Thing #23 - The End...But Now It Really Begins

Although I have complete 23 Things from Library2Play, I am not done! Now, I need to go back, relearn some of my favorite tools and incorporate them into my lessons. This experience has been a great one...I can't wait to share my experiences and new knowledge with my colleagues and principal! I thought I was pretty techno-savvy as I started this journey and boy did I eat a big piece of humble pie. I had no idea the wealth of information and technology tools that were out there. The crazy thing is that many of these "Things" were not intentionally created for educational purposes. This experience allowed me to stretch my imagination and look at different ways to see/teach/experience different ideas.

My favorite discoveries were mashups/3rd party sites (e.g. Mosaic Maker, Trading Card) from Thing #6. Also, after some real-life applications, I really love Delicious! It is so great to have a network of sites all in one spot so neatly organized. I will definitely be using this more. LibraryThing was pretty neat to. I had no idea that it would be so easy to use! It is another great resource for getting ideas about new and exciting books both for school and personal use.

It is so wonderful to know that:

1. These tools are free! So many people want money nowadays...it is nice to know that some things in life really are free.

2. They are so easy to use. The minds behind all of this thought of the everyday Joe when they created their products.

3. Anyone can access them...just a username and password and you are ready to go.

One thing I did not like was the fact that my district has most of this blocked. I have never tried (nor knew I could) "unblock" a site before. This is foreign territory to me. I understand the reasoning for filters, but something has to give!

There were some "Things" and some sites that were just to chaotic for me. In other words, there was an overload of information and links. While all of this can be helpful, I am the type of learner that likes things organized and concise. Too much fluff and I tend to tune things out. I get the main idea and move on.

This experience has been somewhat of a blur because I had to do it in 4 weeks. There is no way I explored and delved into these "Things" as much as I wanted to! I need to go back, find my favorites, and learn them again. But at least Library2Play will not go anywhere right?!

If I had the chance to do this again I would, but I would stretch out the time more. The amount of learning that I acquired is astounding!

In one word, this experience has been ENLIGHTENING!

Thing #22 - Nings

Well, in my journey with the Web 2.0 world, I have learned a lot. Some has been completely new to me...and Nings is among them! I had never heard of a "ning" before, but of course I had heard of My Space and Facebook. I just didn't realize there were so many social networks out there like these two popular entities.

I explored Teacher Librarian Network. It is pretty neat. I like the Forum the best. In just the beginning of it there was a post about decorating a library. There were already 8 comments. I thought that was pretty cool and I could see myself posting a question or idea and getting a responses from people interested in the same area as me! I also saw that videos could be posted! Yet another Web 2.0 extension to YouTube and Teacher Tube! I could also access blogs to members and get even more information. Again, it is neat to be in a social group of people online who share the same interests as me.

I think I will use this to get information and belong to a group of people who understand the library world. It will be another avenue of information that will help me be better at what I do.

Thing #21 - Podcasts

I have used Photo Story before for personal use last year. I had actually forgotten about it. It is an easy tool to use and very self-explanatory. I love how music can be added to the background as well. It looks so professional when it is all said and done. I like the fact that I can type out what to say before I record the narration. That helps me so much! I honestly don't know that I would actually use this yet in the classroom or library. I think if I read some other blogs and think of some lessons, I could find some ways to incorporate this tool...After some thought, I had a brainstorm...I would like to do some type of staff development about copyright and about how I can be of service to the school. Perhaps I could create a Photo Story that pertains to those two subejcts with my narration behind the images. Copyright is so difficult to understand, so maybe using this technology will liven it up a bit!

Regardless, below is my attempt at Photo Story. It is about my family's weekend together.

Thing #20 - YouTube and TeacherTube

So many videos so little time! The possibilities and search options are endless. Technology may have its downsides, but one of the upsides is the access we all have to a plethora of materials! Having so many videos is great. I can learn through a tutorial session about wikis, I can post my own video, I can find some to teach with, I can find some to show to faculty and staff, and of course I can find some just for fun. Videos open new doors to education and what is available as sources for information.

I am of course familiar with YouTube and have used it for personal use. One of my favorite videos to watch with my daughter is the Snuggle Puppy song. But I digress. I think personally that YouTube at the elementary level is best used by teachers and librarians. In other words, I do not want my students to search for videos here because there is so much inappropriate content. However, it is a fantastic free source in which educators can search for videos to use in their classrooms or staff developments. I searched for "librarians" and found this hilarious song. It pokes a little fun at the librarian stereotype but at the same time describes a lot of what we do. It will make you smile I promise =)!!!




Then I went to TeacherTube. Believe it or not the only experience I have had with it is from people sharing videos with me. I had never actually explored it before. Well, since I do teach 4th grade, writing is always at the forefront of my brain. So, I searched for grammar videos. In the process, I saw a lot of resources that inspired me and some that I would like to use. I saw that a lot of teachers created songs or raps to help their students learn all of those crazy grammar rules. I wanted to start that this year, but I am so not talented in the music-writing department! So, seeing some of these videos has given me a great starter point. Below is an adorable School House Rock video. I remember watching these when I was a kid!

A Little Out of Order...Thing #18 - Online productivity tools

I downloaded and explored OpenOffice. It is nice because it is free. As I looked around it has many of the same features as Microsoft Office, but it doesn't seem to have as many. There are new templates in the "presentation" (aka Power Point) software that is nice. One thing I do not like is that it is not set up in the same way as Microsoft Office. Therefore, I think for people like myself who are used to using that software will spend more time finding applications on OpenOffice than actually producing products. I do like that it can be put on as many computers as needed. I have Microsoft Office for Students and do not have Access so I cannot create databases. I didn't want to spend more money on Microsoft software for an app that I will hardly use. So it is nice that I can get it for free and use it as needed.

I am not sure how this could benefit the education system since Microsoft Office is pretty much standard in most districts. Can someone give me ideas on how this could be used in a library setting?

Thing #19 - More Web 2.0 Tools

Well, this was a pretty neat list of other Web 2.0 Tools. I clicked on a BUNCH and played around with some. As I opened many though and read their descriptions, I found myself saying, "Huh?" Many of them surprisingly I have already heard of and have used. I guess I know more about Web 2.0 than I thought!

I played around with Writeboard and liked it for the most part. I liked that I could create a document, add comments, share it with others who can make changes, etc. However, I did not like that I could not format it automatically. I had to use their codes for a bulleted list or to make a numbered list. I think it would almost be easier to create a Word document, send it out, and let people make changes. However, with this program, multiple people could make changes, comments, additions, and deletions all in one place. All could see the changes made and then see the document before changes were made. I also like that it is password protected. I coul see using this for a collaboration lesson with teachers. We could create a Writeboard for any number of things and each make changes to it. But then again, can't we do that on a Wiki?

I also playe around more with Last.fm. I typed in Eli Young Band who I love just to see what would pop up. It was interesting because I could see their biography, charts for their songs, comments from the band, pictures, and videos. This would be more fun for personal use rather than school use, but maybe it could be used at the junior or high school level. Perhaps teachers or librarians could have students research and compare two artists and their styles. Of course, this would just be one source and it would have to be extensively evaluated before it could be used, but that is just an idea.

Overall, I find that the tools I have learned about through Library2Play are much more beneficial to me at the educational level. I might use more of the tools that I explore here for more personal use.

Thing #17 - Rollyo

Rollyo is pretty neat. It seems to be a lot like the social bookmarking sites in some way in that my favorite sites are in one place. However, with Rollyo I can categorize those trusted sites all together, type in a keyword, and BOOM! I have a list that comes from all of my sites! I could see using this tool for research in the library. Students could log in and search from sites that I have evaluated myself. This keeps them researching, but they are protected too from anything inappropriate that may pop up.

From a personal standpoint, I could house all of different likes in regards to websites and save a lot of time by searching in just one place instead of 20!

I love to shop online, so I am going to create a Rollyo (and use some high rollers as well) that will allow me to search my favorite sites all at once. I was just searching for a particular dress for my daughter. I tried many different sites that I go to and it took a lot of time. I wish I had known about Rollyo then!

I put a Rollyo search box on my side bar. You can search a few of the searchrolls that I have created and have used from others.