I think the most valuable thing I got from my PLN this week is a keynote speech by Chris Lehman by Mr. Byrne.
I also asked for ideas via Twitter regarding a screen capture/ snapshot tool. Got a couple replies back, thanks Susan, Sue and Steve. I wanted a snapshot tool that would also act as an editor so you can add text, arrows etc. to screen shot afterwards. Most tools were not free or were free but had stamps on them. I concluded that the best option for now is probably to use the regular Snipping Tool I use (came with Windows Vista) and then edit in a program like Word, Powerpoint or regular picture editor. Any additional ideas welcome...
Clif's PD for the Holidays blog post was also useful. Clif (Clif's Notes blog) has a huge PLN, I like how he's listed all his resources here so people can connect with him in the different sites... Might be a good exercise for a blog post, at least so you can keep track of your own identities in the different social sites you have signed up for. Here's a related post on building a PLN from EdTrekTech and a poll question, I like this segment from the post:
"Building a PLN is hard work and it requires diligent, active, and participatory excellence. Many times questions may go unanswered. Many times blog posts may receive no commentary. It is one thing to “take” from your PLN. That’s the easy part. It is a totally different thing to have your PLN “give” to - or work for - you. The latter requires a much more significant depth of relationship."Right now I feel like I'm taking from my PLN and hardly giving. The article leads to the point that meeting people from your PLN in person helps to deepen that online relationship much more. You can tell that a lot of the people who are very involved in Twitter discussions in the edtech field (Stephen Ransom who wrote the blog post above calls them the "super stars"- you all know who this refers to...) have met in person and have all these inside jokes and know each other's families, etc. I guess you could also achieve that level of relationship exclusively through online interactions, but there seems to be great added value in meeting your PLN contacts in person. The poll results thus far showed that 78% of people who replied agreed that "a PLN more responsive when you have met the folks within it face-to-face".
One thing I still don't understand about Twitter is all these # marked comments, sometimes it feels like you're reading a different language the way some people communicate with each other. What does all this mean, when people follow #whatever? I will investigate it this week... I will also start a discussion about Delicious versus Diigo, so that will hopefully provide me with the opportunity to become more involved with my PLN and also hopefully get more out of it.
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Marta, if you think you hardly give anything to your PLN, then I must be a parasite on the level of an Ebola virus. I think you've given a great deal to all the members of this class, all of which I am grateful. Learning from others is an interesting world. Often the people giving to others think nothing about it because they just pass along something that is a part of their life. However, for the receiver, its importance is regarded differently, partly because it is new. The classic example of this is the Jimmy Stewart character in "it's a Wonderful Life."
ReplyDeleteMarta,
ReplyDeleteHave you tried using Aviary. It's free to sign up and you can get an icon that allows you to quick click and do a screen capture. You then have the option to edit, save, copy, or host it. I've used the editing tools and they have what it looks like you are looking for. Only thing is that it's just a web-based application. I don't think you can use it to do screen captures of your desktop (but I could be wrong).
Tom- I love that movie... Thanks for the kind words!
ReplyDeleteKatie- Yes, I checked out Aviary, what a great tool! However, Talon which is the screencapture feature only allows you to capture screenshots through the browser. Still very useful, I have just added it on mine. What Aviary also has which is half of what I was looking for is something called "Image Markup" which draws and writes on images. So I could take a screen shot of my desktop using the Snipping tool, then use Aviary's image editor to mark things on it.