#21 YouTube and TeacherTube

It's a sad day when you show this clip to a class and a student asks 'what's the problem' with this maths.
Abbot and Costello Maths Problem

It's sadder when the same student can't find the left-handed screwdriver or the can of striped paint...but that's another funny story altogether.



YouTube is blocked for student use at school, but it is open for teacher use. I find clips are quite handy for prompting discussion on various topics, but sometimes it's hard to find the most appropriate clip.
TeacherTube refines the search even further and also searches files, docs and photos if you want education based content.

#20 Podcasts

What do you think about podcasts?
Podcasts are GREAT!!!
Do you already or think you will now use them?
I first started listening to Hamish and Andy podcasts each week. I could listen to them on the way to work or on the weekend and feel like I had not missed a show. That said, I now only use podcasts occasionally, but when I find one I like, then it's worth it's weight in Gold, particularly if it is useful in class. From 'Greatest speaches in History' to the 'NASAcast video', as long as it is applicable to class then it can be useful, especially for students to listen to outside of class time.
Can you see uses for podcasts educationally? Yes!
Science- Biology http://douchbiocast.blogspot.com/
ICT in My Classroom http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/

#19 Rollyo

While I'm happy to trial Rollyo in class, and it may help narrow the search window for students, the only issues I have are the need to regularly update the 'searchroll' trusted links as topics or technology changes and the fact it doesn't work well in ie9. Even the Rollyo site itself doesn't open correctly all the time. Oh well! As I use it more it will probably grow on me. Maybe i'll become a High roller one day!

#18 Wikis

Wiki's - the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.

Wikis are great for sharing info and collaborating on tasks, but most need to be private to avoid 'others' possibly changing the content. They can be great for planning camps, events and group activities where team members find it's not always possible to meet on a regular occasion. Wiki's allow students and teachers alike to collaborate on tasks and while there are some inaccurate pages, 'most' content can be relied on to be accurate. As a rule, it 's always worth cross referencing information to check accuracy.

#17 Delicious

Well I can't say I am too eager to use this site, Yet! Too many usernames and passwords to remember, plus bookmarks can't be that important or can they? Anyway, I have exported some of my favourites and uploaded into the Delicious account, but I can't see it saving me time or being very useful when I already have my favourites on my laptop. The import/export feature built in to the browser already allows for bookmarks to be shared on multiple PC's.
Maybe Delicious would be good for research tasks or finding the bookmark you use 'once in a blue moon'. Of course the more people tag the more it may be useful in class to students as they could find popular themed sites more readily. That said, the reliability of tags is always going to be an issue as you can tag anything with anything. I guess I'll wait and see just how user friendly it is. Happy Tagging!

#15 RSS and #16 Subscribing

RSS feeds are helpful when collecting information/news etc...particularly something you are interested in. While this is so, it can take quite a while to sift through the feed(s) looking for the info you want. It definitely has its educational uses and would allow students to group feeds from (potentially) a wide range of sources, credible or otherwise. The best use for my classes may be simply keeping students up-to-date with current classwork or homework, although I can currently do this via our college Moodle site. The subscribing 'danger' is having too many feeds to consider relevant information from.

A Day Made of Glass...

Imagine what a Library or classroom could look like with this technology.