On Line Video Sharing Thing 9 and 10

Maybe if the IPAD came with a cat I would get one!

YouTube can take up a lot of time, especially if you do not get specific about what you are looking for. The fact that anyone can post just about anything makes it difficult to stay on task.  You start off looking for something educational that will relate to a classroom subject and the next thing you know you are off enjoying your favorite music video or cartoons from the 1950's.  (Still love Felix the Cat!)  It can be fun but all of sudden you realize a few hours have passed and you have things to do. 

The reason YouTube is blocked in school is because it is video streaming.  Information (the video and audio) is being streamed into your classroom computer while the rest of the school is trying to send out information from their computers.  I was recently upgrading a computer at one building when everyone started complaining about the Internet being exceptionally slow.  When we started tracing the huge amount of activity coming into the building (yes we can do that ) we discovered that it was going to the computer I was working on. It was indeed my fault., I was bringing a ton of data into the computer to repair it while everyone else was trying to take attendance, work on grades and classes were trying to do internet research in the computer lab.

This was an isolated incident, normally when we update computers we do not block the bandwidth. You can imagine though what would happen if several computers in your building were streaming video and audio at the same time, the network would come to a complete halt and no one would be able to do anything.  All that information trying to come in while more information is trying to get out. And just one little network cable to handle it all!

The solution to this problem is simple, $$$, and lots of it.  If the district had enough money to update the internet bandwidth and install the latest and greatest servers in every building there would be a lot more you could do with your computer.  Until then we just have to make do with what we have and one way to help is to remember that your classroom computer is for computing, it is not a boom box or television.

It's not often I'm right, but I'm wrong again... Thing 6,7 and 8

Just when I thought I could simplify my life with Google along comes Flckr and I need a Yahoo account to join. So much for keeping things simple with one email account. I was however able to use the same screen name I use for my other accounts, not a simple task when you have a common name.

Let this be a lesson to all, I keep a spreadsheet with all of my user names and passwords. The spreadsheet is password protected (so others cannot access it) with my first choice password and a backup copy is kept in a secure place.

As for Flckr I uploaded some photos and played for days with the various items. I now have film strips and cubes with photo's of my grandson. I created magazine covers and puzzles. Too much fun!

End of a calm day on Flickr - Photo Sharing! I loved this photo...

In the computer classroom I could see this as a tool for showing students how to be creative with their photo's. Lets face it kids love to take pictures, especially of themselves and their friends. This is something they will have fun doing for family and friends.

I could see this used in other classrooms as well. They could create photos of themselves in places around the world, or in historical settings, or how about creating characters for a graphic novel. Yes this would all take time, something we don't have a lot of in school, but maybe a combined project between a core class and computer class??

Another Account? I Say Keep It Simple Thing 4 and 5

For some reason I froze up at this point. Creating a blog-line account would mean another web site to go to, another password and user name to remember. All so I could find (eventually) all of the blogs I want to subscribe to. At home I have used Outlook to save my RSS feeds but I cannot take my home Outlook with me everywhere I go and my WSD Outlook account would go over its limit in no time if I tried to save RSS feeds to it. (Actually I tried with Megan Kortlandt's class blog and got my first ever 'your mailbox is over the limit' message.)

Then I remembered the video for Thing 4 saying you could use Google Reader, how wonderful I already have a google account! Not only do I have gmail but I also use google voice to stay in contact with the other techies in the WSD. All in one web site, I like that!

Now I am beginning to wonder what other wonderful things Google can do. To stay on track with my idea of creating a help site for WSD employees I think I will investigate this some more.