Week 8, Thing 19

I created an account and think this would be an easy way to list new additions to the library as part of the book corner section of my school web page. It has been hard in the past to keep up with new books. I have tried to get students to do book reviews and have quite a few from last year but this seems like an easy approach that might get more participation.

Week 8, Thing 18

Zoho writer seems like a great application for students who are using their email right now and having documents transferred to school to work on them. Just today we had a student who wanted to transfer an assignment from her laptop and print it on our printer. If she had written the work in this program it would have been very easy. As it was, we eventually used a flash drive to download her work from her laptop, then upload it to our computer, and finally print it out. It would have been much easier with Zoho writer.

Week 7, Thing 17

My school uses a program called Moodle that is essentially a wiki. Teachers post information from the days' class, list homework, and have students leave comments in regard to the lesson. The science department has been very proactive in promoting the technology but all departments make some use of it. It is a private wiki with passwords that prevent others from viewing it. I have mentioned to a few English department teachers that some schools are encouraging comments from students studying the same books in different schools to set up a joint wiki that we may look into in the future. Doug Achterman's session on wikis at the CSLA conference had some ideas of how to use it in the library.

Week 6, Things 13-15

Reading about Library 2.0 on Wikipedia emphasizes how challenging it is to keep up with constantly changing technology. The aspect that struck me very strongly was that beta is forever.

I have really enjoyed del.icio.us bookmarking, especially the feature of grouping recently visited websites so it is easy to navigate among them. Discussing Internet innovations with teachers and students reveal that few of them know about more than social networking.

In the future if libraries are able to incorporate this aspect into the informational services there should be a very viable place for the library.

Week 5, Thing 11

Today I tried out Library Thing and catalogued a few books. It was fun to read other peoples reactions to some of my favorite books. It also would be a good way to remember the latest books I have read for book talks.

Week 5, Thing 10

Week 3, Thing 8

I attended the CSLA Southern Section workshop on Saturday and heard two presentations. One was on Web 2.o, featuring Janet Hasbruck and Marie Slim. The other was by Deb Stanley on research skills. Both presentations were well done, filled with practical advice and lots of ideas. The organizers deserve praise for arranging a beautiful sight, great food, nice prizes, and a smooth, well run day!

On Tuesday there was another workshop sponsored by Technology and Learning, displaying technology for language arts, science, and math. Underwritten by HP and Intel, the day featured hands on experience of many of the latest tools for the classroom (and library). Each session had two presenters who demonstrated their products and gave us a chance to try out the tools as students (it looked easier than it was but still a lot of fun).