Social Networking

I don't think I've ever had an "official" blog before, so I figure now is a good time to start! I'm enrolled in a really cool graduate course called "Social Networking: The Collaborative Internet." One of tonight's discussion topics was blogs, so I'm diving in head first!

We've also set up a "wiki" for the purposes of this class, so I'm setting up an RSS feed (another interesting Web 2.0 tool that we've covered) to send this blog directly to my wiki as well as to Facebook!

Check out some of the really cool tools that we've discussed:

Twitter

Jott

Netvibes

CoverItLive

Flock

Digg

Delicious

Pageflakes

Meebo

I hadn't heard/used any of these tools other than Digg and Delicious. And I never really used either of those that much. It's been exciting to learn about all of these tools and to understand all of the cool things they can do. Jott is definitely my favorite so far! I'm infamous for writing down things I don't want to forget (either on an index card or my iPhone) and Jott will allow me to "record" reminders (even while driving) without having to write or type anything. It converts voice to text...simply, it's awesome!

Tonight we talked about Facebook in class (that was cool!) as well as Webkins, which is basically Facebook for Toddlers!

I've created a list of "subscriptions" in Google Reader through RSS feed (look into those if you're not familiar!) and I'm currently feeding interesting goodies into my wiki and my Facebook profile.

Delicious is am amazing way to keep track of your "favorites" without keeping the list on a particular computer. You can even share your bookmarks with others and "feed" your favorites into a blog, wiki, etc.

I think many of these applications could be used creatively by K-12 teachers. I can see a teacher having a class blog that includes "feeds" of news stories related to what they're studying in class. The teacher could encourage the students to set up wikis that incorporate their interests, etc. They could use a live blogging program like CoverItLive to have an evening review class virtually. The possibilities are endless!

I'm looking forward to sharing a lot of these tools with my friends who are current teachers!

All for now!