Thing #23: Summarize Your Thoughts

I made it! Yeah! Here are a few thoughts about my journey into 23 Things:

What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?

I especially enjoyed learning about the creative tools available to add a little spice to my library program. I enjoyed using Flickr and learning about the Creative Commons site for photos. I had a lot of fun with the mashups and online image generators.

How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?

I have learned about so many new tools that I am already using to make my library program even more effective and hopefully more inviting to my students and staff.

Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I found that I really enjoyed this online course format so much more that going to a week-long seminar. I was able to work at my own pace to complete the assignments and that really worked well.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

I do wish that I had the opportunity to visit everyone's blogs. The participants have so many great ideas, but it is time consuming to go to each blog for each thing assignment.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?

Yes.

How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote 23 Things learning activities?

23 Things is a wonderful opportunity to learn new tools and share valuable advice with fellow educators.

To my fellow librarians and educators throughout the Net, keep up the great blogs!

Thing #22: Nings

Thing #22
I had never heard of Ning before. I can how a group of people sharing similar interests could be beneficial. I explored, and joined the TeacherLibrarianNing because the discussions were current and meaningful for me. Quite a few of the Nings are very small which does not allow for a lot of discussions. I can see creating a Ning with other librarians in our district, though we may be better served by using a wiki or blog. There are so many resources to still explore! How do you communicate with fellow librarians?

Thing #21: Podcasts and Videocasts

Podcasts and Vidcasts are great ways to share book reviews. I've used Photostory quite often to create booktalks and other library lessons. Photostory is a simple program that is wonderful for pulling together a project during the busy school days. Teachers enjoy having access to these short videos to share with their class. I place the vidcasts on a shared drive and send out a link to the teachers. Here is a short Photostory on my family's recent trip to the Grand Canyon.

Thing #20: Explore YouTube And TeacherTube

I've used YouTube and TeacherTube to search for videos, lesson ideas, and information. It is so amazing what you can find! I think TeacherTube is a wonderful tool for educators to share. I found several videos on technology, books and libraries including one called Pay Attention that has the common message that we need to capture our students with what they are already using --technology!

Thing #19: Explore the Web 2.0 Awards List

I took some time looking over the Web 2.0 Awards List and discovered that most of the sites that I liked best have been suggested by Library2Play! I did go to the yourminis site and found some fun widgets. However, a word of caution about adding widgets that someone else created -- be careful what you add to your blog. Some of the widgets with changing text or images may contain items that you do not want on your blog. Just browsing through some "fun" widgets, I found a few surprises.

Thing #18: Online Productivity Tools

Open Office appears to be an option for students to use especially if they need a free word processing program to use at home. Google Docs is a good solution when you want to access a document away from home or work. I always carry my faithful flash drive with me to save documents, but Google Docs provides another location to save my files. I recently used Google Docs to save flight information and my travel itinerary so that I could access it on my iPhone. It worked beautifully.

Thing #17: Rollyo

I have to admit that I wasn't sold on the idea of one more search engine to clutter my mind (and my laptop). However, I did sign up with Rollyo even though I kept thinking that I could do this with Google too. Then I tried creating a simple searchroll using some favorite recipe sites. Wow! It was so easy to create Cooking at Home. I can see this tool being used by teachers and librarians because it is quick and easy.