Thing 23 - Summarize my thoughts

1. Some of my favorite discoveries were: Flickr, Bighugelabs.com, Delicious, and Rollyo. I had heard a little bit about most of the 23 things, and told myself that I would take time to look at them. I'm so very glad that I made the decision to do this course this summer. It was well worth it!
2. The program has affected my lifelong learning goals my giving me a stress free, fun and manageable way to look at the great technology tools available to us as educators. As much as I wanted to explore these tools, I was a little apprehensive.
3. The only unexpected outcome for me was that these tools are really fun to use and very user friendly. I expected this to be much more difficult.
4. I can't think of any changes I would make in this course - except for the ones you've already made. I would like to explore more of the 43 things and counting that are available now, and I think that you've already added a part 2 for "graduates" of this course.
5. I would definately participate in another offering like this, and am hoping to be part of setting up this type of course in my own district.
6. This was Amazingly Fun!!

Thing 22 Nings

I like the idea of being able to set up your own social network. The possibilities are indeed seemingly endless. My high school class reunion was organized this summer using Facebook, and it really was an easy way to get a very diverse group of people together for a common purpose, but I'm not really comfortable interacting with students using Facebook.

The ning concept seems that it would be much more workable for professional endeavors. It's much more customizable. Although I intend to spend more time exploring the teacher librarian ning, I think that for the foreseeable future in my library we'll begin with the wiki concept.

Thing 21 Create a Pod cast

My district provided me with Camtasia Studio, so I used that to create my podcast which describes creating a resource list in our library catalog.

Thing 20 - YouTube, Teacher Tube, and Zamzar

This was a lot of fun. I appreciated the helpful tips on embeding video. I really liked using Blinkx, and am hoping that Zamzar will not only be useful for video, but for other file conversions as well. I'm wondering if it might potentially work on seemingly corrupt files, or files that have been saved in a newer software version than the one we have on school computers. I found several history videos that would be helpful in some of our research classes, and I found some movie trailers that we might be able to use to promote our Collaborative Library Dept/ History Dept Movie nights this fall.

This video just made me laugh, and I needed a laugh.

Thing 19 Web 2.0 Awards

I don't think I could just pick one thing from the list! I've learned about so many new tools in this program, and I'm really excited to start using them. So far, I think my favorites are Del.icio.us, and Rollyo. I believe my interest in these stems from my desire to better organize my favorite websites, and to improve the help I give my patrons with research projects.

I'm also excited with what I've learned about wikis, and am interested in working more with my colleagues to improve our workflow as a district team.

Beyond that, I want to utilize Library Thing and Google Docs because I know these are useful tools as well.

Really!!! So many tools - So little time.

Thing 18 - Online Productivity Tools

Open Office would be a Godsend to anyone who couldn't afford to purchase a software suite. It seems to provide all of the tools needed for productivity in the workplace. However, nothing worthwhile is free. There is always a catch. I would be afraid to rely on this "free" tool only to find out at some point that it would no longer be available. However, if a business or a school district couldn't afford to purchase software, this would be a viable option.

Our students often have problems using Microsoft Office at school. They have a newer version of the software at home, and come to class and can't access their work. We tell them to save work in a "lower version",but sometimes they don't, or the file is corrupted or ... I will definitely look at this as an option when students are working on class projects.

I like Google docs, and have used many of the templates for projects I'm working on. However, I worry about security and would not want to store something of a proprietary nature on the Google server.

Thing 17 Rollyo

This will be a great tool for Research and comparison of data. I registered and edited a list of History websites from a Pathfinder.
Here is my Rollyo - History Research: http://rollyo.com/jpenning/history_research/
I plan to update the resource lists on our library page.

I think students would also get more of a sense of ownership if when doing website evaluation they could have input to the list of acceptable resources. It would be a great part of the assignment.

Thing 16 Wikis

I can think of so many ways to use Wikis in the library! I really think this is the way to go with our library pathfinders. I really liked the examples that I saw. I also think that we could save a lot of unproductive committee meeting time by using wikis.

Thing 15 Library 2.0 Future of Libraries

I have been a librarian for fewer than 10 years, and have seen so many changes already that sometimes it boggles my mind to think of where we might be in 5 years, in 10 years... BUT as a profession we have always tried to be collaborative, customer friendly, and welcoming.

I personally work very hard to embrace the changes that bring daily challenges to my work space and my patrons. I take to heart the comment that "if our services can't be used without training... fix the service" but I also understand that we serve patrons at both ends of the technology spectrum, and we must continue to realize, while moving ahead and embracing the tools of the 21st century, that we can't ignore patrons who need help bridging the technology gap, and we can't ignore patrons who come to the library for a human interaction.

I think the challenge is to be there 24/7 in web 2.0, but also to realize that some patrons want and need the brick and mortar library as well. Our goal then is not to impede access on either front.

Thing 14 Technorati and Tags

I think I have a pretty good understanding of tagging, and think it's an invaluable tool. Of course, librarians use subject headings in much the same way as tagging to help patrons find materials. I'm just happy to now be able to add tags to web content.

I can understand anyone in sales will be most interested in these tags to spot market trends, but wonder what it will do to us as consumers of information. Things already change and go out of style so quickly now.

I liked the advanced search feature in Technorati. I think it will be a great tool in the neverending search for information. I found Technorati very user friendly.

Blog Claim - Claim your blog

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Thing 13 Tagging and Discover Delicious

Delicious is a site I wish I'd explored a long time ago. I need to do more with tagging various websites if only to keep myself more organized. This will certainly make moving from multiple workstations an easier task.The implications for the library and any classroom are huge. We've come a long way since providing students with websites via hotlinks in an html document. I like the idea of creating an unusual tag and sharing lists of websites with colleagues or students in a particular class or with a certain assignment. I've been hearing about Delicious for a long time and didn't realize how many social bookmarking sites are in existence.

Thing 12 Commenting

For a long time, I have been "lurking" around the Internet. Often when I think of making what is imho, an important comment, I find that a similar comment has already been made. However, the 23 Things exercise has taught me how much fun it is or how helpful it is to receive a timely comment.

While reading the ways to increase comment #'s post, I was struck my how similar the instructions are to being a good dinner companion, or an interesting guest at a party. They are also suggestions that are helpful in corporate America.

I regularly follow Barbara Jansen's blog and Naomi Bates blog. Both are librarians that I respect and try to emulate. I have found things in both of their blogs to make me a better teacher.

I've commented on the blogs of library lady, laptop learner, mhs broadcasting, elaine learning, and algebra at SOC

Thing 11 - Library Thing

Library Thing looks like an excellent resource for remembering what books you have read. I also plan to use it to make lists of books that I want to read. I saw several groups that look interesting (a YA group and the librarians who thing). I think this will prove to be a great resource for giving book recommendations by matching books you have read to books you are likely to enjoy. I was going to add a widget showing some of my favorite books, but so far, I've only added my summer reads to the catalog, and most of the ones I selected had no image. That is something to remember in case I decide to create the widget in the future.

Thing 10 - Online Image Generator

I had a lot of fun with this. I created a "fishing license" for a little boy who went fishing with me for his very first time. I could see a practical application for that in the library if we wanted to create Library Aide Badges or Hall Passes or something like that. I used a button generator to create a button for my library catalog, but my favorite site was definitely
bighugelabs.com

I used it to create a Magazine Cover which I think could be a fun class project for almost any subject from Social Studies to Math to Language Arts