#17 ELM Producitivity Tools

This is going to take a few attempts, so I am going to run a continuous blog so I remember what I have tried.

Am working on the first assignment. It took me a while because the InfoTrac link on my library's webpage does not go to the pretty yellow screen that shows up in the video. However, I went in through ELM and managed to find it. Will have to get that link changed.

I subscribed to the Youth Smoking info feed, and I will watch it for a while.

As for the second assignment, I have twice created a webpage according to instructions, but am unable to save it anywhere that it opens properly again. I don't think it is worth my time to do it again.

The third assignment was completed successfully, but I'm not sure I could do it again--at least not without explicit instructions. Again I say I hope the 23 Things website stays up for quite a while as I have to go back and do some reviewing before any of this gets internalized.

#16 Student 2.0 Tools

Where were you about 25 years ago? I was the world's most avid procrastinator in college! I think it was because I did not know how to break assignments down into small, do-able tasks. This tool would be very helpful for that.

This year's class of 7th grade social studies students is going to be my most experimented bunch of kids ever. This Research Project Calculator is way too detailed for junior high, but I am going to find some way to use a really condensed version just so they will know this tool is out there. It is unrealistic to expect all students to really follow all the steps, but a few of them will. Even just deciding which steps are practical for us will lead to a better organized assignment.

This is one Thing I will share with my staff and let them decide how best to use it.

#15 Online Games and libraries

For this Thing I joined the Pirates game and learned how to bilge and carpent. I was better at bilging. I did not interact with anyone other than to read what some of the other pirates were saying.

I did learn a little about Teen Second Life, but I have never been a game playing-person. When I was in college, it was all about Dungeons and Dragons. I didn't take part in that, either. Actually, you had to really twist my arm to even get me to play Monopoly or Chutes and Ladders when I was young.

I really have NO feelings about games in libraries. They are not allowed in our school, but that is mostly because of limited funds--our goal is to keep computers running so they are available for curriculum-related assignments. So far, games don't fit that category. I will ask some of my students how much game-playing they do, but I do not see this becoming an issue for me at school.

#14 the Library Thing

I am hoping the link below will get you to my Library Thing.
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/ViViMae

I can see using this for class booklists. It is easy to set up. I'm sure as I get more sophisticated at using it, I could indicate which books belong to which class book list.

As for personal use: I am a great one for reading a book, liking it, and promptly forgetting the title/author. This way I could remember my favorites without really having to remember anything!

#13 Online Productivity Tools

This Thing I am doing just so I can say I did it. I have to say up front that I already have a webpage, and it is taylored to ME. Nothing else will beat it.

But, I used the igoogle webpage creator. It was very easy and really quick. It says it will help you create a webpage in thirty seconds, and it did. I customized it with the choices the google page offered. I will keep it in my favorites, but I am not willing to give up my old webpage.

The main difficulty I encountered is that I do not know how to make this new page link with web places not offered on the igoogle page. Igoogle offers a million choices, but it does not include such things as MNLink or Wabasso Public Library in those choices. I will keep exploring. I did not create my original webpage or I would know more how to do this. I will keep trying.

I did add a "to-do" list to my webpage, and I will try using it for a few days. I have not yet become used to my computer reminding me to do stuff. I am still a hardcopy sticky note user rather than a virtual.

We already have a shared calendar at my school. It is incorporated into our e-mail system, so I do not feel the need to use yet another electronic calendar. However, I have signed up with 30 Boxes. We will see how much I remember to use it. I feel a little overwhelmed because I have signed up for so many new accounts. I have made a special folder in my e-mail for all the new accounts I have. I will try to remember to use them all.

One of the tools that I will remember to try is Zamzar. We often have students who cannot open homework from home on a school computer. We will see how this stacks up against some of the other tools my tech person uses.

#12 Do You Digg?

This has been a very frustrating Thing. First of all, it is not my nature to comment on someone else's work from the anonymity of the internet. When I read an article, I talk about it, but only with people whose opinions I trust. I really don't like just blogging it out there. It is too easy to be misinterpreted, flippant, irresponsible. I just am not of that generation.

But I am doing these Things, so I tried. Over the course of a few days, I visited Digg, Reddit, Newsvine, and Mixx. I went to the Washington Post (and signed up for yet another account that floats around out there!), found a news article that was very library-related and decided I could comment on this. So I punched the SHARE button. Because I liked the looks of it, I tried to sign up for a Newsvine account. Twice. It says it will only take a few seconds, but as far as I know, it is still circling, trying to finish my sign-up. I am enough of a web-user that I can't sit there waiting for very long--I waited for six minutes for my instant sign-up, and then decided to try something other than Newsvine.

I moved on to Reddit. I tried to sign up for an account, but when I type in that mysterious-looking security code, it comes back with "your letters stink." How rude! I typed what I thought I saw. I have used this type of security before and NEVER had a problem.

So I decided to "become a member of the Digg community". They don't want me, either. I was instructed to sign up for yet another account, which I did, and waited for the confirmation e-mail--which I received. However, when I clicked on the verification code, it took me to a page that said "error", and I still cannot share my opinions of my library-related article. I contacted their tech support page, but I am still waiting for them to hand-create my account.

I am really in a bind, here. I tried to share using del.icio.us, but that requires you to add buttons to your toolbar. I am really hesitant to do that. I just got a new computer this year, and I don't put anything on my toolbar without written consent of my techhie person. We have had people really slog up their computers because they innocently activated toolbars and buttons that were nothing but trouble.

AND, I work in a school--I cannot use Facebook because it is blocked here. I do not have a computer at home. When it comes time to do the Facebook Thing (yes, I read ahead), I will have to use the public library computer, but they are not open today.

As for the blog prompts: I can see where you could use these tools to stay current on news. I would imagine you get used to looking for certain commentators and learn which ones you agree with or which ones stimulate your thinking. Today, these tools do not seem like productivity enhancers. They have been one giant waste of my time. And, no, I have never read an item as a result of these tools.

I am hoping that all the HOURS I spent on this will count as accomplishing this THING. I will certainly keep trying to break into the Digg community, as that seems my most likely opportunity, but for now I am finished with this really frustrating THING and I'm moving on!

#11 tagging and del.icio.us

I have explored del.icio.us and pagekeeper, and I have set up my account in pagekeeper. Maybe it appealed because it said no advertising--perhaps I liked it better because the page seemed less frenetic.

This will be handy for me personally because I spend summers using public computers in various libraries. I have always been frustrated because I can find things so easily from my favorites menu on my work computer that I feel quite lost without it.

I will use this tool as a research aide. As a librarian, often I have students searching for a website--running out of time--I will look and "let you know later what I find"--this will make it much easier to share. As a classroom teacher I like the idea of limiting students' research to specific websites. Yes, I will use this. As with everything else, it takes time to get use to it.

I am still working on subscribing to the RSS feed for 23 Things, but I am not leaving until I figure it out. I had trouble with the RSS Thing.

#10 WIKIS

First of all, I could not view the wiki video as for some reason it is blocked at our school. Even so, I think I understand the basic ideas behind wiki. I have visited MANY, but have not yet contributed. I think there is enough info floating around the internet that those of us with nothing to say should just not add to it.

I like the "view random page" button that I find on many wikis. When I just don't know what I am looking for, that's it!

I am interested in the wiki concept for a couple of reasons. First, it eliminates the hard part of having to learn html or whatever language it takes to create a webpage. I always felt I should know how to create a page, but now I have waited long enough, I can skip to the easier stuff. Also, I like the idea of cooperation on the internet. I am going to create a wiki for my social studies class. This will be a first--I will find something that they can write about, and we will see how it goes.

I also like knowing that I can set up a wiki that is not for public editing.

Applications for my school or library: well, one I have noted in a previous paragraph. A second is that I could get really excited about students adding book reviews to the library catalog. That doesn't seem to be available yet, but it should be, and I will watch for it!

I would not ban the Wikipedia as a source for student research--mostly because I use it frequently myself. We are not doing deep research in my 7th grade class. I would, however, be sure that students understand the wiki concept. The Wikipedia would probably not be used as an ONLY source. I really think we need to explore more deeply what young students actually understand about the nature of the internet. I don't know if they get it that just because it's on the net doesn't make it true.

I have not yet edited a wiki. If that changes, I will update this blog. I read everything that was in this Thing #10, and I am hoping that counts for something.

#9 Easy to Collaborate

Okay, so far, so good. I can see lots of uses for this. Students working together on a project jumps to mind. Right now our system is set up so that each student has a folder on the server and no other student will have access to it. Passwords get shared all the time because kids are working on group assignments. This would eliminate that, I would think.

That first paragraph was sent to you through Zoho. It was very easy to create and would have been easy to post, but I have created so many new accounts with this 23 Things that I cannot remember my usernames and passwords, so it took a while.

I would really like to use my 7th grade social studies class as a pilot project. I would like to make an assignment that uses this tool and see what kind of trouble they can create. The first stumbling block is that we do not allow students to access e-mail in school. I will have to get dispensation from someone.

At any rate, this tool was very easy to use for original creation. BUT, I tried editing the historical document, and all I could do was make the print larger or smaller. In both Zoho and Google, I was frustrated trying to do any actual editing.

#8. Share Your Creations

For this THING I used Slideshare. I checked out the other options, but Slideshare struck me immediately as something I could use right now without a lot of tech support. The fact that I could do it all by myself says it is pretty easy to use. I would certainly recommend Slideshare to anyone who has created slideshow presentations. I chose to share some theater sets--mostly because those are pictures I already had and I am still not comfortable putting pictures of me or anyone else on the web. The slide show I posted is located at the bottom of this webpage. It was on the sidebar, but only about 2/3 of each picture would show up. So today I learned to re-arrange my blog page.

Library uses--we could use this to publish instructions. Kids can follow pictures much more quickly than written word instructions. Also, we could highlight events or collections in the library.

Personal uses--sharing pictures is always fun. Also, believe it or not, even digital pictures are already getting old. I have tons of pictures on floppy disks--and already computers are out that do not read the old floppies. This is one way of keeping pictures. I imagine as long as the web holds up, the pictures will be there.

#7. Web 2.0 Communication Tools

I took to e-mail immediately--no training required. I use it every day for professional and personal reasons. Our school sends daily announcements to all staff--a major paper-saver-- and individuals communicate quickly without having to interrupt class. E-mail is great!

We have not used these tools for on-line reference. Quite frankly, I have been disappointed that my staff and students embrace the internet, but they make very little use of specific databases. The whole internet is their preferred reference tool. I have not found the means to combat that.

I am not a text-messager. E-mail is fast enough. My students are not allowed to chat, go to places like FaceBook, or have cell phones during the school day. Teachers are supposed to follow the same rules.

I have attended a couple of webinars. Cannot remember the subject of my first webinar, but certainly this year I have attended most of the webinars concerning the library survey that is coming in April. I love webinars! No driving....generally I get to choose a convenient time....and I have had no trouble with system breakdowns. I would choose a webinar over a live seminar any day. It's the best way to get info to those of us on the introverted side.

#6 On-line image generator

buffalo
Originally uploaded by cham5057

This Flickr is really fun. When I am not so busy doing 23 things, I will come back to it and learn more. I hope the 23 things homepage stays up for a while, because I need it as a prompt to remember where I meant to return to dig deeper.

As to how we can use these tools in the library, graphics make everything more interesting, and this opens up a world of possibilities. I work in a school library, and much of my job is about highlighting specific books, rewarding readers, creating personalized bookmarks......

#5 More Fun With Flickr

My puzzle
Originally uploaded by cham5057

Not very creative, but I puzzled my picture. This could be lots of fun.

#4 Explore Flickr

library desk
Originally uploaded by cham5057

This is my workstation.

As usual, this did not go flawlessly. I swear I went to my GOOGLE account at least six times before - miraculously - the Grant Access button appeared out of nowhere!

I will try this again, just to see if it goes more smoothly.