Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Week #9 Thing #23

Well I've reach the end of the class! I can't believe it, it's been so much fun!

Looking back I think some of the best things that I learned in the class are sort of "pieces" of the applications. For example; embedding things in this blog just opened my mind to that idea. Now when I want to put something like a picture or Voicethread in my wiki or an email it doesn't seem daunting. Even if I'm not exactly sure how to do it, I have a general idea and if it doesn't work I know how to look for the code and try it that way or work toward the solution.

It also reinforced that we need to move forward as librarians to make sure our Media Centers are up to date technologically and that we teach in the best way. The only way to do this is honest evaluation and replacement of methods in which something better exists. This is not using the computer lab to teach keyboarding. It's using every aspect of the technology available to us to teach everything. As long as we keep up librarians aren't out of a job, they are the information source that they have always been.

I think that some of the earlier lessons were more "spoon-fed, no misunderstanding" lessons. Each little click gave you more information, so at the end you felt like there was no doubt you got it. This is really good, especially where non-techie people are concerned. The earlier lessons took that next step of training, the "show me" step more seriously than the latter lessons, which were more "look at this and blog about it." It was more of a disconnected experience. That's okay if the earlier stuff was the most important and latter stuff more secondary - but I don't really think that was the case. Don't get me wrong, still a valuable experience!

My brain is whirling to develop a better system for tracking the assignments for our facilitators. It doesn't help them now, but it seems with all of these Web 2.0 classes and all these fabulous applications that there has got to be a less time-consuming, note-taking way to track progress. (Or maybe that's the next Web 2.0 application to be developed!)

The best thing I go forward with is a list of ideas for training and in-services. Every year our management asks for ideas for professional development and now I have a shopping list of areas where I would like to delve deeper.


PS - Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! I posted then remembered I wanted to add these thoughts... Let's call it Week #9 Thing #24:

1) Does anyone else feel Password, Application, User Name overload? Yikes, I tried for uniformity as I went, then sometimes the user name was too long, or the password needed numbers, or I had already signed up for it long ago before I knew I needed a uniform name. Google has always been for my personal stuff. So now all of a sudden when I go to log in I'm getting work and personal log in info depending on where I've been last. Or it tells me I'm already logged in and I need to change users. Or I go to an application and think "Wait, I've already joined this haven't I?"

2) How about how some applications open new windows while others move within the window? It never fails, either you look to find the place you were and you're freaked because it's disappeared and you have to relocate it, or you look down and somehow you have a zillion windows open, including multiple windows of the same application. And we wonder why the computer is so slow ...

Thanks for the class!

Week #9 Thing #22

I checked out the World ebook fair site and some of the sites within including the sheet music one. I also went to the "Best Places to get Free Books" I don't know that I will do too much with it. Some study guides looked interesting, but they actually charge for them. Also, as far as trading books - just not so interested.

As I think I mentioned previously my husband has associations with college text books and boy, we had better be savvy to the fact that our students are looking at books a whole new way.

I've used LibriVox before and think the Gutenberg project is great. I have considered reading some books for them, as I have a background in presentation and think that would be a really neat thing to do. However, I won't consider it until I have better sound equipment - I won't subject someone to me reading inside a bell jar!

Here's a funny LibriVox story. My husband had to travel and at the last minute I offered to download a book for him to listen to on my ipod shuffle. I picked "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and meticulously set up a newly labeled folder in my itunes. I carefully downloaded each of the many, many chapters, labeling each in a uniform fashion as the time to go to the airport neared. Finally I got to the last chapter and received the message ... "sorry, not available." Hey, but it was free :-). So there's how we can guarantee our kids still need physical books. Just make sure they leave the last chapter out of every ebook!

Week #9 Thing #21

I looked at Podcast Alley and found a set of podcasts - childrensbookradio.com.

I tried a variety of podcasts and find those done on poor equipment "unlisten-able." It reminded me of an inservice we had where Tim showed us some of the better equipment for podcasting.

I don't know what kind of podcast listener I'll make. Many seem very, very long and I start multi-tasking, then discover I'm not listening as closely as I should if I want to really get a lot out of it. Maybe it's not my media as far as learning is concerned. I do fine with the radio, but I'm not really try to catch every point when I listen to the radio. I listened to the podcast on Kimberly Willis Holt.

I think it would be neat to have the kids do a short podcast book review.

I created an RSS feed as required. I don't know if I'm just not getting the excitement behind this RSS feed thing or what. The RSS button downloaded for Podcast Alley, not the smaller picture of "childrensbookradio." I didn't see anyway to "Tell RSS" to only look for new info in "childrensbookradio" So as a result it downloaded ten items. The first is "Sex Sells - Top Sex Podcasts." It also included a podcast named "The Alcoholics Guide." Why would I want to weed through all of this? It was like my experience on the RSS assignment where the Spanish paper downloads everything, not just the Basque section that I bookmark and check. Also there were over 200 new items in my Bloglines since I went there last. I have no motivation to weed through them and know the next time I bother going there the numbers will have climbed further.

Am I doing this RSS feed thing incorrectly? Is there a way to narrow the feed to the stuff I actually want? Currently it's far worse than the junk mail in my actual mailbox - and for some reason (which eludes me) I'm actually requesting it! I know I digress from podcast ... but I've gotten so I cringe when I see an assignment say to add an RSS feed.

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Week #9 Thing #20

I love Teacher Tube. I really have found lots of valuable stuff there. And it's nice, because it's not overwhelmed with obscene comments like YouTube. I've found some great and fun stuff on YouTube also, but so many people making rude comments. Interestingly enough so many of those people with filthy mouths sound young and uneducated. What a sad thing.


This one reminded me of Chapter 1 of the text.

Week #8 Thing #19.1

Digital Pipeline

First, I'm really glad to have them moving ahead with a new interface for Ebsco host. I went to the presentation here this spring and I think it's really a step in the right direction to have the kids go there and not just Google Wikipedia. It has not always been the simplest to navigate.

I enjoyed setting up a folder with the new interface. Although now I chuckle that the folders remind me of "old school computer" and I'm looking for tags these days, rather than the old "file boxes" that I need to copy stuff into if I want it multiple places.

I like Smart Text Searching. Also in the NoveList K-8 I spent more time with the "Read Aloud Picture Books Grades 6-8," which I loved! I looked at the tutorials. Don't the tutorials show some of the stuff using the older Ebsco interface? I'll admit, my learning in this area has been goal focused rather than taking a broad class that really explains all the components and where they come from.

I was planning to introduce my older elementary students to some of the more useful databases this past spring when Ebsco announced the new interface I didn't develop the lesson plan as completed as I wanted to, I hope to do that soon and set up a power point to project with simple instructions so the kids will use this resource.

Week #8 Thing #19

I really like LibraryThing and set mine up over a year ago. I have a whole Excel Spreadsheet of books to put in - when I actually get a chance to put everything in is the issue. Like I stated in an earlier post I've created my own tags, like "puppets" to help with my lesson plans. Due to the fact that my reviews are often actual my lesson plans for a book and really specific to me; my account has been private until now.

I changed that for this assignment since you request the link. I'm guess I'm glad people are such "exhibitionists" where Web 2.0 is concerned. I think there wouldn't be much Web 2.0 content available if everyone was like me. I must be too introverted, private, and stingy with my intellectual property - the first thing I do when I sign up for these type of accounts is find the settings and change them to "maximum privacy."

Anyway, there are many components of LibraryThing that I don't use yet, but I'd like to find the time to really play with it. What a neat application. The only books I put in currently are childrens or YA books. In this account I don't have any adult books, since I associate it directly with work. As a result most of the books I put in tend to be relatively popular, since they are often the new, hot, starred books.

My LibraryThing

Monday, July 21, 2008

Week #8 Thing #18

I thought I'd see how this works as a word processor. I could see that this might be very helpful for students. It appears to integrate with Word, so this would be a good way for students to work on a project at school, then pick it up and work on it at home without losing formatting.

I would like to see more training available on it listed on the Web 2.0 site. When you first sign up you get a list of all that you can do, but it would be nice to see some Teacher Tube tutorials listed if they are out there.

I'm going to try to publish this to my blog.


Okay, everything above this line was created in Zoho. It popped into this blog really easily - like two steps. This is a really interesting application. Since I have Microsoft at home and have used Excel so much, I'm not sure I'll just totally switch over, but I am definitely intrigued. Also I am totally sick of having my computer crash and losing everything. I'm really looking at saving more and more of everything to the web to avoid this and provide me access wherever I am. Which leads to the next internet safety / identity theft tutorial - what to save to the web and what ya probably shouldn't ...

Week #7 Thing #17

I posted to the curriculum Wiki five times in various areas. I have found it interesting to read the various posts on that wiki. I hope my ideas have been helpful to others too.

I ran through the resources in this section. I sort of scanned them rather briefly, since they related to PB Wiki and I have used WikiSpaces, I didn't want to memorize too much technical stuff and confuse my WikiSpace procedures which are finally becoming second nature.

Like I mentioned previously I think a wiki would be good for a bunch of student applications, like book clubs. But it's all dependent on students using the wiki. As a teacher I could require my secondary students to post to a wiki, but as a librarian it would be voluntary so I would be interested if I would get any elementary students involved. It might be nice, professional development-wise, to have an elementary library wiki for those of us in the district to use.

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Week #7 Thing #16

I think that Wiki's are pretty interesting and certainly have generated a lot of controversy in light of all the Wikipedia discussions. I played with Wiki's prior to this class. I used Wikispaces to create a "web page" for my school library. It's really not a "wiki" in the strict sense because I locked the pages (Obviously I don't need people to edit my overdue policy.) However I have offered membership to staff and parents, for the purpose of discussion, but no takers. I've also set up a page to link to possible teachers wikis or webpages, but I don't think any of our teachers really make use of a web page - there are none on our school page. At least I have this wiki linked on our school homepage, so I feel like our library information is out there if people want to find it. Due to the nature of our school (high military enrollment) our student population changes throughout the year and at least this way it's easy to provide information to new parents if they choose to use it.

I jumped around within the resources provided and found lots of stuff on the various wikis in the Library Resources wiki including a plagiarism worksheet and a kind of neat assignment calculator from the University of Minnesota that I plan to show my daughter when she heads to college this fall. I think setting up a wiki as sort of a book club would be neat, but probably more at the secondary level than primary.

Here's my Wiki, just FYI
Ladd Library Wiki

Week #6 Thing #15

I've really enjoyed opening my mind to the approaching inevitability of Library 2.0. I read a number of the suggested readings listed in the Discovery Resources and 5 perspectives.

I thought Rick Anderson's "Away From Icebergs" was simple and clear. It probably blew the minds of people not willing to accept change. The idea of looking again at our collection and the "come to us" library is radical. I like that he knows that we can't train everyone, but can make the programs more accessible, so we don't need to. I know that as far as training, I have it made because I have the kids for a set time that can be used for training. Also the library will have a dedicated projector, document camera and laptop in the fall and I look forward to challenging myself to confidently forge forward.

I feel pretty good about our districts decision to move to Follett Destiny this upcoming year. When I read Michael Stephen's "Into A New World of Librarianship" about bringing the library to the user I think Destiny will allow the students access anywhere. Now we just need to overcome those hardware and network problems that we know will exist.

I liked Wendy Schultz' "To a Temporary Place and Time." It was a little Science Fiction-y and like the Matrix. Still I think it's wise to think outside the box. Due to my husband's association with the university's bookstore we have ample opportunity to discuss the changes to our use of books in a variety of ways. If we think the role of libraries is changing, think about text books and college students. It's important that we consider all possibilities in the education of our students and work to come up with the best solutions.

Web 2.0 means rethinking the school library. One physical thing that has been going through my brain for new libraries is configuring computer work stations in such a way as to make it easy for the single librarian to monitor student work. In a public library the work stations are set up for privacy, it should be the opposite for school libraries, and I don't care that the students don't have a sense of privacy. I'm more concerned that the students have ready access and that one staff member can easily monitor them while accomplishing other work. Currently the work stations in my library are circled around a central column. Their initial intent really to be used as an internal OPAC System. The only way to monitor internet computer use is to circle around like a coyote. Not too helpful.

I think the generation of the "Hush Library!" is over. If we want to move forward as librarians it will take more than just posting a sign that says "& Media Center" under our "Library" sign.

Week #6 Thing #14

I was really skeptical about Technorati after reading some of the posts. Actually, it didn't seem too bad if you are really into reading Blogs.

After clicking on the link to Technorati I discovered I had won a free computer and the opportunity for brain seizures ... don't you love those flashing ads that just won't go away? Well, I guess that's how they keep it free.

Also on the first page when it opened it I discovered that "Elizabeth Dole says %&*@!! to Americans Who Died From Aids." Reminds me why I don't search these type of sites at school and how Wiki's look like the Harvard Medical Journal compared to Blogs...

I don't know if it's because I use Mozilla, but the little video "Technorati Tour - Videocast of New features and Look" (under Discovery Resources) shows a totally different interface than the Technorati link I clicked on which apparently shows the "Old features and Look." Regardless, I was able to use the advanced search and navigate around to view the required Blog posts, Tags, Blog Directory for "School Library Learning 2.0" Remember the quotation marks in your search. Also, if you don't get any hits on tags change the search to include "any authority." I did see a variety of posts using the different searches, interestingly enough many expressing the sort of Technorati Shell Shock I've seen in the Raven About Web 2.0. I was reminded that I enjoy checking out Boing Boing once in awhile for fun.

Did anyone else notice that the lady in the Videocast said she visits the "My Favorites" page of Technorati seven (or several?) times a day to see updates to her favorite Blogs? I think I'd list that right there with EverQuest and W.O.W. for internet addictions.

I passed on the optional activity of tagging my blog for Technorati. There was just something about the phrase "Technorati will pick up these tags when it spiders (or web crawls) your site" that gave me the heebie-jeebie's. It's kind of like dust mites, I know they're there, but I don't want to think about it.

Now on Tags: One of the Blog posts I saw in Technorati said that as a cataloging tool tags are only good if created correctly. Absolutely. That said, I love tags! I have been using them for awhile now. Gmail calls them "labels," but they are basically "tags." And of course LibraryThing which we'll cover later and I jumped ahead to earlier uses tags. Every time an application calls for tags I find them useful. It's like infinite file boxes and you can easily put copies of the data in as many boxes as you like. It's a whole different way to visualize organization and I love it. (I'm an organization nut by nature, obviously!)

Week #6 Thing #13

I explored the resources and set up my own del.icio.us account. I had tried to do this many months ago after a ProDev that we had. Unfortunately it was quite glitchy and the tags didn't work. Fortunately, it seems to allow two on an email account - I set up a new one and deleted the glitchy one, so far so good.

The hilarious thing is that after I set it up I kept closing it and going up to my Bookmarks on the top of my tool bar to open the stuff I'd just put in del.icio.us! I sounded like Homer Simpson, "D'oh!" It's like locking your keys in the car; you see it happening in slow motion, but just can't help yourself! Old dog and new tricks I guess!

I can see myself using this quite a lot, however I think I'm pretty lazy on Tags and think I'll save stuff quickly and tag it later. I bet that will be a mistake. I do think that del.icio.us looks kind of "1.0" to use the popular term. I think that they could shine up the interface to bring it to the "2.0" realm. I'm glad I had the ProDev in addition to the Web 2.0 to get a real feel for it's use.

Is it just me? In the Discovery Resources the link "Libraries that del.icio.us:" takes me to a site that's primarily in German. The link at the bottom of the Discovery Resources: "Recommendations Site" is in French and English. Since my daughter just returned from Spain and is speaking to me half in English and half in Spanish (which I do not speak) I'm thinking either I need my head examined or a bulk pack of Rosetta Stone programs...

Web 2.0 Text Chapter 9

As I review my notes from this chapter on New Schools I see many things that I've already touched on in previous chapters. Among them:

- The idea of Education web based programs like Ebay or Amazon. Excellent idea. Again, they had better be as neat and user friendly for both the educator and the student or they won't fly. Might I suggest reviewing Google and FaceBook? We should learn from our competitors.

- Teachers picking their own materials custom fit for each student instead of textbooks as mentioned on page 181 is a wonderful idea. However without some help this is a lofty goal. The information overload is wild. I can tell by reading some of the comments on this blog that we can feel it even trying to pull information out on this class for ourselves alone. Educators are so busy with things that have nothing to do with actual academics, our educational system will really need to figure out how to facilitate this for it to happen.

- Hear, Hear! on the software sitting in cabinets and used only on school computers. Let's make learning available everywhere.

I really liked both the boxes on pages 184-186:
- Creators in the Classroom by Jeff Utecht. I've mentioned in numerous ways how we're afraid of the social web, but that our students already live in it. I really don't think being the Ostrich and putting our heads in the sand is going to make it go away!
- Learning from Games by David Warlick. First, let me state that I am not either a parent or an educator who thinks that everything a kid should do has to be fun and entertaining. I actually think that's a really dangerous viewpoint and was afraid that was where this article was going, but it wasn't. One thing I liked is the time invested to increase levels. The rewards and personal investment - how can we use that in education? Also I was really struck with the part on Dependability. How many times have you seen kids work and work to find the "secret" in the game because they know that a "secret" does exist for that level? But the same kid gives up easily on the math problem or figuring out the theme in a work of literature? They don't have the "...sense that the answer is always close by; that it merely means turning over the right stone..." (page 186.) Really well stated and thought provoking.

Web 2.0 Text Chapter 7

Online safety and security is a huge issue of course. A few things that stood out:

-"Cyberbullying may be the online equivalent of bad school yard behavior, but it is no less hurtful or dangerous." ("Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools" p.138.) What?! I couldn't believe I read that. Cyberbullying is so much worse and in too many obvious ways to list. In my opinion it's like equating chopping down a tree in your backyard to slashing and burning a rain forest. Yikes.

- I liked the idea of special educational search engines, but they had better look sharp, or the kids are going to blow them off. Also, I agree that the AUP and Permission to Publish paperwork should be updated in simple language.

- Here's an interesting thing about YouTube: You have an option to "select only kid friendly videos" - but that doesn't filter the comments at all. If you watch an Elmo video and someone wants to post the nastiest comments (which they do) then there they are. Sure you can "flag" the comment and YouTube will review it and may remove it. Have you seen the filth people post to YouTube? I could sit with hundreds of people in a room flagging 40 hours a week and not keep up with it. Here's the cool part - it looks like there are some "non-YouTube" people out there working on applications to filter the comments. Go Web 2.0! What a perfect example of the two way street.

- Tee-Hee, the comments on MySpace on page 154 were funny... between Aug 2005 and Aug 2006 hits to MySpace by 12-17 year olds had declined, "they don't know why..." Anybody with their finger on the pulse of teenagers knows that the MySpace was losing favor and they were making the transition to FaceBook. "Positive Change?" as they state, or just change to a different Social Network that mom and dad didn't have a page on? I'd need to see more statistics to verify...

- The Cyber Awareness Survey was interesting. Sure the kids can "pass the test" when handed the survey. The real question is if they didn't know they were being observed how many would really put it into practice?

- Here's what I found most appalling: 71% of parents thought that a major portion of the responsibility for ensuring kids safety on the internet fell to the schools (page 150.) Another charming example of deferred responsibility. How much unsupervised time does a kid get with a computer in the school? Really, chart the time. Sure it happens, and sure the kids find things they shouldn't. In high school they may have a whole period where they are in the computer lab. And they are "unsupervised" until the librarian or teacher walks by, or the filtering software kicks in. And we need to be alert. Then the kid heads home at 2:30 and gets on the computer surfing gosh knows where for hours every afternoon while the parents are at work (and probably on into the night.) If you look at the Cyber Awareness Survey results the kids have been pretty well schooled in the text book answers. The parents in this survey need to step up and take some responsibility.

- Our only hope is to strengthen the triangle, the points are: schools/education - student/user - parent/home. Until we have commitment in all these areas the internet will remain a place with danger lurking behind the next mouse click.

Web 2.0 Text Chapter 5

The optional chapter I picked is on professional development. I think this is the toughest area for me and it certainly is an area that can always use improvement in general. I liked the term "Spray and Pray" in regards to workshops. Particularly where technology is concerned you spend part of a day with it, then if you don't practice it it doesn't become second nature and is lost. I've watched computer trainings occur and it often seems like herding cats. People can't log on, some people decide to surf on their own, other people get to the required step quickly, have nothing to do, and then begin sidebar discussions. In my former occupations I've written procedure manuals and conducted training sessions in various areas, so I'm particularly interested in how to do it well and make it stick!

How to seamlessly integrate technology into the classroom? Wow. If only the educators that had been around for decades weren't familiar with it, then all the brand new graduates would come in and the turnover would eventually result in an integrated system in no time. However that doesn't seem to be the case. Some newer graduates seem to slip into the "same old way" pretty easily and some of the people most willing to get integrated have been in the system awhile. I know that during the actual work day we are all too busy to sit and work on learning and practicing technology and Web 2.0. It's something I have to do on my own time.

Here's an interesting quote: After one Web PD session at our school a teacher told me that she's just "Too busy" to "add technology/web/computers" to her curriculum. Her lesson plan is already "Too full." This is a very good, positive, open-minded teacher. I think this is the biggest obstacle. If Web 2.0 is seen as additional work, not a better substitute for something else, of course educators don't have the space to add just one more thing.

The Community of Practice was an interesting concept. I don't think that it would be very successful though without a skilled facilitator to keep it on track. Sometimes I think that more isn't necessarily better. In the same way that kids get overwhelmed by the vast amount of information available, so do the educators. Sure you can find endless multitudes of resources on Magnetism. But in the end I know that I suffer information overload and return to more familiar territory. And again, there is little time to weed through it at work. For the most part it's stuff that one must commit to research on their own time.

"Without significant district and building level commitment, ongoing support, and organized efforts that reality [behavior] is not likely to change. To chart a new course, administrators must agree that the use of technology is a fundamental goal, and faculty members must participate in identifying it as a shared goal." ("Web 2.0 New Tools, New Schools" p.111.) I think the FNSBSD assigning tech people to the schools is certainly a huge step in the right direction, but I don't feel everyone identifies it as a shared goal - more as an option if they choose to take it.

We have our work cut out for us.

Web 2.0 Text Chapter 1

Chapter 1 was sort of a introduction of the things to come. I was struck by the importance in making our next generation ready to compete in a global way. In the "old days" it was necessary to move to a physical location to succeed in certain careers. Now people can work in financial careers without working on Wall Street, for example. We need to stay competitive globally. People in other parts of the world have an opportunity to compete as never before. We must keep up the pace.

I cracked up about the computer excuses for no homework. If we want to have our kids succeed we can't put up barriers. When my son was in elementary school he would use the scheduled class time to work on assignments on the computer, then when he got home and tried to continue the work he couldn't because the school computer was an Mac and ours was a PC. He ended up having to retype his work. The time in the "computer lab" was busy work disguised as valuable "technology time." Fortunately File was established to alleviate this problem, but we need to be ahead of the curve, not behind it.

It's an interesting perception that kids know more about the web than the educators do. My children are 18 and 21 and both use the computer frequently. They know what they want to do and how to do it. I learn a lot from them and they definitely expect a Web 2.0 World. However, when I discuss certain things about this class I discover there is much that they don't know. It's like a kid that can kick a ball really well. Just because he can kick that ball doesn't mean he knows the rules of soccer or how the muscles or physics work. Just because I couldn't possible kick the ball as well doesn't mean that I can't teach. Sometimes I see adults (not just educators) behaving like "helpless ingenues" where computers and technology is concerned. And it's right in front of the kids! I don't think they behave like that in any other aspect of society. So much for instilling confidence or establishing themselves as an authority. They've pulled the rug out from under themselves for future encounters. Okay, that sounds harsh. I admit I'll do it myself too if I'm not careful. We have to get past that.