Summary

For the most part, I have enjoyed this journey around the internet. I have been introduced to new applications about which I had no idea. New ways to get organized, something to satisfy the list-maker in me, a new home page that adds a number of interesting links to check out, RSS feeds that will provide information about topics I enjoy, a quick and fun way to make a video out of photographs, an affordable subscription for making genograms and ecomaps - I am overwhelmed with it all.

Some of it had little use for someone entering the profession of School Counselor, and it was frustrating to me to be given tasks that repeatedly seemed as if they had no suitable application. The applications in the second half of the assignment offered more versatility for use from a counseling perspective and to me personally as well.

I do feel like I have become acquainted with some of the resources on the web. I plan to incorporate some of them into my routine and will be investigating many of the others for future use.

Thing 23

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.

I was unaware that this option existed as an alternative to traditional copyright law. It allows for the legal incorporation of the works of other people into classroom activities, with the potential for adding interest and engagement of the students in the content. Although I cannot currently determine how this information could impact my work in a School Counselor capacity, I will not rule out that possibility. One can never be sure when it will be useful to have been exposed to new information.

Thing 22

I thought podcastdirectory.com was easy to navigate, and there is an abundance of choice. Although I cannot necessarily think of a way I could use this technology in a professional capacity, I leave that option open for future consideration. I have saved the website to My Favorites for future exploration.

For my purposes in this assignment, I listened to a Christian music selection which I did enjoy and subscribed to the feed. There are a multitude of podcasts for each genre, and it will take some investigating to locate those I am likely to enjoy the most.

Thing 21

Creating this video has been among the most fun things I have ever done. I wish I could think of a dozen uses for it, but I will certainly remember it should the opportunity ever arise. What I can do for now is share it with family members who were present on the balcony for the jam session that lasted well into the evening.

Animoto meets both of my criteria for an application: it is user friendly and it is forgiving as well. I need to learn to focus on the layout rather than the task at hand and maybe I would not have to do so many retakes. I also failed to see the area for the title, and it produced as "null" - but easily edited when the video was finished. I accidentatlly navigated away from the slide viewer and had to upload a second time, but other than that it worked on autopilot.

I was very pleased with what the application put together the first time; I don't think I could improve on it. It was simple, and fun, it worked like it was supposed to, and the 12 minutes to produce it was worth the wait. I loved this experience!

I have posted the video to my facebook profile to share with the other members of my family who were there when the pictures were taken.

Thing 21

Create your own video slideshow at animoto.com.

Thing 20

I have explored YouTube on a number of occasions, mostly for sharing music videos on facebook, which makes it a relatively painless activity. I viewed some other videos prior to picking this one, and decided that since it was from Animal Planet it might be worthy of posting in an educational venue. I do have a golden retriever mix and although she doesn't fit the typical golden profile, she still measures up as a terrific family pet, possibly a better guard dog than what this video would lead one to believe.

Many times children are actively looking for a pet, and having videos such as this one might be an excellent service for them to provide input into the family discussion. It offers some objective information while providing clips of this breed of dog in various stages of life.

The only thing I don't like about YouTube is that very often the sheer volume of search results is overwhelming. I am often disappointed when I view something and find out it is far from being something I would share with others. Besides hogging bandwidth, it also hogs time while sorting through the results.

This experience provided me with my first successful post of a video. I'm sure the format had much to do with that, as well as the illustration, but it is a good feeling to know that I can do that!

Thing 20