Done with 2 hours to spare!
I'm glad the 23 things will stay up online for awhile. It will give me time to get some perspective and refer to as needed.
I especially liked the exercises where things worked as expected and where I could find something to pass along to folks at school.
I loved the videos on Disney Copyright and Creative Commons. They were spectacular in their clarity, persuasiveness and polish. Bravo!
The depth and detail in the links in the exercises were wonderful, like following a bread crumb trail.
This was something I wanted to do for myself to stretch, to see whether I could handle online learning at this level.
I would be interested to hear what other tutorials your group will offer.
tThanks for a great experience!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Week 7, Thing 17
I couldn't see how to add my comment to the wiki topic, so here is the info:
In my school, I can see virtual activities. We have an Activity period one day of our 6 day cycle. We have 1 activity called Activity A, the next cycle is Activity B. We could have time to do a virtual book club, virtual discussion goups, etc.
In my school, I can see virtual activities. We have an Activity period one day of our 6 day cycle. We have 1 activity called Activity A, the next cycle is Activity B. We could have time to do a virtual book club, virtual discussion goups, etc.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Week 6, Thing 15
Read the Horizon report. Applications and timelines are more relevant for university students and planning than for high school. At the high school level, preparations for the transition to the new uses of Web 2.0 technologies must be the focus.
Rick Anderson's "ice bergs" presents real food for thought. Let's remember why those "just in case" collections were built. My introduction to the wonderful world of library technology began back in 1985 when I assumed current post. I took instruction at Pitt, the mother of innovation, and remember my professor explaining the wonders of the internet. Of course, you had to type in commands of many letters, wait 10 minutes breathlessly hoping the connection wouldn't fail, usually disappointed when it did and begin the process again. At that point, I knew it would be awhile before the system was ready for the real world of high school libraries. There were years of failed efforts and improvements, but eventually the wonderful world of point and click came to pass. Of course, the price of the technology, limited stations, and unpredictable but inevitable loss of power meant that if you didn't have backup in print, classes would be dead in the water, waiting. Time is a precious thing in young people's lives. Mine, too, and I've lived long enough to have the long vision.
In the process, we came to realize that the book could never be replaced by anything tech, only supplemented. There is nothing that beats sitting with a real book. My students still read books, avoiding eyestrain from computer screens, weight gain and neck strain from sitting in front of it, etc. We still make time for person to person, face to face contact so important to our souls and minds.
We value technology as a tool, not a toy (despite the best efforts of some administrators). The relentless pace of technology leaves little time for real thought, processing, considering consequences. Too many of us have become technology junkies, driven by the need to be on top of the next big thing.
Interlibrary loan does not make a rich collection unnecessary. It expedites sharing of information and riches. We need a mix of actual print books and access to databases.
Second iceberg: training. I don't agree that what we need to do is simply provide info. Those research skills are brain skills for life long learning, exercise for the brain as much as manipulating information is.
Third iceberg: point of service. We value what we work for, not what's handed to us on a metaphorical plate. We can't anticipate every rapidly changing user need, but we can teach self-reliance, persistence, judgment as vital life skills.
Library 2.0. Ah, yes, wikipedia, where folks with inflated ideas of their own importance and understanding deign to enlighten us neanderthals. Oh, wait, others also use it to slander others and sabotage competitors. Wikipedia may be a worthwhile place to start research, to find info to challenge, to test one's mental toughness, acuity, and agility, but by no means is it the final answer some of us, especially the youngest, erroneouosly think it is.
Rick Anderson's "ice bergs" presents real food for thought. Let's remember why those "just in case" collections were built. My introduction to the wonderful world of library technology began back in 1985 when I assumed current post. I took instruction at Pitt, the mother of innovation, and remember my professor explaining the wonders of the internet. Of course, you had to type in commands of many letters, wait 10 minutes breathlessly hoping the connection wouldn't fail, usually disappointed when it did and begin the process again. At that point, I knew it would be awhile before the system was ready for the real world of high school libraries. There were years of failed efforts and improvements, but eventually the wonderful world of point and click came to pass. Of course, the price of the technology, limited stations, and unpredictable but inevitable loss of power meant that if you didn't have backup in print, classes would be dead in the water, waiting. Time is a precious thing in young people's lives. Mine, too, and I've lived long enough to have the long vision.
In the process, we came to realize that the book could never be replaced by anything tech, only supplemented. There is nothing that beats sitting with a real book. My students still read books, avoiding eyestrain from computer screens, weight gain and neck strain from sitting in front of it, etc. We still make time for person to person, face to face contact so important to our souls and minds.
We value technology as a tool, not a toy (despite the best efforts of some administrators). The relentless pace of technology leaves little time for real thought, processing, considering consequences. Too many of us have become technology junkies, driven by the need to be on top of the next big thing.
Interlibrary loan does not make a rich collection unnecessary. It expedites sharing of information and riches. We need a mix of actual print books and access to databases.
Second iceberg: training. I don't agree that what we need to do is simply provide info. Those research skills are brain skills for life long learning, exercise for the brain as much as manipulating information is.
Third iceberg: point of service. We value what we work for, not what's handed to us on a metaphorical plate. We can't anticipate every rapidly changing user need, but we can teach self-reliance, persistence, judgment as vital life skills.
Library 2.0. Ah, yes, wikipedia, where folks with inflated ideas of their own importance and understanding deign to enlighten us neanderthals. Oh, wait, others also use it to slander others and sabotage competitors. Wikipedia may be a worthwhile place to start research, to find info to challenge, to test one's mental toughness, acuity, and agility, but by no means is it the final answer some of us, especially the youngest, erroneouosly think it is.
Week 6, Thing 14
I went to Technorati and did the key word search, but got no results. No idea why not.
Exploring the blogs and tags made me wonder how so many people can find so much time to devote to such trivial minutiae.
If organizing your minutiae and keeping up with other folks grammatically challenged musings is worth your time, then the advantage is clear. If your life leaves little time for keeping trivia organized, then not so worthwhile. In the end, it's a matter of priorities. As a one woman professional in a 2 story facility with 340+ students, not so much.
In terms of students keeping track of election issues, the advantages seem moot. There's hardly time for keeping up with tv pundits, newspapers and internet commentators to deal with the half baked musings of bloggers.
Exploring the blogs and tags made me wonder how so many people can find so much time to devote to such trivial minutiae.
If organizing your minutiae and keeping up with other folks grammatically challenged musings is worth your time, then the advantage is clear. If your life leaves little time for keeping trivia organized, then not so worthwhile. In the end, it's a matter of priorities. As a one woman professional in a 2 story facility with 340+ students, not so much.
In terms of students keeping track of election issues, the advantages seem moot. There's hardly time for keeping up with tv pundits, newspapers and internet commentators to deal with the half baked musings of bloggers.
Week 6, Thing 13
I watched the tutorial before but didn't do a blog post, so I'm going back again to fill in the blog gap. I watched the tutorial again and remember finding it hard to real since the screen images were fuzzy. The female narrator's tongue clicking was as annoying and distracting as it was in an early week video. The male narrator in the second video was easier to follow and the visuals were clearer at first, but the video stopped dead at "We're going to paradox church." His "gonna"s were annoying and the video became fuzzy again. His final comment, "This concludes..." seemed interrupted. Still, I can see where organizing bookmarks on the web instead of on a single computer makes access much easier and the open file cabinet metaphor works.
In step 2, I explored "Into the cloud and its 5 favorite online storage sites for safe date with easy access. Mostly this makes me wonder when there's time for the real world given the vast maze that these sites try to organize.
Step 3, observing remarks made on the site choices makes me wonder when these bloggers have time for a day job. It's hard to see how I can find time in the nitty gritty of my day job to devote to such activities.
I can see the advantages of this tool, but can't see where I can find the time without giving up hands on face time with students, the core of my first priority.
I will keep the other resources mentioned in mind to explore later if/when time permits.
In step 2, I explored "Into the cloud and its 5 favorite online storage sites for safe date with easy access. Mostly this makes me wonder when there's time for the real world given the vast maze that these sites try to organize.
Step 3, observing remarks made on the site choices makes me wonder when these bloggers have time for a day job. It's hard to see how I can find time in the nitty gritty of my day job to devote to such activities.
I can see the advantages of this tool, but can't see where I can find the time without giving up hands on face time with students, the core of my first priority.
I will keep the other resources mentioned in mind to explore later if/when time permits.
Week 5, Thing 11
Somehow I deleted this post just now and published nothing. Sigh... I remember saying that I had visited googledocs and created a document, but found it cumbersome to use compared to the collaborative word publishing program we use through our server at school. I played the travel game, but couldn't locate answers fast enough and failed miserably. Guess I need to do that kind of activity more often.
I visited Ning and checked out 2 parts: Sean and Ryan's Excellent Adventure and MyBerics skateboarding theme as much as I could without joining. I can see where this application might be useful in a school setting as an alternative form of communicating through art, videos, etc., but it seems a time consuming process. Life is too short.
I visited Ning and checked out 2 parts: Sean and Ryan's Excellent Adventure and MyBerics skateboarding theme as much as I could without joining. I can see where this application might be useful in a school setting as an alternative form of communicating through art, videos, etc., but it seems a time consuming process. Life is too short.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Week 4, Thing 8
Sigh. In rereading, I realized that I somehow missed the direction to post to the blogline. I had been wondering how I was supposed to know who the mystery librarians were. Sorry about that.
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