Tuesday Tidbits: links and discussion?

Last Wednesday at the staff inservice, we spent some time sharing some websites that can be used in the classroom... some are specific to subject area (like math), and some are helpful sites that could be used across the curriculum.

I was able to save all of the links to all the sites on my "Delicious" Social Bookmarking site.  The web address for that is here:  https://delicious.com/mharming .

Social Bookmarking sites like delicious, can be kind of handy!

Delicious itself, is kind of a handy tool, that you can use to keep track of any and all handy links that you want.  Say you are at home, and you find a site you want to use in the classroom... if you start a delicious account you can simply add the link to it...no matter where you are, and you can access all those links anywhere.  Another neat thing about Delicious is that you can "Follow" other people on there... so if you find someone who is an "expert" in your field (Math, Science, elementary, etc...), you can follow their list of helpful links!

Cheryl Harming also discussed edmodo, and the use of edmodo itself in the classroom...it's a pretty handy little tool that you can use to give and receive assignments...give online quizes, give polls, etc, etc... AND, you can invite parents to see what their student is doing in edmodo.  Cheryl did a great job, and hope I was able to chip in with a few drops of knowledge.

We also discussed web site development, and staff worked either in Frontpage or Share Point Designer, in working on their own staff webpage.  Frontpage is the older program, that most people learned on.. but is now obsolete, and we did have problems with a few staff computers using Frontpage.  Share Point Designer is a free download from Microsoft, and seemed to work with all the computers that we tried it on.

Sharepoint Designer looks similar to Frontpage.

As I mentioned, Share Point Designer is a free download... so you can download it to your home computer, and work on your webpage from home.  Note:  For your SD State supplied webpage, you will need to download the 2007 version... NOT the 2010 or 2013 version.

Here is the LINK for 2007 SharePoint Designer Dowload.

Lastly... Wondering if we could get a discussion going here...I'm going to try it, anyway.  My wife and I have just ordered a new computer for our home... the old one was just breaking down...  We ordered an HP with Windows 8 on it.  I have not used Windows 8 yet, but would like to get the reaction(s) from those who have.  I've heard a few negative things about it...but also heard that once you get "used to it" it's no big deal.

Windows 8 sure looks different!

With the proliferation of "Smart Phones" and tablets... a move to an "App based" Operating System was probably a smart move, in the long term... but it is certainly a significant change from Windows 7.

As far as I know, there aren't any school districts in SD, who are moving their student computers to Windows 8 yet.  Most are sticking with Windows 7, at least for the next year.

Anyway... have a thought on Windows 8?  A complaint?  Praises?  Anything at all?  leave a comment here... I'd like to hear it.