Wiki - Edits

It is very easy to edit a wiki. I have just edited the Nebraska Learns 2.0 wiki. It is very easy to do. My service unit utilized a wiki when the area media specialists were creating curriculum. The only problem I had was printing from the wiki in a form that my administrators could take to the board for approval.

Wiki's

I have found that public libraries have a wide variety of uses for wiki's. I am in a K-12 library, thus, I have a smaller patron base. I have attempted to use a wiki for a sixth grade research project. The project may have been to restricted to reap the benefits of a wiki. I am anxious to revamp my research project to utilize a wiki better, thus, have the students collaborate better.

I also like the idea from Beyond the Margin to use a wiki for an employee manual. Not only would it be easy to locate, but the employees could edit the manual to be more meaningful as time changes.

Library 2.0

Library 2.0 is many things. Most importantly it is creating a fluid state that meets the needs of all patrons. As a K-12 school librarian, I find myself wondering if I need to spend such a large chunk of my budget on nonfiction books in the high school library. Students, digital natives, would prefer to research on the web instead of reading a book. Would my $ be better spent on databases?

Network lockdown and internet filters are another issue with moving towards library 2.0. Students are used to using the internet in a way that fits their style of learning at home; then they come to school and discover that they can not access most of their sites.

Google Docs

I just discovered that you can create surveys within Google Docs. Thanks to Chris Pultz and his article "Surveys, Google Style" in the November copy of NETA News. I am embedding the code. I would love to see how the results look so if anyone out there would like to fill it out. Please Do!! It does not even have to be true information. I will post back what the results look like. Thank you in advance!

Student Animations

Here are a couple student animations that were done in PowerPoint. The rest are posted at http://www.slideshare.net/vbeck22/slideshows

Show Mc

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: fpswarrior)

Npt3

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: fpswarrior)

Slideshare

This PowerPoint is from SlideShare.net. It is not from one of my students. However, I like it as an example. I will be having students do a similar project after school on Thursday. I will post some of the student's work to SlideShare on Friday. I will tag them FPSHAL.

Animation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own.

Delicious

I did not have to create a Delicious account. I already have 2. One for home and one for school. My school account is at: vbeck22 I have added some bundles. At this point I am trying to decide how I want to tag and bundle. I have even considered multiple accounts for various grade levels. I have decided that the multiple accounts would be to difficult to maintain.

Twitter

Yesterday I created my twitter account and was looking around. I went to twitter's blog link. I thought I recognized someone in a photo. Sure enough. A co-founder of twitter is originally from Nebraska. He is also a co-founder of blogger. My parents and his parents used to run in the same circle. I drive by his dad's house often.

Second go at LibraryThing

If you scroll down you will see that the book list on the right was my second try at it. I have added the cover to "Luck", reformatted the list, and limited it to just 0809 Primary Nominees. I will at some point take the original off. I just thought that there may be someone interested in seeing what you can do with LibraryThing.

LibraryThing

Today I created a LibraryThing account and created a booklist. I have seen this site before and could not come up with a reason to use it in my K-12 library. Since my library is automated and on the internet, I did not see why I would want to create another list of my library on the internet. Well, I used LibraryThing to create a Golden Sower list of this year's primary nominees. I then created my own gadget and added the bookcovers to my blog. This is amazing. I wasn't sure why there are only 9 books showing. Then I realized that "Luck" didn't have a cover when it was in my LibraryThing account. I will have to see if there is a way of changing that. I will also have to check to see what happens if I add other books to LibraryThing, will I be able to limit my blog to just nominees?

Technology

As I sit here and contemplate what to blog about, I realize why some schools have a technology coordinator. This is different from a lan manager or the techy, keep it running, people. The technology coordinator tries to stay abreast of new technologies and how they can fit into the curriculum. This could be more than a full-time job. Some schools are using their Media Specialists in this role. My "media" interests lie more with the technology side. It would be grand if all school libraries could have 2 Media Specialists. It wouldn't have to be split book/paper vs tech/internet. Just someone else to share in the fun and stress.

Generators

Wow, there are a lot of generators out there. I used a blog header generator to create my header. It just basically crops the picture. But, it was fun to do. Can you pick out the twins in the photo? I am one of them.

Generator can be found at:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/blogheader.php

Thing #9

I did "play" with a number of the Flickr programs. I enjoyed discovering some of the programs out there. I enjoyed Compound Words, even though I had to keep restarting my browser. The only library applications that I see would to assist patrons working on their own web pages and something unique for students to do.

Red Cross

100_0283
Originally uploaded by beckvickie

This is the Red Cross Bear that visited our Kindergarten Classes. Unfortunately, I was not able to be there.

RSS Feeds

I now have 9 feeds into Google Reader and 5 into Bloglines. Only 2 are duplicates. Most of the feeds are from workshops that I have attended. I did use google to find one. I guess I am not going out in search of more. I am afraid that I will use much of my work time just "messing around" on the internet. If I find some thing that is important to me, then I will use the RSS.

IM

Today I had a great IM conversation with Susan. It is great to be able to network with people without leaving my house. I do use IM with in my school. However, I seldom open it up. My job includes teaching, manning the library desk, solving some tech issues, teacher tech training, and creating collaborative projects. I have found that if I have IM on, I feel bad if I am away from my computer and don't respond instantly. What do you think if someone is "online" but then doesn't respond quickly?

Jumping Around

I have found myself jumping around in the "23 Things." But, no matter which I go to there are already several people ahead of me. I have enjoyed figuring out how to use everything. I am creating accounts in every tool suggested. Even though I already use an equivalent website. For example, I already use Google Reader. I am curious to see if I will like Bloglines better. I have found that I do not care for PBWiki. Everytime I explore and try something it tells me that I need to upgrade.

7 ½ Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners

I realize that I do have habits of a lifelong learner as I contemplate the easiest and hardest habits for me. The easiest at this time is Teach and Mentor Others. I currently offer a 20 minutes "Tech Training" once a month to the rest of my school staff. On-time training occurs almost daily as staff and students come to me with questions. The hardest would probably be Habit #1 - Goal Setting. I am by nature a procrastinator. Thus, if I don't set a definite goal and time frame, I don't get worry as the time limit approaches.

Blogging

I just created my blog as part of Nebraska Learns 2.0. I have worked with blogs before. But, I have never set one up for the purpose of my own thoughts and uses. I am excited about trying out blogger. My previous experiences were with edublogs.org.