Last Three Things!

Time has gone by ever so quickly (as usual) and I am finding it hard to believe I have come to end of the 23 things. I am going to have to consider whether I will continue with this blog or not, and whether I will assign my real name to it. Hmmm. On va voir. First off, on with the Things.
Although Thing 18 directed me to look at things like word processing and spreadsheets (yawn) , you know me well enough by now to know I will do the assignment, but perhaps also take it off in my own direction (if not madly off in all directions). I am a firm believer in the play element of all learning (Enneagrammly I am a 7, quelle surprise, eh?) and it is through 'playing' around on the web that I have discovered the coolest things, which have become important aspects of my daily life. Out looking for other online productivity tools, I happened upon net vibes, which at first glance here looks really interesting. I will keep playing with that one and see what I think of it once I have spent some time with it. (It tells me it will be 100F here tomorrow - maybe I did not want to know that...) Also, there is Dreaminder - what a neat idea. Huh. I may not use it, but it is making me smile. That has to count for something in its favor. I am in the midst of exploring Pandora as I type, so I will let you know how it does.
I am still delighted and frequently amazed by the creative engineering of people out there. I am feeling very hopeful for the future of this 2.0 stuff this morning, although I still have my reservations, of course.
Onto the awards list. I have explored this before, and found the best games sites (another surprise there), so rather than going down that road again, let me see whether I can find an award winner that might be more productive.
(BTW, Pandora so far is great... and it is also the first place winner in the music category, I can hear why!)
Productive (well, in a way): at my next party, I could use Cocktail Builder - first place winner in the fun stuff category. (now I know how to make a blue blazer - that would totally be some party too, since it involves setting alight the whiskey... step one, disengage the smoke detector... hmmm).
Now, Healia is actually really good and quite useful as well. MedlinePlus rocks: authoritative source, nicely arranged search results. This is very good!
Facebook has become one of my favorite Things I have learned about as a result of this tutorial (with some urgings from my friends). I had way too much fun creating my Simpsons Me avatar yesterday! I quite prefer her with her (plum) hair down. (I miss my wild plum hair - when I am feeling particularly brave I will do that again).
And (once I have the $$) I have found my next tee-shirt on Threadless (retail winner) - have a peek at Pense Pas Bete - way too cool).
As you may be able to tell from this post thus far, I am not in such a contemplative mood this morning. Although, I have taken a couple of temperment/personality tests/quizzes recently and the prayer style quiz has me as moderately contemplative. The other has me as, in a general description of my overall approach to life, a Benevolent Creator. Yep, both are pretty accurate. (Anyone out there care to comment??) So, I am not sure what thoughts on this tutorial will be, and how I will share them, but it must be pretty clear that I have learned a lot about some hip new things, may of which I will actually continue to use once this is over today (and many of which I will not myself ever need, but which I now know more about than I did a few weeks ago, so it is all good). And that, ultimately, was the point, I think.
So, "Does Web 2.0 represent a major conceptual or paradigm shift in how we conceive and make use of the Internet as a means of delivering teaching and learning?" yes. But the essential elements of learning and indeed teaching must remain the same, just the method of imparting it all may be changing, but only maybe. Distance ed has allowed so many people who would not have access to more traditional methods of classroom lectures to have the ability to partake in higher education. I am all for it.