Basic Internet II

I'm really enjoying this class! I really like Google Guide Quick Reference I can't wait to go print this out and save it by my New laptop!

TIE Conference 2008

It is the third day of the Technology In Education Conference, and there are so many interesting and exciting things going on in education! I am very excited to try and implement some of these new ideas. One that I am very interested in is using Google Docs as a collaborative or group project. since the last time I used this service they have added several new features, one is different color type for each collaborator. This is very exciting to me because it allows you to see who has done their assigned work and who has not. I see this as a huge advantage to group projects. You will be able to better judge and properly reward each student within a group.

Reflections on Library Learning Web 2.0

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


I have enjoyed working on my blog. It has been very interesting journey to see where I have been and how far I have come. I have enjoyed using LibraryThing. I really like have the list of books I have read and seeing the lists of people who have some of the same titles as me. There is so much more to learn! Del.icio.us is another one of the tools I will continue to use. It is very nice to be able to go to one site on any computer and have all of my favorite site in one place.


How has this new information added to your job skills, and capabilities, as a media clerk?


As a new person in the WVMS library I have used several of these tool to help teachers with improving student learning. I have also helped with updating the library web page by adding several useful things to it. We have added an RSS feed for CNN Student News. We have also added Ning.com for book reviews and happening in the LMC, Track Star for research, and Flickr Photos to help students find fair use photos to support their research. All of these things are information or tools I have learned form this class. It has helped introduce me to the staff and students. I didn't start the year at WVMS , I came in in late October. Now they know that they can come to me for help and information. That I'm not just another body hanging out in the LMC.


How will you apply what you learned? ...personally? ...in the library? ...with students?


I have already started using and several of these tools to help support student learning. I have shared with several students and teachers Google Docs and iGoogle. I have shared Flickr and Creative Commons with many students. I have help frustrated teachers find an easier way to share documents at home and at school with Wikis. It is very exciting to see them lite up with enthusiasm when they see how much easier some things can be.

I have really enjoyed using del.ici.ous as a place to store my favorite websites, blogs, both educational and pleasure. It is very convenient to be able to go to one website, from any computer and have all of your saved bookmarks in one place. I'm not hunting for or having to wait until I get home or back to school to share with friends and or colleagues some item of interest with them.

We always take a trip to Lake Powell in the summer with our relatives who live in Colorado Springs. It is always difficult to organize who has what, what they can't find, and can they or us look for the missing item we need for the trip. I will be creating a Wiki to help with this organization of this week long trip that we seem to take everything but the kitchen sink. This class has shown me how easy it is to add to and develop a site like this. I have also thought that this would be a great tool for kids to do group projects on. That way you can hold each student accountable for what they have decided to take care of for their project.


As I move forward in my own educational journey, I can't wait to see what great things will continue to excite me! This class I have been told, "just scratched the surface" of Web 2.0 Read/Write. I am looking forward to what other things are out there to share with my family, students and staff as I continue grow as a life long learner.

What suggestions do you have to improve on the content/delivery of the materials?

As I have said before, this class has been an excellent learning experience! The only thing I would ask to improve the class would be to have it last a little longer to possible go in-depth on some of the "Things."


Thank You Myra!

Thing #23 -- Expand Your Mind

This has been an amazing class! When I think back to where I was in January and was so "scared" to start so many new accounts! Now when I hear "You'll have to create a new account." I look at it as a new tool to use.

I am planning on using as much of the tools that I can to help increase student learning and to help support teachers. I can see a major uses for http://wikispaces.com/ and GoogleDocs as students work on projects together. Also Flickr Creative Commons as a shared site for students to gather photos to support their projects.

I have been using del.icio.us to keep track of blogs and web site that I like to visit. I have also started using http://www.bloglines.com/myblogs to help me stay connected to colleagues and websites for libraries and educational use. It's much easier to go to one site and have all the information, wesites, blogs, and fun stuff in one place. I also like http://www.google.com/ig
I think I'm going to make this my home page on my personal computer at home.

I am going to have to spend more time on most of these sites and using more of the tools shown to me in this class. I now know what I will be doing a lot of this summer! I would like to use and share most of these tools next year with students and staff!

Thank You Myrag!

Thing #22 -- Your Cellphone as a Tool

After visiting http://www.cellphonesinlearning.com/ I see unlimited use for this tool in classrooms!! As we all know, kids with cellphones don't leave their phones in the locker or at home, they take them to class and even text their friends while they are supposed to be paying attention to us!
Snapvine was one of the sources in this website, and I liked the idea of having oral quizzes that kids can call in from a cell or a land line. So it doesn't descreminate against the"haves and the have nots". The only draw back is that the calls are not free.

I also checked out Jott ! Man! I need to learn to text! But with Jott I don't have to! It will convert Voice to Text for you!!! Now that is a tool I will try and use!! I also need to make more money so I can get a blackberry to have all these new tools in one place! Phone, Internet, email, RSS feeds, etc.... What else.... Oh Yea... It will weigh a lot less because I won't need the laptop that I don't have yet.... :)

Thing #21 Copyright and Freedom of Information

Having worked in a library now for 7 1/2 years now, I feel pretty comfortable with copyright and citation for the printed word. But when it comes to using materials from cyberspace...... I'm still confused about what is okay to use, how much you can "copy and paste" where to find the citation information. Can we really use this? How do I tell if a student is using the found information correctly? did they cite it correctly?

After checking out: copyright comic book I was thinking that this would be really great to have in the library. I think it would get more info to the students then just having us drone on about what they can and can't use. Besides, comics make things more fun to read when there is "action" involved. Right???

#20 - Social Networking

The only social networks I belong to are this class and a ning I set up for our library. I don't see the use of one in my every day live. I think it's a great tool for networking with others in the same field as you to communicate, about new ideas or how to solve problems.

As a tool to use in a school setting, I can see some potential. If you require kids to blog for your class and give them a set amount time to visit and post as an assignment, I think this could be a great way to communicate with students in a way that they feel comfortable. However, if we start using one of these networks in class inside of the school day, I think that most students would visit their own site and not do the work required by the teacher.

#19 - Micro Blogging

I spent just a little bit of time in Twitter. I think I have better things to do then spend time blogging on Twitter. As several of us said at the beginning of the class, Time is the issue! There is never enough time!!!

As far as using this in the library...... I'm not sure that is the best way to get to the kids. However as a way to communicate with other people working in libraries....this might be a quick way to find out what is happening out in the rest of the library world. There also might be better blogs/nings/ websites for that kind of thing. I wish I had more time to check into all of these thing.........

YouTube, TeacherTube - Thing 18

I have really enjoyed watching all the Common Craft videos in class! I have also spent some time watching YouTube and some of the TeacherTube videos on my own and really like some of them. I could definitely see a use for the TeacherTube videos for students. There are many of them for science, history and literacy. Kids really like to watch videos, so this would be a fun and easy way to learn about what ever subject they are working on. I tried to download several TeacherTubes but for some reason, I can't get it to work. If you go to TeacherTube and type in the search for "Introducing the Conceptual Age of Web 2.0" you should see the video I've been trying to get on my blog.

# 17 - Award Winning Apps

After looking at several sites, I came across www.arcaplay.com A site that has free games! My husband and kids love to waste time playing games and they loved this site. My daughter really likes the Panda Golf 2, and my husband likes the card games!

I liked www.onesentence.org . I thought this site would be a great one for writing prompts. It was also very entertaining just to read! Some of those one lines brought some very vivid visuals!! OOH My!

Thing #16 Learning a Language Online

I think this is a wonderful way to learn a new language!! My children having taken 3 to 6 years of a foreign language from middle school to high school and were afraid or really couldn't speak their chosen language! I think that is a tragedy! The whole point in my opinion is to learn to speak a new language! I think this could have a huge potential in the educational field! I could easily see this as an extension of the classroom learning!

I think I'll use this to brush up on my own limited Spanish!

Thing #15 Audio Books/Ebooks

Last night after several hours of looking at some Ebook sites, I decided that I don't think this is for me. I also don't see a use, at this time, for ebooks in an educational setting. That doesn't mean I will change my mind in the future however. I realize that I am not the type of person who can sit and read a book off of the computer. After a while my eyes start to ache and I would have to stop. I prefer to have the book in my hot little hands!

On the subject of audio books, I enjoy them on long road trips. I also see a huge potential in school libraries! Audio books are a great way for students who have issues with reading a book. It's a great way to reinforce language acquisition, and for low level high interest readers who might not pick up a higher level book to read. They might more readily listen to an audio book instead. One site that I liked was:
http://www.audible.com/

This site looked to have some of the most recently release books. It sounded very simple to down load books, to a listening device. I was discussing this with my Teacher Librarian and we thought it would be a great inexpensive way to get the most recent titles in to the LMC. It looks and sounds cheaper than the Follett Play Aways we have looked at. They are just a little to costly for us at this time.

I don't really see Ebooks and audio books as an issue for public libraries. I seem to be a people person, and I feel I get instant help with a really person versus online where you are "chatting " with the help. That doesn't really help me. I do however see that this might effect bookstores. More books online means less customers in the stores.

Podcasting #14

I can see many uses for podcasting. I've seen many very well done podcasts from "how to" to book reviews, and we have used several in this class that would benefit teachers and students. However, these educational podcasts are very hard to view on most school computers. Some times you can see the video and not hear the sound or you can get the sound but no video. I find that a little frustrating, as I'm sure the students and staff have found. I have had great success at home in viewing all kinds of podcasts. I hope that we will be able to utilize this tool to it's full potential in our schools very soon.

#13 Experimenting with Google Apps

I will be editing this at a later date. I am waiting to share out with Mr. F. More to come!

Thing 12 - Open Source Apps

We seem to have major problems with computers having difficulty creating Power Point presentations. Getting school projects done, saved, loaded, and sent to teachersis a big issue. Just the other day a sixth grade teacher came and said he didn't think he would ever do another power point again unless we got newer computers. I spent some time, 30 minutes, in Google docs and created a power point presentation for this teacher. If I can do this in less then 30 minutes, I'm sure the students will be able to publish their projects in several class periods. I can't wait to share this with Mr. F.

#11 - Wikis

After viewing our Media Clerks Manual, I have discovered we have a lot of work to do. However, I think that this will be very helpful for everyone, new people, and also for when it is time for the district is ready to review our job description. As this will be a living document, up for editing and revision by all Media Clerks, I know that this will only benefit us.

On a personal level, we always plan a trip to Lake Powell with our relatives in Colo. Springs, I can see big potential for getting all our stuff better organized. Since we take EVERY THING but the kitchen sink for this trip it will be much easier to have lists in a wiki of the haves, have nots, what I'm getting, what your getting and what we can't find!! It will be SOOO much easier!! I can't wait to share this with our family!!! YEA!!

Thing #9 Technology

After reading everyone's blogs about their favorite things to use I think I like the Library Thing the best. Of all the new things I have recently learned I think I will use that one the most. I see potentional in the Media Center, at home, checking out other lists within Library thing. Showing my daughters how to use this and sharing some of their new finds. they also tend to share what they read with each other and some of their friends. I can't wait to get this one up on WVMS library page! I think the students will love it!

WVMS LMC - Thing 10!

Viewed from the back of the library, these are some of our bookshelves.

Library Thing!

I can see this as a very useful tool in the library!! We can add books as the become popular, remove them if the students are slowing down on checkout, show new titles added to the library, any number of things! I want to use it just to have some of my favorite books on my on space! This is one I will be playing with more! I want Linda's cat!!!

Thing 7 - Tagging & Social Bookmarking

This is a great resource and much easier that Bloglines! I think I would rather have a del.ici.ous account than a blog line. this way I can keep track of all my sites I use at home, school, classes, etc.....
this one will be awsome!

Thing 6 -- Image Generators

I am not enjoying this one at all. Not really crazy about mashing photos. Not sure if this is one I will use. Sorry Myra -

Flickr! - Thing 5

I Like Shoes! I like little dolls! What better way to combine some of my favorite things than a little doll in a red shoe!!! I think Flickr would be a great way for student to search for images on the web! I just can't remeber what Myra said about adding this to library web pages. I would love to try and connect kids to this site!

Thing 4 - Technorati/Blogline

Well, I have spent a little time tonight looking at all the blogs on Blogline. This to me is a very labor intense process to find the blogs you want. I tried some simply searches, as was suggested at our last class. I was looking for things that interest me such as travel, libraries, etc... and found that there are soo many that are NOT what I was looking for! Is this really supposed to make our live easier??? At the moment, I think not. I do understand that once you have set what you are interested in, it will be very helpful.
At the moment I have hardly enough time to glance at the paper, check out some of the articles on my home web page, and barely enough time to hear the weather for the day to figure out what to wear!

Thing 3 - How can we use this RSS Stuff?

At our school, several classes always watch CNN news for Teens, I think that's what its called. How cool would it be to have a link on our library page to a RSS!! Every time the students come to the library, or the computer lab, they can check on the news too!! I can't wait to try this out and see if we can put a link in the library page!! OOOh Yea - Party Dance!! On the Table!

Thing 2!

Alrighty Then !! I've checkout some of the other blogs around here. Pretty cool! I do have a question - Can we respond to the comments that are left on our blog? I love the idea of being able to see what other people are saying and doing.

Thing 1!

Got my blog going - now, Where are we going? Made my little avatar! She's doing a little party dance! Hope I can figure out how to get her here for you to see!

My First Spot

Hello Every One!!! Here we go..... Just started this most Happy spot! Let's see where we go from here!