Comments on: NEW TOOLS KEYNOTE “More Than Cool Tools”

By: Life-Long-Learners

Life-Long-Learners — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 21:58:17 +0000

[…] and ideas. As a model mentor, Alan has so willingly shared through his wiki resources, through his keynotes, through his StoryBox-Digital Time Capsule, through his leadership in both his DS106 Digital […]

By: Cathy Wolinsky

Cathy Wolinsky — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 00:48:12 +0000

I learned a lot from Alan, Brian and D’Arcy in this session; I will be referring back to it and using my notes to help me remember what is here. The first thing that struck me was that they were writing about RSS in 2003 and I really didn’t grasp the value or start using RSS until 2007. I could feel badly about that time lag, but as I work with educators in Southern Maine most are still unaware of the uses for RSS, or classroom blogs, wikis, personalized web pages, del.icio.us accounts, etc. The goal I have for this year is that each teacher will have and use all of those five tools for themselves and their students.

By: Mike Arsenault

Mike Arsenault — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 14:41:01 +0000

Great presentation Alan, Brian, and D’Arcy. Each of you brought new ideas to the presentation. I constantly found myself pausing the presentation to check out some of the resources mentioned.

I teach a course to pre-service elementary education students. I have moved my course materials off WebCT and into Wikispaces.

Now I’m off to learn more about DIGG. I’ve heard of it for a long time, but had not touched it. This presentation will be of great use for teachers in my building and students who take my course. Thanks for a great presentation!

By: Maria Rivera

Maria Rivera — Sun, 02 Dec 2007 04:42:28 +0000

I like how the new tools were defined im a basic simple way so that teachers like me can understand what they are and how they can be used. I’ve heard the terms wiki, blog, rss, utube, slide share, voice tread, flicker and google docs before but couldn’t really keep the definitions straight nor explain it to someone. Listening to keynote speakers on line help me take notes and understand these new cool tools better. Thanks!

By: Ana Mantel

Ana Mantel — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:54:32 +0000

I can say only wow! So many tools!!

By: Jose Fuentes

Jose Fuentes — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 18:08:04 +0000

Hey guys, what a great presentation. Thanks for providing a whole array of information I would have not seen had it been for you. I enjoyed watching the presentation and feel glad not giving up on it. It takes quiet a while for it to download and this is the third time I tried it and I’m glad it worked today. I learned many great pieces of information. For instance, the way technology and informatin are on the rise and are doubling in size in just a small amount of time. Anyhow, it makes me feel quite good when you mentioned some softward such as goodle docs that I already know how it works and have use it. But it makes me worry when you mention a tremendous number of software out there that I had not even heard about. I think the time is coming when I will no longer be able to keep up with all this information and will be left behing. All in all, a great presenation.

By: Jose Rodriguez

Jose Rodriguez — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 02:24:04 +0000

Thanks “Three Amigos” Knowing about tools is only step one in actually using them. Thanks for the great introduction! With knowledge comes responsibility. Now, I have to explore ways to use these tools in my teaching and have my students use them in their learning.

By: Janice Stearns

Janice Stearns — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 18:45:47 +0000

Great presentation, all. I really liked how you modeled pieces loosely joined. The frame of looking at key indicators like embedding, socialization, liberalization, and disruptiveness really tied all thoughts together.
I enjoyed the link to Alan’s 50 Ways to Tell a Story. What a wonderful resource! I would really like access to links of some of the tools in the keynote that aren’t in the 50 tools site. Might those be somewhere else, even tagged in del.icio.us?
Thanks for the great work.

By: Laura

Laura — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 00:34:27 +0000

Simply Amazing! This was a fascinating look at the big picture. Your presentation added greatly to my knowledge and opened my mind to a new world of tools that are available. I also went to your wiki page and love the “Drafty Outline”. I took notes as I listened but found your outline to be a delightful resource.

I have only just recently learned about the K-12 Online Conference. Yours was the second presentation I listened to/watched. If this is the high standard to expect, I’m not sure when I will get any work done!!! Enjoyable, Entertaining and Educational – what a wonderful combination!
Thank you very much!

By: Janetta Garton

Janetta Garton — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 17:32:40 +0000

After watching the video More Than Cool Tools, I’ve reflected on the Web 2.0 tools I’ve chosen to endorse in our district. In 2004 blogs, wikis, and RSS were available. In the Spring of 2007 blogs, wikis, and RSS were just taking off in my district. Partly because I’m not an early adopter when it comes to the tools I choose for the professional learning opportunities that I offer our staff. I see it as an investment when I create professional learning objects. I want to be sure it is truly beneficial in the classroom and not just a novelty. I don’t want to waste the teacher’s time, or “firehose” them with the ever increasing tools out there. I go to my learning network to see what tools others are using, and how they have successfully applied the tools to the classroom. Many of the verbs mentioned in this presentation are things I consider when selecting tools. As mentioned in the presentation, Web 2.0 tools come and go overnight, so I try to choose tools that have stood the test of time, which in the Internet world is not long, and still just a shot in the dark. I’m familiar with many of tools mentioned. Some of the tools I’m supporting in our District include Edublogs, Wikispaces, Bloglines, Flickr, Moodle, United Streaming, ePALs, Google Docs, Skype, Voice Thread, Picnik, Podomatic, Audacity, Feedburner, Delicious, SlideShare, BubbleShare, iTunes, and Creative Commons. I share all my learning objects online, licensed with Creative Commons, including Moodle professional development courses for our teachers, screencast tutorials, handouts, and online resources.Living in a constant construction zone is a phrase that I connected with from the session. The tools are constantly changing to meet the needs of users and include new features, which is good. This has caused me to reflect on the way I instruct and model the use of technology for teachers. When preparing, I visualize classroom application and the management issues that need to be addressed. I spend a lot of time creating how-to guides with specific, numbered steps. But these learning objects can become outdated in just days. I need to model how I learn new tools. Opportunities arise during workshops in which a teacher asks how to do something I haven’t tried yet, and I model then how to find the answer. Teachers need to be able to deal with the constant state of change of Web 2.0 tools. As David Warlick said in his keynote, one of the most important tasks we can complete as educators is to show our students how to be learners. I need to model more for the teachers the strategies I use when learning a new tool. Up to this point the purpose of my blog has been basically informational. I now see a reason for using it for reflecting on my own learning.