Reflection on a learning journey

I begin my reflection with kudos to Myra! She has such a far reaching understanding of all things web that I am in awe of her familiarity and knowledge of the internet. She presented each lesson in an organized manner with links to sites, and videos which provided more than enough information to fully explore each “thing”. Her instruction was concrete sequential and infused with an easy going manner, humor and personality. This has been, without a doubt the class in which I have been given tools that I will use for personal and library applications. It has whetted my appetite for more information. I smile as I re-read “thing 1 and thing 2” when everyone saw me as an overachiever, it turns out at the end that every one of the women in this class is an overachiever. It was a mind expanding journey that I shall miss. I hope that we have the opportunity to further explore Web 2.0 and continue learning as the “things” are evolving at a blinding rate.
There are several "things" that that I will continue to use personally. First is blogging, I have even created a personal blog, A View From The Ridge. I have always loved to write and have folders full of my ramblings, now I have an outlet for that creative urge. Second, I love Flickr and appreciate the capability to store all my photos and have them available on any computer. I look forward to having time to further explore, download, share and manipulate my pictures. My personal Wiki projects went nowhere, there are only three persons on the school retirement committee so e-mails worked fine and the Gore Range Rendezvous folk were not at all receptive to the idea (dinners and in person planning is more their style!) I am experimenting with Google Draw as I do love plotting gardens; rearranging and designing rooms.
For school use there are so many things that are interesting and some that I hope teachers will want to know more about and use in their classroom. Of course my favorite is Library Thing. I have added many of the books that I have read and am in the process of updating my book reviews. When I am asked to do a book talk I can go to my account, pull up the book read my review and be prepared for the class. As a group, we are developing a media clerk manual using a Wiki. This collaborative effort will serve as an indispensible means to share what the media clerk’s job in 2008 truly entails. It has been a great exercise to put into words what we do on a daily basis. The Wiki could be used to train new clerks. In Teacher Tube I see the opportunity for students to produce book reviews, reports and other productions, record them with our new flip camera and post them to teacher tube. Wikis would be useful for students working on a group project. The use of web 2.0 in classroom setting is limited only by the fact that most people do not know about them and have not time to explore and implement. I hope to see professional development incorporate some of these in the teacher training days.
Finally I hope that more classes and PSTs are offered in this area. It would be wonderful to have more in-depth focus and time to use and experiment with each new thing. I am excited to continue to search for web tools and find ways to utilize them in my personal life and as a media clerk. In order to have the library media center remain a crucial part of the school, we must find ways to integrate technology in ways that excite our students. That will require better delivery systems and staff that have knowledge of information technology applications.

Thing #23 Expand Your Mind

I have been an Atomic Learning user for some time. I like the way the lessons are presented and the quick tutorials are informative, concrete sequential and user friendly. I have enhanced my usage of Word, Excel and PowerPoint through Atomic Learning. I am investigating Photo Shop and Windows Movie Maker. I notice that there are now tutorials on Moodle, iTunes, Podcasting and Dreamweaver to name a few up to the minute web 2.0 things. If you haven't used this site, I highly recommend it to you.

Thing #22 Your Cell Phone as a tool

Remember this lunking big thing? I really thought I was doing well knowing how to send and receive texts (the abbreviated language still eludes me!) Now I find that my skills and use of the cell phone are woefully lacking. I have a very functional, yet old model that does not take pictures much less the "my location" feature. It continues to amaze me how a devise that is only ten years old has become an indispensable tool in our lives. As far as an educational tool I am sure it will happen, I just see it as a superfluous thing. For one it will further divide the haves from the have nots. Another is cost, who will pay for the use fees? The videos all present very sound reasons for use in the classroom, but I am not convinced as to the overall benefit. It will be most interesting to see where the cell phone takes us. It is already being used to write novels!

Thing #21 Copyright and freedom of information

Some of the more important factors in education are copyright and freedom of information and usage of all forms of media. We do our students a huge disservice in not instructing and instructing and instructing them in these areas. Research is a major portion of all educational processes and we should teach the ethical use of other's work. I am appalled at how easily students cut and paste, never giving a thought to the fact that someone else put time, effort and thought into the piece. Teaching ethical use must begin with knowing about plagiarism and the consequences of plagiarizing work. We are sending students to college without the proper preparation in creating their own research papers. They need to know that at the college level plagerism, improper citation and copyright infringement is cause for expultion at many schools.I like the copyright comic book as a teaching tool, however I doubt that we have the bandwidth capability and the flash player to run the site.

Thing # 20 Social Networking

I looked into a NING and found a very interesting group "Library Technician United". I see potential for this type of social networking as a way to enhance and gather new ideas for our jobs. I wonder about the usefullness of social networking in schools, there is so much potential to go the wrong way and to not be safe in information put out on the web. Would the students see it as an invasion of their "space", would they view us as trying to be cool? How would it be regulated and kept in an educational context? It would require very close monitoring by the teacher / librarian. The jury is still out on this "thing".

Thing # 19 Microblogging

Twitter - sharing life's moments 140 characters at a time. I have tried, but I really do not see how Twitter will help me be more productive, plus I frankly don't care to know what someone is doing every moment of every day. I much prefer longer conversations, snippets just leave me wanting more. I do think Twitter may have some use in a classroom or library if students are studying another culture, they could Tweet students from another country or even another part of the state, sharing in real time. Sorry, but this thing leaves me "twitterpated".

Thing # 18 User Generated Video

WAW William Allen White TSCPL Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library book reviews Sandy Lane Robin Clark Kansas performing arts
As part of our library web site, we invite our students to post book reviews. We have found that many times the students will use the "cut and paste" method choosing reviews from
Amazon or other sites. With the use of our flip camera I envision some very exciting ways that students can go beyond the typical book report by creating video reviews. I found several that had used various mulitmedia sites to produce truly inovative reviews. I chose these middle school students from Kansas as they are well prepared and I love the idea of the masks protecting their identity.

Thing #17 Web 2.0 Award Winning Aps

Thing #17 Web 2.0 Award Winning Aps
This was a tough “thing”; I liked so many of these sites for personal use and have been using some of them. Because we had to choose something new, I explored Craigslist and have decided that if you can’t find it here, you probably don’t really need it. I could not think of any real application for educational use so I moved on. Under fun stuff I found "Guess the Google" -
http://grant.robinson.name/projects/guess-the-google/. Twenty images appear on the screen and you have 20 seconds to guess the Google search term. I managed to guess a few, but it is much harder than it sounds. Wouldn’t this be a fun exercise in a communications class to see what terms students come up with for searches? The medical sites would be very useful for the science classses exploring genetics. I explored porphyria on the medstory http://www.medstory.com/ and found some new information on my daughters illness.

Thing # 16 Learning a Language

Livemocha http://www.livemocha.com/ is a tool that I will surely use. I can envision this being a fabulous site for students, it is the closest thing to immersion short of living with a native speaker. It is very user friendly and I look forward to further exploring French and practicing my Spanish. I found the Rosette Stone site as this is a program we used in the elementary computer lab years ago. Having to purchase the software and not being as interactive as LiveMocha is a drawback.

Thing # 15 Audiobooks & eBooks

Driving to Papillion Nebraska for 30 years has made me a fan of audio books. There is no better way to pass 10 hours than listening to a good book interpreted by someone with a fabulous reading voice. I have a hard time with eBooks as I don’t do well reading off a computer screen for any length of time. I checked out http://www.freeclassicaudiobooks.com/however, you must have an ipod to download the books, I haven’t one, so can’t use this site. Online books http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/ has a great banned books section. It is impossible for a school library to own every banned book, this would be a useful site for teachers participating in banned books week. It is costly to maintain an up to date non fiction section, especially in the areas of technology, science, political science and history, ebooks and online may be a solution to the fast paced changes that we are experiencing.

Thing #14 Podcasting

I can envision so many applications for podcasting in the educational setting. The first thing I see is, of course, book talks. I would so love to have all our bookworms sharing their favorite reads on a podcast. Those could be incorporated into our library web site. It might be a bit of a challenge getting some of them over the “is that really how I sound?” but I think it has great potential. It was interesting to read about all the colleges that are using podcasts for their lectures, some only have students in the first class, mid terms and final exams. This could potentially free up much needed space and students are still accountable for their learning. At the high school level this would be a very effective tool for athletes, often they miss several classes traveling to participate in their sport. If they could listen to the lessons on the bus it would be a very wise use of that time. For our English language learners this would be a great way to practice their oral skills. Truly, the possibilities are limitless. I recorded a message on Voki, http://www.voki.com/, was shocked at how bizarre it sounds, but I do believe that is how I sound, so be it.

Thing #13 Google Apps

I have had Picasa for a year, not knowing it was a Google App. Following his son’s wedding my friend Dave set it up on my daughter’s computer for photo editing. Have it on my own computer now and really like it. I just need time to really explore all the features.
I installed SketchUp and hope it will enhance my husband’s kitchen, deck, and cabinetry designs. I wish this would have been on my computer when I was plotting our landscaping. The tutorials seem informative and easy to jump right in and use the App.

Thing #12 Open Source Applications

I opened a Google Docs account and uploaded a blog I had been writing. The one thing I did not like about Google Docs is that they do not have a dictionary, thesaurus or grammar check. That said I do see the worth of having docs saved on the net, one being ability to access your docs from any computer. I like the security feature and especially like that when sharing files you can be assured that there are not multiple versions circulating via e-mails. I am not sure I want my docs to be public, however, if I want them to publish to my blog, they must be public.
I shall now attempt to fetch my blog from my Google Doc file.
ARGGG, I am frustrated, I was unable to publish this from my Doc, so I have done the 'student thing', yup, copy and paste.

Advice

If you could have a “do over”, who is the one person in your life whose advise you would follow?

Mine would be the man who advised me to pursue a career in computer technology. This was in the fair year 1968. The first drawback to following his advice was "what are these computers?" My thoughts ranged along the line of "computers are the size of a house and he expects me to believe they will be how important in our future?" Then the next hindrance in accepting his advise came from living in a small rural town where girls grew up to be great mothers, waitresses, teachers, nurses, secretaries, and the occasional bank teller. ” But sir you want me to consider being a computer whozit?” Oh yeah, “programmer”. I did not take his advice; I was set on becoming a medical technologist (that is another story). Today I seem to be constantly challenging my brain to keep up with the computer technology. I paused during a recent workshop conversation to remember the man who had advised me to get out of the mindset of small town America. I wonder where it would have taken me, had I be courageous enough to take the advise of a young teacher. But as I reflect, I must say that I am very satisfied with my life, I have enjoyed my journey. Because of my position in a high school library I am working with three of my favorite things, books, kids and computers. As I said earlier I zip along and try to stay one step ahead of the students in computer technology. I do wish I could thank Mr. Killian for his encouragement and his counseling. I would delight in knowing that he is still of this earth and that I might be able to shake his hand and show my gratitude for all he taught me. I would also tell him that I did take some of his advice and I consider myself a very successful contented human being. I leave tonight with this view from the ridge; that of a young math teacher with a vision regarding the importance of something called a computer and counseling students to look in that direction for careers.

Thing #11 Wikis

Wikis, now this is a web item I will use. I have set up a wiki to help the Beaver Creek Muzzleloaders plot the July 2008 Gore Range Rendezvous. At school I plan to invite the retirement committee to plan our principal’s celebration using a wiki. Yes, I will have to do some explaining, but I think it is such a great tool, and easy to use that each group will see how helpful the Wiki technology can be in planning events. Like Myra, I will use the Common Craft video to illustrate the wikis. I used wetpaint for the Rendezvous wiki and wikispaces for the retirement committee.

Thing # 10 Working with Photos

Working with photos was the thing I was most looking forward to learning. Being a wannabe photographer I am so excited to get to the nitty gritty of digital photos. I have used Flikr with it's companion Picnick. Using only one change at a time, I was most intrigued by the "temperature" of a picture. I give you what I have learned about color change.The 'shopping results' used auto color and a cold -28; 'sweatshirt 3' has moved the temperature to a balmy 78; 'sweatshirt triplets' is the original. 'Shopping results' is the closest to the true color of the glacier, although I don't think that color can ever be truely recreated. And so I present - me, my sister and our sister in law at Mendnhall Glacier - June 2007. Superb shoppers, in this case like minds and exact taste.

Thing #10 shopping results

shopping results, originally uploaded by Ms Linda!.

Thing #10 sweatshirts 3

sweatshirts 3, originally uploaded by Ms Linda!.

Thing # 10 sweatshirt triplets

sweatshirt triplets, originally uploaded by Ms Linda!.

Thing #9 Technology

The most useful new piece of technology in use at SHS is Synchroneyes software. http://www2.smarttech.com/st/en-US/Products/SynchronEyes+Classroom+Management+Software/ Ah yes, I sing the praises of Synchroneyes! When the software is installed on a “teacher station” this computer is connected to all the student computers in a lab. One of the best features is the ability to send a web site to every computer at the same time. For instance; Mr. Government Teacher has his class researching the Presidential candidates, their platform, their stance on the issues etc. He has chosen a site that provides a non-partisan look at all these requirements. The class arrives, each student logs on and the teacher “sends” the site to all student computers. Time is saved by not having the student’s type in the URL or Google for information. If during the class the student finds it desirable to have a look at their My Space page the teacher can ‘lock’ the computer, a message appears on the blackened screen “computers are for academic use”. Upon unlocking the computer, a message may be sent to the student suggesting that they stick to the project. If they continue to stray the teacher has the capability to log them off and shut down the computer. During the last part of the class the teacher wishes to test the students. He has created a test and saved it to Synchroneyes, with a few clicks the test appears on all screens. Multiple choice, ordering and essay questions may be used in the test mode. As the students finished the test and click finish, the tests are automatically marked and sent to the teacher station. If a student has found a site containing inappropriate content, a picture of the screen can be captured listing the student name, computer number, date, time and content. This information may be saved to the teacher station and used as verifiable evidence if there are consequences for the offense. Synchroneyes has so many practical features; it is my choice for the most helpful new technology for computer lab use and classroom management.

Thing #8 Library Thing

I am a huge fan of Library Thing; I have used it to catalog books for quite some time. I have not used it to its full potential and wish for more time to explore all the options available. I like being able to rate books and write a descriptive entry. This is especially useful when asked to do a book talk. I pull up my library and search for titles I want to share with the students. As a voracious reader I have just scratched the surface of my bookshelf. I may become a life member so that I can have an unlimited number of additions. For a teacher with an extensive classroom library, this could be an invaluable tool for both cataloging and sharing with students. Click the “social data” icon and you will find a “library thing recommends” section listing other books you may wish to read in that genre. Take a trip to my library by clicking on the Library Thing “chicklet”.

Thing # 7 Tagging & Social Bookmarking

This is such a great idea, I like having all my sites available on any computer. Like Kim, I am not at all sure that I want to be social and have everyone see my list. I have not added that many to del.icio.us as yet but see the potential as I become a greater user of the web. In a library setting it would be a tool for students to use in cataloging sites they have used for research.Teachers who use the web for research could also have a list of credible sites for their student's use rather than turning them loose on Google.

Thing #6 Image Generators

Take a tour of my garden. I like the image generators, only wish I had more time to really explore all the options in each one. I can see students using these in reports, brochures, power points and just for fun. Enjoyed this lesson. I used slide.com for this slide show. There are many different configurations for shows.

Thing #5 Flikr

buffalo tree, originally uploaded by Ms Linda!.

Thing #5 Flikr

This is a view from my deck on a very foggy morning. This stand of trees looked so much like a buffalo, I just had to grab the photo. Go CU!

Thing #4 Technorati

It has taken me some time to decide that this is a useful tool. I began with a couple of key word searches and was amazed at the number of blogs that contained the information I sought. 'Immigration' brought up 149,688 in "all blogs"; 32,060 in "Tag", "blog directory" shows 2,198, "blogs about" 149, 692. Ozone Depletion is not as hot a topic, only 1,242 blogs. I see that each category filters the blogs down to a more manageable size for searching.

Listed with each entry is a green number titled authority, good Heavens, what significance does that have to a blog. After digging into the FAQ if found this answer; If there is an authority number of 1 this indicates that one person has used this blog as an "authority". The higher the authority # the more people are linking and using this blog in quotes on their blog. This number is helpful in trying to get to the best information quickly.

I find the front page and "what's percolating in blogs now" to be a great opportunity to get students thinking about subjects of importance happening in the world at the moment. This could be especially useful for forensics. The percolator updates three times hourly! It has features for all interests from technology to sports to photos. It is arranged rather like the inserts in my favorite newspaper.

I spent a long time here and enjoyed the exploration.
So many new terms to learn, my AARP brain is in a spin, ah Web 2.0, it is exciting and overwhelming at the same time!

Thing #3 RSS

RSS “Really Simple Syndication”
I like really simple. Being a newbie in this world of computer use, real use, I approached Thing #3 with some skepticism. Sure Myra reads hundreds of blogs and news papers and web sites, but I am not there, so how will this make things faster for little old’ me? This evening I blog to you as a convert of the RSS feed. It really does make things in the blogosphere much more manageable and yes, really simple. I set up a blog line account, added all my classmate's blog sites, my favorites (Novel Dame, The Pioneer Woman, Students 2.0, media clerks 2.0). This evening I logged on the blog lines and found a new post from Ree, two classmates Kim and Patricia, and Student 2.0. Wow, light bulb over head…that took so much less time than clicking a favorite and waiting to load, nothing new, click out, click in etc. etc. etc.
Considering uses for LMC and classrooms, I’ll get back to you with those. I am off to technorati.LS

Reflection on Thing 1 and Thing 2

Well here I am on the eve of my second class, reflecting on how much I have learned in the past week. First, I learned that this web 2.o thing is just what I have been waiting to learn. I have also found out how to manipulate a photo; browse for it; download it and get my avatar to appear in my posts and comments. My avatar is me jumping in with both feet, giving the thumbs and toes up. I can do this, I am capable and I shall not sink. This was taken on the morning of the fractured end of summer. I have become comfortable with blogger and created this blog and a personal blog. I have even gone so far as to post to my personal blog. I have learned that blogs lead you to people you must be friends with on some plane. Lastly, I have learned that my colleagues see me as an overachiever. This is a shocking piece of my week's journey. Is this a part of blogging, that we learn things not only about the world, but about ourselves? So if I must be thought of as something, I would prefer to be considered the eager beaver; hard working; and goal oriented. Moving on to the next lesson, I set my sites on Thing #3. The RSS feed. Now this is exciting!

Thing # 1 and Thing #2

I am so excited about this class! I know how many hours Myra has worked on this PST and I want to say how much I appreciate her knowledge. All hail Queen Myra 2.0! The homework for our first class is Thing #1 and Thing #2, how many thought of Cat in the Hat ~~~ the helpful Thing One and Thing Two? Sorry, I digress.

Thing #1: Web 2.0 I am intrigued by all the terminology: Wikis; RSS feeds; Mashups; Flickr; del.icio.us and bloggs. I am so looking forward to learning ways to use these and all the other new technology with students in the library. In the article from the OCLS Newsletter Tom Storey talks about how this is the evolution of the World Wide Web. Today the web does indeed have the capability to make cultural changes and is an integral part of daily life. At the rate technology is changing, it is a daunting task to keep abreast of all the new ways to communicate.

Thing #2: Blogging. This is a rather frightening idea for me, putting my thoughts in print on the World Wide Web. I hope that my writing does not make any English teacher cringe and reach for the red pen. I also hope that what I say is meaningful and offends no one. And so, in I go with both feet. Web 2.0 here I come.

I have successfully created a blog and told the world about myself. I chose the name because our principal always refers to our school as “The Aerie”. So I am not really thinking of nesting, but sharing thoughts about school opportunities.

Image Citation:

Dr. Seuss "The Cat In The Hat" Thing One and Thing Two 24 May 1954. 17 January 2008

www.drseussart.com/book/thing1n2_lg.gif