tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17407120450387979292024-03-12T16:23:58.000-07:00Giuseppe LMT Does Web 2.0Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-48677810824151917012008-03-31T16:10:00.000-07:002008-03-31T16:37:44.312-07:00Week 9, Thing #23Copyright and Creative Commons<br />The School Library Learning 2.0 website does a great job of acknowledging the source and inspiration for this online course. It says so right on the blog: <em>Learning 2.0 is a discovery learning program created by </em><a href="http://plcmcl2-about.blogspot.com/2006/08/about-learning-20-project.html#contact"><em>Helene Blowers</em></a><em>. Content and style for School Library Learning 2.0 and Classroom Learning 2.0 have been borrowed and duplicated with permission, under a </em><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/"><em>Creative Commons License</em></a><em>.</em><br /><em></em><br />Thoughts on this online course:<br /><br />The many Web 2.0 features that have stuck with me and that I continue to use tell me that the course was of value. Some of these features I use because I simply enjoy them, and others have become part of my work routine.<br />Some of the highlights:<br /><ol><li>I found out that I love to blog. And I have really learned how to set up a blog as a "one-stop shopping" site for myself by adding feeds and widgets. In addition to this blog I also have one that chronicles my Peruvian trip last summer: <a href="http://www.tonysperu2007.blogspot.com/">http://www.tonysperu2007.blogspot.com/</a>. I will continue to use blogs to keep a record of my most memorable travels.</li><li>Wikis are great for collaborative professional learning. Our LMT group in the district set up a wiki that compares library automation systems. We were all able to go to the wiki to try out the demo sites and to add to the comments on the features of each system. The Board of Education was very impressed by the process, and when we requested funds to pay for the automation conversion, they all voted in support of us!</li><li>I use online word processing and other tools on a regular basis. My preferred online source for this is Google docs. I use their documents and calendar frequently and am starting to use the reader.</li><li>I thoroughly enjoy "Library Thing". I have two accounts set up: one for my personal interest reading, and one for children's books. I used to write down every book I read in my pocket calendar, but now I just add the books in Library Thing. I was having trouble remembering what books I'd read and what they were about, but this tool is a big help.</li><li>I haven't yet started using .nings or social bookmarking sites very much. The same can be said for Technorati and Rollyo. I enjoy using Flickr but haven't spent much time on it. </li></ol><p>Many thanks to CSLA for setting up this online course. Nine weeks turned into over 6 months for me, but now I have indeed finished!!</p><p>I found out that the public librarians in our county and in a neighboring county have been doing "The 23 Things" as well - with their own online tutors and leaders. They were very happy and impressed when I told them that the school librarians in the area were on board as well. </p><p>Thanks to the School Library Learning 2.o team and to bibliofan for your encouraging comments throughout this course.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-89991101140966093862008-03-30T13:54:00.000-07:002008-03-31T10:46:32.031-07:00Week 9, Thing #22E-books and audiobooks:<br /><br />Project Gutenberg is an excellent resource for free e-books, especially if you're looking for a classic. I saw that you can even download some audio books as well, such as <span style="font-style: italic;">The Call of the Wild. </span>And you can get some of the classics, such as <span style="font-style: italic;">Alice in Wonderland</span>, in plain text, html, or pdf versions.<br />Our local public libraries give patrons the ability to check out either standard ebooks or audio ebooks. I tested this out with two local library systems. The larger system, serving a city of over 900,000, had far fewer audio ebooks than my local library system, that serves a community of under 200,000. Both systems use NetLibrary. The ebooks on NetLibrary are attractive - they are basically online views of the book, with the exact same formatting, photographs, and illustrations. My local library system has about 1,000 downloadable audio ebooks at this point, but none are available for download to ipods or Macintosh computers, though they are supported by a number of other devices.<br />We are using audiobooks on iPods rather successfully in our school library. A grandparent at our school repairs old iPods. He approached me several months ago with the suggestion of making audiobooks available to students on the iPods. Right now we have 8 iPods with about 15 fourth- and fifth-grade level novels on each of them. We use them to expose some of the students in Title I reading classes to literature their peers are enjoying, but that they cannot yet access independently. I've purchased multiple paperback copies of the titles we have available on the iPods, and have the students listen to the audiobooks while they follow along with the actual book. The students do this twice a week for 40-minute periods, and can come in to listen to the books any time during recesses. We also let them check out the iPod and book over the weekends and during school breaks. It's been a great success.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Bl3auEnEF1XxCeT028sy75drDWHAoA9Es0JQ2eXyLI_pD3XPniUH760M2o2UjEZ5rb6ol4iHZZfd5ULi7r2OT9K_UEZjRgQhaqBMkoS92WATozXdMuxiutXGjn_uuYuVbBgrAGXgHVJU/s1600-h/IMG_2420.JPG" style="text-decoration: none;"><img style="text-decoration: underline;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; " src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Bl3auEnEF1XxCeT028sy75drDWHAoA9Es0JQ2eXyLI_pD3XPniUH760M2o2UjEZ5rb6ol4iHZZfd5ULi7r2OT9K_UEZjRgQhaqBMkoS92WATozXdMuxiutXGjn_uuYuVbBgrAGXgHVJU/s320/IMG_2420.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5183962045992237074" /></a><div>Here are a couple of our students enjoying <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">The Series of Unfortunate Events </span>and <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Loser </span>by Jerry Spinelli on the library's iPods. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-27265476171229207672008-03-29T20:11:00.000-07:002008-03-29T20:25:10.269-07:00Week 9, Thing #21Podcasts:<br />I read in the instructions for this exercise that you don't need an ipod or mp3 player, and that's true. But, to really take advantage of podcasts, I think you'd want one. I don't have one yet, but am now thinking of getting one so I can listen to the podcasts that interest me without having to sit in front of my computer. I think of podcasts as a sort of "tivo" for computer users: you're able to automatically save programs that interest you and then listen to them/view them when you want. I used iTunes for my directory and for subscribing to podcasts. But, until I get an iPod or similar device, I'm resisting the urge to subscribe to all the programs I want to hear. I listened to an Amy Goodman "Democracy Now" program that I missed. However, I've only subscribed to one podcast - a French instructional podcast called "The French Podcast". I've been trying to teach myself French for ten years and have been somewhat successful up to a point. I completed a year-long video course and practice when I can, but I think that some of these podcasts can help me with vocabulary and keep me up-to-date on issues in French society and culture. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">Nous verrons</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;">.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">There are so many options for the teacher who wants to use podcasts in her/his classes, if the technology is available. I think you can create podcasts directly from a Mac, if I'm not mistaken, using iMovie. A teacher could generate podcasts or have students create them.</span><br /></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: italic;"><br /></span></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-51629826115250585192008-03-20T10:23:00.000-07:002008-03-24T17:50:39.666-07:00Week 9, Thing #20<object width="480" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/8C921246EED671DF"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/8C921246EED671DF" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="340"></embed></object><br /><br />If you've read any of the previous posts on this blog, you'll know that I took a trip to the incredible country of Peru last summer. I chose this video of the sunrise at Machu Picchu from YouTube. I've been a YouTube addict for a few months. I love to search concert clips from some of my favorite singers and musicians, or pieces of a stand-up routine of a favorite comic. <br />I have a number of saved clips of Rosemary Clooney on my playlist on YouTube. She was a great singer and I was lucky to have been able to see her live in concert a few times before she passed away in 2002.<br /><br /><object width="480" height="340"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/B01532DB3C5C84D9"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/B01532DB3C5C84D9" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="340"></embed></object>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-87520921159471243412008-03-17T19:24:00.000-07:002008-03-17T19:42:51.707-07:00Week 8, Thing #19Library Thing<br />I feel that I've just skimmed the surface of this online tool. As an individual user, I enjoyed reading reviews from other users of books that I consider 5 stars. Looking at lists of other users who have similar tastes can lead you to some books that might be of interest. I'm not sure how "cataloging" functions as a help to librarians at this point. I've gone through the Library Thing tour, and the FAQs. I didn't run across any information on how to catalog a book and then download the information to your library automation software. But exploring tags is fun, and I'm impressed with the variety of ways you can search for and then import titles into your own library. I'd like to explore a bit more how public and school libraries are using Library Thing on their own websites. The widget for my "Library Thing" is at the lower right.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-82611947308589458802008-03-08T13:42:00.000-08:002008-03-08T19:59:26.219-08:00Week 8, Thing #18Online Applications:<br />I've been using Google Docs for the past few months and have found it to be a very useful tool. First, I used it to create my weekly schedule. I then published the schedule and made it available for the staff to view by sending out a weekly e-mail with the link. It's been part of my effort to reduce paper and copying usage and be a little more "green". You can view a sample of the online schedule by clicking <a href="http://docs.google.com/View?docID=dg276bvs_2294nx25fs&revision=_latest">here</a>.<br />I also use the same template that I created for the schedule to develop my lesson plans. However, I don't publish my lesson plans on the web. What I like about having my lesson plans accessible online is that I can adjust them easily as the week progresses. My schedule often changes and my lessons often need tweaking. Plus, I can place links right on my plans that lead me to online resources I might need for a given lesson.<div>My district library colleagues and I use Google Docs for collaborative documents. For example, we have been drafting a letter to the board of education regarding our need for a new library automation system. We find this an effective way to collaboratively draft a document, much better than sending and resending an attachment via e-mail.</div><div>I've also played around with the Google calendar. The calendar has a lot of great features. I especially like the way you're able to block time slots weekly, biweekly, or monthly for an extended period of time. It's also very easy to publish your calendar to a blog or website.</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-85548280130141381922008-02-23T15:50:00.000-08:002008-02-27T10:14:46.475-08:00Week 7, Thing #17I would begin using wikis as a way for the LMTs in my district to help each other stay up-to-date on a number of issues. For example, we are currently investigating new library automation systems. Making the right choice means we have to have a certain knowledge base. Do we want "federated searching"? Well, we'd all better be up to speed on the terminology if we're going to participate in this decision. The wiki would provide a "one-stop shopping" site for us to bring ourselves up to a certain level of knowledge. In that way, when we gather for our monthly meetings, we'll be able to have more focused discussions.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-33361941808730695682008-02-23T14:43:00.000-08:002008-02-27T10:15:04.731-08:00Week 7, Thing #16Wikis<br />I read through all of the suggested links for this exercise. There are so many ways people, especially educators, are making effective use of wikis. There are wikis set up for library professionals in which participants, rather than adding content on a subject, add links to online articles and websites under a variety of library-related categories (this is what I found in <a href="http://libsuccess.org/index.php?title=Main_Page">"Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki"</a>). And there are wikis that allow participants to add content about <span style="font-style: italic;">one</span> particular subject (<a href="http://booklovers.pbwiki.com/Princeton%20Public%20Library">Book Lovers' Wiki</a>) or about a variety of subjects within a specialty (<a href="http://teacherlibrarianwiki.pbwiki.com/">teacherlibrarianwiki</a>).<br />I was most impressed by what some high school and college-level teachers are doing with wikis. Some very innovative teachers are using wikis to foster collaborative learning groups that work through a challenging project together. With the right kind of leadership from the teacher, these groups not only support their members in determining best practices and processes, but they help participants make critical content connections, and develop techniques of study and learning that can be replicated in other settings.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-26730618293617114292007-12-29T11:28:00.000-08:002007-12-29T12:55:24.623-08:00Week 6, Thing #15I read three online articles for this task. In "<a href="http://www.oclc.org/nextspace/002/2.htm">Away from the Icebergs</a>" academic librarian Rick Anderson uses the metaphor of a ship moving through icy waters to illustrate the risks libraries will encounter in moving their "boats" into the future. He identifies three "icebergs":<br /><ul><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Spending a lot of time and money developing "just in case" collections. </span> That is, trying to anticipate users' varied needs in developing our collections. I don't see this as much of a problem in the elementary school library. Our collections need to support the curriculum while at the same time offering students high-quality, high-interest reading materials to encourage independent reading. I don't have extensive resources on every topic students choose for their science fair projects, and never will. But I do lead the students in the right direction, with online resources and assistance in using the public library website.</li><li><span style="font-style: italic;">Reliance on user education. </span>Here the author is telling us that we can't rely on direct instruction to help library users master the research process. Instead, he says librarians should create library settings and online portals that eliminate "the barriers that exist between patrons and the information they need, so they can spend as little time as possible wrestling with lousy search interfaces and as much time as possible actually reading and learning." In an elementary school, the library<span style="font-style: italic;"> is a classroom</span> and instruction in the research process and in accessing information is what an elementary LMT does every day. I think the author's point here is valid, but he is an academic librarian working with a very different population (both staff and students).</li><li><strong class="style2"></strong> <span style="font-style: italic;">The "come to us" model of library service. </span>The author believes in using Web 2.0 resources to make it easier for library users to access information resources outside the walls of the library. I can't argue with his point here. This might be the first place elementary librarians could start in creating their own "Library 2.0" plans. I think we could do a lot to bring the information resources and interactive online learning into the classrooms and the homes of our students.<br /></li></ul>This last point was made very clear in another online article (from School Library Journal): "<a href="http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6330755.html">School Library 2.0: Say Goodbye to Your Mother's School Library</a>". This article, from May 2006, also highlights some other practical uses of Web 2.0 technologies for the school library media teacher. Examples include book discussion blogs and ideas on how to use Web 2.0 features to get beyond the fixed/flexible scheduling problem.<br />The last piece I read was the Wikipedia Library 2.0 entry.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-30972405612735995402007-12-28T10:49:00.000-08:002007-12-29T10:55:05.021-08:00Week 6, Thing #14Using Technorati<br />I started with the optional exercise of adding a tag to this post to then check on how well it would work. Let's see:<br /><a href="http://technorati.com/tag/School Library Learning 2.0" rel="tag">School Library Learning 2.0</a><br />So it does seem to work. My impression is that when I select the tag it takes me to other postings that have the same tag, and from there I can see what other tags have been assigned to the posts so that I can come up with related keywords and subjects.<br />Next I explored Technorati using the suggestions on the CSLA Web 2.0 site, searching "School Library Learning 2.0" in posts, in the blog directory, and in the tags. I found I got more hits searching within posts than within the blog directory, which makes sense. Using tags is more serendipitous -- you never know where the clicking on tags will lead you. Sometimes it seems a waste of time, other times you come across something fascinating that you'll go back to and continue to use. I had to fool around with the authority settings to understand the logic of search results. <br />Playing around with Technorati features, I included a widget from the Technorati site that lists here on my blog the hot blog searches of the moment.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-48943798022296045892007-12-13T19:12:00.000-08:002008-01-13T10:05:41.007-08:00Week 6, Thing #13All About Tagging and Social Bookmarking<br />I did quite a bit of reading and exploring in this area before I felt competent enough to be able to put my reflections here. I set up a del.icio.us account and eventually understood the concept and how to set it up. So I have just a few bookmarked sites in three different categories. I set up some of my own tags in addition to other tags I assigned from the ones others had already used.<br />The SJLibraryLearning2's bookmark site in del.icio.us was a good spot to explore the features of del.icio.us and also to encounter some great resources. I found a piece from the October 2007 School Library Journal about educators' experiences using Web 2.0 ("A Little Help From My Friends: Classroom 2.0 Educators Share Their Experiences") and read about a social studies teacher in Pennsylvania who uses a social bookmarking site called <a href="http://www.diigo.com">"Diigo"</a> to have his students read, bookmark, and respond to their reading as part of an online group. I guess you'd call Diigo a combination of a social bookmarking site and a .ning. This particular teacher sets up groups on Diigo for the different sections he is teaching and has his students read online articles related to their studies. Using Diigo, the students can then make comments, highlight certain passages, and place "stickies" next to those passages, with their comments. He prefers Diigo to del.icio.us because of these features. I signed in to Diigo and played with it, looking at some articles just for fun and using the comments and stickies feature. The teacher, Dave Ehrhart of Central York High School, also has an impressive site on the Classroom 2.0 .ning: <a href="http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/dehrhart">http://classroom20.ning.com/profile/dehrhart</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-61484561644018135872007-11-07T19:45:00.000-08:002007-11-07T19:53:50.473-08:00Week 5, Thing #12My Rollyo searchbox follows:<br /><div style='margin: 10px; text-align: center; width: 160px;'><form action='http://www.rollyo.com/search.html'><fieldset id='searchboxset' style='margin: 0 0 10px 0 !important; padding: 4px 0 0 0 !important; height: 62px; width: 160px; border: none;'><input type='text' size='30' style='background: #fff; font-family: helvetica, arial, sans-serif; color: #000; font-weight: normal; float: left; width: 108px; height: 14px; margin: 3px 0 4px 0px !important; font-size: 13px !important; vertical-align: middle;' name='q' value="" /><input type='image' src='http://rollyo.com/remote/btn-togo-search-ph2.png' alt='Go' style='margin: 2px 0 0 3px !important; float: left; border: none;' /> <br /><select id='rolls' name='sid' style='float: left; width: 158px; margin: 0 0 2px 0 !important; font-size: 12px;'><option value='325659' selected='selected'>Select Search Engine...</option><option value='325659'>Running Tips</option><option value='web'>Search The Web</option></select> <input type='hidden' name='togo-v' value='1' /><div id='about' style='font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 9px;'><div style='float: left;'>Powered by <a href='http://www.rollyo.com/' style='color: #C00;'>Rollyo</a></div></div></fieldset></form></div><br />We were asked to put in a topic that interested us, then place a searchbox on that topic on our blog. At least that's how I understood the directions! I completed a half-marathon in June and another one in October, and had so much fun and loved the challenge so much that I want to continue training through the winter months. So I created a Rollyo searchroll named "Running Tips" that you can access through this blog. I also created a Rollyo account and added some other searchrolls for topics of interest to me.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-25717384451459319572007-11-02T21:50:00.000-07:002007-11-07T18:55:53.645-08:00Week 5, Thing #11I spent quite a bit of time looking through the award-winning Web 2.0 sites. I liked the way the awards site was organized by categories. After looking though a number of categories, I finally delved into the Furl.net website that is listed under the "bookmarks" category. It's a nifty website that allows you to keep a record of sites that you've visited that have been useful or of interest. It automatically fills in the URL, the title, and gives you fields to fill in such as opinions, ratings, keywords. You also put a "Furl It" button on your favorites bar, which you select if there's a particular passage or description of the website that you want to copy to your Furl.net page. Your results can either be public or private. I will continue to use Furl.net.<br />For the "ning" activity, I went directly to "Teacher Librarian Network Ning". I joined the network, but still haven't joined any of the groups within the network. I'll need to spend more time on the site to see what this social networking offers. But I did put the feed for the "Information Fluency Project" group here on this blog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-65519936877027076722007-10-28T21:36:00.000-07:002007-10-29T18:14:19.155-07:00Week 5, Thing #10<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV4NLAD1qRXXsqe4jQOrhDG-KKA6UW4_OVQ3nCvy2Yt6GmrgcKifu90HmsKC9HAa_d2r_R8cvuG36OxnJoz5aA0cuh_3uyXvTYvgSUY_1bKgABP0tLdI3BOZDXytDVFlLAZb-Gz5l-AMR/s1600-h/addon.aspx.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglV4NLAD1qRXXsqe4jQOrhDG-KKA6UW4_OVQ3nCvy2Yt6GmrgcKifu90HmsKC9HAa_d2r_R8cvuG36OxnJoz5aA0cuh_3uyXvTYvgSUY_1bKgABP0tLdI3BOZDXytDVFlLAZb-Gz5l-AMR/s320/addon.aspx.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5126613648456437538" /></a><br />Here's an image I "generated" though Fototrix, a comic book image generator. It was fairly simple. I browsed through some of the other image generators but really didn't find anything that sparked my interest. This one at least offered the option of uploading your own photos or images and then tweaking them. Again, I'm going to have to find something other than my photos of my Peruvian trip to use in these exercises. The photo you see was taken on my birthday in June, on my way from Cuzco to Lake Titicaca on a very slow train.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-85539268399279710182007-10-21T14:25:00.000-07:002007-10-21T14:32:05.414-07:00Week 4, Thing #9I used the "Edublog" Award-Winning Blogs and found a link to a site called "K12 Online Conference 2007". The conference is still in progress as of today (Oct. 21) and the topics covered in the online conference parallel what I'm trying to learn in School Library Learning 2.0. The description:<br /><br />"The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2007 conference theme is “Playing with Boundaries”. This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 8, 2007. The following two weeks, October 15-19 and October 22-26, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog (this website) for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” and a culminating “When Night Falls” event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations."<br /><br />I posted the RSS feed for the conference on my own blog instead of on my bloglines account. For me it's a little easier to access this via my blog and, besides, it gave me the chance to try out different features that can go on a blog.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-72651860395687658992007-10-21T13:38:00.000-07:002007-10-21T14:33:24.960-07:00Week 4, Thing #8I did a lot of reading on this topic (RSS feeders) before I set up an account on Bloglines. It was all new to me. So I went to some of the sources recommended on the School Library Learning 2.0 blog and got myself caught up a bit on this Web 2.0 feature. Shortly after, a parent at my school approached me about updating our school website. One of the features she wanted to put into the restructured site was a monthly calendar with an RSS feature for parents and community members to select. I was glad I was able to follow what she was referring to, thanks to the reading I did online and to my own experiences setting up my account in Bloglines.<br />Bloglines is a site that's very easy to use. But what I'd really like to learn is how to set up an RSS feeder on my own website. Maybe my work with the parent who's helping with our school website will give me the chance to grow in that area.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-43499552887690927902007-09-26T15:45:00.000-07:002007-09-26T15:58:48.062-07:00Week 3, Thing #7The assignment is to write about any technology-related issue that interests me. Right now, I'm most interested in improving my library's website. I've been webmaster for several years, but the website has remained essentially the same, with updates on certain school- and library-related events. I just ordered a new laptop and Dreamweaver software, and I'll be working with a parent volunteer to redesign the website and include more features for students and parents. What I'd really like to do at some point is create a website for the school for the "outside world", and an intranet for for staff and students when they're on-site. But at the moment we don't have the infrastructure to support that idea.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-58933161383894388862007-09-25T18:57:00.001-07:002007-09-25T19:52:11.047-07:00Week 3, Thing #6<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTO6lXIMEqxtMzH6WEqrxMwc3xY13DLpmqdsD6iUGzNsCo6h6rkXuZWzEwLxRU9f5Tmn6SIRxplJvbtdb_7MFtexJ1S0FZOKyuXo5Rzf4wqNnNryC2zgB_O6dbS5vGk_QYyQemj9aucs1/s1600-h/postcard.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5114326335137711954" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBTO6lXIMEqxtMzH6WEqrxMwc3xY13DLpmqdsD6iUGzNsCo6h6rkXuZWzEwLxRU9f5Tmn6SIRxplJvbtdb_7MFtexJ1S0FZOKyuXo5Rzf4wqNnNryC2zgB_O6dbS5vGk_QYyQemj9aucs1/s320/postcard.jpg" border="0" /></a> Here's the postcard I made, then put into my Flickr account, and then transferred here. I had to read over the instructions and tips a few times, and then look over the different sites that have features that can be "mashed" with Flickr. But once I got on the postcard site, it only took me about five minutes to create the postcard, upload it to flickr and then post it here. I did it on a break between kindergarten story times. I need to get more photos available on my computer because all I have right now are ones of my Peruvian trip. But as you can see, you can't take a bad picture in Peru.<br /><div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-75030404525627645512007-09-19T19:12:00.001-07:002007-09-19T19:19:15.281-07:00Week 3, Thing #5<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"> <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90301165@N00/217388270/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/78/217388270_87391a0a7c_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:0;" > <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/90301165@N00/217388270/">bigsurcoast</a> <br /> Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/90301165@N00/">docjones1980</a> </span></div>This is a photo I grabbed from Flickr. It shows the Big Sur coast, just south of Monterey. This particular beach is well-known because it has a waterfall that plunges from the bluff directly onto the beach, and into the water during high tide. I am so fortunate to live near such beauty. People often think of California as the state of traffic and smog, but it really is the most breathtakingly scenic state of all!<br />Posting to your blog directly from Flickr is a breeze! I already had a Flickr account and didn't even know it! A friend of mine had been sending me photos of his family for years, so I have a lot of viewing to catch up on.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-85100231602099558802007-09-19T18:11:00.001-07:002007-09-19T18:16:33.390-07:00Week 2, Thing #3My blog was set up a few months ago, and I created a blog for my June trip to Peru. I like being able to let people know that if they're so inclined, they can read all about my trip and look at some of the photos. If they're not interested, you don't have to bore them with travel tales or photo albums. Blogs are easy!<br />I just posted my avatar this evening. Are there other places to go to create avatars? Are there sites that allow you to be a bit more creative - such as being able to draw and paint your own avatar? The yahoo site was easy to use and the instructions on the CSLA blog were clear, but there's not much room for really expressing yourself with all the pre-set choices and accessories.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1740712045038797929.post-11218638438381170762007-09-19T17:35:00.000-07:002007-09-19T18:11:14.168-07:00Week 1, Thing #2I'm starting this process on September 19, a bit behind. But I set up my blog in June and created a blog for my Peru trip this summer.<br />As for the 7.5 habits of lifelong learners, I would say that viewing problems as learning opportunities would be the habit that is most difficult for me. I know that it's true that we learn by working through problems, and I've had that experience innumerable times. But it isn't fun or exciting for me. Problems, especially ones that bog me down for a time, are frustrating. But it does feel good when I've successfully worked through the problem.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0