Sunday, March 16, 2008

Week 9--Thing 23--Reflection

Thanks, MSLA, for offering this workshop, and CSLA for making it possible. Without actually trying out the new technologies it's impossible to see how they'll work in our various settings. Without this sort of experience few of us are likely to try. It was a surprise to find that some "things" I'd imagined would be a good fit weren't, and others I hadn't considered or known about are very useful. Tagging, for example. I find myself liking it more and more, and am convinced it will change traditional library subject heading. At the very least, it lets users organize the Internet. In the surprisingly less useful category, I never warmed up to image generating, though it's a lot of fun. It's the kind of thing I would have loved several years ago. In my world now, teachers--and librarians--don't have time for this kind of extra. Maybe this will change...

Favorite discoveries were: setting up wikis, blogs, RSS feeds and news feeds, as well as the podcasting info. Without the necessity of continuing along the nine weeks I would not have explored all it had to offer. I can honestly say I probably would have only learned something about wikis and podcasting. I'd be in the dark (still) about del.icio.us, RSS feeds and LibraryThing and various other things in this class that I've been exposed to but haven't gotten around to trying.

We librarians are expected to be leaders, and the 23 Things has provided us with leadership opportunites in a very dynamic, fluid environment. There were times these last 9 weeks when the technology didn't work the way I'd anticipated or wanted, so I had to figure my work-arounds by myself. That experience will help learning the next new thing that comes along.

Week 9--Thing 22--eBooks

I love audiobooks. I once took a kitchen stove apart and cleaned every crevice because I wouldn't stop listening to One Hundred Secret Senses. I'm not as big a fan of reading books electronically, except for people with visual impairment. Eyestrain and physical comfort--the ergonomics of reading on a machine for long stretches--are my reasons. However, as librarians, we're here to serve, and there is an eBook audience.

The School Library Learning 2.0 resources for eBooks and Audio eBooks are terrific, especially the free sites. I'll be able to share these with staff and parents, through our newsletter. Teachers in my elementary school are not likely to make much use of eBooks, but we have a collection of audiobooks tied to our core literature list. With the technology moving away from cassettes and towards MP3 technology, these are useful resources.

Naturally, copyright laws protect publishers and writers of current material, so we're considering either subscription sites such as audible.com or technology such as Follett's Playaway. A small percentage of our students are likely to tackle the classics available for free either in eBook or Audio eBook form, but with summer travel ahead of us, I can provide these lists to students and parents this spring for some great summer listening.

Week 9--Thing 21--Podcasting

Some people would argue that what we are calling podcasting isn't, really, podcasting. I'm told that true podcasting primarily involves RSS feeds of serialized content--NPR's "This American Life", for example. It is rarely, if ever, interactive. Only the geekiest technophiles care. Fact is, podcasting is fun, cool, just tekkie enough to be interesting, but easy to learn. It can be done with students in the earliest grades, and done by students as soon as they are old enough to start remembering steps without a lot of coaching.

Podcasting is just the newest way to record student work. We've been doing this since the '70s with cassette and video tapes. The added dimension is putting podcasts on the Web and letting the relatives in Kalamazoo hear the show. Or, being able to download the podcast onto an MP3 player and play it over and over. Which is why it's so good for teaching. On this blog I've linked to our district's junior high school podcasts, Tantasqua News Network, with some good examples. An innovative teacher is showing how podcasting--and the video version, vodcasting--can be used as a teaching/learning tool. Students can download the material as end users, or or make podcasts to demonstrate learning. Either way, its appealing and authentic. This is schoolwork kids want to do.

Later this month I'll be working with my first group of student podcasts. The fifth graders are doing their background research now, on topics they chose, and will be writing their scripts soon. I have just enough time to finishing learning and practicing the skill set so I can teach it to them :)

Sunday, March 9, 2008

Week 9--Thing 20--YouTube

I love YouTube, but I have to love it at home. Bandwidth and other issues at the high school have blocked it in our district. Someday we'll have different internet access profiles.

One of the early things I saw on YouTube were the Potter Puppet Pals. Here's The Mysterious Ticking Noise. It's funny in a way that grim things are funny these days.

Week 8--Thing 19--LibraryThing

A bibliophile's delight. Milllions of books and thoughts about books, with the chance to share and discuss one's faves. LibraryThing is easy to set up and operate, easy to link to this blog.

All but one of the books I entered in my library were contained in someone else's library. I purposely put in at least one "odd" title, to see how the site would handle it. It found the "cataloging" for the book, but no one else appears to have it. It was astonishing to see how many Jane Austen lovers there are, and how strongly opinioned.

This is clearly not a children's site, as the list contents prove. Very few children's things visible. I'm not counting the widely read Harry Potter. This wouldn't, therefore, be useful for my students, although teachers might enjoy it.

Love the Zeitgeist stuff, especially learning I'd read most of the 25 most reviewed books. Having read the entire J.K. Rowling ouevre helps. Like the links to authors in LibraryThing, and the list of favorite authors. It's troubling to see the 50 lowest-rated authors. Seems a bit snarky and pointless. Would be interested in another view.

This is a good tool for any teen-age and older book lover. It has (uppper grade) classroom as well as social appeal. I can easily see English teachers finding ways to use LibraryThing.

Week 8--Thing 18: Zoho

Trying out Zoho for the second time. Accidentally deleted the first attempt in Preview. Watch out for the Revert button.

Happily, blogger let me paste my test text into the blog, so two birds, one stone, etc., etc.

The learning curve is manageable. Anyone familiar with Word will be able to adapt easily.

The offline option requires installation of Google Gears, currently in Beta version only. Right now it only runs on Firefox, according to what I read, though it's available for Mac 10.2 and up, Windows, Windows Mobile and Linux, so it has broad platform accessibility.

The toolbar is clean, compact, and user-friendly. So far I'm finding the word processor to offer most of the most-used functions.

The sharing features look like they'll support collaborative projects well. Student group work should benefit tremendously. This is very 2.0!

The spellcheck works, though anyone wedded to Word's automatic underlining will have to switch to the "old fashioned" manual spell check method. I haven't found a grammar check yet. It it's not there, some people will either skip it, or want to copy and past their work into Word for that option. It does paste into Word.

The tagging feature is brilliant. Persons using Zoho who tag regularly will be able to find their documents easily.

The spreadsheet function is easy for me to use. I'm a basic spreadsheet user, anyway, not needing the higher calculation functions for most of what I do. An interesting test would be to see if I could use this program when importing student files from the office, which I currently do through Excel and a flash drive.

I miss the keyboard command shortcuts I get with an installed program. Everything seems to be controlled from the toolbar.

I didn't spend a lot of time with the presentation tool, but it looks okay, except I couldn't find a help section in the time I had to experiment with this. I couldn't see how to import a picture into my test show, and had to give up. I found a demo of the program on a separate page, but that didn't help while I was working on the test slide. Consequently, I won't recommend this to a beginner. ZohoShow accepts presentations from PowerPoint and OpenOffice, which is a clever way to get OpenOffice users to migrate to Zoho. My experiences with OpenOffice on the Mac have not been pretty.

All in all, Zoho has a lot to offer. Collaboration projects, tight budgets, 2.0 afficionados will all like this.

Major drawbacks are two-fold. Being web-based, Internet access is a factor. Then, there is the nagging feeling I always carry concerning any tool--email especially--that is so accessible to the world at large. I have issues with Gmail's archiving practices (see my earlier blog post), and I think Zoho may fall into the same category. Privacy is important, and I am not at all convinced that any of these tools are very secure. So, while it has a lot to offer, bottom line isI would use this tool cautiously.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Week 7--Thing 17--Sandbox

Followed Kathy's advice and posted a comment in the Library 2.0 sandbox. It's fun to read the other comments. The MSLA stuff seemed to be at the bottom, which is where I posted.

Week 7--Thing 16--Wikis

The Wiki idea of user-created information sources is terrific. I especially liked the high school wikis, where students can both access content and provide feedback.

Wikis are great for any group that benefits from a virtual message board and the like.

About half our sixth graders use Wikipedia. As an exercise to teach how Wikipedia works, I had several classes collaborate on two articles. I cleaned up the writing for the first one to conform to Wikipedia's style. It is still on the website. We posted the second article without my edits, leaving in all the young adolescent opinion language, and Wikipedia pulled it down within 15 minutes. Now the students think Wikipedia is boring, but they understand that just because "anyone" can write to it, no one can write just anything. I couldn't have planned it better myself.

Week 6--Thing 15--2.0 and the Future of Libraries

Hurrah for Thing 15, which asks us to consider and blog about what we've probably been mulling for the past 14 Things. Libraries have to stay relevant or shut down. OCLC's Rick Anderson has it right in "Away from Icebergs" when he says that "it no longer makes sense to collect information products as if they were hard to get." I'm right there with him when he says we have to "find new ways to bring our services to patrons rather than insisting that they come to us—whether physically or virtually." Michael Stephens explores this in "Into a New World of Librarianship", where he describes the contemporary librarian as someone who designs programs and services in response to user needs. Of course libraries and librarians have been doing this for a long, long time. One of the arguments, described in the Wikipedia article, makes the case that many of the pillars of Library 2.0 procedures are nothing new. What is new is the way people both use and access the Internet--and by extension information. Libraries are in competition with computers, cell phones and whatever comes next.

Here's where the role of the school librarian is pivotal. Rick Anderson says that libraries are poorly equipped for teaching the new technologies, so it's up to libraries to eliminate the barriers between people and information. With all due respect, I doubt he's spent time in an educational setting watching students evaluate information--or not. Information alone will not provide our civilization with the tools it needs to meet the future. We need the skills to weigh and evaluate, and these skills must be taught--often in a school library.

In the words of that old Girl Scout song, "Make new friends but keep the old. One is silver and the other gold."

Week 6--Thing 14--Technorati

Before I get to the part about my discoveries on Technorati, here's a link to something I found there, , in which the author first blogs about the olden days of library research (pain and torment, and too little information) then points out the contemporary pain and torment of too much information. Amen to that. He goes on to deliver an eloquent description of why RSS feeds are so very useful (the information comes to him), and drops the statement that even his (young-ish) friends don't know how. He kindly offers a tutorial. So, Web 2.0 librarians, we ain't behind the 8-ball yet.

Technorati is another terrific mall-like website: something for everyone and thousands of choices. But like a mall, it's easy to be distracted and side-tracked, and I have a hard time (yet again) seeing how it can be useful professionally in my elementary school. I can't see that the results will be worth the effort of teaching this tool when there are simpler ways of getting at the information. Children just want to find the information they need and move on. I noticed that some of the same sites and blogs popped up when I searched for School Library Learning 2.0 in different places (blog posts and tags). That lent authenticity to the process, and the value of the sites. I find two things very annoying. One are the ads, and the second is the peculiarities of searching in Technorati. I get cranky having to re-learn search protocols.

I'm going to like tagging--for the most part. It's authentic and quick. But, there are students who are more comfortable learning and applying a concrete set of rules. Tagging may not work for them.

Week 6--Thing 13, Tagging and de.licio.us

Tagging makes sense. If people are to take control of their own learning, why shouldn't they be able to construct their own subject headings? It fits right in with teaching to learning styles. I can even see book publishers using common tags in future subject indexes.

De.licio.us strikes me as a marvelous mashup of sorts: oodles of interesting sites to explore, reader comments to consider, tagging opportunities galore, and the opportunity to join in the fun and send all my bookmarks to one spot. This is a tool for secondary students and motivated teachers. People with a lot of internet experience, drive, and time on their hands. I got lost, actually, as in a great museum or the Brimfield Flea Market. I'll be looking for ways to use de.licio.us in my elementary school, but so far haven't seen how. We are very comfortable using teacher-directed Internet searching. Anyone have any ideas?

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Week 5--Thing 12--Rollyo

Rollyo looks like an excellent tool. It's easy to make and install just about anywhere, even on a Firefox banner. Even on this blog! Check it out. I made one on a common elementary school theme--animal studies. I'm eager to share this with our computer specialist to see if this is something we can use instead of Google.

Week 5, Thing 11--Web 2.0 Awards

The Lulu site is an easy-to-navigate self-publishing tool. Formats are available for cookbooks, dissertations, paperbacks, hardcovers, children's books, manuals and more. Also available are a variety of "photo creations", including wedding and other albums. Have an old book you want scanned? Lulu can. (Better check copyright permissions.) Need a grip on your digital music and images? Lulu offers solutions. All of this comes at a price, of course. Small and large print runs available. Best of all, no rejection letters!

Friday, February 22, 2008

Week 5, Thing 10--Image Generators

After a long time browsing the image generating world, I found something I could use in my computer lab. But the host site server was overloaded, so more time elapsed, and I can't show it yet. At this point I'm unimpressed with image generating freeware. I can use my time more productively elsewhere. At least, I now have some understanding of what this is.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Week 4, Thing 9--Blogs and News Feeds

I used Blogline's tools to get set up, then cruised around some favorite sites, adding blogs that I've been reading for awhile, anyway. I played around with several of the suggested blog search tools (Technorati, the Edublog Awards) and several school library blogs. But, I realize that getting into heavy blog reading requires a change of habit. Now that I know how to add blogs to my Blogline account, I'll make those changes as they come along, and not just for the sake of practicing new skills and filling space with blogs I'll have to delete later.

Week 4, Thing 8--RSS Feeds

RSS feeds are going to save a lot of time. It's good to have the "daily news" posted in one place, rather than having to jump all around my admittedly messy bookmark set(s). I see this also as a much more efficient use of the Internet as information source. It focuses the reader on main interest topics, and diminishing the amount of time wasted on eye-catching fluff. Sometimes that's fun--even edifying--but I've wasted a lot of time randomly reading the internet.

Having recently read a sobering piece on Google's (lack of) privacy policy (http://www.gmail-is-too-creepy.com/), I'm staying away from any Google RSS tools, and reconsidering how I use my gmail account--and yours.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Week 3, Thing 7 Thoughts

I'm able to use technology in more ways in my personal life than in the library. This keeps me on top of the game in school--good--but also illustrates the empowerment gap--not good. Time and $$$$$ usually stand in the way in school.

Favorite technology at school, for kids: Internet and word processing. Freeware is leveling the playing field regarding the expense of software. Word processing forces students to focus, concentrate and remember (keyboarding). These are skills students seem to be having more difficulty with these days. Using the internet in the library is wonderful for modeling and teaching good evaluation practices.

Favorite technology at school, with adults: email, followed by email. Communication is everything.

Personal favorite technology right now: Internet (I call her Gladys, as in "Let's ask Gladys where to find the best, affordable HDTV before the Super Bowl starts."). Love digital cameras. Made a 12-month family photo calendar for my elderly mother for Xmas. She declared it her favorite present. (Awwww.) Love just about anything Apple. "Read" myself to sleep at night with a book on my iPod, which I've taken to China--twice. Yes, you can recharge it--with the right adaptors--on Chinese current. Like cell phones, but don't love how people use them in public. Received a portable GPS for the holidays. Plan to go geocaching when the weather clears, but for now am following those little voice directions around Boston. Can't do without an electronic tuner for the mandolin. Makes tuning 8 strings waaaaaaay easier. Finally, also received a Roomba for Xmas. The little thing is so industrious and does a good job, wouldn't ya know. So easy EVERYONE can use it, which is really the point. Best of all, it frees up time to spend on other technology :)

The downside of all of this? Energy consumption and techno trash.

Sunday, January 27, 2008

Week 3, Thing 5--Flickr

Flickr is amazing. I've been toying with it for years, but with these 2.0 activities, I have a direction and reason to explore the many tools and features. That's why we're doing this, n'est ce pas? I love: linking flickr to my blog; the tagging feature, both to set tags and search by tag; montager; 1001--especially for photos posted by flickr-happy friends. Mappr looks interesting, but will take awhile to actually figure out--maybe it's just me, and the late hour when I was playing with it. But, a cautionary note: there's a lot of commentary on flickr photos aimed at an older audience, not to mention questionable content. When considering using flickr in school (k-6), I get mental images of picking my way through slushy streets wearing new shoes.

Wow

Cool Bus at MIR
Cool Bus at MIR,
originally uploaded by mtoleric.
Every schoolchild's dream.

Week 3, Thing 5

District School - OSV00130
District School - OSV00130,
originally uploaded by hammerron.
Searching flickr by tags led me to this picture of an 1830s one room schoolhouse at Old Sturbridge Village, near where I teach. I guess I like it as a reminder of how far we've come.

Saturday, January 26, 2008

Week 3, Thing 5

I'm exploring flickr--and our School Library Learning 2.0 blogs--and couldn't stop myself from playing two weeks early.

Breaking News! (Week 3, Thing 6)

personalized greetings

Monday, January 21, 2008

Week 2, Thing 4

Okay, so I messed up a little with the registering thing, but got it now. I love how learning new things, especially technology tools, makes me feel like a kid. You know, that one in the back of the room who doesn't raise her hand much. SHE's the one I teach to.

Week 2, Thing 3

My first blog, so there were software dance-steps to learn. I'm not entirely comfortable with public journaling. I read 'em, but write one???? Is this ego? Modesty? A generational thing? Would love to discuss this over coffee with the group. Loved making the avatar. Love the whole avatar idea. A posse of one in cyberspace. Or more than one, for that matter.

Week 1, Thing 2

Of the 7 1/2 habits, it's the 1/2 I stumble on most often. At this stage, I'm working--no, playing--on putting more play into my work.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Weeks 1 & 2

This blogging thing will be fun, now that I'm getting the hang of it. The appeal is certainly evident. Nothing like doing a thing to understanding how it works.

Oh

Never mind.

First Post

Why isn't this working like it's supposed to?