Thing # 5 - Microblogging

Thing 5 has sent me into interplanetary orbit for a few days. I am now twittering & set up a facebook account. I have enjoyed participating in both, but I find facebook a little more to my liking & a better fit for things I want to do. I could see having a private/family facebook & one for school. I can see a lot of uses for it - like book clubs, maybe a tech committee group for my school. I am not sure yet if I like having school & family mixed together or better to have two accounts? any thoughts out there?
Again I have heard from teachers that students who are given access to facebook are using it for personal means instead of in an instructional way - so I'm sure they struggle with that line like me.
I like back channeling & really think this is a terrific way to hear from students & get immediate feedback. I want to work with some teachers on this next year. It would be a terrific way to monitor what is going on with the student while they are working on something like group projects, final lab write-up, etc... It could be a fantastic forum for exploding ideas/debate.

Thng #4 - Teacher Tube

I am still a little nervous about broadcasting to the whole wild world. I don't know why? everyone else out there has no issues. I guess I'm just still a private person .. a lot of things that date me I suppose. Not to mention all this registering on sites - they want everything but your blood type.

Anyway I like school tube & think it could be useful for my campus - something to look into next school year.
I see about a million uses for creating video & having students post them on these types of sites. We need to have conversations with our students about privacy issues .. what to display as we teach them about using these tools.

We always have a lot of technical issues as students try to share their work created in multiple formats. Posting to a spot like teacher tube would eradicate all of those types of issues.

I've uploaded a video I made on how to use mp3 players to listen to audio books.
Audio + Books

Shared via AddThis

Thing # 3 - Like Skype

A lot to take in. I think the way we communicate is changing so fast it is overwhelming. Soon landlines will seem like jiffy pop - for those as old as me ;)
There are so many ways classrooms & libraries could make use of these technologies.
Personally, I could see skype conference Book Club meetings over the summer months with my much loved & missed fellow book clubbers - both students and teachers.
We used skype at my school to keep a classroom in touch with their science teacher who had received a grant to study wildlife in another country. Imagine going to a conference or educationally related travel ( is there any other kind?) & being able to share immediately with students. For Libraries I am fascinated with the idea of a skype set up reference area. Students could perhaps talk face to face with other students in the country they are studying for their social studies course. 1st person interviews - talk about Primary Sources!!

Thing #2 - Wordle/Glogster/Voki/Bookr

Wordle - I think this is a great tool for introducing a subject like this one .. Library Genres
I could also see uses as a precurser to creating a game or helping students focus in on main ideas or to set their own main ideas from a reading.
Glogster - this looks like the solution to my hatred of glue sticks in the Library! This is very exciting. I can see some differences from a typical poster on paper assignment & this one. Registering the students & getting them all logins is one dilemma .. but once that is accomplished then other than a slight change in a visual on the computer vs. a visual poster sized .. I think it is an awesome tool. Looks to me that this tool should allow creativity & not skimp on content.
Voki - now I had to go & figure out my password. I've always LOVED this tool .. & this made me revisit it .. & create one for this blog which I hope to turn into one for our student library patrons in the fall.

Get a Voki now!


BookR - Wow .. I like this! Could be used instead of PPT, photostory, etc..
I know my reading specialists are going to go crazy. They like to have students create newsletters, etc & this is so much better.

Thing #1 - Inspiration/Registration

This video, "the networked student" is just OK in my opinion. I understand they are trying to make a point with the simplicity of it - cut outs & so forth, but for some reason I find the format . well . not techie enough to grab one's attention.
I think our students could make a go at these types of video .. however with the PC video, editing, sound have created some issues on my campus. I'm hoping with some of our new Macs there will be easier video creating software which I hope to explore with students next year. I want to see my students TEACH my teachers how easy it is to make video. I like the fact that the student voice narrates this video & the teacher is like his helper. I think that is our spot - librarians/teachers are there to help students out when they come into a glitch of some sort. Sometimes, I think of myself as the magician's assistant - you know in the old magic acts - I am pulling out s-video, adapters, VGA, USB & handing them over to the students who are plugging & huffing & then VOILA - MAGIC! I've been doing that all year. This year a few of my teachers let students create media with whatever device they had available to them. This meant they brought some home laptops, cameras, iPods etc with their media on them & we did run into some snafus with converting - hooking their laptops up to the teacher projector etc.. But, alas .. I do digress ...