Library 2.0-Adventure #15

Do you remember when you started Kindergarten? You may have only known some of your colors or some of your numbers, but it was okay. Kindergarten was a learning year. Now, however, kindergarten is the new 1st grade. Students are required, in kindergarten, to perform on their first day.

What does this have to do with Library 2.0? Let's first look at 21st century learning. 21st century skills are being introduced at an early age. Students are being asked to work in groups to solve problems, while building on each other's thinking; they are being asked to use critical thinking skills to share their work in a variety of ways, usually involving technology. 21st century learning is necessary in order to compete in an ever evolving technological society. It is also necessary, in my opinion, to start the 21st century learning process in elementary school.

Library 2.0, which is based on Web 2.0 tools, incorporates 21st century learning. Therefore, Library 2.0 tools need to be in place in order to facilitate the learning process. Can public school libraries provide a complete Library 2.0 setting? No. School libraries, with their money woes, lack the necessary funding and must use free technology. In addition, a school librarian's time is limited, especially when the librarian is on a fixed schedule and only has a maximum of 15 minutes of instruction time.

So, public libraries are jumping on the Library 2.0 bandwagon, with good reason. Public libraries are providing what school libraries can't: one-button commands, easy to use programs and services that require little or no training and available personnel that can work on a one-to-one basis if necessary. Does that mean that school libraries are off the hook? No. We are still responsible for 21st century learning, and once again, 21st century learning requries a 2.0 Library.

That is where Web 2.0 tools play in, for there are many free tools that school libraries can use to help students begin their 21st century journey. Wikis, blogs, glogs and other collaboration tools are readily available to school librarians if they are willing to invest a little time into learning what is actually out there.

Michael Stephens in his article "Into a New World of Librarianship" published in the OCLC newsletter summed up Library 2.0 nicely when he said that libraries must meet the needs of its patrons by allowing "users access wherever they are." How can students be expected to develop 21st century skills if they don't have access to the necessary tools?

So, a 2.0 library is what we all should be striving for; otherwise, our students will always be one step behind.

Technorati-Adventure #14

Technorati, found at http://technorati.com, is a website phenomenon that is transforming the blogging world and making it more accessible. Technorati uses tags like education, technology, web 2.0, to help bloggers or blog readers find entries that suit their reading interests.

Do I think that elementary school teachers would be interested in using Technorati? I doubt it. The reasoning behind my assumption: Time constraints. Elementary school teachers have a hard enough time keeping up with all the TAKS-related information that they have to assimilate. State testing in Texas seems to consume most of the teacher's time, whether at the elementary or high school level.

School librarians do not have the luxury of time either. Summer would seem to be the only time that librarians would be able to search Technorati for interesting blog postings.

Do I think Technorati is worth looking into? Definitely! I didn't even know Technorati existed until this Web 2.0 class; I believe it is worth introducing to the teachers/librarians; then, when they have free time (Insert big smile here!) they can explore the site on their own.

Technorati also lets you "claim your blog." When you submit your blog to Technorati, they will evaluate it to see if it is worth being included in Technorati's blog search. You have to remember, however, to include tags at the bottom of each post. (I just saw the area for labels at the bottom of this post-big Duh for me!) I guess better late than never.

So, until next time techies.....I will keep you posted on my blog claim.

Social Bookmarking Sites-Adventure #13

Delicious, found at http://delicious.com, is just one Social Bookmarking site that allows you to save your favorite websites in an organized, portable way. I had already signed up for Delicious before this adventure began because these adventures tend to overlap each other. However, I was introduced to another Social Bookmarking site that I like even better. It is called Diigo and can be found at http://www.diigo.com. What I like about Diigo is that you can link it to your Delicious account as well as your blog. So, right now, my new bookmarks for Diigo are also saved in Delicious. You can also see that I linked Diigo to my blog; so, if I find an interesting website that I need to share, I can send it directly to my blog. (see post before this one.)

Bookmarking sites are important for teachers and librarians because websites can be shared with students and colleagues in a portable way. The student or teacher doesn't have to be on the computer that the sites were saved on. Diigo also has an account especially designed for teachers which will allow their students to also use the site under their teacher's account without having an email address (important for elementary students more so than with high school students.)

Diigo has many other features that would not only help teachers but help students organize research materials found on the internet and then take the research materials to any computer. Diigo's toolbar allows the user to highlight information found in an article, capture the whole article and then send it to other users if needed.

I did find out that you have to go to View: Toolbars: Diigo each time you open your browser, but that is not really a problem. You just have to remember to do this.

Sounds like I am sold on Diigo, right? I think it will help librarians and teachers become more organized. Believe me, if you see my list of favorites on my computer, you would know what I mean. What a mess!! Social Bookmarking sites allow you to add Tags to help you find websites that have a common theme; this is what helps with organization. You can not do that with your traditional favorites bookmarking on your computer.

Each of these adventures have really been eye-openers for me; however, they are time-consuming. I am having fun though. I would encourage technology buffs to go on their own adventure but at a slower pace. Until next time techies........

Education World® : Special Theme: Children's Book Week

• Education World® : Special Theme: Children's Book Week

   

  tags: book celebrations week books

   

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

Rollyo-Adventure #12

I have been "playing around" with Rollyo for about 3 hours. Rollyo is a site that allows you to create your own search tool using the websites that you frequently use. You can find Rollyo at http://www.rollyo.com/. I thought I would create one using websites that I have on my favorites list. All of the websites are connected to books and lesson plans for elementary school libraries. I didn't add a lot of websites but am assuming that I can go back and edit. (need to check on that)

I first went to: Add a gadget on my blog so that I could add the search box on the side. Do not click on "Search Box." That is a search box that Blogger provides. Instead, Click on "HTML/JAVA Script and paste the code that is provided from Rollyo. That will add your search box to the side or wherever you want the gadget. Just for fun, type in "shape books" and see what comes up.

It was fun creating my own search tool. I think it would be fun to create science websites for the teachers to search in or now that a social studies test is being added to 5th grade.........endless possibilities!

This adventure is not over. I am hoping to continue this adventure tomorrow. So until then techies and librarians and friends and foe....... (sorry, my husband has been reading Hulk comic books, but that's another story!)

Adventure #11-Web 2.0 Tools

This assignment said to choose only one to explore. Didn't happen!! Who could choose just one? What are Web 2.0 tools? Actually, they are just categorized websites that have been ranked or thought to be the best in their category. There are many websites. However, here is a link to the "short" list of websites which is alittle more manageable. "Alittle" http://www.seomoz.org/web2.0/short

I chose to explore four websites in detail. Of course, the websites I chose still need to be explored further. Talk about a technology rush!! The first one, for personal use, was My Heritage. This is a free geneaology site where you can start your family tree. You can find it at http://www.myheritage.com. This site is very easy to use but more for personal use than for school use.

The second one I chose was Wufoo. This can be found at http://www.wufoo.com. This is an online form creator. I created a form with it previously, but noone chose to fill it out for me. Boo Hoo! The only thing about Wufoo that I didn't like was that if you are using it for free, you can only create 3 forms per month. I can think of a lot of online forms to create for my library students. Teachers would be able to use this, however, because they probably wouldn't be able to create more than 3 forms anyway since their time is limited for extra "fun" things.

The third tool I chose was delicious. Delicious, which can be found at http://delicious.com is an online bookmarking site. Anything you find of interest on the internet can be saved on delicious for easy access later. Delicious also has internet lists already made. For example, in the search box, I typed in Elementary Library Lesson Plans, and a list of websites had already been created. Delicious is sponsored by Yahoo. I think the teachers would be able to use delicious for saving their searches for projects. High School students would also be able to benefit from this site.

The last tool I chose was pbworks. Pbworks is a shared workspace where students can collaborate on assignments. You can find it at http://www.pbworks.com The free version allows the teacher or librarian to host 100 students under her/him. What I liked about this tool was that the students do not need email addresses. Teachers or librarians can create the accounts under their account.

There are so many tools out there to use. I plan to expose the teachers to what is available and use some of the sites myself; however, sometimes, there is just too too much out there. Not complaining; however, in the real world of elementary teachers, you just do not have enough free time to leisurely "play around" with a Web 2.0 tool in order to feel comfortable enough to use it with your class.

That's just my two-cents worth. (okay, with inflation, probably less!) So, I am off to another adventure. So, techies................until next time. I am dying to post another glog....they are so much fun.

Glogster for educators

I am backtracking to Glogster. I researched Glogster for educators and found it to be a worthwhile tool for use with elementary students. Glogster, as previously stated, is an online poster creator. The educator's version allows a teacher, or in this case a librarian, to create an account with 100 students having access to it under the teacher/librarian account. A glog was created by a teacher giving you more information on how to use and make glogs. It can be found at http://momtom.edu.glogster.com/all-about-glogster/ I was going to place the glog on this blog but wasn't sure about copyright laws. Can you tell that this is my new favorite adventure? Okay, back to Web 2.0 tools. Believe me, there are a lot of those, even on the short list. :)

Adventure #11-Web 2.0 The Best of the Best

I am just beginning to explore the Best of the Best Web 2.0 tools. Here is one that I created using WUFOO which is an online form creator. Check out my form, and fill it out when you have a chance. Then, I will post the results and how I obtained them.
http://angelfox.wufoo.com/forms/how-is-tyran-doing/

Adventure #10-Online Image Generators

Stay tuned!! I am reading about glogster for educators. Sounds interesting. Okay, obviously, I am still hooked on glogster and want to find a way to incorporate it into the library. Until I learn more, tech fans.......

ImageChef.com Poetry Blender

Adventure #10-Online Image Generators

I fell in love with Glogster. It is a lot like creating a blog but in poster form, and you can be more creative with it. I posted one that I created today. You can also visit my page at http://angelscaughtreading.glogster.com to see my glog page. I would really love to see my elementary students (primarily 5th grade) use this; however, I think I am dreaming! High School would definitely enjoy this. Why did they have to make all these technology wonders after I have grown up? or maybe I haven't grown up if I am enjoying these generators so much. :)

ImageChef.com is also great. I believe I could you this site in the library to highlight the student's accomplishments in reading or for the student to create an image for a project.

I spent time on the other image generators, but when I found glogster, the others took a backseat. I love being creative. I know the students do too; they just are not given enough time to be creative with all of the testing that is going on in school. Boo!!

So, as a librarian, whether I am in elementary next year again or at the high school (that is another story) I plan to introduce glogster in some way. With my luck, it will be filtered, and I won't be able to use it.

I am not finished with the image generators and plan to revisit them later. So, my technology buffs, until next time, visit glogster to view other glogs. You may be glogging instead of blogging!!

Glogster