Thing 23 - Is it Really Over?

Amazing...
Educational...
Enlightening...

All good words to describe this experience. If another course like this was offered, I would be there in a heartbeat. I like the idea of posting my blog in the signature of my e-mail. I do think that others might find it interesting to see what I have learned. Or even better, make it my school media blog.

I can't think of a way that this program could be improved. The directions for everything were superb. The activities were appropriate. The outcome was fabulous. I just hope I can keep up with it all before we have Web/Library 3.0!

I am really going to try and find ways to incorporate some of these things into my teaching. I am not sure how yet, but I want my students to have the same enthusiasm for this that I do.

I have so much new knowledge and technical vocabulary that I did not have before. And I have so many new ideas to try.

I will look forward to hearing how everyone that did the entire program felt about it. It would be great to see some of the feedback.

Signing off for now...
But not forever...

Thing 22 - Adding an RSS Feed

I added Doug Johnson's blog to my page. There are always interesting things to read there and having it on my blog will remind me to check there every so often. And perhaps it will direct others to his site. Always good food for thought.

Thing 22 - How to Keep Up

I have learned a lot!!

I think it is easy to say that we don't have enough time to do these new things. It really is a fact that we need to take the time. I spoke to that way back on Thing 2 with Stephen Abrams. I need to take the time to perfect my skills.

Web 2.0 is an exciting adventure. My biggest hope is that I can share what I have learned with others and show them the exciting world out there. Many people are afraid of trying new technologies and it can be frustrating.

We all need to keep trying in order to keep up with our students and/or the public.

I am going to "borrow" these words from the 23 Things Blog of instructions. I want these words on my blog so I can refer easily to them. In order to continue my education with technology I know:

It really doesn’t take that much time
I know I can do it
It's fun to know and use these tools
I need to keep informed
I need the support of others and our administrators and supervisors so we have the time and help we need to learn and stay informed.

I am going to keep up my blog. I resolve to do that. I think this blog can be useful place for me to share with others and just as my own personal journal.

This opportunity has been amazing. Plus I have had a chance to chat with some old friends in the program. As I learn new things, I will rite about it here.

A huge thank you to all the people that put this program together. I know it was a lot of work, but I think it has strengthened our community of library learners.

Thing 21 - Other Social Networks

I took a look at a few other social network sites. I just can't see myself getting involved in them. I could maybe see it for our library/media department. However, we are all so busy with our teaching and our own home lives, that I can't see anyone getting excited to use it. But for those that need that for communication and information, it is great.

I did look at the teacher/librarian one. That did have some people I knew on it and I could see the use for it. It seems like the next step up from LM Net.

Thing 20 - Facebook - Addendum

I must be OK, because my 15 year old daughter asked me to be her friend on Facebook. It must not be too embarrassing for her to have a mom for a friend. To me that is way cool!

Thing 21 - 23 Things Ning

I had already done the activities for the ning. I was the 9th person to join the ning way back when this all started. I guess I was ahead of my time. :)

I have left messages for others and have received messages back. I uploaded my picture. I uploaded a widget. The more I do these "things" on my blog the easier it becomes.

I again don't see me using this very often as I don't really want to use the computer to communicate this way. But I do prefer to use this avenue as opposed to MySpace of Facebook as this network is all library people. It would be fun to keep up the connections I have made so far as I did find old friends and colleagues here.

Thing 20 - My Space

I took a look at both of the libraries that were listed on the assignment. Denver Public Library was certainly geared to the teens. What a great way to connect to that age group. With so many libraries wanting to draw in the youth of today, I can see it being a great tool.

The Hennepin County Library page was also good. It was fun to see authors writing messages and again seeing the teen connection.

As an elementary library, I don't see us using it the same way. Our school web site is much simpler and I can't see our kids using MySpace from school much. But the public sector could use it a great deal.

Thing 20 - Facebook - Social Networking

I set up by Facebook account. I could not believe how easy it was to see others from my graduating classes from both high school and college. They were just there. I chose not to add any as friends just yet. I don't know if I want to become tied down to checking my Facebook page all the time. I sent a message to my daughter. I will have her show me more of her page then. She and I have looked at her page every so often.

My son has a page as well and I cuold find his easily as well. It does seem a bit scary to think everyone can find us that easily. i realize that you have the choice to add friends or not and my children I hope have made those good choices. I know my daughter has.

The social networking piece is so big. My kids used to use up all of our cell phone minutes. Now they spend much more time on the computer with their friends online. I just don't think I want to do that. At least not at this point in my life. Perhaps when I retire (soon), I might but I hope I have many other activities to keep me busy at that point. :)

I chose not to look at MySpace as both of my kids have said they prefer Facebook. I did appreciate the registration for my own site. I did even upload a picture. As with many of these 23 Things, this was so simple.

Thing 19 - Podcasts

I listened to some podcasts by Joan Badger and Ben Hazzard from Canada. They deliver many podcasts on the subject of SMART Boards and their use. They are thousands of miles apart and yet teach together very well. It is a unique way to collaborate. They both use and know SMART technology very well so it is interesting to have them both teaching about better uses of this technology.

The collaborative part of podcasts is a great feature. Students could also be able to collaborate well. Long distance communications work with this as well as right in your own classroom. We are trying to teach our students how to use technology to communicate and this is an easy one to use. There certainly are many podcasts to choose from just to listen to and learn from. Students today seem to be audio users. I can rarely talk to my own children anymore as they always have their ipods in their ears. They mostly listen to music, but I know that if they had a lesson or two to listen to, they would. That is the 21st century way of doing things.

Thing 18 - You Tube

What fun to search for some inspirational video. I wanted to find a short video about reading. This was the best one I could find with only spending about 10 minutes looking. But also how easy to share this on my blog.

I have found many useful videos on You Tube. It has been interesting that our schools district used to block You Tube and now does not. I am glad that teachers are able to find good video clips to share with their students.

I will see if I get inspired to post my own. I would like to try, even if it is very short. I do enjoy learning how many of these technological "things" work.

Reading Inspires Children Video

Thing 17 - ELM Resources

I have been stuck on this one for a couple of weeks and also haven't had time to get back to it.

I use the ELM resources with my students when I can. However to try and do the activities as outlined in this "thing", it proved difficult.

Our school IP address set up must stop some of the options that others see. I could not do the RSS feeds for example.

But the ELM resources themselves are great. I think we are lucky that the legislature pays for us to have these resources. Subscriptions costing what they do, this is a huge money saver for all districts and libraries.

I like to have resources that are current and the students can find articles that are recent. Plus the number of resources is way more than I ever could have here in my media center.

Thing 16 - Student Web 2.0

I had seen the Research Project Calculator before. It's use has been promoted through MEMO. It is user friendly and great for middle and high school students. I could even see it being used with upper elementary students. I think all students need to start early in planning their time for projects. It is so easy to procrastinate and if this tool is used it helps the student to stay on track. The support materials were very helpful. Having all the pdf files available right there makes it easy for anyone to understand the steps. It seemed a simple plan to follow.

The U of M Assignment Calculator was also very good. The support materials were extensive and sent the student to other colleges and university such as Princeton and Purdue for help with their writing. What a great collaborative system.

I thought they both did the same sort of things, it was just more of a level of difficulty. As an elementary teacher, it would be harder for me to use this with students.

But on a personal level, I might try it for a professional project or just to keep myself organized. The only trouble is that it does relate mostly to research projects so it might not work to help me to get my grocery list done. :)

Thing 15 - Online Games

I guess I will never be a great pirate. I liked the game side of Puzzle Pirates. I did OK on the games that I tried. But I never got past the learning stage. I can't see myself devoting as much time as you need to to become a good pirate. Then I ended up on an island where I could buy things, but I had no money. I certainly don't want to start paying for the things you need to in order to participate fully. But I can certainly see how people can get hooked on these virtual sites. I thought it was very well done and fun. I also thought it was a little creepy when I would have others on the ship and I really did not know who they were. I was told a number of times to "get off this ship you land lubber!"

I have watched a friend do the Second Life expereince. Again, I don't think I want to devote that much time to a virtual world. But it is amazing to me that all of this is out there for us to use. Cyber space is way cool!!