Thing 23 - Final Thoughts

Whew! I am done! Nothing like finishing up at the last minute! I learned a lot, but sure would have liked doing this in another format... maybe a workshop... a few full days, maybe a month apart, to play with each of the tools. I think most of these tools can have applications at school, and if it is important that we know it (and it is) then we should dedicate the time from our work schedule to learn the tools in depth.

Blog Prompt: What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or content?

I think what that really wore me down was that each Thing was really between 3 and 10 Things. I spent hours on end on each Thing, trying to learn each aspect of the Thing. By doing this, I frustrated myself. And after avoiding doing more Things for a while, it was very hard to get back "into it" and complete this program. My procrastination gave me some extra stress.

I am looking forward to having time to review some of the tools at a later time.

Yea!

Thing 22 - What Did I Learn Today?

I will try to regularly keep up on news and information by using WebJunction-Minnesota. I will aslo try to set aside some time at work once a week to really sit down and go back to some of the 23 Things that I think are good tools for teachers and promote them. I am also interested in doing more with the Web 2.0 tools, and would love to participate a workshop on more in-depth investigation on some of the tools. I would feel much more confident if soemone was working with me, instead of trying to learn all this on my own.

Thing 17 - ELM Productivity Tools

ELM. I have placed links on my school media page for these databases, along with a couple others. I like to demonstrate good searching techniques for students, and I think this year I will suggest they set up an account on Ebsco Host and keep selected articles in their folders. We have a couple College Comp classes and I think they would find this very useful.

I was able to set up an RSS feed on iGoogle Reader, but not on my blog. I still have trouble navigating the Google site... getting from the Reader back to my iGoogle homepage. I am sure it is right in front of me.. just can't see it!

I hope the people responsible for giving access to the ELM databases know how much the kids use this resource. It is an invaluable tool.

Thing 21 - Beyond MySpace: Other Social Networks

Today I am going to keep my comments specific to a blog prompt:

2.Are any of these social networks appealing to you?

I visited the Teacher Librarian Ning, and found that it would be a very useful tool for people in the media profession. I might even sign up for this one, or one that's similar. For work purposes.

I have no interest in keeping up my profile on Facebook. I'm old fashioned, I guess. I like to meet and talk with people live, and in person. The more I investigate all the social networking sites, the more I think that although people can be "more connected", we are decreasing our time available to interact in real life. I worry about this. Really, I do. Are the people you "meet online" your friends? Will they be there when you are in trouble and need help? Will they come to your funeral? I guess I believe that THE MOST IMPORTANT thing in life is the relationships we have with others. Whether the relationship is a simple as holding the door open for someone, smiling at a person who walks past, caring about a student, or loving family and friends... all of these things happen face-to-face, and I don't want to lose that. OK, I'm done venting.

Thing 20 - Libraries and Social Networks

I was introduced to Facebook last year when some of the students I work with showed me their pages. I was amazed at how many of the students have accounts on this site. It wouldn't surprise me that Facebook is the fastest growing social network, since you can see your friends, and their friends, etc. It is like that old commercial - I don't even know what they were advertising - but the words said something like... you should tell two friends, and they will tell two friends, and they will tell two friends, etc. Navigating this site isn't too difficult, plus with all the people using this site, someone you know is bound to be willing help you!

I looked at My Space, but didn't spend much time on it. A few years ago, I heard that my niece was on the site, so I checked it out. There was no need for me to sign in to find out all about her. All I did was type in a first name in a 30 mile radius and found her right away. She had a pic posted, info on where she goes to school, where she hangs out, etc. I was shocked. The red flag was flying high! At my urging, she took off her pic, and I guess now you can make a profile private or something, but it scared me knowing that ANYONE could find out so much info about a minor! Very scary.

I think Facebook is much more safe, and can very useful for communicating with people who are physically distant from you. I am afraid that it could be another of those interenet "tools" that take over your life, so you sit in front of the computer instead of actually going outside and doing something!

Thing 19 - Podcasts

I listened to a few podcasts - from MPR and the SCSU podcasts. I didn't realize that a person needs to download them. I thought it would just be streaming audio. I was at TIES a couple years ago when the media staff from Holdingford shared their daily news podcast. I think it is a fun way for kids to gain confidence in both participating in a news broadcast, as well as speaking to an audience, without having the "audience" right in front of them to make the kids nervous! I have done a live morning news show, which would be really fun to post online, but the audio only (podcast) would eliminate the concern for students privacy issues.

Is there a reason that the podcasts from MPR and SCSU have a video component to it? The screen "saver" was quite distracting. I suppose that if I really wanted to just listen to the podcast, I wouldn't be watching the screen anyway!

In the future, if I found a good podcast, it would be great to sign up for the RSS feed and listen to it on a regular basis.

Thing 16 - Student 2.0 Tools

The University of Minnesota Assignment Calculator is a great tool! When I taught 4th grade, we used planners to keep the kids organized. The assignment calculator is like a 4th grade planner on steriods! The optional reminders for each step in the research process will keep the student on task, and they won't tend to procrastinate... like I did on the last several Things! :)

I am very impressed with the number of tools/worksheets that are provided for both the teachers and the students. This site has everything you could ever ask for when teaching research skills, from topic-finding to refining an internet search, using seldom used boolean characters.

If I were an classroom teacher, I would use this site all the time! I will be certain to share this site with the English teachers at school. Actually, the Social Studies teachers do a lot of research projects, especially investigating controversial topics. I'm sure they would love this site as well!

I have to get back to learn more about this site at a later date!

Thing 15 - Online Games and Libraries

I tried Puzzle Pirates. I had my nephew help me put together the characters. He had much more fun with this game than I did. It was difficult for me to figure out how to play. A different nephew plays online games like this all the time. "All the time" being the critical words here. I think this type of thing is very addictive - to all ages! I don't see a real use for this at school - the kids are too distracted as it is. I did take a quick peek at Second Life, and although I didn't create an account to play, it reminded me of SimCity, which we did have at school. All in all, I think plaing online games is a waste of time. Have any of you read The Last Child in the Woods?

Thing 18 - YouTube & Other Online Video

I am jumping around a bit on the last few Things. I have only used YouTube a few times. I searched for spoofs on some Classics for an English teacher last year. The kids thought it was a ton of fun. I have also found some useful videos for both home and school use.

I can imagine that this site can soak up many hours while searching for funny things to watch. I used a couple different search terms, and found both home videos as well as portions of TV shows and movies. I'm not certain how people can publish home videos with copyrighted songs on them. I wonder if anyone has ever gotten in trouble for this.

This was a rather entertaining Thing, and although I did spend a bunch of time on it, it was nice to play a bit, instead of just try to figure everything out, like on many of the Things. Plus, I didn't have to create an account and think up another username and password. Thanks!

Thing 14 - LibraryThing

I like the idea of LibraryThing and have been looking for just this kind of tool. I have an English teacher who has a list of book recommendations for her students. We want to be able to list these books, and give the kids the ability to write comments about the books. LibraryThing seems to do just that, but I don't want so much clutter... I just want a simple site that allows only my students access. Any ideas?

Thing 13 - Online Productivity Tools

I used iGoogle for my start page, and customized it. I liked some of the gadgets - the most helpful being the weather and date and time gadget. I would like to be able to place links on the page, so I could get my booksmarks from Delicious, but I couldn't figure out how to d that.

I also worked for awhile on Don't Forget the Milk. I guess I still do most of my "listing" in my head. I don't write things down. I have all kinds of sticky notes on my computer at work. Unless I see my "jobs" right in front of me, it doesn't help me to make a list, plus, I had hard time figuring out a easy way to add tasks and due dates. I don't think I wil use this tool again.

I think I spent about 2 minutes in my chair at work today. I wrote a few important emails, and even at that, I had them half-done and got interrupted, and finished them later. I guess I should get my life more organized... and maybe using lists would help, but I would need to find the time to write the list out! I blame it on the fact that I never used an organizer growing up. :) I am too "by the seat of my pants", and have trouble sitting down!

Thing 12 - Do You Digg?

If I were a news-fanatic, I would LOVE these sites! All the most popular articles delivered right to your account! You could spend lots of time finding out lots of info about everything imaginable. You could sit in your chair ALL day just reading about topics that people think are important. This could range from the topics I found on Digg... Is Your Gas Pump Ripping You Off? to The Top 10 Essential Places To Have Sex . Now, I did find a good article about Useful Tools for Teachers... but now, I can't find it again, because the website is continuously changing. Hmm... I wonder if "they" keep track of the sites you've been to.... for example, if I clicked on The Top 10 Essential Places to Have Sex, and then contiued to read and recommend similar articles, would someone know? I get a little paranoid sometimes that Big Brother is watching. We are always asked for an ID and password, but really, how secure is that?

How much news do we really need to know? Does it matter to our lives? Do I care that someone caught a fish bigger than the "Barbie rod and reel" that they were using to reel it in? Is it worth my time to read all about it?

So in response to the blog prompt: "Do these tools seem to be a productivity enhancer or a productivity detractor?" I found the answer right on the Reddit intro page:

read
user-submitted links, it's more fun than being productive
What? Yep... more FUN than PRODUCTIVE.

Thing 11 - Tagging and Del.icio.us

I tagged all of my blog posts, and found it very convenient in Blogger, because as soon as I started typing, a list popped up of tags I have already used. This didn't happen in Delicious. I played around a bit and looked at other people's bookmarks. I found some very useful bookmarks and added them to my account. I think this would be very helpful to the high school kids that are doing research papers. I need to spend more time figuring out if there is a way to share bookmarks without having each student create a Delicious account.

It seems to me, that there must be some way that I can keep all of my accounts in one place... instead of creating ALL these accounts in each location. I am on my second page of usernames and passwords in my notebook. I can't imagine trying to remember all of them!

Thing 10 - Wikis

I love watching those Common Craft videos! It makes learning something SO much easier than trying to figure things out by reading oodles of info! I edited the 23 Things Wiki. It was very easy to do. The one use that I can think of right away is a Wiki used for an "online" bookclub. I have "Book Picks" each month, and if I dedicated a Wiki to it, the kids could write comments/reaction to the books. I did not sign up for a wiki, so I'm not sure if I could monitor the comments. I wouldn't want this to become a place for kids to bash school, for example.

Thing 9 - Online Collaboration Tools

I have played with Google Docs for awhile, and am not sure if I prefer that, or Zoho writer. I like the idea of having teachers edit student documents right online using the comment tool. I will introduce this to the English teachers to see if they are willing to try it out. I opened two accounts, so I could see if the chatting feature worked, but didn't have much luck. I could see both of my "identities'" comments on one account, but not on the other. I'm not sure if that could be because I was on one computer. I will try to work on this with another staff member to see if we can get it to work.

The one concern that I have, is the seemingly easy ability to have someone else write your document for you. Not sure how to address this. Of course, kids can cheat any number of ways - not on the internet, so maybe my concern is unfounded.

I would like to see students using one of these programs for their papers, instead of using a word processing program at home, emailing it to themselves, and then printing it at school, since I have to unblock their email site each time they want to get their documents.

Thing 8 - Share Your Creations

As I don't own a digital camera, I am at a distinct disadvantage with all of these pic exercises. I spent quite a bit of time trying to figure out why my mosaic wasn't working. Finally, I tried "re-permissioning" the pics on Flickr to "public". That worked. I didn't figure out how to animate the photos though... maybe I needed to use another tool.

I think this could be handy for the students doing the yearbook. We have a class on media influences and the students might find this a unique addition to enhance their assignments.

On a personal note, I am struggling to find motivation to do these Things, as each one is really about 10, and it is getting quite overwhelming. But... I will try to forge ahead!

Thing 7 - Web 2.0 Communication Tools

In the library, I use email to communicate to all of the staff, as a group. If I have new books, or if there is something of interest media, or technology, -wise that I want everyone to know. The problem is that not all staff use email. Even at this point in time!

We don't have staff meeting too often, and email has been the most timely form of communication for me. However, I still prefer to make contact with people in person. For example, if a teacher is doing a project on a certain topic, and I know we have a few really good books/reference materials/website that would be beneficial to him/her, I might stop them on their way through (or track them down) and actually show them the book/other material and tell them, or show them, a bit about it. In that way, they actually "get" the info. Sometimes when I am in a hurry, I skim emails from people and then "push the info into the back folder in my brain" until I find time to digest it. Of course, many times, I never get back to it. :(

I do use email many times each day to keep in contact with friends and family. Otherwise my long distance bill would be sky high. That, and it is very convenient to write a quick note and they can read it when they have time. I have used IM, but not very often. I like using, but time can go quickly and before you know it, it is hours later! I do not text message. IT takes too much time!

I have done a few phone/web conferences. The most recent being training from Follett. I like the fact that I can see what the trainer is doing, but still feel a little "distanced" and less likely to ask questions. I guess I still like face-to-face communication.

Thing 6 - Photosharing and Editing

Very Funny... I went to Image Chef and did some playing around with the different templates. Then I clicked on the Create Your Own Layouts link. I got a message that said "Someone has a crush on you". Don't I wish!!! :) :)

I can see many ways that all of these image generators would be fun in the library. We've come a LONG way from Print Shop! I'm not sure how we could print banners - but if I have time down the road, and would like a banner, I will be sure to check it out!

Thing 5 - Photosharing and Editing

Flickr Fun was quick and easy thanks to the post from Charmed One. Finally, a Thing that took me less than an hour! I can imagine that if I had lots of digital images, I could spend a LOT of time playing with all of these options. I think Spell With Flickr would be fun for making interesting poster for the library promoting upcoming events or new book releases! Fun!

Thing 4 - Photosharing and Editing

Flickr could be a wonderful way to keep backups of your photos, or sharing them with others. It is quite easy to upload the files. I think I should have created new accounts on Google and Yahoo though - for all of these Things.

I'm not sure I trust putting anything too personal on the account, though. Yes, I can imagine that this site would be wonderful to share pics of a new baby, etc., with family and friends. But how do we REALLY know if someone else doesn't have access to our account? The Flickr server has to know our password, or it wouldn't let us in. What if someone hacks into their server? Or someone captures our password online? OK... I sound like a Conspiracy Therorist... I just have a bit of trouble with all of the privacy that we are throwing to the wind in the name of "social networking". When thieves can swipe a card into a gas pump, and learn private data about the person who just paid by credit card, it scares me. Identity theft is a big issue right now, and yet, we think nothing of posting personal information online.

I do think it would be a good way for teachers to post pictures for teaching topics - especially as creative writing prompts. So, I guess I like Flickr for educational uses, but don't know if I would use it personally. I just really don't want to give up my 35 mm film camera, and kodak paper! Which is why my Flickr pic comes from my computer camera. I don't own a digital camera (yet).

I am exploring different ways to post items on my blog. This is my favorite snow sculpture of the 2008 Ely Winter Festival.

The Book Thief

The Book Thief
Originally uploaded by WhiteJeepWrangler

This is my first pic on Flickr

Thing 3 - RSS Feeds

RSS Feeds... I can see that they would be extremely useful for people who keep up to date on many different sites. It would also be great for students who are doing research on specific topics. They could find good sites and then sign up for the RSS to keep updated on new research. I don't usually spend much time online, therefore I subscribed to a few of the recommended blogs/feeds, as I have no favorite sites.I do read the SCTimes, but I didn't see an RSS feed, unless Ihave to go into a specific category, and then only get updates on that space... I need to work on this a bit more to understand it. I can see that all this info could become overwhelming and/or addicting. Personally, I think these tools can encourage sitting in front of the computer instead of doing something active. I know this tool is supposed to be time saving.... so I am going to give it a go!

Thing 2 - Web 2.0

Wow... the Stephen Abram video was interesting. He has some good information, but I question the idea of using 15 minutes to do each of these 23 things. I have been sitting at my computer for about 3 hours and I am still not sure exactly what Library 2.0 tools all include. I did get a biit distracted by the Library 2.0 video, The Machine is Us/ing Us, on youtube, and took a litte "birdwalk." I think that Dr. Michael Wesch has incorporated his energey into great teaching for both his staff and his students. I do wonder what my staff would say about the students using all of the webtools on his video at school. I wish I knew how to usee all of the tools he showed. I am hoping that they will be included on the 23 Things list.

I did see Google Docs being used on the video and I am hoping to teach the students how to use this program for their benefit at home and school. I think this will be an improvement on their ability to transfer data back and forth.

The links on the main 23 Things page weren't working today. I just kept getting error messages. I am hoping to read other people's posts so I can learn from them, as well as going through the tasks.

Thing 1 - Blogs

This is all new for me. I have never created a blog, and had a little trouble navigating from the View Blog page back to the Posting/Settings/Layout page. There is a link in the upper right corner, next to the New Post label, but I can't read the whole word. I just clicked on it, and it appears to bring me where I wanted to go. I guess that's a lot like my life... can't see the whole thing... just take chances on parts of what I do see! So... let's see how this goes!