Relaxation

A quiet moment in my greenhouse/back porch. (But not completely quiet - turn on your speakers.)

Google game

Guess the Google is promoted as a game but it could also be considered a test of how good you are a tagging things. It presents a montage of images and you have to guess what search term they all have in common. You might need to try terms as both singular and plural. Have fun!

Add this to your Delicious list

A site that is on my Delicious list and that others might want to include is All My Faves. They have gathered links to many of the most popular sites in a wide variety of categories and organized them for easy access. I like looking at the Weekly Faves where they introduce new sites, often related to current events.

It's fun to look it their international versions (Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, and United Kingdom); just click on the arrow by the flag at the top of the page or see the list at the bottom of the page. You will find that some of the resources will be the same for every country, some will be regional variations, and some will be completely different.

Thing 23 - Completion!

“Creative energy boost” would best describe my learning experience with Library Learning 2.0.

The need for a significant number of recertification points led me to it, a fortunate chain of events. The situation both forced me and allowed me to take the time to investigate a lot of things I had been hearing about but had not gotten around to trying. The format worked well for my learning style and for working when time was available. I like the way it guides without the pressure to use or adopt everything mentioned. I have found myself stopping anyone who happens to come through the library to share my latest discoveries. Each tool or resource has made me think of someone who could use it, even if I might not.

I would love to see SCPS Professional Development make Classroom Learning 2.0 available to our teachers. No matter how much we preach, model, etc., some of our colleagues just cannot be convinced that they have the time or need to explore new technology on their own. If we could lure them with points (the next best thing to money), we would have a better chance to convert them.

Thing 23 - Copyright

Convincing students (and sometimes our colleagues) that using information ethically is not optional can be a challenge. There is much food for thought in this last lesson, especially in the Lessig presentation and on the CTAP4 website. I have already added several of the copyright sites to my school Delicious and will try to direct our teachers to the rest of the site.

Print vs. digital - another view

A while back I shared my some of my thoughts on reading from a printed copy rather than from a computer screen. Today's Orlando Sentinel - the newspaper, although I'm sure it's in the epaper as well - included Kathleen Parker's take on the subject. (I used the link to the Sacramento Bee because I felt their headline was better.)

Thing 22

Although I know several people who love audio books and listen to them regularly, I must admit that I have not been one of them. This and the world of eBooks are areas where I need to spend more time exploring. Maybe I'll sign up for an eBook account at Winter Park Public Library. Other options are Kindle for PC or some of these free book sources that I could try using on my netbook.

Today I helped one of our teachers find an audio version of her daughter's required summer reading. Her daughter is one of our many "reluctant" readers and this may make the process less painful. How are other schools in Seminole County using eBooks and audio books?

As for the British Library Online Gallery, all I can say is WOW!

Thing 21

Podcasts might fit in the old category of "if you can't beat'em, join 'em!" We are constantly fighting the battle of the ear buds with many of our students.

Each of the directories that were listed has its strengths and weaknesses. The end result with all of them is that there are lots of interesting podcasts out there but it takes a lot of digging to find what you really need. I happened to come across one on Parenting Your Teen and added the RSS feed to my list; I may recommend it to our Child Development teacher and guidance counselors. I would like to help develop a "new students" orientation podcast for our school and maybe some library how-to's.

I recently noticed a new icon on Kate's library blog and discovered that it is now available as a podcast. When I looked up the source, I learned that Odiogo will convert your blog to audio for FREE. It's a computer generated voice but it's not too bad.

Thing 20, part 2

As you know from my previous posts, my super library sister-in-law has been ahead of me in the Library 2.0 game for some time. Yesterday I sent her the link to one of the videos that I mentioned in my last post and was surprised that it was new to her. Of course, she then sent me a link to her library's Delicious list of library-related videos. Unfortunately some of them require a GALILEO password (that's Georgia's electronic library resource), but several of them are from EBSCO and are accessible on their webpage (down at the botttom - click on Support).

Thanks Kate!

Thing 20

Online videos are another of those mixed blessings. Our students are increasingly visually oriented, so this might be the best way to reach them. YouTube has some very good, educational material, but it also has an abundance of junk. It is understandable that most school systems block access to videos, due to their combination of bandwidth consumption and potential for tasteless garbage.

I did enjoy the videos that were cited in this lesson, especially Introducing the Book and March of the Librarians. Here's a lovely little thing I found on Vimeo -

LIBRARY from singsfish on Vimeo.

Summertime and the livin' is easy

A visitor to Kitsilano Beach reads a book while taking in the summer sun in Vancouver, British Columbia July 5, 2010. (REUTERS/Andy Clark) #

I found this on the Big Picture website, one of my favorites.

Thing 19

LibraryThing will take more time for me to fully explore. My husband and I like to keep lists of our leisure reading, so I began my entries with what we have read so far this year. I may add last year's lists as well, since this should help give us a good variety of recommendations for what to read next.

There are a number of potential uses for LibraryThing in schools. I like the way the CSLA members used it to create their list with disabled characters; we can create lists with Horizon but this makes it easier to keep and share a list (and more eye-catching too). Teachers could use it for their classroom collections. I would love to see our Reading Coach create a catalog of all the resources she has!

Thing 18 - final thoughts

While trying to figure out how to post from Zoho to my blog, I checked out some of the blogs listed on the School Library Learning 2.0 home page. One person suggested that perhaps the problem she had with Zoho would be resolved when it was no longer in its Beta version. That post was from 2007 or 2008; Zoho still says Beta. Hmmm...

Google has introduced its Chrome version of its online productivity tools. Scanning the questions/complaints reveals that the "new and improved" version has lost its ability to post to blogs. At least it's not just me.

Thing 18, continued

Thought I was just cruising along using Zoho; I found a nice font, used some colors, set up some bullet points. Then I tried sending my work to my blog. Grrr! No luck while using Explorer, no better with Firefox. Copied my work to Google Docs thinking it might be more friendly to Blogger but with the same result. I'm beginning to wonder if the problem might be at the Blogger end, but I'm not going to mess with it anymore, at least for now.

Blogging aside, I do think that these tools have interesting potential. The most obvious way that our teachers and students might use them would be for collaborative projects. Several other reasons to consider their use -
* Many of our students do not have a computer at home, must share computers, or otherwise cannot depend on always having the same station available to them; saving their work to Zoho (or one of the others) might be a better option for them than a portable, easily misplaced memory devices.
* In the Library, we often encounter problems when students need to print the work they did elsewhere but the software they used is not compatible with what is on our computers.
* During this summer session a new issue arose - all the students must save to a shared drive instead of their individual accounts on the network and some entries were being sabotaged.

A missed opportunity

I'm sorry I didn't have my camera with me this morning. One of our summer school English classes was in the library today - the room was unusually quiet because they were all reading. I could have made a whole collection of mini-Read posters!

Thing 18 - a work in progress

I used Zoho to write my post for Thing 18, but I have had no success posting from Zoho to my blog. I tried the tried and true cut and paste method, but that lost all my formatting. Next I tried changing my Internet Explorer security settings. I'll keep playing with it, but if any one else has it figured out, please give me a clue.

Thing 15

When I first looked at the resources for this exercise, I was a little put off by the age of some of the articles. Now that I have attained the necessary levels of motivation and caffeine however, I find it is interesting that the opinions and visions in those articles are still so relevant today. We as librarians, educators, or just plain folks are still trying to get a grip on all the various technological advances and to figure out what to do with them.

There are certainly many truths expressed. We must keep up with trends, anticipate needs, and in Storey’s words “reach users in new and compelling ways.” We must continuously advocate for our patrons with the public in general and especially with the politicians who hold our purse strings. We must participate in “harnessing collective intelligence” and teach our students and colleagues how to do the same. We must dream with Dr. Schultz of Library 3.0, Library 4.0, and beyond.

And yet… We must not get so caught up in our dreams that we lose touch with reality. Just because it appears that everyone we see has a cellphone attached, that does not mean that all of those phones are “smart” nor does it mean that everyone has access to an adequate computer with good internet capability. We must remind both our colleagues and politicians that it is unlikely that our students who qualify for free or reduced price lunch have the option of working on Blackboard or taking a Virtual School class at home. We must balance our wishes as well as our budgets.

So what did I find in what I read that we might put into action sooner rather than later? I liked the “It’s a crime not to read” program. Perhaps we should look into partnering with our school resource officers on a similar project. I am also intrigued by the possibility of replacing conventional textbooks with electronic books. Part of me thinks that this would be a blessing for those of us who have spent years with the responsibility for processing and circulating textbooks. Another part of me wonders about the logistics for loading 2400+ readers with the correct titles in a timely manner. And then there is that lawsuit I read about recently claiming that some of the present generation of electronic books do not address all the needs of the visually or otherwise impaired – another hurdle as consider our diverse student population.