Ok, even though it's not required, I'm adding a Thing 23 to my blog. I just completed the survey and attempted a brief run through in my head of all of the Things I had completed during the course. It was a great experience and I am really glad I participated. Throughout the course, I enjoyed reading some of the other participants' blogs and commenting on a few where I had a similar view that the participant did. Unfortunately, no one commented on any of my blog entries except the first one and it was someone I knew who I had told that I had registered for the course. I wish I had thought of this before and had suggested it in the survey, but it might have been helpful to place the participants into groups where we could "keep up with" a few of the other participants and have the opportunity to comment on their blogs only instead of digging through all of the ones in the list. Many weeks into the course I finally found a few other blogs that I could "follow" and comment if I desired. It was frustrating to click on one blog after another to find that the participant was not posting. It also would have been nice to have others comment on my blog to see if we shared similar or dissimilar views. Anyway, maybe I will send some of my suggestions through IM. Sorry for not getting them into the survey!
Monday, April 13, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thing 22: Staying Current
How will I stay up-to-date with all of the latest web 2.0 tools? Well, I will never have the time to learn many of the things that are out there, but this course has sure helped me find and learn about a lot of them! First of all, I will probably use the tools I enjoyed the most often. Then, hopefully, I will find ways to use some of the other tools for library or personal projects or offer help with them if they could be used by someone else. Between the 2 of these, I hope I can continue to remain knowledgeable about current web 2.0 tools, but I also hope these tools will lead me to other useful tools or newer tools that are out there.
I have added LibrarianInBlack and go2web20.net to my GoogleReader, but I will have to work hard to read the news, blogs, and other information even from GoogleReader since I have never been much of a news fan. However, I will attempt to glance every few days and see if there is anything new and interesting in the web 2.0 world.
The best way I have found to keep up with new tools is by talking to my co-workers and friends who are into web stuff. They offer good advice and recommendations about the tools they are using right now. Another source for great information is student assistants. These people are in college right now and were born digital! I even asked one student assistant about using Facebook! Mostly they are very helpful, patient, knowledgeable, and honest! Don't be afraid to ask!
I have learned a lot from this course and I really liked the work at your own pace style. I was able to explore the "Things" and blog as I had time and it worked out really well for me. Thanks for planning this course NEFLIN! I feel like I can better help patrons, colleagues, and myself with future questions and projects!
I have added LibrarianInBlack and go2web20.net to my GoogleReader, but I will have to work hard to read the news, blogs, and other information even from GoogleReader since I have never been much of a news fan. However, I will attempt to glance every few days and see if there is anything new and interesting in the web 2.0 world.
The best way I have found to keep up with new tools is by talking to my co-workers and friends who are into web stuff. They offer good advice and recommendations about the tools they are using right now. Another source for great information is student assistants. These people are in college right now and were born digital! I even asked one student assistant about using Facebook! Mostly they are very helpful, patient, knowledgeable, and honest! Don't be afraid to ask!
I have learned a lot from this course and I really liked the work at your own pace style. I was able to explore the "Things" and blog as I had time and it worked out really well for me. Thanks for planning this course NEFLIN! I feel like I can better help patrons, colleagues, and myself with future questions and projects!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Thing 21: Student 2.0 Tools
It is great to see all of these research planning tools for students organized in one place! I think these tools would be very useful for librarians who work closely with teachers/professors on class research assignments. It would be very helpful for librarians to be able to introduce teachers/professors to these tools (The Assignment Calculator, RPC, and some of the resources in the RPC Teacher Guide), but I think most of them would be most useful in the classroom.
I think the Assignment Calculator and the RPC would work well with high school students, but I am not sold on using them with college students. As easy and quick as they both are to use, I just don't see a lot of students taking the time to follow all the steps, keep up-to-date, and fill in all of the information unless the students are required to do so by their professors. The same goes for most of the handouts in the RPC Teacher Guide. Some of the tip sheets (Boolean Basics, Improve Your Google Search) may be used by college students, but most students wouldn't take the time to complete handouts such as the Student Research Planning Guide, KWL & Q chart, Research Process: Questions & Answers unless they were class assignments.
I did take the time to open and read most of the resources in the RPC Teacher Guide and used it as an opportunity to "brush up" on my research skills. I do think that many of the handouts are useful for anyone doing research and I would definitely recommend these tools to any student in need of research assistance - especially at the beginning of his/her assignment. But, I definitely think these student 2.0 tools would be really valuable for media specialists, teachers, and students at the high school level since there is much more interaction among the 3 groups of people than at the college level (in many cases). It's not that librarians aren't involved in the research processes of college students (many are greatly involved by offering class presentations, individual reference appointments, having knowledge of class assignments, etc), but there are so many students and so many classes that they can't be as closely involved in class research assignments as librarians at the high school level may be. As a former high school teacher, I appreciate the opportunities my students had in the libraries and the knowledge and assistance the librarians offered me and my students on a regular basis. They are EXCELLENT resources! Thank you library media specialists!
I think the Assignment Calculator and the RPC would work well with high school students, but I am not sold on using them with college students. As easy and quick as they both are to use, I just don't see a lot of students taking the time to follow all the steps, keep up-to-date, and fill in all of the information unless the students are required to do so by their professors. The same goes for most of the handouts in the RPC Teacher Guide. Some of the tip sheets (Boolean Basics, Improve Your Google Search) may be used by college students, but most students wouldn't take the time to complete handouts such as the Student Research Planning Guide, KWL & Q chart, Research Process: Questions & Answers unless they were class assignments.
I did take the time to open and read most of the resources in the RPC Teacher Guide and used it as an opportunity to "brush up" on my research skills. I do think that many of the handouts are useful for anyone doing research and I would definitely recommend these tools to any student in need of research assistance - especially at the beginning of his/her assignment. But, I definitely think these student 2.0 tools would be really valuable for media specialists, teachers, and students at the high school level since there is much more interaction among the 3 groups of people than at the college level (in many cases). It's not that librarians aren't involved in the research processes of college students (many are greatly involved by offering class presentations, individual reference appointments, having knowledge of class assignments, etc), but there are so many students and so many classes that they can't be as closely involved in class research assignments as librarians at the high school level may be. As a former high school teacher, I appreciate the opportunities my students had in the libraries and the knowledge and assistance the librarians offered me and my students on a regular basis. They are EXCELLENT resources! Thank you library media specialists!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Thing 20: Books 2.0
I don't have any facts and figures, just my observations, but it seems that patrons are still using real (paper) books. Of course patrons want access to materials faster, but many only seem willing to read articles online. They don't seem as interested in online books. People still want to read paperback novels and fiction and even though technology offers access to reading on laptops, kindle, etc, they are not willing to read lengthy stories online or electronically.
All in all I believe it depends on what you are reading to determine if it is enhancing or hampering your reading experience. If you are reading short stories, or the news, or research literature, etc., you are probably enhancing your reading experiences. But, other ventures on the internet may hamper one's reading experiences. I will not list any of these experiences because I think we all know what they are.
I read several of the articles which discussed the future of the book and found them all interesting. I guess the debate will go on . . . I also visited many of the Book 2.0 sites listed and explored their features. A few friends and I have a small, fun reading group and we can never figure out what to read next. So, I checked out all of the sites under "Readers' Advisory" and a few "Book Group Resources." The sites that seemed most useful to me personally were Twitterlit, Reading Trails, What Should I Read Next?, What's Next?, and Reading Group Choices. I thought they would each be helpful in determining new books for our group and they were so simple!!! I also like the Book Browse site under "Book Reviews." It's always great to read a few other opinions on a book before deciding to take a chance on it!
I did explore a couple of the "Books on Your Phone" sites even though I am not interested in reading ANYTHING on my phone. I think would go blind very quickly! The children't lit section was pretty good, too. I have a young child who loves to read, but is way too young for anything on the internet. The sites were a great place to find all kinds of books for children.
As for professionally, I only thought a few of the sites were useful in the libraries. I think any of the "Readers' Advisory" sites would be helpful for students looking for books to read. However, they would still need to use the library catalog to find out whether the library owned it or not unless they were using the WorldCat/Facebook tool. (I was leary about trying any of the Facebook apps because I really didn't want to fiddle around in Facebook more nor did I want to install any more apps.) So, I don't know how well the WorldCat tool works in Facebook, but it could be useful if it can find books in any library.
I also thought a few of the "Children's Books" tools may be useful for Education-specific library. In the NEFLIN's 23 Things - Thing 20 post, I made a comment regarding the "International Children's Digital Library." We currently have that database listed under our Children's Literature Resource Guides on the Education Library homepage. The site is so cute and fun to use!! I especially LOVE finding books in foreign languages!
There were so many sites in this "Thing" that I had to bookmark them in Delicious! At least I am still using things we learned previously (Thing 10)! I also went back to Library Thing (Thing 13) several times while exploring this thing since many of the sites were related and I love that site! Wow - this was a big thing to explore, too. I have been back and forth on it for 4 days!
All in all I believe it depends on what you are reading to determine if it is enhancing or hampering your reading experience. If you are reading short stories, or the news, or research literature, etc., you are probably enhancing your reading experiences. But, other ventures on the internet may hamper one's reading experiences. I will not list any of these experiences because I think we all know what they are.
I read several of the articles which discussed the future of the book and found them all interesting. I guess the debate will go on . . . I also visited many of the Book 2.0 sites listed and explored their features. A few friends and I have a small, fun reading group and we can never figure out what to read next. So, I checked out all of the sites under "Readers' Advisory" and a few "Book Group Resources." The sites that seemed most useful to me personally were Twitterlit, Reading Trails, What Should I Read Next?, What's Next?, and Reading Group Choices. I thought they would each be helpful in determining new books for our group and they were so simple!!! I also like the Book Browse site under "Book Reviews." It's always great to read a few other opinions on a book before deciding to take a chance on it!
I did explore a couple of the "Books on Your Phone" sites even though I am not interested in reading ANYTHING on my phone. I think would go blind very quickly! The children't lit section was pretty good, too. I have a young child who loves to read, but is way too young for anything on the internet. The sites were a great place to find all kinds of books for children.
As for professionally, I only thought a few of the sites were useful in the libraries. I think any of the "Readers' Advisory" sites would be helpful for students looking for books to read. However, they would still need to use the library catalog to find out whether the library owned it or not unless they were using the WorldCat/Facebook tool. (I was leary about trying any of the Facebook apps because I really didn't want to fiddle around in Facebook more nor did I want to install any more apps.) So, I don't know how well the WorldCat tool works in Facebook, but it could be useful if it can find books in any library.
I also thought a few of the "Children's Books" tools may be useful for Education-specific library. In the NEFLIN's 23 Things - Thing 20 post, I made a comment regarding the "International Children's Digital Library." We currently have that database listed under our Children's Literature Resource Guides on the Education Library homepage. The site is so cute and fun to use!! I especially LOVE finding books in foreign languages!
There were so many sites in this "Thing" that I had to bookmark them in Delicious! At least I am still using things we learned previously (Thing 10)! I also went back to Library Thing (Thing 13) several times while exploring this thing since many of the sites were related and I love that site! Wow - this was a big thing to explore, too. I have been back and forth on it for 4 days!
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