Web 2.0 - Wow!

Not the End - Just the Beginning

2008-07-24T12:18:00.000-07:00

What a journey! It's just overwhelming, and exciting, to realize what is out there on the Internet just waiting for us. So much of what I have learned can be used to improve our teaching, students' learning, and their enjoyment of the process. I really liked the MyHeritage site for organizing information on your family tree, Zoho Writer for allowing users to use and share productivity tools online, Flickr and podcasting, for their creative aspects, and Del.icio.us for its ability to find, bookmark, and share websites online.

I realize I can never stop being a life-long learner and why would I want to, anyway? With information doubling and tripling everytime I blink, it seems, none of us can really afford to quit. I think being a life-long learner keeps you young and healthy!

I think I was surprised by how really easy each Thing turned out to be. I started this last fall and just couldn't devote the time to it, but it seemed much harder to me then. I had some preconceived notions coming into this class, but I enjoyed every assignment. It was a very time-consuming class for me, but not because it was too hard or because I had any real problems. I spent many hours reading through all the links and really trying to get a thorough understanding of each Thing before moving on.

I think it will be second nature for me to think more about incorporating technology into my teaching and into our program next year. I hope I am always mindful of that. Of course, I want to share my new knowledge with our students and teachers and will be looking for fun ways to do that next year. To keep up with the latest developments, I plan to take more staff development, attend sessions at TLA and subscribe to Web 2.0 news feeds. I would definitely take more of the same type of classes - just let me know when! I liked the format and can't think of any improvements. However, if you had anyone who felt overwhelmed by the magnitude of this course, my suggestion would be to offer the Things in 2 smaller classes.

I said it at the beginning and I still feel the same way today - Web 2.0 - Wow!

Thing #23 - Creative Commons

2008-07-24T11:53:00.001-07:00

Is this a trick question? Twice on the 23 Things blog, the program is attributed to someone else: first to Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte and Meckleburg County Public Library. I clicked on the link on her name and was taken to the Learning 2.0 website, where it states hers is the original program created in August 2006. Here's the link to that site. It is Learning 2.0, not Web 2.0, but does incorporate some of the new Web technology. And, at the right, below the list of Things, is a *Note: this program is loosely based on 43 Things by Stephen Abram. Stephen's site is a personal growth site, where you list and work on 43 personal goals. Perhaps that's the way to get a big job like this done - one goal at a time and in a very structured, systematic way, as we have done. I'm very glad we are not learning 43 new Things, at least at one time!

As a librarian, I think I feel more freedom in using these tools in my own applications because we have been given rights to use them with less restrictions. It seems that Web 2.0 is more interested in sharing and collaborating and the copyright holders are giving permission to use their work like never before. I think it's wonderful. It will also be our responsibility to teach our students the proper way to acknowledge someone else's work and that it is still important. I think our students and our teachers will need to be kept up-to-date on the changing nature of copyright, and that is our job.

Thing #22 - Podcasts

2008-07-24T10:40:00.000-07:00

Podcasting can serve two purposes: students can listen to them, as I have been doing this week, to learn new things. Great for auditory learners. They can also create their own podcasts to show what they have learned and to teach others. I've been listening to those types of podcasts, as well. Today, I subscribed to The French Podcast, conducted by a native speaker and frequently updated, that will help me improve my fast fading French. I have 99 episodes at my disposal! And, I can listen and work on something else (well, for French I do have to concentrate a little harder, so I won't be working on much). I found this resource through The Education Podcast Network, which is a wonderful site and full of some great podcasts. It is produced by educators to bring podcast programming together in one place in an effort to help teachers use 21st century technology in the classroom. There is a side bar that lists podcasts created by students and classrooms and some of them are just wonderful. In fact, all the feeds I listened to were very well done, even by children as young as 8. I did find that some of the links no longer existed and some of the feeds were several years old, but I believe the content was still appropriate.

I heard a group of children in Australia video podcasting about technology, a father and son discuss favorite books, and a class of 4th-graders in Nebraska talk about renewable energy. That's another Wow! for me. The side bar also includes lists of podcasts by subject matter and this is where I found The French Podcast. I would highly recommend the EPN site for educators. Last week, I came across a site called Absolutely Intercultural when I was looking for blogs and I subscribed to it. It comes from Germany and is really informative. I mentioned it in an earlier post. I also looked at Podcast Alley but thought EPN was much easier to use and more suited to educators.

Finding and listening to podcasts does inspire me to create one of my own. I'm thinking that our Stallions READ book club might like to create one next year to talk about the Tayshas books. We could do one a week...hmmmm..

Thing #21 - Animoto

2008-07-24T10:36:00.000-07:00

Thing 21 falls between 15 and 16. I worked on it earlier, just in case!

Thing #20 - You Tube

2008-07-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

Are we able to give our patrons what they ask for and what they really need? It's obvious Cookie Monster wants a book AND some cookies and the librarian is not able to provide them. We don't want to be like this librarian, do we? If we don't embrace technology and implement it into our programs, we may become just like him. I don't want to faint dead away in frustration, like this guy, when patrons come in for our services and we can't or won't help them. I thought this video was very appropriate to what we've been learning throughout this course. Maybe, along with emerging technology, cookies should be served in the library.

I found You Tube easy to navigate and the videos easy to download, and it seems there is something for everyone. As we've already seen in this training, there are lots of great instructional videos that are very engaging. I've called my husband to the computer many times in the last few weeks to watch them with me as I go through each Thing. I think teachers would love to use appropriate ones in instruction, but because of our filter and the "abundance" of adult content on the site, the videos should be downloaded first and not shown directly from You Tube. Students could embed them in projects and even make their own. Our kids are such visual learners--why not harness the power of You Tube and provide those "cookies"?

Thing #19 - Other Social Networks

2008-07-24T09:03:00.000-07:00

I was glad to see that there are other types of social networks that are more specific to your interests. It seems the purpose is to learn and share information and not just look for friends. Our 23 Thingsters is a good example. It has a social purpose, of course, but it also serves to educate us about new technology and library practices. I do enjoy these types of sites. I was blown away by the Did You Know? video and have placed it here, at the beginning of this post. I can't believe the statistics. What a challenge for us! I think this would be a fabulous video to show during Convocation.

I'm not currently a member of any other sites, but would consider joining one if I found one I really liked. I liked Bake Space and it looks interesting. The recipe photos are very nice and I'm sure I could find a recipe or two that I'd like to have. I also have lots of good recipes to share. This site offers recipes, coupons, items for sale, and a discussion forum. I also spent some time at GoodReads and What's On My Bookshelf. They are nice sites, but Bookshelf is like Library Thing, and I like Library Thing better. GoodReads is a free book swapping service (you do have to pay shipping) but I think I could save money by going to a used book store or to the library. Overall the sites are appealing and I will continue to look for ones that I feel are worth my time. It's a great idea.

Thing #18 - Explore Social Networking

2008-07-24T07:58:00.000-07:00

Social networking, especially among teens, is hugely popular and it's important that we know how it works and how they are using it. I know that it can even have some teaching applications, but I have to say that this Thing made me uncomfortable. I don't really want a Facebook (or MySpace) account. I don't mind sharing personal information with friends but I am uncomfortable putting it out there for others to see. I don't have anything to hide, it just makes me uncomfortable--I'm not sure why. I know that I can change my privacy settings but it sort of embarrasses me. Silly, I guess.

I did look at the discovery resources and read about the pros and cons of My Space. It seems to be bigger but not as user-friendly as Facebook. There is no easy WYSIWYG editor if you want to add some of the options it offers; you have to know code. Also, I feel that Facebook is a more serious site, social but maybe for more "mature" users and people who are not looking simply for friends but people with common professions or interests. Facebook says it's not one big site but a series of networks that reflect the user's real-life community.

Well, here's the link to my page, which is a work in progress. I'm still looking for a decent photo.....

It's important that educators know how social networking works to better understand how our students interact with each other. We need to be familiar with all the trends so that we can relate to them and tie what we are teaching to something that interests them. We might be able to do this with MySpace or Facebook. One thing that occurred to me is how cliquish MySpace can be (I guess they both can be) and I've heard that teens use MySpace for cyberbullying. I think this is something we need to be aware of and be prepared to offer guidance if students come to us about problems like that. I like the privacy options, and I think adding photos and videos is a great way to share with friends who live far away, but there are other website tools that do that. Overall, I guess I just think that children are spending too much time on virtual friends and not enough time interacting with each other in the real world.

As for examples of how it could be used in a library setting, I have heard about teachers and librarians creating accounts to reach some of their students. They post books that are great teen reads, a list of websites they think their students would like, maybe photos that could be used in class assignments. I'm not coming up with my ideas for this one. Any comments?

Thing #17 - Tagging and Social Bookmarking With Del.icio.us

2008-07-24T06:27:00.000-07:00

Social bookmarking sites are life-savers if you are trying to gather information from the Internet, with its more than 15 billion websites. They locate, organize, and manage the sites you need and allow you to share those sites with others. The one I prefer and use is Del.icio.us. I looked at Furl and Ma.gnolia, two other bookmarking sites and, while they have features I liked and would recommend, such as the ability to highlight text, save deleted web pages, feature some of the users who build pages, and annotated bookmark information, I find Del.icio.us easiest to use. It is the most popular site, which means there will more sites bookmarked for me to use, as well.

As a librarian, I remember the days of franctically going from computer to computer bookmarking a list of sites for a grade level coming to the library to do research. It was such a hassle and very time-consuming. Students couldn't access these sites from home unless we gave them a printout of the URLs, which meant we had to type each one twice-once in the web browser as we set up the bookmark and once on the word document that we handed out. Whew!

Next came hot lists, a great improvement. We could do some research, locate appropriate sites and create a hot list that we linked to our library web page. But the list was static. Only I could make changes and I still had to type in URLs when I was creating the list. Now we have social bookmarking, which allows us to save a site to our online account with the click of a button and we can share the list and others can add to it. We can also benefit from seeing others' list of sites. We don't have to search for everything on a topic ourselves--the lists of others and the tags they create help us find useful sites without spending hours surfing the web. As Lee says in his video from The Common Craft Show, social bookmarking brings order out of chaos.

There are lots of ways teachers can use this service. They can share their lists with other colleagues as they are planning and invite input. 4 teachers can build a more comprehensive list of sources more quickly than one teacher. Librarians and teachers can work together on research assignment planning. Students can share sites with teachers or with each other and librarians can develop lists for their patrons. It's a great way to create a network of learners. The link to my list is on the right.

Thing #16 - Get Organized With Web 2.0 Tools

2008-07-24T03:02:00.000-07:00

Making lists is one of my favorite things to do and I also love to get organized. I can tolerate a little messiness in my personal life, but I can't function at work when I'm not organized. That's not to say my desk (and my office) doesn't get cluttered--it does!--but I hate it. When I see "get organized", I'm anxious to read the assignment and find that one new tool that will make a difference.

I created my start page from IGoogle. I like Google and thought it would be simpler if my reader, my blog, and my start page came from the same online service. I didn't like the look of NetVibes at all - too dark and rather small and crowded, in my opinion. I really liked the look of PageFlakes, though. It reminded me a lot of IGoogle - same basic layout and many of the same features. It was visually a little more appealing to me than the one I chose, but again, I liked the Google page and wanted to stay with them. Besides, I like picking my theme! I chose really cute dogs. :) I left most of what was already there alone but did rearrange a few things and added images from National Geographic, local weather updates, a smart gadget, and Google Maps. I also added a button to track my goals from Joe's Goals, another site I explored in this exercise. I will probably make IGoogle the home page for my laptop and keep our library web page as home for my office computer.

Ta Da is fun (again the list thing) and so easy. Signed in and created two to-do lists in about 2 minutes. I'm going on a road trip next week and created the lists to help me remember what I need to do before I leave. I can really see the advantage of having online to-do lists at work. But, at home, I prefer a paper list because I can get to it easily as I'm cleaning, buying groceries, running errands, etc. I'm not going to turn on my computer and run to it each time I need to check the list.

I was disappointed that I couldn't investigate and use MyStickies. I think I would really like to place sticky notes on web pages as I read and find useful information and I know teachers would love to have this feature for themselves and their students. Not only can you mark text within a page, you can share those stickies with others. Unfortunately, there is a download requirement and my Firefox browser blocked the download. I tried Internet Explorer but MyStickies doesn't work with this application, according to their website. So, I looked at Joe's Goals, a Top 10 Productivity website. It was also an easy format and I had a calendar, with goals, done in just a few minutes. I can go directly to IGoogle and edit it each day if I need to.

I would recommend all of these to tools to anyone, but some are really designed to organize the workplace. I would use an online calendar and to do list at work and I would probably use the Google home page both at home and work just as a means of quick information.

Thing #21 - Animoto

2008-07-24T02:19:00.000-07:00

Animoto is a new tool for mixing photos and music to make a sharp looking, professional video. It reminds me of watching a movie trailer or a music video. I found it very simple to do, except that I had some problems loading the photos. I gathered some of my favorites ones of France from Flickr and tried to put them in my photo stream, but wasn't able to (these photos did have Creative Commons licensing rights--I checked) so I couldn't just upload them to Animoto. They will only upload from your sets of photos and I couldn't get them into a set until I first downloaded them to my computer, then uploaded them back into a set in Flickr! I'm sure the problem was with me, though, and not Flickr. I'm going to spend some more time with Flickr and, hopefully, will figure that out.

Once I had my photos in a set, it was just a matter of point and click to do what I wanted, including selecting the music, and my video was done and embedded here on the blog in less than 5 minutes. I first placed it on the sidebar, but the Animoto screen is too wide and was not completely visible, so I moved it to the bottom of my blog. I loaded 12 photos into the program, but I don't think they are all showing up in the video. Maybe 12 is too many for 30 seconds.

Of course, students will love this and I can see them using it for projects. I think teachers could use it as a teaching tool, but the free version is only 30 seconds, so I think it would probably be best used as an attention-getter or grabber.

Thing #15 - What in the World is a Wiki?

2008-07-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

I love these In Plain English tutorials from Creative Commons! They are so much fun to watch and they really explain the concept in a way that everyone can relate to. I was thinking as I watched Lee use planning a camping trip as an analogy, that it would have been fun to use a Wiki to plan a road trip two friends and I are going on next week. Next time, for sure.....

But, as I read through some of the discovery resources, I realized that, even though a Wiki is, essentially, an online data management tool as stated in the About.com article, it's so much more. I am familiar with Wikis because our library director has created one for the librarians and staff at library services. Looking at sites such as Mr. Miller's English 10 wiki, the AP World History wiki, and the Princeton Public Library wiki helped me see other possibilities for classroom and library use. They are just an awesome resource for a classroom. You can post assignments, collect student work, showcase it, allow collaboration, both teacher/student and student/student.

Some of the articles I read shared these "cons" of a wiki: too open, disorganized, not enough control, open to vandalism. I think these issues can be controlled, though. I don't see vandalism or a "too open" wiki as an issue if you need an invitation and a password to participate. There might be some disorganization, but I didn't see any of that in any of the student wikis I looked at (or in any, for that matter). I guess if you were a total control freak, you wouldn't be participating in much of what Web 2.0 has to offer, anyway, since its most important feature is collaboration. Right?

I agree with the idea that it is the collaborative effort that makes a Wiki so great. I read the SLJ article about wikis being the pathfinder of the future and I thought of one of our librarians, who spent many long hours creating the ultimate pathfinders for almost any subject in her high school. With wikis, we can work on pathfinders together and probably have a better product in less time. As noted in the About.com article, it is "superior to anything we could create alone. It pools together the knowledge of a group to create the best possible resource." I will use a wiki, in fact have registered with PBWiki and am working on it now (their server is down for maintenance so I'm not getting very far) to allow students to post book reviews and recommend books in our library, as a start. But I can really see the applications for teachers. I really think students and teachers will love using them. Teachers who use them have seen students complete homework assignments for the first time and stay engaged in learning beyond the school day, according to the readings. I'm thinking, for educational use, this may be my favorite Thing, so far.

Thing #14 - Go With The Flow

2008-07-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

Another set of easy online tools. I had a mind map created in less than 5 minutes, from sign-up to blog link. (Here's my mind map from Bubbl.us.) It's a great brainstorming tool that can be shared with coworkers and friends. I think busy teachers (and librarians) who don't have time to meet face to face and don't want to just email back and forth (which means reading and rereading emails and replies) can really take advantage of this tool when they need to plan together. Users can edit the existing map, save as an image, print, and even post the map into a blog or website. Students can brainstorm online and teachers can easily view and grade the results. It's an easy-to-use visual for classroom instruction as well as in assignments. I can plan with my coworker in the summer, sharing ideas back and forth, without ever leaving home.

I also explored Flowchart.com, which promised real time collaboration, including a chat feature, image upload and conversion of charts to other formats, such as PDF, and ease of use on any browser and any operating system. No barriers there! With their latest updates, they support many different languages (should I try posting in French??), they can record past chart and chat sessions - that's a real WOW to me - and you can upload images to your chart. It's like being on a conference call or even in the same room with colleagues. You're chatting and charting in real time.

I think Flowcharts can be used in many of the same ways that mind maps are used in the classroom and library, except that Flowcharts go beyond brainstorming and allow you to illustrate difficult concepts in a visual way. They are a great tool to use in teaching, they present choices, keep you from missing important points, and basically work like an online graphic organizer, which students have been using since elementary school. Great for visual learners.

Thing #13 - Online Productivity Tools Such as Zoho Writer

2008-07-23T20:02:00.001-07:00

I'm amazed at the ease of these new Web 2.0 tools! Zoho is a perfect example. If you know how to use a word processor, you will have no problem with Zoho Writer. I agree with those who say that these applications may spell the end of Microsoft Office and similar software. Absolutely! And, I think they have a place in the business world--in fact, I think they could certainly save businesses money and boost productivity, especially in those jobs where employees work on the same projects. Also, many people work from home now but need to collaborate with bosses, workers at other locations, etc. and APIs like these are the perfect tool for that.

With programs such as Zoho Writer, you no longer need to worry about updating software, being able to open files sent to you but created in a different file type or software version, or emailing documents back and forth. This has such an application for our situation at North Mesquite and, probably, at the other high schools and middle schools as well. We fought this battle almost the entire school year: students would create assignments at home with newer software versions, such as Office 2007, then bring the files to school on a floppy or jump drive and try to print them from the library, computer lab, or classroom. It never worked, of course, because we have Office 2003 on all computers. We did tell the students, and the teachers, many times, to save their work as an RTF or an older version of Word if they wanted to print at school but they just could not remember to do that! It was unbelievable. Finally, we have a solution to our problem! You can bet that we will work diligently next year to promote online tools and train the faculty and students to use them.

I know that teachers will love some of the collaborative aspects of Writer, such as the ability to add comments to lines of text or paragraphs (a very cool feature, I think). Allowing multiple users to edit the same file is a wonderful tool for a project students are working on together. I like some of the, what I call, bonus features (things many software versions don't have): chat facilities, tags replacing folders so that you can place the document in multiple locations, adding the document to your blog, importing existing files into Writer - I really like that idea! - and the ability to embed other Zoho applications, such as slide shows. Again, I say WOW! They've thought of everything. (BTW, this post was created in Zoho Writer.)

Thing #12 - Google Is Not Just For Searching Anymore

2008-07-23T05:35:00.000-07:00

Google has such an array of new cool tools. I find myself using them more and more. Since I have already used the Google Alerts service, I decided to try the calendar for this post and it's one of the easiest tools I've used. I love the simple point and click methods--it's not at all complicated. And I really like the option of sharing calendars with friends and co-workers. I don't see a way to link to my calendar from this post, but will be glad to share with you if I have your email address. I've just sent an invitation to our library director. I've added important dates for the remainder of this month and part of August and added a pop-up reminder for myself for our deadline tomorrow. I'm also, just for fun, going to send a phone notification to my son to see how that works. He'll be surprised!

I was excited to read that the service can see events in an email and, with one click, can be added to the calendar. But this only works with Gmail and I use Outlook Express for all of my mail (simpler that way). However, you can export items from your Outlook calendar directly into this calendar, so I'll do that. I got an email yesterday that Jan Brett is coming to Dallas in November and have that on my Outlook calendar, so I will import it into this one. I don't want to miss that! I understand you can also find events on Websites and add them to your calendar with just a click. I am going to enjoy exploring that option, as well. You can add public calendars - I added phases of the moon and U.S. holidays to start.

This is a great tool for use in the classroom and library. We can share items on our calendar with other teachers, we can plan together from home, and we can share events with students, as well. They can share with each other and will love learning about the calendar option, if they don't already know about it. I like the idea of sending reminders out and teachers will like that. I use email so much to keep up with my day and what's going on and I know they do, too. Personally, I will use it as a way to invite out-of-town family and friends to events. We are planning a fall family reunion now and I can see this as a great help. Overall, it's a great organizational and collaborative tool.

Here's my Google notebook. Since it's summer, I'm creating personal items in my notebook and because I love to cook (and eat), I'm putting together a collection of recipes. You can view it here. The notebook feature is a great way to gather information to share with others - what an easy way for students to share what they are finding with their teachers, with other students who are collaborating with them on a project, and for teachers to share with other teachers. I will certainly want to use it to share websites, documents, photos, and so on with teachers who ask for our help in locating resources for their students. I can link a notebook to our library web page for our students. It even has an RSS feed option so that others can keep up with any new postings--wow!

Thing #11 - Subscribing to Blogs

2008-07-21T21:39:00.000-07:00

After learning about RSS feeds, the fun began as I browsed through our discovery resources looking for a varied selection of blogs. I was looking for both personal and professional blogs that would interest me and decided to go about the search in several ways. I started by following Vicki Davis's advice in her blog post, How to Create Your Circle of the Wise. She says that when you first start reading blogs, find a person you admire and read the same blogs they do. So, I went to Doug Johnson's blog and also to Vicki's blog and found a few that sounded interesting, looked them over, and subscribed to them if I liked what I saw.

I wanted to make sure I had authoritative writing (not biased ranting) and wanted someone to lead me to quality sites, so I looked at Edublog's award winning sites and I really liked that website. It was easy to navigate and find good sites simply with a few search terms. I found a great podcast feed, Absolutely Intercultural, a first-place winning blog (Best Audio/Visual Blog 2006) on all things cultural. I've never subscribed to a podcast before and I've enjoyed listening to its posts. Edublog also recommended A Library By Any Other Name (1st place winner 2007) and I subscribed to its feeds.

Technorati was also easy to navigate and I found a great environmental site, TreeHugger.com, that has a blog. I thought it was a good site and subscribed to it. I also typed in the web address of sites I like to see if they had feeds (ex. Stephenie Meyer) and, if they did, I subscribed. My list is rather long, now, at least I think so.

I did not like Syndic8.com at all. Thought is was confusing and I just didn't get anywhere trying to navigate. One of the sites I looked at offered bundles of feeds on topics and I said NO! to that! I used the search term "school library learning 2.0" and found lots of 23 things websites when I searched Technorati. That's where I found Baby Boomer Librarian.

I thought about subscribing to Weblogging but, after looking at the site, couldn't really understand what they were talking about! Some of the blogs I came across were sort of messy and not really about conversation. I'm not sure what their purpose was, but I guess blogs are like traditional web pages: there are good ones and bad ones. Please see my previous post to read about other blogs I'm now subscribed to.

Thing #10 - RSS Feeds

2008-07-21T16:48:00.001-07:00

Dealing with the exploding blogsphere just became easier for me: I learned how to use RSS feeds so that the information would come to me. What a wonderful idea and a great solution to managing what is out there on the web. How could we possibly have the time to search for all of this information? RSS feeds bring you the information you want in a manageable format.

I chose to subscribe to Google Reader because I had used it before and because Amy Gahran says, in her video from Capture the Conversation, that it's the best reader for a first time user. It does seem very easy to use and I like the organized, easy-to-read layout. I thought Bloglines was a little confusing and not as easy to navigate. I subscribed to DMN, TLA, Coolcat Teacher, Shifted Librarian, Stephenie Meyer's blog, This Mama Cooks! On a Diet, and ITunes Top 25 Songs. This way, I get up-to-date news, some book & library related info. from sites I like, and recipes and new music, just for fun.

I can image many ways that teachers and librarians can use RSS feeds to enhance learning and share information. What a great current events tool for a geography or government teacher! Besides providing information for students, it's a great tool for teachers who want to stay current in their subject field or keep up with the latest technology innovations or what's being talked about in Austin. I would love to post a link to a shared page on our website so that our students could get the latest updates on new book series, what's happening with their favorite authors, and so on. Foreign language teachers who incorporate culture into their lessons could certainly find blogs and video sites they could use with their students to create a real world application.

Check out the right side of this blog. I have created a public page to share some interesting posts as I come across them. Want to know why it's so darn hot in Texas? Click on my link. You might be surprised to find out why!

Thing #9 - Online Image Generators

2008-07-21T13:55:00.000-07:00

What a fun tool! I could play with this all day. It does seem to work a lot like some of the Flickr-based mashups. And, it was so easy; I had no problems at all. It even has a tool to get images into your blog-you just click on Blogger, then copy and paste the code and drop it right into this post. Voila! You have your image. I could play with it all day. I really like the billboard, poster covers and picture frames, and the buttons and signs. I thought Image Chef was the easiest and most extensive of the image generators we looked at. It's very point-and-click to get what you want and I think younger students would love to play with this and might be able to use it to create projects from their research. I will use it to create images for our website, that's for sure.

Image provided by Image Generators.

Thing #8 - Mashups

2008-07-21T11:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a photo mosaic I created using a mosaic maker from BigHugeLabs.com. I used photos I took at last year's book fair and wanted to also make a mosaic of some old family photos I had stored on my computer but am having trouble with that--don't know why. I uploaded 4 photos to Flickr and created a set, then followed the steps to make the mosaic, including copying and pasting the link to the set into the URL box, as I did with these photos, but they never appeared. Hmmm.... I'm moving on for now and will come back to that another time. I actually have had some "technology" problems today with Mosaic Maker. To upload photos from your computer, you have to create a free account, but it is telling me I already have an account and must have forgotten my password (I don't have an account). I followed the prompts to have my password emailed to me, but no emails ever came. That's why I uploaded the photos from my computer into Flickr--don't need an account to use photos stored there--and now Mosaic Maker will not accept the link. Oh, well--things have been so easy for me so far. I guess it's my turn to hit a snag!

I think mashups are such a great idea and obviously so easy to create with these new web-based applications. I use Google Maps services and Mappr all the time to find friends around the country, the best gas prices, travel information, and so on. I want to play more with Travature, which seems to be basically a one-stop shopping when planning a trip. It takes care of every detail, from air fare, hotel information, weather information and things to do--it's all there. Mashups are great resource for practical, everyday needs.

For use in the library, I can see designing posters of favorite books or photos we take of students and events, more visuals for our Tayshas books, and images to add to our website. We could teach students how to find photos in Flickr and design posters for class projects. I'm sure geography teachers could use Mappr, art teachers could use Splatter, and elementary teachers might enjoy using Clockr to display the time in a fun way.

Thing #7 - Flickr

2008-07-21T01:17:00.000-07:00

I think this photo is a good representation of a Librarian 2.0, don't you think? It was taken by cindiann and posted under the "libraries" photos. I was looking for something interesting that would visually represent the Library 2.0 concept and I really liked this one. She makes the comment that if she can work in a field still largely populated by traditional librarians, why can't they be willing to participate in Web 2.0 activities? Even American Libraries was so impressed with the photo that they referred to it in AL Direct Conference edition.

I chose to find a Flickr image that I found interesting but that was not my own mostly because I already had a Flickr account and had already uploaded photos taken in my library last year to a previous blog. I did have a problem showing the source of the photo, even though I followed the directions on the Flickr website. The photographer does allow downloading of this image and shows the various sizes that are available, but there was no link that included the .jpg extension, as the Flickr help menu says. I have posted the link that appeared when I clicked on the size I wanted to add.

Photosource: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trucolorsfly/611479605/sizes/m/

Thing #6 - Explore Any Site From the Web 2.0 Awards List

2008-07-20T23:20:00.000-07:00

This "thing" was so much fun! I decided to pick a site purely for personal interest and chose My Heritage.com from the genealogy tab. Turns out it won 1st place in its category and I can certainly understand why. It's a really great site, easy to use and with so many cool features. I had my family tree up and running, with some photos, in no time. I can't wait to share it with family, friends, and some of my coworkers who are interested in genealogy and old photos.

I haven't found anything that I dislike about the site, at least not yet. It has so many useful features, though, such as an automatic slide show at the bottom of the page, a calendar and a posting of upcoming events (like birthdays), a search for ancestors feature, number and listings of family surnames on the site, what's new, and side bars to enlarge photos. Take a look at my Cox Family Tree and tell me if you aren't impressed! (not by the tree, but by the site ;)

Would this site have any useful classroom or library applications? Well, when I was teaching French, we used our own family tree to learn vocabulary, such as my mother, my father, and so on, but instead of building it online, we brought photos from home and pasted them onto paper--so low tech! This is more fun. This site can be translated into other languages with the push of a button, so it might work for building your family tree in the language you are studying. Learning about your family and building a family tree might have an application in the elementary classroom, as well. If you have an idea for its use in a library setting, please send me a comment.

It certainly fits the description of a Web 2.0 application--interactive, collaborative, and engaging.

Thing #5 - Web 2.0/School 2.0/Library 2.0 and the Future of Education

2008-07-20T20:48:00.000-07:00

What does Library 2.0 mean to me? After reading the postings from Wikipedia and OCLC, I think it simply means that you are providing what your library community needs and wants, constantly evaluating those needs and reacting to them by adding, changing, or updating your services.

I read the posts from Wikipedia on Library 2.0, from Blyberg.net on reasons why Library 2.0 exists and matters, and OCLC on the 3 icebergs that threaten libraries' very existence. I also watched the Atomic Learning video and The Machine is Us/ing Us video (which was kind of scary in a way), and they all agree that at it's heart, Library 2.0 is basically a user-centered approach to the library, where services are more interactive and where the patron has more input into what services are provided and how.

These changes don't apply only to technology. In fact, John Blyberg says in his blog,"L2 is not about technology, but technology is an important component of it. Hard budgetary decisions are going to have to be made: buy X books or do Y with technology Z? Remember, L2 is about being relevant. If your constituents, by and large, do not have PCs at home, then maybe a major goal should be to provide access at your facilities."

I think we have a little of Library 2.0 going on in our district and in my own library. Our district's 2.0 approach right now is more technology-centered, adding ebooks and database access 24-7 to our websites, training its librarians and teachers in Web 2.0 technologies, and encouraging the use of blogs, podcasts, and wikis in the library and in the classroom. In my own library, we have updated our website to share more information with students and have encouraged them to write online book reviews, participate in interlibrary loans, tell us what they think of the library and what services we can offer them. We have also added refreshments, a school store, a better selection of teen magazines, a thoroughly weeded collection and an emphasis on teen fiction and better nonfiction in our recent book orders, contests, book fairs, technology training for teachers and students, and more. Our changes, both at the campus and district level, have centered on changing user needs, which is part of the definition of what Library 2.0 means, according to what I've been reading in these posts.

Some of the phrases that caught my attention while reading the posts: rapid change, replace at any time, security and privacy concerns, 2.0 is not an option--essential for pertinence to patron, no more "just in case" collections, part of our service philosophy, encourage feedback and participation. All of these phrases mean that the libraries and schools of the future must be more interactive, attuned to our student's needs, learning styles, and interests, and must respond to the changing nature of our world in order to be successful.

As Blyber says, "Get people back into the library by making it relvant. It should be the patron's destination, not just an afterthought."

Thing #4 - Commenting Is Important

2008-07-20T17:43:00.000-07:00

Communicating, sharing, learning in spite of time and distance - that's how I understand blogging. Making comments to blog posts is a huge part of that process and what makes blogs work, I think. They are very collaborative, and that's what Web 2. 0 is all about-interaction and collaboration. As Vicki Davis states in The Coolcat Teacher Blog, you are engaging in conversation (interaction) when you blog and make comments to other's blogs, and getting to know each other and learning from each other creates a sense of community with a shared purpose. She also makes the point that when we blog and make comments, we are discussing common concerns and coming up with solutions as a community.

I found many interesting points in reading the blogs that were listed for this assignment. In fact, I spent most of a whole day looking at blogs and making notes. It seemed that one blog led me to another, and that blog referred to other blogs, and so on. I had no idea this whole blogging thing was so expansive! I guess there could be a blog out there for practically anything that interests you. I feel like I have a lot of catching up to do. The three blog posts I chose to read for this assignment were: How to Comment Like a King (or Queen) from The Coolcat Teacher Blog, Your Comments? from The Blue Skunk Blog, and The 10 Commandments of Blog Comments from Brown Thoughts Blog.

One point that was stressed in all the blogs, and especially in the 10 Commandments post, was the importance of etiquette (think before you act, criticize kindly, etc). Just as with face-to-face interactions, emails, and other forms of correspondence, manners and rules of behavior are important. It's a shame, though, that we have to be reminded. :)

I also enjoyed reading what Vicki Davis says about the reasons for commenting. She says that you comment when you care about a topic and have something meaningful to add to the conversation - it's the "right thing to do". Bloggers want conversation and if you have something to say, share it. All of the authors agree and stress that commenting is important.

I love Doug Johnson and have read his blog for years. He's a hoot and very insightful. He taught me the meaning of troll as it relates to blogs and was the only author who thought it was important to thank people for making comments to your blog. The manners thing, again.....

I chose to comment on the following blog posts:

Working With One's Hands Helps Develop Kids' Brains from Learning is Messy - Blog,
Corrupting Young Minds (With Books) in the Library from The Shifted Librarian,
Getting Organized With Web 2.0 Tools (Thing 16) from Learning Something New
Web 2.0 slideshow from Red Rivera's Reviews
Social Networking (Thing 18) from Loving Summer
Del.icio.us (Thing 17) from A Teacher's Summer
Using Blogs (Thing 3)from Kathleen's Blog

I chose the first two blog posts because they both talk about the importance of engaging students and what is necessary to learning. The first post stresses that technology is not the answer to our educational woes, but is just one tool in the toolbox. In fact, a recently published study showed that too much time in front of a computer and not enough time working with their hands led to less cognitive development in young children. I agreed with the comments made about the study and my comment stressed the value of all types and ways of learning as being best for our students. The second post talks about the evolving library - from a place where children were not welcome to a place where children's literature and the children themselves are valued. Some of the comments to that post talked about the library as a place where things other than reading and checking out books were important. I posted some information about the various ways we use our library at school and how it has made a difference to our students and teachers.

I chose to make comments to my school colleagues' posts based on the Things that interested me the most and that I found the most useful.

One last point made about commenting I found important to remember: when you know your audience, you can think (and write) with that in mind. This is a great lesson to teach our students.

Thing #3 - What is a Blog's Purpose?

2008-07-16T22:08:00.001-07:00

In general, blogging is a way to reflect, communicate, and share insights and ideas. Don't we ask students to share their thoughts and ideas about what we are teaching and communicate their ideas with us and each other? We certainly want them to reflect on what they have learned and how they can apply it to their lives. What better way to engage our students in these processes than by blogging or by reading and commenting on blogs created for them?

Here are my favorite ideas for using a weblog with my students and faculty.

To encourage collaboration and communication:
1. Share teaching tips with other teachers and librarians
2. Share ideas for activities
3. Provide how-tos on specific technologies and ways to use them
4. Gather and organize Internet resources for specific classes and share with others
5. Publish a student newsletter of what's happening in the library
6. Host an online book club where students can discuss books they've read and what they think about them
7. Provide information about upcoming special events, such as Teen Read Week and book fairs.

To encourage students to blog:
1. Provide surveys and ask for feedback
2. Teach students how to create their own blogs
3. Invite student comments and postings and encourage them to blog about their ideas and opinions
4. Allow students to share ideas with another book club

Honestly, the list could go on and on. Because of their interactive nature, the blog's purpose grows and expands, creating new ideas for its use. And, these lists do look suspiciously like goals to me! I plan to incorporate several of them in my formal goal setting for the coming school year.

Thing #2 - Creating a Blog

2008-07-16T21:09:00.000-07:00

What fun! I've had some experience in web design, so setting up an account through Blogger and creating an avatar was not at all difficult. I just followed each step of the directions and did not run in to any problems. I did spend about an hour, though, choosing the layout and "dressing and styling" my avatar for summer. Who knew there were so many choices?

I see that Yahoo has a new virtual avatar world - Avatar Town. It's like an online version of paper dolls! I probably spent too much time there, but since we are playing...

My avatar does reflect my personality and my interests: sailing, picnicing, and summer fun. She has my hair style and eye color but is much thinner! I wanted her to represent the real me as I am learning about the new web technology, but I think I will create a new and totally different self when I am finished, maybe to reflect the "new" me in terms of what I have learned.

Each time I look at a Web 2.0 application, the word that always comes to mind is "Wow!" and I wanted to convey that feeling in my blog name. I think Web 2.0 - Wow! says it all, don't you?

I am trying to really tune in to the new technology that's out there and hope to, in turn, tune in folks on my campus, both faculty and students, so I wanted my posting name to state that purpose. And now, on to Thing #3 and ways that I can use this blog on my campus. Sounds a little like goal setting......

Thing #1 - Habits of Lifelong Learners

2008-07-16T20:14:00.000-07:00

Setting goals is such an integral part of our job as educators: we set goals at the beginning of each school year, the beginning of each six weeks, each Monday as we start a new week and, often, at the beginning of each school day. Goals help us objectively measure our progress and our successes and we teach these skills to our students and stress their importance. I personally love to set goals and track my progress because I am a list maker and really enjoy both making lists and marking off items as I work my way through. Habit 1, Begin With the End in Mind, is a habit that comes easily to me, as you can guess. I honestly don't think I could be an effective teacher if I didn't plan for that end result--what do I want my students to accomplish? How can I best help my faculty? How can I improve our program this year?

Summer is a great time to reflect on these questions and what better way to share these thoughts than through this blog. I hope that, as I work my way through our 23 things, I will also be developing goals for the coming school year. I know that I may encounter problems along the way but, by practicing habit #3, which is hardest for me (viewing problems as challenges), I feel that I can be successful - and have fun, too! I hope to find many new tools that will excite our students and engage them in learning--always a challenge!

I forgot to say that, for me, setting goals is also an organizational tool, and I absolutely must be organized at work! I couldn't function without order! How do you feel about setting goals?