Sunday, January 20, 2008
Thing # 17
Zoho Writer at first look seems like a great thing to be familiar with. I like that I can work offline. It seems pretty user friendly and think if I use it regularly I would become pretty familiar with it. You can click to look at my simple wiki in PhyllisPhiles Wiki. It is very simple and I was just playing around with some things that Karen and I have been discussing lately. As I set up a document in Zoho Writer I tried several of the feature - changing headings, adding some links, using emotion icons, adding an image to the site, changing the name of the site, giving permissions, emailing my link to 3 people, making Karen one of my members, etc. The things that I did were very simple, very user friendly. I can see why this has become so popular.
Thing # 16
I watched all the tutorials on how to do things to a wiki and it made me realize that I just don't think I am ready for a wiki at this point. I was able to get to the sandbox and add my idea of using a wiki for TAKS support/review. How great to be able to create something that teachers can get into and add information/practice/review and then students can use it to prepare for TAKS. Even though there were only 12 other ideas when I posted mine, there were some good things worth considering. Hopefully, we will be able to start creating wikis instead of pathfinders as time goes by.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Thing #15
1. My thoughts about wikis:
I like the idea of a wiki and hope to create one. Of course since learning about wikis I have had the same thought as many have, the best thing about a wiki is also the worst - anyone can contribute! But what a great way to break from some of the traditional classroom methods. Students can be informed of the assignment, research the assignment, create the assignment all in one place.
2. What did I find interesting?
One thing that stood out to me about using wikis instead of pathfinders is that I can ask the teachers to jump in and contribute to the wiki. How nice that everyone can put their heads together without having to sit in a room at a table together all at the same time - this is next to impossible this day and time.
Going through the various links you gave us, these are the ones that stood out to me. I liked the Book Lovers Wiki, the best practices wiki, love the MISD wiki ( so much easier than using DocuShare), the literary circle wiki, AP world history wiki; Welker's Wikinomics (all I can say is wow and how appealing for students). I really liked the Texas School Librarians' Wiki and hope to go back and look at all the different book lists as well as other things - how helpful!
3. What types of application within libraries and schools might work well with a wiki?
I guess the applications are only limited by your imagination and/or your needs. A wiki could be used by teachers and librarians to plan a research unit or other unit of study. A teacher could use a wiki to complete a unit of study with a class. Wikis could be used for TAKS review and support or for book clubs. All of the wikis mentioned above in #2 are great examples of how wikis can be used.
I like the idea of a wiki and hope to create one. Of course since learning about wikis I have had the same thought as many have, the best thing about a wiki is also the worst - anyone can contribute! But what a great way to break from some of the traditional classroom methods. Students can be informed of the assignment, research the assignment, create the assignment all in one place.
2. What did I find interesting?
One thing that stood out to me about using wikis instead of pathfinders is that I can ask the teachers to jump in and contribute to the wiki. How nice that everyone can put their heads together without having to sit in a room at a table together all at the same time - this is next to impossible this day and time.
Going through the various links you gave us, these are the ones that stood out to me. I liked the Book Lovers Wiki, the best practices wiki, love the MISD wiki ( so much easier than using DocuShare), the literary circle wiki, AP world history wiki; Welker's Wikinomics (all I can say is wow and how appealing for students). I really liked the Texas School Librarians' Wiki and hope to go back and look at all the different book lists as well as other things - how helpful!
3. What types of application within libraries and schools might work well with a wiki?
I guess the applications are only limited by your imagination and/or your needs. A wiki could be used by teachers and librarians to plan a research unit or other unit of study. A teacher could use a wiki to complete a unit of study with a class. Wikis could be used for TAKS review and support or for book clubs. All of the wikis mentioned above in #2 are great examples of how wikis can be used.
Thing #14
I began my reading with Library 2.0 from Wikipedia . As I was reading I began to think about how I love feedback from students and teachers. It is so much easier to make informed decisions about collection development and library services when you know what the users want. I know that Library 2.0 goes way beyond that but it made me reflect on how valuable user feedback really is. Then I began to think about what a huge task just keeping up with user feedback could actually become. "Beta is forever" - I like that concept!
Secondly I read Web 2.0: Where Will the Next Generation of the Web Take Libraries. Upon reading the second paragraph, the phrase, "everything's connected" took on a whole new meaning for me. We have never been more connected than we are now.
Next, I printed off the Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto and posted it near my desk as a reminder that I/my library needs to be constantly reevaluating and updating, not just upgrading now and again.
I LOVED Rick Anderson's article, Away from the “icebergs” ; what an eye-opener. I am embarrassed to say I have sometimes been a "just in case" collection librarian. I totally agree with his statement that the services need to fixed, not the patrons, if they can't be used without training. This article has really made me stop and think more seriously about collection development.
What does Library 2.0 mean to me? It means constantly reevaluating and updating our library and its services beyond the realm of my limited experiences and knowledge, but in conjunction with the users in our library community and beyond, and based on their needs. What does it mean for school libraries of the future? We are going to have to ride along with this technology wave and quit being afraid of what's out there for our students. I think we have done a fairly good job in our district of "keeping up" we just need to continue to evolve so that we don't become obsolete. We want to continue to be a place that our students depend on whether they are at school or at home, wherever.
Secondly I read Web 2.0: Where Will the Next Generation of the Web Take Libraries. Upon reading the second paragraph, the phrase, "everything's connected" took on a whole new meaning for me. We have never been more connected than we are now.
Next, I printed off the Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto and posted it near my desk as a reminder that I/my library needs to be constantly reevaluating and updating, not just upgrading now and again.
I LOVED Rick Anderson's article, Away from the “icebergs” ; what an eye-opener. I am embarrassed to say I have sometimes been a "just in case" collection librarian. I totally agree with his statement that the services need to fixed, not the patrons, if they can't be used without training. This article has really made me stop and think more seriously about collection development.
What does Library 2.0 mean to me? It means constantly reevaluating and updating our library and its services beyond the realm of my limited experiences and knowledge, but in conjunction with the users in our library community and beyond, and based on their needs. What does it mean for school libraries of the future? We are going to have to ride along with this technology wave and quit being afraid of what's out there for our students. I think we have done a fairly good job in our district of "keeping up" we just need to continue to evolve so that we don't become obsolete. We want to continue to be a place that our students depend on whether they are at school or at home, wherever.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Thing #13
I think last year we had a staff development (maybe with Walter Betts) where del.icio.us was mentioned. He gave us some information and even showed us a few things about del.icio.us and I believe I tried it and it just didn't work like I thought. Now that I have gone through these tutorials it makes a lot more sense and has been easier to use. I love the idea behind social bookmarking and think it has great potential. It can be used in so many ways. I love the idea that it can be used from any computer. I can see that it can be used by a community of librarians to share ideas, it can be used by all biology teachers, for example, to share tools on the internet, etc. I have thought about using it as part of a TAKS Support Plan so that students might come in and use bookmarked sites for practicing/learning about TAKS objectives.
Monday, January 14, 2008
Thing #12
I began Thing 12 by joining The Mesquite Librarians Ning. That was fun and! I played around in ning looking at the other members, reading some of the comments, etc. I tried adding photos from my computer but it kept telling me there were errors with uploading my photos. These were pictures I had used on our library website so I don't know what the problem was. I was finally able to use a washout picture of two of our library assistants that we had used on our SACS/CASI presentation earlier this year. I don't know why this one uploaded but the other didn't. Next I set up a Facebook account, edited my profile and asked 3 friends to join! I edited my profile and added some photos (by the way, adding photos here was the easiest of any of the tools I have used so far) and generally just played around, looking at all the "stuff" that is in Facebook.
Why is it important that educators know how social networking works? Many, if not most, of our students are social networking today and it is important for us to stay abreast of what they are doing. Also, if our students like social networking, then it could be used in the education process. What new insights did you gain about these popular sites? This was actually the first time I had ever been on Facebook so everything was new to me. And I had never even heard of Ning before working on the 23 Things. What did you like or dislike about each of the sites you explored? The thing I liked most about both of these was the ease of use. Which site had the most useful features? I felt Facebook had the most useful features especially for personal use. Can you see a library or school application for any of these sites? Ning could be a great place for the exchange of useful information for library programs. What a great way to exchange info and connect with people with similar programs. Facebook is a fantastic way to work on joint and/or individual projects/assignments for school. This could also be a great way for members of a book club to share information.
Why is it important that educators know how social networking works? Many, if not most, of our students are social networking today and it is important for us to stay abreast of what they are doing. Also, if our students like social networking, then it could be used in the education process. What new insights did you gain about these popular sites? This was actually the first time I had ever been on Facebook so everything was new to me. And I had never even heard of Ning before working on the 23 Things. What did you like or dislike about each of the sites you explored? The thing I liked most about both of these was the ease of use. Which site had the most useful features? I felt Facebook had the most useful features especially for personal use. Can you see a library or school application for any of these sites? Ning could be a great place for the exchange of useful information for library programs. What a great way to exchange info and connect with people with similar programs. Facebook is a fantastic way to work on joint and/or individual projects/assignments for school. This could also be a great way for members of a book club to share information.
Thing # 11
I like Library Thing . I would like to go back at some time and create a private catalog just for myself, not availabe to the public. Being able to organize/catalog for one's self is a librarian's dream come true!!! Zietgeist is incredible but I was totally overwhelmed when I opened it up. And if you can't find yourself under the Groups tab then give up! For some reason I couln'd get a standard search widget on my blog so I just created my own link to Library Thing! Could someone please walk me through it when you have time?
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