Week Nine: Thing 23

Well, first I will admit that I can't watch the video at home because it takes too long to load. I am fast reaching the point where I will be demanding high-speed access, despite the cost (I admit, I am cheap). After the MCAS testing is over, I will have some time before or after work to view the video at school.

Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers. Content and style for School Library Learning 2.0 and Classroom Learning 2.0 have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License.

This was my find, for the discovery exercise of finding an attribution that shows that this program was modified.

Thoughts about the course:

1. As other people mentioned, it was difficult at times to keep up the pace and feel like I was getting all of the information on the different applications. Perhaps the intent was only to touch the surface of these things, enough to want to go back later and try them again. This should be #3

2. The things that I found immediately most useful were del.ici.us and zoho writer, although neither is working perfectly for me yet. I still need to spend time learning the ins and outs of each. However, they are both enormously useful which is my incentive to keep working with them. This should be #1 Now I can answer 2.

2. This course forced me to try things that I knew about, but hadn't used yet, because I didn't have a venue. Now I am more comfortable with these applications, and have them in mind if the opportunity comes up to integrate them into a curricular activity.

4. Perhaps more time should have been given for these activities. I don't think that 18 weeks would be too long. Perhaps then, people won't be left along the way.

5. I would definitely take another of these courses in the future. It was exciting to be nudged out of my comfort zone, to expand my technology knowledge, and I look forward to continuing this kind of learning.

6. Stimulating is a good descriptive word for the effect this course had on me. I will continue to use the applications, and look forward to spending more time learning about them in greater depth.


Finally, I am very annoyed that I keep turning the italics off but they are staying on. An example of how I can't quite get the hang of some of these applications!

Week Nine: Thing 22

I have read some of the other posts on this subject, and have to agree that ebooks hold no allure for me. I tend to like reading in bed - no fun with a computer. I can't see a use for them right now in my school, either. I have to direct students to read the information on the web sites they are using, and not just look at the pictures.

Audio books are another story (sorry about that). I had purchased an MP3 player at my old school and downloaded audio books borrowed from the library for my students to check out. Some of the students who benefited the most from this were the low level readers who desperately wanted to read what everyone else was reading. These can be really useful. I do have to tell the story of one students' reaction to the idea of using an MP3 player to record an audio book on. He looked at me in absolute disbelief and said "What a waste of the MP3 player!" I had to laugh. Obviously, it is not for everyone.

Week 9: Thing 21

Ok, I admit I am a little confused about the podcasts so far. One source says they are audio and video, and one says they are just audio. I haven't found any videos yet. I tried to download one from EPN, the Education Podcast Network but it would take over an hour. Is that normal, or due to our dial up situation? I may have to try at work to see the difference. Out of curiosity, I asked my ninth grade son if any of his teachers used podcasting and he asked me what that was. So, I guess not everyone is doing it. We do live in a pretty advanced technology district. However, I also know that there is a huge difference in knowledge and application from one teacher to the next.

In my school, most of my students do not have computers at home, and there isn't a lot of (there is some) computer use at school. They might be interested in making a podcast, but most likely would not have an occasion to listen to it. I am sure there are many great applications for it, but I don't know that our school is ready for it yet. I keep returning to the fact that most of our fifth grade students can not write well. Not that podcasting can't be used to help with the basics. I certainly don't want to rule anything out.

It is interesting to note, that I am not the only elementary school librarian who is not sure about the use of this application at our level. Bookwoman also mentioned this. I will continue to investigate the use of this technology in the future.

Week 9: Thing Twenty

I went onto Youtube and spent about 15 minutes downloading the Conan the Librarian video. After all that, it was, in a word, stupid. So, a little more jaded, I continued on. I know that there are lots of videos of value that can enhance instruction. The general subject areas, as education or science and technology did not seem that helpful to me. Again, a lot of the title captions seemed just plain silly. However, I did a search for endangered animals and came up with a video by the WWF (World Wildlife Foundation?) that seemed like it would be a great addition to a unit. I will admit that I did not download it, because of our dial up situation, but would definitely preview it before using it. I have shown video clips from Discovery Channel many times and the kids love them.

As someone else mentioned, I think that I would prefer Teachertube as much of the content would already be filtered, and it may not be censored as Youtube might be.

Week Eight: Thing 19

I didn't actually go onto LibraryThing this time because I have already been there, set up an account, and cataloged a number of books that I have read. I did read some blogs to find out other peoples reactions to it. I was interested to see that some people thought that it was just for cataloging their books. I, also, am an avid library user and interlibrary loan participant and it never occurred to me not to be cataloging any book that I have read. I read so many that I tend to forget what I have read, and it is wonderful to have a record.

Having said that, I must admit that my account is probably expired because I got tired of cataloging the books that I read, and stopped visiting the website. I thought that it would be good for recommendations, but I hardly ever run out of ideas of books to read.

I was very intrigued to read (somewhere) that some small libraries such as church or private libraries are actually using LibraryThing as their catalog. What a neat idea, and free!

Week Eight: Thing 18

I was on zoho writer trying to write a post to this blog, but couldn't figure out how to export it. I couldn't cut and paste it either, and the spellcheck feature wasn't working. Not a good introduction.

I like the idea of it. I am always saving my lesson plans at the end of each school year on my usb drive. This program would eliminate the need for that. It would also be great for the students who email their homework to themselves at school, or bring it in on their usb drive. Although, if the printer is broken, they are still up a creek.

I will have to spend more time fooling around with it so that I get the hang of how things work.

Week 7: Thing 16

I agree with someone else who did not like the layout of the wikis that are like wikipedia. I also prefer the more personalized pages.

I am a little lost, wandering through the wiki mazes. I remembered that Joyce Valenza had said she was going to change all of her pathfinders to wikis after she discovered them, but when I checked them on the Springfield Township High School Library site, they didn't seem to be in a wiki format. I did not see any place where an entry could be added, edited, or deleted.

I have done some prior research on wikis and do like the idea of using them for a class project. From the blogs that I have read by other students in this course, I have been encouraged to learn that although I am in the information gathering phase right now, it is possible that I will be able to use these applications at some point in my school - as long as our technology will support them (as someone else mentioned).

One thing that I am a little confused about is the idea that wikis are easier to use than web pages. Our school has a static web page. Our district does nothing to update the school web pages, and most schools don't either. I am wondering if it is possible to have a school wiki with out a school web site.

Week 6: Thing 15

I have just read some of these articles, and agree wholeheartedly with what they have to say. At the same time I think "how does this fit in with the library that I am in now?" I work in an inner-city elementary school library. Most of these children do not have access to books, except through our library. Many of them do not hear stories read to them, except when at school. When I am feeling discouraged about how far behind we are, in our use of technology, I remind myself about how important it is for these students to become more literate through the process of being more engaged with literature. All of this technology is great, but most of my students do not own computers at home, and have far more basic needs.

Week 6: 13 and 14

Ok, I admit that I am feeling a little overwhelmed. I am still working with my new del.icio.us account, and gettting used to the tags. Perhaps I need to do a better job. I investigated technorati, but as some others mentioned, I am not sure that I am ready for this right now. I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water. I have been skiing for the past four days, and LOVE being outdoors. I am starting to wonder if I am in the right field. Luckily, I will be back at work in another day, and remember why I wanted to be a librarian.

Week 5:Thing 13

I had already had a frustrating experience with Rollyo when I was taking this course last year, on my own. This time I did a quick search on the Sonoran desert, as I had just made a hotlist on Filimentality for a teacher doing a research project. This actually seems very similar to using Filimentality. I found several more websites on Rollyo, that I had not found on Filimentality. I have also read the blogs of a number of other people who have experimented with Rollyo. L can definitely see the value of it, being a strong advocate of hotlists, and look forward to being able to use it in my library.

Week Five: Thing 11 1/2

Whew, I'm exhausted! Having dial up service is painful. I managed to import all of my bookmarks to del.icio.us. Then I explored the TeacherLibrarianNetwork on ning, signed up, joined the elementary librarian group and even posted a comment about flexible/fixed schedules, and then tagged the site to add to my (what do you call them if they aren't bookmarks anymore?)

Speaking of tags, the new set up of my bookmarks is confusing to me. I think they were much more organized when I had them in folders. Maybe I need to get used to the tags and clouds. Does anyone else feel this way?

Well, I am going to take a break before I tackle Rollyo.

Oh, one more thing. My son showed me a program called Keepass Password Safe, where I can enter all of the password and username information for everything that I may do online. With a password that I must remember, I can access all of the information that I keep here. Neat!

Week 5: Thing 10 and 11

I am getting a little over my head here. I did work with one of the image sites, but I didn't get too far and didn't have a particular goal in mind so I gave up on it.

I looked over the web 2.0 award winning sites and decided that I would try to use del.icio.us. I had already decided that it would be useful to be able to access my bookmarks from any computer, not just mine. I have it set up now, but I wish I could just import all of the bookmarks that I already have, into it. I don't seem to be able to figure out how to do that. It looks like I have to enter them, one at a time, as I use them. If anyone has the answer, please let me know.

I also looked ahead to the next week, and see that we are supposed to look at del.icio.us then, as well. Maybe I will be able to get ahead. Also, is there a special way that it is supposed to be pronounced? I just say it like delicious.

I haven't looked at Ning yet, so I will add a 11 1/2 post about that later.

Week 4: Thing 8 and 9

I also decided to subscribe to some of my fellow student's blogs. I was able to quickly set up a Google Reader account and added on several blogs. However, I now must admit an embarrassing fact. We still have dial up internet access. I am currently waiting for my School Library Journal blog to download and it is taking forever. Last time, I just gave up. It is still loading. I have two blogs listed so far, and will keep trying.

I guess I have done both things together. I really am only interested in receiving information from a school library blog. And...I am still waiting for my next blog to load. I may just quit for now.

Week Three: Thing 7

Well, this was tough at first. As you may have guessed, sitting in front of a computer when I am not at work is not my favorite thing to do. However, when I am at work, it is another story. This may seem lame, but today I was doing some lesson research and I had my library automation program on, a word document open, Firefox with about six tabs, and my email, of course, and I just loved being able to go back and forth between different windows and documents and my library program to access all of the information that I needed. I do this frequently, and really appreciate the fact that I am able to do this.

Week Three: Thing 6

I spent some time on the Trip Planner site, reading about a cross country trip. I am going to do a road trip over April vacation and hit some of the same spots, so I was intrigued by the comments. I think that I will definitely make use of this site, as I plan the trip itinerary.

Week three: Thing 5

I picked this photo because it reminds me of how much I like snow and winter time. I think that the woods are beautiful in the winter, and I enjoy spending as much time outside as possible. However, I can not see the photo, even when I preview the post, so I may have to go back and figure out why I was not able to download the photo. Meanwhile, I will publish this post.

Week 2: Thing Four

Well, I have my blog set up, and I have an avatar, of sorts. Creating my avatar was an experience. I found it tedious and boring. I kept thinking about what a waste of my time and energy getting this person dressed in the right clothes. I know she doesn't look as professional as she should, but I didn't have the patience to slog through pages of tops and bottoms for an outfit, and truthfully, I don't care that much. In real life, I can find an appropriate outfit much faster.

Week 2: 7 1/2 habits

Well, I just found out that if I choose white for my text color, I can't see what I am typing!

Ok, back to 7 1/2 habits.
Sometimes I have a hard time setting specific goals for myself. I can come up with general goals, but I find that it is too easy to lose my motivation or purpose when the goal is too general. I need to learn to set more specific goals so that I can attain them through specific actions that I set for myself.
The easiest habit for me, one that squeezes out other habits is play! I love to be doing outdoor activities: skiing,snowshoeing, biking, kayaking, gardening, walking on the beach, running, well you can start to see the problem. I would rather do any of those that be in front of the computer.