Reflection, the Final Assignment

Wow...eleven weeks of 1.5 hour classes, hours of homework, lots of hair pulling computer frustration, lots of laughs and "HOW DO YOU DO THAT" conversations with fellow media clerks and now I am typing my final reflection for this class that I was afraid to start. I have gone from square one of "what is blogging all about" to having confidence with navigating at least 23 "things" on Web 2.0, the Read/Write web, an interaction of information flowing back & forth.

Did the instructor cover the content adequately?

Myra was an excellent teacher and encourager to all of us (media clerks) in this class. She was always very well prepared and experienced in all of these Web 2.0 applications. A+ to Myra!

Did the class meet your expectations?

The 25 hours of class time and probably about 50 hours of homework, more than met my expectations for this LIBRARY LEARNING 2.0 for MEDIA CLERKS.

What were your favorite discoveries?

Some of my favorite "things" were exploring Flickr, a popular image hosting site, Library Thing, a way to catalog your favorite books on line, then various image generators, and learning about wikis. These discoveries are all tools that can be used daily in the media center.

Probably the most valuable tool that we all worked on as a group was our Media Clerk wiki. We each were assigned one or more of our job tasks and asked to compile a job description for that task. This tool can be used by any of the clerks as a reference to a particular task that they may have a question on. Also, our district media manager can use this compiled job description when talking to human resources about classifications and pay scales.

How will I apply what I have learned?

The students that come in to the media center constantly keep me challenged on what is out there on the Internet. I have so much more confidence about Web 2.0 things now! I may not have all of the answers and be totally proficient in an application, but at least now I know the lingo, have some Web 2.0 knowledge on how to find these web tools, and can usually help guide the student in the right direction! The students will keep me accountable!

Would I do the class again?

YES! I think the 2nd time around would be so much more relaxing and the information would sink in better! Learning and applying 23 new applications in an 11 week period seemed overwhelming at times.

What is the most important thing that you learned about yourself and working with your Personal Learning Network?

I learned that I can still absorb new information and not feel "outdated"!!

I think the best part about this class was that I got to know 12 other media clerks from this district. We got frustrated together, laughed, shared ideas, encouraged one another and really pulled together as a team of professionals for the media clerk wiki job description. It was neat to spend 11 weeks with a group of gals that all had the same type of job. We were constantly bouncing ideas off of each other of what worked in a library and what didn't, how were we going to use some of these Web 2.0 tools, etc. A wonderful experience!

What would you suggest for another topic for a Professional Study Team?

I think that we could take any of the 23 "things" from this Web 2.0 class and spend more time on them. A 1-2 week class on several "things" would just reinforce this 11 week class that was mainly an overview of the hundreds of Web 2.0 free tools that are available.

Myra continually challenged all of us to keep learning these new technology tools that are available on the Internet for free!

The journey continues.....

Thing #23 Expand your Mind

Expand your mind! Wow...my mind has really been expanded over the past 11 weeks of Web 2.0 classes!

Atomic Learning is an excellent program provided by our district for use to all of our district employees, students and their families. I hope that everyone in our district learns to take advantage of this awesome program. I am a visual learner so this site is very valuable to me! You watch a short 1-2 minute video on a particular topic for a Mac or PC. I watched the power point 2007 office video to see what tips I could learn so I could be of more help to students in the media center. A lot of teachers are requiring the students to do a power point presentation vs. a poster board for their projects.

Atomic Learning has a video for about every computer application you would need!

Office of Professional Development in our district "promotes continuous staff learning and reflection". This office offers classes for certified and classified staff. Class catalogs are available in the Winter/Spring, Summer and the Fall. Staff is able to view their personal transcript online and see their progress. So far, the 75 hours of classes that I have taken have been very useful to my work in the district. This class has been my absolute favorite! It has been the hardest and most work, but the most beneficial in my learning journey!

Thing #22 Your Cellphone as a Tool

AT&T BlackBerry® Pearl

Cellphones are owned by a large percentage of our population these days! Some families are choosing to eliminate their home phone land line and buy cellphones for all family members. You can own a "free" phone that may be offered with your calling plan or you may chose to purchase a more expensive phone like the popular BlackBerry® Pearl.

Some of the common uses of cellphones are:

• digital camera/camcorder
• text messaging/social networking
• mobile Web pages
• multimedia capabilities/emailing
• calculator/tip calculator
• mobile photo sharing
• podcasting/MP3

Can cellphones be used in the classroom? Currently, our school's policy is for students to turn off their cellphones while in the classroom and in the media center. I think that eventually almost all students will own a cellphone and they will be allowed to use their phones for some projects during class time. (i.e. podcasting, research on the web)

Teach Digital: Curriculum by Wes Fryer is a great site to check out various options of what teachers can do in the classroom with the cellphone.

Safety and etiquette should always remain a concern in the classrooms!

Thing #21 Copyright & Freedom of Information

Copyright for Teachers and School Librarians is a quick resource to many frequently asked questions about the usage of information.

The easy and quick access to information on the world wide web gives you the sense that this media is up for grabs by anyone. Teachers and students need to remember that we still need to cite authors and sources for all of our acquired facts. When we are accessing information via the web, we don't have a hard copy of a book in front of us listing the author and publisher, so we tend to assume that this Internet information does not have to be cited. WRONG! We need to acknowledge all sources for Internet photos and information and record them on our posters, reports, and power points.

Thing #20 Social Networking

Myspace and Facebook are very popular among teenagers. These two social networking sites can become very addictive. Students can hardly wait to see what their friends have posted on each others sites. Most teenagers that I know use Myspace vs. email to communicate with each other.

Safety needs to be a NUMBER ONE priority when using a social networking site. Every user should be careful when setting up their personal profile. You should not publicly post any identifiers such as your full name, your school, email or street address or city.

I did explore a variety of online social networks. I liked the Denver Public Library Myspace site. If you would give teenagers an option to check out a Myspace library site or a basic library website, Myspace would probably get the most hits, even though you may have the same information on both sites. Myspace has a huge draw to the teenagers! Within this Denver Public Library Myspace site, you can see what activities are taking place, homework help, search for books, movies and music, use databases within the site and you can post to a blog.

If media centers want to stay connected with their students, we may need to utilize the Myspace site for our postings of school media center information.

Thing #19 Microblogging with Twitter

Twitter is a simple way to communicate with your friends using very short (micro) posts about your everyday thoughts and activities. You have to stay under 140 characters so you need to be brief! Clive Thompson had an article about "How Twitter Creates a Social 6th Sense". He said that most users are between 18-27 years old. Thompson suggests that you need to personally experience this Twitter craze by trying it and doing it with friends.

How could Twitter be used in the library setting? I'm not sure that Twitter would be a good use of student time and district network time. It looks like a social network of personal events vs. a tool for doing research.

Personally, I think you need to have a lot of time on your hands to want to read all of the details about other people, even if they are your friends!

Thing #18 TeacherTube, YouTube and User-Generated Video

There are a lot of good 2-3 minute videos on TeacherTube! The one that I chose for my blog was "How Not to use PowerPoint". It is funny and very informative on some do's and don'ts when making a PowerPoint. This particular video How Not to Use PowerPoint would be good to have on the library website for students to see as a quick review before diving into their project.

Thing #17 Explore Web 2.0 Award Winning Apps

I am so impressed with Myra's class. After exploring various award winning Web 2.0 applications, I think that she has picked the most user friendly and useful applications for us to learn!

I tried using Yelp to see if the city guides and reviews would be helpful for a 6th grade social studies unit at our school. It was geared for the tourist vs. any real educational city information. Then I tried using Rollyo. This site allows you to build your own search engine. I personally prefer the del.icio.us account that Myra introduced us to earlier in this class. With the del.icio.us account you mark your favorite sites through this Internet tool vs. just adding favorites to every computer that you use.

Next I explored Farecast. This site offers free predictions on the possibility that fares will rise, or wait to purchase your ticket because fares will drop. You can set up fare alerts or get predictions to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean! I think that a lot of people would use this application for their family vacation plans or a college student flying back and forth for winter and spring breaks, etc. This tool seemed user friendly and fun!

Swivel was another fun Web 2.0 tool. This site had endless charts and graphs in all kinds of designs. This site could be useful to students working with a lot of data.

Newsvine hooked you up to all of the top newspapers and headlines in the United States. It also gave you the local weather for your city! This site would be useful to students who needed a quick way to stay on top of current events.

Medstory is the Web 2.0 tool that I will demonstrate at our next class. Our health class and some of the science classes are always doing research on various health issues. It is hard to keep up with current nonfiction books, so the Internet seems to be the most up to date source of information for the students to use. This site complements www.WebMd.com that the students use a lot for their projects at our school. Medstory has you search a topic, then breaks that down into 8 different headings with numerous listings under each heading to refine your search.

This was a fun Thing #17 to explore!

Thing #16 Learning a Language

LiveMocha.com was introduced to the web in September 2007 according to a New York Times article Learning from a Native Speaker Without Leaving Home.

I was amazed that there had already been over 200,000 users on this site in six months! LiveMocha is a social network using native speakers to help other people wanting to learn their language.

I set up an account on LiveMocha and was impressed that there were four different levels of Spanish lessons that I could try immediately. I think that I need Spanish 101, little or no exposure to the language! The lessons are self-paced. There are three sections with the lessons, learn, practice and share. Within minutes of being on this site I had someone asking if they could IM me! I am going to talk to our Spanish teachers at our school and see if they are aware of this site.

Thing #15 Audiobooks and eBooks

I was amazed at how many audiobook and ebook download sites there were to explore. There are many free download sites available.

"Pride and Prejudice" is a classic novel by Jane Austen that is a required summer reading for the 9th grade honors class. If the student is having a difficult time understanding the book or "getting into" the book, hearing it via an audiobook might be a good way to get them interested in the book. Check out "Pride and Prejudice" on the Online Books Page. This site also gives supplementary information to the reader/listener. There are links to themes, lists of characters, etc. which provide valuable insight to help the reader understand the book better.

My daughter recently read "Treasure Island" for a language arts assignment. She had a hard time getting interested in this book. I found the free audio book on Free Classic Audio Books. I wish that I would have discovered this sooner! I think that she might have enjoyed the book better if she could have listened and followed along to some of the chapters.

I think that there will always be a need for the hard copy of a book! Too many people like myself have a book in hand while waiting at the doctors office and waiting in the carpool line. I like to be able to pick up a book and read a chapter in a quick amount of time. The audiobooks are great for long trips or walking on the treadmill!

Thing #14 Podcasting

Podcasting is a means of distributing audio content over the Internet, usually via RSS (Really Simply Syndication). I listened to a podcast from SirsiDynix Institute with Greg Schwartz, the supervisor of Electronic Services at the Louisville Free Public Library. He said that you can subscribe to feeds with topics of your interests and be alerted when there is a new podcast available. You can customize and personalize exactly what podcast you want to listen to and you can control when you want to listen to it!

A teacher at LYMDSR was going to have her students listen to a particular podcast for a class assignment. The students can download the podcast to their ipod and listen to it at their convenience. Another option is to listen to the podcast right at your computer. You can play a podcast over and over again, stop and start it, etc. You don't have to turn on your radio at the exact time to listen to a broadcast!

I explored some of the podcast directories. I personally liked Findpodcasts the best. It listed categories and then various titles. It indicated how many hits each title had.

Thing #13 Experiment with Google Apps

iGoogle is one of the products available under Google Applications.

iGoogle is so easy to use and customize to your own interests. I have set up an iGoogle home page for myself. A few of the links that I have showing on my page are:

• Longmont weather and time
• Top stories
  
• Mapquest
  
• fitness tip of the day
• places to see before you die!

Then I have several tabs within my home page. Under each tab I have customized a page with 5-10 sites for that subject. For example "Book Reviews" tab. Under the tab I have a direct link to Amazon, Google, New York Review, Book Lovers Guide, new book releases, popular books of the hour, etc.

iGoogle can be accessed from any computer because it is online vs. just on your particular desktop. You do need to have a Google account (which is free) before you can use any of the Google application products.

There are about 24 different products that you can use under Google Applications. I did experiment with the Book Search. I am a visual person so I like to see the covers of a book. I entered "Science Fiction" and it shows the book covers for this genre. I recognized some of the covers that we have in our library and didn't realize that they were in the science fiction category. The next time that a student comes in the library asking for a science fiction book, I know several more that I can show them now!

The Book Search was OK, but I like my own customized Book Review tab under iGoogle better.


A fun gadget that you might want to add to your iGoogle page would be myrecipes.com
Do you ever get home from work and need a quick meal idea? You can go to your iGoogle page, quickly check the headlines, weather, and search for a recipe in just a matter of minutes vs. opening up each website.

The iGoogle application could be used in a library for students to have a quick link to the top news, book reviews, technology news, etc.

Thing #12 Open Source Applications

Google Docs is an example of a web based application that is an open source software. You do not have to install the application on your desktop, it can be accessed and used from any computer around the world! I think that the neatest feature is that multiple people can make revisions to your document online and you do not have to email everyone with an attachment! You can keep track of which version has the latest revisions because there is only one copy and that is ONLINE! You can also control who you want to see and edit your document.

I experimented with the Google Docs spreadsheet. It took a few minutes to familiarize myself with the different tool bar, but basically it works the same as the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I think that there are fewer tool bar options on Google Docs, which might make it even easier to use than Excel.

A possible practical application for the district media clerks might be to post your schools actual dollar and quantity purchase amount for fiction and nonfiction books on a Google docs spreadsheet. Holli at DMS would be able to use this as a comparison of funding when talking with principals. Another use might be to keep your own schools expenses online (without viewers) vs. using Excel on Citrix. See my example spreadsheet.





Zoho Writer is another example of an open source word processor application. It has many of the same features as Google Docs. You can share documents online and you do not have to email and use attachments. I spent more time playing around with Google Docs for this assignment.

Thing #11 Wikis

Wiki = quick in Hawaiian!

Here are some of the things that I learned about Wikis during this assignment:

• free
• simple
• easy and fast way to create a community website
• benefit from the expertise of other people
• basic control buttons are EDIT, SAVE, and LINK!
• endless links to other sources on the same topic
• initial information entered is constantly changing and ongoing
• Ward Cunningham is the original creator of Wiki
• most comments/additions to the wikis are added by people who have a passion for this topic
• easy to glimpse at the history of each article and verify validity
  

I did take some time and explore all of the sites listed in the discovery exercise of Thing #11. My main problem was that I had a time restraint (my family did need me!) and each site pulls you into more sites which have more links, etc. It's like the energizer bunny.....wiki links just keep going and going and going! I was hooked there for a while!
I did find some great wiki thoughts on marketing which coordinated with some of my ideas for the assigned section of the Media Clerks Manual Wiki.

I feel so much more comfortable about Wikipedia after this assignment! I had been somewhat hesitate to have the students rely on this website for their research information. Now I know how to show the students the history about their site, and especially how to explore other links related to their topic!

Thing #10 Working with Photos

http://search.fotki.com/?link=wrkdrgwqbqgrtdrxgwgbfwgtgwkd&k=mountain&p=4


I have explored the various sites that were listed in our Thing #10 lesson. I even signed up for Fotki and fotoflexer! Now that I have a spread sheet for all of my accounts, I'm not so overwhelmed and afraid to tackle another site!

The above photo was taken from the public photos in Fotki. As you can tell from some of the other photos that I have posted on my blogs, I just love the Rocky Mountains!

I'm still leaning towards Flickr and Creative Commons for the sites that I think I would utilize the most. I think that I would become more proficient with photo editing, catagorizing, searching, and tagging if I concentrate on just a few sites. I did experiment with fotoflexer which links directly to your Flickr account.

I took the photo below at Sunlight Mountain Resort in Glenwood Springs when I helped sponsor a youth group ski weekend. I added the photo to my Flickr account and then used fotoflexer for the border.

I need to get some better pictures on Flickr to experiment with! Picnik and Flickr also work together. So many of my photos are of my kids and I don't want to post them. So for now....I'm just getting the hang of how to do different things....watch out for the more professional looking photos to come!!!!

Thing #9 Technology

USB Flash Drives is the "technology thing" that I chose for this assignment. I really didn't know much about flash drives until this class. Now I own a 1 GB SanDisk Cruzer for $20 and a Digital Media flash drive for $20!


Flash drives are becoming the standard method for storing portable data. More and more students are coming in to the media center with their homework assignments on a flash drive. Through this Web 2.0 class, I have learned about the amazing capabilities of this tiny little device! I am able to help students transfer their data and properly remove their flash drive from the computers at school.


Some of the main features of this little device are high storage capacity, small in size which makes it easy to carry and use, stores data, pictures and music, easy transfer of data to another computer and it is affordable!

There are a variety of brands and GB sizes of flash drives to chose from. Click here for a link about more information on the Sandisk Cruzer.

Thing #8 Library Thing

Library Thing is something that I really like and would like to explore and play around with. I am going to set up a personal account with books that I have read. I have a hard time remembering what books I have and haven't read, especially if it is a series that strings over several years! It's that age thing! Karen Kingsbury and Dee Henderson are two my favorite inspirational authors. They both have written several different series that keeps you hooked! Henderson wrote a fantastic series about six different public service professions weaved with "clean" romance, family and suspense! I figured out how to show some of the books that I have read by using Library Thing and then posting to my blog, thanks to the overachiever "Aerie Thoughts" in our class!

My next project is to set up a Library Thing account just for the middle/senior library at our school that would list books and reviews that would be of interest to the students.

Thing #7 Tagging & Social Bookmarking

The Common Craft Video Social Bookmarking in Plain English was very helpful to me. His three main points were that social bookmarking is useful, fun, and not tied to one computer. Why recreate the wheel when there are other librarians out there who have tagged some great websites, booklists, etc. The video said to use key words when tagging and keep things simple! I need to spend some more time exploring some of these bookmarked websites for media clerks.

I liked the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) booklist bookmark that was under the mediaclerks network.

Fall in Love with a Good Book!

100_1012
Originally uploaded by Librarian in the Mountains

Happy Valentine's Day! Looking forward to seeing all of you at LYMDSR this week!

Thing #6 Image Generators

I was able to create this bulletin board on GlassGiant.com! I did some playing around with this site and it was fun!

I have a table set up in my library with a red tablecloth and a gift bag that says "Love"....then I added some white hearts and said "Fall in Love with a Good Book". I have various books for guys and gals displayed around the bag that is sitting on top of a covered box.

I had the book fair going on all of last week so I wasn't able to set this display up until today. I had 5 kids check out books from this table in just a few hours time!

I finally got this poster where I wanted it! It just wasn't clicking and dragging. I made this wanted poster on GlassGiant.com also.

You have to be from Nebraska to appreciate the Huskers and your loyalty to GO BIG RED! The University of Nebraska Huskers are THE ONLY sports team in the state, so everyone is a Husker.

Thing #5 Still exploring Flickr Options!

Rocky Mountain Wapiti III
Originally uploaded by DaveTBear

I would like this photo to be the heading to my blog, but I haven't figured out how to do this. I know how to customize my blog heading, but I'm still working on getting this photo in the right place and giving the credits! When I am on the edit page and try to type in the Flickr website, it tells me that it is invalid.

BigHugeLabs Exercise 5 1/2

I have spent over an hour trying to get my "trading card" that I created on BigHugeLabs to upload to Flickr, and then I wanted to go from Flickr to my blog. I would get the photostream screen on my Flickr account but only the title of the trading card was showing. I finally did it but I had to go another route. FRUSTRATING. I thought this 5 1/2 assignment was going to be fun but it has turned out to be a hair pulling experience.

Thing #5 Discover Flickr, Bullet 1

Rocky Mountain National Park 1
Originally uploaded by OneofThem

This is a beautiful picture of the Rocky Mountains that I found on Flickr! I grew up in Nebraska on a farm with corn fields, so I enjoy seeing the mountains every day!

www.flickr.com/photos/oneofthem/280727678/

This photo was found in Flickr, under the Creative Commons section of photos to browse. This completes the first bullet for the homework activity under Thing #5. The photo was posted by "OneofThem" on 7-22-03. Put your cursor over the picture and you will be linked to other photos this photographer took while on vacation in the Rocky Mountain area.

Thing 5 -- Discover Flickr -- Bullet 2 Homework

100_0994
Originally uploaded by Librarian in the Mountains

Hopefully I have figured out how to post this photo from Flickr to my blog!
Exploring Flickr and all of the possibilities within Flickr has been one of the most interesting and practical "things" for me that we have covered so far in our Librarians Web 2.0 class. To complete this homework assignment, I have created a Flickr account, downloaded some pictures from my camera, put them in sets, and tagged one of the images "MediaClerks23Things" and marked it public. Now to include the photo on my blog! We will see if I can figure that out!

The photo was taken in my library. I have found that the kids really look at the individual books that I have displayed on the shelves. The displayed books are constantly being checked out which is a great indication that these books are grabbing the attention of the kids! I am constantly rearranging books so the kids will keep coming back to the library to see what is new!

Flickr

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

Thing #4 Technorati

It is amazing to me how much information is out on the web that I was totally unaware of! I am learning so much from this "Library Learning 2.0 class". I had never heard of RSS or Technorati until this class.

I played around with the Technorati search terms and was amazed at some of the results. When I typed in "web 2.0", I had 195,333 results. When I narrowed it down to "library web 2.0", I had 63 results. A much more manageable amount of information to scan over.

Next I played around with some tags. I don't think that I am ready to tag my blog topics yet! I tagged "books" and had 143,666 posts. Then I searched for "romance book recommendations" and got 1 post.

Technorati could be very helpful when students are needing to do research and find different opinions. They can use the Gale website of opposing viewpoints, but I think that they could find some good blogs that are well written, just not published in a magazine. The keyword search and tag options will help narrow topics down.

Thing #3 RSS

I now know what that little orange box means that says RRS! Really Simple Syndication!
The Common Craft video really explained in simple terms what RRS is all about. "The news comes to you from your favorite websites." The video said that there are two easy steps: 1) sign up for a feed reader (our class chose bloglines) and 2) subscribe to your favorite websites, meaning feeds.
I have managed to figure out how to subscribe to all 13 individual blogs from our class, plus added the main class blog. The blogline tutorial was helpful, and of course Myra was excellent in showing us what to do! I have subscribed to 8 other newsfeeds and need to find 2 more to fulfill my homework assignment. I also figured out that you can change your initial email address on your blogline and still keep your subscriptions!

Rafe Needleman's video "CNET video" said that RSS is our secret weapon to blogging! He said that you can eliminate the SPAM, set up filters to customize your blogs, and subscribe to your exact interests.

I'm not so overwhelmed with the blogging information process now. I can filter in my interests and have the news come to me!

Thing #2 Blogging Reflection

My personal reflection on blogging after reading the Bloggers Quick Tutorial is that I am basically exposing my personal diary, "memos to the world". Yicks!

Blogging is my own voice on the web. How scary is that! Blogging is connecting and engaging friends for responses. Thanks heavens there are 13 of us trying to learn this web 2.0 together. I feel like we already have our own network, with Myra leading the troop!

I love the templates that are already in place for us to chose from. Next I want to try the drag and drop and then see if I can download a picture.

I spent the weekend at Glenwood Springs on a middle school church youth group ski retreat. 45 middle schoolers, 10 high schooler/sponsors and 13 adult sponsors. My 6th grade daughter begged me to go. I survived but I am exhausted! I do have some mountain pictures that I will attempt to download.

Hopefully I can keep up with this class. Working, being a mom of 2 kids, wife, and attending at least 2 high school basketball games a week leaves very little time for experimenting with blogging. My son plays on the JV team for LYMDSR. Basketball is 6 days a week.

Thing #1 Learning and Web 2.0

I've just read all of the suggested articles that were posted for our Thing #1 assignment. I am slowly gaining a better understanding of Web 2.0
The key themes that I picked up from these various articles is that Web 2.0 means

• constant change
• creativity
• sharing between users
• rich interactivity
• simplicity

In the article "Hot Technology for 2008", the author said that blogs, wikis, social networks and mashups are all used to "collaborate with others". He said that these are easy to use and the user does not need to go through a bunch of corporate channels to create a blog. So I guess that learning the tools for Web 2.0 would be perfect for a group of librarians....who in turn can help faculty members and students gather information.

So what is a mashup?

My first attempt at starting a blog!

This is my first attempt at starting my own blog! I am taking a class to learn about the 23 Things about the tools of Web 2.0