Thing #14: Podcasting and Bookmarking

   In iTunes, I found a podcast titled, "Voices of  Texas History".  This particular one minute segment was part of a series where voices from notable Texans today would read historical accounts of Texas past and bring to life the events that shaped this great state of Texas into what it is today.  This particular reading was by Governor Rick Perry who read the historical letter written by William Barret Travis at the Alamo in 1836 desperately requesting reinforcement or else be over run by the superior Mexican Army. He stated in his letter, having only 150 men, that he would never  give surrender or give up.  He would rather die fighting as a true soldier would. I think this would be a very interesting and engaging audio to play for your students while doing a unit on Texas history or a study on the Alamo.
   In general though, there's so much information available on this iTunes U! It is a virtual collection of universities with information on such a vast number of topics, from science, geology, history, to math, engineering, technology, and the arts.  There really are no more excuses for ignorance.  If you have the time, then knowledge awaits you!

   For my social bookmarking tool, I chose to revisit Delicious.  I remember setting up an account our first or second semester of the grad program but I really didn't have a thorough understanding of what it was and what it could do at the time. After taking a little bit of time finding my username and password, the first thing I noticed was that they had changed the whole design and look of the webpage which took more time to figure out where everything was located or "re-located". Being that I am much more experienced and comfortable with figuring out my way around a webpage or online tool, I quickly became adapt to the webpage environment.  I even made some updates since last year! I uploaded a new pic for the webpage!  I also added a couple of new links by copying the URL address from the desired webpages clicking on "Add a Link" on the left panel of the Delicious page, and then pasting the URL to the Delicious page and submitting. One was a craigslist for musical instruments and the other with a music theory page from a college. Since revisiting and having a far better understanding of what Delicious has to offer, I will be adding my links to all of the websites and webpages that I visit consistently now so that they will be right there in an organized fashion with tag categories to assist in quickly finding all related webpages with common topics.  After looking at some of the tags I used last year, I probably will have to go back and re-tag some because some could stand to use a little "tweeking" and help. I really like the convenience of finding webpages Delicious offers.