Podcasts (Week 9)

Podcasts are excellent tools to find out new information. Many popular radio shows such as NPR or ESPN post shorter versions of a show that lasts several hours. Others produce programs specifically for the podcast. iTunes is the most popular source to get podcasts from. I subscribe to more than I can really listen to about sports, education, legal issues, comedy, authors, etc.

Online productivity (Week 8)

Online productivity tools are great for group projects. I have used Google Docs for collaborating on powerpoints for a distance ed course and it was MUCH easier than emailing back and forth or posting and reposting in a discussion board. The only drawback is that online tools do not have all of the features that the installed program has. However, it is free and very easy to use.

Wikis (Week 7)

Wikis are a great tool for collaboration. I teach wikis in my information literacy course and, of course, why Wikipedia is not a scholarly tool. Rather than force the students to listen to another teacher rail against the evils of Wikipedia, I use clips from the Colbert Report to do it for me. Colbert does a great interview with Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and has several clips where he asks "the nation" to make specific changes to articles, which his fans quickly do. This behavior has resulted in several pages, including elephants, Colbert's own page, oxygen, Einstein, and alpacas, to be locked. These examples show how easily changes can be made to entries. My students then evaluate the Wikipedia article on the topic they have been researching.

Wikis are good for collaboration because they allow the users to work at the same time, from a distance, track changes, and add text, links and images.

Web 2.0 & library future (Week 6)

I agree wholeheartedly that libraries need to and are changing. As a teacher, I have grown to hate the latest catchword "21st century learner". It is frustrating to see administration who sees the library as antiquated and a thing to be reduced, or worse yet, removed, rather than a technological center that needs funding to adapt the changing needs of the students. But when everyone has a laptop and Internet access, who needs libraries, right?

Tagging (Week 6, #13)

Social bookmarking is a very useful tool to keep track of websites. I have a delicious account for both my patrons and personal use. It is very easy to direct students to the list of recommended sites. However, sometimes they don't understand the concept that I am only recommending sites linked from the school account. They immediately go for the search engine even though I tell them that they will have to go through the website evaluation process if they use a site other than the pre-approved ones.

Since Sears doesn't always use the most obvious choice it can be frustrating at times, one does realize its value when tagging. There are many ways to say the same thing, and as a social bookmarking account grows, if tags aren't consistent it can be easy to lose track of links.

Rollyo (Week 5, #12)

Rollyo is a pretty cool tool. It allows you to create your own search engines. I made a quick list of recipe sites that I use. I have a list of 26 (and growing) on my delicious site. Creating my own mini search engine could save me a lot of time. It is also nice to find links that other people like for items like free photos.

Web 2.0 Awards (Week 5, #11)

When I looked at the list of Web 2.0 Awards, I was happy to see that I was already using many of them. I currently use or have used at one time delicious, LibraryThing, GoogleDocs, CareerBuilder, Monster, Geni, Wikispaces, PBwiki, Google Earth, Yahoo maps, Flickr, Picnik, LinkIn, Zillow, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, digg, iGoogle, My yahoo, and youtube. It is amazing how many programs there are that do essentially the same thing. I will be teaching a course in Children's Literature and signed up for LibraryThing so I can get an online list of the children's and professional books I already have. I also belong to several organizations on NING and have set up a site for the Lancaster Lebanon School Librarians Association.