and share information in real-time - then I can use my blog to expand upon (and dare I say pontificate) on those subjects that still make me go Hmmm... in more than 140 characters...

(Images - Twitter logo from Twitter.com and Blogger logo from Blogger.com)

Looking Back, Looking Forward 2008...

Well, tonight is the end of one year and the start of another. Time to look back at the year that was and look forward to the year that will be.

Here are the things that I said back on December 31st 2007 would be the big things of 2008:

1. Blended learning and blended learning opportunities will increase - in the end (maybe not the end of 2008 but soon after), more learners will be taking a blended approach to learning than a traditional classroom only model
2. Second Life will continue to grow and will be bought by one of the big players in the Internet (Google, Yahoo, Microsoft...)
3. Open Source will continue to take away from proprietary software - Google Docs and similar online collaborative "suites" will increase in use and popularity
4. Web 2.0 apps will become mainstream as businesses and educational institutions start to use them regularly
5. E-Mails use will decline in favour of IM, Twitter, Facebook and other more immediate forms of communication - EMail will be for "communicating with old folks"
6. Facebook will still be big, but may decline as people become tired of all of the "applications" cluttering up the interface. Look to Orkut and other social networking sites to grow among those wanting to be social without all of the "other stuff". Ning will grow in the creation and use of personal and customized social networking sites
7. I hope that someone creates the social networking equivalent of Meebo allowing me to use one interface for all of the social networking sites that I belong to - Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Ning...
8. Microsoft Windows Vista will continue to struggle, good news for Apple and Linux distros like Ubuntu. More and more educational institutions will look at multi-boot Apple computers as the solution to their IT infrastructure needs.
9. The iPhone will come to Canada - PLEASE!!!! The iPhone is the future of learning...
   
10. I'll continue to blog in 2008, focussing on education and other things that make me go hmmm... including my new mantra of ECMO - Engagement, Collaboration, Mobility, and Openness - it's where education has to go...

It looks like Kreskin's job is safe - some of these things came to pass and some didn't, and some sort of happened. So what will be the big events of 2009?

1. The downturn in the global economy will impact all sectors including education - enrollments may go uo because learners want to stay in school and avoid a down-turned job market, or enrollments may decline because no one can afford to come to school. Hmmm... I'm betting on the first choice.
2. Blended learning will continue to grow as more and more learners and more and more academic institutions look for more flexible learning opportunities
3. The iPhone is in Canada and it along with other smartphones from RIM and Google will change the way many learners get their information, and even the way they learn
4. Web 2.0 tools will mature - the space will mature and shrink somewhta with many Web 2.0 tools disappearing or being assimilated (see Pownce as an example). More and more people will begin the move to cloud computing. That will have huge implications ofr educators. Hmmm...
5. I'm still hoping that someone will create the social networking equivalent of Meebo allowing me to use one interface for all of the social networking sites that I belong to - Facebook, LinkedIn, Bebo, Ning...
6. Educators will continue to struggle to understand millennial learners and adpat learning environments to meet them where they are while at the same time giving them the skills they will need to be successful in a world trhat won't be quite as flexible in accomodating them. Millennials may change the world, but they won't do it in 2009...
7. Open source and cloud computing is the future and the future will continue to develop in 2009.
8. I'll still continue to blog in 2009, still focussing on education and other things that make me go hmmm... including my not so new mantra of ECMO - Engagement, Collaboration, Mobility, and Openness, modified with its corollary "Learning Is a Team Sport" - it's where education has to go...

Have a great year everyone! It's goingto be interesting. Hmmm...

(Photo - Janus Coin by Marco Prins)

Happy New Year - Welcome to 2009!!...

Happy New Year all and welcome to 2009. May this new year be everything that you want it to be and may it bring everything that you want - good health, wealth, adventure, good friends and family and whatever else you desire.

2009 is going to be an adventure, one that I am looking forward to sharing with you. Never have the words "May you live in interesting times" ever meant so much. Hmmm...

About Time I Got Back To This...

Six weeks since my last post. Hmmm... not being very good about this am I? Well, no excuses - it's been a busy semester, but I still have somethings on my mind that are making me go hmmm... and just to make sure that I will actually post about them (eventually), here they are in no particular order:

• Where were you when Obama was elected? It's one of those moments in history where you remember where you were and what you were doing
• When does the retention of a learner begin? Admissions, acceptance, enrollment, orientation, first semester... When?
  
• My Battle of the Bulge or there is too much Bastogne around my waist...
• World War I 90 years later - have we honoured the sacrifice?
• Do Millennial learners have a sense of entitlement or do we not just get it?
• Is Facebook the Malt Shop of the 21st Century or - where do you hang out?

Well, now that they are out there, maybe I'll actually get a chance to post about them. Three weeks left in the semester - let's say I'll have them done by year's end - wish me luck!

Hmmm...

I'm Baaaack!!

Just when you thought it was safe to venture back into the blogosphere...

Hard to believe that it's been over a month since my last post - it's been busy here wrapping up another semester at the College, attending meetings, and watching the last vestiges of Winter and the arrival of Spring (although not all that sure about Spring today - rainy and cold with a threat of snow later tonight).

Well, I'm back now and plan on being a little more regular and consistent with my posting. here are some of the things I have on my mind and hope to blog about over the next little while:

• Great Teachers Seminar Alumni Reunion...
  
• Learning is a team sport...
• Learning technologies - the cart or the horse...
• Assessment and Evaluation - what exactly does authentic mean?...
• NISOD 2008..

And anything else that makes me go hmmm...

(Photo - "Panorama of an Extremely Messy Classroom" - Jenicra84)

CIT 2007 - Keeping Up With the Jetsons - Teaching and Learning With Web 2.0

This half-day workshop was presented by Shelley Rodrigo of Mesa Community College, part of the Maricopa Community Colleges system. Shelley has a background as an English instructor and us currently an instructional technologist and is involved with faculty development.

The workshop was focussed on Web 2.0 tools that will help both faculty and learners communicate better in today's Web 2.0 world.

The tools and technologies looked at were:

• Social bookmarking - del.icio.us (other tools were discussed
• Blogs
• RSS Feeds and aggregators (Google Reader)
• Wikis - Wetpaint and others
• Personal portals - iGoogle, Pageflakes, Netvibes

Here was also some discussion around Google apps, a technology very prominent at CIT 2007

The coolest part of this workshop was its collaborative and sharing nature. All of the materials, sites, tips, hints, and suggestions that we re talked about are posted onto the Jetsons wiki, developed for this workshop. Check out this wiki - it is full of great resources.

A really nice way for me to kick off CIT 2007. Shelley did a great job with this workshop, getting all of us engaged in the process. The participants left with great resources, in particular the wiki. The potential of Web 2.0 tools in community college education was clearly demonstrated. Even tough I have been fully immersed in Web 2.0 for a long time, I learned several things from the workshop (can teach new tricks after all...). Now I can't wait to take theme home, show others and use them myself...

The Future Of Media...

Wednesday night I attended the ITANS (Information Technology Industry Alliance Of Nova Scotia) annual dinner. The guest speaker was Ken Rutkowski, media personality, strategist and consultant. The theme of his talk was on the future of media. A couple of cool things came out - one - it's gonna be a busy future, and two - I'm mostly there now!

Ken started his talk by describing old media (TV, newspapers etc.) and new media (Web, RSS, blogs, YouTube etc.) and their products - old media's product is content, while new media's product is the audience - the customer is the advertiser (makes sense - hits is one of the measures of success for an online presence). This distinction may be a little simplistic, but it allows for an identification f new media.

Mobile devices, in particular cell phones (smart devices) is where it is at for the future of media. By 2010 there will 2 billion Nokia cell phones alone in circulation - cell phone penetration is growing and in some nations is well over 90%. I've talked about this in past posts and it's interesting to here an industry expert say the same thing. In my mind it's mobile devices that are the future of education, allowing learners to learn where, when, what, and how they want to.

Ken went on to talk about RSS and push technology, how RSS is pushing information - the customer is the product. I'm a big fan of RSS - push technology is the only way these days to make sense of the sea of information that we are swimming in. Content is everywhere - podcasts, YouTube etc.

Ken then did something very cool- the rest of his presentation consisted of him using Skype to contact "some of his friends", industry experts and personalities who shared their thoughts with us on the future of media. His friends included:

• Ralph Simon - creator of the ring tone
• Johnathan Wendel - professional gamer (Fatality)
• James Sun - CEO of Zoodango - a social networking site that facilitates both online and F2F social networking
• Scott Page - former member of Pink Floyd and Supertramp, now involved in Web-based technology allowing bands to communicate with their fans

The common thread from each of these incredible people is that it's content and mobility, along with penetration that is going to be the future of social media. Businesses and individuals need to get out there and be active parts of this always on environment - be part of community.

Thanks to ITANS and the organizers for a great evening and a wonderful dinner. I know that the students that we brought along had an amazing time - they saw a glimpse into the future - where they will be working and living, and that is too cool...

I Am Blogger - Hear Me Roar!...

This whole blogging thing may just be here to stay :-). I've been blogging seriously now for a couple of years and I have friends like Randommind who have been blogging for considerably longer, saying amazing things and sharing their insights and wisdom with the world.

But what is even more amazing are those bloggers who don't always have important or profound things to say - the ones that are simply sharing their lives and momentary thoughts (like this post) with the world. Blogging has become a conversational method and opportunity - I can actually carry on a conversation with people from all over the world through my blog or their blog. Blogs have become, for me, an essential source of information and research - they are probably my primary source of a lot of the information, and inspiration that I get every day - blogs are immediate, relevant and in some instances even intimate as i share thoughts and opinions back and forth with fellow bloggers. Blogs are also a great way to get noticed out there in cyberspace as blogs have built-in search engine optimization (SEO) - you appear in the first couple of pages of results from a search engine. If you want to be visible online - blog!

I get a lot of my daily information from blogs - i literally have hundreds of feeds that I receive daily through Netvibes that I look at - several I read religiously, many I just scan the title for interest, but the point is I am getting my information from a sea of individuals and what they are sharing with the world. Th sheer power of the blog and it's ability to communicate information, opinion, passion, and knowledge is very powerful.

Even institutions and organizations are blogging - at my college, a new blog has just been started to discusses educational technologies - what a cool way for people to get out of their silos and share what they know with others. Together we all get better at what we do. I attended the Atlantic Internet Marketing conference last spring and one of the tips given there was for all companies to have a blog - be part of the process, talk to your customers and clients - build that personal relationship with them through blogs and just as importantly, get to the top of the search engine heap with SEO.

Many of my friends are blogging and you can see some of their links on my blogroll and my Feevy feed off to the right side of my blog - it's this ability to network and feed off of each other,to engage in conversations that makes blogging such a cool experience for me - it's not that I actually have anything profound or important to say, it's that I have SOMETHING to say and so do the millions of others out there who blog, and occasionally someone listens and comments back the conversation... It's very cool to hear what they have to say. We are bloggers - hear US ROAR!!...


(Photo - Lion by tgraham)

When Does a Blog Become a Web Site?...

When does a blog become a Web site? I've been asking myself that question the last little while as I take a look at my blog and at the blogs of friends and those that I read on a regular basis. When I started writing my blog it was just that - a place to write down some thoughts - sort of a blank journal. It had a couple of extras - my profile, a picture of me and the Blog archive - neat, clean, no fuss, no muss.

Now look at my blog - at last count there were 19 different things, widgets, components, add-ons, whatever you want to call them - from links to blogs I read, my wiki, my Flickr site, my Facebook profile, blog aggregator sites like Technorati, Feedburner, Netvibes, PageFlakes, and EduSpaces. I can chat through Meebo and stay in touch with Twitter. I can tell how many people are reading my blog through ClustrMaps (come on people where are you?), and I even have pictures of my favourite bloggers on my blog through Feevy.

When did my blog get so crowded anyway? It all just sort of snuck up on me. The other thing is now whenever I set up a profile in Facebook, Orkut, LinkedIn or any other social media site, I always put my blog as my web site. I own a domain but haven't done anything with it (I really should) because I'm not a really big fan of "vanity" Web sites. But if you take a look at my blog - vanity thy name is...Me! Hmmm...

So You Want To Know About Blogging...

Got this from Randommind - it's from the Fischbowl, an amazing educational blog created by Karl Fisch and the staff at Arapahoe High School in Littleton, Colorado. You may also know him as the creator of "Did You Know" ( a "refreshed" version of Did You Know - "Did you Know 2.0" is now available, from the Fischbowl blog, YouTube, and Google Video).

This video is students and teachers talking about blogging and what they do with it, how they learn by blogging, and what they get out of blogging. It's essential viewing for anyone who wants to blog or is thinking about using blogs as an educational tool or is thinking of adding them to their learning environments. It is crammed with ideas and innovations on how to use blogs as learning tools.



Thanks again to randommind for sharing this with me, and to the Fischbowl for the creation of this amazing video. It's what blogging can be as an educational tool...

The Conference Mash-Up

From Elluminate's blog "Transforming teaching and learning through innovative technology", this post - "The conference mash-up: Conference + Webconf + Blog + Moodle + Wiki (A Conbooki?)", talks about the changing nature of conferences as they evolve into something new - not held just in a hotel ballroom, but in a ballroom, online, through blogs, and wikis, and yes through Elluminate and other ways all at the same time that allow non-traditional conference audiences to attend.

The post gives several great examples of what these "mashedup" conferences can be. I have attended (remotely) a couple of them and they work - all the advantages of attending a conference without the travel, the jet lag, or the bag of goodies (hey! wait a second...).

A very cool concept and I believe the conference of the future...

Randommind - A Must Read - The Sequel

I have already told you that Randommind is a must read blog (my friend Carolyn is amazing - so insightful and always on topic), but there are two recent posts on the blog that really are must reads.

The first one is PLE ON A Cellphone?. What an incredible idea and what an AHA! moment for me. Talk about breaking down the walls of education. I am a big believer that PLEs are going to have a major impact on my learners and myself in the next few years. What an amazing concept - create a learning environment that works for you, the learner. To take it the next step and make it mobile - too cool. Just think of the learning opportunities... Check out the post.

The second post is Facebook Banned By Ontario Government. The Ontario government has banned provincial employees from using Facebook, which I find just mind-boggling. I'm currently using Facebook as a way to stay in touch with past, current, and even some future learners (not to mention colleagues, friends, and even some complete strangers) - it's a very powerful tool for getting information out. I've had learners get work from jobs and opportunities posted by other learners - too cool! I am seriously looking at Facebook as a learning tool (a future post).

If one of the jobs of a provincial government is to stay in touch with the residents of the province what better way to do it than Facebook. Like Randommind says in her post, even the Premier of Nova Scotia has a Facebook site. The reaction of the Ontario government to Facebook reminds me of the way a lot of organizations reacted years ago to the use of the Internet during working hours placing restrictions on its use. Well those restrictions are mainly gone now, and I suspect the same will happen with Facebook - it is just too valuable and useful a communication tool.

Thanks for the always great stuff Carolyn. I can't wait for your next post...

Randommind - A Must Read

My good friend Carolyn blogs on all sorts of things educational in nature and more. She has great insight into education, learning, instructional design, Web 2.0, Second Life and lots more and has a great knack for finding the most amazing stuff from the Web and the blogsphere.

Check out the Randommind blog - she has some great things to say.

Blog Power Redux - Some of My Favourites

If you look at my blog archive, you can see that this whole blogging thing has really started to gain momentum with me. Not only am I writing posts, I am using other people's blogs more and more as information sources. There are many blogs that I now read on a regular basis and I thought that I would share some of them with you. So here, in no particular order (actually grabbed from my Netvibes tabs) are some of my favourite blogs and their authors (bloggers?). Check them out for yourself:

• Random Mind - Carolyn Campbell
• The Alchemist's Blog - Harry Pence
• Letters From The Front[Page] - Chris Mogensen
  
• Half an Hour - Stephen Downes
• Virtual Canuck - Terry Anderson
• The Blog of Clark Aldrich
• 2 Cents Worth - David Warlick
• Adaptive Path - Adaptive Path
• The Stingy Scholar - Beth Ritter-Guth
• SLEDucating - Chris Hambly
• Dave's Whiteboard - Dave Ferguson
• Casting Out Nines - Robert Talbert
• Confessions of an Aca/Fan: The Official Weblog of Henry Jenkins - Henry Jenkins
• The Wales-Wide Web - Graham Attwell
• Beth's Second Life - Beth Ritter-Guth
• Second Life Insider - the Second Life community
  
• Second Life Educational Research - Sarah Robbins (Intellagirl)
• Smart Mobs - Various (based on Howard Rheingold's book)
• Everything 2.0 - Bob Stumpel
• Emerging Technology Trends - ZDNet
• Read/Write Web - Richard MacManus
  
• Ninmah Meets World - Rachel Smith
• The Open Classroom - Jo McLeay
• TWIT.tv - Leo Laporte (podcasts)
• net@nite - Amber MacArthur and Leo Laporte (podcast)
  

As you can see a long and varied list focussed primarily on technology, education, Web 2.0, and Second Life. Check these out and if you have a favourite blog or two (or ten) let me know about them. Share the wealth...

(Photo from Kosmar)

My Web 2.0 Toolkit

I've been exploring and using all sorts of Web 2.0 tools and technologies for some time now and thought I would share the ones that make up my "Web 2.0 Toolkit". These are the Web 2.0 tools that I use pretty much everyday in both my personal life and as an adult educator. So, in no particular order, here they are:

• Blogging - Well - I'm obviously using Blogger, but Wordpress is pretty cool too
• RSS - I'm sold on Netvibes - it's become my number one source of online information - I literally get hundreds of feeds from it daily
• Pictures - Flickr and Photobucket. I use Flickr for storing and showing off my photos and Photobucket for my stock photos that I use on line. I also use flickrCC to find stock photos online (remember to abide by the licensing terms of the owners - msot use one of the Creative Commons licenses)
  
• Wikis - I have several different wikis now at wikispaces but pbwiki is a really good tool as well. Wikis are a great educational tool, particularly if you get your learners to maintain them. A good way to answer the question "What do we do now that the course is over?".
  
• Collaboration - Google Groups and Google Notebook. Two great tools from Google, I plan on using them to replace textbooks in my courses.
• To-do List - Remember The Milk is an easy to use to-do list that keeps me on track
• Calendar tool - Google Calendar - just about runs my life now, would be lost without it - and I can share my calendar too so people know what's going on with me.
  
• Social Networking - Facebook - a great tool for staying in touch, I'm in the process of setting up an alumni group for my former students
• Video conversions - Vixy.net is great if you absolutely must have a local copy of that favourite online video. A great tool if you don't always have a high-speed Internet connection
  
• Staying current - Twitter is a great tool for letting people know where you are and what you are up to although I do not use it nearly as much as some. I actually use the custom status messages in GMail more
• Conferencing - Elluminate's vRoom - a great free tool from Elluminate gives you all of the capabilities of Elluminate except for recording and a limit of three sites. Not really a Web 2.0 tool (try Vyew if you want a Web-based conferencing tool).
  

Well there you have it - my current Web 2.0 toolkit - I am sure that it will continue to evolve over the months to come and I'll do my best to let you know what I am using...

(Photo from David Babylon)

A Pilgrim's Web 2.0 Progress

It's been some time now since I began exploring the use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies. Here are the tools I've used so far and what I think of them

• NetVibes - a RSS aggregator and so much more, NetVibes literally has thousands of feeds, module, podcasts, events, and tabs that you can add to your own to create an amazing "learning Portfolio" of customized information. You can also share your feeds etc. with others through NetVibes ecosystems. My favourite Web 2.0 tool by far, I will be using NetVibes in my learning environments in the future.
• Blogger - If Blogger isn't your favourite blogging tool, try Wordpress, several of my friends use it. Blogging has to be the most powerful Web 2.0 tool, and is probably the most used one. I will be using blogs with my learners in the future.
• Wikispaces - one of many sites that allow you to create your own wikis, I am using wikispaces now with learners to create custom learning spaces online. Wikis are a great educational tool and they add to the collaborative nature of any learning environment, particularly if you have the learners maintain the wiki.
  
• Flickr - I'm into digital photography, and Flickr is a great way to organize and share my pictures. It also has potential as a learning tool through the creation and display of slide shows and picture collections (and I am sure all sorts of other ways that I haven't thought of yet). My Flickr collection is here.
• Second Life - not strictly a Web 2.0 tool, Second Life has incredible educational value through experiential learning, service learning, and simulation (among others). I think that the use of Second Life is limited only by the imagination of the users.
• Yahoo Pipes - I've just started looking at Yahoo Pipes, but I love what I've seen so far. As Yahoo says you can use Pipes to "rewire the Web" creating custom mashups, allowing you to create your own custom view of the Internet. I think that this tool has great educational potential and I will be exploring it further.
• Remember The Milk - allows you create and see online tasks and to-do list that you can keep private or share. Would be a useful online tool for keeping track of course deliverables due dates.
• Eventful - tracking and creation of events in your neighbourhood and around the world, eventful has some educational use for tracking and reminding learners of events, conferences and important academic dates
  
• Boxxet - another tool that allows you to create customized "box sets" of feed and information. It has loads of pre-built boxxets or you can create your own.
  

These are the main tools that I've been exploring, but I have also taken a look at several others that could prove useful to you. These tools are:

• Suprglu - an aggregator like NetVibes, it allows you to create your own custom view of the Internet
  
• Your Minis - like NetVibes you can create custom tabs of feeds and widgets
  
• Vyew - collaborative conferencing similar to Elluminate. We currently use Elluminate, and Vyew has much the same look, feel, and capabilities
  
• Photobucket - a photo storing, organizing, and displaying service like Flickr
  
• Vidavee Graffiti - a tool that allows you to markup and customize the appearance of videos

I've looked at many tools as my meandering Web 2.0 journey continues, but these are the ones that have left an impression with me. One thing that I have concluded so far is that with Web 2.0 tools you need to select the ones that work for you and use those, not try to use them all just because they are there. The journey continues...

If a Blog Falls...

Todays cartoon at bLaugh raises a good point. If no one reads your blog, does it matter? Is it even a blog or just unheard and unseen ramblings? Hmmm...