Sanger Unified Library Blog

Week 9 – # 23 – Reflection

booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:52:32 +0000

My favorite activities were the image generators, primarily because I hadn’t used these before. They were fun and creative. I think kids would love them. Do differently????? Some things appear repetitive, but that is just a personal take since I have used them before. Otherwise, I think you did a great job of putting together an immense number of web 2.0 tools. As for application….I would prefer to see an application that is more authentic. I don’t like to do things just for a class, especially in our profession. Learning is more effective when there is time allowed or insisted, to create something for use in their profession. I will be doing that this summer to improve on what I have found and decide the best format to use to help train staff and deliver some of our materials in a new and exciting format. I would participate again if there is something available to facilitate the promotion of my technology skills. This was a very comprehensive format and incredibly useful… Summing it up into one word or sentence. The best thing I can think of is the title of You Tube video I like…Shift Happens….If we don’t shift we become stagnant, stale, dry, and obsolete. The result of that is we will become like the 1940 books on the shelf, in need of weeding. And our district’s will weed us. So I say shift, shift, shift happily and heartily!

Week 9 – Thing #22 – ebooks / Audiobooks

booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:42:10 +0000

For the past three years the school site I previously worked at used handheld computers for 5th and 6th grade students. Part of this use included the use of ebooks. Gutenberg offers a wide variety of free downloadable ebooks and the students loved using these, especially with their handhelds. Text could be made larger, color changed, comments could be added. We used Microsoft Reader a free download to allow students to read the books from their handhelds. At first, we thought this would be hard on the eyes, but it was actually the opposite. It was easier to read and more compact. You could add bookmarks and notes. This is definitely useful when money is tight and books are needed. Many of the classics are available free online. Audiobooks are a must for any library as EL and Special Needs students require a different delivery method. An audiobook is just the thing to allow the students and teachers to match text to sound.

Week 9 – Thing #21

booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:36:27 +0000

I have been subscribing to podcasts for some time. Our church is very high tech and has been podcasting and using a video venue for both on site delivery as well as video download on the web. In addition there are other podcasts available from educational, library sites that will download directory into your reader. I appreciate getting them thru my itunes and then download to my ipod to take with me.

Week 9 – #20 – You Tube

booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:29:47 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j70KLWg0nZo

I love this video and use it quite often to share the changes happening daily minute by minute. Injecting video is a great hook for students and definitely stimulates independent learning. However, if you are in a district without a lot of bandwidth this could be a problem. There are some tools available to download these videos to ipods and then use them with your computers. Definitely another option.

Week 8 – Thing #19

booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 02:07:17 +0000

My Library Thing

I think I might like to do something with this for our sites. Not really sure yet. We have a very antiquated circulation system and I have a great deal of distress trying to unlearn my thinking to make it work. Library Thing might work in the interim until we can purchase a more 21st century circulation tool.

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/kat_albe



Week #8 – Thing 18
booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:49:37 +0000

Week 18 – Thing #18 – Online Productivity Tools

I was familiar with Google Docs and have been using them for quite some time.  It is great to setup a group and collaborate on documents and information.  This year I used this for History Day to have students share documents.  There was no losing thumb drives, papers, computer access, etc.  Zoho is pretty interesting and there is definitely more functionality.  I will be using this to see how it could increase professional and student productivity, as well as school site productivity.




 Technorati Tags     Web,Zoho,2.0

         


Week #7 – #17 – Sandbox
booksrfun — Thu, 01 May 2008 01:25:36 +0000
I loved the Calcurriculum wiki….Great ideas….Teacher librarians really do think outside the box.  I added a post to #5 idea for podcasts….Mine is labeled idea #5a.  I have discussed within my district the possibility of having the video production class at the high school create a video cast of library orientation…It could be specific to each site or district wide.  This video could then be fed to classrooms if the technology is available or played in the library to free up library staff from the mundane duty of parroting the same orientation over and over for a multitude of classes at the elementary level.  There could be one specifically designed for kinders, 1-3, 4-6, 7-8, & high school.  I realize 9th grade orientation should include this activity, but if a new student comes later in their high school career how will they know the library routine.  This video/podcast could facilitate the procedure and be posted online for download to individuals as well.

         


Week #7 – #16 Wiki
booksrfun — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:42:10 +0000
I enjoyed looking through the variety of wikis available for libraries…  I think some of the uses could be book reviews or an wiki on literature circles (only online).  Collaborative research projects could also be used, especially if a school, say in California is studying something about Africa…..They could setup a wiki allowing a school in Africa to collaborate and share info about their country..  I was amazed at the repository of information on library management.  This is exactly what I want to do for our district but am not sure this is the format yet.  The core competencies were great and gave me some more ideas of how to organize and possibly arrange my training for our district.  This is another great way to create learning communities not only for professionals, paraprofessionals, but also for students, and library use.  I will probably begin my use of a wiki for our district paraprofessionals sharing information about our library software…

         


Week 6 – #15 – Future of Library 2.0
booksrfun — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:32:17 +0000
I have to agree with the fact that libraries are poorly staffed and this problem continues to plague schools throughout California…Given this fact how do we adequately train our schools given the limited staffing?  That is exactly the fact I have been pondering as I have continued through this project.  How do I create an environment that will have far reaching effects throughout the district and allow collaboration outside of the district.  There are definitely a variety of tools available.  Now I must decide which to use and begin the collaborative process.  I also believe librarians have always been more of a collaborative bunch, but I cannot say that they are using their skills collaboratively to improve their delivery.  So many are out their creating their own wheels and unless someone asks or begs they may or may not get what they need.  The 2.0 environment allows for the walls to fall and to promote a more open method of delivering, receiving, and sharing information and opinion.
The current method for sharing has been via a librarian’s list serve.  This is useful and a viable alternative. The possibilities of a more far reaching share of resources, when budgets are slashed continually is appealing to all.

         


Week 6 – #14 – Technorati
booksrfun — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 04:21:23 +0000
Technorati seems to be somewhat useful as you search through blogs, but then there still seems to be the sift through a maze of TMI.  Given the nature of an election year this brings out everyone and their need to share their opinion.  I appreciate the searching by authority…giving hopefully a more factual look at things…Students love this stuff!  And I do mean stuff!  The more the better and they love the variety of opinion and the discourse.  This would definitely help in sifting through the maze of blogs to find those topics you really desire to read..I did not join as I would prefer to join when I have our district’s page up, not the one I am using for this assignment.