# 24 Conclusion

http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0 has a great collection of 174 Web 2.0 sites categorised and ranked in each category, however I am surprised that there are only a few listings in Education category and Diigo is not even listed in Bookmarking category.
http://www.go2web20.net/ seems a good collection of mostly new Web 2.0 tools/sites. I explored some of the tags like e-Learning, Teacher, College but couldn't see a tool/site that looked familiar to me.
I did find this online PD programme interesting and useful. Given no extra time for this at school I have explored nearly everything that is recommended/suggested in the programme but only up to a level. I do wish I had enough/more time for this. This PD forced me to find time for it but I have learnt a lot and overall I am very happy about it, thank you very much for this PD opportunity! There are many Web 2.0 tolls and sites that are relevant and useful in education that I have explored and learnt in this PD. I have already used some of these tools and will use rest as and when needed.

# 23 ebooks

http://worldebookfair.org/Collections.htm seems a huge site for free and very cheap download of ebooks. And I am surprised by http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page which provides huge amount of free e-resources, however its free only in USA as the copy rights of ebooks in this project have expired. This site is very user friendly as it has 3 to 4 alternative ways of viewing or downloading the resources. For distance education providers this site is a Gold mine.
http://librivox.org/ is great for audio books in MP3 format. I listened to and downloaded a little audio book form this site, down loading is slow but it works. Once it was on my computer desk it could be e-mailed. I feel this is great another site for distance education providers.
http://www.friedbeef.com/ is very interesting and useful place to get audio and e-books, has a great collection of many sites offering free e-resources. Feedback and comments include many additional sites to this collection. So many books to read and so little time!!!

# 22 Audio books

For some our students who are reluctant readers, audio books provide motivation to engage them in study. This gradually helps them to develope an interest and a positive attitude towards reading in general which is a great! Plenty of audio books are available at local libraries however I prefer audio books which can be downloaded in MP3 format as almost all children have an use MP3 player.

# 21 Online Video

I have explored YouTube and TeacherTube sites often enough so I am reasonably well familiar with those and know my way around those sites. For my e-Tech sessions and presentations I have searched and linked video clips to my Power Point slides, however I would really like to learn how to embed a video clip in a Power Point slide so that I don't have to rely on accessing internet when presenting a session.
"Shift happens" is my favourite YouTube video clip as it shows how ICT is changing our lives so rapidly and what and how should we teach to prepare our children for tomorrow. I belive it is quite relevent for us and our young generation, click the following link to watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q75KhAeqJg

# 20 Podcast

I found Podcastalley a great collection of very interesting podcasts. I enjoyed listening to some of schoolsucks series of podcasts. I also found Mypodcasts an interesting site for some good educational podcasts. Of all the sites, EPN - Education Podcast Network has great podcasts in many subject areas. I am now interested in learning how to create a podcast and post it on the site as this is quite useful tool in distance education. This may take a lot more exploring and help from some my colleagues. Posting Links to my podcasts on my personal Blog will be very useful in socialising with my friends, family and relatives overseas.

# 19 Rollyo

I found exploring Rollyo quite interesting. I can see its advantages, e.g. in our Mathematics Department we have a big collection of good, useful websites in our Diigo site. I have registered with Rollyo and have thought of creating a search roll and importing all the Mathematics websites from our Diigo site, so our colleagues can search required information or site quickly. I will also create another search roll for my own use, this will be quite useful.

# 18 Wikis

We have have been using a wiki for e-Learning group at our school http://futurepathways.wikispaces.com/
I am reasonably well familiar with using a Wiki. All the members of our e-Learning group post all the presentations and handouts on this wiki.

# 17 Delicious and Diigo

Our Mathematics Department has preffered Social Book Marking Website Diigo over Delicious. My colleagues who previously had been using Delicious have also switched to Diigo. I have known about Delicious but haven't created an account with Delicious, instead I have signed up with Diigo and have been organising my bookmarks. You can also set up Groups in Diigo, e.g. Mathematics, and if you join the group, you can share your book marks with the group. I and some colleagues in our Mathematics group have added many useful sites in Mathematics group and we all are benefiting from the collection.

# 16 Subscribe to Blogs

After exploring many links to RSS Feed and RSS Reader in our main Blog as well Problogger Blog, I really had to ask a colleague who is a problogger in our school who showed me how to set up Google Feed Reader and add a subscription to it by copying and pasting an URL of a Blog or a Website. And I added a couple of subscriptions to my Reader this way, yesterday. This morning I explored RSS more and subscribed to a couple of more Blogs by clicking the RSS Feed button on Blogs. Both of these ways are simple enough to subscribe to Blogs or Websites as most Blogs or Websites have RSS Feed icon.

# 15 Google Reader

This is great tool! Like One Stop Reading place where I can have a collection of all the Websites, Blogs and Wikis that I want to follow. I have been saving the URLs of Blogs and Wikis as my favourites in my Internet Browser but this is much better than that. As I already have two Google accounts it was easy to set up Google Reader, however I need to customize it the way I like. I still would like to explore RSS Feed and RSS Feeder as my colleagues pointed out that theses are different from RSS Reader.

# 14 facebook

I already have signed up in facebook some time ago when a relative from overseas invited me to join his facebook network, however I haven't been using it and haven't really done much more than that but I would love to continue with my facebook and make the best of it to create a network of Friends and relatives here in New Zealand and overseas. I will be more active with it perhaps later on this term and over the coming up Christmas holiday!

#13 MySpace

Despite the controversy of some issues about MySpace, I am surprised by the large number of Libraries using MySpace to connect with their young readers, it is indeed quite pleasing to see Libraries making the best use of the positive side of MySpace. As some of our colleagues have commented on http://librarygarden.blogspot.com blog, I tried to access MySpace from different links but our school has blocked MySpace which does reflect some issues over the site.
I haven't explored MySpace before, I would do so at home.

# 12 flickr

We have been using flickr for more than two years and have created our online family photo album consisting of nearly a thousand photos which have been shared with our relatives and friends overseas - a great tool!

# 11 Library Thing

This is the first time I explored Library Thing tool. I found this amaizing and very usseful tool for all involved or interested in education as well as all readers. I also have signed up and have started adding books to my collection. I hardly read books, Novels or Magazines but I would like to read certain books related to Hinduism. I searched for an ancient book and surprizingly it returned 85 results - very powerful tool. It is laso very good for meeting people of like interest, this way Library Thing is also an excellent social networking tool !

# 10 Image Generator

When exploring the very first link in this Task I found this website http://www.bighugelabs.com/ which has many tools, one of them is called Motivator which is Motivational Poster maker. Here is the link to this tool http://www.bighugelabs.com/motivator.php

I made this poster using this tool. I thought this is quite useful tool to make Motivational posters for class rooms, as well.

You can create your own customized motivational posters. Make your own inspirational, funny, parody, sports or other posters. Perfect for the office, schools, teachers, coaches, as announcements, for parties, invitations, and a lot more.

# 9 Virtual World: Second Life

As a Newbie to virtual world, I find the concept and ideas fascinating! I explored some of the links and had exciting experience. I would like to explore the virtual world a lot more and have a better understanding of it. In particular I am interested in education in second life! Love the idea of becoming a college boy in Second Life and have all the experiences that I wish I had in This Life - that will be exciting!
I am yet to explore WOW!

# 8 iGoogle

iGoogle: Previously I had explored iGoogle to a basic level and set it up as a Home page on our home computer. I also had installed some of the gadgets like weather, calendar, clock, etc. Although we have a broadband Internet connection, iGoogle slowed down the start up loading of our computer quite considerably so after some time we uninstalled iGoogle and went back to Classic Google as a Home page.
Google Chrome: At home I have been using Google Chrome for some time. We find it faster than Internet explorer.
Firefox: I just explored Firefox to a basic level and already like its simple home page. From now on I would like to continue using it instead of Internet explorer and get used to it so I can compare it against Internet explorer and Google chrome.

# 7 Google Books

Today is the first time I explored Google Books and found it very useful tool, it is a great help for people involved in education. For class room teachers and teacher librarians it is a wonderful tool at their finger tips. It is good to see some books are out of copy rights and those can be downloaded freely. The links to libraries are great for students too.

# 6 Google Maps

I have been using Google Maps mainly for finding places and getting travel directions. Today spent time and explored most features/functions of Google Maps and checked some of them out. Wondered on some streets of Sydney and also did the same on our Grove in Lower Hutt, New Zealand using Google Maps New Zealand. Amazing Google tool! - very interesting and useful. Got a little disappointed to find that there no photos of our house in Google Maps. Our house is on a private drive way further away from the round end of our Grove, and Google Maps street view stops at the round end of our Grove.
However I just found that Google Maps can be edited by registered users of Google which means I can add our place in the street view of our Grove so other people can view it when searching.

#5 Google Docs

At school we are using a Google Docs Spread sheet and a Document, so I am familiar with them. However I checked out how to create my own Document and share it with a group of colleagues, how to share view right or edit right. We have a large Mathematics curriculum group, I am keen to introduce, create and share Google Docs to my Mathematics colleagues, this will be quite useful. I would also like to create and share Google Docs presentations with my e-Learning colleagues. Google Docs Forms will be useful for short surveys and questionnaires. Great collaborative Tools!

#4 What is Web 2.0?

This week I am well behind in this online PD. It has been really busy with e-Learning, I spent so much time preparing for the two presentations - Guided Inquiry Based Learning and diigo. Plus helping colleagues one to one with various ICT related tasks takes up quite a bit of time - however it is quite rewarding and satisfying!
This morning I spent an hour and a half and did enjoy exploring some of the links related to Library 2.0, in our main Blog. Web 2.0 is changing Education, Teaching, Learning, Teaching professionals, Resources, and all the rest! Prior to this I also explored Dr Ross Todds presentation on Inquiry Based Learning which I find facinating! Libraries will become the main hubs of teaching and learning, so ofcourse Libraries 2.0 are essential and those Libraries will be served by Teacher Librarians.
This weekend I need to catch with the rest of the tasks for this week.

#2 Create your Blog

Previously I had explored some blogs and had learnt how to set up a Blog so this time it was easy. I also have run an e-Tech session on Blogging for Beginners at my school. This is my second Blog. I have created/set up my first Blog some time ago, it is intended for socializing and keeping in touch with my family, relatives and friends here in New Zealand and overseas. I have kept my first Blog private.
I am still finding this learning interesting and enjoying it but I am struggling to mange my time and fitting everything in at school.