What! It's Over!?!? (Final Thoughts)

I just got done reading some other posts by fellow classmates, and I want to go out for drinks with everyone to celebrate the class being over. But like the every end any long event with it's ups and downs, we made it through together and the final curtain call is bittersweet. I know this was LIS629, Integrating Technology into the School Media Center, but it didn't feel like a class. We were all enjoying our time learning and teaching each other. Mark and Myself felt the class could have gone on for another few days, and we would still only scratch the surface of web 2.0 tools. But one has to ask, is the class really over? Can I take LIS629 in another year or two and expect a repeat performance? Absolutely not. Web 2.0 is not in an infantile state, but more of an adolescent. Every tool is still waiting to be discovered, and evolving itself. We are in a constant state of flux, learning from it and growing with them. Social networking could be consider could be considered to be the rebel teen filled with negative connotations, but eventually will mature and make a positive impact on the world, some of them already have. Sure this makes sense in my mind, I'm not a creative writer so I hope I'm making my point. What will happen with Web 3.0? Will I be taking LIS629 again? Probably not, it is up to me to take control of my own learning and evolve with technology, and help others grow. The first steps to take are to subscribe to twitter feeds, blogs, and keep up to date with how these tools are being utilized. The ideas presented by colleagues will only keep the storm in my brain churning up newer ideas. The second step is to implement them, and while implementing them, which is imperative, I'm learning with my students. The questions are many and unanswered, and it with the utmost importance that these tools are used and taught to teachers in my faculty. From what I have seen, the students know more than the teachers, and that alarms me. In the Oceanside school district, there is one person in charge of all the school webpages, very ineffective. a librarian should have control of their own libraries web page and not rely on someone else. So stepping on someones toes is one obstacle that might be before me.

I'm truly going to miss this class. We learned a lot together, but we could learn so much more.

Book Trailer

Well, I forgot to reflect on this one. I used Voicethread. my book trailer was Jeanne DuPrau's "City of Ember". Unfortunately, I wanted to use PhotoStory, but that is only made for Windows. I had all these cool ideas about adding music, scrolling around a picture, but you cant do any of that in Voicethread. Oh well, I love my Mac, and I will have to live without it until I work in a school that uses Windows. When I do, I can refer back to a great tutorial website for PhotoStory.

 

Photo Story Tutorial

Day 4

It makes me a little sad to know this class will be over tomorrow, and I'm not just saying that. Today we covered many more tools, Mixbook, Glogster, Sliderocket, Projeqt just to name a few. Karen was so correct to say this class needs to be longer. I wonder if I would have gotten more out of the class had I taken it during the fall or spring semesters. What's done is done, move forward. Colleen's presentation said it standing still is just like moving backwards. Nobody is going to wait for you. (Makes me think of zombie apocalypse movies.) The tool Nicole presented, Speakingimage, gave me so many ideas for a library webpage. In a picture of book shelves, each pin placed could take you to a student made book trailer. As a school media specialist, you could have the students make book trailers and present them on the library webpage using Speakingimage. Parents and administrators could see what is going on in your library. The librarian wears many hats, and each hat has to be worn for each lesson. It is very easy to get overwhelmed, but you must roll with the punches and punch back. I thought I would have a month off before my next class began, I think I'm going to be spending my evenings, when my kids are in bed, mastering these web tools, and building a wiki portfolio that will knock future employers socks off, while keeping it lively to motivate any child. I got a lot of work ahead of me. 

Day 3

I do have to say this class is an adventure so far. From our Wednesday migratory habits to Thursday pajama day. Friday's class I felt we finally got started. Until Friday it seemed like we were just being told what the tools were. Friday shifted us into second gear. The web 2.0 tools are something you could get lost in, but with proper guidance coupled with internal motivation to understand them. I'm getting the hang of them. I particularly was amazed with the creative story writing segment in our class. It got very confusing for a moment, but eventually got the hang of it. When I tried google docs later on an older computer it didn't work as well. Proving that to teach these tools you need to have have the most current hardware. I realize that we only scratched the surface of the tools we learned about, and the rest is up to us. Teaching these tools to students opens up a realm of creativity for the teacher as well as the students projects. I find it particularly interesting that google would not teach their products, just show you what they could do. The only thing I didn't like was the constant switching of windows when building anything. I sometimes think gathering your elements into a local folder and uploading it later would although be somewhat time consuming, more effective.

Diigo

It took me a little while to get used to it, i was saving all my bookmarks to delicious.com. the exporting feature was a little confusing and I kept getting very frustrating errors. Finally, I just abandoned all hope with delicious and will maybe revisit is on a later date. Diigo was much less confusing. maybe i missed it, but there really wasn't a good tutorial on tagging. and I had to deal with a lot of trial and error. The group function allowed me to view more and more site and get off track. have to visit them at a later date. I wound up joining Teacher Librarian, and Classroom 2.0. That is one thing that kills me with the Internet, the amount of distractions there are. from AdSense, news feeds, bookmarking sites. I remember reading a science fiction story about an alien race that replaced their blood with some clear liquid that only required them to need 2-3 hours of sleep. Anybody know the story? I could use that recipe....

I'm probably going to be using Diigo more often and abandoning my bookmarks in my browser.

Thoughts about the changing tech

Where does one begin to explain web 2.0? Will I be the voice of all information out there? Certainly not, blogs are mere opinions, (unless they are cited) but to understand a little more about it. I watched this video...

 

Web 2.0 tools are, in essence, a collaborative way of learning and sharing ideas This is why I called this blog worldwide brainstorm. Collaborative tools that allow us to lean from each other. People don't need to be in the same room to brainstorm, because of the web, people don't+

+ need to even be in the same country. Since i'm a gadget freak, I'll use that as an example. When I think about getting the latest gadget, I ask my friends about their thoughts, but that only gets me so far. I begin to read reviews on the web, which connects me to other users like me. Sometimes I learn that the gadget I want is terrible and User A, suggests different one. I have learned something, and didn't waste my money. To me, that is a good thing. 

The interactive infrastructure of todays web, in a controlled setting used with a purpose is extremely beneficial, news travels with the speed of thought, but you can't take something back once it is out there. If you post information that is inaccurate, you are doing more harm than good. There needs to be some an editor in the process. Also people need to be able to decipher between an opinion and a fact, otherwise they are doing more harm than good.

Social Media Explained

I So want to live in scoopville. possibly because I cant go to bed without having a cup of cold heaven with sprinkles.  But never mind my dietary habits. More than just Facebook, social media is another form of connecting with friends, colleagues and family from afar.
Pros: A great tool to connect,
Cons: "The Lord givith and the Lord taketh away" a few keystrokes,shrimp and your innermost thoughts are public knowledge. This could have drastic effects, but people need to learn how to use these tools and not use them to hurt others or themselves. People have lost jobs because of postings on social media sites.
Be careful, is my only advice. I just loved the way this video explained social media.
Still, If I lived in Scoopville.... BBQ Bacon wrapped shrimp ice cream. Try to be open minded the internet is full of opinions.

 

Where does this leave the university of today? Students still need guidance. They are becoming multi-taskers, but I feel that leads to a greater amount of distractions, leading to half completed  or incorrectly done jobs.  We are in an Internet Renaissance where a student can learn thousands of viewpoints and formulate their own opinion. Isn't that one of the benchmarks of the NY common core standards? 

The guidance given to a student aids them in formulating their own opinion and not such radical thinking that does not contribute positively to society. The university of today is more of an online university, hence this class we have to utilize the technology and pass our knowledge to others.