Final Thoughts

I really enjoyed going through the 23 things! There are so many resources available for educators to use. I tend to use things that will save me time or portray information in a new way. Now that I have some experience with a blog, I really think that I would like to have a classroom blog for parents/students. My curiosity has been piqued by this emerging technologies exercise and now I think I am hooked on finding new and interesting things on the web :)

Santa's Helpers!

So instead of working on my final project, I wasted time "elfing" my husband and kids. My stomach actually hurts from laughing so hard at it!! I keep getting sidetracked messing around on the web :)

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Podcasts and Audiobooks

I went to PodcastAlley to see what kind of podcasts were available. Using the keyword "library" I found 163 different results. There are some useful podcasts for librarians that are worth your time.

Then I went to work on audiobooks. Although there are a lot of titles available, I will be the first to say that I will not use audiobooks personally. I NEED to hold a book when I READ it!!! :) But I know that there are many people who enjoy listening to a good book in a car or for any number of reasons prefer audiobooks. As a media specialist, this is a good resource to know about.

Do YouTube??

I was already a fan of YouTube before this assignment. But I didn't really know there were so many other video sites to consider as well. I find it hysterical some of the things that people are willing to post :) But I love seeing old commercials and things like School House Rock--and I like TeacherTube--there are some great things there. If you have a few minutes, watch a little video about the power of words http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz6RDYjL4_U

Awards 2.0

I checked out metacafe.com on the awards list. It's very much like YouTube--just not as well known. It was easy to navigate and had tons of videos. I need more time to explore. . .there's so much stuff out there!

Previous Post

My previous post about ZOHO Writer was actually a document that I made on ZoHo. There is a tab for sharing where you can post your document to your blog--very easy to do!!

SOHO Review

ZoHo Writer Review

    by Amy K. Gansner

 

So if you haven't taken a look at ZoHo yet, it's definitely something you should do!  There are tons of things you can do including presentations, word processing, reports, wikis, and mail to name a few.  Check it out :)

 

 

Wikis

There are so many neat things you could do with a wiki. I am crazy about a book lover's wiki--I think a lot of kids would use it. I also really liked the Library Success--A Best Practices Wiki. What a great way for libraries to connect to share ideas and stories. I think that libraries in a school district would benefit from connecting in that way. You could start with just the libraries in one school district and add others along the way. I think it could be a great support network.

Library 2.0

Wow--the library is really undergoing an enormous change! Library 2.0 to me means the change of how material and resources are delivered to users. We are doing much of the same, yet there has been immeasurable change in the way we find and obtain information. The physical library has been modified to include the webspace that many of its users habitate daily. But I also think that libraries still have a foot in the past to accomodate the users who still want the physical library for information access. But that too may fade away. What will the library look like when all of the digital natives are in the elderly population? Will our libraries be paperless and bookless??

Technorati and Tagging

These two things didn't hold my interest too much, so I'm glossing over them to explore the other things that I'm more interested in. . . :)

Rollyo

I created an account on Rollyo, but am having some trouble making a list of websites. I think it might be my internet connection, so I'll try again later. I don't know about everyone else, but I have about 1000 sticky notes with various websites that I've jotted down during the course of the past two semesters. I think Rollyo will be a helpful tool for keeping track of those websites I use or will use. I started a list for Lesson Plans since I have so many websites for that. Also thought of a list for Library Media Specialist websites and technology for teaching websites. Rollyo is a nice way to consolidate all the sites into one place.

LibraryThing

Okay, just lukewarm about Library Thing. I could catalog way more than 200 books, but wouldn't want to pay for it. And even though you can connect with others who share the same book interests, I would rather talk to my reader friends about books I love. So it won't be something I would use.

Image Generators

Oh . . .these image generators are fun, fun, fun. I did the Luck of the Irish Shamrock on www.imagechef.com . There were tons of things to do with images and pictures that would add some spice to the classroom. I am also becoming a big, huge fan of www.bighugelabs.com .

Newsfeed

I'm still horsing around with the newsfeeds. . .at this rate I will never finish! I have my RSS newsfeed set up to bring in library information. This could be a good tool for keeping current on professional development and issues in library media. Two sites I found are www.lii.org and www.librarian.net .

I'm going to disappear for the weekend. My mother and one of my sisters is visiting us for the weekend--I don't get to see them often enough, so I'm forgetting about being a student for two days and enjoying the blessing of family :)

RSS Newsfeeds

So what does everyone think about the RSS newsfeeds? I think I would use this for special topics. For instance, I found quite a few library/book feeds that were interesting. I like how all the news is brought to one spot so you don't have to visit 30 different websites to find information. I don't follow enough blogs to incorporate that into my feeds. Seriously, a person could spend so much time on the computer doing all this stuff!!!

Anything Technology

Today I just want to voice how great I think this class has been. I have learned so much this semester--and it is very practical, applicable knowledge for the classroom.

The technology I want to write about is the Web 2.0 technology that we've covered this semester. Many of our students (especially in the older grades) are so familiar with this type of communication and learning. Since so many are using it, it's a pretty logical step in the classroom to engage them. AND--if we have questions--I bet some of our students can help us out! My 6th grade son has helped me with a few things this semester :)

Well this is much easier than I thought it would be! I actually have been wanting to try a blog just to see how it worked. I'm curious about using something like this for the classroom. My concerns are with security for the students. Do any of you have a classroom blog?