My Plurkadian Tag Cloud

Plurk is a microblogging social network that my PLN, Professional Learning Network, uses to collaborate in real time and asynchronously.

A wonderful new feature, is the Plurkadian Tag Cloud. These are very interesting.

I can't wait until there is an rss feed for these Plurkadian analytics.

Voki, OK!

Voki, Oki, Oki, Oy! When the producers of Voki discovered this name, they were on to something engaging. The web application is cool, the name is cool and the ways you can use it are cool. Voki is very cool.

My first experience with Voki was on a profile page of one of my Classroom 2.0 colleagues, Jonelle. I was smitten. The realistic avatars, backgrounds and presentation box were so appealing that I had to find out about Voki.

Students are also enticed by Voki, even mature, sophisticates (young adults) have engaged Voki. They use it to tell about themselves, to share information about their school and to practice their online, interactive skills in a protected environment.

Since Voki is a widget, a web application, it stands alone. While you do sign up for Voki, you don't have to interact within a community to benefit from this application. I have seen Voki avatars in a variety of online places, including profiles, blogs, wikis and webspaces. Any of these places can provide students a protected environment where they can experiment and develop educational online experiences.

One aspect of Voki that can be interactive is the comment section of the Voki box, so students can respond to a Voki presentation, just as they might comment on a blog. While commenting or making their first Voki, students don't have to use their own voices. Voki has a text to talk mechanism with a choice of several accents and voices of both genders. I use the Kate voice who has a slight British accent, and I consider it most effective.

Earlier, I wrote a blogpost explaining how to accomplish a action research based evaluation of Voki, as used by students called, "Welcome to My Web!", Said the Spider to the Fly, included Voki and Weather Widget in a blogpost. The purpose of this first post included evaluating web based, online applications, so I reviewed Voki as soon as I started using it.

Recently, I decided to make another review of Voki, because I believe this widget has met critical mass among those teachers using online, web applications with their students. In one day, I found Voki on the majority of the new websites, blogs and wikis that I visited among a group of teachers planning an online educational conference. That is above and beyond all of my colleagues on various educational networks who are using Voki extensively.

Documenting this rise in the use of Voki, I made several searches, some were general search engines and the social bookmarking network, favored by teachers, del.icio.us. If there are other networks or search engines that I could use in the future, please let me know;D Here are some of the results:

*del.icio.us There were a total of 139 SEPARATE bookmarks for VOKI. Within those bookmarks, more than 5,000 users had also selected this combination of 139 bookmarks.

*google.com A total of 33,000 website references contained this search string: Voki, education, school. Amazing!

*yahoo.com More than 40,000 urls contained the same three tags: Voki, education, school. There are thousands more because I noticed that all tags of Voki in Classroom 2.0 were clustered in one search result, so that is probably the same situation in all the educational network searches.

*adonomics.com A Facebook analysis and developer services has many compare/contrast analyses. This one is comparing Voki to Meez.

References to Voki can be found in Digg and Ask.com, so it seems the point is proven that Voki has reached critical mass for educational use around the world. Have fun and learn with Voki;D

BTW: I find it very exciting to see the expression of the promise of a particular widget that I know has great educational potential. There are specific educational activities and projects that Voki can enable or enhance, and that is a blogpost all in itself.

Go Elfster!

Trying out new interactive websites is what it's about, and I have tried out many (> 150) since August, 2007. Some of these WEB2.0 applications have been duds and duplicates of other applications that work better, but other new applications are excellent. These more effective new applications are easy to use, free to use, well-organized, helpful and fun.

I use these criteria to determine a web application's COOL factor, and Elfster has a very high COOL factor. This is a web application that Steve Dembo, a Classroom 2.0 and Twitter networks colleague, introduced to our network.


Using Elfster, Steve set up a EduTwitterverse Secret Santa group for those in the group who wanted to participate. I was curious, so I signed up. Steve set a spending limit and gave basic instructions. All throughout the gift exchange, Elfster helped Steve manage the entire program through excellent, well timed, information and reminder letters. Plus, he was available on Twitter. Thanks, Steve! Elfster was a great find!

When you join an Elfster group, you fill out a profile page. It includes information about gift preferences with available URLs that fit the spending limit.

Each EduTwitterverse Elfster received the name and profile URL of their Secret Santa recipient, so I read the profile information about mine.

To make it even easier, I found my secret friend and followed her on Twitter. She reciprocated. The Twitter colleague who received my name started following me, so I followed her. We add new followers on this EduTwitterverse group all the time, so I didn't figure out that one of my new Twitter colleagues was also my Elfster until she sent me a notice about my gift to Heifer International. Cool!

My secret pal made no specific gift requests on her profile, she just said, "Be creative!" That was scary! LOL! Then I remembered COFFEE! It was very interesting that my secret EduTwitterverse pal had posted a tweet about coffee a few days before we knew who are secret friends were.

It seems to me, this gift exchange became an excellent way to share cultural experiences with someone in another part of the world.

There is no more creative coffee selection than French Market Coffee. Based in New Orleans, French Market Coffee is the brand served almost everywhere in the area, including Commander's Palace, Gallatoire's Restaurant and other famous New Orleans area restaurants.



I like to buy from New Orleans merchants whenever I can, so that was another plus for French Market Coffee. Lastly, is their fantastic website. It is easy to use and they have excellent information at the French Market University. I ordered a gift set that included French Market coffee and chicory, mug and beignet mix, so my secret Twitter pal could really experience the New Orleans effect. Another plus: it only took 2 days from the moment of my order to my secret pal's receipt of the gift....that was awesome! Thanks, French Market Coffee staff!

For myself, I had requested that a donation be made in my name to Creative Commons or Heifer International. My secret Elfster agreed that Heifer International was a cool opportunity to give a gift that keeps on giving. She bought a share of chicks to be sent to a family who will raise them and send their offspring to another family. It was a very wonderful experience for me to know that my secret Elfster saw value in my choice of gifts, and I thank her very much.

While my Twitter colleagues and I really enjoyed this secret Santa exchange, Elfster has greater potential for social networking. I can imagine endless possibilities to use this for social networking with friends, family and school.

The Elfster exchanges don't even have to be about monetary gifts. For instance, teachers or students could send invitations or URLs for their favorite website, online game or web application. Each person could list their area of interest in their profile, say science, and their Elfster could send them a valuable URL.

What are some of your ideas of ways we could use Elfster for educational purposes?

Check out Elfster, and see what you think.

Utterz: Jaiku Plus Jott...sort of

Please note that Injenuity's Utter posting is in the entry above this one. I am still learning how to use this application.

Jennifer Jones, elearning director at a postsecondary school in WA, is testing out utterz to determine the educational feasibility to use this social network. Her colleagues, including me, are trying Utterz with her.

The format is a bit more click intensive than Jaiku, but I will check it out before I make any more evaluations of utterz....wooohoooo! be herd;D

The asynchronous aspect and variability of options to transfer data, including images, video and audio helps raise utterz usability quotient.

These developers are very punny!

Tweet, Tweet!

Unless you are a student of early 20th century music, Mitch Miller, or children's music, you may not recognize this song, Let's All Sing Like the Birdies Sing! Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. Tweet, Tweet!, but it is appropriate for what all twitterers do! We TWEET! & TWEET! often. I find Twitter to be an excellent mini-blogging and social networking tool that does allow opportunities for use in the classroom.

At Classroom 2.0, Elizabeth Davis started a discussion on Twitter, Are You Using Twitter?.


Many of us have contributed some interesting thoughts about why, how, where, when we tweet and to whom we tweet. This has been one of the most informative, interesting discussions we have had while I have been a member of Classroom 2.0 educational social network. Please access the discussion. You will enjoy it.

As the discussion progressed, the CR2.0 network evaluated the finer points of our use of Twitter. An important issue discussed was whether to follow people who don't follow you. The problem is that you become interested in their tweets, but you can't send them messages unless they also follow you. My ambiguous thoughts are reflected here:

Following someone on TWITTER is not all it's cracked up to be....sometimes! I don't follow anyone, for long, who won't follow me within a time span, UNLESS there are some overcompensating issues....such as access to information, humor, or other points of interest in their tweets.

For instance, it is highly unlikely (although not impossible:) that Leo Laporte, of TechTV, Twit.tv, and lately Lab with Leo will probably ever follow me, BUT he provides information that is so valuable TO ME that I continue to follow him. He also does not overwhelm my twitter network.

This interaction problem is not a drawback on Jaiku! I really like the comment section on each Jaiku posting. I can comment on anyone's Jaiku posting. There will be people who won't like this, and that is why they may appreciate the selectiveness of Twitter more than Jaiku's forum like qualities.

If people do not want to have a person on their Jaiku contact list, they can remove them. In my experience, what really happens is that most people check your Jaiku postings, and they often become a follower or at least they accept comments and contact! :)

Right now, another member of the #twit(tv) group and I are having a conversation about the low number of women geeks. He thinks there should be more, and I agree! I commented on his posting to Jaiku to #twit(tv)....because I am in the twit(tv) group. He is not in my individual contact list and I am not an individual contact on his list. As a result of this conversation, we may follow each other, or not....BUT we can interact.

What do you think about social networks, such as miniblogging and instant messaging? Do you use Twitter? If not, why not?

I Still Don't Get It! What's Your Sign?

Even after all these years in Teaching, I am still shocked and amazed that teachers, who should be the BEST interpreters of all, still can't understand the reality the choose to visit, share or advise.

The lack of critical thinking skills among those who profess to be on the forefront of their teaching field boggles the mind. I will admit, I do recover faster than I used to when I was younger, after a surreal encounter with these characters. Most times, I don't try anymore to explain to these people they are walking down a blind alley. Let them be blissfully ignorant. LOL! Those who cannot see.....

If I wasn't a teacher, with a strong background in successful collaboration, I don't think I could bear to know that there are teachers in our schools, especially our universities, who can't think their way out of a paper bag. LOL, Yes, I know I wouldn't be able to stomach it. LOL No wonder the public talks about teachers like they do.

It is my contention that a truly valuable lesson can be learned or refreshed here, by inexperienced, as well as experienced teachers. Humility and courtesy can improve thinking skills through cooperative learning, interpretive skills and true collaboration.

Here is the story:
A new member, I will name Done, joined one of the interactive educational social networks where I am a member. Done immediately came online, starting a redundant discussion topic. I see this kind of New Bee all the time and usually avoid these people.

This is their most insidious trait. Dones elicit the caretaker response in rational people who want to help them avoid embarrassment. That is WRONG. They are not capable of experiencing embarrassment. LOL

Done vehemently asserted that Done's proposed project was a unique revelation. It was nothing like the one several people mentioned. Done's position was laughable, so laughable it was sad. That is probably the source of my feelings of frustration. If Done can't figure out (interpret) what we are saying, how can Done teach? Don't these Done teachers have to understand and interact with people in the act of teaching?

It has been my experience that these heraldic New Bees are people who will not do a search to discover what is already going on in a network. They are going "a viking" to gather booty for themselves. What's up with that? Isn't that antithetical to the psyche of the teacher?

I think this lack of critical thinkings skills and ability to work in collaborative groups is a major problem. Frighteningly, teachers who have this problem don't even recognize it.

For those of you who are trying to understand and interpret your environment, teaching effectively within it, here are some traits of egocentrism that you can recognize. Steer clear of these people.

1. The kid is their favorite character in the book The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein.

2. Join my group invites w/o reciprocating. A rampant del.icio.us network problem.

3. Take primary sources and spin them to other networks as their own.

4. First adopters without a clue. Think about the kid who just has to have a new pet, but gets tired of it after a few weeks....same concept....They are fickle, and they can't think straight.

5. Can't plan in a holistic manner. All planning revolves around them. If you fit in, fine. If you don't, fine.


I believe these are the teachers who have given us all the poor reputation for teaching content that is a mile wide and an inch deep.

7 Steps For Online Class

TappedIN, an educational social network, is sponsored by Stanford Research Institute, Inc. within their Center for Technology in Learning, an innovator in educational research interests, including TappedIN.

Follow
these seven simple steps to discover TappedIN, the online tech campus.
You can have an office and make protected classrooms for K-12 students.
TappedIN is robust and receptive to the educational needs of teachers,
students and tech leaders:

1. Visit TappedIN as a guest. Sign in as a guest. Enable chat.
   


2. After signing in, you will be directed to the Reception Room.


3. You have arrived. Usually, volunteers are available to help...if you want.
   


4. Move your cursor to the bottom of the TappedIN Reception Room and read the Quick orientation to Tapped In.


5. At the top of the webpage, you will see tabs. Click on the Me tab. Read your message.
   


6. Click on the TappedIN tab and visit the campus, people and calendar of events.


7. After that, the "sky's the limit"...read more, join TappedIN, talk online or visit offices.