So What Do You Think?

I am anxious to hear what you think about your "23 Things" experience. It has certainly generated some discussions around the office about various tools people have discovered, the amount of time it required to complete each week and where this might lead us. My experience has probably been alittle different than most, because I was already at least a little familiar with most of the tools. Of course there were still some favorite (some of the generaters & the applications) and some I'll probably never use (Avatars & Booklists). But the favorite part of my experience was hearing the discussions around the office and knowing that everyone was at least learning something new. How would you sum up your experience? Before you do Scroll down and watch the video below!

A Vision of K12 Students

I found this video on http://www.teachertube.com/ which is a site similar to YouTube but related to edcation. There are thousands of videos that range from actual video taped lessons to video clips to support a lesson. Of course, just like anything else on the internet, there are good videos, bad or inappropriate videos and some GREAT videos. Check it out!

Wiki's - Not just for Libraries

As you read through this weeks information on Wiki's you need to look past the Libaray examples and begin to think about how the same types of uses can be applied to our world. The sharing of information, collaboration, posting of collections of information, etc are all things we do all the time. A Wiki is just another way for us to do the same thing. I know you are thinking that we are all too busy and spring is coming and how will we fit one more "new" thing into our world. Did you know that we can create our own Wiki space on SharePoint to use when we are working on common projects? Did you know that Somerset Intermediate already has a Wiki for our Promethean Resources? You can visit it at http://somerset-promethean-resources.wikispaces.com/

How do the Library Articles Apply to Us?

I can see some of us looking at this weeks assignment to read the Articles about Libraries and Web 2.0 tools and thinking this part doesn't apply to us. I'm hoping to see some posts here from the administrators about why it is important for you to read some of these articles and how are they related to the ibraries in our schools? How should our media centers be changing? What is the role of the media specialist in your building? Come on...let's here it... what do you think?

Bookmarking is Del.icio.us

Have you ever started to work at home and needed to get to that website you always use at work... but you can't remember the URL because you always get to it from your 'Favorites' list on your computer at work??? Del.icio.us serves two purposes. The simple one is that it gives you a way to put your 'Favorites' list out on the web, which gives you access to it from anywhere. So you always have that list of your 'Favorite' websites availabale to you. The second purpose of using Del.icio.us is to share your 'Favorites' list with other people and to be able to share their 'Favorite' websites.

It's time to Generate Something

Once again I find myself amazed at all the things you can do by using these sites. However, you need to have two things to make the most of what they offer. You need to have the time to play with them and you need to have the creativity to know what you want to generate. I seem to be lacking both these days.

Finally A Tool That Can Help!

Many of you are struggling to see how this new learning will be of any benefit to you in your work. I've heard several people question the usefulness of setting up a Blog (now I have one...what do I do with it?). Over the next several months I hope we will get a chance to have some discussions about how these new Web 2.0 tools can be used to make us more efficient. In the meantime, let's think about RSS, because it is the one tool that can make something we all struggle with a little more manageable. The hardest part of my job is trying to keep current technology related topics. This is probably true for everyone in their own field of expertise. I absolutely do not have time to search through all the different technology relates websites for information that I can read to keep me informed. Here is what RSS can do for me... Once I decide which sources I am interested in using (Technology & Learning.com, CoSn, ISTE, etc) to get current information, I can link their RSS feed to my site (Bloglines). Now instead of me going out and looking for information... it comes to me in one location. That has got to save time! And to make it even better, once you get the hang of setting up the RSS feed, you can filter it so you only get articles from those sites on certain topics. So if I am interested in learning about 1-1 computing, I would only get the latest articles and information about 1-1 computing! You have to see the beauty of that...

Technology is My Life

I have finally completed the 'Things' for week 3. Flickr is an amazing collection of sites and tools to work with, view and find photos related to just about anything you can think of. As I explored the mashups and found tools do to crazy and interesting things to my pictures, I keep wondering when these people find time to do all of this. I could spend hours playing with these tools. I also thought about my coworkers who are spending their free time exploring these tools and I envy them because playing with this stuff is a break from there normal routine. Technology is already my life and this is more like work to me. It is not a break from what I do everyday.

7 1/2 Habits

The easiest for me would be to 'Use technology to your advantage' and 'Teach/mentor other'. Since I spend a great deal of time trying to teach others to use technology, I am inclined to use it in my own work and learning. The hardest for me would be to 'view problems as a challenge'. I like to plan things out carefully in order to avoid problems, so when they occur I usually see it as more of a frustration than a challenge. I also have a hard time with "Play" becuase I can't seem to make the time for it anymore. :(