Annie Katie

#23 Is this really the end? Or just the beginning

2008-12-18T11:34:00.003-07:00

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey? First and foremost, learning much more about the concept and philosophy of 2.0. Wikis were a mystery to me and it's fun to explore their use. Also I was aware of web-based applications but it was great to work a little with the word processing application to compare it somewhat with WORD.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals? A professional lifelong learning goal is to be more knowledgeable about what is new in technology, how to use programs, how to solve minor technical problems. This class has given me the start for this. I have bookmarked all of the sites you have in your "things" so I will have what I need to continue with these programs.

Were there any take-aways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you? I was at times surprised that I could eventually figure some things out, even when the steps were not explained very well. Also, I am unexpectedly interested in pursuing the use of these tools.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept? The concept is excellent! I like the idea of playing around with these applications. However, I wish we would have met more times. And/Or maybe we could have a class blog or class Blackboard discussion page so we all could post questions, problems, etc. and we all (and you) would be able to respond. Many times, as you know, many of us have the same question. A virtual classroom, as it were. Otherwise, well worth it and well worth offering it many more times.
Oh, and, about the MP3 player that was promised...

And last but not least…If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you again chose to participate? Yes, I definitely would!

#22 eAudiobooks

2008-12-17T22:11:00.003-07:00

What a rich resource! I work quite a bit with the reading resource teacher, finding appropriate books, eBooks, equipment, etc. I just bought her 2 MP3 players so she can download books from the state library. This service is by paid subscription. This resource will be excellent for her. However, it looks like there aren't many YA books. There are no eAudiobooks by Walter Dean Myer or Toni Morrison or Stephenie Meyer. But it still is a great, free resource for downloading audiobooks to MP3 players. The students will like listening to an MP3 player more than a CD. OPEN CULTURE has a lot of classics on eAudiobooks. An incredible selection! Great! So much easier to download the books - nothing to lose, nothing to buy or replace. A great use of the Internet for teachers.

#21 Podcasts

2008-11-30T22:40:00.001-07:00

I am excited about these podcasts search tools. I used PODCAST ALLEY, chose "News & Politics" and found the NY TIMES FRONTPAGE SUMMARY. I have several NPR podcasts on iTunes so I copied the URL, opened iTunes and subscribed to this podcast. This is great for radio shows and political and news shows. The great thing about PODCASTS is once you have subscribed to the podcast, it will download automatically. An easy way to get programs downloaded to your computer or iPod to listen to and/or watch at your leisure.

# 20 YouTube

2008-11-30T22:39:00.001-07:00

This is the first time I have browsed YouTube. I have searched for certain videos when I hear about them but have not explored. What a hoot! I put in the word "library" and got a number of videos. While browsing through them, I came across one that was a Library Musical. A young guy who was seemingly studying in the library suddenly started to sing, got up and performed as if in a musical. A young lady joined him, they sang together, did a little dance then ended the song and left. The looks from the patrons were hysterical. This led to more and more spontaneous musical numbers in weird places - food court ("Can I get a napkin, please?").
I explored the CONTESTS and ran across a Kraft video that demonstrates how to prepare various dishes. I entered search words COOKING CLASSES and brought up lots of videos on preparing dishes. The teacher who teachs foods class might be able to use some of these.
Teachers have used bits of a news program or other program to illustrate a point.
Of course, teachers aren't able to download the videos so they would have to show them live streaming which could be problematic.

#19 Web 2.0 tools

2008-11-30T22:38:00.002-07:00

Web 2.0 tools are web sites that allow some form of social networking and attempt to involve the web user, not just the web designer. Instead of the web providing information, entertainment and online stores, now web designers are building web sites that provide the capacity for web users to interact with other web users. Web users are involved in the information on the web site. Web users can communicate with others in the whole world who are interested in the topic. The web sites are much more complex than mere chat rooms used to be. Many different features on the web sites allow web users to configure their account page to suit their needs.
I looked at Library Thing for awhile. I set up an account but haven't done anything with it. Great resource for reviews, recommendations, keeping track of the books you read. Professional reviews of books are fine but reviews, criticisms, recommendations from normal folks who are reading the book is much better. Also I really like the feature that lists other books you might enjoy if you enjoy X book.

#18 Web-based applications

2008-11-30T22:37:00.002-07:00

This is a fantastic tool! Like all of the rest of the 23 things, it is web-based which frees you up from being tied to particular software and allows you to do sophisticated wordprocessing, spreadsheets, etc. from any computer with Internet access. All of the features that Microsoft Word has - font, page setup options, bold/italics/underline, insert web link, image, HTML, table, etc. It appears to have all of the normal features plus perhaps some more - emoticons, add comments feature, strikethrough, tables, pictures, special characters. I couldn't figure out how to upload it to my blog, however.

#17 PBWIKI

2008-11-30T22:36:00.001-07:00

I set up a PBWIKI for FreshmanSeminar committee. I don't know if I will actually use it but I would like to set it up anyway and play with the features. I tried to find Rocky Mountain 23 Things Wiki but don't have a clue how to find this. I looked at a couple of WIKIS for education - the Book Lovers Wiki looked rather interesting. I tried to join but I guess I have to be invited. I will try later to see how to get invited.

#16 So what's in a WIKI?

2008-11-30T22:35:00.001-07:00

I can see the tremendous usefulness that WIKIS would provide when working on a collaborative project or collecting information, suggestions, etc. from people all over the world on a subject. At FCHS I am on the committee that is creating the Freshman Seminar (Advisory) for next year. We don't have a lot of time to meet together. When we do meet, we have to spend precious time to listen to everybody's comments and little time in the hour long meeting to ponder the comments and suggestions that are made. With the use of a WIKI, the members could post all of their comments, suggestions, criticisms, concerns, questions, additions... on one forum collaborative forum. All of the members would see the same "creation" of the Freshman Seminar. Members would be able to ponder and respond to suggestions, criticisms, concerns in between meetings. Therefore, during the meeting a lot of the collaboration would already have been done. Members would have time to consider proposals before meetings. I would like to try to set one up for this committee!

#15 LEARNER 2.0, WEB 2.0

2008-11-29T09:37:00.002-07:00

I have been hearing 2.0 (Library 2.0, Learning 2.0, etc.) but I never knew exactly what it was referring to. Now I know that it is the use of web-based programs to do a variety of things - but basically it is some form of social networking. It is a transition to different ways that libraries serve their patrons. User-centered, focus on participation of patrons for content. Web programs that provide users the capability of communicating, collaborating, adding information, creating their own means of learning. Users are involved in the process and share information and content. Flexibility, bottom up philosophy rather than a top down approach.

#14 TECHNORATI

2008-11-19T09:43:00.002-07:00

The new version of TECHNORATI looks like it has a lot of neat features. Of course it looks so simple on the demo video. But this is a powerful blog search tool that enables you to search in just about every possible way - search by word, by tag, by blog name. You can search the most popular - blogs, videos, tags, books, news blogs, etc. If you find a blog that you like, you can quickly link it to your blog list. This is really useful for those who want to "meet" some like-minded or like-experienced people and discuss issues. I have subscribed to two blogs that deal with the aging of parents. It is very nice to hear other people's stories and how they have dealt with issues. It is much easier to be open with a group of people who have had the same experience as you but who are not close to you.

#13 DELICIOUS

2008-11-19T09:42:00.002-07:00

I set up an account on DELICIOUS and downloaded my favorites. I really like the feature of being able to access all of those who have the same bookmark as you do. Then it is possible to read what some of them have said about the site. It would help to see what those who have experience with that site say about it. Also the tags allows me to find those with similar interests and their web sites. Saves a lot of time exploring the Internet (which is not something I truly enjoy). I can use this site!

#12 Rollyo

2008-11-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

After "playing" around with this site, I figured out how to make a rollyo? I used video vendors - it would be very advantageous to have all of the video vendors in one search engine so I wouldn't have to go to all of the sites to look for a film. I think the best use of this would be for teachers to insert good quality web sites for their discipline. The site would be cross-searchable and would keep the kids away from the junk on the Internet and focused on reliable sources. I think we need to do a lot more work with students to teach them how to critically evaluate sources and to make good decisions about which sources fit what type of information is being sought.

#11 LIBRARY THING

2008-11-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

I like this "thing". A place to list the books that I have read, share opinions and comments with others who liked the book, get some insight that maybe I missed. And to be able to browse books that have similar themes. I don't belong to a book club - I don't like to read books that others have picked out. But this way I could be in a virtual book club and discuss books with others.

#10 Attack Ad Generator

2008-11-19T09:39:00.002-07:00

I tried to make an attack ad using Sarah Palin as the target. I was not able to upload it or embed it into my blog. I guess this is kind of fun and some teachers might like to have their students make some kind of an ad as a project - history, art, government, special ed. This is probably the least interesting thing for me.

#9 FINDING FEEDS

2008-11-19T09:38:00.002-07:00

Finding feeds was very easy once you knew what to look for. I used Topix.net and found a feed for Fort Collins news. I used Blogline's Search Tool to look up news feeds in NPR and Huffington Post. Both were very easy to use and easy to link to my Blogline account. Now that I know a little more about RSS Feeds, there are several that I am going to delete. They are ones that are not relevant for me every day. I want to focus on news and library issues, not movie reviews, etc.

#8 RSS FEED

2008-11-19T09:37:00.002-07:00

I have heard about these for a few years but have never set up a BLOGLINE of my own. This is very handy and easy to do. There are several web sites that I would like to read daily, mostly editorial/opinion sections of a few news media, and this will make it so much easier to get to all of them in one place! What a handy tool! If I were still teaching Spanish, it would be so handy to have various Spanish websites to quickly read through every day. It would be much easier to bring current events into the classroom.

#7 Blog about Technology

2008-10-06T12:28:00.000-06:00

I have mixed feelings about technology in learning. On one hand I think it is the most wonderful way to individualize learning and to excite students (or at least keep their attention) while they are learning. Technology has enabled teachers to use various strategies in order to address the different learning styles of students.On the other hand, I think that technology has dumbed down our society. Students get most of their "research" information from Google. An encyclopedia is a top notch scholarly journal compared to the information on the Internet. Even if you manage to find reliable information, there usually is only a few paragraphs. We are now in a society where we want the information quick and fast, even if it is not factual or has the depth and breadth needed to fully understand the subject.It is not the fact that they are getting their information from this form of media. If they were reading a good width and breadth of information, it doesn't matter if it is in print or digital form. But, we don't read the Internet like we read a book. We don't take the time on the Internet - we want our information short and flashy - and preferably astonishing (like our beloved reality shows).Of course, I am a librarian and therefore am somewhat prejudiced towards books.

#5 & #6 Flickr

2008-10-06T12:27:00.000-06:00

I haven't done much with FlicR but it looks like it could be a rather neat application to use. A pretty easy way to organize and present images for others to see. I can see how teachers could use this application in the classroom to organize and manipulate images for classroom lessons. Or have students do the same with images for a project. I don't know if I would use it much in the Media Center but I would like to try it out with some pictures from a trip or project of mine, just to see how the tags, etc. work.

#4 Share your blog

2008-10-06T12:26:00.000-06:00

I looked at a few of the blogs the first of December to see what everybody is doing. Some of the blogs are great! After I finish the class I would like to spiffy up my blog page and try putting video, etc. on it.

#3 BLOG in 3 steps

2008-10-06T12:24:00.000-06:00

I set up a blog, played around with the template, and have finally figured out where I POST and where I view my blog as others would see it. I have played around with the features - font, etc. as well as where to go to get a list of the blogs in order to edit the post. I don't think I want to create my own blog but I do like to blog on sites that are interesting to me.

#2 7 & 1/2 lifelong learning habits

2008-10-06T12:23:00.000-06:00

The 7 & 1/2 lifelong learning habit that is difficult for me is to view problems as challenges. I just find problems about things that don't interest me (computers, cooking, mechanical equipment) to be annoying and discouraging. I am not curious at all about them. Nor am I embarrassed to admit it. I don't know where to begin most of the time and it seems like such a daunting task to get everything you need and then figure out the procedures. If I were to start to maintain a "toolbox" of basics about machines, computers, cooking and work up, that might work.

The lifelong learning habit that is the easiest for me is to teach/mentor others. I also usually begin with the end in mind, althought I may not follow through.

#1 23 things class

2008-10-06T12:22:00.004-06:00

I hope to find out more about the philosophy and concepts of the whole 2.0 bit. I also want to become familiar with all of the funny-sounding things that many people are talking about - ning, blog, wiki... And then I would be somewhat of a resource for teachers who want to do a particular thing with a class but don't know how to do it. Also, these are by and large free programs, a feature that might be important if we don't get the mill passed!