Thing #23 Summarize Your Thoughts about This Program

Well, I made it! Here are my thoughts:

1. Favorites - Delicious, flickr, blogging in general, & how to comment on a blog.

2. Assisted in learning goals - I no longer "browse" the web. I now "work" the web and there is a difference!

3. Take aways - I really understand the paths for these activities. No longer does my mind wonder when others talk about internet activities. Rather, I now listen and come away with new ideas.

4. Improvement suggestion - More screen pages showing step by step similar to the one found at the end of Thing 21.

5. Participate again? - Yes, after I am out of graduate school.

6. One word - Inspiring!

The program is so well done. Great job. Thank you!

Thing #22: Nings

Both Teacher Librarian Ning and Texas School Librarian Ning are keepers. The Hot Dog Book Reviews are cute as can be. I need to try that one before school starts. The groups were especially interesting. Under the Collaboration group, there was a discussion on Flexible scheduling that I plan to go back and read more closely. The Elementary School Librarian group offered a section for new librarians where any and all questions were answered by experienced librarians. What a great resource for new ideas and just general questions!

The funny thing is I just went to Teacher Librarian Ning on Wednesday of this week and wondered what it was. Now, I know!

Thing #21: Podcasts and Videocasts

Creating a podcast was simple. Figuring out how to make it work on my blog was a whole different story. NOTE: Podcast does not play on "compose" screen but does on blog page. Can not tell you how many hours and how many attempts I made before figuring this one out! I had it right all along...just didn't realize it.

On a positive note, this would be a fun way for kids to tell about their favorite book. Simple to actually do. Photostory really walks you through it.

Thing #20: YouTube, TeacherTube and Zamzar

As I was doing research for the final, I stumbled across this video on YouTube called "What does a librarian do?" If this is what students really think a librarian does, we need to do a better job educating!

Now that I know how, embedding this video is super simple. Teacher Tube has a wide array of videos that are very helpful in the classroom. However, keep track of the URL on Delicious of your favorite ones. It can be very difficult finding that just right one at a later date. I know that one from experience!

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Thing #19: Web 2.0 Awards List

As I looked through the Web 2.0 awards, I noticed Picnik that worked with photos. Most educators are always on the lookout for new and different ways to display what is going on in the classroom and library. Picnik is a great site to quickly create collages which showcase many pictures at once. It was very user friendly. I can easily see using this site to share Open House night or First Day of School photos. I made a quick one to share pictures of my son and e-mailed them to my family. This site is a keeper!

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

To say it as some of the teenagers I know do, Google Docs rocks! It is perfect for group projects. For our final, three of us are putting together a PowerPoint. Without Google Docs, we would make changes and email the PowerPoint back and forth to each other. We would have to rename the latest one to avoid confusion which really adds to the confusion. With Goggle Docs, the PowerPoint is in one place. Each of us has access and we can adjust one! How awesome is that! No more multiple copies and mass confusion. We can even add our changes as comments which will put them in different colors from the text. That will highlight changes instead of guessing what was there before. I wish I had known about this at the beginning of the semester.

Thing #17: Rollyo

Rollyo is a very interesting tool that I wished had known about sooner. In just a few minutes, I created a search engine that would allow students to research information about Texas on good websites. In the past, coming up with good information for students on Texas history has been difficult. My experience has been that the online subscription resources do not include specific state information. The video made it especially easy. Here is my Rollyo http://rollyo.com/bennett_p/texas_info_for_students/ which might be especially helpful if you teach 4th grade Texas history. What a great thing to know and use!