Week 8, #18 Online Productivity Tools

Week 8, #18 Online Productivity Tools:
Can we post from Zoho Writer to our blog? We have tried to use the collaborative features of Zoho Writer and Google docs before amongst our teacher librarians. So far, it turns out to be a more confusing document than if we had just emailed one document around for comments. Cheri and I have been talking about teaching it to students. We would have to set up simple rules about how to make sure your addition is attributed to you as well as decisions about how the document will look, font, size, pictures etc. This may require a team leader. At this point, I am not using the applications and I do not see many students using them either. I suspect we have take the lead and so perhaps it is just a decision about Zoho writer vs Google docs.

Week 7, #17 Add an entry to Sandbox Wiki

I'd looked at the sandbox of curriculum web 2.0 ideas before and was introduced to picnik, a photo editor (like a free photoshop). This time around I noticed how many entries there were under wikis. Librarians have embraced this social technology into their world and incorporated it into very effective learning tools.

I noticed a comment about creating a widget on your webpage to show off new books. I need to look into that but so far I have no idea how to create a widget. I remember on my iGoogle page there is something about it. But I think I will first look at webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com as they always have any technology I'm interested in with great examples and suggestions of how best to use. It is the best link I've found from this training.

Week 7, #16: Wikis

I began my browsing of the Wikis with the intent of finding useful ways of improving my own. The first I looked at, the SJCPL site was basically a tidy group of pathfinders. Easy, clean, nothing elaborate. Much what I do all the time.
The second site, the Book Lover's Wiki from the Princeton Public Library gave me an interesting easy way of making my wikis more collaborative. Here adults reviewed books that they had read as a part of a summer book club. I think this is something I could do in collaboration with our ELL and/or Read 180 classes. It would be quick and easy to do once the book was read. It is also very similar to what we do now when students add comments about titles in Destiny. I really liked the FAQ tab on the sidebar and think that is something I will work on incorporating into my wikis right away. It will make them easier to use by students that do not attend the instruction session when they are introduced. The last site I explored was the Albany County PL's wiki. It was a group of public library procedures. The wiki itself wasn't anything special but it took me to a group of how to videos on YouTube that are very similar to the work I am having my Library Assistants do this semester. I can hardly wait for to see what they have to say about them next week. Here is a fun example of how to straighten up the computers.

Week 6, #15 Library 2.0

Browsed the OCLC article and became entranced with Michael Stephens. I linked from him to an article recommended on the Google Generation. The differences between the Google generation (Natives) and the rest of us trying to keep up (Immigrants) was outline as follows:
"NATIVES v IMMIGRANTS

Digital natives
Like receiving information quickly from multiple media sources.
Like parallel processing and multi-tasking.
Like processing pictures, sounds and video before text.
Like random access to hyperlinked multimedia information.
Like to network with others.
Like to learn “just in time”.

Digital immigrants
Like slow and controlled release of information from limited sources.
Like singular processing and single or limited tasking.
Like processing text before pictures, sounds and video.
Like to receive information linearly, logically and sequentially.
Like to work independently.
Like to learn “just in case”."

from O'Brien, Catherine. “How the Google generation thinks differently.” The Times 9 Jul 2008. http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/families/article4295414.ece.

I know that my students can process through large amounts of information in a variety of formats. My concerns are if they can garner the indepth knowledge that linear learners like myself consider vital. Is it still? Michael Stephens scares me because he does seem to be so flighty. I view his blogs and see him all over the place and wonder how he can keep so many things straight and still intertwined. But maybe this is how the Google generation will creative and revitalize America.

Week 6, #14 Technorati

I am not certain this was of value to me except that I learned that Google was not very good at searching for blog entries. I suspect that will change. In our discussion while doing this as a group we decided it was good that blogs were handled separately and do not come up with other websites. I wonder if there will ever be a Google PowerSearch like we all hope for on Destiny? I don't really want my blog read by all but if I did I suspect the way would be to add Technorati tags. I am certain Joyce Valenza does.

Week 6, #13 Delicious

We looked at this a couple of years back but I am not using it. I need to explore how to upload my work bookmarks and then look at others that are similar. I can see this as being helpful to students doing research in a particular area. We teach tagging when students take notes but do it as a personal exercise not in a social context. I think if I was working on a phd this might be a way to track what was going on in the field. For me I will have to work a bit more at trying to integrate it into my daily life.

Week 5, #12 Rollyo

Okay, this is a nifty way to add a particular group of search tools to our Firefox search bar. I may use it to develop a group of resources I search for cataloging. Right now I set up the public domain ebook search. More work on this for sure. I a going to put the link here so that it will be easy for me to get back to: Rollyo