#22 (WEEK 9) eBOOKS and AUDIO

So, I mentioned audio books in my last podcast. I just love them. The Free Library of Philadelphia, as well as the Montgomery County Library System, has audio books available for free. However, you can't use Macs or ipods. All of the computers, both desk tops and laptops, in the school library are macs. A large number of the computers in Philadelphia schools are Macs and it's a travesty that this resource is not available to our students.

I did explore the World EBook Fair's site for free downloads from the Gutenberg Project. The amount of resources available is amazing. Actually, I looked at the World's Ebook and found that the ones I checked out weren't printable and needed an authorization as well. Next, I looked at the Internet Archive resource. I searched for Dicken's Great Expectations since this is the summer reading for seniors at my school. It seems that this has to be read online (?) as I didn't see a way to download it, especially since the pages were from an actual book. Then I explored the eBooks About Everything site. This site contained ebooks for sale and the prices are more than the $14.95 I pay for my Audible.com subscription. There were audio books there that are not available on audible.com such as James McBride's newest title. Lastly, I selected imslp which is a music site for sheet music. I chose to look for Chopin (no specific reason) and not only is sheet music available, but there were links to Wikipedia and a list of all of his works.

These are all awesome web sites for different reasons.

#21 (WEEK 9) Podcasts

I had a problem getting to some of the podcast directories listed: podcast.net's server wouldn't come up, nor did yahoo podcasts. I was able to get to the educational podcast directory. I have been using podcasts for several years, starting with audible.com. I download one book a month. It costs 14.95 per month and it's well worth it as I listen in my car whenever I drive. That way, I can "read" an extra book while driving. I also download podcasts frequently from itunes, mostly the free ones like grammar girl, car talk, and slate gabfest. They automatically appear in my itunes account each week since I subscribe to them. Two years ago, another teacher and I collaborated on a grant for podcasting. We received 5 laptops from the district so that our students could make their own podcasts. It was a wonderful experience because the students were so involved and loved doing their podcasts on different topics they had researched. I can see how the rss feed will be helpful to students doing research, especially for senior projects, which involve a longer time period.

#20 (WEEK 9) YouTube

I have known about YouTube for a while; I even learned to crochet from a YouTube posting. I was curious to see if there was anything on YouTube from my high school, Parkway Northwest High School for Peace and Social Justice and there was! In 2006, Univ. of PA management students helped our students put on a fashion show for peace. I guess the Penn students made the video and posted it. There are many segments to it and here is the website or maybe the video will appear. One of the things I learned from this is that any cell phone videotaping anything at school can appear on youtube since almost all students have a cell phone! Well, I see that the video is a problem so here is the website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCtRZTx6A4s. I'll have to work on the video part. I hope you enjoy it.

#19 (WEEK 8) LibraryThing

Library 2.0 is getting better every week. Just when I thought nothing could be better than zoho writer (I'm going to encourage everyone in my school to use it and just touted it at a senior project professional development) the next of thing is LibraryThing. What fun. It was so easy to use. Even though I have Follette's Destiny catalogue and circulation program at school, I can see how LibraryThing can be so helpful for those libraries (and there are many in my district) who can't afford an electronic circulation/catalog system. It is so amazing that this is free. I am going to share this with my book club, my family, and anyone else I can think of. A great way to build a community of readers. Here is the link to my personal LibraryThing catalog which will be growing in the future.

*18 (WEEK 8) Zoho Writer

I have to start school this week. Well, not really; it's a three day professional development at Temple Universtiy about senior projects. I will definitely bring up Zoho writer. I can't believe that this is a free program. I hear advertisements all the time on the Grammar Girl Podcast for a program just like this, but of course you have to buy it. This is great.

A lot of times, students will type an assignment at home and then try to email it to school so that they can open it up and work on it. Sometimes, their word processing program doesn't work with the computers we have at school. Zoho writer will solve this problem. Zoho writer is the best. I want to learn more about it!

#17 (WEEK 7) PA Curriculum Connection Wiki

I did look at the PA Curriculum Connection Wiki. Crystal, I love your avatar; your puppy is adorable. I searched a few of the topics such as technorati, avatars, online learning. I even attempted to enter the wiki. However, I did not have the invite key. I then proceeded to contact the site administrator. Actually, I tried twice, but didn't get a response, so I was unable to edit or change anything. I liked reading what was there though, especially the suggestion of a good website on Edutopia that had an article about syncing up with students. This article suggested that students are already involved with technology and web 2.0-like activities through their cell phones, laptops, etc. It is imperative that teachers (and librarians) engage the students on their level to create, problem solve, and communicate. I am going to share this article with the teachers once school begins. Viva PA Curriculum Connection Wiki; I just wish I had an invite key.

#16a (WEEK 7) Learning 2.0 sandbox)

Visited the California Curriculum Connections wiki. Saw a post by Mary Schwander from the PSLA library 2.0 summer course. She has a link to her school library website that is a wiki. I looked at it and I'm so impressed. It is a great wiki/website. All of the links work and are quite interesting. Well done, Mary. This is the way wikis will help school libraries. It is what I would like to do if I could. Mary, this is an inspiration to me; I'm going to try. Thanks.

#16 (WEEK 7) Wikis

I am familiar with wikipedia. I use it often for a quick definition or to look up a term or topic I am not familiar with. Students at my high school like to use it for research; it's quick and easy to use. However, some teachers do not allow wikipedia as a source for research due to the fact that it is changeable and not authoritative. Now that I know more about it, I believe that students could be allowed to use it but not exclusively; more sources are need to verify information. Students really need to learn and know how to evaluate wikipedia articles.

I perused some of the library specific wikis. I didn't know much about wikis that had special topics and could be designed for group use. I would like to learn more about wikis and how to set them up for classrooms. Again, I will collaborate with the tech teacher to enable this to happen. I know what wikis are but need more info on how to set one up.

One thing I noticed about some of the library wikis was that, like websites, they are most useful when they are kept updated. Time to do it is a factor in the success of wikis. I enjoyed learning more about wikis and the fact that wikipedia is not the end all and be all of it, just the biggest. I liked the resources that were listed to learn more about wikis; I found them very useful as tutorials.

#15 (WEEK 6) Perspectives on Web 2.0

Reading the perspectives on Web 2.0 and its affect on libraries solidified for me the readings and exercises that came before. I now have a better understanding of what Web 2.0 is and what it means for the future of libraries. I remember when it was so special (1990's) to find a photograph for a student on the AP data base that Power library provided for school libraries; now with Flickr or youtube, anyone, anywhere can find one. According to futurist, Dr. Wendy Schultz, the library is everywhere, available to everyone, but people will still need experienced tour guides. I agree with her, but in the urban public school world, where budgets are slim, and not everyone agrees with this statement, librarians are on the cutting edge - the ones to be cut during the budget crunch. In some Philadelphia schools that still actually have libraries, many do not even have automated circulation or catalog systems. Unfortunately, district administrators do not see libraries as a necessary part of information technology when there are computer labs available. Cell phones, one of the emerging technologies of the future according to the 2008 Horizon report are outlawed for school use; if cell phones will become one of the means by which students access websites in the future, this policy will have to be re-examined. Oh, and you tube will have to be unblocked as well. The future is here, our students are part of it, will Philadelphia's public schools allow it? Will school librarians have an essential role?

#14 (WEEK 6) Technorati

I understand the concept of Technorati but had a slight problem doing the exercise that went along with it. The keyword search confused me because I couldn't find the differentiation for blog posts, tags and blog directory. When I did a keyword search for "School Library Learning 2.0", the result was a slide show by a high school student entitled "Kim's High School Page". I wasn't able to find the tags and do a search on that. The Blog Directory seemed to be organized by topic, but I didn't see one for libraries or education. I did see that there were lots of blogs about Web 2.0 though. So, yes, the results were different, but I didn't find this particular area that interesting for my school's needs yet. It appears that the advantages of tagging would be the organizational aspects. I really don't see any disadvantages. I think I have to explore Technorati some more to better ascertain the advantages and disadvantages of tagging. But at least now I know what the term tagging means and have become familiar with the websites Flickr, Del.icio.us, and Technorati. I will definitely discuss these with the tech teacher at school.