Showing posts with label School Library Learning 2.0. Show all posts
Showing posts with label School Library Learning 2.0. Show all posts

Sunday, August 31, 2008

Week #9 - Thing #23 In Conclusion

After an intense, summertime relationship with most of Learning 2.0, my brain had to be shared with the opening of school, distributing textbooks, and melding optimism with practicality. A district email telling us to turn off our tv & audio streaming hit home that PUSD has neither the network infrastructure or awareness that these real world connections are important to public education. The creativity utilizing online resources is added value to the learning process in the same way our more traditional electives are.

I'm fascinated by this need for connection, fabrication, and personal exposure - always in touch, creating &/or extending one's identify, telling all. I can't associate that with authoritativeness, privacy, and harm. As teacher librarians, the web allows us to generate greater access to what we have to offer. But I'm still rooted in the meaning of quality resources, that information is not incidental as it is now being used, and that the thinking involved to choose data is as important as what we do with it.

To finish up on the nuts & bolts of Thing #23, I had seen the clever & entertaining Fair Use video before and still found the clips hard to follow, Creative Commons Search is very useful and I think CSLA should add itself to their Content Directories. I'm not sure how to cite CC items like the flickr picture Books About Books I brought over. For students, the power of CC is in reinforcing the concept of respect for one's own intellectual property and work. Although I still spend a lot of time hunting for things on web pages, Learning 2.0 has given me a better idea of what to look for. Trite to say, this is just the beginning of future exploration on my part.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Week #9 - Thing #21 Podcasts

Most disappointing because of the limited search abilities. The various directories list the same titles. I'd rather go to NPR to catch the programs I've missed. To find useful podcasts, you have to hunt. A bunch of titles didn't open in the directories and on the School Library Learning 2.0 page. When subscribing, you're receiving another list of daily postings to scan. My Mac definitely makes using and creating podcasts relatively easy, and I like listening from my computer.

I resist earphones as well as being tethered to a mouse and monitor. They don't meet my experiential needs. Having said that, recording is great for kids and learning. Their oral creations enhance literacy, understanding of content, and verbal expression. As a library instructional tool, adding online sound makes a posting richer, more communicative and hopefully more appealing. Definitely need to invest my efforts in podcasting.

Week #9 - Thing #20 YouTube

Funny, the unexpected, mediocrity, interesting, odd, and thankfully, "advanced search". The most recent post under "Education" was a real estate ad!

I had seen several of the School Library Learning 2.0 suggested titles before. My favorite is Web 2.0 ... The Machine is Us/ing Us, a great visual/message blend. Didn't connect with the pictures, but liked many of the statements in the Danish A Librarian's 2.0 Manifesto, especially "I will not be defensive". That's a personal challenge in a CA school library! Some do a better job with credits & Creative Commons than others. The related videos posted on YouTube can get you side-tracked quickly & quirkily (new word).

I chose The Library Rap to post because of its humor and positive attitude toward school libraries. And its length. Better ignore the X-rated posted comments. When I inserted the html, the displayed size was too big for the right column of the blog. May have to work on that.

School Library Instructional Connections (besides student-generated work): With 47 minute periods & teachers looking at their watches (they may tap their feet, too), I'd use short videos (under 2 minutes) in a classroom setting as an intro, to explain something in detail, or create a mood. Postings online could be longer.

Our evolving social media is predicated on visual & oral literacies. Public school curriculum forgets that when we consider electives as add-ons instead of integrating their learning across content areas.

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Week #6 - Thing #13 Del.icio.us

I had to laugh my first time through tonight. Is this a popularity contest? Peer pressure to list & be listed? Only read what somebody else says I should read? Allison Steinberg did an excellent job of demo-ing Del.icio.us at a CSLA conference quite a while ago. It certainly makes it easy for us folks who cover two library sites and work from home.

Was fascinated with the bookmark Link by Link - An Internal Wiki that is Not Classified about the State Dept.'s Diplopedia. Find out how feds share info that affects international diplomacy and let your imagination run away with the pros and cons of that!

Tagging is liberating for this reluctant cataloger of almost 40 years in numerous classification systems. I'll have to spend more time with Network Badges for the next classroom research project. Added the SJLibraryLearning2 Bookmarks to Google Reader. That list is growing!

A final thought about the Del.icio.us comments. I'd like to see them tell me why I should read it, not just a summary that is accomplished by both the bookmark's descriptive sentence & the tags.

And somebody please comment if the links in these posts are overkill.

Monday, July 28, 2008

Week #3 - Thing #5 FLICKR

Photography Coordination: Mac/Canon/Picasa/Flickr. Had to do this in steps and catch up with a year's worth of camera storage.

The picture posted is from last year's terrific in-service, before the fires and budget crash, when we came together and moved forward in a positive manner. Oh, look at what has happened. The foundation of our K-12 program has been cut by a third, reduced to 20 hours a week plus their newly added textbook responsibilities. Year six of K-12 reduced services is about to begin with a step backwards.