Thing #23 Summarize Your Thoughts about This Program

This is so NOT the end!



What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

Social networking in a variety of forms has been a real eye-opener for me! I especially am grateful for del.icio.us and the many fun tools on Big Huge Labs.


How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I am more confident. I feel I can find the help I need out there for almost anything I need and I can also have a voice. I fully intend to continue my learning--after all web 3.0 is on the horizon!

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
The ways I can use this with my hobbies and family were an added bonus. Also I have begun developing "relationships" with folks all over the country! This I had not even considered before starting!


What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

With so many participating, perhaps form smaller groupings that could support each other through this. I saw many by visiting their blogs who left the experience early on. Could this perhaps have been due to the lack of contact with others who could empathize with the experience? I know I was often frustrated by the lack of comments on my blog entries. Also once I hit the brick wall with the podcast issue, I was totally flumuxed when I could get no live help. A little more involvement from the "leaders" of this course would be most helpful!


If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes. I understand there is more to learn! And having the learning mapped out and incremented for me is very helpful!


How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?
This has been an eye and mind-opening experience!


Other Players' blogs?

Can't wait to see what others say!

Thing #21: Podcasts and Audio Books

Although I have done podcasts before, I am not what I would call proficient--the kids are MUCH better at it than I! Since I will not have a regular class with 4th and 5th grade students in the library this year, I thought it would be fun to do a podcast that introduces them to the new library features this year and gives them a library tour. We are writing a grant to purchase i-pods or mp3 players for our students to use in the library, so this will be a good intro to them!
We spent most of today creating our photostory and recording it.When we tried to upload to Switchpod, we ran into major problems. The site would not respond to our registration and finally I sent an e-mail to their support staff. The response time is supposed to be 2 hours--at this posting it has been over 3 hours and I still have not heard from them. We will need to find another hosting site or not complete this thing!

Thing #20: YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

I was already familiar with You Tube and Teacher Tube and have used both. But I had a great time playing on Blinx and saved a few fun videos for later. There are so many quality videos out there and these sites will also be a forum for our students and teachers to share their own work. I found this video on laboratory safety, which although aimed at high school, would be fun for elementary kids to watch and discuss. as they get ready to experience the science lab this year!





I found this video on You Tube and thought it related well with our topic. This librarian has been on this same journey!





I converted this file with Zamzar and it only took me two tries to upload it into the blog! Let me know what you think!

Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

This is exhausting! And I am falling into the researchers trap (or paradise depending on your perspective!) I started with Craigslist just because I had heard of it before. I found myself fascinated with the things people were discussion in the forums section. The home page itself is daunting, but well-organized. But Oodle on the other hand was much more attractive. I was able to follow a thread to find help for my Mom in dealing with the feral cats that are inhabit ting her property in Grimes County. I was able to narrow my searches geographically in both of these directories. As far using these tools in school, I imagine I could use them to focus on field trip possibilities, events and services such as puppet shows and such. This is not a tool I would put in the hands of elementary school children, but certainly something the teachers might find helpful.
I could see students having a great time with My Heritage! Simply building a family tree would not only be fun but help them see their relationships in a graphic manner. This would foster communication as they can add birth and death dates and relationships! I created my own family tree and family website. It needs a lot of work still, but I created this in under 30 minutes!
I will be sharing Colorblender with all my art teacher friends (as well as with my scrapbook friends and home dec friends, etc...) This is a great way to preview a color scheme. Plus it is just plain fun! The students would love it. It is easy and free! When my third graders get ready to put together their history fair visuals, I will introduce them to this site!
Susan's blog mentioned that this activity opened a Pandora's box for her! (I SO agree!) Well, I was hooked on Pandora music when I opened the site and it was playing a Peter, Paul and Mary song. I was able to find MY kind of music and it was fairly easy and fun. The students will love this.
Now I think Yahoo Pipes is just what I need to help filter all this "stuff" I am getting as a result of this course. I can tell it what I want and it will give me only specified content from the sites to which I have subscribed. This looks like one I can use! As students do research, they could narrow their "feeds" to only those topics that relate to their topic/theme. This one is in my basket!

Thing #17: Rollyo

This is exactly what I have been wanting and needing! I have created document after document of search links for teachers and students only to have them lost and difficult to edit! Rollyo makes this a much more dynamic and easily update-able tool! I created a Search Engine for our third grade History Fair researchers. So far, I only have 2 sites on it, but will add to it before I actually "roll" it out with the students! It was easy and Bruce Goodner's video was INVALUABLE, in making this not only understandable, but very simple to do! Thanks Bruce!

Thing #16: Wikis

Wiki, wiki, wiki! It sounds like the call of some exotic bird! I am so excited about the possibilities of wikis. Our third graders will be doing History Fair research for the fist time this year and I propose to have them work in groups using wikis to share and publish their information. I believe this will enhance their experience, plus having this "public" will encourage them to do better work! (I can dream can't I?)
I posted the required comment in the SBISD sandbox wiki and loved the Common Craft video on Wikis in Plain English. This was so clear and helpful.
I also plan to create a wiki for our subgroup of librarians in HISD so that we can meet, plan and converse outside of our 2 face to face meetings (that's all the principals will allow us)!

Thing #15: Web 2.0, Library 2.0 and the Future of Libraries

The quote from Marshall MacLuhan at the start of the video struck a chord in me. When I taught Mass Communication at the outset of my career in education, we read MacLuhan's book The Medium is the Message. My high school students and I explored this idea and worked at becoming more literate where the seduction, especially of advertising, was concerned. However dire MacLuhan's predictions were, they have come to pass and I remain hopeful that this Web 2.0 journey in which we are all engaged (even my 82-year-old mother who refuses to use the Internet, but is slowly embracing her cell phone!)will produce positive results. I have been excited to discover like-minded folks out there whose stories are compelling and uplifting. Through the tools, I have found ways to connect with family and friends in exciting ways that allow us to share images as well as text and do it quickly and efficiently. (As I prepare this post, my great-nephew and I are having a text-messaging conversation!)
As to the implications for my profession and more to the point for the students at my school, Although web 2.0 has been around for over 3 years, I feel that the library discussion has only just begun. We are so behind and we have to get up to speed and FAST! My library partner and I have a lot of work to do and only one year in which to prove ourselves! I am loving the "user-driven" aspects of Library 2.0. However, I found little, so far, saying how this is to be accomplished in elementary school libraries. Ours is indeed an "inner city" school whose students have limited access to the hardware and infrastructure we are using except through our school. Our state technology standards do not adequately address this--we as librarians need to take the lead and do it and show others how. That is at any rate our plan.
I have always believed that libraries need to be available at "point of need" and to this end, I have been available to my patrons through my lunch and planning times and both before and after school. But for us to accomplish integration of the Library 2.0 tools into our curriculum and practice, we will need to articulate, recruit collaborators (teachers, staff, students and parents), discuss, plan and adapt. Our elementary school library must become both the training and proving ground for our students and the larger community, providing the connections, the forums and the means!
MacLuhan was warning us with the following quote.
"...might not our current translation of our entire lives into the spiritual form of information seem to make of the entire globe, and of the human family, a single consciousness?"
I find it not a dire prediction, but a statement of hope that through world-wide connections, we can become a world community that values all life on the planet.
Now, I must attend to a smaller life on the planet, our cat "Chien" is begging for attention and a treat. I think I'll go reconnect with the furry reality!