Skyping and Tweeting

Do you remember the idea of Pen Pals?  When I was in school we would have pen pals, students in other cities or countries.  We would write back and forth for a while and get to know eachother.  Somehow, it never really worked.  Now it does and it is called social networking.   Communicating with family, friends, colleagues, or any other VIP has never been easier thanks to the internet and web 2.0 technology.  Everyone knows about My Space and Facebook, but there are other sites that offer unique services for communication too. 

The first is Skype, an internet phone service that allows you to place free phone over the internet to other users currently on-line.  There is no cost, it is free and works with your ISP.  You can make regular calls and video calls.  This is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends that live out of town.  Did I mention it is FREE?  Once you download it you can begin connecting with others.  That is where I am at - trying to create my network via my address book.  So, my user profile is "JillandJeremy"  give me a test call once you are online!

Second is Twitter.  When you use this site you are "tweeting."  Basically, this site is an instant/text message service.  You can text message now on your PC or Mac.  You again create a user profile, then start finding and connecting with friends.  You may experience capacity issues because so many users are utilizing this service.  Don't hesitate, check into this and look me up "jnielsen."  

Happy skyping and tweeting. 

Education Today - what are the trends?

I recently viewed a video on You Tube regarding how education is performing - or underperforming - for the students of today.  The title of the video is "A Vision of Students Today".  Try to view this through the lens of education, from your personal background and experience.  

I'd also suggest to view it through a teaching lens.

There is already good comments on you tube, but I'd like to continue the thoughts on this video here as well.  See you soon.

  

Web 2.0.

I have been trying to learn as much as possible about the emerging Web 2.0 for educational purposes.   The problem is remembering all of the really useful websites,  - and your ever important account logins!!!! So, after a few months, I realized the importance of social bookmarking.  This helps the first issue of remembering your websites.

I recommend you get a Del.icio.us account.  Creating a del.icio.us account will enable you to bookmark your favorite sites and let you access those bookmarks via any computer you are using.  You are no longer restricted to bookmarking to your personal computer, be it Mac or PC - it is now accessible from anywhere!     

As far as remembering all of your user account information - ie passwords and usernames, I would get a second email address - or Gmail for me - specifically or emails regarding you account confirmation emails and so forth.

So step 1) - get a Del.icio.us account to bookmark your favorite sites and access them anywhere; and 2) create a Gmail or Yahoo account solely for your account confirmations and web research/learning.

See you soon . . . . .