Texas Two-Step: Method 3, In the Cloud

I haven't given thought until now to wonder where my Google mail resides. The initial knowledge that it might be in Boston one day and on a server in Los Angeles another day is unsettling. However, the benefits I've had with my Gmail in the cloud compensates for that. Zoho looks intriguing, but I find that my intuition and online "intuitive" programs are often not on the same wavelength. I scanned some of the Zoho apps, but wish there was more instruction. I'll search for some sites in the cloud that will simplify and explain this process to me. Doug Johnson's idea of carrying a light and inexpensive netbook, and putting nearly everything else in the cloud is appealing. But I do have concerns about loss of identity, loss of electricity, loss of connectivity. As is true for all new inventions that are widely-used, this one will become stronger, safer, and easier to use.

Methods 1 and 2

I took the 23 Things with Spring Branch ISD this past summer, and learned a great deal. By the time I got to the end of it, I knew enough to feel like I needed to start over. Using the 10 Things from the Texas State Library will help me review some of the key things.

I'm very excited about Library 2.0. For a while, there was so much gloom and doom about how libraries and librarians would become extraneous and underused. With the tools of Library 2.0 that help librarians communicate and interact with their patrons in a collegial way, the life is back for libraries. Knowing many of the tools makes us better able to appeal and relate to our digital natives. I see Library 2.0 as a bridge between the digital immigrant librarians and their younger clients. It is a way to not only become relevant, but also necessary and helpful. We are definitely helping our patrons learn to fish in the digital pond.

23 Things Commencement Thoughts

My favorite discoveries were Rollyo and delicious. I will definitely be using them in the future.

This program has assisted my lifelong learning goals because there were so many "things" I read about in journals or heard in the news of from students that I didn't know about, and now, even if I'm not yet adept at their use, I know about them.

An unexpected outcome from this program is to show me that this old dog can still learn new tech tricks.

This program is terrific. It uses the "things" it asks us to learn in the instruction so we not only see examples, but we use them. The only thing I wish could be different is that every time I'd click on a link inside the lesson, the site would open on top of the 23 Things site, and each subsequent site would open on top of that one until I couldn't find my original page and had to close and reopen the progarm.

I would participate in another discovery program. In fact, it looks like there is another Library2Play section. I'd like to learn more about Facebook--how to use it without surrendering my identy or endangering my privacy.

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? My one word would be "catalytic"

Thing 22: Nings

Classroom 2.0's Ning includes access to monthly vidcasts that are broadcast first as free webinars. Steven Hargadon created the ning to "Welcome to Classroom20.com, the social network for those interested in Web 2.0 and collaborative technologies in education" and even has a section to give additional help to those new to this effort. He seems to be encouraging others to learn and integrate all this digital stuff by using those same technologies to teach us. PBS KIDS producers and educators discussed Early Childhood Literacy: Resources & Strategies.

So much free quality inservice is available on the Internet through the webinars, blogs, nings, and online video sessions that I'm surprised my district has gone to immense work to have 2 days of upcoming face-to-face, self-selected workshops for all in the district. The district librarians will be attending a webinar on updates on our Canadian-based circulation program, so there will be some use made of 2.0 technologies.

In checking out the various Nings and postings by teachers and librarians, I can see how useful this is to add a "you are not alone" element to our lives. The most impressive site, and the most travelled from what I can tell, is Joyce Valenza's TeacherLibrarian Ning. Her tabs, Members, Photos, Videos, Forums, Events (let's you know about all the upcoming library and techie state/national conferences), Groups and Blogs, make every kind of social and information connection that could help in at work.

I don't think I would create a ning, but I might join one. My only hesitation is that I'm already a member of LM_Net, have an RSS feed from several blogs, and get a lot of professional reading and information from print and online journals and magazines. As wonderful as they are, do I really have time to add all the postings of a ning? We've only scratched the surface in this course concerning all the possibilities in the ether. But to keep from feeling overwhelmed and undercapable, I think I'll select a few to learn well. I think Nings will be in the second wave for me.

Thing 21: Podcasts and Vidcasts

After my book Substitute Groundhog came out, a librarian in a south Texas school sent me a podcast of her students performing a Suzy Red script related to it. When they e-mailed it to me, I was impressed and touched. I'm glad to have the tools to make similar podcasts with my own students. It might be a more appealing alternative to a book report for some students.

For an author visit by Mike Artell last spring, PhotoStory came in VERY handy for me. With Mike's permission, I scanned the book into PhotoStory and used it to read his book La Petite Rouge, A Cajun Red Riding Hood to each class. Because my school is large, it saved me from having to read the book to 22 classes, especially because it is lengthy and there is a lot of Cajun dialect. Because of copyright, I destroyed the story after his visit, so I am unable to vodcast it. Knowing what I do now, I'll be able (if my district permits) to vidcast such a production so classes can view it in their classrooms.

I'm going to use PhotoStory to show the locations of the library as we go on a virtual tour. In the past, trying to do it physically was less successful as I dragged my queue of ducklings around the library. Inevitably, the ones at the end heard the least. I'll follow that with a game I'm creating for the Smart Board. So far I've taken all the photos and learned how to do it. The end product won't be finished until after this course. I think it will be very handy, if I'm permitted, to save this tour as a vidcast for new students to see, and to use as a midyear review.

Thing 20: You Tube, Teacher Tube, and Blinkx

I did not have a lot of luck on Teacher Tube. I searched first for Library Orientation. The blurbs for each offering are very brief--after a few words, the canned TeacherTube vision statement usurps the rest of the space. However, I discovered that they were the same 6 videos listed over and over again. Clicking on one called Orientation at Walker Elementary didn't get me the video, but a 9+ page list of the most favorite videos (and they weren't related to my search). On about the fifth page, I again clicked on the same title, and this time the video came up. However, the 4 1/2 minute video had to buffer EVERY 4 SECONDS! I let it buffer 5 times and then lost patience.
However, when I went to YouTube, I found a clean page with the summaries of the videos listed on the right and a screen shot, title, and brief descriptor listed on the left. Many of the Teacher Tube videos were listed here (only once per title), but the screen shots and summaries made choosing an appropriate one MUCH easier.

Here's one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGGt7S34hrQ

Since I'm continuing to have trouble with this "Thing", I'm going to skip it and come back later. On to Thing 21.

It's been nearly 2 more weeks since I posted this, and I still can open the direction video for how to download videos, and I thought I tried what the help screens told me to do to download, but it doesn't work. This is all the time I have to spend on this Thing on this go round.

Thing 19: Web 2.0 Awards

Web 2.0 Awards reminds me that we could have a 23Things-Part II just based on the award winners. Glad to see that some are the ones we've already been working with.

I investigated first place Lulu in the book category because it was listed with LibraryThing (honorable mention). If I'm going to learn a cataloging program, I might as well learn the first place winner. However, it isn't a cataloging / book club kind of site and I'm surprised they were competing. It is a self-publishing site. The viewer chooses from a variety of options concerning cover, binding, pages, price, etc. Then I'm sure money changes hands and voila--you're published! There are more than 14,000 books on the site, which is meant to be the sales site as well. Judging from the uneven quality of the blurbs besides each author's cover, I would definitely be very choosy about what I purchased from this site.

In the Education category, I investigated first place winner DocStoc. This is a place to upload one's documents for the world to see, but a twist is that you can earn money by doing so. Hopefully many folks will look at your documents, and buy from the advertisers that have space on the right side of your document. DocStoc splits the earnings 50/50 with the person who uploaded the document. The front page of the site featured documents listing the earnings of staffers at the White House and the 911 transcript of the call about Steve McNair.

Clicking on the Education link at DocStoc brought up all kinds of documents from a multiplication baseball folder game to "low pass filter controller design simulation in Pspice". I searched for Smart Board documents and found only 4. This site seems unwieldy to me. Because people might be motivated to put up quantity over quality to increase their odds of advertising revenue, I see its promise diluted. I'd prefer to use Rollyo to search multiple quality lesson plan sites, for example. Doing so brings up more Smart Board lessons than I can use in a year!

I also investigated LinkedIn from the Professional Networking category because I've been asked to join by 3 people and didn't know what it was. The actual site isn't much help, but the videos on YouTube explained everything I need to know. Done right, this site takes a couple of hours per week to answer professional questions to help others and build professional relationships. I can see some of the advantages for a professional, and for school use, it might help you locate experts to help students. However, Ask an Expert seems like a much less complicated way to do this.

All in all, I'm glad to know there's a site like this to show me the best of what's out there. Google must be very proud to see so many of its products in the top places.