Final+thoughts

=**Thing 23 (Week 10): Where do we go from here?** =

**Introduction**
For the past 7,000 weeks, you have worked hard and persevered. Your brain is full. The "Things" are all running together. You are all blogged out. You see a faint light at the end of the tunnel, but you are fearful that it is a Web 2.0 hallucination...

[|__Voicethread__]  ( [|__Education Version__] ) is a remarkable tool that has tremendous classroom potential for digital storytelling and portfolios, multimedia presentations, collaboration, publishing and instruction/demonstration. I hope many of you will explore the site on your own, and discover applications for your own environment.Check out the overview of [|__Ed Voicethread__]  (teacher-moderated version for schools) as well as a growing [|__digital library of lessons__]  for many subject areas and grade levels.

**Task:** **Final Thoughts

PART 1:**  Please leave **two comments, ~30 seconds each, as described below**  on our closing Voicethread, also below. Your comments do not have to be expansive or perfect -- please just share your thoughts! I hope you will also spend a few moments listening to each others' comments. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**HOW-TO instructions** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> are provided in both written and video format below the presentation.

===<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**What your comments should encompass:** ===
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Comment 1 / Slide 1:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Share your thoughts about Web 2.0 and 21st Century learners. Do you believe the world is changing for our students? Do teachers (and schools) need to consider and address these "shifts?" How can we teach students to be responsible, effective users of these tools?
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Comment 2 / Slide 2:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> While I know there have been challenges along the way, I hope there have also been discoveries made, and ideas sprouted for each of you. Please share the "top" one or two tools, concepts, ideas or resources from the course that you felt were most valuable for you in your classroom or professional role. What was valuable about them? Are there any tools, ideas or resources you have begun using, or plan to use in the future? What was the best discovery?

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**PART 2:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Write a final blog post reflecting on your overall course experience and next steps. insert voicethread here - <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__http://voicethread.com/share/1265249/__]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**HOW TO:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> For this task you will use the Voicethread account you created as part of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__Thing 1__ <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. Just click the "Sign In or Register" button on the presentation above, sign in, then go to the first slide to leave your first comment, then the second slide to leave your second comment. (You will need a microphone, though you can also use the "phone comment" feature if you prefer). <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**IMPORTANT TIP:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Voicethread recording works better if you don't have a bunch of webpages open in other tabs or windows -- those pages are competing for your computer's resources.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**HELP Video:** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__How to register for and leave a comment on a Voicethread__]

=<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #118288; font-family: Arial; font-size: 24pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|**Thing 23.5 (Future Stretch)...**] = <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|In addition to] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[|**continuing your learning**] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">[| via your] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Google Reader__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (RSS subscriptions), by "attending" more <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__K12 Online Conference__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">sessions, and by participating in a robust network such as <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Classroom 2.0__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> (or a more specialized network such as <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__Independent School Educators Network__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> or the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__English Companion Ning__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">), I <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**strongly encourage** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> all of you to explore the <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">[|__**power of Twitter**__] <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 13pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> as part of your professional learning network.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Thanks for hanging in throughout the "23 Things" journey. I hope you have discovered, explored, made connections, been curious, been challenged, overcome frustration, felt accomplished, grown a bit and shared with others...** <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**and, most of all, I hope you will keep going!**

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">:) Shelley