Discovery Exercises and Tasks
Each week, you will complete two or three Discovery Exercises and Learning Tasks, as listed below. Links to the details for each week's activities will be added as the course progresses, no later than Sunday evening for the upcoming week. Remember, you are in charge of your learning journey. This course is about exposure, exploration and experimentation, not about "doing it right." Your co-participants and coaches are here to support and encourage you.
Stretch Activities
Along the way, you will also encounter a few Stretch tasks accompanying some of the activities. Stretch tasks are designed to enrich and extend your learning. Everyone is encouraged to try at least some of them, but they are not required. If you are already comfortable with a particular tool or concept, you should definitely complete the Stretch task!
Discovery Activities and Tasks
Click the link to view details for each week's content (Content is released weekly as the course progresses).
NOTE: Due to the topic/content groupings, some weeks will be more challenging/time intensive than others. The average will be 1-2 hours per week, for a total of approximately 10-20 hours.
NOTE: If you have Flash-related trouble viewing the help videos or working with any of the tools or embedded items, you might try Firefox instead of Internet Explorer. The problem is between Flash and IE7, not the videos or this site. Your computer and web browser may work fine.
SUMMER 2010 SCHEDULE is July 25 - October 17th.
* ONGOING Week 0 - Registration
o Thing 0 - Learn about the course, get yourself a Google/Gmail Account and get Firefox if you don't already have it.
* 7/25/10 Week 1 - Introduction
o Thing 1 - Review some strategies for Lifelong Learning
o Thing 2 - Learn a bit about Web 2.0, and Why it Matters
o Thing 2.5 (Register for your new blog and get a tiny jump on Week 2!)
* 8/1/10 Week 2 - Blogging
o Thing 3 - Set up your blog and write your first posts.
o Thing 4 - Explore some uses of blogs in education; Consider possibilities for blogging in your professional environment.
* 8/8/10 Week 3 - RSS and Aggregators
o Thing 5 - Learn about RSS and set up Google Reader
o Thing 6 - Feed your reader: find & subscribe to feeds
o Thing 7 - Begin to build an RSS reading habit. (Listed on same page with Thing 6).
* 8/15/10 Week 4 - Wikis
o Thing 8 - What is a wiki? Explore educational uses for wikis.
o Thing 9 - Set up your own page on the WASD 23 Things participant sandbox wiki.
* 8/21/10 Week 5 - Images & Slideshows
o Thing 10 - Learn about Creative Commons
o Thing 11 - Intro to Photosharing and Tagging; Explore Flickr and download some CC photos
o Thing 12 - Create an online Slideshow using Creative Commons photos
* 8/29/10 - Catch up week
Get your classroom ready and don't worry too much about the course
Reflect on how you might use the tools you've discovered so far with your students this year and write at least one new post about it.
* 9/5/10 Week 6 - Discover & Reflect
o Thing 13 - Attend a "21st Century" Conference (in your PJs)
o Thing 14 - Explore one or more tools of choice (Blabberize, Gliffy, Quizlet, Ta-Da List, Glogster etc)
o Thing 7b - Blog about something interesting you've found in your Google Reader.
* 9/12/10 Week 7 - Social Bookmarking & Tagging
o Thing 15 - Intro to Social Bookmarking; Set up a Diigo account and begin adding and tagging resources
o Thing 16 - Discover LibraryThing
* 9/19/10 Week 8 - Podcasting & Videosharing
o Thing 17 - Intro to Podcasting; Explore podcasts in iTunes
o Thing 18 - Create a "Bare Bones" podcast
o Thing 19 - Intro to Video Sharing; Explore YouTube and TeacherTube
* 9/26/10 Week 9 - Get Productive
o Thing 20 - Use Google Docs to create and share collaborative documents, spreadsheets and presentations
o Thing 21 - Create a custom start page using Pageflakes
o Thing 7c - Blog about something interesting you've found in your Google Reader.
* 10/3/10 Week 10 - Connect & Reflect
o Thing 22 - Learn about Social Networking and explore the Classroom 2.0 and other education-related NING Networks
o Thing 23 - Add your reflections to the K12 Learning 2.0 Voicethread; Blog about your experiences and next steps.
FINISH ANY REMAINING ITEMS BY 10/17/10
¤ NOTE: To receive credit, you must be finished with all tasks by no later than Sunday, October 17, 2010.
