I wanted to give a quick update on some of the technology that I’ve been playing with lately.  I’m continuing in my quest to teach my blog pilot class next quarter — and that’s now less than a month away. 
       While I’ve been aware of Bloglines for several weeks, I hadn’t had the time to play with the site and see what it can do.  I like that I can have my aggregator online so that I can check it from both home and school.  The program is also entirely free, which I like — but I’ve been told that it is blocked in some school districts.  Can anyone tell me why?  I think it’s got definite potential as a student tool — it’s web-based, so anyone using it can access it from multiple locations.  That’s important to me because if my students take to blogging, and some of them already have begun to do so, then I want them to have the tools after they leave my school.  If I get them excited about a process that uses technology that only exists in the school, what good have I done?  It’s also free and very user-friendly. 
        I also discovered Site Meter yesterday — it’s a really great free program that give me some interesting information on links and visits and hits and so on.  I don’t really understand some of the information it gives me (yet), but it’s another step and piece of a potential puzzle.   The program wins my "Easy to Use" award because they have service-specific instructions for installation.  Took three minutes to install.  Really. 
        Podcasting has taken a backseat for me right now, as I am working to make sure that my district can get a blog system going.  Once that is in place, I will refocus my efforts on podcasting, which I think has multiple uses at my school — but is less essential than blogging.   As I’ve told some of the technology folks in my district, blogging is the cake, podcasting is the icing. 
         That said, I still have located a headphone/microphone combo and I’ve also purchased an iTalk for myself.  I’ll be playing with those tools as time permits, and perhaps get a podcast or two going on my own.    #