Raven Linda

WEEK 9, THING 23

2009-08-06T20:48:00.001-07:00

I enjoyed watching the Disney video, "A Fair(y) Use Tale". It was very informative, entertaining, clever and very important. With all of our technology it is so easy to "copy and paste" and violate copyright and so often our students do not even realize that much of what they do is illegal. They have a hard time understanding because the technology makes it so easy. One of the best ways to drive home the copyright message is to ask a student if he or she would like other people to copy and paste something that he or she created and then claim it as their own. I know that copyright was a big issue when I worked at a middle school. Students would search on the internet for photos, etc. or want to use music in their presentations and it was often a "battle" to impress upon them that there were guidelines as to what was allowed. Very often both students and teachers thought I was being the "mean one".

I am pleased to see the creation of "Creative Commons" for the very reason that it allowed AkASL to take the "23 Things" and design it for our use here in Alaska. It is such a fantastic program and the ability to be able to "remix and reuse" it saves having to recreate the wheel as someone already created this perfect wheel and was willing to share it for the overall benefit of so many others.

I am very happy to complete this course! It has been a lot of work but I have to admit that I loved every bit of it!! I have learned so much and although I am not a master at any of these tools I feel as if I have a much better understanding and know which of the tools I want to focus on and become more proficient at using and which of them I want to use with students. I know that my attitude about all of these Web 2.0 tools has evolved as I progressed through the "Things" and I feel much more confident. And, I even had some fun! Some frustration yet some fun!!

My thought is that this should continue to be a 2 credit course. I may have had to invest more time as there was so much I did not know when I began but I would suggest that it be offered for the 2 credits as it was when it was first offered.

Like everything, I found that repetitive use is the key to achieving a comfort level and the more I had to go back to do something, the more proficient and confident I became. Also, it was great to already have a selection of photos in my picture file to complete some of the exercises.

I would be interested in being part of a "study group" with others who have taken the course or would be willing to share their "Web 2.0" expertise. It would be very beneficial to meet face-to-face (I still love face-to face!) and share ideas and get help with anything that stumps us.

Lastly, I never thought I would keep a blog but it was a great tool to evaluate and reflect upon what we learned or where we felt challenged. It also helped me to keep organized throughout the course. I really found myself motivated by the comments and I think that would be a consideration for any teacher or librarian who asks students to create a blog. Feedback is very, very important.

I want to say thank you to Ann for once again agreeing to offer this course, to Susan for all of her constructive comments and to AkASL for making this opportunity possible. It has been a great experience for me.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

2009-08-05T23:19:00.001-07:00

Of all the tools I explored throughout this course, the one I plan to implement using with students soon after the school year begins is "VoiceThread". I love the simplicity of it and can think of so many opportunities where I could use it to teach a lesson, whether it is created by me or accessed from the VoiceThread site. I saw a great one on the Dewey Decimal Classification System that would not only teach Dewey basics but would also demonstrate what a VoiceThread is to the students at the same time. I see this as a great way for students to recommend favorite books, discuss authors, internet safety, etc. Eventually, my goal is to collaborate with teachers and have students create VoiceThreads as part of their classroom projects.

I am pretty sure that most of the teachers at my school are unfamiliar with VoiceThread. To help demonstrate what it is and how it can be used effectively I plan to attach a VoiceThread in various emails I send out or perhaps present any interesting library information via a VoiceThread at a staff meeting. Sometimes actually seeing something instead of just hearing or reading about it can get people interested in incorporating it into their own teaching.

As I write this blog post I still haven't totally completed a VoiceThread myself due to some "equipment" problems but I plan to buy a new laptop soon and will have access to equipment that will allow us to create a VoiceThread when I return to school.

Another goal this year is to work with my job share partner to create a wiki for our school library but I would like to talk with other librarians and explore their wikis for some ideas. I know that we have a great group of colleagues in our district who are using wikis, VoiceThread and many of these other Web 2.0 tools and now that I have a much better understanding of them and how they can be used in our teaching and in student production, I hope to be able to contact them and to learn from their expertise.

WEEK 9, THING 22

2009-08-05T21:22:00.000-07:00

When I opened a middle school library collection 12 years ago I made a point to include a sizeable collection of "books on tape", primarily for our special education students who had difficulty reading but were interested in enjoying a good book. Also, I have listened to a few books on CD but find I much prefer reading the actual book. I become much more engaged by holding the book in my hands and turning the pages. That said I must admit that I have not had much experience with ebooks. The school libraries I have recently worked in did not subscribe to any ebooks and so exploring the "Project Gutenberg", "LibriVox" and "World EBook Fair" sites was a new experience for me. In addition to exploring the sites I searched "Project Gutenberg" in "Wikipedia" and was amazed to learn that this site was created by Michael Hart in 1971! What a visionary he was!! His goal was to digitize 10,000 public domain works after getting them cleared with copyright. The first work he digitized was the United States Declaration of Independence. When Hart began this vision, the internet wasn't anything like it is today. He began this project on a mainframe computer which absolutely amazes me. Today there are over 28,000 digitized works available for download via "Project Gutenberg" and although the project is free a small donation is requested as is with World EBook Fair - $8.95 per year.

LibriVox is another ebook site I explored and the first thing I noticed on this site was the RSS symbol. So one can add this subscription to their aggregator and get updates. This site offers works in the public domain also and is looking for volunteers to record the pieces.

When I searched the sites for titles I was unsuccessful as I looked for specific titles that were copyrighted and not public domain. I'm still not sure that I would personally be interested in ebooks nor am I currently thinking of pursuing these sites with students but it was interesting to learn about them and what they offer.

WEEK 9, THING 21

2009-08-05T16:52:00.001-07:00

Well, "Podcasting" is a little more involved than I expected and already I know I could use a little "study group" help before I would attempt using this tool with students. I explored this tool by watching some of the tutorials listed in the Discovery Exercises. They all emphasized 4 components if one is thinking of creating a podcast: 1) Plan (be sure to be prepared before you record), 2) Produce, 3) Publish and 4) Promote. I did not even begin to create a podcast for this activity but in reading through the tutorials it was clear to me that to create a successful podcast takes a lot of planning before one actually speaks into a microphone. The tutorials also addressed how to obtain a URL address, etc. which is a lot more than I can see myself undertaking in the near future. I can already tell that I will use VoiceThread with students before taking on podcasting because of the simplicity.

I did look at some popular podcast directory tools and used Podcast Alley to select and add 2 podcasts to my aggregator which is Google Reader. I chose 2 sites from the Top 10 list as opposed to using the search box. I was surprised when I chose "Royalty Free Classical Music" only to find each selection had a $34.99 fee attached. I misunderstood the word free. Anyway, it was easy to add an RSS feed as my Google Reader account came up automatically when I hit the button, "Add subscription". To subscribe to "Muggle Cast" - all things Harry Potter, I had to copy the URL then open up my Google Reader account, click the "Add subscription" button and then paste in the URL. So, I experienced 2 different methods of adding a subscription.

Again, from these exploratory exercises I already know I need some "remedial" instruction and would want to sit side by side with a colleague who felt much more comfortable creating with this tool than I do at this time. Like so many of the tools, I can imagine that students, especially secondary would love creating projects using podcasts.

WEEK 9, THING 20

2009-08-04T20:55:00.000-07:00

If there is a Web 2.0 tool I am familiar with it is "YouTube" as I have accessed it often for my personal interest in entertainment, historic speeches and current events. Because I have previously explored "YouTube" quite a bit I went to "TeacherTube" and viewed as many of the suggested videos in "Thing 20" as were available. I loved the "March of the Librarians" and the entire time I was watching it thought how clever it was and how students would absolutely love using this type of medium to create and present a project. I thought it would be interesting to assign the same theme or idea to a number of groups (i.e., "The March of the Penguins") but with a particular twist and then post them online so the whole class can then compare and contrast via comments and see how one idea can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I worked in 3 middle schools and think that age level would love using video sharing as a means of communication and presentation. High school students would bring an additional sophistication and I expect would produce some very clever projects.

The "Library 2.0 Manifesto" was interesting to watch. I was quite taken with a number of her statements and was impressed with my reaction. Since I began this course I have evolved somewhat and can embrace many of her "credos". One doesn't have to be defensive if you or your library doesn't have all it needs. The idea is to move forward. It is OK to let go of previous practices if there is a better way and be willing to make mistakes. There is no need to be perfect - Web 2.0 is all about connecting, collaborating and sharing and learning together and from others is what it is really all about. Learning is meant to be exciting, positive and fun. These are all pretty powerful ideas to take away from a short video and also from a one credit course. Her use of pictures was a little unusual but her message was well received.

Since I have never tried to embed a video from "YouTube" or "TeacherTube" before I searched under a number of things including the "Dewey Decimal System" but decided to choose a video I found when I searched "Elementary Libraries". It is short and I would say poorly done as she pans much too quickly but it gave me an idea. One could make a short video of his or her school library (or have students create it) and post it on the school library wiki so students, their parents, their grandparents living in other states, etc. could "visit" their school library, see what it looks like and know what they do there. These video sharing sites are great for ideas, tutorials and information and I plan to use them often both personally and in my job as a school librarian.

CHAPTER 3 - NEW TOOLS

2009-08-02T21:46:00.000-07:00

Even though we were only assigned to read chapters 1, 7 and 9 of the book, WEB 2.0: NEW TOOLS, NEW SCHOOLS by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum, I wound up reading the entire text as it was very interesting, very readable and supported everything we explored in this course. I enjoyed every chapter but chose Chapter 3 - "New Tools" as my chapter of choice to comment on in my blog. I browsed through Chapter 3 when I first began this course and read it again last night and was amazed at how much more sense it made to me now that I am closing in on completing this course. Each of the web 2.o tools themselves, the concepts, the future of our educational system, the mindset of our students are all outlined and it is almost like an overview of all that was covered in these 23 "things".

When I first began this course some weeks ago, I had heard of a few of the "things" we explored but was not exactly sure what many of them were. Now, as I read Chapter 3 again, they all make much more sense to me and although I am by no means a master of any of them, I am much more comfortable using the tools, understanding the technology and seeing the "big picture" of how it all fits into the education of our young people.

Another thing that was very interesting to me is a discussion I had the other day with some colleagues. I have a summer job and was sharing what I was doing in this class. I was also lamenting about how much time I had invested for a one credit class but that I was learning so much and it was a great experience. Some of the people are retired teachers and some are college students. When asked about the course I told them I was learning about and exploring Web 2.o tools and most people just stared at me with a blank look. I talked about the idea of collaboration, connection and sharing and how our students are different today, etc. Most had no idea what I was talking about but when I mentioned some of the tools: You Tube, Skype, itunes, blogging, photo sharing and editing, Google Earth, Twitter, Facebook, wikis like Wikipedia, even RSS it was like the light went on and a number of heads started nodding as they all said "Oh, yeah, I use Skype, I use Twitter, I use Facebook, now I know what you mean". I was surprised that the college students were not using blogs, wikis, etc. in all of their classes but 3 out of the 3 who all go to different schools said they were tools being taught in technology classes but not used across the curriculum. So, I guess we are still infusing technology into our technology classes, even at the post-secondary level but still have a ways to go before it is fully integrated into all our students' learning.

WEEK 8, THING 19.1

2009-08-02T20:46:00.000-07:00

This was an opportunity to explore the "Alaska Digital Pipeline". This resource has been available to Alaskans for a number of years now and I know that the committee is continuously seeking to ensure that the collections available meet the needs of Alaskans of all ages. These databases are rich with information but I think there is so much available that it can be somewhat complicated to use and not as inviting as it could be.

I accessed the "Alaska Digital Pipeline" from my home and needed to use an ID and a password to log into the EBSCO databases. Fortunately, I had those available at home but it reminded me how important it is to make those passwords available to our students and parents so they can have full access from home. There is an 800 number one can call but having the passwords readily available would make it easier.

Unfortunately, the "Guides/Tutorials" are currently "under construction" so I was unable to view them but I plan to return to the site soon as I think it would be helpful to explore them. I found the directions for creating a "journal alert" and the whole concept of an RSS means a lot more to me now than it would have before I began this course.

I first explored the databases for elementary students and plan to gather our teachers together to demonstrate using a few of these databases this fall. "Facts for Learning" and "Kids Search" are pictorial and I think will be used much more than the "Animal Facts" or "Primary Search" sites for that very reason. The "Student Research Center", designated for elementary, middle and high school students has a pictorial format which makes it much more attractive and I believe easier to use.

Three new things I learned were: 1) have a second window open so you can click back to the "Alaska Digital Pipeline" home page as it is not always easy to do so from every screen, 2) you can create a folder and add an article to your folder directly from the article page, 3) there is a great collection of photographs of Alaskan history available in the "Alaska Digital Archives".

WEEK 8, THING 19

2009-07-30T20:53:00.001-07:00

I have been looking forward to exploring "LibraryThing". I had fun searching for some of my favorite books but was disappointed that the bookcovers that I remember from these books were unavailable to see. I explored around the site and think older students would have a great time using this site not only to search for titles but to organize, search authors, become part of a group with similar reading interests (i. e. fantasy, science fiction), read reviews, make a wish list, add an RSS feed, find "like-minded" readers, etc.

I cannot figure out how to just post my selected catalog of bookcovers to my blog without the "Library Thing" spinner. At first I thought this had to be included as part of the "widget" but I have not seen it on other "Raven 2.0" group members' pages so I will ask for help on that but for now I am leaving my blog post as is.

I read through the "LibraryThing" tour, FAQs and other features on the site and can also see this being a valuable tool for staff and/or student book clubs, "Battle of the Books" as tiles are read, etc.

WEEK 8, THING 18

2009-07-30T17:37:00.000-07:00

Well, I learned many new things exploring "Thing #18"! It was a lot of "trial and error" with a little dose (or a big dose) of frustration but it really is a great feeling when one keeps playing around with something and finally gets it figured out. A sense of EUREKA!

I decided I would create an account with both "Zoho Writer" and "Googledocs" and try to create a similar document using both with the final goal being to publish both of them to my blog. I had heard about "Googledocs" in a class I took but had never heard of "Zoho Writer" so exploring both of these tools was a brand new experience for me. I saw a lot of similarities when I opened both tools but was more readily attracted to the "Zoho Writer" site. I didn't have to go looking or try to figure anything out. I was able to type some text, upload an image from my desktop and publish to my blog in a very short time with a big smile on my face that it worked. With "Googledocs" I had a much harder time. It took many tries before I could upload my image. It was very slow to upload, I had to rename it to make it work and then I had to republish it as the sizing was incorrect when I posted to my blog. I had to spend a lot of time figuring things out with "Googledocs" that were easy and simple with "Zoho Writer". I would really love to be in a "study group" to explore both of these tools further as I can see the benefit in inviting others to comment, etc. All in all this was a great exercise to learn something new and to practice some of the skills I have learned over the past weeks including creating a new account. I have created so many that it now only takes a second. I find myself using the same user name, password, etc. so I can hopefully remember all this after I complete this course!

Exploring Googledocs

2009-07-30T17:32:00.001-07:00

Exploring Googledocs

I am now exploring Googledocs to compare and contrast using it from Zoho Writer. Immediately, I see the menu where one can choose a font, size of print, bold or italics, alignment, etc. The look of the screen is different but the basic elements are the same. I see the word "share" and hope it will be as easy to upload and post this document to my blog as it was with Zoho Writer.

Because the document I posted to my blog using Zoho Writer appeared double-spaced when I only intended single-spaced, I am not adding any extra spaces to delineate this paragrah to see how it appears on my blog.

This is the "Everybody" section of our elementary school library. It is a very cozy section where the younger students meet for storytelling, author discussions, book selection, etc. The puffins were stenciled in by the librarian who opened the school.

Zoho Writer

2009-07-30T16:38:00.001-07:00

Exploring with Zoho Writer

This is my first time exploring with Zoho Writer. I attempted to embed an image from my desktop and hope to upload this posting to my blog. Again, this is all an experiment!

This image is taken from our elementary school library. Our library collection consists of approximately 17,000 books, a variety of videotapes and DVDs, books on tape, magazines and 5 student computer workstations. It is a very attractive facility that circulates approximately 5500 books per month. Our school is involved in the Accelerated Reader program.

Since I have never used Zoho Writer before, I have explored the various toolbars, etc. Many of the tabs and options are similar to any of the word processors I have used before (font, size. bold, alignment, bullets, etc.)

WEEK 6, THING 17

2009-07-28T20:47:00.000-07:00

As I worked my way through "Thing #17", I found myself asking questions about what the differences are among the various tools we have studied thus far and how, when and which of them would be best to use in our school libraries. Since this week is about "wikis", I decided to visit Faith's "East High Library Webpages", created using wikispaces.com as Susan mentioned it in our phone call last week. It is obvious that Faith put a lot of time, effort and thought into creating this site and exploring these pages has enabled me to further understand what a wiki is and how it can be used effectively to foster interaction between our students and their school library. Faith's page covers so many of the elements that I incorporated into the library webpage I made some years ago but I really like the wiki format. It is attractive and gives students an opportunity to be engaged and interact which the page I created did not.

I viewed some of the "pb Wiki" tutorials and informational videos as well as "played around" after creating a Wikispaces account attempting to add an entry to the "Raven About Web 2.0 Curriculum Wiki". I typed my entry, saved my entry and noticed it under "history" instead of on the actual page where I wanted it to appear. Then, as my frustration continued I wound up saving it as a discussion post and could not figure out how to delete it. Through the "trial and error" method I realized that it is extremely simple to just type one's entry directly where you want it to be and save it to the page. Sometimes we just like to make things more complicated than they really are!

Before I added my post I read through many of the other postings under all the different topics and picked up some great ideas. Again, understanding the benefits of another web 2.0 tool!

WEEK 7, THING 16

2009-07-28T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am going to admit right up front that I love "Wikipedia"! I know many educators do not allow their students to use it because the information posted is not authoritative but I am a frequent user and expect I will continue to be. One of the reasons I really like "Wikipedia" is it almost always has an entry on what I am looking up. Granted, I am not usually searching for scholarly material. Usually I am just looking for a quick entry about something or someone I just heard about, an historical event mentioned in a movie I have just seen, something I recently read about in the newspaper, etc. Almost always, "Wikipedia" has delivered for me and since I am aware that the articles can be posted, edited or deleted by the users I read the information for authenticity, or at least try to determine what sounds like fact and/or opinion.

I knew the word "wiki" from a trip to Hawaii when I took the "wiki-wiki" from the airport and sure enough, the word for wikis comes from the Hawaiian word meaning ""quick". Some of the pros of a wiki are that it can be created quickly, it is web-based and easy to use, one does not need knowledge of HTML, anyone can add, edit or delete (this could also be a con), addresses a variety of diverse topics and it is flexible. Some cons are that is can be disorganized, hard to control, post opinion instead of fact and be subject to vandalism or spam.

In exploring a number of the wikis listed under the "Discovery Exercises", I noticed that many of the pages resembled pages on "Wikipedia". One library wiki I explored, "Blogging Libraries Wiki" links the user to a list of school library blogs. A neat feature because it is a wiki is that a school library could add its own blog to the list and update it immediately.

Because of this "thing" I went back to the "ASD Librarians' Wiki" and explored it further. I knew about this wiki but admit I have not made very good use of it in the past and plan to refer to it more often now that I have a better understanding of wikis.

I think I would prefer to create a NING for our school library as opposed to a wiki as I do not think that I would be looking to have students edit or change anything on the site but that is open to further consideration as I learn more about all of these tools.

WEEK 6, THING 15

2009-07-26T20:58:00.001-07:00

Having read through almost the entire suggested list of perspectives on Library 2.0, two of the articles really grabbed my attention. In the perspective, "To a temporary place in time", Dr. Wendy Schultz states "libraries are not in communities, they are communities". Or, I thought we might also say, "school libraries are not in our schools, they are our schools". Her discussion of Library 1.0 as a commodity (housing materials and making them available to users in a particular physical place), Library 2.0 (the library is everywhere, resources are provided barrier free and participatory), Library 3.0 (providing services in a virtual graphic world) got me thinking of how our library world has changed yet there have always been people who wanted to jump on the wagon and pursue librarianship as a career. They are just people with a passion and will go in whatever direction it takes. As an aside, I immediately thought of the "Ask Jen" service at Alaska Airlines. I'm not real knowledgeable about Web 3.0 tools yet as I am just learning about all these Web 2.0 tools but from what I just read I think this could be a Web 3.0 service and if so, I certainly understand the incredible value this would have to a patron. And lastly, Dr. Schultz refers to Library 4.0, or augmented reality. I must admit this thinking is a little beyond my reach at this point but she suggests that in a Library 4.0 world, services would be delivered in a very sensual way, a "knowledge spa" of sorts incorporating what she refers to as "meditation, relaxation, immersion in a luxury of ideas and thought". All I can say is I'm onboard already!

The other article that caught my attention was "Away from icebergs" by Rick Anderson. He sees 3 "icebergs" that threaten our progress in moving toward a Library 2.0 environment, one being the idea of having a "just in case" collection. As a long-time school librarian, I can honestly plead guilty to this idea! Does anyone else feel the need to make sure their library has an updated set of WORLD BOOK ENCYCLOPEDIAS? Do you want to be sure to have a variety of print resources available so that students understand what an index is, a table of contents, etc.? Do you want to be sure to have a variety of print materials available for research in case the electricity fails or in case there are not enough computers available for everyone to use? I'm not totally convinced it isn't a good idea to have these resources available but I can better appreciate the need to embrace another way of thinking in order to implement another way of teaching students.

WEEK 6, THING 14

2009-07-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

Next up is "Technorati" and how tags work with blogs. I'm seeing a pattern here as we progress through the "things" and it is making sense to me. I perceive "Del.icio.us" (again, had to think about where those dots go!) as a "one-stop-shopping" website to save and access bookmarks, both your own and those created by other users where one uses tags to organize and easily access great websites. I perceive "Technorati" as a "one-stop-shopping" website to search for and access blogs and postings that would be of interest using tags. These are two different sites created for different purposes: "Del.iou.us" (organizing and accessing bookmarks using tags) and "Technorati" (organizing and accessing blogs using tags). The sites serve different purposes, look somewhat different and have different creators but the basics on how to use are very similar.

I did not have any luck accessing the "Technorati Tour" so I went to "You Tube" (again, using prior knowledge from "Thing #13) and looked to see if there was a tutorial on using "Technorati". Sure enough, success! A British sounding gentleman gave an overview of "Technorati", how to use and how to create followers. This turorial was created in April, 2009 and at that time "Technorati" was tracking 112.8 million blogs. He described it as the authoritative collection of blog posts and made suggestions as to how to get traffic flowing to one's blog so that his or her articles could be seen by millions of people.

I opted not to create a "Technorati" account as I have really benefited from the blog experience that accompanies this course but feel pretty sure that I am not going to engage in reading other blogs at this time. That may change in time and now I know what "Technorati" is and how I could use this site if I should decide to search blog posts in the future.

WEEK 6, THING 13

2009-07-26T15:58:00.000-07:00

This week has us learning about tagging and "Del.icio.us" which are both interesting. I have a pretty good idea about tags and tagging now from some of the other exerercises but the social bookmarking idea is new to me. I set up a "Del.icio.us" account after watching 2 tutorials that were created on "You Tube". This was also an exercise in learning how one can use "You Tube" to create educational tutorials. Most of my "You Tube" experience has been watching news events and speeches. I can see the real benefits of the "Del.icio.us" site, especially if one uses a computer at home, a separate computer at school, etc. It is a great way to make sure that you can always access your saved bookmarks. Right now, I have most of my bookmarks on my PC at home and if I wanted to access them from school it could be challenging. I would have to remember them, try to find them online again or call home to have someone check my computer for me. I like the idea of being able to access them from any computer. Another great feature is the sharing access to the bookmarks. It prevents the "reinventing the wheel" idea. Also, being able to "subscribe" to another person's bookmarks and benefit from his or her research is a great feature allowing all users to benefit from each other's efforts. Once again, the concepts of sharing, connecting and collaborating that are fundamental among the web 2.0 community are evident. My one complaint about this site is the name! I explored around some of the sites suggested in the discovery exercises but I'm still not quite sure how the creators came up with the title, "Del.icio.us". I have a hard time remembering where in the word to put the dots. I would like a title that is easier to type quickly and not have to think so much about how it is written.

I really like the "tagging" concept as I am a person who loves organization. I love to sort, to create neat files, etc. I really like the freedom one has with tagging. We do not have to restrict ourselves to any set rules when creating tags for material. It is what works for the user. I also like that one can use more than one tag. The whole idea is to be able to organize websites, photos, etc. so that they are easily accessible and having the freedom to create a system that works for the individual user is a real plus.

WEEK 5, THING 12 (further reflection)

2009-07-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Well, after quite a bit more troubleshooting and a phone call with Susan (thank you, Susan), I have decided to put creating and posting a voicethread aside for now. I feel very confident that I know how to create one and actually did but prefer not to post it to my blog as the sound quality is so poor. I'm not sure if the "mic/headset" I purchased for $30.00 is just poor quality or if the 2 computers I tried to record on were too old. When I tried to record on my Dell desktop (it is a few years old) using the "headset/mic" I could get absolutely no sound. I checked, re-checked and checked again while talking to Susan to make sure everything was in good order to record but still no sound. So, I took the MAC G4 laptop I borrowed from school (I know, kind of a "dinosaur" but all I had for a laptop) to the local coffee shop along with the "headet/mic" to see if I would have better luck. I was able to get sound but it was very low and even though I spoke directly into the mic, I picked up all kinds of background noise. I didn't have the success I was hoping for but I certainly gave it my best shot!

All of this made me reflect back on when I commented on Chapter 1 - "Web 2.0: New Tools, New Schools". I sound a bit naive suggesting that all schools, both rich and poor can now be on equal footing because they have internet access to 2.0 tools. I was reminded through this exercise that it is not just internet access that will enable our students to be successful at learning about and applying these tools. They need updated equipment, updated internet delivery and teachers with the mindset to ensure that it all happens.

WEEK 5, THING 12

2009-07-24T19:38:00.000-07:00

I have really been looking forward to completing this "thing" as I really like what I have heard and seen about VoiceThread and looked forward to creating and then posting one in my blog like Staci C. from Group One. I spent quite a bit of time browsing through various postings on the VoiceThread site to see how the tool can be used in education. There weren't any matches when I searched "Darth Tater" but found lots of great ones including one called "Mr. Scully's Class VoiceThread" where he showed photos of various rock formations, asked questions about them and invited students to comment with their answers. I thought this one was very well done and could see how it would thoroughly engage the viewer. I also explored all of the tutorials and liked how they used VoiceThread to demonstrate how to use VoiceThread. I thought the doodle tool was great, the zoom and the ability to post a comment in a variety of ways: phone, text, etc. I liked how some not only had a person's image but video of them as they were talking. I really think this is a great tool that students would love to use. It has so many possibilities and as a school librarian I can see using it for students to discuss a favorite book from when they were small, "book talk" a Battle of the Books title, demonstrate how to use Library WebCat or give pointers on how to stay safe on the internet like Janell did last year. I also searched some of the "Teacher Tube" links suggested under Discovery Resources. When I went back to Staci C.'s VoiceThread I was amazed that my image showed up in a small frame at the bottom of her posting. I'm baffled as to how it got there and can't quite figure out how to delete it!

With all of these positive reactions said, I am very disappointed tonight as I still haven't figured out how to completely create one and publish it to my blog. I bought a "headset/mic" unit with a USB port. I followed all the directions to use on my computer. I set up an account. I followed the very simple directions on how to create a VoiceThread yet when I play it back there is no sound and I can't figure out why. It looks like I am recording but no sound plays back. Also I cannot figure out how to publish it to my blog. I have requested help from another class member as I am stumped but at this particular moment since I am frustrated and disappointed, I will take a break from it and hopefully post my creation later. I'm afraid if I let myself stay frustrated about this obstacle I will lose my excitement about continuing to learn about all the other "things".

WEEK 5, THING 11 (further reflection)

2009-07-24T19:28:00.000-07:00

As I was driving today I was thinking about what I had learned during the discovery exercises about NINGs. Even though I do not see myself joining too many NINGs, I can see that creating a NING for our school library would be very beneficial. Some years ago I created a school library webpage so the students could have a "one-stop-shopping" for a number of links that would be helpful in their research as well as current library information and Battle of the Book titles. Keeping that page updated required a lot of fiddling with FTP and the page was static. I can see that an attractive NING would be a much more effective way to involve students in their school library and plan to discuss creating a NING with my library job share partner this coming school year.

WEEK 5, THING 11

2009-07-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

This "thing" requires us to select a site from the "Web 2.0 Awards" list and explore it thoroughly. Since I keep hearing about "Twitter" but have never looked at it nor really knew what all the fuss was about, I chose to explore "Twitter". First I set up an account and then began to try to use. I got hung up a little in the beginning as it kept asking me to re-type my password, kept giving me a "wandering off" message and it seemed to load slowly. As I "played around" I eventually got the hang of it. I chose 4 people to look up since I associate them with sending "tweets": Sarah Palin, Barack Obama and Kevin Spacey (I saw him on David Letterman the other night and he "tweeted" from the show). I wanted to check for verification and there was the tweet he sent from his Blackberry while talking to Letterman. I also looked up the Pope and he was indeed listed with what looked like an official page even though it wasn't marked "Verified Account" like Palin, Obama and Spacey. Twitter listed how many followers the person has and how many are following at the time. Palin and Obama had a number of news agencies following them which made sense. I now know why the "tweets" sent are so short and with "made up" words as a tweet is meant to be short and sweet and can only contain 140 characters. I learned this from watching the tutorial. I also searched for the Anchorage School District as I knew it was on Twitter but could not find it by searching "Anchorage School District". So, I went to the ASD homepage and learned it was listed twice and one needs to search for ASD_Info or ASD_Closures. I find that too much to remember but of course one could add these to his or her RSS news reader which I know all about now thanks to Thing #8! As the tutorial mentioned, Twitter is a great way to get a message out to hundreds, thousands or even millions of people simultaneously so I can see how a politician or an organization would be interested in such a tool but I don't see it as something that I would be interested in using either personally or as part of my job as a school librarian. At least I now have a better idea as to what it is all about and for that reason this was a very valuable exercise for me.

The next task I completed was taking the "Travel IQ" and I loved it! It was fun and what a great way to test one's knowledge of countries, states, capitals, famous places, etc. This would be a great tool to introduce to students.

Lastly, I began to create my own NING called, "Readaholics Unite" but that was a bigger job than I could handle so I decided to explore the NING sites listed instead. Out of all of them I found the "Teacher-Librarian" site to be the most attractive and most pertinent to our job. I don't see me joining or following too many NING sites as I am not a "joiner" kind of person but I can see how they would appeal to people with passionate interests like quilting, cooking, gardening, etc. As for me, any extra time I have finds me with my nose in a book.

WEEK 5, THING 10

2009-07-23T17:09:00.001-07:00

Playing around with a variety of "image generators" has been a lot of fun and given me an opportunity to consider what can be created using some of these 2.0 tools. Most of what I created was for my personal exploration and enjoyment but I can see how these tools could be valuable when working with students. They are fun, easy to use (when you know how) and can be used to express an idea about a book, a library lesson, a program activity, etc. One always has a "snazzy" looking product in the end because of the templates available to choose from and there is a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction when finished. As I explored various applications and posted to my blog, I learned quite a bit about both the applications and how better to manage my blog. Lovin' that learning curve!

Halloween in Salem, Massachusetts!
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

http://www.bighugelabs.com/captioner.php

Image Chef

2009-07-23T16:35:00.001-07:00

I just keep learning and learning and I guess that is the whole idea behind taking this course! While exploring the "Image Chef" site, I had to deal with the old "trial and error" time and time again to figure out how to post this image and since it wasn't a photo where I could upload to Flickr and "Blog This" I figured out I had to copy and paste the HTML code in the correct place for it to show up on my blog. I still get frustrated that I don't know how to do all these things immediately and it is all very time consuming but I'm finding as I explore with these 2.0 tools I am a little more "savvy" each time. Hooray!

Fd's Flickr Toys

2009-07-23T16:23:00.001-07:00

Closeup
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

I "transformed" this photo using the "FX" application from the "Big Huge Labs" website. I'm not sure how much this exercise contributed to my intelligence but it was fun. There were many "transformation" effects to choose from but I chose monochrome, sepia, painting and implode. The "trial and error" activity took place as I experimented with how I was going to upload the 4 photos to my blog. As I created each transformation photo I uploaded them to my Flickr account, tagged them all using FX as the tag and had to "Blog This" individually for each photo creating a new blog post each time. There may be a way to blog all 4 photos at one time to create a single blog entry but I couldn't figure that out. I did notice that each time I would edit a post I would lose the caption under the photo so would need to redo it. Then I figured out if you go back into a published post and edit it to "save as a draft" you can make changes and then "publish as a post" again and save yourself a lot of time and trouble! As with all of the discovery exercises I have completed so far, it is very challenging when one is learning how to do it but once you know it is so easy!!

http://www.bighugelabs.com/fx.php

2009-07-23T16:17:00.001-07:00

Monochrome
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

2009-07-23T16:16:00.003-07:00

Closeup - Sepia
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

2009-07-23T16:16:00.001-07:00

Closeup - Painting
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

2009-07-23T16:15:00.001-07:00

Closeup - Implode
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

CHAPTER 9 - NEW SCHOOLS

2009-07-22T21:31:00.000-07:00

Chapter 9 provided a lot of food for thought, particularly the idea that as we ponder the future of our schools and how our students learn; we need to consider the elements of the video game experience. What may look like an activity that is just for fun could be the magic key, or at least one of them to fostering independent learning. The key concepts of video gaming: responsiveness to the user, the reward of personal challenge to improve one's self or "up your level", personal investment so one wants to return, a sense of identity and the belief that the answer is always there, one just needs to keep looking to find it are really key concepts for schools and for employment. These elements are crucial when one plays video games and who can argue that they aren't also crucial in becoming a successful, independent, lifelong learner.

In David Warlick's vision of a middle school in A Day in the Life of Web 2.0, I was reminded of taking this course online and of so many university courses and master's programs that are offered online today. The students no longer attend a school building to receive credit but learn by creating, collaborating and sharing via blogs, wikis, social networking, etc. There is no need to purchase expensive texts and perhaps in the future there will not be a need to build expensive buildings.

Lastly, I was intrigued by the idea of an intelligent Web-based software that could provide immediate feedback to students about ways they might learn depending upon their learning styles, resources they might use for a project, etc. with the teacher being a guide or similar to a help desk. A model similar to Amazon or eBay, where the software tracks what you like and makes suggestions.

If we know one thing, our schools will have to change. The question is, how long will it take?

WEEK 4, THINGS 8 & 9

2009-07-22T16:07:00.001-07:00

This week introduces "RSS and Newsreaders" and I wish I could say I was really excited about the discovery exercises and that I see myself making great use of this 2.0 tool but so far, I don't think so. At least the exercises have allowed me to explore what RSS means as I have heard it referred to often but wasn't sure what it was all about. I have a much better understanding and watched a couple of tutorials. I can see that this tool would be great for people who check numerous news and professional sites or sites of personal interest on a daily basis but I'm not one of those people yet and don't perceive that I will become one very soon. I usually check the MSNBC web page and KTUU web page for a quick look at daily news events and that is about it.

I created an RSS feed reader using Google Reader and subscribed to at least 5 news feeds including the mandatory one from San Jose Mercury News Feeds. Two other RSS feeds I added were of particular interest to me as one looked fun, "Unshelved" (a daily library comic strip) and the other looked worth checking out, "Alaska Historical Collection's Mystery Photos" from the Alaska State Library. I added CNN, Technorati and 2 school library blogs but I have to admit that I probably won't be joining the RSS daily readers on a regular basis

In searching for RSS sites I tried a couple of different approaches including typing the search terms "RSS news feeds" in Google. and linking to various feed sites from other sites. At this point I do not know if I have completed these 2 "things" completely and look forward to hearing from the Raven 2.0 Team.

CHAPTER 7 - WEB 2.0: NEW TOOLS, NEW SCHOOLS

2009-07-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

Chapter 7, "Online Safety and Security" was very interesting as it addressed two very important issues that we face in education regardless of how advanced our technology becomes. We need to teach our students how to stay safe online and avoid problems and we need to teach them to respect other people's property. These issues are not only issues that need to be taught in our schools but at home, in the community and in the media. In school, we can begin to address these issues informally with the very young so that as they get older and become more independent, the seed is firmly planted.

Solomon and Shrum discuss numerous ways that schools deal with these issues including filtering (a requirement for E-Rate funding), acceptable use policies, awareness programs, parental involvement (very important), firewalls, purchasing programs like NetTrekker to help control search access, etc. They also discuss the problems that can arise with too much blocking and alternative ways to deal with it.

Up until this chapter I have been thinking how blogging would be such a great tool for students to keep track of what they are learning in a particular class, comment on assigned readings, discuss issues, reflect upon their learning, comment on each other's work, apply web 2.0 tools, etc. I still think that but this article reminds me that everything has its considerations and when we ask students to create work and post to the internet as part of a class we have to be sure that we are taking measures to safeguard their privacy and identity.

I must admit that I do not know much about Creative Commons but look forward to exploring it. I really like the idea that there is quality material out there that the creators have given permission for others to share, reuse and remix legally.

CHAPTER 1 - WEB 2.0: NEW TOOLS, NEW SCHOOLS

2009-07-21T15:22:00.000-07:00

Since I have begun this online course, I am getting more and more comfortable with the concept of Web 2.0, the terms, the applications and particularly why it is so important for those of us in education to not only use these tools ourselves but to apply them to how and what we are teaching our students. In Chapter 1 of WEB 2.0: NEW TOOLS, NEW SCHOOLS, by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum entitled, "New World, New Web, New Skills", the authors address that all of those things now apply. The world is no longer separated by physical and social boundaries but interconnected where a worker can often complete the job from any site around the globe as long as he or she has internet access and a browser. And, employers can often hire these employees for far less money. The web is no longer static - a place to go find information and use it. It is now interactive - a place to participate by creating, collaborating and sharing. The authors make it perfectly clear that we do not have a choice whether or not to embrace Web 2.0 in our schools. It is here and businesses and corporations around the world expect future employees to be adept at using it. Perhaps one of our biggest challenges is that our students are very adept at using the tools - much better than we are but it is our job to use quality teaching methods to create learning experiences whereby students gain the skills they need to be both competitive and personally successful. We need teachers who recognize that "project based learning" instead of "learn facts, take tests" will enable our students to learn how to think, how to analyze, how to adapt and how to keep on learning.

One of the thoughts mentioned in this chapter that particularly impressed me was the idea that the Web 2.0 tools - blogs, wikis, photo/video sharing sites, etc. are free as opposed to a school having to pay software or licensing fees as has been done in the past. All that is needed to put all schools on an equal basis to learn from the Web 2.0 tools is a computer, internet access and a browser. I'm not suggesting that lower income neighborhood schools are no longer at a disadvantage because of unequal budgeting but so many of our schools today, both rich and poor, have computers with internet access that the Web 2.0 capabilities that are available to all for free gives all students a more "democratic" opportunity to learn, to compete and to succeed.

WEEK 3, THING 7

2009-07-19T22:32:00.000-07:00

This entry is an easy one to complete as there are so many technology related things that interest me it is hard to limit myself to just one. Even though email has been around for quite awhile now, it continues to amaze me. I'm not a "texting" person, just old fashioned email. When I logged onto my email at home the other day I had a message from a dear friend who lives in New York City but works for the UN and travels all over the world. She had sent a really neat picture and I replied back to her about that picture. Within just a few minutes as I was typing away, I received another email from her commenting on my reply. She said she was in Amman, Jordan and would be traveling to Sudan the next day for a few weeks. We went back and forth a couple of times and I had to remind myself that she was more than half way across the world. I'm in awe about it all and hope I always will be.

Perhaps one of my favorite technology tools is "You Tube". Lately, I have used it to look up every Michael Jackson posting possible as I was a big fan and felt his passing to be tragic. It was so interesting to have all of his music videos, interviews and appearances available and to see how his talent and his eccentricity evolved over time. I also use "You Tube"often to look up events and speeches from both current and historic times. With the passing of Walter Cronkite this week I realize how much history I have seen in my lifetime. I remember sitting in front of a black and white television for so many of these events and to replay them on "You Tube" is like reliving history again. And, who among us didn't follow Susan Boyle's journey through "Britain's Got Talent"?!

I see "You Tube" as being a valuable tool in the classroom and the library. Not only for the historic and current event opportunities it provides but for the creative ability it affords our students to create and post video projects on the internet. Of course, there are a lot of logistics to consider as one must be cautious of the content available and "You Tube" is typically filtered out of school web access but segments can be downloaded and used and I think it is a great tool to enhance learning, interaction and understanding. Tomorrow is the 40th anniversary of our landing on the moon. I remember it well as I had just graduated from high school. Everyone was riveted as we watched the black and white grainy picture with the staticky sound and couldn't believe that a person like ourselves had stepped foot on the moon. I just went to "You Tube" and played that very same segment again with just a couple of key strokes on my home computer and again, I am in awe.

WEEK 3, THING 6

2009-07-19T21:48:00.001-07:00

Long Time Librarian
Originally uploaded by Raven Linda

After lots of "exploring" with a variety of mashups including Mappr, Flickr Color Pickr and Montagr, I spent my time creating a Library Trading Card. I think I created it about 10 times before I figured out how to upload it to Flickr so I could apply the "blog this" feature. Again, the "trial and error" approach! While playing around with all of these applications I kept asking myself how and/or why I would want to use these features in my daily life but I kept reminding myself that students would love them. I'm going to keep thinking as to how these applications could be applied to the classroom or library to enhance student learning and/or understanding. As for now, I think the best appreciation is the creativity factor.

WEEK 3, THING 5

2009-07-19T16:05:00.001-07:00

Raven Used Books
Originally uploaded by Brian Wilkins

Completing this exercise has been interesting! I spent quite a bit of time exploring the Flickr website and I was very anxious to upload a bunch of photos I took while flightseeing around Denali last month so that I could post them for my friends and family to see. Like so often when I am exploring using technology, I wanted someone to just show me how to do it and then proceed with my plan and get it done. Instead, I got as far as I could but the frustration set in once again so I have all my photos uploaded in Flickr but they are totally out of order and I haven't figured out how to post them without asking friends and family to create a Flickr account. I did read about tags and groups and sets, etc. as was instructed. Like so many websites, I see this one has lots of potential but like so many, one gets certain capabilities for free and then needs to pay for additional services. I plan to continue exploring so that I can post my photos for friends and family to see but am saving for later.

In continuing with the "Discovery" exercise I got hung up a little as I found myself needing to flip back and forth between the the Raven website to read what the assignment was and the Flickr site to complete the task. I am trying to break myself of the habit of printing everything out that I need to read but it is challenging. I find that reading from paper is still so much more comfortable for me.

In choosing an "interesting" photo to blog about I searched "raven" and "book" together as my handle is "Raven Linda" (as is the title of this course) so that seemed like a good idea. There were lots of very interesting photos to say the least! The few I initially chose did not have the "blog this" button so I kept searching as I could not figure out how to edit to add to public use as was suggested. I also wanted to be careful of any copyright violation so chose this particular photo from a used book store in Harvard Square - "Raven Used Books". I like the angle of the picture, the 3-D effect and who among us can argue how valuable used bookstores are in our lives? Also, I am originally from the Boston area so it seemed like a match. The exercise did give me the opportunity to expore the photo library on Flickr which was a valuable experience. I noticed how the tags and the groups had been added as well as the particulars of who took the photo, where, with what kind of camera, etc.

WEEK 2, THINGS 3 & 4

2009-07-17T22:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally have a blog! I am one of those people who has an attitude (not positive) about blogs as I think of them as a place for people to let their opinions fly and without using proper grammar but here I am with my own blog!!

It wasn't easy getting this set up as I had convinced myself that I couldn't do it (remember Habit #4 - be confident in yourself as a competent, effective learner!) and my brain kept shutting down. With Ann's help I got set up and must admit it has been fairly painless posting to it and it does help to keep my thoughts organized and to help me stay on track as I advance through this course. It was nice to be able to select from a template as they make everyone's entries look so polished. I really like Staci C's blog template from Group One but I couldn't find that one to select.

Creating the avatar was another story as I also have an attitude about avatars but it reminded me that even though this was somewhat of a tedious task to me, this is the kind of activity our students love to do. And, the purpose of this course is to become familiar with the tools that our students not only use but learn from and enjoy (remember Habit 7 1/2 - Play!).

After creating my first avatar (lots of trial and error) and figuring out how to post it to my blog page, I read the instructions that said we were supposed to stand our avatar in front of a library or classroom background so I had to go and edit it. I had originally had my avatar standing in front of the Egyptian pyramids which I thought looked so nice but went back to correct it. The take home message from this exercise for me was that what had taken me quite awhile to create and post (again, trial, error and frustration) took me 2 seconds to edit as I now knew what and how to do it. It was almost fun. I even added a pair of lovely turquoise earrings to match my avatar's scarf. So, I was reminded that the whole purpose of taking this class and exploring these applications is to gain the knowledge and be comfortable using the tools so that we can relate to what our students are doing and to how they learn best.

Flickr is next and I am looking forward to learning how to use that application!

WEEK 1, THING 2

2009-07-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

Listening to this tutorial, 7 1/2 HABITS OF HIGHLY SUCCESSFUL LIFELONG LEARNERS was interesting. It made me reflect upon why sometimes learning comes so easily and at other times it is so very challenging. What is it that we bring to the "learning table" that allows us to be successful in achieving our goals sometimes but not always. My guess is that it is our attitude and expectations. I think perhaps one of the hardest habits for me is Habit #4 and I think that is why I am so successful achieving some goals and not others. I think negative "self talk" creates an obstacle and can become a reality so that at times I convince myself that it is too difficult, I don't want to do it, I'm not smart enough, it isn't my thing, etc., that I make it very hard to learn. It is like my brain shuts down and can not continue on the learning curve. I expect myself to know it right away and do not allow myself the journey. My expectations are too high, so I fail. I can think of numerous times this has happened. Listening to this tutorial reminds me that what we tell ourselves will result in what we believe so a positive attitude toward every goal and being confident that we can learn anything we set our minds to is very important. Approaching learning with a positive, confident attitude is also important for us to instill in our students.

Habit #7 is perhaps the easiest one for me as I firmly believe that the best way to really learn something is to talk your way through what you are doing as you teach it to someone else. I practiced this the other day and had great success. Not only did I help a colleague learn how to do something but I became more confident and effective doing it myself. Another great idea to instill in our students - teach someone else how to do something you know to learn it better yourself.

WEEK 1, THING 1

2009-07-17T20:57:00.000-07:00

I am now organized and ready to begin this journey exploring web 2.0 applications. As this article "About the Program" reminds us, our young people are flocking to web 2.0 sites. It is crucial that we as educators are both familiar with using these tools ourselves and knowing how to guide our students to use them to learn, to connect and to contribute to the common good. As Hallmarks 4 & 5 point out, people both young and old are creating online conversations and communities by sharing what they know and feel online and contributing to online commons by sharing their knowledge and expertise.

GETTING STARTED

2009-07-17T20:28:00.000-07:00

It has been very challenging for me to get motivated enough to begin this online course. I was very diligent in May after I signed up and eager to begin. In preparation, I went to the State Library to borrow the book, WEB 2.0 NEW TOOLS, NEW SCHOOLS by Gwen Solomon and Lynne Schrum. I promised myself that I would devote a certain number of hours to each "thing" every week so that I would not fall behind. I wrote sticky notes to myself and posted them to my "must do" piles so that I would not procrastinate. All this gearing up was to no avail as many weeks have passed and I had to be reminded from our instructor that I hadn't created a blog yet and there were not that many weeks left. It has been very frustrating and I have decided that taking a class online is probably not the best venue for me. I am too easily distracted at home, I lack the excitement and motivation that "face to face" learning in a classroom provides for me and I feel "lonesome" sitting here at the computer. Also, I have decided that I learn better with the camaraderie of other human beings by my side. I know that learning through experience works better for me but the idea behind this class is to learn about web 2.0 tools online so I am finally biting the bullet and getting started. I am glad that this is a one credit course and that I am not going for a master's degree online. Tackling this one credit class is overwhelming enough!