Thing #23 - Reflection of Learnings

As I reflect on my 23 Things experiences and learning I realize I've come a long way but the journey is in no way over. Working through the 23 Things discovery program brought excitement, frustration, agony, success and absolutely no defeat. I really enjoyed this journey!

My favorite discoveries are blogging (quite shocking I must say as I was very resistant in the beginning), Flikr, online image generators, Del.icio.us, and Wikis. I created a wiki, very easy to do, but deleted it due to the fact that students must have e-mail accounts to participate. Del.icio.us has already come in handy when working on a project with co-workers.

This program affected my lifelong learning goals by introducing me to the next generation of web tools and helping me realize I can learn how to use them, find application for their use in education, and encourage me to continue to expand my knowledge and experience in the use of web2.0.

I am very surprised how much I've enjoyed blogging. It is so against my nature and yet I've really enjoyed it, found it so easy to do with little time and effort (compared to many other 2.0 tools), and plan on using it with my students. I've already begun constructing an educational blog. It's still in the design stage but now I know I can do it!

I can't really see that there needs to be any changes in this program. It is well organized giving very specific instructions and expectations allowing Players' to progress at their own rate. After reading some of the other Players' blogs it seems some people might benefit by splitting the program into two separate pieces, 12 Things & 12 More Things. For me, I think it was perfect.

I would be thrilled to participate in another discovery program. I enjoyed everything about this program and thrive on the self pacing aspect. I know that I would only be able to participate during the summer session though as school already takes 10 hours of my day. Participating in this type of program requires me to have a functioning brain which I can't say I have at the end of a work day.

23 Things will stretch your mind, aggravate your mind, lift your mind to new levels of learning and performance.

I think I shall go respond to other Players' blogs now.

Thing #22 - Nings

I explored all three of the Nings offered enjoying different aspects of each of them. I will probably join the Texas School Librarian Ning as it offers information and interaction with professionals that are experiencing the same issues I am. The local connection is most relevant for me. However, the global Ning, Teacher Librarian Ning, does offer a different perspective so I might join that Ning as well.

I must say my favorite feature of the three Nings was in "Ning for Teachers," the lesson plans. I read through many of them and found several could be useful and were pertinent to my school population/curriculum.

I would like to see the two librarian nings add the lesson plan component to their site. Everyone is always looking for fresh ideas and approaches to our basic curriculum and I can't think of a better place to collect and share lessons and ideas. I will probably join "Ning for Teachers" as well.

As for creating a Ning for my school....well I have thoughts swirling in my brain and will hopefully form/settle on a good idea for a school literacy ning. It will take a little more mulling and planning time though. I think I will need to play with ning creation first.

Thing #21 - Podcasts

Finally I hit a subject I know something about, very little, but at least I've had some experience. I created a videocast this past year and found it to be time consuming. It really wasn't difficult but there are so many steps!! I think if I had time I could get really interested in using this tool. It is fun, easy to use, and a great way to get information to your audience. I can't say that my webcast has been viewed much but it is for a limited audience. See below.

http://cfbpodcast.cfbisd.edu/weblog/durrantd/

Thing # 20 - Exploring YouTube and TeacherTube

It's amazing the number of videos that are available from very amateurish to semi-pro. I found a number of videos that were very useful, some just fun to watch, and others pure torture. I do feel that having such a wide range of educational videos available at the click of a mouse is amazing and quite useful in the classroom. I've located a couple that I might use with classes and I've found a couple that have given me ideas to help me launch/create my own video. After watching what some vidographers have posted I don't feel quite so reluctant to launch my own school made video. I can't it is a tool I will use often but now that I've experienced the YouTube revolution I'm sure that I will utilize some great videos for my students.

It took me a couple of tries before I got the following video embedded. It was actually quite simple, that's if it works once I post it.

Thing #19 - Web 2.0 Awards List

What a cruel assignment! I can't stop playing. Yes, so many wonderful Web 2.0 resources I almost drove myself...crazier.

I explored many of the tools listed on the site and found many personal applications. However, as an elementary librarian I found several of the sites had inappropriate "matter" for young children readily available. So, that issue alone knocked out several tools from my kiddies toolbox. Several more of the tools were blocked from use here at school eliminating them from school use, I'm assuming the same issue here. I finally settled on Biblio.com. It is a great resource for tracking down hard to find, out of print books. I plan on using the site to locate a number of titles I wanted this past year but could not locate through my usual book sources. It is very simple to use and should come in very handy.

Now, back to Web 2.0 playing.

Thing #18 - Online Productivity Tools

I selected GoogleDocs to explore. One advantage to GoogleDocs is the share feature. What a great way to create documents and share them with anyone anywhere. It would make a collaborative project a bit easier to share. Also, the programs were very easy to use with excellent features offered. The fact that they are offered free is obviously an advantage to some users. Our school families are unable to afford computers for their home. When necessary students could use public library computers, establish a Google account, save their work, retrieve their work, access their work at school, and more through this free account.

I was surprised that it offered files to be saved as a PDF.

Thing #17 - Rollyo

Customized search engine, how great is that. After reading about Rollyo it sounded so easy to use, and was, somewhat. I created a searchroll quickly but then stumbled around in the Rollyo site trying to figure out all the bells and whistles. I'm not sure this is a tool that I will use often but possibly after I've played with it a bit more I will become more proficient and comfortable using the program. As a librarian I consider myself to be fairly efficient at searching the web but possibly have a customized search engine would improve on the process. I named my searchroll "Book Search", how totally uncreative I know but found it useful for me.
http://rollyo.com/scarlett_techla/

Thing #16 - Wikis

I must say that for sometime I have been curious about wikis. Obviously not curious enough as I never struck out on my own discovery adventure. Today's lesson on wikis was exciting in that I now know what a wiki is, I know how simple it is to edit and save, and I think I know how easy it is to create a wiki.

I was frustrated by a number of blocked wikis which always seemed to be the ones I was most interested in. The wikis I explored were intriguing, some baffling, some quite interesting. I can't say that I found a favorite but I did get some ideas to kick start my brain into planning a wiki for my students.

There are two ways I hope to use wikis. I would like to begin a site for teachers for curricular planning and one for students to respond to literature that grades 3-5 are reading as a whole.

thing #15 - Web 2.0, Library 2.0

After reading all of the articles I've decided to respond to "Away from the "icebergs." Although I must say that several of the articles truly stirred my librarian emotion.

I agree with Mr. Anderson that librarians have been heroically rowing the library boat, even at times when it felt like bailing might be a more appropriate response. I disagree with Mr. Anderson in his comment that librarians/libraries are not paying enough attention to potential disasters, "just in case" collection, user education, "come to us" library service. I would like to believe/hope that many libraries/librarians are working hard to keep up with the challenges that Web 2.0/Library 2.0 have brought to us. Isn't challenge and change supposed to be positive?

The "just in case"collection has been morphing to meet the current demands however grudgingly and possibly a bit slower than hoped for. Attitudes of librarians have had to change regarding collection development and will need to continue to be open to change as we move further into Web 2.0/Library 2.0. What I'm not seeing change are the attitudes of teachers. Many/most are not familiar with nor have a desire to become familiar with Web 2.0/Library 2.0 offerings and demands. Until curriculum is written to include these there will not be a change.

Libraries have been poorly equipped and insufficiently staffed for teaching forever. The cry has been going out for more staffing for years but continues to fall on deaf ears. However, librarians have not thrown in the towel due to the short fall of staffing. We continue to find ways to do more with less. Not a perfect world or solution but we have to work with what we've got. I disagree that we need to move away from teaching research skills and move to nothing but succinct information delivery. Our patrons need and deserve both. How will we do it with our current constraints, I'm not sure but as in the past we will continue to strive for the best for our patrons by educating them and delivering to them the best that we have.

The "come to us" model has been in jeopardy for a few years as we are forced to deliver information via the web. But why must we be forced? Rather we should be more than excited to jump on the Web2.0/Library 2.0 bandwagon. We must meet users where they are rather than expecting them to come to us.

No profession can survive if it does not conform/morph/shift to meet the fundamental changes and demands of its changing community. Our information world is changing rapidly and libraries must change right along with the rest of the world if we wish to survive.

Thing #14 - Technorati

Tecnorati, the great blog warehouse. I completed keyword searches, tag searches, blog post searches, can't remember blog directory searching but I'm sure I must have done it. Keyword search returned blogs with one or more of the keywords so many of the articles didn't exactly fit the search results desired. Blog posts results were very similar to keyword search but seemed a little more to the point. Tag searches revealed somewhat the same results but I found several blogs that no longer existed and many were blocked by me filter.

I liked the arrangement/management of the Blogger Central/What's Popular, helped categorize the voluminous number of blogs in a way that made them "seem" more manageable. I liked that they provided Popular Blogs by fans and Popular Blogs by authority. Found the most popular search tags interesting. Sort of gives us an idea what the majority are looking for and that I'm not generally in that group.

I'm not sure that Technorati is a tool I will use professionally. I've not ruled it out completely but I really need to dig deeper into its offerings. I do appreciate the tagging feature and feel there are great benefits for the consumer. However, I do feel some of the more commercial type blogs are going overboard with the number of tags they add. I realize the idea is for readers to find them but come on, 26 or more tags is ridiculous. When tagging for my own interests I try to keep my tags limited to the very obvious and necessary tags. That makes it easier for me to find what I want and cuts down on the proliferation of tags.

Thing #13 - Social Bookmarking

After digging through the three social bookmarking sites I decided to stick with del.cio.us as it seemed to be fairly intuitive and user friendly. The site itself was well organized, not too cluttered. I quickly added a large number of sites and tags with literally no effort. Furl looked interesting also, liked the highlight text feature and the choice of private or public page by page. I felt their page was a big cluttered or messy. Ma.gnolia was more of the same but had extra components that I wasn't interested in.

I feel this can be a good tool for teachers/librarians to use with their research classes. However, I still have questions about what it takes for students to access my tags in del.cio.us. I will explore this further. As for personal use it is excellent. I love that I can pile in all my desired sites and access them from anywhere.

Thing #12.3

I must say I enjoyed this part of the activity immensely. I located a stain glass site that is superb and will hopefully get me back into the art of stain glass creation. About two years ago we moved my mother-in-law into our home, so I located a site on home care for the elderly. I found it to be quite informative. My attitude towards searching out blogs of interest has now improved greatly.

Thing #12.2

Okay, this was a stretching exercise for me. I find I'd rather lurk than write only because I feel I do not have anything to add that's truly valuable. However, as I venture to comment on two outside blogs I hopefully will find blogs that will inspire me to speak up.

Thing #12.1 - Important Points About Commenting

Be polite, be polite, be polite, I truly cannot tolerate people that are rude in conversation whatever the mode of delivery. I've witnessed horrendous comments on listservs and blogs to well meaning individuals and rudeness from the same individuals when politely asked to correct their behavior. I read the final post of a blogger just the other day due to the rudeness of some participants. She decided it best to close her blog, how sad.

Contributing something of worth to a blog/conversation seems obvious to me however I find many folks just like to talk. Think before you speak/blog adding value rather than just words on a page.

Thing #11 - LibraryThing

Quick, simple, user friendly site. Adding books to my account was a snap. I poked around in some of the groups finding the "Librarians who LibraryThing" and "Crime, Thriller, and Mystery" interesting. I didn't join either group yet but truly enjoyed the posts. I will probably join both groups. Will add the site to my blog list...as soon as I can get it all working again. Had to use a different computer today and find it incredibly slowwwwww. Frustration beginning to rise to the top.

Thing #10 - Image Generators

What fun! What fun! I could spend hours playing and creating new images. Could get addicting. My favorite sites are Image Chef http://www.imagechef.com/ and BigHugeLabs http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/.

I must say I ran into several walls as I wandered through the Image Generator maze. Several of the suggested sites would not open for me (bummer) and some would not actually create the image once I plugged in the needed information (frustration plus.) They would just send you to another site requesting you to sign-up for their service, not interested. Once I located friendly sites I really got into creating new pics. However, I'm definitely lacking on the creativity side.

Hopefully I can create a tasteful image or two for my blog, school website, communications to staff, ummm I'm sure other ideas will pop into my head as I play.

Thing #9 - Bogs & RSS

The easiest way for me to find feeds or Blogs was to glean them from blogs of others with which I share an interest. I found that the legends in the field have already done their homework so why not copy, right? I did search on my own however and found it rather time consuming. Google Blog Search was an okay tool but did not hone in on the topic as well as I would have liked (maybe it was the searcher????) I cannot get into School Library Blogs on Suprglu which greatly disappointed me as that is the one I was most interested. Bloglines was useful and easy to use.

I located two library specific blogs that I'm anxious to spend more time delving into the archives. I hope to spend more time located additional blogs/feeds with an elementary school library focus. I also shall begin looking for techno blogs/feeds on my next search round. Amazing how many blogs there are which adds to the difficulty in located the useful ones. I dabbled in a couple of other tools but didn't pay attention to them as they weren't particularly useful to me.

Once again so much to dig through to locate the pertinent items of interest.

Thing #8 - RSS

RSS is simple to set-up fortunately. However, I do feel that even though it is touted as being a time saver I'm not sure I have the time to devote to using Google Reader. I guess a quick glance at lunch might be a possibility however there is not time during my professional day that allows for that type of activity.

I would like to take more time (oops the "T" word again) to explore blogs that I would definitely find useful to my profession. I'm not saying that the ones I selected aren't useful to me, its just that I've not yet taken time to dig through the ones I selected to see if they are relevant to me. They all look very interesting!!! Hopefully after perusing my selected blogs I will find tidbits that will be useful.

Not sure how my library can use RSS but I do see if could be useful in high schools and public libraries to deliver up to the minute news information.

Thing #7 - Google Offerings

After delving into the Google playground I found that I don't see a huge usage for me as an educator of elementary students but see many applications for educators of older students. I am giving Google Alerts a try using "Severe Weather" as my topic, can't wait to see if I'll like it.

Google Notebook was quite interesting and I can see very valuable to high school and possibly middle school students for collecting their research notes. I am tempted to try it with my 5th graders for a small research project just to see if they can handle it. I see copyright/plagiarism becoming an issue for many students, especially younger ones fighting the copy/paste temptation.

Thing #6 - Flickr & More....Toys of Course

Oh my, oh my, I have found so many fun and useful tools in the Big Huge Labs toy bend. I've had so much fun!!! I'm really sold on the trading card and the magazine cover. My mind is swirling with ideas applicable to research projects and their final products. I'm hoping to hook my 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade teachers into using this tool with their students. I just can't express how excited I am about this toybox.

I'm picturing biography research with a magazine cover as the final presentation, attached to the teacher's website.

Thing #5 - FLICKR

Wow! What an awesome resource. Once again I would like to take more time to play and explore the offerings of the site. I can see that FLICKR could be very useful in an educational setting. Can't wait to introduce this resource to my teachers with an emphasis on copyright rules for sure.

Thing 3 Blog Process

Setting up the blog was a bit of a challenge for me. I am using a school student computer to complete this project which is not particularly fast. My patience has worn thin as I've had to stop and start over a couple of time because the programs would freeze. I will use my teacher computer next time which is much faster and should take out a lot of the aggravation out of the process.

I enjoyed creating the Avatar however would like more time to play. Truly, there is never enough time to play with all the components. I'm hoping to make more time for playing!!!

I now have so many passwords I can't remember which goes with which account.

Thing 2

The easiest habit for me is "Begin with the end in mind." That tends to be how I approach most issues both personal and work related. The most difficult habit for me is Habit 4 "Have confidence in yourself as a competent effective learner." I have high expectations for myself and yet don't have confidence that I will achieve the level of learning I desire even though I am relentless at achieving my goals.