Thing #23

Wow..there were days, I never thought I would get here! I am so glad I took this online course but to really learn everything I needed much more time and a few more directions. I never did figure out the Rollyo thing but maybe later. I understand the concept of it and how to use it. I just could not get the link to connect.

What were some of my favorite discoveries or exercises? I really liked creating the blog and seeing how easy it was. I loved all the online image generators...the trouble I am going to get into! I liked all the Award winning 2.0 websites...so much to look at!

How has this affected your lifelong learning goals? Learning technology has always been part of my goals. With the explosion of the internet and all the ways to communicate, the importance of keeping up with technology has to keep moving to the top of the list. We all need to keep our minds open and keep on learning and experiencing new ideas and technology.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes that surprised you? I was very surprised about how easy most of these things were. It took some playing around and clicking on buttons to sometimes find the right way, but it happened. I was a little surprised about how much I did not know. There is just SO MUCH out there to discover!

What could we do differently to improve this online course? To be able to fully read all the articles and delve into each link, there needed to be more time. Either this course needs to be divided into parts or the time needed to be extended. Not sure how that could be done because summer is the perfect time to take a class like this and pace yourself. Also, I would have loved to have had a one time meeting sometime in the summer to discuss some of the sites we discovered, problems we were having, or just the play!

If we offered another discovery program in the future, would you take it? YES! I may have complained about the time involved but this was a very good and informative course. I could take the same one again and learn tons of other new things!

How will you use what you have learned? I have lots of ideas and am very excited about the new school year. I would like to create a blog for Bluebonnet books. Maybe kids would like to post reviews for others to read. I have already got my head full of where the future of libraries are headed. I am on the right path for some things, but have had to really think about others such as realizing that I can borrow that book rather than order it, especially if it a rare subject.

Thanks so much Nancy! Your expertise and sharing with us is so appreciated!

I'M DONE!

Thing #22 Creative Commons

I really like the video "A Fair(y) Use Tale". This was a fun way to get everyone's attention by using these Disney clips and explaining the copyright laws. I liked the dramatic way they discussed that fair use is a lifetime plus 70 years. The gasping of the characters was cute and funny but it did help make the point. I wonder if my teachers' would actually pay attention to this copyright video for the mere 9 minutes it takes to view it?!

We teach so much about copyright (even though no one really listens), but we don't ever emphasize about how to share what we have made and let others use it. The Creative Commons site is an important one to share because our work is just as important as anyone else's. Our ideas count too!

I did notice early on that while our 23 things was taken from Mesquite and Spring ISDs, ours would not have been exactly alike. For example, our course was changed to allow us to look at our librarian site "Librarian's Rock Wiki" in Thing #17. Also at the beginning of our instructions, it was noted that these directions were for Rockwall ISD librarians and how credit would be given and the time frame.

I will definitely share this with my teachers and students. Again, if they had the idea to create something, and want to share it, they should protect themselves with a Creative Commons license.

Thing #22 Nings

So I guess Nings are a combination of wikis, blogs and everything. I liked the ones I looked at. I joined the Texas school librarians Ning. I was a little disappointed in the discussions as they were not very up to date. The last one posted was March 30 and before that November 1, 2008. The blog posts were updated though so that was good. I thought this might be a good place to ask for author visits and get some responses here in Texas.

I put all of these on my google-reader so that I can keep up with them.

I found a calendar that I might want to try for my library schedule. It is through PB works. Has anyone used this? I would be happy for my teachers to sign up this way. What would those teachers do though that like to slip in and sign up 5 minutes before they walk in when you have all your work spread out because you thought you had some time to get some work done? Huh! I think I will give it a try!

I also wonder about using Ning for my Read it Forward program I am going to start. I could have the links to the 39 clues books online, a blog with students responses, a survey for students to complete....

I better get busy!

Thing #21 Podcast

I found a cute podcast subscription called "Authors in your pocket". However, it is not very updated. The most recent podcast is 2/10/2008. I went ahead and took it and added it to my Google Reader and will monitor it to see if I get updates. I can always delete it. One I listened to was by author Jill Connor Browne who writes the Sweet Potato Queen's series. These books are hilarious and since I can relate, I got a big kick out of them!

I do think there are lots of easy ways for kiddos to use podcasts and I will try them this year at school. I agree with Jo about using them for Bluebonnet reviews. But I think it will be an excellent way for kids to submit a podcast instead of a book report. Of course we need to come up with a criteria so they aren't talking forever! ha! I also think this would be kinda cool to use these with my Read it Forward program that I am going to be starting with the 39 clues books.

I have lots of ideas!

Thing #20 Youtube/TeacherTube

Okay...what the heck...I read the directions on how to embed a video, but NO WHERE did it say to click on Edit Html first. Therefore nothing kept coming up. So I finally went to help on the blog and one little line says to click Edit Html before you paste the video in. Wow!

I also found out that you can't put two videos in one posting. If someone knows how to do that let me know. It came up with an error message when I tried it.

I am very familiar with YouTube and TeacherTube but didn't know how to take the video and post it on the blog (obviously)!

I like having the access to so many different resources! Video is so rich! Kids seem to get more from these vs. just plain audio or paper. However, sometimes we have too many resources available and our choices are too many. It can take up more time than just giving one or two choice.

I would use the above video for my little kindergarteners. Perhaps they would like to make their own video and post them on youtube and share with their friends. They can start young!

Thing #19 LibraryThing/Shelfari

I looked at LibraryThing for awhile. I am still not really sure of its purpose. I guess if you want to see what books I have read, or there are suggestions for more books like what I have added with reviews by other readers. I think I will try to use this in the future when picking out books for personal use. Now I go to Target and look at books. They usually have a very up-to-date selection without it being overwhelming (like Barnes and Noble). I read about the books, the jackets and sometimes a short piece inside. Then I write them down and go check them out at the library. I don't usually buy very many books for personal reading. I don't find that I read them again, so why spend the money.

I set up an account for LibraryThing http://www.librarything.com/home/cejones if you would like to look at it.

I put in 5 books. The first one is called Isle of Palms. 242 members had added this book and their were 8 reviews posted. The second book is The Lost Recipe for Happiness, and it had only 85 members adding it with 4 reviews. My third book was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. 41, 357 members have added this book with 409 reviews.

It was asked about discussions about our books. I looked through the home page but did not see anything about the books I added or discussions on them.

I like the recent recommendations that were listed, some were automatic from the software and some were through member recommendations.

I posted Shelfari on my blog because it was so easy to use. I could not get a LibraryThing search box added to my blog. Instructions have to be very clear to me with steps for each thing. I did try, but again to no avail.

Again, I am not sure how much I would use this in my work as a librarian. I think I would on occasion, but I am pretty sure that I will use it more for personal use.

Thing #18 Zoho Writer

I found Zoho Writer pretty easy to use. While it didn't have a lot of specific directions, I was able to click around and find the things I wanted to do. As you can see I posted a recipe...this has got to be yummy...it has Butterfingers in it!

I like the idea of being able to share this with others, but not sure how much they can change or so forth. I was not able to make a comment with a little bubble on the recipe like I wanted. I did use a cute little smiley face at the end of the recipe though! It was easy to switch back and forth between the Welcome page with directions on it and the recipe. I liked that because I had to keep going back to read how to do stuff.

It is nice to know that if you mess up your document, you can revert back to the original. I thought it was pretty cool to that you could work on up to 25 documents while being offline. Then when you go back online, it automatically syncs your work. So for instances if you were on a plane doing some work, you would be offline. Then the next time you go online, it syncs that work on those documents. Pretty cool!

I did have trouble tagging my folders and moving them into categories. I have the welcome document under the food tag instead of the recipe.

Some of the info gets pretty deep, talking about ODT and RTF documents.

I will play with this more and see how efficient it works for me.