Final Reflection

I begin this reflection with a big thanks to Myra. She is the reason this class was such a success and worthwhile. I had no idea she knew so much about Web 2.0. Everyone was a bit apprehensive at the start of this class and now I can safely say that we are all fairly comfortable navigating through all of the gadgets and sites we've learned about.

The next step is trying to work with a few staff members and come up with some ways to incorporate these tools into classroom projects. Learning how to create my own "wiki" was very interesting and I can see how this might benefit teachers with collaboration.

A few of my favorite sites are Flickr, Library Thing, Google Docs. It's amazing to have so much storage for pictures and be able to access them from any computer at any time. Also, Library Thing will come in very handy as I keep track of every book I've ever read and actually remember that I did in fact read it and also see the summary I wrote about it. :) I do tend to forget as time goes by. Google calendar is something that I could use for organizing library events and available time slots, I believe Silver Creek already does this and it works well for them.

As I learned each new "thing" I realized that my job as a media clerk is changing steadily. It's not just about shelving books, checking books out, or finding that right book. It is now shaped around technology and how it can be used to attain information, present projects and collaborate with people around the world. This I would have to say is what was meaningful to me. Seeing how all of these tools shape how we can learn, interact and play was cool.

This PST experience was so overwhelming at first but with each new week I began to feel more at ease. I gained so much experience in such a small amount of time. These classes would benefit more than just media clerks and offering them to all teaching staff would be worthwhile. I'm definitely more at ease when dealing with "techie" staff members and feel I can now have a bit more valuable interaction time with my colleagues.

Thing #23 Expand Your Mind

Where to begin! I thoroughly enjoyed every class throughout this project. There were times when I thought I would definitely throw my hands up and not do another thing on the computer. I'm much better now and I can't thank Myra enough for all of her support and tons and tons of information she handed my way. We all could have easily gone on for another month.

My favorite part was creating my own blog page. It was fun to individualize "my space" as we went along and learned new things. Just learning this skill has made me feel much more at ease when talking about and reading blogs. I now have a new way to communicate and touch base with someone all the way around the world and learn new ideas.

Podcasting, wiki's and photo sites are just some of the projects I would like to try in the library. I plan on teaching someone over the summer everything that I've learned. Myra might be getting a few calls over the summer since I'm not the Web 2.0 guru she is.

Thanks for the wealth of information Myra!!!!

Thing #22 Your Cell Phone as a Tool

I'm not quite ready to jump on the bandwagon just yet. While there are some cool features and fun things to do I'm still old fashioned. There are a few reasons that it might be beneficial. Most students already own a cell phone, a cell phone is relatively cheap compared to other digital tools. Although, in order to be effective every cell phone would have to basically be the same and have all the same features. Text prices and viewing pictures could become costly and who would cover these fees?

Edutopia talked about a few cool tools. The Bluetooth dongle sounds like a fun tool. It allows wireless transfer from say a cell phone to a computer. At just $20 this is a fairly reasonable price. They also talked about using a laptop for just about everything. One person had the idea to put every textbook online and the student wouldn't have to carry around books and it would save a ton of money for the school. I can't really see the cost being better unless every student has a pc. If the school had to supply and upkeep that many laptops, ouch!

I'm not sure which way I sway on the effectiveness of these tools. I would probably be easily swayed if I saw all of these tools in action with classes doing hands on projects and they loved it!

Thing #21 Copyright & Freedom of Info

Every library should have a once a year class where they touch upon these issues. Bookmark a few sites, give the students a short project to work on and go over each one to decide if it's done correctly or not. This type of class could be covered in the English classes so everyone would take it.

There are a few teachers that have issues with copyright laws, mainly pertaining to videos/DVDs. I always cover my end by showing them the rules and let it go from there. In one ear and out the other.

The Creative Commons with Flickr is pretty cool. There's so much to cover as discussed in the guidelines that had been created to create at least a general rule of thumb to cover.

Thing #20 Social Networking

Okay, the verdict is still the same, I'm not crazy about social networking. In the correct setting with the safety rules strictly enforced it could be used in school. Teens are so naive and "out there" that they will post just about anything. I'm trying to be open minded and think about how this could really work.

My daughter asked if she could open a Myspace account. To this date I have said no. The problem comes into play that even if she is safe and follows rules it doesn't mean others will do the same about her space and pics. When I see people my age, married and posting on Myspace I have to ask "why". Are they bored, need some excitement, or just friendly and enjoying being able to visit with people all around the world.

This could probably be used in a class project with the teacher as the facilitator and communicating with people from another country. It would be very cool to see pictures and interact to learn cultures of certain areas.

Thing #19 Microblogging

I just finished joining Twitter.com and making my first post. I have to tell you it felt completely ridiculous to just throw something out there about what I just finished doing. Drinking morning coffee and doing laundry seems so normal and boring how can anyone be interested in that?? It seems that there isn't enough room to type anything worthwhile about work/ideas pertaining to my job. I just don't get it yet.

If anyone else has joined Twitter let me know so we can follow each other and be ridiculous together. I found Alice Yorks name since she was in my personal email contact list but that's the only one since I didn't use my work email. Oops, I should've done that. I will post more later after Twittering for a few days....

Thing #18 YouTube, TeacherTube, and user generated video

Thing #17 Award Winning Apps

I found a music site that seems a lot like iTunes but works a bit differently. It's called Last FM and you're able to search for music, tag it, and listen to it. The site will also send music to you that you might find pleasing according to your most recent music choices that you've listened to. Navigating the site still seems a bit of a problem for me, I haven't found out how every aspect of it works. The tagging shows up as it does in del.icio.us. (I think) I tagged a few songs under "daughtry" and it showed a ton of music that I didn't tag but I'm thinking maybe it pulled more in????

One of the classes this would be useful and fun to use in would be the history of rock and roll. If the instuctor wants to pull up a song he can do just about any that he wants. You can also get music videos.

http://www.last.fm/

Thing #16 Learning a Language

I can see myself using this tool. Italian would be GREAT, I agree with a few of you that commented about that. Although at this time I would probably use the Spanish language much more for the school setting I'm in. Italian would be for my trip to Italy that hasn't been scheduled yet...

I'm trying to think of how a foreign language instructor could actually use this tool. I'm not there yet. It seems to be a great way to review or keep refreshed on the Spanish that was learned forever ago, that would be me!

Thing #15 Audiobooks and eBooks

We dont' have any audiobooks or eBooks in our library. Because of this I'm not familiar with them at all. Gary absolutely loves them for personal use since he drives a ton. More to come.....

Thing #14 Podcasting

It took me about 45 minutes or more but I now have my own voki and my own voice. I have completely freaked out my girls and their cousin since they've never even seen a voki. They were impressed might I add. I was having a difficult time being able to post my voki into my message for this post. It was easier for me to add it to my sidebar, any suggestions on how to do this?

Once again, Silver Creek has great ideas. Lynn told me about a Spanish teacher that recorded her voice in Spanish and has her students log in to hear her give them an assignment. Talk about getting the students excited about an assignment, she's right on the mark there. They might have to pair up though, since I'm sure some don't have the technology to do this.

Thing #13 Experiment with Google Apps

I've tried two of the Google Apps, Calendar and iGoogle. The calendar is very cool, although you do have to sign in daily and have it minimized while working so you can get the reminders since it's not through Outlook. Although, I think I did see where you can merge it into an Outlook calendar. I'll have to dig deeper into that one. I do know that Silver Creek uses the calendar to schedule time slots for the library, she said she loves it. (this was the application right Lynn) I might have to take a peek at that one. I can hear the staff freaking out about that change.

http://www.google.com/ig?source=mpues&hl=en

Myra also introduced us to iGoogle two classes ago and it has great possibilities. I like the fact that there's quite a few "folders" across the top and a lot of room for adding "stuff" to my page. I want my page to be like Myra's. Myra, do you have a year to make mine like yours??? This page could actually be used in a classroom/library to get daily up to the minute RSS feeds so the students can investigate a certain topic of discussion. Fun stuff!

Thing #12 Open Source Applications

Pretty cool tool! Google docs is very similar to a wiki. The possibilities are pretty much the same in a sense that everyone can edit without a ton of email bogging down your system. All that you invite is in on the editing process so it's much easier to get the end result. I created a document titled Google docs. I typed it up and tried posting it directly to my blog, that didn't happen. I'm not sure exactly where it went.

Google docs definitely is a good backup that students can use for saving documents instead of trying to email and then not be able to open it up. It also gets lost in translation when using email. I don't think it would ever completely replace usb thumb drives because if the internet is down you wouldn't be able to retrieve the document you need to edit. I think. Anyway, open source applications are definitely something I would use personally and recommend for students as well because of the cost and reliability.

Thing #11 Wikis

Wikis are fun. There are many possibilities for wikis to be used in a secondary library with the students and staff. What a great way to make the students accountable for what they write and publish. No plagiarism, need to be creative, collaborate with other peers. Administrators can use this on many levels with the staff. Get some ideas rolling with a specific idea, organize before a staff meeting actually meets.

Thing #10 Photos

I changed the color in this photo with Flickr editing tools.

It takes quite some time to upload, edit, and then upload again. I'm still getting used to the process for all of these features. We've talked about this quite a bit in class. The more you practice the easier it gets. I took a week and a half off and now I'm paying for it :) My goal is to keep at it so that I can be more valuable to my students by being able to upload, crop and edit with the best of them. Okay, at least with the so-so best of them.

Thing #9 Technology

I had to rack my brain to come up with something related to technology that I liked or thought was helpful. The parlant call-home system is so useful for parents and teachers (K-12 Planet). I'm always reminded of upcoming events, when my daughters do well on a test, or if they've been up to no good by ditching. If I ever hear the word son or daughter and unexcused in the same sentence on my answering machine there's going to be some trouble!

I'm not exactly sure how the system works, but I do see Gary and some of the other teachers accessing the system and leaving messages that will be sent home. We've come a long way with the attendance process and grading systems. Although there are enough kinks in the current SMS system to make 50 teachers in one building pull their hair out...

Library Work

DSCF0124
Originally uploaded by johnnifer

Students hard at work in my school library. They aren't as on task as they look!

Thing #8 Library Thing

Book lovers rejoice. A place to store every single book ever read. What's not to love about this site. I can see it being useful for library book talks, referencing books on your library homepage, and classroom reference use for books on a certain subject. I'm trying to think back to the books I read last year and my brain won't even go there! This would've been a great tool to keep me organized and updated with summaries right along with the titles. The deeper I get into Web 2.0 the more I like. The tough part would have to be all of the passwords needed for every single place you go. How about a site that organizes my passwords so I only have to remember one and then look up the rest. I'll definitely try my best to use Library Thing to keep me on track with all of my faves.

Thing #7 Social Networking

This site can become a very valuable tool. The amount of information that I can store on this site is pretty amazing. I also love the way you can organize and have many different pages under one title. I started taking tags from Myra's page and it's an endless job. At this rate I should finish up by the end of the school year. For me this is a useful place to go in and find some pretty cool stuff I can use for reference. I can tag all of the Flickr tools and hints, student tools, teacher tools, etc... It's a great goto place to keep track of all my STUFF! It'll keep me from trying to remember that last cool place I found on the internet that my students might love.

http://del.icio.us/jennu

Thing # 6 Image Generators

Now this is fun! I decided Nick needed a change, he was looking tired and rundown. I used the Generator Blog site to have some fun with hairdos and photos. http://www.hairmixer.com/ I probably should've kept Nick as a male but what the hay.

All kidding aside, sites as this one would have the students enthralled for hours. They could be used with powerpoint projects, art projects, etc... Students just love to be creative and put their own stamp on work. Adding titles to certain objects, charts with pictures... There are so many different tools to use I can hardly believe it, I had no idea. I just finished checking Myra's image generator blog and I'm jealous. I'm off to find another!

Thing #5 Flickr

Who doesn't love looking at photos!! I think this is a great site and a wonderful tool for students to use instead of google images. I did manage to upload three photos into my account and add titles for them. I'm still trying to figure out the blogging tool to add images to my post??? Myra mentioned that there's a tool in Blogger also. The only thing I found was clicking on the photo icon when I'm typing a post and it says to upload image.
I was talking with someone about Flickr and she asked where the pictures go. I just shrugged my shoulders because I haven't a clue. They're floating in no man's land, right alongside my brain. Anyway, here's the shot I'm sharing with all. I'm just posting the link and hopefully it's all good! http://www.flickr.com/photos/23323616@N07/2231819388/#preview
I'm sure someone will tell me if I've choked on this task and they can't open the link.

Thing #4 Technorati

I'm finally getting to it. I trailed just a little bit behind everybody here. I really don't have much to say about Technorati. It's a TON of blogged information on EVERYTHING. One thing I noticed was that really anything can be posted, language and all. I'm clueless on how tagging works with this site. I'm questioning whether or not the small amount of information that's published is worthwhile for our students. But then again when you compare it to the World Book Online Database, you only get little "blips" of information and it doesn't come in huge quantities. Myra will still need to work with me on this one.

Thing #3 RSS

Really Simple Syndication, I'm going to have to type that over and over to make it stick in my head. What a concept for the world of blogging. I completely agree with Lynn about the organizational part of RSS. I too need an organized slate and too much information out there flowing at me will slow me down.

I love the fact that I can do searches on anything from astronomy to zoos and pick and choose the info I want coming in to my world.

I noted the comment on Penny's blog that talked about the online predators and such. I've been sheltering my children from the internet and using it only for research. They aren't as tech savvy as their peers. There's this feeling that I'm actually hurting their chances of being computer literate alongside their fast paced computer generation. After starting this class and learning about different ways to attain information, I'd love to show them how to maneuver through it as well since they aren't learning this type of tech info at their schools. How fun for them to do research through blogging and RSS feeds.

Thing #2-Blogging

I think I'm on a roll. I've made a few posts, successfully loaded a picture to my profile and I still have my sanity. Although it did take about three hours. This will more than likely change come next Wednesday. 2.0 is sure to open many doors for me. For one thing, I won't feel so absolutely lost when people around me talk2.0 lingo. Gary might finally be able to understand me when I ask him a "tech" question, it's usually in my own language. I get the names of the cords, databases and equipment all mixed up.

Being able to relate to the patrons and the projects they're working on will be a big start. It would be a lot of fun to set-up a book club and everyone talks about the book via blogging.

Thing #1

I agree with Rick Anderson. Libraries can no longer wait around for patrons to utilize them. We have to get creative to bring the patrons to us. Just having books isn't going to cut it anymore. Web 2.0 allows the creativity to flow in new ways. It's about connecting with the "techie" generation. There's so much information at our fingertips, and this is the first step for me to figure out what to do with it.

Go Clerks!

Here we go Myra, keep as much of your hair as possible while working with us.