Week 9 - Thing #23

Wow! 23 Things in about 10 weeks! I went back through my posts and I feel that I learned so much more than what appears in my blog. For example, I stumbled upon Glogster and I didn't even post about that. I think I want to go back to the Web 2.0 awards this summer and really explore some more.

Like all teachers, the biggest obstacle to all these tools is finding the time to implement them because it takes time and planning to change what we're currently doing to something else. In many of my posts, I've mentioned our Pennsylvania Classrooms for the Future grant in our high school which put many laptops and white boards into our high school as well as an abundance of technology training for our teachers. Most of their training has been on Apple products but also some Web 2.0 tools. The advantage that I now have after going through this Library 2.0 experience is that I can help them be more creative in the planning of their technology projects. And when I can suggest something that they don't know anything about - I have created a need for them to collaborate with me.

We have the same pressure as the classroom teacher to keep up with new technology tools - and Web 2.0 is changing constantly. However, the pressure is even greater for school librarians because we are expected to support and service our faculty and students, we need to be one step ahead of the classroom teacher. We just can't be the same librarian that we were 10 years ago - or even 5 years ago.

I think the 23 Things and the activities for each were very well designed and well worth the time I spent learning. The blog is a great way for me to share my experiences as well as go back and refresh my memory of the last 10 weeks.

Thanks CSLA and PA Commonwealth Libraries for a great professional development experience!

Week 9 - Thing #22

I love audiobooks for myself, so I can really see a lot of potential in getting students interested in literature. I drive 80 minutes to my grad classes once a week and love to listen to lots of different kinds of audiobooks each week. I'm not sure about ebooks for leisure - and I haven't tried to download any on to my palm pilot. My students use plenty of ebooks for research, but would find it hard to see students reading a novel on a screen, no matter how portable.

I believe audiobooks - especially for portable MP3 players can be utilized with all kinds of students. Kids are plugged in at home - so why not capitalize on that in school? We are exploring playaways in our high school, but haven't really advertised them yet - but we are anxious to see how students respond to them. I think the availability of more and more audiobooks on the internet will enable educators and librarians to realize the full potential and use this tool where it fits best with students. Having them at no cost in the public domain will speed this process up.

Week 9 - Thing #21

I've been using student-created podcasts for over a year in my middle school library and now my high school library. I hope to use student-created podcasts as my dissertation topic because I believe that the impact of student-created podcasts is just starting to be realized. Student-created podcasts that contain content can be used over and over again by other students as study guides and for special needs students. We are starting to use podcasts with our ESL students for language practice and for listening to the English language.

I personally like Podcast Alley as a directory. ITunes University also has a lot of content that can be used in K-12 schools.

I've helped teachers with podcasts for poetry, novels, book reviews, current issues, science topics, 9th grade transition and biography speeches.

Here's a site that has booktalking podcasts: http://nancykeane.com/rss.html

Week 9 - Thing #20

I believe that YouTube has a lot of potential in education. The problem is that opening the filter to allow use of YouTube violates our Student and Faculty policy. TeacherTube is an alternative - but we need to get people creating videos to post to both YouTube and TeacherTube if it has an educational value. There are many videos that can be used in schools. I do worry about education using videos on YouTube that are knowingly a violation of copyright and what kind of a message that send to students.

Here is a video on the coral reef I found:


Here is video of a teenager promoting Glogster - a Web 2.0 tool.


Below is a video I uploaded for my son's HS football team. My son needed unexpected eye surgery the week of our biggest game and his team came to the house to support him. YouTube was the best way to share this with his team and especially the parents who could not be there.

Week 8 - Thing #19

Library Thing

I had a good time with this tool. I think its a great way for students and teachers to share lists - especially if we connect it to a wiki or a blog where they share their reviews. I also like that you can link to finding other books that are similar. What a great way to get kids more involved in reading. I am going to share this site with my reading teachers who have struggling readers that need a hook to keep them reading. I have a random list of some books that I put in my Library Thing - haven't read all of them - but summer is coming!

Week 8 - Thing #18

Zoho Writer....

 

Hempfield High School


I see some potential in Web 2.0 tools like Zoho  - because some of our students do not have word processing software or Power Point or spreadsheet tools at home - just Internet access.


The skills to use something like Zoho writer are very similar to using Web editors that many companies and organizations are now using - so there is a skill set that students could potentially use.

However, I see a lot more potential in other Web 2.0 tools and with a teacher's and a librarian's limited time, I don't know that I would put this tool high on the priority list of items.  I think Library 2.0 librarians should be aware of as many tools as possible - but not everything will be useful.

Week 7 - Thing #17

I just spent about 2 hours playing in the Sandbox - and didn't even contribute anything to the sandbox. I got completely lost among the links I was following and could only find my way back through the Browser's back button.

However - I discovered a couple of really cool ideas that I could us in my school library - for wikis and for podcasts. Which is the whole purpose of the sandbox of a wiki.

We have a very active School Library Listserv in Pennsylvania. I think it would be great if we moved this email listserv to a Web 2.0 tool like wikis and blogs. It would be searchable so that you could retrieve what others have contributed in the past. But it would also have to be proactive so that school librarians could ask a question of the group and get immediate answers. The great part about the listserv is that when someone asks a question - there a lot of responses and plenty of school librarians willing to help. Somehow, though I think the idea of the sandbox would have merit for this.

Week 7 - Thing #16

Wikis have a lot of potential both for school libraries and for classroom projects. I could name several projects where having students create wikis with the content that they research would lead to more meaningful and more collaborative work for students. It would also add to the motivation for them to find good information.

I see a lot of potential for school librarians to collaborate with each other through wikis - especially when working on special projects, conferences or committees.

Technology teams can us wikis to do more sharing of ideas and tools. It is very hard for everyone to be an expert at all the Web 2.0 tools - but if groups of techies create wikis where each person become the expert in one or two tools and then shares the information with the rest of the group, we could integrate more technology into our classrooms.

I would like to help at least one teacher create a wiki project this year so that teachers can see the potential. The AP History example in the exercise gave me a few ideas for teachers to use a wiki for students to create wikis for final exam reviews. Since we have common final exams across the district, all students taking the same course could contribute to the wiki.

Week 6 - Thing #15

Away from Icebergs is a perspective that really hit home with me. The students that use our school libraries have changed so dramatically in the last five years and we need to change with them. Too many times I hear librarians stubbornly refusing to meet the students where they are in retrieving information and how they want to use the library. In the name of protecting our physical libraries, we deny the changes that will take place with or without us.

We also have to get past the stereotype of what a school library atmosphere is like. We know that learning is active and not necessarily quiet. So our libraries need to places where students meet and collaborate and learn.

I want to take this perspective and expand it and create a vision for my Library 2.0.

Week 6 - Thing #14

I played around with Technorati - but I don't see as much use for this in education or the school library as some of the other Web 2.0 tools.

Week 6 - Thing #13

I created a del.icio.us account months ago, but never took the time to really learn how to use it or explore it. I spent the evening going through the bookmarks on my laptop and posting the ones I wanted to keep on del.icio.us.

I see a huge potential for this in school libraries. We put a lot of links into our Follett Destiny program using the visual search. But we could also put those same links into del.icio.us with searchable tags for our students. With the Firefox sidebar extension, posting the bookmarks won't take long - but tagging them will take a lot of thought - similar to cataloging. We will need to think about what students will type in to search for web sites. Reinforces, that access points are still important - but in a Web 2.0 world it's just a different tool. Our jobs are changing constantly - but the foundation of helping students find information and resources is still the same.

Updated! After a few days, I went back to my del.icio.us account and organized it better. By bundling my tags I can see my curriculum tags and my technology tags, etc. much better. I also added several networks of teachers in my building too.