It is very easy to get lost in the details of open source technology as part of teaching or personal learning. As with all things in the course, I think small wins is a good approach. Play around with Wordpress with a website you're not too invested in, and see what it can do. There are simple tools, there are advanced plugins, Wordpress has pre-designed templates. Encourage your learners to give it a try and make sharing the process part of the learning experience. Just some ideas. YouTube videos abound on the "how to" of many of these concepts.

... tho' overwhelmed in a good way.   Your question is prompting me away from seeing what else is on my to do list becaues "I don't have time for this!"  and ... figuring out how to *do something* with this, that will enhance something on the to do list.  

(That said, one of the biggest barriers to me getting something actually accomplished is all these little things to do one hting when I don't even know for sure what one things I want to do...)   

Let's see, the to do list: 

One Big Summer Idea is to get a module for  "Cognitively Accessible Math" put together.   I have a text and Chapter 1 (of 4 I think) is already revised and shared as OER, so ... can any of these tools help make some part of it more interactive and accessible?   Hmmm. 

I'm going to manage it by reviewing the tools and then going back to my module and .. doing something with it if it makes sense; something small unless there's an amazing fit. 

Ruth, I actually wrote a blog post about this topic for the #OntarioExtend modules titled "Find Your Fit - Going Down the Rabbit Hole". In it I discuss how i handle the overwhelming amount of information that is available and how I deal with it as best as I can. (Hint: it involves curation tools!). The blog post is here if you are interested in reading it, however the take away is that I totally agree that there is a lot of time that can be used up playing with and learning these tools/resources. I personally love this sort of stuff, however even I realize that I cannot spend 8 hours a day doing that and not doing my actual work. The key for me is to not lose the resources (hence the curation) and making a point of going back and looking at things in the future and deciding if the "Wow" Factor is still there.

Cheers,

Steve

so agree about the amount of time it takes to explore!

I think that's one of the biggest reasons I love the SPLOTS so much...they don't take too much time to figure out how to use, show students/faculty how to use, or to think of a formative/low-stakes/ungraded activity for which they can be used.