Thing #23

Wow! Pretty close to the wire, but I finally finished.

My favorite discoveries? Photostory, Picasa, cartoon generators. These are tools that I can and will use regularly! I need to work on the picture clarity on Photostory, but I can make my own music....

Lifelong Learning Goals? Never too Old to Learn. Stop learning and die! This experience was a positive experience for me and gave my self confidence a shot in the arm. I feel very good about the experience of most of the THINGS.

Surprises? It was ALL a surprise. I began without any real knowledge of what web 2.0 was even about....blog, wikki, ning were just words lacking understanding. I at least am comfortable with the vocabulary.

You all are great. I love this site. I would be very interested in a Library2Play.2. I am sure we didn't cover everything! :)

Yes, Yes, Yes! I would like to explore Facebook and My Space. I am not sure what to do with my account.

One word or sentence? Left Behind? Not me!

Thing #22 Nings

Nings are probably not going to ever be one of my favorite things. Social networking requires more time to follow online conversations than I have. I looked a the two school librarian nings and the teacher ning. Listservs may do a better job of initiating conversations than nings. To take the time to go to a ning site on a regular basis and share professional information seems like just too much time wasted.

However, having said this, I can see a lot of potential in developing a family/extended family ning where members of a family can publish their successes and disappointments, share pictures and family stories, and generally keep in touch. Much better than a newsletter. I am going to think about some family and friend applications to this. I am a member of Facebook, but seldom check or update my site. And I have trouble keeping up with all my friends. A ning seems like a more efficient way to go about this.

I am wondering if school communities could use a ning for parents....all students in one class or even in a grade level. Just a thought....

Thing #21 - Audacity and Photostory

Whew! I did it. I downloaded Audacity, found a microphone, sang, recorded, saved, and imported the DEAR song into Photostory. I found pictures that went with the song. Unfortunately they are a bit blury and I am going to have to work on that. I used some of the cartoon images generated earlier as part of the Photostory "story". Going in, I just wasn't sure I could figure it all out and actually do this. All in all, I am rather proud of myself! :) This is a skill that I will use over and over again.

Thing #20 - YouTube, TeacherTube, and Zamzar

From YouTube: This woman is me, my alter ego. Just viewing this segment empowered me and it felt GOOD!



My next choice: The Hollywood Librarian. I had hard all the hype and still haven't seen the movie, but I get excited just thinking about it. Can't wait till it gets to Netflix!



This one really got my attention!




From TeacherTube....I am going to use this to support our DEAR theme with District Secondary Students.

#19 Award List

Soooooo many to explore that it was very hard to choose. I decided to look at Zillow.com. We are building a new home and will eventually sell our current home and move. I wanted to see what tools are available to compare the home we are building with other homes in the same area and to see possible resale value on the one in which we are currently living.

It was very interesting to see the size and comparative value of the houses in our neighborhood. The ariel photography was fun to view as well and it was free. In my home state of Indiana, most of the farms have an ariel photograph taken years ago, framed and hung in a place of honor. These are now free or at least could be.

I have explored Google Earth. My son returned from his honeymoon with all of his pictures connected to Google Earth. Click on the picture and get a visual satellite picture of the exact place it was taken. He can track his entire honeymoon and remember where they were and what they were doing when the picture was taken.

Fun! Fun! Fun! I looked at Backpack as well. Families could use it to keep track of each other's schedules. Always a problem for us. I look forward to sharing soccer games, school programs, open houses, and other grandchildren activities on the calendar. And it is free! Ten years ago I couldn't even have imagined that we could share our lives so easily.

#18 Google Docs

I am fairly familiar with both Google docs and Open Office. My husband uses Open Office and Firefox for everything. Google docs was the topic of a workshop I took in March at the Texas Distance Learning Conference. I was so excited, I went back to the office and began promoting the service.

We haven't used it yet, but I have made plans. I chair and serve on several committees that will use Google docs to complete a final product - one of them is an RFP for library management software. We also need to update our job descriptions and evaluation instruments.

I was really pleased with the templates. I can see using them in the classroom for students to use individually or in groups. They are ways to get students focused on being "professional" and developing a good image for future employers.

I loved the wedding album template. It's not too late to post more of my son's wedding pictures! Can't wait to use the baby book template! :)

#17 Rollyo

Very interesting. I read the info, watched the video, and explored the site. I created a "roll" of my own favorite research sites - My Personal Reference Desk. However, I wasn't able to save the Rollyo site to my Del.cio.us, because I am at a different computer and have to validate via email. It has been over an hour and the email has not come.

I also tried emailing a link to myself and tried to link to my search roll. I got this error message: Doh!
We can't find the page you're looking for. If you think it's around here somewhere and you're getting this when you shouldn't be getting this, drop us a line and we'll try to get to the bottom of it.

I was also unable to drag the RollBar to my bookmark bar.

On the whole, Rollyo was a frustrating experience. It does have a lot of potential.....just got to work the bugs out.