Connecting East

For this week’s tasks, click the button below. Please read on for more information.

This week we are going to look at the power of social bookmarking. Signing up is one thing, but actually getting the full value is another!

This week we want you to explore the following:

The more people you add to your network, the easier it is find new and interesting sites to bookmark. We already know a lot of East staff who have signed up to Delicious, so adding them to your network is important.

We add tags to each site we bookmark so we can find it again easily. Each site can have numerous tags.

Explore the beauty of tag clouds such as the one I created below of my top 10 tags on Delicious, using wordle. You can see a tag cloud of your tags on Delicious (which is explained in the Apprentice challenge).

If you are ready for this week’s challenges, click the button below.

I hope you’re looking forward to this week’s tasks. Relax! We’re looking at videos this week – how hard can it be?

You might be reassured to look at the percentages of survey respondents who had never heard of the following:
TED talks – 61%
Atomic Learning – 56%
United Streaming – 39%

This is good news for us, because it means we can show you more useful tools for your classrooms!

Your tasks will revolve around using and navigating some/all of the following:
TED Talks
Atomic Learning
United Streaming
YouTube
TeacherTube

TED talks are 20 minute videos of ‘ideas worth spreading’. The website describes them as “inspired talks by the world’s leading thinkers and doers.” I would describe them as fascinatingly engaging presentations by really interesting people. There is something for everyone here, and Katie and I will share some of our favourites on the wiki.

Atomic Learning is a site that has video tutorials on just about anything you can imagine. If you don’t know how to do something relating to technology, this should be your first port of call. The school has a subscription, so you should be able to find what you’re looking for if you’re logged in at school.

United Streaming Is a Discovery Education subscription service the school pays for which allows you to search and download Discovery Education videos for use in the classroom. You can download whole videos, or just the segments which relate to what you’re doing. Click here for the latest Discovery Education Streaming newsletter.

TeacherTube is basically YouTube just for teachers.  We don’t ask you to go there for a specific task, but please check it out.

We have tried to mix it up so that you get a balance of fun AND educational videos.

Please know that you are welcome to watch the videos for ANY level, and you are welcome (indeed, encouraged) to come back at any time and make your way through the various levels. For the purposes of the prizes, you are only required to complete one level’s challenges however.

Click here to view the challenges for this week.

Thanks for the fantastic turnout for our first Fruity Friday! I said to Katie, “What if noone shows up?”, but you managed to allay my fears.

Welcome to the following

individuals:

brouwc
mandy0305
wgl
karlibaba
WLIAO
alyssafraser
BexDrummond
DMErichards
liyan123
Artrocks
ransonc
wigwamforagoose
MrWhitehouse
hamishbetts
vanderheijden
ojokins
jazzmaggie
singaporeLouise
andreak2
hbettsnz

plus the two of us:  klandmiles and TheLibrarianEdge

[updated 16 Jan 08]

Click on any of the names above to see the bookmarks they’ve collected so far.

We know there are more of you out there, and we will add to this list as information comes to hand!

We hope you are going to enjoy your social bookmarking experience. Why not add them to your network? Follow the steps below:

Reminder, signing up for a task is only one part of your challenge. You need to find some interesting pages and tag them with the tag ‘connectingeast’ so we can see them.

If you haven’t yet got around to it, there’s plenty of time to complete the tasks. We post new tasks each Tuesday, but you can complete them at your own pace. There is also a holiday coming up should you need extra time…!

Remember, Katie and I are available for Fruity Fridays at 7:15am, but please feel free to contact us at any stage to arrange an alternative time. We are more than happy to help you in any way.

Photo: desert_dan via Flickr

Here are the rules of this road-trip:

– we’re doing the driving, but all passengers have a say in where we go and how fast we go

– don’t be afraid to speak up and say you need some nourishment or a pit stop

– remember it’s supposed to be fun (as well as educational)

First destination:…

The results of our survey showed that 44% of you had never heard of social bookmarking before, so we figured it was a great way to start. Especially as those people who do use it find it incredibly helpful.

In a nutshell, it’s like the favourites section of your computer but 100 times better! You can access your ‘favourites’ on any computer with internet access, and share favourite websites with others. And that’s only the beginning.

Katie has put together a comprehensive wiki page which has everything you need to know about social bookmarking on our wiki for this road trip. Click on the link below.

Connecting East / social-bookmarking via kwout

Before you get the map for your next destination, you must complete the task on the wiki for this week. You can choose between Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner & Expert, depending on your levels of comfort.

Now, in the words of Rihanna, “Shut up and drive!”