FirstTechSteps - home

<h1>My First Wiki</h1>
 
Since last May, I've really &quot;stepped up to the plate.&quot; Although I knew of blogs and wikis (and actually took a course on how to design web sites using the Dreamweaver software), I really had never tried to make use of these tools. In fact, I was totally intimidated at the thought of designing a web page after taking that course. I struggled through every assignment and felt like it was nothing I'd ever be able to master. 
 
<img src="/file/view/first_steps.jpg/99223065/187x120/first_steps.jpg" alt="" title="" style="height: 120px; width: 187px;" align="left" />My &quot;first step&quot; was to create a blog. I've always been interested in family history and genealogy and thought a blog would be the easiest way to share photos and documents with the rest of my family members. The blog can be a little bit tricky, though, because you look at the page and it looks fine, but when you save it the formatting can be a little off. 
 
Then there was the matter of HTML language. I didn't know much about it. Taking the iDiscovery Facilitator training enabled me to use very basic HTML language to edit my assignments. Having waded into that pool, I was much more willing to take a few chances with my blog. That experience set me up for this one. 
 
I was thrilled to find out how easy it was to design a basic web site using the google sites software. My blog experience certainly helped me with that. Although it was easy for me to set up a link, it took a few tries (and reading the directions) to understand how I could link on text that would then link to the URL. What a cool feature. 
 
I created a new page and then explored a variety of educational wikis through the Wikiversity site. I want to try to add links to PowerPoints and videos as suggested in the course outline. 
 
Now to go back to my google site and create a link to this. 
P.S. It's Sunday morning and I am multitasking -- watching Sunday Morning on TV and checking out the readings for this week. I'm really excited that I took the time to check out this link to <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/scienceReport.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Project Tomorrow's Science Report</a>. It occurs to me how unfortunate it is that I have the time (since I'm semi-retired) to keep current with technology and the changes we need to make for our students if they are to be successful -- yet the teachers with whom I work are completely overwhelmed with the demands on their time. 
 
Update: I've got Round One of eTech under my belt and feel much more comfortable with all of this than I did just one year ago. My personal blog has had many improvements because of all I have learned. If interested in a family history blog, check it out at <a class="wiki_link_ext" href="http://jonesfamilymatters.blogspot.com" rel="nofollow">Jones Family Matters</a>. Here's hoping you and your students will feel much more comfortable a year from now.