Woo-hoo!!!! I finally made it to the end after a year or so.
Creative Commons attribution "Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by Helene Blowers. Content and style for School Library Learning 2.0 and Classroom Learning 2.0 have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a Creative Commons License."
I love this quote from the Creative Commons license (For some reason, I can't get italics turned off here.) - " This is a human-readable summary of the Legal Code (the full license)." Always good to have a little sense of humor.
When I looked at the Creative Commons License page, it said a new one was available. I looked at it and compared it to the old one but couldn't find any differences. Hmm.
Great resources for copyright issues. I'll use these when I create an inservice for teachers in the fall on Fair Use.
Thoughts on the course:
GREAT stuff! Even though I'm pretty technology literate, I was exposed to many things here I wasn't aware of. I love the diversity of it and the curriculum connections. As a colleague would say, it's a drink from a firehose so it's all a bit overwhelming but the curriculum connections really help to make it real.
As always, in exploring to complete lessons, I ran across many other items of interest that spurred thoughts and new knowledge. The trick will be to somehow get started and use some of the tools.
Like others, I'm frustrated that many tools are blocked by the district but that really just means that I and others needs to make valid educational arguments for why they should be allowed.
I would most certainly take other courses if they were offered. This has been a lot of work and taken a lot of time but it certainly has been well worth it.
A couple of suggestions.... make all the links open in new windows. I found myself often having to reopen the course windows because I'd lost it many screens back. It would also be helpful if people blogs who are currently working on the course are listed in a different place than people who have completed the course. (Actually, that may be the case but many of the blogs I looked at hadn't had entries in many months so it made it hard to find people who were currently working on the course.)
My one word to describe the course (as I'm sure others has been) is "Wow!".
Thanks for the opportunity and the encouragement and thanks for been tireless promoters, both here and in CALIB and at conferences. You really make a difference!
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Week 9, Thing 22
Sigh. I had this whole post written and then the software from the British Library wacked my computer.
I've been looking at ebooks and audiobooks for about 6 months now, trying to develop some kind of strategy for introducing them at school (middle school). I have a few books on CD but they're just so "old school"!
I've found issues with both formats although the issues are a bit different.
Audiobooks - I'd like to use mp3's for these. The issue is the players, both buying them and then making sure they don't get others things put on them or have the book erased. I know Playaways might be a good solution for this but they're so gosh darn expense and of course, in this critical fiscal year I have no funds. The nice thing about putting them on CD is that you don't have the issue with circulation that you might with just an mp3 file since you can own 1 copy and have it on a specific device. I've looked at (and used) audiobooks from netlibrary and plan to talk with them about what a public school library solution costs. This seems like a great area for outsourcing to a vendor like them but I suspect it's pretty costly.
Ebooks are my other area of interest - particularly fiction ebooks since I do have access to several electronic databases which gives me access to a lot of non-fiction sources. The big issue here is the device to read them on. I can make them available on the laptops at school but that limits students to reading at school only which isn't the best solution. Some have pc's at home but certainly not most. Ebook readers are expensive which makes it a difficult solution for now. There's also the big issue with complying with copyright restrictions. I read recently that Follett has fiction ebooks available the can be managed through Destiny. This sounds like a good potential solution for the circulation issues (although it sounds like there are some glitches with this) but it doesn't solve the device issue.
I've looked at a lot of the free ebook sites and although there's a lot available, they're almost all old due to copyright issues. Although there are great classics out there, these aren't the kind of books that kids are looking for and many are just too difficult for our students to read. There are some great resources like the original Alice text that they would find "curious"! and access to the Mozart mp3 files is great, I still don't think this is what will grab students who love Stephanie Meyer. I do like the fact that it will read the text to the students, however. This certainly makes it more accessible.
Fortunately, the head tech person for the district is very much behind the idea of electronic resources so I'll have an advocate for the project.
I've been looking at ebooks and audiobooks for about 6 months now, trying to develop some kind of strategy for introducing them at school (middle school). I have a few books on CD but they're just so "old school"!
I've found issues with both formats although the issues are a bit different.
Audiobooks - I'd like to use mp3's for these. The issue is the players, both buying them and then making sure they don't get others things put on them or have the book erased. I know Playaways might be a good solution for this but they're so gosh darn expense and of course, in this critical fiscal year I have no funds. The nice thing about putting them on CD is that you don't have the issue with circulation that you might with just an mp3 file since you can own 1 copy and have it on a specific device. I've looked at (and used) audiobooks from netlibrary and plan to talk with them about what a public school library solution costs. This seems like a great area for outsourcing to a vendor like them but I suspect it's pretty costly.
Ebooks are my other area of interest - particularly fiction ebooks since I do have access to several electronic databases which gives me access to a lot of non-fiction sources. The big issue here is the device to read them on. I can make them available on the laptops at school but that limits students to reading at school only which isn't the best solution. Some have pc's at home but certainly not most. Ebook readers are expensive which makes it a difficult solution for now. There's also the big issue with complying with copyright restrictions. I read recently that Follett has fiction ebooks available the can be managed through Destiny. This sounds like a good potential solution for the circulation issues (although it sounds like there are some glitches with this) but it doesn't solve the device issue.
I've looked at a lot of the free ebook sites and although there's a lot available, they're almost all old due to copyright issues. Although there are great classics out there, these aren't the kind of books that kids are looking for and many are just too difficult for our students to read. There are some great resources like the original Alice text that they would find "curious"! and access to the Mozart mp3 files is great, I still don't think this is what will grab students who love Stephanie Meyer. I do like the fact that it will read the text to the students, however. This certainly makes it more accessible.
Fortunately, the head tech person for the district is very much behind the idea of electronic resources so I'll have an advocate for the project.
Week 9, Thing 21
I read through one of the tutorials listed at the bottom of the "thing" that has some good information in it about how to get started so I thought I'd put the URL here.
http://forevergeek.com/geek_resources/beginners_guide_to_podcasts_and_podcasting_plus_how_to_create_a_basic_podcast_of_your_own.php
There's a good timing outline for a script here for people just getting started.
Since we use Mac laptops at school, the kids have access to iTunes so I thought I'd do some research there. I looked under Podcasts/Categories/Kids and Family and found several Disney ones. This got my attention right away since I'm a BIG Disneyland fan. I chose the first one about Disneyland and quickly discovered that just 1 episode is 192M! I guess that's what you get with 18 minutes of video. Much as this topic interests me, I can't see spending a couple hours for the video to download. I think I'll try finding a shorter one or one that is audio only.
In looking at some of the others, I saw that one of the "official" Disneyland ones rated the content as "clean". That's certainly helpful! I found one there that was still video but much shorter so I'll download it.
It bugs me that you can't listen to them (preview) before downloading (at least I didn't find a way). I thought that was a pretty standard feature with iTunes. How do I know if I want to describe or download it without hearing a sample?
Ok. I downloaded a quick Jonas Brothers podcast. (Just found out about them when visiting with my niece and nephew). It was an interesting blurb. Mostly just a message to fans who don't have microphones to tell them to go to the website to leave their shoutouts. Interesting use of podcast. I don't think i want to subscribe to them, though.
Ah! Found one. Nancy Keane's booktalks. Finding that one led me to SLJ Booktalks and Horn Book Booktalks. Gotta love those "you might also likes...". (I subscribed to this one. In the meantime, the other 2 I was downloaded an episode from disappearing from the downloading screen. Ah.... technology.
Now I'm confused. I subscribed and it looks like I can listen to them in iTunes but can I get them anywhere else? Is the subscribe for this different than an RSS feed for blogs? I guess so. (Ok - I found a feed for Nancy Keene's booktalks on the Educational Podcast Network that allows me to set up an RSS feed to my Google Reader. I guess the answer to my question is that iTunes, as always, relies on proprietary solutions.)
I think I could use the booktalks for school. I can download the ones that I have books for, then put them on my school website for kids to use when looking for books. I think this will appeal to them since so many of them love to use the computers. The only downside is that they'll have to get the actual book if they want to read it. I guess I need to go on to the next "thing" to see about getting ebooks so they can read on the computer.
(As a side note, I intend to have my Library Tech students do podcasts this year for book reviews. I think I'll start simple with audio only, then have them do one with video. We've done some like these at my school using iMovie and Garageband and the tech teacher has instructions so that should be half the battle.)
Although audio isn't my medium of choice, I do see the value for students who have difficulties reading as well as students who have become so comfortable with iPods and all things audio. I'll look around for some other feeds that might be useful to put on the library website to give the kids something useful to do when they have "free time" on the computers.
http://forevergeek.com/geek_resources/beginners_guide_to_podcasts_and_podcasting_plus_how_to_create_a_basic_podcast_of_your_own.php
There's a good timing outline for a script here for people just getting started.
Since we use Mac laptops at school, the kids have access to iTunes so I thought I'd do some research there. I looked under Podcasts/Categories/Kids and Family and found several Disney ones. This got my attention right away since I'm a BIG Disneyland fan. I chose the first one about Disneyland and quickly discovered that just 1 episode is 192M! I guess that's what you get with 18 minutes of video. Much as this topic interests me, I can't see spending a couple hours for the video to download. I think I'll try finding a shorter one or one that is audio only.
In looking at some of the others, I saw that one of the "official" Disneyland ones rated the content as "clean". That's certainly helpful! I found one there that was still video but much shorter so I'll download it.
It bugs me that you can't listen to them (preview) before downloading (at least I didn't find a way). I thought that was a pretty standard feature with iTunes. How do I know if I want to describe or download it without hearing a sample?
Ok. I downloaded a quick Jonas Brothers podcast. (Just found out about them when visiting with my niece and nephew). It was an interesting blurb. Mostly just a message to fans who don't have microphones to tell them to go to the website to leave their shoutouts. Interesting use of podcast. I don't think i want to subscribe to them, though.
Ah! Found one. Nancy Keane's booktalks. Finding that one led me to SLJ Booktalks and Horn Book Booktalks. Gotta love those "you might also likes...". (I subscribed to this one. In the meantime, the other 2 I was downloaded an episode from disappearing from the downloading screen. Ah.... technology.
Now I'm confused. I subscribed and it looks like I can listen to them in iTunes but can I get them anywhere else? Is the subscribe for this different than an RSS feed for blogs? I guess so. (Ok - I found a feed for Nancy Keene's booktalks on the Educational Podcast Network that allows me to set up an RSS feed to my Google Reader. I guess the answer to my question is that iTunes, as always, relies on proprietary solutions.)
I think I could use the booktalks for school. I can download the ones that I have books for, then put them on my school website for kids to use when looking for books. I think this will appeal to them since so many of them love to use the computers. The only downside is that they'll have to get the actual book if they want to read it. I guess I need to go on to the next "thing" to see about getting ebooks so they can read on the computer.
(As a side note, I intend to have my Library Tech students do podcasts this year for book reviews. I think I'll start simple with audio only, then have them do one with video. We've done some like these at my school using iMovie and Garageband and the tech teacher has instructions so that should be half the battle.)
Although audio isn't my medium of choice, I do see the value for students who have difficulties reading as well as students who have become so comfortable with iPods and all things audio. I'll look around for some other feeds that might be useful to put on the library website to give the kids something useful to do when they have "free time" on the computers.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Week 9, Thing 20
Here's a video about Diigo - an online research tool that combines social networking and note-taking. Looks pretty cool. Although I haven't explored it yet other than watching the video, it looks like a great way to create a cooperative research project for students.
Even using the Help on the site, it took me a while to find the code to embed this in my blog. Just another example of how quickly technology changes and how important it is to teach kids how to figure stuff out, not necessarily how to use it exactly.
I find that streaming video loads pretty slowly at home, even though I have a DSL connection. My husband taught me that if I start it then hit Pause, I can wait until it's downloaded to play to avoid the stuttering. Smart boy!
This is another situation that I find overwhelming. I'm amazed that people follow this (YouTube). At the risk of sounding like an old fogey... where do they find the time?
I've looked at TeacherTube before and am generally much more impressed with it for use in schools. At least you don't have to be too worried about what kids will run into there. And much of the content is curriculum-related. And our district doesn't block it! I like the book reviews that have been done on it. Since we're getting a pod server next year, I'll likely have students put their videos on an internal server but I will certainly have students look at this site for models.
Even using the Help on the site, it took me a while to find the code to embed this in my blog. Just another example of how quickly technology changes and how important it is to teach kids how to figure stuff out, not necessarily how to use it exactly.
I find that streaming video loads pretty slowly at home, even though I have a DSL connection. My husband taught me that if I start it then hit Pause, I can wait until it's downloaded to play to avoid the stuttering. Smart boy!
This is another situation that I find overwhelming. I'm amazed that people follow this (YouTube). At the risk of sounding like an old fogey... where do they find the time?
I've looked at TeacherTube before and am generally much more impressed with it for use in schools. At least you don't have to be too worried about what kids will run into there. And much of the content is curriculum-related. And our district doesn't block it! I like the book reviews that have been done on it. Since we're getting a pod server next year, I'll likely have students put their videos on an internal server but I will certainly have students look at this site for models.
Week 8, Thing 19
Got an account at LibraryThing and added the books I've reviewed so far this summer for school. Create a widget. Here it is. Let's see if it works.
Other things - I looked at the LibraryThing for Libraries with the examples. I clicked on 4 or 5 of them and couldn't figure out for any of them where LibraryThing was being used. Maybe I just missed something.
I liked being able to load my books in since I was keeping them on a spreadsheet anyway. I'm wondering if you can keep private reviews on the books which I'd like to do. In the edit section, I saw something about comments but need to look at it further.
(Ok. Published post and the widget showed up. Yippee! But I notice that the textbox I added in my last post is creeping around on the blog and not staying in its original location. I also just noticed that the picture I put in Zoho got cut off on the right in addition to taking forever to load and the emoticon I put in not only disappear but so did the text that was originally there. Ah, technology)
I put 15 books in. All of them had other readers, ranging from 1 other to 562 others. Several had user reviews.
Still thinking about how I could integrate this into my school library. Because all books in the library have to go through a review process, I'm a bit nervous about opening up something that has no "age appropriateness" restraints on it. Although I personally think kids will read what they want and self-censor if it's not right for them, I'm not sure about defending some of the recommendations to parents. Perhaps because it's a 3rd party site and I don't have the books in the school library, I don't need to worry as much about it.
Ah! Just found a space in the book edit section for private comments. Looks like that's where I could keep my things. Another question - can you set it up to only make this information available to "friends"? It would be useful to set up a network of district librarians with access to comments about books that weren't necessarily available to others (including students).
Looks like "groups" might be the place to do this. You can set up a group that only specific people can access. Something to look into.
More good stuff.
Other things - I looked at the LibraryThing for Libraries with the examples. I clicked on 4 or 5 of them and couldn't figure out for any of them where LibraryThing was being used. Maybe I just missed something.
I liked being able to load my books in since I was keeping them on a spreadsheet anyway. I'm wondering if you can keep private reviews on the books which I'd like to do. In the edit section, I saw something about comments but need to look at it further.
(Ok. Published post and the widget showed up. Yippee! But I notice that the textbox I added in my last post is creeping around on the blog and not staying in its original location. I also just noticed that the picture I put in Zoho got cut off on the right in addition to taking forever to load and the emoticon I put in not only disappear but so did the text that was originally there. Ah, technology)
I put 15 books in. All of them had other readers, ranging from 1 other to 562 others. Several had user reviews.
Still thinking about how I could integrate this into my school library. Because all books in the library have to go through a review process, I'm a bit nervous about opening up something that has no "age appropriateness" restraints on it. Although I personally think kids will read what they want and self-censor if it's not right for them, I'm not sure about defending some of the recommendations to parents. Perhaps because it's a 3rd party site and I don't have the books in the school library, I don't need to worry as much about it.
Ah! Just found a space in the book edit section for private comments. Looks like that's where I could keep my things. Another question - can you set it up to only make this information available to "friends"? It would be useful to set up a network of district librarians with access to comments about books that weren't necessarily available to others (including students).
Looks like "groups" might be the place to do this. You can set up a group that only specific people can access. Something to look into.
More good stuff.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Week 8, Thing 18
This is my simple document on Zoho. So far, it seems very similar to Googledocs which I've used before. I see that they have templates available on this screen. I'm not sure Googledocs has that. Just clicked on it and found out there aren't any template there.
Looked through icons and found that this has equation editor. I don't know if Google has that or no but it seems pretty sophisticated.
Zoho Website (Note: This "surprised" was supposed to be an emoticon. It didn't translate over in the publishing)
(Note: Shrink to fit was selected but the picture wasn't reduced significantly in size since it still takes a very long time to load.)
I don't see a spreadsheet or presentation document application. Oops. My bad. Just found them under "Switch to" along with bunches of other document types. Clicked on Zoho Show. Seems to be a whole different application. Interesting. This seems to be a very robust application.
Looked through icons and found that this has equation editor. I don't know if Google has that or no but it seems pretty sophisticated.
Zoho Website (Note: This "surprised" was supposed to be an emoticon. It didn't translate over in the publishing)
| Example of a table | Cell 1 | Cell 2 |
| Line 1 | Tommy | Bathsheba |
(Note: Shrink to fit was selected but the picture wasn't reduced significantly in size since it still takes a very long time to load.)
I don't see a spreadsheet or presentation document application. Oops. My bad. Just found them under "Switch to" along with bunches of other document types. Clicked on Zoho Show. Seems to be a whole different application. Interesting. This seems to be a very robust application.
Just added this to check out what the Layers icon did. This seems pretty sophisticated also. A texbox, basically. I couldn't find a way to make the background of the box transparent like I wanted it to (just discovered that when it's deslected, it is transparent)
and moving the box around crashed Firefox.
and moving the box around crashed Firefox.
Week 7, Thing 17
Idea #7: Students can create an avatar for a character in a book. They would need to explain (on their character's blog?) why the avatar looks as they do. Great one! I'll suggest it to LA teachers. I bet they're impressed! Thanks for making me look like a hero.
Trading cards - great idea about using this for 6th grade god and goddess reports. I'll either suggest it to the history teachers or just help some kids to create them in the library and develop interest subversively!
Using LibraryThing with a blog to keep the list of approved books. Good idea. I'm not sure how helpful the blog is since it appears you can keep the same information on librarything. I guess part of the helpful aspect would be for books that aren't picked. It would be great to have both district librarian reviews for approved books as well as professional reviews for use in collection development and possibly also in marketing to kids.
www.fodey.com Way cool! Have Library Techs (or other kids) create newspaper snippets. They look great and would be a fun way for kids to respond to something.
www.dumpr.net How fun. A website that will add various effects to your photos. I'm always looking for fun sites that kids can go to on their own time that still have some academic connection. This looks like one.
fastr tag game Looks like lots of fun and a good way to help kids understand tags and search terms and how subjective they can be. Unfortunately, I think this is one that I won't be able to use since Flickr is blocked at school.
WIKI page. (Extra credit geek points if you can add to the this list using the form Idea#_: in bold Format Normal, Font Arial, Size small then your idea Format Normal, Font Arial, Size small) I LOVE THIS! What a great way to try and keep things organized without coming off heavy-handed or controlling. 1000 extra credit geek points to whoever thought this up!
Idea #2 for history class. One of our 7th grade teachers has students do a biography. Several students study the same person. It would be fun to have them compile notes this way, then have each student write his/her own paper. How do you make sure each student contributes for grading purposes?
Wiki - Use a wiki to post minutes and other info from the district library association so members can see what's going on.
Idea 5. Instead of a presidents paper report, or an explorer's paper report, have you class create a NING with the students representing their president, explorer, etc. in a social network. Students could add pictures, comment one another etc... Good idea for 8th grade history. This is right up one teacher's alley.
IDEA 9 - LibraryThing is a great tool for students, too. It could be introduced to students in the beginning of a year and could be set up with categories of books read -- course-related, entertainment, extra-curricular (or a better sounding name.) Over the years, each student will see how much they've read/grown, what their friends have read, and so on. Lots of possibilities. This could become a school literacy strategy. ANOTHER GOOD IDEA TO TRY WITH LA TEACHERS. If they're not on board, try it with library regulars.
Gosh. There are just so many good ideas. As is the case with so many other things in life, sometimes you just have to get started and use one rather than spend the rest of your life evaluating which one might be the very best idea.
Trading cards - great idea about using this for 6th grade god and goddess reports. I'll either suggest it to the history teachers or just help some kids to create them in the library and develop interest subversively!
Using LibraryThing with a blog to keep the list of approved books. Good idea. I'm not sure how helpful the blog is since it appears you can keep the same information on librarything. I guess part of the helpful aspect would be for books that aren't picked. It would be great to have both district librarian reviews for approved books as well as professional reviews for use in collection development and possibly also in marketing to kids.
www.fodey.com Way cool! Have Library Techs (or other kids) create newspaper snippets. They look great and would be a fun way for kids to respond to something.
www.dumpr.net How fun. A website that will add various effects to your photos. I'm always looking for fun sites that kids can go to on their own time that still have some academic connection. This looks like one.
fastr tag game Looks like lots of fun and a good way to help kids understand tags and search terms and how subjective they can be. Unfortunately, I think this is one that I won't be able to use since Flickr is blocked at school.
WIKI page. (Extra credit geek points if you can add to the this list using the form Idea#_: in bold Format Normal, Font Arial, Size small then your idea Format Normal, Font Arial, Size small) I LOVE THIS! What a great way to try and keep things organized without coming off heavy-handed or controlling. 1000 extra credit geek points to whoever thought this up!
Idea #2 for history class. One of our 7th grade teachers has students do a biography. Several students study the same person. It would be fun to have them compile notes this way, then have each student write his/her own paper. How do you make sure each student contributes for grading purposes?
Wiki - Use a wiki to post minutes and other info from the district library association so members can see what's going on.
Idea 5. Instead of a presidents paper report, or an explorer's paper report, have you class create a NING with the students representing their president, explorer, etc. in a social network. Students could add pictures, comment one another etc... Good idea for 8th grade history. This is right up one teacher's alley.
IDEA 9 - LibraryThing is a great tool for students, too. It could be introduced to students in the beginning of a year and could be set up with categories of books read -- course-related, entertainment, extra-curricular (or a better sounding name.) Over the years, each student will see how much they've read/grown, what their friends have read, and so on. Lots of possibilities. This could become a school literacy strategy. ANOTHER GOOD IDEA TO TRY WITH LA TEACHERS. If they're not on board, try it with library regulars.
Gosh. There are just so many good ideas. As is the case with so many other things in life, sometimes you just have to get started and use one rather than spend the rest of your life evaluating which one might be the very best idea.
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