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Week 11, Thing 23: Thoughts on the 23 Things Program

 Wow, I made it to Thing 23! This took more time than I expected it to (I started on June 23rd and now it is October 18th), but it was worth it. This program really encouraged me to expand my boundaries and look at some new tools.  As I wrote in my lifelong learning plan, it is difficult to give myself permission to just play. I generally try to plan what I might do with my students or to help support the teachers at school before I try out anything new. The 23 Things forced me to try things without the end in mind. Now that I have had a chance to play, a few of the things are making their way into my work day.  I now:

•  use Google Docs to bring my lesson plan to and from school, and to create the minutes of  committee meetings jointly
• have a blog for the library, complete with images, links and audio (created on Audacity).
•  am working on a lesson plan with a teacher to have student do podcasts
• edited a wiki for our district tech in-service
• have better searching skill for copyright-free images for my own work and for student work.
• have more places to get ideas for library best practice and tech savvy lessons.
• feel a little more confident in speaking about Web 2.0 tools.

On a personal note, I have become more curious about RSS news and entertainment gossip, and I swap book suggestions with my fellow librarian sister-in-law in Nashville via Shelfari. I made a cool avatar on Yahoo avatars, and so did my 8 year old. On the downside, the Myspace account lead me to an evil virus, I have too many accounts and I get a lot more spam on my email than I did before.

 

This was less social than I thought it would be. I hoped that I might feel more connected with my colleagues, and share ideas. There were only a few people I could actually identify by perusing their blogs. Anonymity is not all it it cracked up to be. I imagined that people might comment more on my blog. That said, I did get a comment from a library science student in Georgia. Web 2.0 is different than listserves or DOL Materials Review Sessions as a network tool. You have even less control over the membership of the virtual community than with other kinds of communities.

The 23 Things is a great concept. I would like to see a similar program for K-12 educators. I plan to mention this program to our district technology coordinator as an example of continuing education in technology tools. I enjoy watching other people do cool things at conferences, and an hour-long workshop after school can be fun, but this program had both a great variety of tools, and the self-set pace to explore them.  I didn’t even have to pay for much daycare! I would definately do something like this again.

Thank you, Mara! 

 

Week 11, Thing 22: Podcasts

I have listened to Alan November podcasts, and the occasional NPR broadcast, but until this week, I had not done much with this tool. I have been meaning to learn how to make my own pod cast for nearly a year now, and I have finally done it! I just have speak louder next time.

Looking at the links to other library pod casts has inspired me to broaden my thoughts about how to use these with students.  I did not run into any examples of elementary school libraries, but the public libraries and middle and high school library pods casts were impressive.   The book beginings at the Springfield Town Library , the telling of the folktale Soap, Soap, Soap from Denver Public Library, and student poetry podcasts from Dryden Middle/High School were my favorites. I have begun to plan a project with a fifth grade teacher and our technology support person.

Week 11, Thing 21 Video Sharing, Youtube, etc.

Okay, so I already waste way too much time watching old music video clips and other fun things on Youtube. My husband was even in a college student film project short which is now on YouTube. I am am at times very disturbed by the most popular videos on YouTube, and I am not sure what to tell my students about the use (misuse?)of this tool.

YouTube is currently blocked where I work, but I am able to other free video clips elsewhere. I have used author interview clips with students, and historical videoclips like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I Have a Dream speech.   I have not found much I like the few times I have searched Teachertube, but who know what will be there next time.   This look at Youtube did make me think of using a video clip with a Red Clover book, since there are several clips of barn owls hunting.  Here is a video that I found amusing: Cookie Monster in the library

 

Week 10, Thing 20: Web2.0 List

I must admit it, I bought my car using Craigslist last month. I also enjoy using Pandora.  Each person in our family has our own “radio station” set up, we have a few for different moods (sometimes we want calm background music, and other times we want to dance like crazy in the living room).  I had not thought of these two site as web 2.0 technology. I am more hip than I think I am!

 

This week I tried out Mango in order to brush up on my French, since I will be teaching an enrichment course in French at the end of the month.  I liked the first lesson. I may share it with my students. I signed up for a free account. However, with each move you make, Mango asks if you want to upgrade your account (not free). This makes it difficult to move from one lesson to another. The lessons were geared toward business travelers. 

 

Another site I tried this week that was not on list is Dabbleboard. This is a free Smart Board-like drawing and sharing application.  It was easy to use for webbing. I like that multiple users can edit the same drawing simultaneously. I want to try this with kids. We could make a genre map with this, or even diagram strategies to choose a good book. I have not tried printing yet! We do not have a Smart Board at school, but this has a few of the features.

I hope to continue to try out some of the other tools in this amazing list. Furl looks interesting as compared to Delicious, but I need more time to play.

Week 10, Thing 19: Online Productivity Tools

Just for the record, I am writing this in Google Docs.  I have begun using Google Docs for my lesson plans, so that I can work on them at home and at school without worrying about what version I last uploaded to my email account. I found that the template that I used in Word works fairly well in Google Docs. I figured out the spell check, and how to insert page breaks so it prints the way I want it to.  I can also let my assistant see my plans for days when I am out.

I also looked at SlideShare. I was somewhat frustrated by the error messages I got when I tried to search it, but the feature slide show “Death by PowerPoint” was entertaining.  Can we share Red Clover slide shows with this tool, rather than using email attachments, which do not always come through? Is there an awesome slide show for upper elementary students on using the Big 6? What about Website evaluation? How secure is this tool? Can student work be posted privately so that only parents and teachers can see it?  PowerPoint seems to work, but what about Digital storytelling apps like Photostory?

 

Week 9: Thing 18: creating/editing a wiki

I actually did this wiki thing over a month ago, but I forgot to blog about it! As I mentioned in my previous post, we used a wiki as an anchor agenda for a tech inservice in August.  Our district tech coordinator invited all us presenters from different schools to join a wiki in PBWikis. She actually issued the invitation via email the night before the presentation, but still I was able to edit the agenda and add links to the sites that I was presenting (like the new district library catalog, and a reading blog for students). It took me a few tries to figure out how to use the edit tab, but after that, it was easy. I have yet to start my own personal wiki. I like the idea of using it to plan a vacation – my husband and I can then both edit it. I would like to use a wiki for a pathfinder and collaborate with classroom teachers, but this has not yet happened. The school year is still young!

Week 9, Thing 17: Wikis

This week I spent some time with wikis. I looked at WikiHow, and low and behold there was an article with a number of strategies that I wish I would have had sooner in life about how to give a cat medicine. If only I had known these things 10 years ago, my sickly, but still very much alive cat might still love me.  My husband, who has been waging a battle with the ant, just got recipes for a new less toxic, homemade arsenal.

Children’s series binder could be useful when questions about what come next in a series come up.  http://seriesbinder.lishost.org/index.php/Main_Page

A few weeks ago, tech in-service presenters from several schools in the district (including me) were able to add items to the agenda, and add links for the presentation in the in-service wiki.  I will try to make a pathfinder using a wiki, as Joyce Valenza suggests in her article Ten reasons why your next pathfinder should be a wiki  http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1620010962.html

Now I just need to choose between the 2 open source wikis I now have accounts in:  Pbwiki and Wikispaces. I tried to compare them with Wikimatrix, but I can’t really tell the difference. I need something easy, with no ads if used for educational purposes that can be private if needed.

I remember the great debate about Wikipedia a few years ago. I do use wikis as a source of information. They are a format. Some are more useful than others. I let students read them for background on a subject, but also ask them to look in other sources to verify specific information. I have spotted misinformation in Wikipedia, but I have also seen typos or misleading generalizations in print encyclopedias and some nonfiction books, especially those written for children.

When I first heard about open source wikis a few years ago, I thought they might be a great way to write district library policy documents (like the materials selection and copyright polices) which are typically edit by 6+ people.   We have yet to try this. Printing from a wikis is not always pretty.

I like the features of social bookmarking with tagging. I wonder how to combine tagging with a wiki. I also wonder if I can do a library newsletter a wiki, rather than using a blog.  The wiki is a little easier to edit, but you don’t have the same control over approving the comments.

Mostly, the name wiki is just cool.

 

Week 8, Thing 16:perspectives on library 2.0

Libraries (public, school, and academic) should be community centers, only now many people spend time in virtual communities.  Web 2.0 applications help libraries bridge both physical and virtual communities.  I still like to take my kids to the local library story hour, but I can also use the online catalog and many web resources gather by the library from home.  I can listen to downloadable audiobooks with a library card number. Maybe I’ll be able to watch streaming video through a library subscription someday. Does it matter if the concepts of 2.0 (creating, participating in and adapting to the community you serve?) are part of ancient library culture or not? Any tool we can harness for good is helpful!

I read the OCLC article, though some of it was a bit over my head. I would like to see interlibrary loan in Web 2.0. Our current state system is too cumbersome and complicated.  Can we keep track of book moving physically without limiting the channels of ILL information? 

I also wonder about the reference interview and web 2.0. IPL has had “ask a librarian” email capabilities for a while.  How can Web 2.0 help increase the effectiveness of this communication? When I answer a live reference question, there is usually a complex conversation between the patron and myself, and often anyone else who happens to be in the library at the time with a similar assignment.

Of the article I read, I am most interested in “School Library 2.0: Say good-bye to your mother’s school library” by Christopher Harris — School Library Journal, 5/1/2006.  I work in a an elementary school library, where for better or worse the web is filtered, and physical access to the library is also limited by fixed class schedules.  Teachers use “library time” as a break time, and I, as the licensed professional, am supposed to be in the library managing and instructing the children.  I like the idea of being available “virtually” outside the walls of the library, but I am currently schedule to take classes nearly of the hours I am in the building.  I wonder how to move into offering more of a virtual, dynamic presence to my teachers and students.

That said, I am excited about our new library catalog that allows users to log in and create booklists, as well as post reviews and comments, and do the web 1.0 feature of linking web sites and other online resource to the library catalog. I will introduce my students to the DCF blog (can we make a Red Clover blog?) I hope to use a blog to post a library newsletter.   I am playing with an epals account.  I am glad to have examples of other schools moving in this direction.

Do any Vermont elementary school librarians have web 2.0 features used by students? DO other librarians need the principal to approve every word posted on the web before it is posted?

Week 8, Thing 15: Technorati

I do not want to claim this blog. Maybe someday I will want to be famous, and then I will claim my blog on Technorati, and get everyone I know to link to it with an RSS reader, and refer to my blog on Facebook and Myspace, link to it in Del.ci.ous, and actually use interesting tags.  Right now, I prefer to remain as anonymous as possible.  

I did do searching on Technorati. I could not find the blog I was looking for by a colleague, but it most likely is just too obscure. I was unable to come up with significant differences between Technoraut searhc results and googler blogger results.