Current Event #10 - Skype an Author

This week I participated in an awesome webinar on "Developing a Culture of Literacy" from Joanne de Groot (you may have heard of her ;-))!!!  She had lots of great literacy ideas, but also ways to integrate technology with literacy goals.  One of my favourite ideas was "Skype an Author"....a site where classrooms can hook up with authors for free 10-15 minute discussions with authors.  I think this is a great tool...for all schools, but especially for rural and small schools who have difficulty accessing author visits.  I look forward to trying this out in our library this year!
http://skypeanauthor.wetpaint.com

Entering the Blogosphere

The Blogosphere sounds like a different world....and it is, really.  It's a world where we put ourselves out there, successes and failures, to share our experiences with others.  It's a world where we trust the advice and ideas of complete strangers.  It's a world where we get caught in a stream of links and more links and end up far, far away from where we started from.  It's an exciting place....full of endless enthusiasm, strong communities, opinionated people, continuous support, thought-provoking ideas, and more information than one person could ever consume....and it's a place that I am beginning to feel more and more comfortable in each day.

At the start of this class, blogs were something I had had limited experience with: I had created a few short blogs for my students to use for various projects and I had casually read blogs on topics from mommyhood to cooking to education. I had technically followed bloggers using the RSS feed GoogleReader, although it was not something I actively followed or really understood the usefulness of.

Over the course of this class, I have become a consistent user of GoogleReader.  I check my feed daily and at minimum I skim the postings and links.  Before this class I easily became overwhelmed at the amount of information and ideas that were presented through these blogs.  However, after listening to the advice of classmates and instructors, I have learned that I don't have to engage with every posting...I can skim the information, determine if it is relevant to me, and move on.  I bookmark or add useful information to my LiveBinder page and I let the rest go.  I now have some blogs that are my favourites (NeverEndingSearch and The Daring Librarian are among them) and there are probably some that I could happily remove from my feed.  I have enjoyed following the updates of my classmates and have felt a sense of camaraderie in this Web 2.0 journey by reading about their successes and struggles. 

Look Mom:  NO unread items!!!!

Through following blogs and experiencing blogging, I have become a slightly more savvy and confident blogger.  I am still far from finding my blogging voice, but I find that part of this is my struggle to write academically while sharing personal experience.  I have gained a new appreciation for hyperlinking, catchy titles, metaphors, and screencasts.....the more blogs I read the more ideas I have for how to improve my own.

I can see many great ways of using blogs and RSS feeds with my students.  I think that as my comfort level grows, I will be able to do a better job of having them create and follow blogs: "once teahcers have been an active part of the blogosphere themselves, they want to bring their students along" (Kist, 2010, p.72).   I like the idea of students blogging about their learning on a topic, I think that a library blog with book reviews and class updates would be a great tool to show the work we are doing in the library, and I would love to see our students interact with students in other schools around the world to discuss anything from weather to current events.  One potential roadblock I foresee is that many of our parents are still leery about allowing their children to have an online presence, but I hope that some information on internet safety and on the value of a positive digital footprint would help overcome these objections. 

I am not sure what the future of blogging holds for me.  I will certainly maintain my GoogleReader and will continue to stay informed of the TL world through this method.  As for continuing to blog, I think I would like to do this on a more personal level.  I enjoyed the challenge of improving my writing style, and I think blogging about my life as a mom, wife, student, teacher, and friend would be a wonderful way to find my blogging voice. 

References
Kist, W. (2010).  The socially networked classroom:  Teaching in the new media age.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Feeling Like a Twit

http://ozgekaraoglu.edublogs.org/files/2011/02/f1a49_twitter-broken-heart-2251-21lr8t6.jpg

Okay Twitter, it's not you, it's me.  I know you will help me build my Personal Learning Network (PLN), I know you will open me up to a world of ideas, opportunities, and support, and I know you are the best professional development tool out there. But even with all that greatness, I just can't commit to this relationship.  It's too overwhelming.  It's too much like a competition.  There is too much random babble I don't understand or don't care about.  I think we have to break up. 

There are things I like about Twitter.  The hashtag system works for me, and I can find relevant and useful information through it.  I skim the paper.li updates I subscribe to and I have found some great ideas through them.  I enjoy hearing about the experiences and discoveries of my classmates, when I find the time to follow them.  Most of all, I enjoy being an insider on something that not everyone in the education world understands.  However, my struggles and frustrations with Twitter far outweigh my successes with it. 

Despite my frustration with Twitter, I know that experience and research give it rave reviews.  Richardson (2010) believes "following other educators on Twitter creates a 'network at my fingertips' phenomenon where people ask questions and get answers, link to great blog posts or resources, or share ideas for projects as they go through the day.  For many, it's become a running river of conversation and ideas that has cemented their connections to the community and made the network even more palpable" (p.86).  Twitter also receives a ringing endorsement in a Teacher Librarian article by Anderson (2011):  "Twitter is being embraced by more and more educators around the world. (http://www.edutopia.org/steven-anderson-guest-blogger-140conf) And why not?  It's a great way to build your Personal Learning Network (PLN), participate in resource sharing, and get any type of help you might need for your classroom" (para 4).  The referenced blog post includes some great suggestions on classroom uses and teacher experiences.

When I read about teachers who post a planned novel study and immediately get multiple responses about book clubs, lesson plans, and skype connections I am amazed...and a little jealous.  Their network is obviously a successful one...a useful one...and likely a very rewarding one.  This is not my network or my experience.  I know that I need to build my network through active participation and through dedicating time to the process....something I just can't do right now.

I take comfort in knowing Twitter isn't going anywhere.  I will continue to skim my paper.li updates, I will continue to check out interesting links from classmates and mentors when I remember to check my account, but for the most part I think that Twitter and I are taking a break....a bit of time apart....and maybe in the future we will build the solid relationship that so many others seem to be enjoying!


References 
Anderson, S. (2011). The twitter toolbox for educators. Teacher Librarian, 39(1), 27-30.
Richardson, W. (2010).  Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.  Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Presenting Va-Va-VoiceThread!

I am happy to report that I successfully used VoiceThread for a presentation for my students in Travel Club.  I was presenting a "Travel School" on topics such as passports, immunizations, and currency tips....pretty important information.  This type of information is often presented at parent meetings, but I find that if the parents are there the kids just zone out and figure mom and dad will take care of everything.  This time I decided to present only to the students, but wanted to find a way that the parents could access the information if they wanted it.

VoicetThread worked perfectly for this presentation.  I created my slides in Powerpoint (they were boring, I admit it, but I just wanted to present the info) and exported them as jpgs.  Then I uploaded them to Voicethread to create the presentation.  The students each logged on to a computer for the presentation (we were all in the computer lab), and as I talked about each slide I recorded what I was saying.  After I was done talking, the kids needed to add a comment along the side about what they had to do about this topic (ie: "get passport next Friday" or "order Euros from the bank".

After the presentation, I sent a link out to all the parents and encouraged them to read the slides, read their kid's comments, and listen to my comment if they needed more information.  I haven't heard any feedback from parents, but the students were really engaged with the presentation and I am confident that they are a bit more prepared for the trip.  I look forward to using this method for future "Travel School" meetings!!!

Here is the presentation....

Current Event #9 - 'Dead-Tree Book' over eBook

This article, from the New York Times, made me whisper a little hallelujah!  It discusses how parents still want children, especially pre-school age children, to have the experience of paper books.  I would hate to live in a world where the beauty of holding a book, flipping the pages, and drinking it all in wasn't appreciated.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/business/for-their-children-many-e-book-readers-insist-on-paper.html?_r=2&hp

Shelving Shelfari - at least for now

It's probably due to my familiarity and fondness for Amazon that I wanted to like Shelfari the most.  The truth is, I found the process of adding books cumbersome and although I liked the visual aspects of the site I don't see myself using it for either personal use or school use. 

There is undoubtedly a great amount of information, activity, and community building on the site.  The book shelf visual is beautiful, but not enough to make me want to use the site regularly.  I know that some school libraries update a shelf with new books and that this provides a link to reviews and suggested readings for patrons...I like this idea, but am unsure if this would be kept current in my library (with only 20% library time, you have to use your time very, very wisely!!!).  Perhaps this would be a good role for a student volunteer?  Hmmmm.

 Pros

•  Beautiful layout 
• Intuitive design, particularly useful for people who are familiar with Amazon.com
• Very active community
• Offers links to friends with social media
• Links to purchases on Amazon.com
• Can share your shelf on your blog (can be a pro or a con, depending on if you like to share!!)

Cons

• The window for adding new books is a very cumbersome process, too many details required
• Schools/school divisions may question the link with the business Amazon.com

Giving Goodreads a Go

I began my examination on Goodreads, intending to use it to find some recommendations for personal reading.  What I quickly realized that my recent reading has been limited to children's books and textbooks and that I have very little connection to the fiction books I used to love.  In the end I was embarrassed at the thought of anyone seeing my personal reading as of late, and so I created a shelf of favourite children's books that I have enjoyed reading to my daughter.  I suppose the recommendations could help me find some new books at the public library, but I can't imagine myself frequently updating this list just for this purpose.

I found the rating and recommendation system intuitive and almost entertaining.  I can see students enjoying this feature, if they have read enough of the selections to be active participants.  It seemed like I could have spent hours rating, reading recommendations, and adding books to my "want to read" list.  Wouldn't it be incredible to have unlimited time to just enjoy reading all these great books?!?!  Perhaps once I finish the TLDL program, it will FEEL like I have all the time in the world?!?!

Overall, I liked this program and can see it being a good tool to use with a group of students in the library.  Students would need to be avid/interested readers to enjoy using the site.  Here are some of my pros and cons for Goodreads:

Pros:

• Great layout and intuitive design
• Visual selection of books and easy-to-use rating system
• Recommendations seemed like a good match to the books I rated
• Links with friends through social media
• Listopia section provides great ideas for a number of categories

Cons:

• Could become overwhelmed at the continuous suggestions/recommendations
• May not want your reading lists public or shared with friends

Looking at LibraryThing

LibraryThing was not a tool I originally chose to explore, but it did continually appear in research and discussions.  The account I created focused on popular YA fiction that I use in my ELA classes.  I found that it gave some great recommendations and a number of useful reviews.  Unfortunately, the visual layout and design was not very exciting or intuitive.  In this flashy 2.0 world, it seemed so basic and scholarly. 

From what I understand, the LibraryThing for Libraries could be connected with our school library catalog.  I don't think this is something we will be investing in anytime soon, but I can see how it would be valuable for building a community of readers in a public library. 

Pros

• Offers a program specifically for libraries
• Has a community of librarians who use the program
• Discussion groups seemed vibrant

Cons

• Simple and "unexciting" layout and design
• Not as active of a community as other sites

Current Event #8 - Teacher-Created Math Textbooks

For the second week in a row, my husband has led me to my weekly current event.  This week it was a link on his facebook page for a parenting blog about math teachers in a Minnesota School District who created their own online math textbook for a fraction of their textbook budget.  The book is relevant to their students, a living document that can be changed or updated, and prints at about $5 a copy after the initial $25,000 to cover the teacher wages and initial start-up costs.  The teachers used a free online framework from the CK-12 Foundation to create the textbook.

The Great Debate: Goodreads vs Shelfari vs LibraryThing

Compare, compare, compare!  And still come up empty-handed? 

So over the past couple of weeks I have been exploring potential personal and educational uses of Goodreads, Shelfari, and LibraryThing.  My initial proposal did not include LibraryThing in this debate, but most of the research I read included these three tools in discussion of RA (readers' advisory) tools, so my hunt for the ideal tool quickly embraced all three.  I now have 5 new accounts, more book recommendations than could ever be explored by one human, and absolutely no idea which tool is the one for me!!!

Wyatt (2007) points out the benefits of increasing reader interactions in a library: "as the ultimate goal of RA service is to create, maintain, and increase all types of conversations about library material, incorporating readers' interactions into library catalogs and web sites pushes RA a giant step forward. Suddenly, we can help readers help one another, engage with RA services more deeply, and thus increase the serendipity of RA" (para 22).  As a librarian in a very small school, I like the idea of students being able to look for recommendations beyond their immediate peer group. 

Rapp (2011) examined LibraryThing, Goodreads, and Shelfari and found that these tools are most useful in a library when they combine the computer algorithm recommendations with the personal comments and connections:  "such one-on-one dialogs are the heart and soul of RA work, and they are getting more support than ever from book recommendation sites, which can also add complex algorithms to the mix, crunching the numbers on millions of user-provided book ratings.  This process moves beyond individual tags and reviews to provide a broad overview of opinion, and, done well, it can help provide ready-made recommendations for RA" (para 5-6). 

Although the research and experiences I have read do lead me to believe that at least one of these sites could be a useful tool, my experience with them has not convinced me that any of them will have immediate usefulness in my life.  I will explain my use of each tool in future posts, and will try and discover at least one way I can incorporate one of these tools into my personal or professional life. 

References

Rapp, D.  (2011). Crowdsourcing RA. Library Journal, 136(10), 56.

Wyatt, N.  (200). 2.0 for readers. Library Journal, 132(18), 30.

Researching VoiceThread

VoiceThread is not a tool that the students of my school have been exposed to.  After participating in online presentations that have used the tool, I believe that it would be an excellent way of encouraging students to actively participate and share their thoughts, ideas, and opinions.  It appears that there is research that supports my belief that it would be an excellent tool for providing differentiated instruction for all learners.

Brunvand and Byrd (2011) researched the educational benefits of using VoiceThread in the K-12 classroom.  They concluded that Voicethread provided all students with the opportunity to demonstrate their strengths, was structured to be flexible enough to be used in all subjects, allowed student work to be archived, encouraged passive learners become actively involved, promoted collaboration in a variety of learning networks, and  differentiated teacher input and student output.  (p.31-33, 36).  

My current situation is that I need to decide if paying to create a classroom account will be worth the money.  The free account is limited to the creation of three VoiceThreads, and that won't last long when using it with students.  Brunvand and Byrd (2011) recommend the classroom account as it allows teachers to sign students up without the need for emails, gives teachers access to user names and passwords, and it allows all users to create and comment on VoiceThreads.  These features compliment the features available on all accounts, which include comment moderation and a minimal amount of technology required to access VoiceThread (p.31). 

The following page includes a number of tutorials that are useful for anyone looking to use VoiceThread for either educational or personal purposes: VoiceThread Tutorials

I am going to continue to play with my free personal account while I try to figure out how I would use this tool in the classroom.

References
Brunvand, S., & Byrd, S.. (2011). Using VoiceThread to promote learning engagement and success for all students. Teaching Exceptional Children, 43(4), 28-37. 

LiveBinders Assignment Complete

After playing around and creating and deleting a number of binders, I think I have found a shelf and binder system that will work for my library.  I will need to create a shelf for each class, and then create binders for each assignment or topic that I am collecting sites and resources on.  Here is a quick tour of my newest LiveBinder creation.

I have learned how to add a variety formats of resources, including powerpoints, word documents, mp3s, and websites.  This variety has been great for creating assignments that include more than just a list of weblinks.  I am more comfortable organizing the binders now, and I have learned how to move tabs, switch between tabs and subtabs, and organize my page by using different shelves. 

My students found the site easy to navigate and I like that they will not be able to "lose" the assignment sheet as it is right in the binder!  I also like that everything can be constantly updated and edited. I am curious to see how younger students will navigate the binders, and I look forward to sharing this tool with teachers to see if they can come up with some more creative uses for it!!!

Current Event #7 - Dropbox - It's Everywhere!!!!

You know when you buy a new car, and then instantly see the same model everywhere you go?  I have a feeling Web 2.0 tools are kind of like this!  You hear about a "new" tool, and suddenly you see everyone using it and begin to wonder how you went so long without it!

Dropbox is this tool for me!  My husband introduced me to it this week when I was fretting the idea that my Android phone had over 300 pictures and videos of my ridiculously adorable daughter on it, and the only way I knew to get them off my phone was emailing or uploading each one individually.

How could you stand the thought of losing this cute picture???

He told me I could download a free app to my phone, and then transfer all my photos and videos in one big transfer!  It worked like a charm, and I was instantly able to log onto the website and see all the photos on my laptop!  Hooray!

The great thing about Dropbox is that you can save all your files here and then retrieve them anywhere!  I can picture lots of uses for school and for this class, especially since I use a combination of computers at home, school, my parents' house, etc.  There is also a feature to share the folders with others, so I can invite anyone who is interested to view some or all of these 300 photos!

So once I "discovered" this "new" tool, I realize that I am not alone in loving it!  I got an email from a friend inviting me to view her folder, I was invited to edit an article using the Dropbox format, and I saw a blog post on my Reader that showed me that there are way more uses for this tool than I even knew about!  Can't wait to explore more!!!

My Library LiveBinders

Once I discovered that LiveBinders would be an ideal tool for my work in the library, I created a school library account and began by creating binders for classes I have been working with.  I figured that as I came across sites or created documents, they could all be placed in subtabs inside this binder.

What I am quickly realizing is that a binder for each class will not allow for enough "layers" of tabs and subtabs for my liking.  I think I am going to have to create a SHELF for each class, with a binder for each topic or assignment. Here is what my shelf originally looks like...hopefully I will be able to play around today and make it more useful!!!

I am learning that this tool will be a great help for organizing school material, but it may not be the best tool for my personal use.  I think I will have to re-introduce myself to tools such as Diigo and Evernote to see if they are the answer to my "online hoarding" nightmare!

LiveBinders - The "Why"

LiveBinders is a new tool that I am exploring in the hopes of getting more organized!  My original plan was to create a personal binder and then try and find applications for my job, but I realized on my first day back at school that I needed a new way to compile my school and library resources...and LiveBinders seemed to be a great tool to start with!!!

One aspect of LiveBinders that I really like is that I believe it is a tool I will be able to introduce to teachers and encourage them to use.  Berger and Trexler (2010) believe that "competency begins with understanding and school librarians are in the ideal position as they collaborate with teachers to effectively model, integrate, and use Web 2.0 technologies in their teaching and learning" (p.17).  My school has not effectively made use of the teacher-librarian position in the past, and I hope to become a leader who effectively collaborates with teachers and models some great tools for the classroom.  LiveBinders will be a tool that I will use in the library, but I think teachers will be able to create their own shelves and binders for their individual work.

 
References

Berger, P. & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a digital

world.  Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.