When I look at my Personal Learning Network, I would describe it as growing.  I did not even know what that term meant when I started this class.  I thought I was fairly educated when it came to computers and the Internet.   Wow, was I mistaken.  I have learned an amazing amount of information in ED 483 and plan on using that to keep expaning my PLN. 

In this class, I was exposed to many different things I plan on remaining to use.  I love Delicious.  It is a great way to store and organize information.  So far, I have not shared any of my information with another Delicious user.  But, I have been able to go into my account and easily find some of the things I tagged.  I sent a high school girl two different interactive Periodic tables for a report she was working on.  I shared a copuple articles and videos with Lenny Shible and Barb Coleman, two health professionals at NMU.  I have gotten myself in the habit of bookmarking anything interesting I come across and tagging it appropriately so I can find it easily later.  What a great way to store information for easy access!

I also really enjoy Twitter.  It has been helpful a couple times for both ED 361 and ED 483.  Members of the class share questions and websites with each other.  I also follow some news posts, a few educators, and some sites and people of personal interest.  Tweetdeck is always on on my laptop and all day I hear the little chirp when a new post comes on and I then check out what new information has been passed on.  As I expand my PLN, I will follow more people, which in turn will expand my network even more.  I hope some of the information I pass on will benefit others, also.

I will probably keep up my blog after this class, although not as often as I do now.  When I come across something in a different class, for instance, I may want to blog about it.  When I begin to make contacts and have others who follow my blog, I will probably increase my posts.

I’ve started really liking some of the benefits of Google.  I use Google docs a lot.  Not only to share information with others, but it also is a way for me to share documents on my computer because I do not have Microsoft Word.  My OpenOffice documents are difficult to open on some computers, so I share them or e-mail them through Google Docs.  I have also started using Google Books.  I have a few books in my library on different educational topics.  I also found Samuel Sewall’s diary in full text there, which was a HUGE help when doing a research paper for my history class.  I have learned a lot by some of the articles and blogs that come across our Google Reader for 483.  I hope they continue to go through even after 483 is over.  I will also add feeds of other blogs I would like to follow in there for my own benefit.

Other technologies taught in this class may not exactly be a part of my PLN, but I definitely found them useful.  I have already found several interseting videos on YouTube.  Before, I had thought YouTube videos were only for entertainment.  Wikispaces are great – I’ve started one for my final project and been able to do a lot with it so far.  We were given a lot of resources and given an idea of what is available to help teachers in the classroom.  I plan on using them and finding others when I have my classroom.

It took me the majority of the semester to understand what a Personal Learning Network even was.  All of a sudden it was like a light went off and I got the picture.  Right now I feel like I am only getting my feet wet but I think there is much to be gained by following certain blogs, Tweets, and sharing information with others.  I plan on using this not only as a teacher, but in my personal life and other interests as well.  I think everyone should at least be exposed to the information we were in this class, even if they choose not to use it.

I was looking at some of the blogs that came through Google Reader for ED483 and I thought a few of them were really interesting.

I think teachers should do more in a classroom than just lecture.  This does not necessarily have to mean elaborate lesson plans, either.  Teachers should find ways to make learning fun and interactive for students.  I found a blog called Ten Ways to Get Beyond Powerpoint with Classroom Projectors.  Here, Ron Doyle gives some great uses for digital projectors that include more than posting a powerpoint presentation.  He lists uses for a variety of different subject areas and grade levels, and they can be easily adapted for your  classroom.

I found another article that came across our Reader that looked neat, too.  This one was about a website called YourFonts.  It is completely free and turns your own writing into a font that you can use while word processing on your computer.  I think it is neat and teachers could use it for certain things – taking notes, etc.  But, I think it would be nice for a parent or elementary school teacher to use when kids are developing their handwriting.  How nice would a letter e-mailed to Grandma and Grandpa in Florida be written in the child’s “own handwriting?”  It could also be saved for when they get older to compare writing, and would be great for scrapbooking.  I am on campus now but as soon as I get access to my printer/scanner I plan to try this out.  Who knows, my next blog could be in my own font!

Another cool tool I came across is called ShowUSA.  This site offers interactive maps of the USA or the world, and gives statistics according to the state or country.  They have data on a wide range of information (I compared population, drunk driving deaths, and syphilis cases to get an idea of what you can research.  Very interesting!

These are just a few of the great websites available and some of the resources that have been given through the Google Reader set up for ED483.  Thanks Sara!  You’re giving us some great tools.

I was reading some of the blogs that came through the blog feed for our class and came across a link to a website called embedit.in.  At first I was unsure why things had to be embedded, when I knew how to link things.  But, I read a little bit more and realized why embedding an item in a blog or other document was useful. Here’s just a neat picture I came across in e-mail that I used embedit.in for.