It had a chance to experiment with animoto.com. The video shown at the end of the SBISD Convocation in August was created from animoto. Here is my test run with pictures of my cat, Corn Pop.

Thing 23 - Fin

Some of my best discoveries were de.licio.us, flickr, wikis, and Google everything. It was very helpful that we were required to get actively involved in most of the things. This helped me learn at a deeper level. Also documenting each activity helped me reflect on my experiences. My blog contains all my information and my creations and I can share it with others.

Even though I may not benefit from each Thing, it was good to be exposed to them. I would not eliminate any of the Things. In the future I would participate again but it would need to be over the summer and for a long period of time.

This learning experience was the best professional development I've taken in many years.

Thing 22 - NIng

Checked out Ning and was not really impressed at this time. I searched for a group of Technology Teachers. Found a few things but nothing that I can use at this time. I can check back soon and see what else is out there.

Thing 21 - Podcasts

Downloaded Photo Story (after logging into "home"). Upon logging back into my usual login, this software was nowhere to be found. This is the 3rd time I've had to log in to "home" to download something for this course and I never had this problem. So after all these problems, my PhotoStory is not very fancy. Just went in and played with it briefly.

Thing 20 - YouTube, TeacherTube

So glad to see TeacherTube. I've posted family videos on YouTube but feel that 80% of the stuff on YouTube is absolute garbage. Teens using a cellphone to video a friend doing something inappropriate/illegal. Or I see people who finally own their first video camera and feel a need to post a video of popcorn popping on the stove top. The district SHOULD continue to block YouTube but I hope that the controls on TeacherTube are tight enough to keep it "pure".

Below is a video I plan on showing my students in the fall when we start Photography.

Thing 19 - Web 2.0 Award List

I visited many of these sites. It is nice to know that sites are being recognized in these different areas. I need to check it each year to see what is new out there. I found a new travel site called Farecast (beta version)that is similar to orbitz and priceline. A cool, new feature they have is that it shows a graph of the price of an airline ticket in the future. It could help you determine the cheapest time of the month to travel.

Thing 18 - On-line Productivity Tools

I have known about Open Office for awhile. I don't have a personal use for this but I know several people that could benefit from Open Office. I also need to share this with students that may not have the Office Suite at home.

This would be great for people buying macs. Since Office for Mac costs over $100 this would be a great alternative.