Week 9 -- #23

This project was an awesome experience. Though I have had experience with some of the technology, such as blogs, wikis and podcasts, some were new to me, especially mashups. It was great to fill in the gaps in my own technology skills/knowledge.I'm very excited to use these with my teachers. Since I teach a significant amount of the professional development in the district, I know that I will be offering some workshops on some of these discoveries. I would definitely be interested in future professional development from CSLA.

I wonder if I will be able to keep up wih some of the websites I have registered with -- already I can't keep up with the RSS reader. That will most certainly be my biggest challenge.

Thanks to the development team for the work they have put into this. I'm sure that this has been a major commitment, and it has been immensely beneficial to all of us.

Week 9 -- #22

World eBook has an amazing number of resources -- I just explored a few of the links, but I will definitely be back to add a few to my ipod, though I really do prefer to read my books. I'm very visual and sometimes find it difficult to focus when I can't see what I am listening to. I took a look at LibriVox again. I had looked at their site awhile back. I'm glad to see that they have made it possible to subscribe through iTunes.That will make it much easier for me to upload to the ipod. They have a lot of children's literature and poetry, both of which could be very useful for school.

Week 9 -- #21

Podcasts are my friends! I finally got an ipod for Christmas 2006 and have been hooked ever since. I do use itunes and update my ipod with podcasts to listen to at the gym, mostly NPR book reviews and author interviews. My favorites include Nancy Pearl from Seattle, and Between the Lines from Atlanta. Lately, I have been listening to geography class lectures from Stanford. With itunes University, we have access to hundreds of course lectures. Though originally recorded for students, we can certainly benefit from the access. Also, I learned to create podcasts last year when I took a class at the Cue conference. I haven't created any yet, but plan to in the future. There's so many ways that they can be used -- book talks, tutorials, lectures, student-created projects.

I added NPR technology to my RSS reader, and I need to add it to my iTunes as well. I also looked at Podcast Alley and Yahoo Podcasts. Since I have already downloaded the software and it works well for me, I will stick with it.

Week 9 -- #20

YouTube rocks! If I could just convince my district tech people of that. They're afraid that students will access inappropriate material, which I admit is a valid concern. However, I think that education is the key -- teach kids what is permissible and be consistent in the enforcement. Since I have the ability to unblock the content filter, teachers frequently ask me to download files for them to use for instruction.

I chose the video Monty Python video because it has been cited as a possible inspiration for the term "spam" as applied to unwanted email, a topic I was looking up recently. And it's just plain silly. Educational application of YouTube certainly includes the numerous curriculum-related videos. Last week I downloaded a Magic School bus episode on Digestion for a student-created health lesson. Students could also create and post their own video projects. Library applications could include tutorials on a variety of topics as well as book talks.

Week 8 -- #19

I discovered LibraryThing a couple of weeks ago when I was exploring the 2.0 award winners. As soon as I found it I had to create an account and start adding books to my library. It really is very easy to do. I like to read what others have to say about the books as well. I added the widget to a blog post, but I need to add it as a permanent part the page. I will also set up a new library for school and try to add it to my Destiny page.Unfortunately, Destiny does not support Javascript, so I'm unable to paste the code to add this feature to my school library page. What I could do is to create a blog, then paste the widget there. Then students could click on the link that I will place on the library homepage -- not as cool as having the titles and covers on the front page. Maybe once Librarything fixes thing so that it can be used on Live Journal, then I'll be able to use it on Destiny. I will also contact Follett to see if they are working to allow Javascript.

Week 8 -- #18

I have been using Google Docs for quite awhile. It helped me solve several issues. First, it has worked well for publishing and revising the library schedule. My library tech and I can edit from any workstation, and my teachers can view it from the classroom before they call to schedule their classes. One disadvantage, though, it that the word processing capabilities are not as sophiscated as Word, so I create my template in Word, then copy and paste into Google. It works well that way. Zoho Writer has the added benefits of templates to use. Google Docs has very few extras.

Though it is not specifically part of this exercise, I want to share my experiences with Google pages. I use it to create pathfinders, then link them on my Destiny homepage. In that way I can upload and delete as needed. Otherwise, if I post links on Destiny, when I no longer need them, the links are lost once they are deleted. This is any easy way to maintain the links for the next time I need them. I have instructed other teachers of this incredibly easy way to create webpages, upload assignments documents, and several have since created their own webpages.



See Vanden's Destiny homepage: http://destiny.travisusd.k12.ca.us/common/welcome.jsp;jsessionid=3ED2F4E0853232744F61109E0BA4FE5B?site=106

Google Docs: May/June Schedule

Google Pages: Career I-Search -- Resources
Teacher webpages --Hansen, Zadnik

Week 7 -- #17

I added my blog post about wikis to the Sandbox on Calcurriculum wiki. One idea I saw on the wiki that intrigued me was the use of blogs to create a tutorial for students. I agree with the comment on the wiki that students and parents sign AUP's without really understanding what is being agreed to. I want to help students clearly understand the provisions and the consequences of the AUP.

I already use Edublogs for student / staff book reviews. I was considering a move to Blogger, but last week while I was using Blogger for student responses to a college library research project, the blog was locked by Google. They thought that it was a "spam blog" and have not yet unblocked it. I moved it to Edublogs so that the students could complete their blog posts. Very frustrating. I have been happy with the results of using the blog to record student responses to journal topics.

Week 7 -- #16

I have already used wikis on a couple of different occasions. Two years ago, the district technology committee used a wiki to collaborate for the development of a new district technology plan. That was my first experience, and the benefits were readily apparent. Each person worked with a partner to draft their sections, though we did not physically meet. When each group had finished, all we needed to do was put on the final touches.

This year I set up a wiki for my Academic Decathlon team. Each group had a page to post their theme/quote studies, then all had access to everyone's work ( and we saved a lot of paper too). I also posted assignments and readings for the students. Here's the link to my wiki: http://vandenacadeca.pbwiki.com/
Looking at other examples gave me ideas for further applications.

Week 6 -- #15

The Horizons Report really hits home for me. These technologies are becoming an ever more present influence in the lives of our students. We ought to be using them to reach students and deliver content. In my school district, we no longer have any one in charge of our technology who has an education background. It's a constant battle with our network administrator to get him to allow us to access these tools. I'm making gains little at a time.In the past year, I have gained the ability to control the district content filter and have opened access to blog and wiki websites, but I really would like to see someone in charge of educational technology who has student learning as his/her primary focus. I plan to send out the link to the report to the members of the district technology committee as well as my asst. superintendent of ed services.

Rick Anderson's thoughts on the "icebergs" bring up more important issues to ponder. Many of us have already embraced the need to push services to our users through providing web-based resources; however, the idea of the "just in case" collection is an issue for me. I have struggled with this concept for the past nine years I have worked in a school library. I took over a pathetically neglected collection and have worked hard to bring it to a current, usable state. But as I weeded and considered replacements, I had to take into consideration whether those books would actually be used. Past circulation statistics were of little use, since the collection was so outdated to start with, no one was using them. Would new books be used? Or will students utilize online sources instead? As a result, some of my core collection just have minimum resources, and I focus my energy and funds where I know students want print.

Week 6 - #14

Searching Technorati tags using "School Library Learning 2.0" resulted in many fewer results than searching posts or blogs. I suspect that may be because people don't always add tags, or they could use number of different terms, not necessarily SLL2.0. I haven't used that tag on the few that I have added. In addition, several of the results were not on topic.

Tagging certainly adds to the ease of searching these web 2.0 applications; however, unless you know how someone has tagged their information, it would be difficult to guess. Also, if someone, like me, doesn't tag, tag searching isn't of much use.

I will probably try to tag more of my posts and bookmarks, so they will be easier for me to use.

Week 6 -- #13

I created an account at del.icio.us last week and added the bookmarks of my home computer, but I haven't got around to the ones at school. This service will most certainly make my life easier since all of my favorites will be at hand wherever I am, even if I'm traveling and only have my Blackberry. It will also save time to take advantage of the other bookmarks and tags available. Last week I told one of my teachers about it and she got very excited about the possibilities. Libraries can bookmarks sites chosen specifically for research projects, ready reference, or other curriculum-related needs.

Week 5 - #12

I used Rollyo to set up a search engine for language arts lesson plans, something I'm always looking for to help my English teacher library groupies. Also, since I still teach literature and essay writing for our Academic Decathlon team, I'm always looking for ideas too. There are plenty of ways this could be used by teachers as well as students. Maybe instead of providing a pathfinder with weblinks, I could create a focused Rollyo for research projects.

Week 5 - #11 continued

Looking at the 2.0, there are some that I am very familiar with -- Google Maps and Docs, Zillow, Craigslist,YouTube and PBWiki. I was intrigued by One Sentence and at first glance, I couldn't see much use for me, but on second thought, the concept could be easily adapted to several curriculum areas -- English and social science. I also signed up for del.icio.us. It will be great to have access to one set of bookmarks wherever I am.

Week 5 - #11

After a couple of tries, I got the widget to paste to the blog correctly. Love Library Thing, but it will take some times to get my books entered.

Week 5 -#10

I'm having a great time playing with the Flickr toys http://www.bighugelabs.com/flickr/. There are so many applications for these. I made Warhol and Hockney artwork and a name badge from a photo I took at prom last weekend.

I also played with the comic strip generator. I would use any combination of these tools in curriculum. Students could use them to demonstrate understanding of characters, issues and concepts. I'll be looking for a willing victim (I mean "teacher") soon!

Week 4 -- #9

Thoughts on the search tools:

Bloglines -- Lots of interesting stuff -- school library forums
Feedster -- not available currently, but I will check back later
Topix and Technorati-- I like how they are organized by topic and includes news and forums
Syndic8-- So much stuff, somewhat overwhelming, though definitely useful
Google Blog Search -- User friendly like most Google products.
BlogPulse -- I really like the Conversation Tracker and the Trends feature.

Of these resources I will probably use Google Blog Search and / or BlogPulse to find the posts on specific topics. They seem to be among the easiest to use. For exploration, I really like Topix or Techorati. I will probably not use Syndic8 --Too much.

Week 4 - #8

I created my RSS account at Google Reader, mostly because I like Google and use their email and docs a lot. I had several news sources as well as some of the fun stuff, like the Dailey Show and Colbert Report. It's always good to get a laugh! I really liked the book reviews from the Charlottle-Mecklenburg Library. I subscribed to quite a few different genre reviews for teens and adults too.

Besides reading reviews and passing on info to colleagues, one possible way to use this would be to help teachers to incorporate RSS into their own webpages and projects. I could also add to my own book review blog.

The challenge for me will be to keep up with it. I always have the best intentions, but probably won't check it often enough to keep up. I'm afraid it will become like my email with all the listserve messages that I want to read, but never get around to.

Week 3- #7 continued

This a response to a comment about the parent web access I (along with several others) have been working on. Our district uses Aeries Student Management. The program allows parents and students to set up accounts and view information. We allow them to view teacher gradebooks, attendance, standardized testing info, transcript grades and graduation status. This will replace another web access program that we have been using.

We are implementing the program on a trial basis -- 8 teachers and stheir students. Not all of our teachers are using the gradebook feature of Aeries. The plan next year is to allow all parents / students to have access and we will probably add the middle school too.