New to Classroom 2.0

Though I've been a blogger for two years now, I have just learned about Classroom 2.0. What a great social networking idea! Among other things this summer, I have been very busy learning about technology as it might apply to education. Here are some things I have learned thus far -- Wikis: I first saw the Common Craft video on wikis in May. This coincided with family tragedy, for my mother-in-law suffered a stroke and was rendered aphasic (loss of speech & communicative skills). With a large family spread out across the U.S., tensions mounted as some members felt out of the communication loop. I suggested that we set up a wiki that was accessible to everyone. A brother-in-law stepped up to the challenge. The open, collaborative nature of the wiki has changed our lives for the better. Feel free to take a look at it here and see how we have made it relevent and useful in our personal lives. I am also currently working on converting a couple of colleagues to consider ways we can use wikis at school. The most important about wikis I have learned is that in order forone to work effectively, the users must all find it truly purposeful . . . I'm sure I'll write more about that in the future. Survey Monkey: You can up a free account to create surveys of up to 10 questions. I am currently rolling around ideas in my head about the ways I can apply this with my students. Right now I am testing it with my own survey for educators. If you have a few minutes, please take the survey. I Podcasts: So, a co-worker of mine has brought up the idea of how can we use podcasts with our students. My problem here is that I've yet to figure out how to do it. Usually i am very good at technology, but this is proving to be a great challenge for me. If you have any good resources or ideas. Please leave me a note. Classroom 2.0 (Thank you Ms. Mercer for pointing me in this direction!) I can tell that I am going to have to learn how to format posts here. Plese leave a comment if you have any tips.