Night Owls and Web 2.0

No one will ever accuse me of taking the summer off.

I find the summer is the best time to learn. And this summer has been ripe with learning opportunities. I just completed three weeks of Technoversity - attending eight 3-hour sessions and teaching four sessions myself. My two previous posts cover the resources I used for some of these sessions. The majority of my "free" waking hours have been used for bookmarking the fantastic sites shared as I took part in a collaborative, 24-credit hour, online professional development course titled "Finding the Best Educational Resources on the Web." Throughout the six-week course, I was focused on finding the best sites related to Web 2.0 tools. Happily, I finished the course this afternoon and posted the following Web 2.0 annotated resource list to TrackStar, a site for organizing and annotating web sites for use in lessons.

Web 2.0 Tools for the 21st Century Classroom

I'm finally winding down for the night, and can't make the time to share my personal stories about the many Web 2.0 apps I've actually used this summer. I did a quick survey and counted at least 23 tools that I'm really using, and not just trying out and checking off from some list. I'll plan to share some practical ideas for Web 2.0 tools in future posts. Like I've said all year, I'm crazy with the Web 2.0 apps.

Before I crash for the night, I should say a few words about the best part of my life, even if it's also been the roughest in the past few days.

Ear infections are given to the children of new parents as karma for the troubles we gave our own parents growing up. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

While Isabel has had back to back ear infections, I don't think Sherri or I were THAT bad as teenagers. I certainly did some dumb things through the years, but I wasn't a rebellious youth, as far as I can remember. (crossing my fingers) I'll probably get a different opinion from each sibling and both parents. We'll just keep crossing fingers.

And, we both hope that this latest ear infection doesn't repeat itself. For now, we can all just get back to sleep.

Wouldn't you know, as soon I say that, I realize it's again past midnight and I'm wide awake. Guess this is the annual curse I bring upon myself as I seem to morph into a night owl each summer. Seems that over the past three weeks I've made a habit of keeping the waking hours of 10am till 4am. Can't blame my crazy schedule on Isabel's ear infections. Just trying to catch up to those darn digital natives. I think I may have actually passed a few this month.

Music Education and the Tablet PC

Tablet PC and Music - Technoversity Session, presented by Jeff Hamilton
17JUL2008 & 24JUL2008

Brief Description
Music instructors, A&H teachers, and other participants will explore programs to integrate audio and music into the Tablet PC experience with students.

Download the Music Composition Tool in advance, as we will create, edit and playback original music notation. Also at http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/5/4/d54d67f0-9f2e-4346-b6d2-6aa7e2f7ffa0/tabletpccompositiontoolsetup.exe



First 1/2 of this session exploring Tablet PC applications from a music education perspective:



Looking (briefly) at the Music Composition Tool to create, edit and playback original music notation

PowerTools and PowerToys are additional programs that are available for the TabletPC. They add fun and functionality to your TabletPC experience. Participants will learn about the educational applications of the PowerTools and PowerToys. We may also explore the bold items that follow: Art Tool, Calculator, Dictionary Tool, Drawing Animator, Extended Desktop, Handwriting Analysis Tool, Hold Tool, Hoop Strategy, Ink Screen Saver, Letteris, Maze Game, Microsoft Dots!, Microsoft Phraseology, Microsoft Physics Illustrator, My Font Tool, Pool for Tablet PC, Power Paint Tool, Puzzle, Music Composition Tool, Thumbnail View, Tic Tac Toe, Web Search Power Tool, Word Search, Writing Practice Tool, and Writing Recognition Game.

Creating a music-focused lesson using SMART Board Notebook Software
Open my Technoversity2008_SMART file.

Creating a music-focused lesson using Microsoft Photo Story 3

Microsoft Photo Story 3 helps you create exciting video stories from your pictures that you can share with others. For example, you could create a video story that features narrated photographs from a class field trip or a video story that includes pictures and sounds from an animal at the zoo. In a few simple steps, you can import and edit your pictures, add titles, record narration, add background music, and save your story using the optimal quality setting for the way your story will be played.

Participating in Hands-On steps for capture/import/edit of audio using Windows Movie Maker

Windows Movie Maker can be used to capture audio and video to your computer from a video camera, web camera, or other video source, and then use the captured content in your movies. Learn how to import existing audio, video, or still pictures into Windows Movie Maker to use in the movies you create. After editing, (including adding titles, video transitions, or effects) save your final movie and share it with your classroom, friends and family.

Exploring educational advantages of iTunes. Download iTunes here.

• Video Tutorials on using iTunes. NOTE: iTunes U has a Power Search located near the top right side of the window
  
• Apple - iTunes - Tutorials - Shop the Store explains the basics of accessing this online music source.
• Apple - iTunes - Tutorials - Get Free Podcasts explains accessing, playing, saving podcasts.
• Apple - iTunes - Tutorials - Sync to Your iPod explains synching of podcasts to your iPod.
  

Accessing Podcasts and other JCPS Online and web-based resources for post-session self-paced instruction.

A pod is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the internet for playback on portable media players and personal computers. The term podcast, like "broadcast," can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated.Learn to create and post your podcast of a mini-lesson you can use next year with your students.

• Accessing podcasts from the iTunes Store.

Second 1/2 of this session introducing EduApps and online resources for Technology Integration in music education:



All the Essential Resources

• JCPS
  

• CES Online Website - log in with your JCPS username and password
• JCPS OS X Streaming Media Server
• netTrekker d.i.
• (video) netTrekker d.i. Enhancements - effective Dec.2007
• JCPS Online Resources
  
• KET
  
• KET - Arts Toolkit
  
• KET Encyclomedia
  
• Kentucky
• KATE (KY Academy of Technology Education) Check out the 3 hyperlinks in the thin blue banner at very top of the KATE page.If guided by Core Content, go here.
• KATE PD Resources - This is a great list, don't pass it up.
  
• TICK (Technology in Classrooms in Kentucky)
• KY Technology Framework
  
• Google
• Google Advanced Search
  
• Google for Educators - see my review here.
  
• Google Page Creator
  

Browsers and Add-ons

• Firefox3 browser
  
• Google Preview
• Zotero
  
• Internet Explorer 7
  
• Add-ons for IE7
  
• Microsoft IE7 Resource Center Downloads - lists five categories, check out each blurb.
  
• IE7 Resource Center - scroll down to Related Resource Centers

Cool Tools: free Internet Web2.0 applications

• Google Docs Tour
• A.nnotate - annotate documents online for private or shared review, indexing and discussion with notes and tags
  
• del.icio.us - social bookmarking
• gOffice - online word processor
• Text2MindMap - takes a structured list of words or sentences, interprets them, and converts texts to mind maps.
• Jing - capture images, recording video, sharing in email, IM, or blogs
• ning - create a social network for anything
  
• StumbleUpon - this personalized recommendation engine learns what you like, and brings you more.
• animoto - redefining your PowerPoint experience - see example here
• animoto Education Program
  
• Quizlet - flashcards, vocabulary memorization, and studying games
• Web Poster Wizard - create a lesson, worksheet, or class page and immediately publish it online
• the web's best Calendars
• xtimeline - create timelines
  

Copyright

• Copyright from JCPS Library Media Services, includes
  
• A Guide to the Use of Copyright Materials
• Copyright Review (PPT file)
  
• Copyright and the Web
  

Dictionaries & Glossaries

• Glossary of Medieval Art & Architecture
• netLingo - The Internet Dictionary
• Webopedia - Online Computer Dictionary for Computer and Internet Terms and Definitions
  

FREE Music, Sound Effects, and Images

• American Memory from the Library of Congress
  
• FreePlayMusic
• Classic Nintendo Music - 3,759 midi files in the Nintendo directory
• Free Sound Effects - 1,000s of sounds, effects, midi files, and .wav organized by links and categories.
• Pics4Learning
  

Hosting for Blogs and Wikis

• Blog
• eduBlogs
  
• WordPress
  
• Wiki
• pbWiki
  
• wetpaint

Links to Music Links (individual web pages featuring lists of links)

• Music and Audio on MacIntosh
• Music and Sound - a page full of links
• The Music Room from Capistrano School, CA

Online Lessons and Teacher Resource Sites

• Learning the Blues
• Webquest - Symphony and Sonata Form - created by Jeff Hamilton
• Primary Resources: Music
  
• Teachers Network
  
• Read,Write,Think
  
• i4c - Internet4Classrooms
  
• McREL
  
• Sites for Teachers
• lib-web-cats - Quick Search a directory of libraries around the world

Other online educational "tools"

• Instant Rimshot
  
• Create a Graph
• Visual Ranking Tool
  
• Student Online Readiness Tool
  
• PowerPoint Lessons - Jeopardy templates
• RubiStar - Create rubrics for your project-based learning

Software - Downloads

• Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP Tablet edition
  
• iTunes for Windows XP
  
• Google Desktop
• Adobe Reader
  
• Audacity and the LAME Encoder
  
• Shockwave Player for Windows
• Zamzar - free online file conversion
• Free Mp3, Wma convertor
• Podcast Generator - allows you to publish your audio and video podcasts in a few steps.
  
• SnagIt - screen capture (free 30day trial)
• The Hat (random name generator for limited call-outs) from Harmony Hollow Software downloads
• Cool Timer from Harmony Hollow Software downloads

Software - Video Tutorials

• Tech-Ease includes many PDF guides at the bottom
  
• Podcasting Basics and Podcasting with Audacity
  
• also read Teen Tech Week Resources - check out Tech Guide Number 1 "Making Music with Teens"
• Windows Movie Maker
• Social Bookmarking with del.icio.us
• Introduction to Wikis with PBwiki
  
• Web2.0 Workshop from AtomicLearning
• SnagIt 8

Streaming Radio Stations

• Pandora
• Radio - WindowsMedia.com Media Guide

Tablet PC articles

• Tablet PC's for Music Instruction
  
• Using Tablet PC's in Music Education
• The Music Notepad for Tablet PC
  
• More Tablet PC benefits for Music Teachers
  
• Appalachian State gets in tune with Tablet PC's
  

Technology Integration

• Digital Citizenship in Schools homepage
  
• JCPSNet Student AUP
• Searching the Internet - search engines and subject indexes
• Welcoming the Internet into your Classroom
  
• Glossary of Internet & Web Jargon

Tips, Tricks, and Troubleshooting

• Using the Windows "Print Screen" Key
  
• Troubleshooting the wireless connection on the HP Tablet PC from JCPS IT Tips and Tricks
  

Web 2.0 directories

• AllMyFaves
  
• Top 100 Tools for Learning 2008
• Education 2.0 - selected web2.0 applications organized by 11 categories
• The Digital Classroom - Web2.0 Apps List
  
• Web2.0 Backpack: Web Apps for Students
  
• Judy Brown's list of Web2.0 tools
  
• Go2Web20 - the complete web2.0 directory
• Directory of Learning Tools - 2,400 and counting

Whiteboards

• Virtual WhiteBoard for 15 min. online music theory collaborations.

• Whiteboard - collaborative writing software online
• Scriblink - Your online whiteboard
  
• skrbl - Simple and easy online multi user whiteboard, start skrbl, give out your URL & start working together.
• Primary Whiteboard Interactive Resources - see Other Subjects Key Stage 1 and 2

Isabel's Panoramic View of the Farm

Isabel and I took a trip to the farm yesterday for a much overdue visit with my Mom & Dad.

While we were there, Isabel and I took a stroll to check out the cattle and all mom's flowers. Isabel tugged at every leaf on every tree branch she could reach.







Late in the day, she found the old tire swing that so many of the grandkids have enjoyed through the years. Isabel was nervous for the first 3 pushes. But, she finally gave in and had a great time just swingin' and laughin'.









Isabel has been laughing more and more over the past month. Her Razorback grandparents found out Isabel was ticklish when she visited over the July 4th weekend.









Mom wanted some quality time with Isabel. That gave me a chance to roam around the farm in between Isabel's regular 3-hour feeding schedule. I was surprised how a thick underground back in the woods above the spring.

The canopy has dramatically changed over the last few years, as the rise in wood-boring beetles have decimated the large "post" oaks. With an increase in sunlight reaching the floor of the woods, an abundance of ferns has been replaced been wild blackberries, vicious wild roses, tender young saplings, and a wide diversity of native plants.

This is just an amazing difference in just one year. For the past 30 or more years, Dad had always wintered a large cattle herd on the back of the farm's wood-covered slope. Last winter, he only had 30 cattle deep in the woods, rather than the large herds of years before. He's talking about selling all but a dozen or so cattle later this year. So, the familiar cattle trails will soon be unrecognizable, and impassible, as the fertile soil explodes in high reaching plantlife.

Anyway, I was just happy to be on the farm in the middle of summer, with the corn ready to tassle, and pasture grasses (and flowering blue weeds) as high as my chest. Having mom babysit for an hour gave me a chance to take the best summertime photos of the farm that I've ever gotten. Tonight, I was able to stitch them together with Panorama Maker 4.

View from the top of the Tobacco Barn






View from the South-East Gate





View from the top of the hill

Happy 4th of July & Trip to the Louisville Zoo

I hope no one blew off any fingers over the 4th of July weekend. For the first time in six years, we didn't have our annual Rumble. If you go to the Rumble home page, you can still watch the videos of 2007 and 2006. There were just too many other priorities, with little Isabel in the house. Maybe that's why the rains came pouring down at dusk on the 4th this year. Lucky for us we had no plans for fireworks! But, the annual event may be back next year.
This weekend we had a quiet, casual visit from the in-laws. They brought lots of gifts for Isabel, who keeps developing a personality with each passing day. She's definitely a ham for the camera. Not that the weekend didn't have its downside. Seems Isabel is trying to cut her second tooth and has a little fluid buildup behind one eardrum. Thankfully, it's not infected.

Before the in-laws arrived, we took Isabel on her first trip to the Louisville Zoo. She loved all the animals. Of course, I had to try out our new camera and came home with some nice images. I was able to capture one of the Masai giraffes mugging for the camera.
Then I went toe-to-toe with a huge rhino.
Smaller, but just as impressive, was the striking head-dress of an East African Crowned Crane.
Isabel's favorites included the baby elephant.
Isabel even got to take her first elephant ride, sort of.
Late in the day, it was feeding time for many of the animals, including the gorillas, who snacked on red apples.

We stopped to snack on pizza, cotton candy, and ice cream. Afterwards, we were feeling as tired as the king of beasts.
With only an hour left before the zoo was closing for the day, the sky showed all the familiar signs that rain was nearly upon us.
A perfect ending to a wonderful day trip to the zoo with Isabel, we happened to see a Golden Rain Tree just outside the main entrance as we were leaving. We have been planning to find two of these to become the showpieces of a new landscape outside Isabel's bedroom window.
As she gets old enough to see out the window of her room, we hope she will marvel at the bright colors of these trees, and the many flowers that will surround them each year.
All the landscaping will have to wait for the rains to pass. But Isabel can still dream about it.

TagCrowd Tag Cloud

Have you ever asked, "Just what is it he/she is trying to say?" Or, better yet, have you ever asked yourself, "Just what am I trying to say in this blog, speech, article, poem, or document?" Well, TagCrowd gives you the answer in just seconds. At least, that's what I discovered as soon as I stumbled upon latest gem.

I was immediatedly surprised when I searched my blog URL and got the tag cloud pictured below. Then, I realized that I've written several posts this summer on the many technology sessions and conferences I attended. Still, when it comes to my focus, there's no denying the facts of this image.

created at TagCrowd.com

As I stared at this collection of words I had spewing out, I felt the need to reflect on this picture while, asking "Just what is it I'm trying to say?" Here's that reflection of my past 6 weeks, using the cloud of tags as my guide:


I've devoted much of Summer to thinking...

• checking, judging, commenting, and designing
  

...how best to integrate...

• access and share
  

...free Internet links for education.

• such as http://www.webpage.com and YouTube (LOLRTFL)

I hope to watch everyone smile like Isabel, when I present my school with an idea...

• Cool Tools Training
• or maybe, Choose Todays' Tilt
  

...to enrich core content...

• KySTE Conference resources
• KET Encyclomedia Streaming videos
  
• KET Virtual Physics labs
  

...and engage them through free web technology resources...

• playing with a new google apps each month
• getting teachers linkedin, as well as into Scholar
• social bookmarking with del.iciou.us and ScholarIt
• add-ons for the Firefox browser
• sessions on advanced search engines
• interactive blogging, wikis, webcasting
• notes on all buttons and icons for our new HP mini computers (battery and case included)
• learning about animated GIF and digital images
  
• a design project creating a Voki avatar and embedding HTML coding for hyperlinking
  

...in the hope of creating...

• in every student
• in every teacher
• in every classroom

...another lifelonglearner.


It was fun to reflect on life using just a cloud of tagged words. Pretty cool for simply brainstorming. More useful as a tool for a creative writing activity . And, now I have another great Cool Tool to share with educators.

Rereading this post and recalling how much fun I had writing it, I just have to say:

• Man, have I been lucky to learn from so many great clinicians this summer.
  
• I'm so glad to have a Great job, beautiful wife and sweet baby girl.
• Pretty Fabulous family and in-laws.
• We all just happy, happy, joy, joy!
• I love being alive!

Searching the Hidden Web beyond Google

For the past year, I haven't been as successfully searching with meta-engines as I would like. So, I decided to take an online professional development course called "Finding the Best Educational Resources on the Web." Now, two weeks into the six-week course, I suddenly stumble across the following research on Recommended Search Engines from UC Berkeley.

Google currently is the winning web search engine and so people need to learn to use it really well...Google alone is not always sufficient, however. Less than half the searchable Web is fully searchable in Google. We no longer recommend using any meta-search engines.

I was curious about the 'hidden web' that is unsearchable using Google. A prime example was found posted by Danny Sullivan on SearchEngineWatch.com.

Annoyingly at Google, one possibly good article on the topic isn't accessible, because it come from Google Scholar, where this academic paper is allowed to be cloaked. That makes it searchable but not actually viewable except to those with paid subscriptions. Another potentially good page goes to a 404 not found error. Other pages have references to this movement but no real explanation of it.

Students (and people in general) need to understand how to better structure queries, how to make use of different tools and even how to stop using search engines and fall back on other resources (such as professional librarians). Search engines are great in many ways, but they aren't, nor ever have been, perfect tools either BG or AG.


Before I give suggest tips to improve your future searches, think about the following question:

When did Google enter the lexicon?

When our digital natives use the word "google", the word falls into more than one category depending on its use. Here are a few examples of each in sentence form.

• Noun - Google uses High PageRank, meaning that the most popular, relevant sites link to the page. How accurate is PageRank?
  
• Adjective - The Google directory searches the web, organized by topic into category.
• Verb - Just google it. (I blame Nike for that one.)
  
• Preposition - BG and AG are, respectively, Before Google and After Google. I guess google, in this case, 'google' is used as the object of the preposition. But, since it ties in nicely with Sullivan's conclusions above, I couldn't resist mentioning it here.
  

Tips to improve your Search

1. Use your brain. Try more than one search engine and compare search results.

This link, Choose the best search for your information need, will introduce you to a wide variety of search engines that can help you meet different needs.

2. Create a del.icio.us account to organize your bookmarks online, and access them easily with tags.

Add the delicious help buttons to your browsers Toolbar. Just drag and drop.





3. Download the updated Firefox 3.0 browser and add the Free Firefox Google Preview Extension.

NOTE: This newer version of Firefox does not support the Delicious Bookmarks Add-on currently usable with Firefox 2.0. You (and I) will have to wait until they create another update for Firefox 3.0. Until then, add the help buttons mentioned in #2 above.

4. Review the following links to types of search engines and learn about differences between various kinds of web sites including directories, individual search engines, meta search engines, and specialized search engines. Finally, identify their advantages and disadvantages.

Searching the Internet: Search Engines and Subject Indexes
This site quickly defines the various types of search engines available and links you directly to the various subject indexes.

How to search for Internet resources
From top to bottom, lists 46 search engines from A-Z, then identifies 7 Kid Safe search engines, concluding with a step-by-step tutorial for searching with Vivisimo, a clustering technology described in Introducing Clustering 2.0.

After accessing Vivisomo, I added the following note and clipped the image for your reference.
Selecting the "Our Site" button will search Vivisomo, while "The Web" button redirects you to the Clusty web page.

Clusty, the clustering search engine.
Enjoy this recent addition to search technology that groups search results into folder topics. I'm planning to spend lots of time reviewing this one for myself.


Who links to my website?

HTML "Banging Head"

You don't have to hate HMTL!

Hyper Text Markup Language, or HTML, isn't that hard to understand.

Take the "banging head" above, for example. Long ago, I discovered this humorous little icon on both Animated GIFs and the Just Say No Directory web pages. Since then, I've used it as the default icon for folders containing everything from "Testing materials" to "To Do" lists. Adding an animated GIF to this blog was just a matter of stripping the code of its extraneous elements until I got just the look I wanted. In case you would like the HTML coding for the banging-head.gif, just learn how to view code, copy/paste it, and play with it. (I created the image to the upper right using MSoffice Word 2004 for Mac formatting tools.)


It's fun to play around with the HTML coding of web pages. Though I've never taken a serious interest in studying HTML, I've learned enough to "borrow" source coding from any web page.

For example, using the Firefox browser, you can view source code by accessing the View Menu and selecting "Page Source." Doing so allows you to view web page coding. With practice, you'll learn to identify the head, body, and various elements within any web page. Blogger allows for two viewing options as I create this post that may help to make this visual point. Let's compare!

Here's the beginning of this blog as it looks in the Compose View.










And, here's the same thing from the "Edit HTML" view. As I said, with practice, you can quickly make sense of the HTML. It's pretty easy to identify the text portion at the bottom.











Some of my colleagues may still groan, "But HTML is no fun!" I disagree. Learning about HTML can be fun. Plus, it can save editing time when you understand some basic web design principles. Sure, you may get a headache from thinking to hard, but that's better than picturing this scene.