Lost in Cyberspace

Thing #11.5 Evaluation

2009-07-28T21:37:00.002-05:00

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Learning the secret behind screencasts!
Understanding the purpose and value of Twitter.
Playing with new online image generators that my students will use in their learning and when creating project final products.

2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
While in graduate school (online), I had a mainline to cutting edge librarianship through my coursework. Once again, participating in 11 1/2 Things was like being back in school with the bonus of no grades! I’m a slower and visual/hands-on learner, so going at my own pace in this type of learning venue is perfect. What's next, Lifeguards?

3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Discovering how others have used or will use the tools introduced this summer.
Realizing the need to expand the scope of the digital citizenship skills lessons my students receive.
Feeling more confident about the bond technology that will be put in place this year.
Continued amazement at the tremendous at point of need support and professional development growth opportunities generated by SBISD Library Services. Kudos, Vaughn, for the 24/7 support!

4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Going through 11 ½ (instead of 23) Things this summer was more manageable and made it easier to delve deeper into each one. Where and what are we playing next summer?!

Thing #11 Digital Citizenship

2009-07-21T08:32:00.022-05:00

Digital Citizenship involves a variety of skills that should be taught as stand alone lessons and integrated into research projects from elementary school through high school. Many students, even as young as the primary elementary level, now have access to cell phones, laptops with Internet access, and individual email accounts outside of school with little or no direction or supervision from parents, so teaching kids about privacy, cyberbullying, safety issues, and digital etiquette should be a priority. Two online sites my students enjoy using to learn and practice what they know about Internet safety, netiquette, and cyberbullying is Disney's Surfswell Island and "Shrink the Cyberbully" on McGruff.org Cyberbullies site. Another site is Privacy Playground with a three pigs and a big bad wolf theme that focuses on keeping information private, safety, and avoiding spam. Even my 5th graders enjoy partnering and exploring these three sites.

From there, these topics should be integrated into student lessons and projects

ethical use of information - Copyright for Kids; Cyberbee; Copyright-An Interactive Journey
web site evaluation - UC Berkeley Library Evaluating Web Pages (for older students); Critical Evaluation of a Web Site (for elementary); Look What's on the Web (for primary); Cybersense and Nonsense (for elementary); Allies and Aliens: A Misson in Critical Thinking (for middle school); Jo Cool or Jo Fool?
information literacy (searching and processing skills) - Using the Web (for elementary/middle school students)

to give students the tools they need to become informed and productive consumers of the Internet, social media, and mobile technologies.

Look what's available in BrainPop!
This site includes movies(with closed captioning), quizzes, vocabulary, and activities for each one of these topics. When integrated with the tools of an ACTIVboard, all of these topics become even more interactive for students.

Thing #10 Virtual Worlds

2009-07-20T21:00:00.007-05:00

No problem creating an avatar and downloading the software, but doing anything beyond walking around, bumping into things, and flying with abandon was beyond me once I was in SL. When my oldest (in Chicago) heard I was taking a spin in SL, she immediately made a date to meet me and help. What fun! The minute she saw me online, she decided we needed to go shopping so I wouldn't be a clone of so many other first timers. Off to Calico Kitty for hair and Pink Boutique for clothes. Then she helped me teleport to Sunshine Therapy Garden... a "Calgon, take me away!" scenario...butterflies, soft music, waterfalls... Good Karma City. Next we went to the Music Academy and caught a hot air balloon ride. I stood up just after take off and promptly fell out. Back in again, we floated over several periods of history like the Medieval period, Renaissance, etc. Interesting, but it's all rated "mature," so I can't see going there with kids. Went back to a beach scene in the Sunshine Therapy Garden, took a photo for the memories, and told her goodbye.

Had 1 1/2 hours really gone by in this time?! The experience was certainly worth the effort, and I almost felt like I had gone on a micro-mini vacation with my daughter, which was a weird, but fun feeling. A major drawback to the whole experience was the number of times I got a "Second Life (not responding)" message and had to close and login again. It happened a number of times before I realized that if I didn't try to change my appearance or get into my inventory, it happened a lot less. The good part of that problem is if you do freeze, the program will put you back exactly where you were before the freeze happens.

Lots and lots and lots of practice would have to occur before I would even think about presenting this to anyone, much less students. I would guess that using Teen SL might be a safer avenue in an educational setting because of the restrictions already in place. I'm glad to have experienced this program, but I can't see finding the time to become a proficient player. I will be interested in reading other blog posts about others' experiences and impressions of SL as an educational tool.

Thing #9 SlideShare

2009-07-19T18:09:00.019-05:00

SlideShare or some other form of hosting program will be important for students and teachers to learn how to use, so they can easily share powerpoint and multimedia presentations online in a Facebook account or a blog or a website or an iTouch or an iPod or YouTube. When using Slideshare, the software "creates a text transcript of your PowerPoint presentations making it easier for search engines to discover your content." Social sharing with others becomes instantaneous. Creating an online portable ppt presentation gives teachers the advantage of posting reviews of class content, assignments, and student-generated work for students and parents to easily access online or even offline if the presentation has been uploaded on an iPod. The enhanced features of authorSTREAM (narration, animation, music) enables the user to be more creative in their presentation. authorSTREAM even mentions users being able to discuss an uploaded ppt. in a chat room for more Web 2.0 interaction...

Thing #8 Screencast

2009-07-18T16:21:00.015-05:00

The secret of the "How To" videos is out! Going through Thing #8 was like finding out the secrets behind a magician's trick. This is a marvelous teaching tool for any type of learner since it incorporates audio, visual, and motion. The bonus is that the screencast can be replayed at point of need by the user. I can see this tool being used by students, teachers, staff, and parents. Students can create screencasts for peers; screencasts could be accessed by teachers and staff to review what you have shown them as a group; parents could access them on a blog to learn about what their students are learning at school or for help in accessing sites pertinent to their lives.

Here is my first try using Screencast-O-Matic. It is a video showing how to add an image to a DotNetNuke page.

The audio syncs with the video, but for some reason I lost the pointer tool. The video is not as large as I had expected, so it is hard to see details on the page. Quick Tips for Improving Screencasts mentions greater success when using a smaller screen setting than I used and an "autopan" feature that automatically moves the region being recorded as you move the mouse, which wasn't available in the software I used. Will try another software next time. I rambled shamelessly at the end of this video, cut to other pages thinking the video had ended, and then couldn't get the editing tool to work, so I can see that lots of practice is needed before creating a final product!

Decided to try another software, this time Camtasia. Much easier to use and more options for editing. And the pointer tool showed up this time! I still don't like the small screen size...

Thing #7 Video Sources

2009-07-17T12:41:00.035-05:00

Found this video in the NeoK12 collection. Looks like they want to be portable as they are offering an iTouch application for NeoK12 "on the go" and videos in other languages. By right clicking on the video, you can easily copy the embedded code, watch it on YouTube, zoom in, zoom out, and download it to RealPlayer. How simple is that! This video would be perfect for 1st grade's study of insects. Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home...

This video from NeoK12 is a fascinating look at unusual plants. Any age/grade level would enjoy this video. A perfect hook to get students interested in learning more...

For the PreK to Kindergarten crowd, I like the TOTLOL site, but it asked for a $18 membership fee when I signed in as a member. Will this be a site Library Services could purchase with a district subscription?

This high interest video called "The Science of Speed Eating" from Hulu could be used in a high school biology class. It discusses the anatomy of and shows video images of the mechanics of the digestive system of several professional speed eaters. The video is 45 minutes long, but a great feature enables the user to easily edit the video by dragging the handles to adjust the start and end times before copying the embedding code into another site.

Thing #6 - iTouch Apps

2009-07-11T10:18:00.020-05:00

The lingo of Thing #6 has me thinking about the old term cyberspace, an imagined place where electronic information goes or is exchanged or lost(!), in relation to the new concept of cloud computing. Space (as in cyberspace) is cold, foreign, and impersonal. A cloud, on the other hand, is known, can be experienced, and is more personal. With the advent of communities like Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and, now, the portability of mobile devices enabling access anywhere at anytime, we are not as isolated and ingrown as was once thought our computer dependent society might become.

For novices to the iTouch with no experience using a handheld mobile device, a helpful video to watch before going to the Apple store is Apple iPod Touch: A Guided Tour . When I went on my field trip to the Apple store to play with an iTouch, I found that figuring out how to hold it and manipulate the screen was awkward at first, but I finally began to get the hang of it. Students will have no problem manipulating the screen, and some will probably be able to teach their peers and me plenty. Their portability, small size, and familiar touch screen will appeal to and energize students.

Some things I can imagine students doing with iTouches in the library:

Using it as a reference tool - quick access to a dictionary/thesaurus/encyclopedia
Backchanneling - sprinkled around the room for small groups to use
Watching student-made videos, Photo Stories, educational videos (see Thing#7)
Creating and listening to podcasts
Creating music with apps like Band
Gaming preselected games - the Wii will be limited to 2-4 students and some smaller libraries have a space issue problem
Mapping - map skills with a real life application
Microblogging - Came across something called Edmodo, which is a free micro-blogging platform (like Twitter) for students and teachers, addressing the need for privacy when making a 2.0 technology tool available to K-12 students. An elementary teacher in the UK posted an enlightening article “Enhancing communication with Edmodo” describing how and why he intends to use this platform in the classroom.

A blog post from a high school teen's point of view as posted on Digi Teen: Digital Citizenship for Teenagers - Uses for your iTouch

#5 - Microblogging

2009-07-07T08:43:00.013-05:00

Microblogging? Typing in a tiny font size? No, a code name for things like Facebook, Twitter, and back-channeling.

The latest Facebook statistic says that the average Facebook user is between 37-53. Interesting, since this was originally created for college students. One grown child is urging me to get a Facebook account. The other (college-aged) called me several weeks ago to make sure I was still Facebookless. So what's a mother to do? Probably forge ahead and just refrain from trying to “friend” my college-aged son. Since I can link a Twitter account to a Facebook account, it would be easy to monitor both.

I am now an official Tweetee on Twitter... following a few news sources and some librarian educators. Thought I could just be a lurker at this juncture. I wondered what the point of posting was when no one was "following" it anyway. About 6 hours after creating my account, some strange person was "following" me. I was virtually freaked out for a moment. I found an article about SchoolTube and twittered it to my page. Neat. The "short, succinct messages" that I might tweet are my challenge; however, once again, even if I do post them, who is reading them at this point besides that strange person who is following me (and 600+ others) and is being paid to Twitter 24/7?!

Had an enlightening conversation with my late-twenties nephew and one of his friends over the 4th of July weekend that helped me understand the Twitter phenomenon a little better. They both said that they use Twitter as a news source. It's immediate with links to the latest news. One works in the marketing dept. for Fossil and the other works in the online advertising dept. for Southwest Airlines. Both said that their companies employ professionals whose 2.0 career is to monitor/respond/post on Twitter 24/7 for their respective companies. It’s part of their companies’ social media program that gives a “human nature” to their brand name. The immediate feedback on Twitter to a tweet by a customer creates a loyalty between the customer and the business. Additionally, businesses can “IM” the world globally by using Twitter to broadcast information about new products, info about the company, and any other important announcements.

So, in this same vein, can library media specialists and directors and educators represent their libraries and districts and classrooms on Twitter by posting pertinent articles for professional development, respond to or comment on individual queries or comments by readers or students, and keep followers informed of library or classroom news creating a 24/7 connection. Without mobile phone Internet access or the desire to be connected 24/7, keeping that connection current might be a problem for some. Also, I can't see elementary students on Twitter. It would be nice if there were a "little chicks" account for them that would enable them to use it without access to some of the grownup stuff.

I like the idea of black-channeling in a classroom setting, especially for those students who are reluctant to ask questions in a large group setting. Using an anonymous screen name might evoke responses from even the most withdrawn or shy learner. Students with learning differences might benefit from asking and/or reading questions and answers in a written form. The only drawback to back-channeling might be keeping students on task and not on the Internet doing something unrelated!

Thing #4 - Video Hosting

2009-06-30T08:27:00.022-05:00

The main advantage of having teaching/learning videos available online on YouTube, TeacherTube, and SchoolTube? Access, access, access - the key to a successful library, an integral part of a successful database, and the obvious advantage to having teaching/learning videos and student created work available online.

Suggested uses of teacher made videos for educational purposes:

summaries of in-class lectures for students who are absent or for review purposes
instructional videos
professional development videos for teachers (technology how-to's) created by the librarian
resource for sharing with colleagues similar to our LibrariansShare folder

Advantages to uploading student created work:

inspiration for other students
being Web published
ideas for how teachers can implement technology-based projects in their classrooms
peer teaching tool
teaches educational use of YouTube
point of view videos for debating purposes
encourages exploration-based/connected learning approach
teaches skills necessary for technology-based future (renown universities are now using YouTube as a venue for setting up individualized accounts for students, faculty, and administrators to use)

SchoolTube looks like a promising site for which to access and post student or teacher produced videos, however, with multiple sites for posting videos, will we need a "reader" of some sort keep up with multiple video hosting sites? In reading more about SchoolTube, it appears that student-created content has to be approved (by registered teachers) before it is posted. Common sense censorship or just censorship? Is there a difference? Does it matter? I do like the fact that, included in the video categories, there is a separate elementary school level category, which many sites don't offer. They mention the possibility that videos of school plays and spelling bees posted on the site would be a way for parents or other family who cannot be there to virtually attend. I searched for my elementary school under "Find a School"and found a page for it just waiting for the first video to be uploaded. I wonder if our district was solicited to register all the of the SBISD schools or whether it was someone's job to search, find, and register various schools around the country.

At present, I don't have anything to upload to YouTube, and I don't want to upload something just for the sake of doing it. So, I will try out that piece at a later date with some student made products using our new bond technology!

Thing #3 - Like Skype

2009-06-28T18:26:00.011-05:00

Nice assortment of articles to learn more about Skype. The Skype User's Manual will be helpful in getting this technology going at school, and it has some terrific ideas for implementing it in the classroom.

No problems downloading the software. I'm not sure if this was on my computer before I downloaded the software, but when I went to look at the list of district librarians, I noticed that there is now an icon that looks like this that enables the user to quickly add the contact to their Skype contact list. Interesting...

I envision the Skype video image projected on a large screen or ACTIVboard for a classroom to enjoy while interacting and/or interviewing an expert in a particular curriculum-related field or an author or an illustrator, and, as suggested in the Skype User's Manual, a language class talking to students in another country whose spoken language is the one they are studying. Also, neat idea about choirs or orchestras or bands mutually performing for students in another city or state or country.

Just think, Dr. B. could Skype our monthly meetings; however, breaks would be boring, no Marchand chocolate cake, no socializing with friends...never mind!

Thing #2 - Wordle, WordSift, Vokis, VoiceThread, and Bookr

2009-06-27T10:30:00.064-05:00

Wordle and WordSift
I have used Wordle with my elementary students as an All about Me, describing an animal or famous person they had researched, and as reflection about what they learned during the school year. The biggest problem with this software is the many tedious steps you have to go through to save the Wordle if you want to use it in another software program like Photo Story, embed it in a blog, or if you just want to print it. My students love experimenting with the layout, font, and color options.

WordSift embodies student connectivity and The Networked Student concepts well. I tried the Preamble to the Constitution and came up with this image:

I like the way it links the tag cloud to an interactive visual thesaurus with a speaker option for hearing word pronunciations, a language option for translating into Spanish, Google image and video searches, and sample sentences for context use. The few unexpected and inappropriate images from the results of the Google image and software searches was the only drawback I found to using this software with elementary students.

How could students use this tool? Write a poem or short story or report and WordSift it to discover hidden meanings, new meanings, or more in-depth information and images about the topic. WordSift an article or excerpt from a book and go through the word layers and image/video links to discover new meanings or insights.

Vokis
Vokis are colorful, entertaining, eye-catching, interactive, got your attention fun. A few ways they could be used:

to introduce and/or give directions on a web site or email

as a vehicle for commenting on a wiki

by students to create a short “All About Me” at the beginning of a school year or a "Who am I?" or "What am I?" like the following Uncle Sam example

Get a Voki now!

VoiceThread
VoiceThread is my new favorite software. I created a VoiceThread called Sculpting Chicago as an activity for a PGP lesson on sculpture for my PGP group. I'm still not sure how to create logins for students, but I will keep playing with the site.

The VoiceThread site has a Digital Library for sharing teaching ideas. One involved the librarian posting covers of the state award books, briefly book talking each book, and having students leave their voicethread opinions of the books as they read them. Perfect for our Bluebonnet/Lone Star/Taysha lists!

Bookr
The concept is terrific, however, I was VERY disappointed when discovering that personal images couldn’t be used. I even tried uploading images into Flickr and searching by tag name, but without success.

I searched the word cloud in the Bookrarchive of previously saved examples and found a creative use for Bookr called Book of Colors.

I like the interactive feature that calls for not only the understanding of the color word, but the use of discrimination skills to find the object of that color word.

Another sample called American Symbols.

Bookr can be used in place of Power Point or Photo Story, which would leave out the time-consuming transition, custom motion, narration, and music choices, when class time is limited and new or similar software for creating student products is preferred.

Thing #1 - The Networked Student

2009-06-25T15:02:00.006-05:00

We’re back! The Common Craft guys are back! The kickball captains have donned swimsuits and life preservers! Woo-hoo!

Librarians will most definitely play a role in “helping students navigate the future” and continue to help our students become lifelong learners. Joyce Valenza put it well in her article “On the Librarian: What’s the point…?, “if you are not an expert in new information and communication tools, you are NOT a media specialist for today.”

As teacher librarians, our charge in all of this is:

learning the 2.0 technologies (thanks Kickball Captains/Lifeguards!)
teaching/modeling for students and teachers how to use these technologies in collaboration with the classroom teachers and curriculum expectations, while teaching these 3 things - a research model such as the Big6, web site evaluation, and the ethical use of electronic information
giving students the freedom to create their learning environment using the 2.0 technology tools
having the technology hardware (and GEEK support!) for accessing and using these 2.0 tools.

Video/TeacherTube/MovieMaker

2008-08-20T19:40:00.004-05:00

A catchy video from TeacherTube for 2nd graders when studying the water cycle. Had no trouble putting this in my blog. Cannot figure out how to import it into MovieMaker. If and when I do, I will post a comment. I did figure out how to import pictures into MovieMaker, but still need lots of playtime to manipulate the pictures. Playtime is at a premium this time of the school year. Sure would like to continue our Table Play during our fall and winter district librarians' meetings!

PhotoStory

2008-08-20T13:40:00.008-05:00

My PGP students have loved using PhotoStory for their research products. It lends itself to a great deal of creativity and fun! All are having trouble uploading today. Still waiting on mine.

Hooray! It finally loaded!! I discovered that I was trying to upload the PhotoStory wp3 file instead of the wmv file. I'm guessing that most of us were making that mistake when all had so much trouble.

Audio Manipulation

2008-08-20T11:10:00.010-05:00

Once I got the headset working, I had fun creating audio files. Decided to save a short rendition of "The Washington Waddle" that I used to sing to my kids at bath time. It's a fun song that makes me laugh and relieves STRESS...
Major frustration when using the 2.0 Sandbox Wiki...my whole table tried uploading their audio files with NO LUCK. I will try uploading this tonight. I refuse to give up! I want to be successful with this! I want to feel like I can help my teachers by really knowing what I am talking about.
Okay, it's loaded on the Sandbox Wiki. Have no idea how to link it to this blog. Vaughn? Liz?

Image Manipulation

2008-08-20T09:58:00.009-05:00

Had never used images in Discovery Education. Great resource. Loved using Flicker Creative Commons. Found pictures of my favorite bird...the hummer. Glad to find out how to add text and manipulate the hummer images in PPT. Made this motivational poster. Went over the time allotted, so my stress level is rising..

Thing #23 Old Dinosaur with lots of New Tricks!

2008-07-20T16:18:00.010-05:00

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
Successfully creating my blog. I had tried once before very unsuccessfully. I like this description of a blog:

“A site one establishes for the purpose of putting one’s thoughts online for the edification or amusement of visitors, who may leave pieces of their own minds before departing.”

Discovering what others had found and were experiencing along the way by reading their blog entries, and then leaving a little piece of my own mind...

Playing with the online image generators

Discovering educational videos on YouTube

Using Flickr to share photos with friends and family

The entertaining and succinct Common Craft guys

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
While in graduate school (online), I had a mainline to the latest and greatest through my coursework. Participating in 23 Things was like being back in school with the bonus of no grades! I’m a hands-on learner, so 23 Things was the perfect learning tool. What's next, Kickball Captains?

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I was amazed at the depth and breath of this online adventure.

Actually understanding and using the 2.0 web tools my children use and talk about and understanding and using 2.0 web tools my children have not heard of!

Learning more about my SBISD colleagues. It’s amazing what you can discover about a person from reading their blog.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Possibly offer smaller parts of the whole at a time by dividing the 23 Things into thirds and offering 6 hour credit segments.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate? Absolutely!

How would you describe your learning experience?
Hands-on learning of relevant and, best of all, applicable best practices and cutting edge technology for use with students and the faculty in my library.

Next to Last Thing #22 Nings

2008-07-15T15:28:00.005-05:00

I love the concept of Nings, especially Shonda Brisco’s Texas School Librarians and Joyce Valenza’s TeacherLibrarianNing. It’s like having the best of LM_NET all in one location without the overload of irrelevant emails often found in the listserv messages. These Nings are the perfect venue for sharing best/interesting practices by having the opportunity to easily introduce and discuss topics of interest with librarians around the country. In addition to the main page, I noticed that there are different break out groups that the user can join, so that the discussion is more relevant to his/her particular interests within school librarianship. The video section would be a great place to share student or teacher or librarian generated videos. Both Nings are a nice extension to the terrific network of SBISD librarians we are so fortunate to have in our district. As an example of one of our own, check out this fabulous Ning!

Thing #21 Podcasts and Audio Books

2008-07-12T17:45:00.007-05:00

My students have used Photo Story for creating final products after researching a topic, and they love it! Headsets with microphones are a must. They let students record without worrying about extraneous noise, and it helps keep the noise down when they add music and listen to their show. I normally make a PPT. of the new Bluebonnet books each year to introduce the books to my students, but I decided to try out Photo Story for this project instead. At first it was way too long. I went back and recorded less and spoke faster. The jury is still out on whether it is still too long!

Thing #20 YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

2008-07-09T12:34:00.023-05:00

It was fun discovering an educational application for YouTube. Attached is a video of Bill Martin reading/singing his book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? Kinder would love this if they could access it on the district computers. They all have ACTIVboards at my school, and the videos would play so well on the large white board! I am going to try the Zamzar conversion with this video to see if it will give me a video that will bypass the district filters.

This video is a creative take off on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It could be used as the introduction/hook to a creative writing activity.

TeacherTube seems to have a buffering issue. I didn’t experience this with YouTube. The following video is an animated and somewhat humorous review of the states and capitals of the U.S., perfect for 4th or 5th graders. I'm wondering if converting this TeacherTube video on Zamzar would solve the buffering issue. Has anyone tried that solution?

Thing #19 Web 2.0 Awards List

2008-07-08T20:51:00.005-05:00

Wow! What a selection of online tools! After browsing quite a few of them, I explored Comiqs. It’s a lot like Image Chef, but with many more creative possibilities for classroom use including creating a comic strip with more than one panel. Just like Image Chef, the created images could be used for story starters, creative writing activities, or just for grins. A big plus is that this site can link to Flickr for easy photo uploading of personal photos or photos from the creative commons area. Unfortunately, I came across a random picture with a highly inappropriate expletive in the Comiqs photo gallery. Definitely a problem with students, but with teacher supervision can be overcome.

Thing #18 Online Productivity Tools

2008-07-08T18:18:00.001-05:00

It’s always interesting to see what is offered for free on the web. These online office suites are great for those who can’t afford to have an original load set or for those who want or need web-stored documents. If the business or personal documents were of a sensitive nature, I would worry about how secure they would be stored online. Besides the site tours, I wonder what kind of tech support is offered for these online office suites. Just some things to think about.

Thing #17 Rollyo

2008-07-07T19:29:00.003-05:00

The concept of Rollyo is great, but I am a little discouraged about its use for elementary students because of all of the extraneous stuff: ads, polls, etc on the page and the location of the custom web results. I do, however, like the feature of being able to search and create a searchroll using only kid-friendly sites for students. I created a Weather Search searchroll that my 2nd grade teachers might enjoy using with their students.

Thing #16 Wikis

2008-07-07T17:49:00.021-05:00

Those crazy paper tossing, finger counting, marker drawing CommonCraft guys are a hoot. Talk about making learning simple + to the point + fun + meaningful! Someone suggested that we have a “Thing” devoted just to them next time. I agree!

Posting to the Learning 2.0 Sandbox wiki was interesting. Viewing online video wiki posting help and actually doing it were two different animals for me. I first posted in the discussion area. Oops! When I discovered that my posting was not showing up on the main page, I went back and tried again. Success! The image I uploaded turned out to be animated. Surprise! :-)

Wikis are a great invention and a wonderful discussion and collaboration tool. I can see using a wiki on the SBISD curriculum portal pages for each of the grade level curriculum areas where teachers could share their successes and new resources (syllabi, rubrics, homework calendars, slide shows, etc) for a curriculum area or strand or unit. It would be an accessible and easy way for teachers across the district in a particular grade level or subject area to globally communicate and collaborate. The PB Wiki Tour talked about online chats. Another application idea might be to have an online chat on a district wiki between two or more teachers/administrators instead of a face-to-face meeting. With the cost of gas, leave the car parked and meet online!

Thing # 15 Web 2.0, Library 2.0, and the future of libraries

2008-07-06T14:50:00.008-05:00

The way students of the new "Net Generation" think and find, view, manipulate, process and use information has dramatically changed from the previous generation. While multitasking, they mentally and physically interact with their world on a daily basis. In creating library programs to address these students, it is important to define what their needs are, restructure the delivery of instruction according to those needs, incorporate a flexible library schedule with open access to address point of need access, learn and offer new technologies(!) in tandem with the classroom teachers, create and sustain remote online access creating a virtual library for anytime access, assure the freedom of the librarian to sustain a leadership role in the library program through adequate library staffing, and transform existing library buildings to meet the technological needs of these students. If the librarian can be the “go to” person in the building for supporting Web 2.0+ technologies, the library remains the information-rich learning hub of the school.

I like David Warlick's 10 step method for integrating oneself into 21st C. thinking and self-development as an educator. Our community of learners on the 2.0 playground this summer is a prime example of teachers/librarians who want to learn how to reach/teach/inspire/facilitate the digital natives we are given the opportunity to come into contact with each year. The digital language we are learning to speak requires networking/sharing with peers and maximum technology support. The final step in our journey is sharing successes with our uninformed (and possibly technophobic!) colleagues and “inviting them into the conversation,” so that they can develop an interest in joining the ranks of the digitally literate life-long learners.

I ran across this video when checking out TeacherTube. It is a “top rated” and “most viewed” video on the site. I can see why. It speaks loudly as to why we must continue to transform our teaching and evolve as educators.

Thimg #14 Technorati and How Tags Work

2008-07-05T15:35:00.003-05:00

I did a blog search on Technorati using “School Library Learning 2.0” and came across the blog Library Byte by Byte's most recent posting (how fun to see a familiar blog among the many unknowns!), which was an outstanding podcast. This particular podcast is a prime example how one of our 2.0 tools can be used with students for reader's advisory!

Overall, Technorati was a bit overwhelming to me until I used the advanced search tool, which helped to narrow the results and get rid of many of the irrelevant blogs. The Technorati video produced by the (very young!) leadership made some interesting point about creating a community of 50 million people that is the vehicle for expressing the raw, uncut human experience from individuals who have not been edited. I guess the question that stands out most in my mind is how hard it might be to sift through the blah, blah, blah to reach the meaty, authoritative stuff. Or did I miss something?

Tagging is akin to using keywords for indexing information in an article. I like the way the author of the article decides what is important in the text. However, because it is up to the author to do the tagging, bloggers need to take the time to follow through. One of the articles on tagging cites the formation of online social groups when people using the same tags discover “similarities of interests and points of view.” Once again, here is a way for educators/students to find common ground and share/contribute/interact/collaborate with other educators/students around the world.

Thing #13 Tagging and Discover Del.icio.us

2008-06-26T15:54:00.002-05:00

Once again, someone thought of a great tool for managing and organizing the vast amount of cyberspace information that also incorporates sharing and community. I like the idea of not only putting all of my favorites in one list that I can access from any computer, but organizing the list so I can easily find what I’m looking for and view others’ lists, too. Installing the bookmarklets in the toolbar was easy (Yahoo! tried to get a freebie on my tool bar!), so I was able to start bookmarking quickly. It may take some time to learn how to tag so that I can find things easily.

Similar to our Librarians’ share folder, this site offers teachers and librarians the chance to easily collaborate online. For anyone doing research, this is the perfect tool for organizing web sites and online articles. Students in study groups or working on group projects can pool their resources in a structured, fast, and convenient way by combining their efforts and posting to a shared tag. If students/teachers have their own blog, they can track new entries by using the RSS feed feature as everyone shares . Teachers/librarians can also post web sites they want students using for a particular unit of study. By using the “popular tags” feature, suddenly users can tap into other peer-driven information directories and find resources they might have missed or overlooked when researching. Wow! The 2.0 playground just keeps getting bigger and more interesting!

Thing #12 Creating Community Through Commenting

2008-06-24T18:39:00.007-05:00

Two points about commenting I thought were important:
· Contributing (from The Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting) by leaving a comment with more substance is important because usually the author of the original blog wants to know more about what the person commenting thinks and why. It can extend the discussion into new arenas of thought. Higher level thought/discussions?!
· Occasionally using humor in comments (also from The Ten Commandments of Blog Commenting) makes the learning process less daunting, and it is a great tool for keeping it light and having fun.

For students, I think one of the most important lessons to teach them about blog commenting is about being polite and showing respect for one another. As Brown mentions in the Ten Commandments article, "Just because you’re not interacting face to face doesn’t mean you can act like an idiot." Many students are used to quickly texting their feelings on a cell phone or on IM. They need to understand that commenting on a blog is not that same kind of intimate conversation and that their comments will be posted in a public forum.

Now that I am somewhat acclimated to this blogging business and I don't feel like such a bashful blogger, I am finding it fun to not only explore other sites, but actually comment. Having a few others suddenly posting on my site was helpful to jump-start the process. I like the way we are all linked, so that we can go to the sites of those who leave a comment to see where they hangout!

Thing #11 LibraryThing

2008-06-24T16:54:00.002-05:00

I liked the tour on this site and the quick sign up (without lots of personal questions to answer!). I can see using this site as a way to remember books I’ve read when it comes time to recommend a good book to colleagues and friends. It was easy to spend an hour or two exploring all of the reviews, the groups, the blog, and cataloging some of my favorite books. I couldn’t stop at just five. I especially like the feature where the user can click on an author’s name in “Your Library” and view a picture of the author along with personal information and a list of other books (with reviews) the author has written. I linked my library list to my blog just for fun. When students eventually have their own blogs, they will enjoy sharing their favorite books in the form of this visual reader's advisory!

Fun Thing #10 Online Image Generator

2008-06-24T10:03:00.034-05:00

#10 is definitely a fun “Thing” to explore! Images like this one from Comic Strip Generator could be used in a classroom as a brainstorming activity, a story starter, creative writing activity, or just for grins. I encountered many problems figuring out how to upload it to my blog, so I finally saved it to my hard drive (saved into Picasa) and uploaded it from there. Whew!

This image is from Kid-Friendly Generators. I once again encountered the uploading problem and had to save this image to my hard drive before uploading it to my blog. Students could use these templates to make covers or title pages for student-made books, reports, Power Point and Photo Story projects.

Students will like the animated images in Image Chef. This site conveniently lets you save your image directly to your blog.

Thing #9: Useful Library-Related Blogs and News Feeds

2008-06-23T16:33:00.002-05:00

I’m bloggy-eyed after trying out the various blog search tools and looking at a myriad of blogs. No wonder someone created the invaluable RSS readers! No one person could possibly keep track of all that is posted daily on each blog to which they subscribe without organizational tools to put it all in one spot and alert the user to new posts. However, the important part of all of this is finding blogs and newsfeeds that are just right for you. I liked Cool Cat Teacher’s advice about how to select your “circle of wise:” people you know, blogs listed on their blogrolls, people/organizations who inspire you, and blogs you come across on your own (whose authors exhibit the "mindset of the lifelong learner/pioneers in the field") using the blog/newsfeed search tools.

Edublogs’ list of award winners was straightforward and the easiest to use, but limiting. Bloglines was another easy-to-use site once I figured out that I needed to search using “Search for feeds.” I like the clean look of Bloglines and I liked the results I got when searching for various topics related to education, libraries, and technology. One of my favorites is Technorati. I liked Technorati’s tag layout, the well done tutorial, and was pleasantly surprised with the quality and number of the pertinent search results. The most confusing was Topix. It’s just too much of a good thing. I will have to check back with Suprglu because it was not working when I tried the link.

Thing #8 RSS Feeds and Readers

2008-06-23T16:20:00.008-05:00

What do I like about RSS and newsreaders? Most of all, I like the idea of having someone (something) out in cyberspace helping to organize my online life for me. I have noticed on several blogs that they have a list (or two) of favorite blogs, and there are notations beside some of the blogs that something new is available. I like that feature. Any timesaver is a bonus. So many blogs, postings, information…so little time!

I would like to use this technology to keep up with not only the blog postings of the SBISD Library Services kickball captains, but also other blogs about school librarianship and children’s literature by authorities in the field, other school libraries and their students, and personal blogs of friends. I find it interesting to look at and explore the blog lists of blogs I enjoy reading to find new favorites.

Teachers and students with similar interests to other bloggers could use the RSS to keep tabs on what others are doing and/or learning. For the reluctant or beginning blogger, using a RSS reader would be a way to get his/her feet wet with the technology without feeling “blogged down!”

Thing #7 Cool Google Tools

2008-06-22T17:51:00.002-05:00

Google Alert
This is a smart tool for teachers and students to use to receive notification about new information as it becomes available. Students and teachers tracking news about a current event such as the current NASA Phoenix Mars expedition would be able to easily keep up with the most recent discoveries. As the search results change for a previous search, the Google Alert proactively tells the user when new information is available. Since students cannot have school email accounts or check their personal email accounts at school, using this tool may pose a problem for that learning group.

Picasa Web Albums
I was quite surprised when I logged in to Picasa Web Albums and found the pictures I had uploaded to my blog already in my web album! Even the title of my blog was imported as the new title of my web album. Kind of scary (how much privacy do we sacrifice for convenience these days?!), but very handy. It’s a similar sort of web-sharing that I found when using Yahoo’s Flickr and exporting pictures to my blog.
One interesting feature in Picasa is the Organize option, which lets the user see every picture/image on the computer/laptop hard drive. The feature lets the user rename and move pictures around for easier access later. I saw pictures and images I had forgotten I had saved over the past few years. What a great tool.
One drawback I noticed was that because Picasa and my blog are linked, if I delete a photo in Picasa, it automatically deletes it in my blog. Not a good thing for one who has a history of deletion blunders. Also, I found Picasa much less user friendly than Flickr when searching for community shared photos.

Note: I looked at several of the Atomic Learning videos for several of the Google Tools and liked the quick and easy explanations. Some were much better explanations of the tools than the Google web site tutorials!

Thing #6 Mashups and 3rd Party Sites

2008-06-22T16:37:00.007-05:00

The possibilities for using fd’s Flickr Toys are endless. Here are a few ideas:

Science trading card, using Trading Card, with picture of insect/animal and interesting facts about insect/animal
Language Arts trading card with picture or Avatar of main character and character traits
Social studies mosaic, using Mosaic Maker, of famous person including birthplace, family, why person is famous or mosaic of a state with pictures of state symbols and/or landmarks
Badge Maker could be used to make press badges for interviewers to wear while video taping an interview; voting badges for Bluebonnet readers eligible to vote for their favorite book
Jigsaw might be used for making a jigsaw puzzle using the classroom group picture
Magazine Cover could be used for making covers of a story's main character, someone in history, or a student’s picture which would include titles of articles pertinent to that person
Motivator could be used by a school student council for making posters to motivate students to participate in school-sponsored activities and/or volunteer programs
Students could use CD/DVD Cover to make personalized covers for the CD/DVD case after their project had been burned to a CD or DVD.

Thing #5 Flickr

2008-06-20T15:49:00.010-05:00

I got my first introduction to Flickr on a personal level. My daughter lives in Chicago and regularly posts pictures on Flickr for family and friends to view. When I visited her this summer and took way too many pictures (!), she kept asking when I was going to put them on Flickr. I finally did and spent hours trying out the web site by uploading, editing, and naming my slide show of 70+ photos. The attached picture is of the Chicago’s Cloud Gate (or as it is most commonly called “The Bean”) in Millennium Park, a 110-ton, highly polished steel monolith shaped like a kidney bean. It’s a fascinating marvel that reflects not only the people close to it, but also the entire skyline. I was able to upload my photo directly from Flickr to my blog. How cool is that?!

I can see many applications for Flickr to the classroom. A teacher could create a private classroom group and post student-generated pictures and videos. Also, a Flickr group could have pictures of students taken at school for the “author page” of a Power Point or Photo Story or for students to create a personalized trading card or an “All About Me” magazine cover. It’s a perfect resource for students to find public commons pictures for their multimedia and Big Huge Labs projects. Great tool for photo needs of any kind!

Thing #3 Blog/Avatar

2008-06-15T17:32:00.014-05:00

Once over the hump of deciding on a blog title, setting up the blog was fairly straightforward. Creating my avatar was the best part when I finally got the hang of it. It was frustrating at first when clicking on the numerous 1,2,3,4,5,6… pages to see all of the selections (because I am one who likes to see ALL of the possibilities and ALL at the same time!), but when I discovered the “search” feature it was suddenly doable. I like the way each person's avatar gives his/her blog added personality!

Thing #2 Lifelong Learner

2008-06-15T17:14:00.006-05:00

I find few things more exciting than learning something new and then sharing it with someone else. The habit of accepting responsibility for my own learning has been easy for me. Going back to school in mid-life enabled me to realize the dream of waking up to a job I love on a daily basis. Learn something new every day!

The habit of viewing problems as challenges is the hardest habit for me. I often view a problem as a crisis, and it paralyzes me for the moment. I then have to readjust my thinking as I begin gathering information about the problem. Once armed and ready, I can then jump in and turn the obstacle into a learning opportunity. Now that my paralysis over beginning 23 Things is past, I’m ready to play!