Blog On

Well, I have reached the end in spite of it all. I never believed it would happen.  Now I’d like to start over with a degree of knowledge so I can take in everything I was too stressed over to notice the first time. The very best of this course was the extensive amount of information and the thoroughness of the coverage. The course looked deceptively simple at first glance. However, with any technology something always happens that gets in the way of success. My rocky start set me back a couple of weeks. I also ran into glitches with EduBlog that I just had to get over and work around. When I have more time, I’ll try the Google blog again which seems to have fewer linking issues than WordPress. Although there is some breathing time built in, weeks two, three, and four were the most difficult. The hard part of the course is all together. Perhaps there could be a way of making that less intense.  I do feel so much more secure with the new technology and much more comfortable in moving forward with Web 2.0.  Having a point of reference from now on is huge. There is no question that I will take another course if it is offered. The exposure to so many types of resources was the best of all. Some topics I knew about, but not how to use them. Wikis are absolutely the best. I can envision a whole raft of uses for them with book clubs, book reviews, and information. I’ve already created one for the faculty book club I just started. How to get the members engaged is the next step. One thing I’ve discovered is that the creator is more excited about the creation than those she is trying to engage. Some adults aren’t eager to head into the unknown without someone right there as a safety net.  Some younger teachers use wikis on a daily basis with their students to great effect. The students could probably do everything I agonized over with great aplomb in a fraction of the time.In addition to wikis I really liked LibraryThing. The possibilities for that with students is endless. I’ll be able to highlight new titles with pictures and links to Amazon.    I also loved Flickr toys and the podcasts. My supervisor and I are planning to make a podcast to explain how to use Google tools. One difficulty is there is too much out there. I am inundated with user names and passwords for everything I looked at. There should be some way of consolidating log ins to simplify it all – sort of like PayPal. I know I won’t every remember some of the neat things I saw because of the paths I went down that I will never be able to retrace. Del.icio.us certainly helps with bookmarks. That’s one source I need to investigate in depth. The  down side to the course is the isolation and need to figure out everything for yourself. One simple word here or there could have solved a problem that took me literally hours to work through. I had plenty of moral support but no tangible support which was incredibly frustrating. There need to be monitors holding individuals accountable to their commitment to the course takers. Cheerleaders should be matched as much as possible to people in their geographic area. A visit then might be arranged to work through difficult patches.  In the end, I  am very glad I did this. In a few words I would describe my experience as having empowered me,  enlightened me and prepared me to deal with the 2.0 world. 

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This is an area with which I am very familiar. Our library page has a link to Gutenberg Project. The students actually use them for the classics they are assigned and prefer reading online. The World eBook Fair might be worth $9 a year. The collection is certainly extensive. The per student $2 cost bears thinking about. If it would wean them away from Google for all their information, it would be worth every penny. If information is accessible through the Internet, and they don’t have to move from their seats, they might use it.I love audio books and listen to them all the time. The wonderful accessibility through public libraries is even better. The big downside is that public libraries do not support Apple products. You’d think Apple has enough money with its iPod sales without putting this out of reach. It certainly is a drawback in encouraging students to download them since every teen I know has an iPod or Nano.  There might be something worthwhile on the links with the free books. Most of them would appeal to a particular group, but could save purchasing a book that few were interested in.

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Podcasts are incredibly versatile. One of the advantages is you can have it in the background on your computer while doing something else. I love the huge number of options available that provide as many topics as there are interests. I’ve become so accustomed to using podcasts that writing anything seems so obvious.  I subscribe to many through iTunes. Being able to download them to my iPhone is also a bonus. I will add a book review podcast to my wiki for my book club members. The NPR and Nancy Pearl reviews are good. I like the Nancy Pearl ones a bit better since they are shorter, and she reviews books an average reader would be more likely to might pick up.Students will really enjoy the opportunity to hear themselves and create podcasts for a class project. Students who prefer oral and audio methods as opposed to written work will especially feel comfortable. I might consider putting a podcast on the library home page for instruction on how to use the databases, etc.

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The major difficulty with YouTube is that the site is blocked at school to prevent students from accessing inappropriate sites. There is a terrific 4 minute montage of the Civil Rights movement that works perfectly with my lesson in connection with Civil Rights issues that I use with To Kill a Mockingbird. Sam Cook sings “A Change is Gonna Come” as slides show Emmett Till in his casket, Rosa Parks on the bus, Little Rock High School, etc. It’s from a PBS program and stuns the students who have no idea of what life was like then for African-Americans.[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/YsTpIL5FK6A" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]We subscribe to the Discovering Collection streaming video that used to be called Unitedstreaming. For those schools that can’t afford that option, this is a very good alternative. You have to look around, however, to wade through the garbage.

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I have found another glitch in my ability to add certain items to this blog. I’ve already written about my problems with Flickr. Well, there are also problems with Library Thing. Read the excerpt I found about why I can’t add the widget to my blog. I guess I can if I want to spend time I don’t have trying to figure out the HTML code. I think this blog is better for more sophisticated users. My problems with Blogger sent me here. I’m hoping I can solve those problems so I can focus on the content. Anyway, since Library Thing has JavaScript it isn’t easy to use here.The main limitation with widgets in Edublogs is some types of code, especially those that include JavaScript, can cause problems. So Edublogs automatically removes the forbidden code e.g. if you dragged a text widget to the Side Bar and add code that contains JavaScript to a text widget then pressed Save Changes the code is deleted from the widget and it won’t work. It goes on to talk about how to use HTML to get around it. Not for me.

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This is a great resource. I can imagine so many uses for this and how addictive it can be. I started with the idea of taking a sample of each area and ended up heading down paths I didn’t expect to find. I would like to create lists for different subject areas where students can look for books for either pleasure or research which will spur them on. I think I’d like to get involved in the talk section about what people are reading. I looked at a few discussions, but think you have to spend some time to get to know who you might want to associate with.I love the tags. There’s a wealth of information that can be gained from looking at the books bearing those tags. This is one place I will return to.The Talk area is very helpful. I clicked on one asking for baseball book suggestions and was fascinated by the responses – quick and good – based on what I had read. I can imagine using this section for help when students are searching for books like ones they’ve just read. NoveList does that, but in a more convoluted manner. This is just like a discussion among a group of book lovers.

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There is sooo much out there. The thoughtfulness that went into creating the many features in Zoho is incredible. I had the feeling that the designers either were real people or had talked to them since the explanations are clear and working with the programs is intuitive. Everything is integrated. The notebook is the best since it lets you put everything together in one place. As they describe it, it’s just like a paper notebook with different sections for different topics. However, unlike paper, you can add and subtract pages at will. The simplicity of Zoho is refreshing after all of the bells and whistles with Office 2007. I know I don’t need all the Microsoft options that business customers may use. Students don’t have the time or patience to figure it all out either. A program like Zoho with fewer choices is good. We have been brainwashed by Microsoft into thinking they are the one and only and the best. I’m so glad to know that may not be the case.Helene Blowers’ comments  are right on the money.How to share the availability of this program is the next issue. A blog may be the best option. I’ll think of thisYou have to decide at some point what you are going to use on a daily basis. There’s this, Googledocs, and Office. If you keep moving around, you won’t remember where you put everything. The same is true of wikis. I’ve created so many new accounts to look at different things that I know I will rarely – if ever – return to.

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Have to say how great wikis are. I started a faculty book club at my school and created a wiki for it and became very excited about its possibilities. I prefer wikis to blogs because it allows for more interaction among participants. I find that blogs are more about the person who created them whereas wikis are more group oriented. The uses others have used wikis for are certainly varied. The public libraries’ creations of “how tos” on wikis will allow patrons to ask questions about what they are doing without having to go to the library. Same can be said for school libraries. Only thing to keep in mind is making sure those signed up are tuning in. Questions can fall in dead forests.I will be more likely to use wikis in the future.

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     I particularly liked Rick Anderson’s comments. I know many subjects have better coverage in print format, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to convince students of that fact. I like the Library 2.0 options where the librarian can capture the students’ attention through blogs, online pathfinders, and databases. The number of students any librarian can reach is limited, as Rick also pointed out, so by having the information online in some 2.0 format will allow access to those who may take advantage of the opportunity.I was happy to read that most of us in the information field have similar feelings of frustration in reaching the public. One of the downfalls to the Internet is now everyone believes they can find what they need by Googling it. Granted this wouldn’t be as much of an issue if they knew how to evaluate websites. With the interactive options of Library 2.0, there is the ability to make it easy enough for students to access good information if they are interested.Mich

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I just completed a post and went to save it and Edublogs said the site was down. This happens frequently. I need to learn to save what I’m writing before I publish it. Anyway, starting over, I didn’t find this a particularly good option. There was less emphasis on education oriented information here. Flickr and del.icio.us were more suited to my needs. Technorati has the advantage of covering many areas and ranking them.Tagging is as good as the tag creator and tag searcher. You can get more random returns. I think it’s better to stay with one source, such as del.icio.us, learn what terms are the most relevant for your needs, and create your own tags based on that outcome. Consistency is the problem. I can think one way one day and go in another direction on the next. That’s the one danger I find with tags. You may be focusing on one aspect of a topic that has some of the same components from a previous post, but end up putting a different set of tags on it. Going back and checking each entry would solve the problem, but that takes time – which none of us has.

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