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.
Week 3, Thing 7
In reviewing my blog after finishing thing 22, I notice that I missed posting a blog on anything technology related. To catch up: I used my digital essay on how I spent my summer vacation at school and got some positive feedback from the staff and students who checked it out. I set it up on my digital photoframe and placed it on the circulation desk so that it was hard to miss by anyone entering the library. When I finished it, I noticed how much time I spent babywatching!
My first grandchild will not only be a citizen of the digital world, it will be a different digital world than that of the first digital generation. We will learn from the first digital generation how to make a better next digital generation. So far, we've learned that students have used keyboards so much that they've lost the mastery of handwriting skills still required by the new SATs. The results of those SATs are affected by the loss of those skills as students struggle to write legibly and quickly given the time restraints of the test. NDD (nature deficit disorder) has already been observed and reported as students who don't spend enough time outdoors feeling the breeze on their cheeks, listening to the sounds of the world around them and touching the textures of the natural world show signs of stress that students whose parents proactively take their children camping, on nature hikes, etc., don't. Too much screen time, too, means less time in exercise and greater risk of obesity. All change is a 2 edged sword. We must be careful not to lose important experiences in favor of technology. These are challenges that have been recognized. They can and must be remediated.
My first grandchild will not only be a citizen of the digital world, it will be a different digital world than that of the first digital generation. We will learn from the first digital generation how to make a better next digital generation. So far, we've learned that students have used keyboards so much that they've lost the mastery of handwriting skills still required by the new SATs. The results of those SATs are affected by the loss of those skills as students struggle to write legibly and quickly given the time restraints of the test. NDD (nature deficit disorder) has already been observed and reported as students who don't spend enough time outdoors feeling the breeze on their cheeks, listening to the sounds of the world around them and touching the textures of the natural world show signs of stress that students whose parents proactively take their children camping, on nature hikes, etc., don't. Too much screen time, too, means less time in exercise and greater risk of obesity. All change is a 2 edged sword. We must be careful not to lose important experiences in favor of technology. These are challenges that have been recognized. They can and must be remediated.
Week 9, Thing 22
I checked out the World Book Fair, but since the open period has expired, I couldn't look at either copy of "Plays of Old Japan". I got 4,250 hits on the title without quotes, 2 with them. It seems counter intuitive that there was no direction to use quotation marks in the first place. I would have liked to look at text to get a feel for the site's product, but not curious enough to sign up for the $8.95 membership. It also seems to me that for WPL to say it offers free access isn't accurate as a yearly membership fee is charged. Granted users can presumably download as many titles as they like in that year, that message isn't easily apparent. I tried the same search in Project Gutenberg, but there were no hits.
I've been familiar with PG for many years, but didn't know about WBF.
I checked out the public domain music score library and emailed our Music Appreciation/Chorus teacher to see whether she knew it existed and/or could make use of it.
I checked out LibriVox, but couldn't determine how many books are currently available in the format. A ball park figure would have been nice.
I took the tour of the British Library and examined some of the pages from manuscripts. All were visually difficult to read. I visited some of the archived exhibitions. The would have been more useful if they had been edited to exclude details of past events or replaced with videos or slideshows of the closed events' content.
I saved the following from the list of free ebooks at friedbeef.com to give to students searching for e and audio books: manybooks.net, wowio.com, digital.library.upenn.edu/books, ebooksearchr.googlepages.com, internetarchive.org/index.php, memowdre.com, gutenberg.org, librivox.org.
I've been familiar with PG for many years, but didn't know about WBF.
I checked out the public domain music score library and emailed our Music Appreciation/Chorus teacher to see whether she knew it existed and/or could make use of it.
I checked out LibriVox, but couldn't determine how many books are currently available in the format. A ball park figure would have been nice.
I took the tour of the British Library and examined some of the pages from manuscripts. All were visually difficult to read. I visited some of the archived exhibitions. The would have been more useful if they had been edited to exclude details of past events or replaced with videos or slideshows of the closed events' content.
I saved the following from the list of free ebooks at friedbeef.com to give to students searching for e and audio books: manybooks.net, wowio.com, digital.library.upenn.edu/books, ebooksearchr.googlepages.com, internetarchive.org/index.php, memowdre.com, gutenberg.org, librivox.org.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Week 9, Thing 20
I checked out the videos on the list. The last one seems to be a dead link. I also tried an additional search on "librarian". Generally speaking, I didn't find anything worth adding to a blog. They were amateurish and not nearly as clever as their producers seem to think. The video from the conference was depressing. All the librarians were frumpy and seemed to spend their time in lines. Not a realistic or flattering image of librarians. Maybe I just lack a sense of humor. Funny. I always thought I had a good sense of humor.
The directions for adding a video to my blog didn't make any sense to me.
The directions for adding a video to my blog didn't make any sense to me.
Week 8, Thing 19 cont'd.
I tried to go as directed to a podcast on Library Thing widgets, referenced as "today", September 15, 2006. Imagine my surprise when the link took me to September 16, 2006, where, of course, there was no mention of the widgets, nor could I find an entry for September 15, so I couldn't read it. I'm sure it would have been helpful.
I went back to my previous post, but couldn't locate the edit function, so I updated this way.
I went back to my previous post, but couldn't locate the edit function, so I updated this way.
Week 8, Thing 19
I took the tour at the Library Thing homepage, read many of the comments left there, read the Short Introduction and the comments from the Librarian in Black. All were helpful. Wish I had understood Library Thing better last year when a friend asked about a system for cataloging the hundreds of books willed to her parish by its late pastor! I built an account and I my list of 5 books, but didn't see any links to comments. My titles, predictably, were popular. I have no clue how to post a link to it. Maybe it's brain melt or maybe the fact that so many people have so much time to catalog their personal libraries. Maybe someday...
Week 8, Thing 18
I created the zoho account using my yahoo email address, produced a document and saved it, but I have no idea where to. It wasn't on my desktop nor in My Documents on the computer. This was frustrating.
I liked the googlesites tutorial better, but then I didn't try to make it work!
I read the zoho benefits doc.
The idea of having students build a database of up to 200 books in their home doesn't really serve the purpose of giving students visiting the library a real tool. This more properly belongs in an advanced computer tools class or a subject teacher's classroom.
I liked the googlesites tutorial better, but then I didn't try to make it work!
I read the zoho benefits doc.
The idea of having students build a database of up to 200 books in their home doesn't really serve the purpose of giving students visiting the library a real tool. This more properly belongs in an advanced computer tools class or a subject teacher's classroom.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Week 7, Thing 16
I really spent alot of time today prowling wiki sites on the net, between, of course, the duties of a "domestic goddess". Today, that means interviewing painters! The wikis were more fun. I checked out articles on weeding (great advice! I hadn't though of approaching the task on a one shelf/one week basis. It really makes sense, though, and avoids the dreaded task looming over one's head ad infinitum. While shelf reading before school started this year, I realized our collection of painstaking collected science project books were more than a decade of 2 old. How is it that I lost track of how long I've been at this profession now?? I built the collection for a teacher who vigorously pursued Junior Scientist contestants and mentored them to success, but when she moved on no one else required class science projects with the level of sophistication she did. Sigh...At least now they're weeded and not taking up space...languishing, even. You can tell I was an English teacher before I morphed into a librarian. Anyway, the article on weeding has inspired me to take on the task MONDAY!!
I also visited the cite on producing reviews for worldcat and wondered whether those reviews by librarians could be used as lit crit for students in our Senior World Lit survey class who often select very recent titles by new world authors, some of which haven't hit Gale yet. There were some that were sophisticated enough and content rich enough to suffice. Hope my teacher agrees!
I have been working with the principal of our elementary school whose library has fallen on hard times. Many of the grants listed on the librarian's wiki will offer her hope of rebuilding more easily. She asked my 90+ Sister who spent 3 years putting records in to our Follett software to consider spending this past summer bringing their library back to life. Oh, the tale she told when she returned from visiting their "library" with its need for a card cat weeding if not an online catalog building, space shared by the Spanish teacher, stored non-library items , depleted collection pillaged by students waiting for school to start (no circ system!), lack of a librarian!! and offered her thoughts on the importance of defining an appropriate purpose for the library before beginning collection assessment.
Another Sister who runs an after school program for children in our township's historic but now beleaguered Mooncrest area can benefit when I share what I've learned about grants that will help build their mini library into a real presence in the community's life. Many residents have no way to get to our township library. Too far to walk, no bus line, etc. What an impact grants can have there in building life long learners there!
I also spent some time on the Flat Classroom site and was impressed with what was accomplished there. I especially liked the use of the videos with students testifying to the impact of the net on their lifes and the interview with the super hacker whose name escapes me right now being interviewed by the late, great Ed Bradley. The impact of the ethical/unethical choices made by users of technology clearly illustrates the nature of the 2 edged sword that technology has always been and still is.
Literary circles offer a golden opportunity for students to interact with each other and their parents virtually without the intimidation of the need to express oneself extemporaneously in a classroom. The opportunity to work with students from another culture through the net is another unique use of wikis.
I also visited the cite on producing reviews for worldcat and wondered whether those reviews by librarians could be used as lit crit for students in our Senior World Lit survey class who often select very recent titles by new world authors, some of which haven't hit Gale yet. There were some that were sophisticated enough and content rich enough to suffice. Hope my teacher agrees!
I have been working with the principal of our elementary school whose library has fallen on hard times. Many of the grants listed on the librarian's wiki will offer her hope of rebuilding more easily. She asked my 90+ Sister who spent 3 years putting records in to our Follett software to consider spending this past summer bringing their library back to life. Oh, the tale she told when she returned from visiting their "library" with its need for a card cat weeding if not an online catalog building, space shared by the Spanish teacher, stored non-library items , depleted collection pillaged by students waiting for school to start (no circ system!), lack of a librarian!! and offered her thoughts on the importance of defining an appropriate purpose for the library before beginning collection assessment.
Another Sister who runs an after school program for children in our township's historic but now beleaguered Mooncrest area can benefit when I share what I've learned about grants that will help build their mini library into a real presence in the community's life. Many residents have no way to get to our township library. Too far to walk, no bus line, etc. What an impact grants can have there in building life long learners there!
I also spent some time on the Flat Classroom site and was impressed with what was accomplished there. I especially liked the use of the videos with students testifying to the impact of the net on their lifes and the interview with the super hacker whose name escapes me right now being interviewed by the late, great Ed Bradley. The impact of the ethical/unethical choices made by users of technology clearly illustrates the nature of the 2 edged sword that technology has always been and still is.
Literary circles offer a golden opportunity for students to interact with each other and their parents virtually without the intimidation of the need to express oneself extemporaneously in a classroom. The opportunity to work with students from another culture through the net is another unique use of wikis.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Week 5 Thing 12
I checked out rollyo, but I prefer to have students search subject guides and create their own set of sources. When teachers make a research assignment, I create a research strategy explaining where to go to find sources for the kind of information they need. I use hyperlinks to some subject guide websites, remind students that Webpath Express lives on our Follett page and give them web addresses and passwords for nettrekker and for Librarians' Internet Index (I know that name's not right (or maybe it is!, but my brain is melting again and I'll assume you know what I mean:)) I also direct students to our online catalog to search for print sources. I post the strategies on my blog. My students are high school students and should be encouraged to apply their brains to the problem of resources with encouragement and general direction.
I played around with people search. Couldn't find my college flame. sigh...Already quite familiar with IPL, Project Gutenberg. checked out the SJ Library roll. Created search roll on health but didn't publish as at one point directions said to post link to blog and another said posting was optional.
I can see where this function would be helpful in a research strategy document
I played around with people search. Couldn't find my college flame. sigh...Already quite familiar with IPL, Project Gutenberg. checked out the SJ Library roll. Created search roll on health but didn't publish as at one point directions said to post link to blog and another said posting was optional.
I can see where this function would be helpful in a research strategy document
Week 5, Thing 10
I just noticed today the tip list on the right side of the Web 2.0 page. What a great idea! Sorry I missed it earlier, but I can still benefit from the tips.
I stumbled across the Trading Card Maker and can't wait to show it to my 9th Grade American History teacher. He does a project where students create a trading card for a World War II or later figure. He has a wonderful web page and blog for students and currently does this project with students using am 8 x 10 sheet of paper to represent the trading card. Students must find and download picture of the figure and describe his contribution to American history. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear about this application as he really encourages tech tools use in his classes.
I'm so glad I found it!! I love to share ideas with teachers and help them make their rich classrooms even richer!
This is a great tech tool!
I stumbled across the Trading Card Maker and can't wait to show it to my 9th Grade American History teacher. He does a project where students create a trading card for a World War II or later figure. He has a wonderful web page and blog for students and currently does this project with students using am 8 x 10 sheet of paper to represent the trading card. Students must find and download picture of the figure and describe his contribution to American history. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear about this application as he really encourages tech tools use in his classes.
I'm so glad I found it!! I love to share ideas with teachers and help them make their rich classrooms even richer!
This is a great tech tool!
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Week 4 , Thing 9
Eeks! yet another surprise! I opened my blog to post this entry when what to my ever wondering eyes should appear but a message about migrating to google. At least that's what I think it was.
I'll deal with that later. I took a breath and managed to avoid panicking, crash and burning, etc. I got some info on adding gadgets, but won't deal with that now.
I need to post about my adventures in RSS land. I thought the introductory material was impressively both detailed and easy to navigate. I added some feeds to my Yahoo account and hope someday to read them!
Life has been even wilder and crazier than usual. Trying to do this course, which I thought would be easier in summer, has proven to be a challenge. Still, I'm thrilled to be doing it and even if I don't finish by October 1, it will have been worthwhile and I'll have done my best to rise to the challenges.
Must run now to take on Week 5 and see what wonders it will hold.
I'll deal with that later. I took a breath and managed to avoid panicking, crash and burning, etc. I got some info on adding gadgets, but won't deal with that now.
I need to post about my adventures in RSS land. I thought the introductory material was impressively both detailed and easy to navigate. I added some feeds to my Yahoo account and hope someday to read them!
Life has been even wilder and crazier than usual. Trying to do this course, which I thought would be easier in summer, has proven to be a challenge. Still, I'm thrilled to be doing it and even if I don't finish by October 1, it will have been worthwhile and I'll have done my best to rise to the challenges.
Must run now to take on Week 5 and see what wonders it will hold.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Week 3 Thing 3 Flicker
I explored the Flicker site and have decided to begin the school year with a "How I spent my summer vacation" photo essay using photos taken with my new, first digital camera, shown on my new digital photo frame. I've been enjoying taking pictures of the bunny that's taken up residence in my garden, the nuthatch mom that hatched her babies in a planter next to my front door, and my "pet" chipmunk, pictures of my new grandson Lucas with his Grandpa, Mom and Dad, months 1 and 2, and trips to Tennessee where we hope to retire, Michigan visiting the cabin on Torch Lake we haven't seen in 12 years and college friends who live in nearby Traverse City and camping in Carlisle near Hershey, PA, in our new-to-us RV. My hope is that it will be a conversation starter when students first visit the library and help to personalize me to them so that they will be more comfortable coming to me for help.
I already have a series of photos of my library, but can't remember where I stored them. In any event, I'd rather do something new than repeat what I already have...somewhere.
I already have a series of photos of my library, but can't remember where I stored them. In any event, I'd rather do something new than repeat what I already have...somewhere.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Week 2 Exercise 2 Flicker
I've just gotten myself straightened out and am on to Week 3. I think I emailed my blog address to the proper place to make the blog roll, but I'm not sure. I'll wait til my personal tutor in all things internet returns from work. My son Jeff has returned home to live for awhile from Orlando FL where he spent his 2 post college years working as first an ESL paraprofessional and then in security at Universal Studios. He was 18 months seizure free, but then suffered 3 in the process of returning home for my Mom's funeral in Detroit and moving back home to regroup. His intermittent ideopathic seizure disorder has prevented him from working in his desired field: criminal justice with the ICE or DEA or State Police and he missed his friends in PA, the seasons, etc. His plan is to stay with us, clear up Orlando debts, seek further medical treatment and another use for his major in Spanish and minor in Criminal Justice and perhaps another degree in Psych or Accounting. He's temporarily working at WalMart, so when he gets off work today, I'll ask him to confirm whether my email actually was sent. I'm leaving for Torch Lake in MI this weekend and while I'm there, I'll play around with Flicker more and maybe move on to Week 4. Such is the life of a Mom working on her first online course. For now, I think I'll go back to the blogroll and check out how my compatriots on the cohort are getting along. Maybe we can share battle stories.
8-14-08
It's taken awhile to get back to my blog...ah,summer! I worked with Jeff when I followed the directions for establishing my blog and avatar (I swear those directions weren't there the first time I tried!) As you can see, I got the blog up and running, but couldn't get my avatar to export following the directions given. I couldn't save my avatar and when I followed the export directions, nothing happened. It wouldn't work for Jeff either. His friend, who happened to be visiting (my good fortune), suggested we get around the problem by saving the avatar to the desktop and then importing it to my blog. Voila! That worked. I'm always surprised at how gracious my younger sources of help are despite our significant age difference!
I enjoyed creating my avatar and found the directions easy to follow. I would have liked to use more than one country flag to more closely show my ethnic heritage, but that's life. It also would have been helpful to have more than 1 body image to select. At 60, I'm just not as slim as the avatar! It was fun, though, giving her my eye color and hair style and placing her in the library background. I like the idea of an avatar to add a sense of identity to a blog.
I also had to go back and correctly label my posts as directed and learned to edit posts!
On to Week 3!
8-14-08
It's taken awhile to get back to my blog...ah,summer! I worked with Jeff when I followed the directions for establishing my blog and avatar (I swear those directions weren't there the first time I tried!) As you can see, I got the blog up and running, but couldn't get my avatar to export following the directions given. I couldn't save my avatar and when I followed the export directions, nothing happened. It wouldn't work for Jeff either. His friend, who happened to be visiting (my good fortune), suggested we get around the problem by saving the avatar to the desktop and then importing it to my blog. Voila! That worked. I'm always surprised at how gracious my younger sources of help are despite our significant age difference!
I enjoyed creating my avatar and found the directions easy to follow. I would have liked to use more than one country flag to more closely show my ethnic heritage, but that's life. It also would have been helpful to have more than 1 body image to select. At 60, I'm just not as slim as the avatar! It was fun, though, giving her my eye color and hair style and placing her in the library background. I like the idea of an avatar to add a sense of identity to a blog.
I also had to go back and correctly label my posts as directed and learned to edit posts!
On to Week 3!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Week 1 Exercise 1 Easist/hardest Habits
The easiest of the 7 1/2 Habits for me is to begin with an end in mind. To me, it's pretty obvious to start with a goal, but then the hardest Habit rears its ugly head. I must admit I've been struggling with the problem of seeing problems as crises rather than simply challenges. It's just my nature. Especially when working with students, I want to maximize my time with them since I know they always have much to do and it can take them so much time organizing, that they have little time left for the task. I must mentally shake myself because I must be calm in order to help, then I just take a deep breath, smile, listen and begin to help them think. Together we refine what they really need to do as we go along. It's really important to me that students develop self-reliance and confidence in approaching problems and to see them as challenges. I want to help them to do that as best I can.
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