Friday

I took a little more time to look at Web 2.0 tonight and it is a pretty nice tool. Definitely a time saver when you are looking for something specific. Not much energy for anything tonight. Woke up at 4:30 worrying about Synopsis for KIN 730. Looooooong day at school today. We had to sit through the most unorganized and time waster of a faculty meeting. I, of course, utilized my time. I set up off to the side and completed my second synopsis, now I just need to proof it tomorrow with Barb before sending both of them off.

Searching for a good, but not too expensive laptop computer. Any suggestions where to look?

Jill

Web 2.0

Just spent time browsing at what is on Web 2.0. It could really simplify life. If a person knows exactly what he/she is looking for and wants the top sites, that would be the place to go. One of the travel sites, though, was unable to use Guam as a destination :-( I will look at it some more at another time.

Flickr

If you want to see what Daddek looks like, I just uploaded about 6 pictures to my Flickr account. I also invited a TON of my family to join.

Jill

Google Docs.

I am not really sure at this time what the advantage it is over the software I have on my computer already. I do understand that it is easier to share documents because one does not need to worry about what version of an application the receiver has. Other than that, I am not sure if I would switch over at this point from my Microsoft to Google Docs. Of course, I could very easily change my mind in the future. If I did use it, I would definitely do my grades on the spread sheet and use it to e-mail memos for school purposes.

Enough for tonight. Time to hang wet towels. Jill

Google Reader

I guess I jumped the gun and did not quite get all of the directions. I remembered in one of the tutorials talking about Google Reader to manage Blogs, so that is where I went. I spent about 45 minutes getting blog addresses added. I guess tomorrow I will try the Bloglines account. I'll keep you posted.

Jill

Memorial Day

Not much technology today. Finished up school grades, then Barb called. She came over for about 2 hours and we worked on assignment for KIN 730. I then tried to help her with her Podcast, but was unable to. She will see what she can do at home. The rest of the afternoon and early evening was spent doing manual labor in the yard with Tony and the kids. I will definitely sleep good tonight. In fact, good night :-)

Podcast! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sometimes two brains are better than one. Barb and I spent about an hour or more trying to do our Podcast this morning. I had to leave to go to a family gathering and we agreed to see what each of us could accomplish on our own. We will reconvene should we need tomorrow. After arriving home from the gathering I was trying to do the recording, but Audacity was giving me a hard time. I discovered that we have a recording device already on the computer. My son helped me to record it. He then also helped me find and download a converter program so that I could send the file as mp3. I was successful, now I must just wait for a response from Scott to find out if I really was successful.

No school tomorrow, so will try and finish up end-of-the-year grades.

Technology Update

We stopped at Bank of Guam today because Maria wanted to get out $100.00. When I asked her why she said she was going to trade in her DS for a DSi. The kids had to explain to both their dad and me why the DSi was better than the DS. Oh well, so goes technology. We did go to GameStop and Tony Boy assisted her in the process. The clerk was pretty cool and made sure he was talking to Maria the customer, not Tony Boy or Mommy. She had hardly put the DSi down since we have been home.

The Pacific Daily News

I was reading the PDN (our local newspaper) this evening and found the following article:
Indonesian clerics want Facebook rules
Surabaya, Indonesia-
Muslim clerics are seeking ways to regulate online behavior in Indonesia,
saying the exploding popularity of social networking sites like Facebook
could encourage illicit sex. Around 700 clerics gathering in the world's
most populous Muslim nation on Thursday were considering guidelines
forbidding going online to flirt.
The Associated Press

I re-typed the entire article because I could not find it on-line. It is from Friday, May 22, 2009 edition, pg 14.

Kind of ironic to find this article when that is exactly the topic were are dealing with this week.

What do you think?? Jill

"Editorial: Examining Social Software in Teacher Education"

This article assisted me in finally learning some of the definitions of sites I actually use and some of the terminology that my children use. I am better able to understand the function and use of social-networking site. I was apprehensive at first to join Facebook, when a friend first invited me a few months back, because of the stories of how teachers and other professionals have gotten themselves in trouble with what was on the site. I now realize that it is lack of knowledge and even ignorance to a point that leads people to post inappropriate pictures and posts.

"Getting their iLessons"

I am a visual learner, so trying to get everything at one time may be difficult. Being able to re-listen to, or even re-seeing, any or all parts of a lecture could have been very helpful to me in college. I also see the value for athletes who may miss class due to being off-campus for games. On Guam the athletic competitions are able to take place outside of instructional time, but Podcasts would be very helpful for the athletes when they travel to off-island Far East competitions. The athletes would be able to receive the same lectures as the students sitting in the classroom.

This Week's Readings

I found "History to Go: Why I Teach with iPods" very interesting because within the past two weeks our department chairpersons have been discussing the use of iPods on campus. I found out that the iPod can be used for more than just listening. Many teachers do not want the iPods to be on campus, but maybe that is because they do not understand how iPods can be used for more than just listening to music. I liked how the author's class used the iPods to collect data about the history of the Cuban population. This would also be a good way for us here an Guam to work with the Man'amko (the elders) and collect the oral history from them, especially since oral and written histories are not always the same. Reading the article made me want to learn more about the area in which the authors lives and works.

Jill

Wednesday Evening on Guam

Tony Boy has been following the NBA playoffs. His teams have all been eliminated, so he now is rooting for either Denver Nuggets or the Orlando Magic. He just does NOT want Cleveland to win because they already have their season's MVP in LeBron James. He also does NOT want the Lakers to win because he just doesn't like Kobe Bryant and company. Who are you rooting for? As for me, I could really care less who wins the NBA championship.

Technology is SOOOO confusing!!!

I am trying to learn about Blogs, but it just ain't working. I want to post to another Blog, but I keep getting my own. UGH!!!!!!

Welcome to My Blog

My name is Jill White and this is my first experience at having a Blog. I hope to be able to utilize this more in my everyday interactions with parents of my students.