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.