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====**Welcome to Our Class!** It's great to have you as a part of this adventure in learning. The whole idea for this class comes from a series of classes begun several years ago by librarians to help librarians get acquainted with the new tools that are available on the web. It was called 23 Things. The work was donated to [|Creative Commons] and now can be adapted by others throughout the world. ====

====By the end of class, you should have a blog, a Diigo account, some understanding of Digital Natives, and post at least one bookmark to our Diigo group. If for some reason you don't have those things, please do them or ask for help before moving on.====

====The class will work like this. There will be lessons for exploration and the explorations will include a number of tools. Some of you are in the class for the second time and can go deeper into the tools that interest you. Some of you are novices. Not all tools will be relevant to the students or subject that you teach. The key to all of this is the exploration. It is my goal for you to become comfortable with whatever tools you choose. AT YOUR OWN PACE AND LEVEL OF EXPERTISE, you will explore the Tools, complete a short project using the tools, and use your blog to share your observations and plans for using the tools with other members of the class. If you are taking this class to get points toward your certification, you can earn up to 15 certification hours; each set of tools will be worth 3 points, one for the time you put in to explore the topic, one for your pans for its use and one for your blog entry. All work must be completed by August 15 in order to qualify for certification points. Throughout the summer all of us will communicate via email and or blogs. It's an exciting way to build your own Professional Learning Community. There are many different Professional Learning Communities reaching across schools, districts, states, and globally. My own Professional Learning Community consists of colleagues, bloggers whose ideas I read regularly, and contacts that I have made at conferences and on Twitter. Here's a definition of a [|Professional Learning Community]. Here is a [|good explanation]====

Here is a video that you may have seen. It is Food for Thought about 21st Century Teaching and Learning.
media type="youtube" key="6ILQrUrEWe8" height="315" width="560"

====While the "Things" will be posted, feel free to move through them at your own speed. You don't have to take them in order. However, as I edit each one I will contact you via gmail to let you know a task has been posted. I encourage you to develop the habit of spending 15 minutes each day "playing" with technology. Familiarizing yourself with things in short bursts is always a good way to learn. If you have questions, begin to explore ways of answering them by empowering yourself. Email someone in the class and work together, Google by using the topic and adding the word tutorial to the end of it and see what is out there to help yourself or email or arrange to Skype or chat with me. Some people will be on campus to help you as well. The librarian and some of her students at the Springfield Township School have developed a site with many tutorials about using the tools at this site.==== .

====[[#x--The class will work like this. There will be lessons for exploration and the explorations will include lots of tools. Some of you are in the class for the second time and can go deeper into the tools that interest you. Some of you are novices. Not all tools will be relevant to the students or subject that you teach. The key to all of this is the exploration. It is my goal for you to become comfortable with whatever tools you choose. AT YOUR OWN PACE AND LEVEL OF EXPERTISE, you will explore the Tools, complete a short project using the tools, and then share the results on the blog that you will keep. If you are taking this class to get points toward your certification, you can earn up to 33 points ; each task will be worth 3 points, one for the time you put in to explore the topic, one for your completed project, and one for your blog entry. All work must be completed by August 15 in order to qualify for certification points. Throughout the summer all of us will communicate via email and or blogs. It's an exciting way to build your own Professional Learning Community. There are many different Professional Learning Communities reaching across schools, districts, states, and globally. My own Professional Learning Community consists of colleagues, bloggers whose ideas I read regularly, and contacts that I have made at conferences and on Twitter. Here's a definition of a Professional Learning Community.-Don't panic! Help is just a click or two away. You will get all kinds of results often including videos for those of you who prefer that style of learning and step by step black and white for those of you who prefer that kind of learning.]]==== ====**Don't panic!** Help is just a click or two away. You will get all kinds of results often including videos for those of you who prefer that style of learning and step by step black and white for those of you who prefer that kind of learning. ====

====In previous years this class has been taught as 10 lessons so I am not yet sure exactly what topics we will explore together. And there are new tools. I do know that the first topic to explore will be digital storytelling. ====