#12 (Week 5) - Rollyo Search Tool

I created a Young Adult Book Review Search with Rollyo. Hopefully this will be a useful tool for me to search for books to encourage our high school students to read. I can't quite figure out how to put a link on my blog so I'll just move on and make this a future challange.

#11 (Week 5) – Explore Web 2.0 award winning applications and Ning

I visited the short list of award winners and you could spend hours exploring all the sites shown. I have purchased on Craigslist and my daughter has found housing twice in the DC area from this site so it doesn’t surprise me to see it take first place for Classified and Directories. Looking at #2 and #3 was interesting.

I didn’t find Oodle particularly useful but vflyer could be helpful to anyone who is trying to create a classified ad. In an educational setting this Web 2.0 application may be useful in a marketing class that designs Ads.

Lulu is a great site for anyone who wants to self-publish. We have many student writers and artists who might find this a great way to showcase their work and I can definitely see student interest in this site.

I am now a member of the Ning Teacher-Librarian Network. I’m not sure just how much I will use this resource – as I continue on with the 23 Things it is apparent that there just isn’t enough time in the day to be competent with all these wonderful tools. The computer already takes up a great deal of time in my life and balancing what is useful and worth spending some of that time on is going to be a challenge. But, I will add the RSS feed to my Bloglines and that might just be the answer to how I use the Teacher-Librarian Network. Wow, in just a few weeks I am managing some to these Web 2.0 Tools.

#10 (Week 5) - Play week -- Image generators

The only limit on the things you can do are finding the time and picking from all the possibilities. I'm going to have so much fun!!

#9 (Week 4) - Locate a few useful School Library related blogs and/or news feeds

RSS is a very useful and an interesting addition to my online life. Bloglines now has many feeds that I have organized into folders. Looking at sites where you search for feeds does not seem as helpful as finding RSS feeds on the sites I use often or find with my own searches. Having no luck searching for New York Times Book Reviews on Syndic8.com, I finally went directly to the actual site to subscribe.

One surprise came when I explored Blog Pulse, a program that tracks
conversations. "MSLA Web 2.0" brought a posting from my own blog.

#8 (Week 4) – Really Simple Syndication

I am now totally convinced that if you have a good enough explanation any technology can become understandable. RSS has been a hard concept for me to understand and in a very short time I now have set up a Bloglines account and subscribed to several feeds. After viewing Google Reader, it seems Bloglines will be my program of choice.

Working with high school students, one of my goals is finding books that will motivate them to read. The subscriptions at “Readers Club new reviews” will give me new titles to consider for purchase.

#7 (Week 3) – Technology and the world of Blogging

I am not a writer and could never see myself writing a blog that would be of interest to others. Frankly, I have wondered how people find the time to write and post their thoughts.

My first introduction to reading a blog on a regular basis began 17 months ago with the birth of my first grandchild. We are lucky to have Rosie living near us, but many family members live in California, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC. What has been amazing is this blog and all the photos that have been included has allowed everyone to be able to experience the joy of seeing her grow-up. Her uncle in California has mentioned many times how this has been a wonderful way to be a part of the everyday experiences that are have brought her from infant to toddler. Recently, a video was posted of Rosie squishing her peas – laughing and having a wonderful time. Everyone has been able to share the fun moments in her life.

This has opened my mind to the benefits of blogging and how an interest can keep you reading and looking for more posts. It also has made me aware of the security issues and how it is important to not include personal information that one does not want the online world to know.

I don’t see myself starting a personal blog any time soon – but you can be sure I will keep checking on my favorite blog. All her local relatives are enjoying it as much as those living far away!

#6 (Week 3) - Flickr fun, mashups, and 3rd party sites

It is absolutely amazing to see the many applications that have been created with Flickr images. I had lots of fun with Montagr. "Costa Rica" and the "Library of Congress" made some amazing montages. I can see some gifts on the way with FD Toys. A puzzle with a photo of my grandaughter certainly would be fun and Mozaic Maker would be great to create a mosaic of pictures from a special vacation or holiday. They'll be on the list for unique gift ideas.

#5 (Week 3) - Explore Flickr

Capital from the Mall, originally uploaded by Zurmv.

It is amazing the amount of images that Flickr has and I decided to create an account and do some searching. In April I will be going to DC to attend the Internet@School East 2008 conference with a colleague who has never explored the city. The Library of Congress is on the top of the list and walking the Mall to visit the Monuments will be included. I searched Flickr and have found pictures of many of the places we will be going, including the "Tastee Diner". It should be fun to share these photos with her.

#4 (Week 2) - Register your blog

It's time to go public!! I am going to share this experience with some friends and family and by completing #4 on the list I have made a major move toward understanding the world of blogging. Now it's on to #5.

#3 (Week 2) - Create a blog & avatar

It has been easier than I thought to set up this blog and design an avatar. Exporting the avatar to my blog was a challenge and it feels great to have completed this. It should be fun to continue with the program and as I write on the blog it gets easier to be a part of the blogging world - something that has never interested me.

#2 (Week 1) - Lifelong Learning Habits

The tutorial "71/2 Habits of Highly Successful Lifelong Learners" was interesting. "Habit 1: Begin with the end in mind" is the easiest for me to follow. The hardest is "Habit 4: Have the confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner." I always doubt my capabilities and hopefully that will change and I will gain more self-confidence in my ability to learn the new technologies that are part of Web 2.0.
My Learning Contract involves a Wiki that will be presenting the Massachusetts Recommended PreK-12 Information Fluency Standards from MSLA to the staff of my school. I have set a schedule and hope to follow this and have a format for staff to input ways they have met these standards during the year.

#1 (Week 1) - About the Program

It is exciting to read about the program and the things that I will be learning. I was fortunate to have attended the Internet@Schools East 2007 and hear the presentation Lee Rainie gave "Web 2.0 and What it means to Libraries". It made me think of the changes in the way we will be educating future students. This program is a perfect way to introduce myself to all the Web 2.0 tools that our students will be using in the future.

The Beginning

Today I am entering the world of Web 2.0. Hopefully this new adventure will help to bring new ways to enhance the learning experiences of our students.