I love it!! Anything that brings the power of computers to the masses for free. This needs to be plastered on billboards outside every store that sells computers. I hated the fact that Office Suite 2ooowhatever costs hundreds of dollars, when it should be part of the computer.
I also love the fact that on google, I can save stuff online and open it and use it anywhere. Apple has something like that, but it's a subscription service. Now we're getting somewhere. How much could the district have saved if we just went open source?
Monday, July 28, 2008
Thing #17: Rollyo
Alright, I think I got this right. Let me try my link first
http://rollyo.com/robiaa/my_center_left_news/
Hey Hey!! It worked. Excellent. Now I can finally finish this thing.
Liked Rollyo very much. Is it Roll-yo or is Rolly-o? Regardless, this would come in very handy for student research. Teachers could limit and veryify sources so much easier and keep the kids away from all that garbage out there. Is there a Rollyo for images, or is that Flickr? If anyone else out there knows of other news sites that start in the middle or stay in the middle, let me know.
http://rollyo.com/robiaa/my_center_left_news/
Hey Hey!! It worked. Excellent. Now I can finally finish this thing.
Liked Rollyo very much. Is it Roll-yo or is Rolly-o? Regardless, this would come in very handy for student research. Teachers could limit and veryify sources so much easier and keep the kids away from all that garbage out there. Is there a Rollyo for images, or is that Flickr? If anyone else out there knows of other news sites that start in the middle or stay in the middle, let me know.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Thing #16: Wikis
I always wondered what wikipedia meant, now I know. I like the ability to collaborate, but at the same time I don't like giving the power to erase/edit info to people. Like in the sandbox, I accidentally altered the person's post before mine. I didn't change the content just the font and size, but I still felt bad about it.
I can use this many ways, and since I'll be a part-timer, it might be an easy way for me to keep my students up on their reading assignments on the days I'm not on campus. For example, it they could get some computer time during advisory, they could get on our class wiki and update respond to an online journal topic or we could do dialectical journals online. All sorts of possibilities, but they would need to have access, and that is the whole issue with me now.
I can use this many ways, and since I'll be a part-timer, it might be an easy way for me to keep my students up on their reading assignments on the days I'm not on campus. For example, it they could get some computer time during advisory, they could get on our class wiki and update respond to an online journal topic or we could do dialectical journals online. All sorts of possibilities, but they would need to have access, and that is the whole issue with me now.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Thing #15: Library 2.0
I read the suggested reading. The two in the middle were all librarian jargon, so my eyes kind of glazed over, but I did appreciate the first and the fifth, I think the last one was "Ripple Effect".
The idea of Web and Library 2.o is fantastic, but my thoughts kept coming back to the kids of my school who do not even have internet yet. I would say maybe 25% of the kids have computers with internet access. So, our librarian and our teachers will be required to spend time teaching students how to navigate the web. I've noticed in the last two years that my students' collective computer skills have actually gone down. For them to get around in a 2.o world will be even more difficult. It might even turn into some form of technological culture shock where some just shut down and avoid the alien environment all together.
Aside from the Starbuck's, the students of my school would need access to all this wonderful stuff they can't get at home. I really wish the $100 laptop would become a reality, but then with all that access, we would also need some adult supervision and guidance, which is another issue in our neighborhood. Funding is always an issue, but maybe through some creative grant writing and, Heaven forgive me, corporate sponsorship, we could provide the physical tools for our kids to get into the 2.o world. It almost seems like another brick in the wall between our students and economic viability in this world. Almost like institutional racism.
"Well, you need to know how to do all this wonderful stuff on the internet to get this position."
"I don't have a computer to practice all the skills I need. My folks can't afford it."
"Sorry! Next!"
As much as it seems that the internet and all its greatness in the great equalizer giving access to information, there's still a population out there, and in my opinion, a big one, that still does not use or have access to computers on the internet. This is just like the early Christian church.
"The word of God, the Bible, is written Latin. Do YOU speak Latin? No? Sorry, you'll just have to believe what I tell you. Now get back to work."
The Martin Luthers out there (the $1oo laptop people, the free wifi in cities people) always seem to run into problems, don't they? It's no coincidence. Am I getting preachy in my blog?
I think this is where the school steps in. We can promote, provide, and the kids can produce, but we need forward looking people who know how to do all this stuff and apply it in classrooms.
I'm going to put that list in my post and challenge anybody who reads this particular post to cheaply come up with a way to get something on the list.
-A multitude of electronic databases and 23,000 cataloged eBooks
-MP3 players available for patron checkout with a new downloadable audiobook program in place for this fall
-Training on how and when to use Google™ versus other electronic sources
-52 computers on the technology island
-30 wireless laptop computers
-Digital motion and still cameras for student checkout
-Laptops for student checkout
-22 TVs that feature news and weather programs
-Cyber café with food and beverages (including Starbucks® coffee) (We could hire those out of work barristas)
Meetings with faculty each summer to review the library’s offerings
-Teacher-required usage of books, eBooks, ILL materials, databases and other library materials in courses
-Annual collection purchases that focus on selecting the most intriguing titles and materials
-Ariel® document delivery of all journal articles to desktops
I'm fired up! I'm mad as...No, wrong movie. Who's with me? Let's go!
The idea of Web and Library 2.o is fantastic, but my thoughts kept coming back to the kids of my school who do not even have internet yet. I would say maybe 25% of the kids have computers with internet access. So, our librarian and our teachers will be required to spend time teaching students how to navigate the web. I've noticed in the last two years that my students' collective computer skills have actually gone down. For them to get around in a 2.o world will be even more difficult. It might even turn into some form of technological culture shock where some just shut down and avoid the alien environment all together.
Aside from the Starbuck's, the students of my school would need access to all this wonderful stuff they can't get at home. I really wish the $100 laptop would become a reality, but then with all that access, we would also need some adult supervision and guidance, which is another issue in our neighborhood. Funding is always an issue, but maybe through some creative grant writing and, Heaven forgive me, corporate sponsorship, we could provide the physical tools for our kids to get into the 2.o world. It almost seems like another brick in the wall between our students and economic viability in this world. Almost like institutional racism.
"Well, you need to know how to do all this wonderful stuff on the internet to get this position."
"I don't have a computer to practice all the skills I need. My folks can't afford it."
"Sorry! Next!"
As much as it seems that the internet and all its greatness in the great equalizer giving access to information, there's still a population out there, and in my opinion, a big one, that still does not use or have access to computers on the internet. This is just like the early Christian church.
"The word of God, the Bible, is written Latin. Do YOU speak Latin? No? Sorry, you'll just have to believe what I tell you. Now get back to work."
The Martin Luthers out there (the $1oo laptop people, the free wifi in cities people) always seem to run into problems, don't they? It's no coincidence. Am I getting preachy in my blog?
I think this is where the school steps in. We can promote, provide, and the kids can produce, but we need forward looking people who know how to do all this stuff and apply it in classrooms.
I'm going to put that list in my post and challenge anybody who reads this particular post to cheaply come up with a way to get something on the list.
-A multitude of electronic databases and 23,000 cataloged eBooks
-MP3 players available for patron checkout with a new downloadable audiobook program in place for this fall
-Training on how and when to use Google™ versus other electronic sources
-52 computers on the technology island
-30 wireless laptop computers
-Digital motion and still cameras for student checkout
-Laptops for student checkout
-22 TVs that feature news and weather programs
-Cyber café with food and beverages (including Starbucks® coffee) (We could hire those out of work barristas)
Meetings with faculty each summer to review the library’s offerings
-Teacher-required usage of books, eBooks, ILL materials, databases and other library materials in courses
-Annual collection purchases that focus on selecting the most intriguing titles and materials
-Ariel® document delivery of all journal articles to desktops
I'm fired up! I'm mad as...No, wrong movie. Who's with me? Let's go!
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Thing #14: Techno-whati?
I think I understand this, but I found the site a little confusing to get around. It's funny, in my younger days (like I'm so old, but I will be 40 this year), I would just push buttons or start assembling until I figured something out. Now, I read the whole instruction manual before I even start, like it says to do. This Technorati place didn't come with that, so let me bounce my gist of this thing of you and tell me if I'm even in the same universe.
On the site I can keyword search different blogs. For example, If I'm trying to see if my favorite Arsenal stiker, Emanuel Adabayor, was rumored to be leaving the team, I could search his name on Technorati and it would give me every instance of the name on all the blogs that it has indexed...right? Isn't that just like googling somebody or something? But the search is limited to blogs, no? Which means I'll have a smaller pool from which to gather information. If this is the case, I'd rather just google.
Now, in terms of research, Technorati might be good if one is trying to find information that supports one's thesis. Technorati would make things very easy to do that if someone was looking for opinions of people in the fields they were reseaching. This raises a question that I have about conducting research using blogs: Are the opinions of any Jean, Joe, or Jose out there in the world credible enough for research? It seems like it would be way too easy to find a bunch of people who feel like I do, and I could quote them to death and make any point I'd like make with them as my source.
Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to search tags or keyword searches for School Library learning 2.0. I'll come back to it and try it again.
On the site I can keyword search different blogs. For example, If I'm trying to see if my favorite Arsenal stiker, Emanuel Adabayor, was rumored to be leaving the team, I could search his name on Technorati and it would give me every instance of the name on all the blogs that it has indexed...right? Isn't that just like googling somebody or something? But the search is limited to blogs, no? Which means I'll have a smaller pool from which to gather information. If this is the case, I'd rather just google.
Now, in terms of research, Technorati might be good if one is trying to find information that supports one's thesis. Technorati would make things very easy to do that if someone was looking for opinions of people in the fields they were reseaching. This raises a question that I have about conducting research using blogs: Are the opinions of any Jean, Joe, or Jose out there in the world credible enough for research? It seems like it would be way too easy to find a bunch of people who feel like I do, and I could quote them to death and make any point I'd like make with them as my source.
Anyway, I couldn't figure out how to search tags or keyword searches for School Library learning 2.0. I'll come back to it and try it again.
Thing #13: Social Bookmarking
When I first encountered Delicious about two years ago, I thought it was just a way of collecting popular sites, which I guess it is (duh), but the tagging adds a completely new dimension to it. I like the fact I can click on others' tags and find stuff they have marked and instantly make it mine. I also like the fact that I can use it on different computers, but now I have to remember another password. This can really make doing research much easier with the tags. Checking out keywords and coming up with tons of stuff to browse through. If only I can convince students that they need to read when they do research...However, using these tags reminds me of "Back to School" with Rodney Dangerfield. His son and his roommate want to buy used books because the books' important information is already hilighted. Rodney tells his son, "What if they person who owned that book before you was an idiot?" Like all things on the web, I'll have to check it out myself to see if it's any good.
Monday, July 21, 2008
Thing#12: Commenting on blogs
I've always avoided blogs because certain members of my family like to email me blog stuff thinking it's the gospel. Blogs, especially political blogs, always made me very weary of the writer's objectivity, which is something I try to be faithful to. So, especially these days (election year), I continue to stay away from political blogs.
Professional blogs are something that I really haven't given much attention to until thing 12. I see the value and see the potential for immediate feedback which everyone loves. I'm sure it would be possible to find an edu-blog about any idea or subject I would need help with.
One thing that I did notice while reading all these sites on blogging was avoiding "preachyness".
I guess the blogs that I have read were heavy into the preachyness which really turned me off, especially if I disagreed. It'll be important to remember to be professional when I respond to blogs and to be polite, and to make sure I have something worthwhile to say.
Professional blogs are something that I really haven't given much attention to until thing 12. I see the value and see the potential for immediate feedback which everyone loves. I'm sure it would be possible to find an edu-blog about any idea or subject I would need help with.
One thing that I did notice while reading all these sites on blogging was avoiding "preachyness".
I guess the blogs that I have read were heavy into the preachyness which really turned me off, especially if I disagreed. It'll be important to remember to be professional when I respond to blogs and to be polite, and to make sure I have something worthwhile to say.
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