Saturday, January 30, 2010
Link to iGoogle page...
Hopping out of town 'til tomorrow but I am a bit "blog obsessed", as my husband is calling it, and checked on things ... I see that the link to my iGoogle page does not work. Will have to fix this later ... ta ta for now!
Friday, January 29, 2010
My Animoto experience ...
Wow, I absolutely loved my Animoto experience. After having an absolutely crazy few weeks ( moving et al) I spent a few hours this afternoon "catching up" on things with my new course. After some frustrating times with iGoogle and figuring out how to make my screenshot doc smaller, I was pleasantly surprised by the Animoto website. I will definitely use this in my quest to teach my students about the amazing world we live in :)
my first screenshot ...
After some hits and many misses, I have added a screenshot of my iGoogle page. Took some time to figure out how to change the size but here it is. Have to show my husband ... he will be impressed!
a bit of confusion ...
Well, I have to admit, I am feeling much clearer after a bit of confusion. I realized that I was not looking at the correct "spot" for the readings required for this course. I was looking under "course content " on the Vista page and going through these lesson descriptions ... quietly wondering ... where are the articles other classmates are referring to? After speaking with another classmate, who was also not sure, we discovered more information under the "welcome" icon. Whew, much better.
As for this week's articles, I was very happy to read the Digitally Re-Shifted School Library ... by Stephens. He understands that implementing any new type of social networking in a a school setting has its challenges ... getting all of the staff on board might not be easy ( I see in my school that not everyone is comfortable with new technology) and setting rules and guidelines for student use is also tricky "... we aren't allowed to use our ipods in school". These are hurdles to overcome but in our quickly changing world, we are getting used to making new rules.
He speaks with Christopher Harris who seems to have a realistic approach to things. He does not want to get rid of books but suggests an approach which combines books with digital information. Yes, I definitely like this. I am teaching world geography to one of my classes. We are using an atlas and large maps but I find myself going on - line once in a while to get an up to date answer to ..."Is this still a country?". What would we do without the internet in this case?
I have spoken with my students and they seem to "get it". So I guess this is what Harris is talking about when he says ,"The role of the school librarian in ten years will be to serve as a guide through the chaos of information". Okay, so there is definitely more information to go through today but hasn't a librarian always had the magical ability to help find any information one could need ( even when it was in the form of books only)? So, yes, we will boldly go and "blaze the trails through the chaos to the information zones" ... I am looking froward to it!
As for this week's articles, I was very happy to read the Digitally Re-Shifted School Library ... by Stephens. He understands that implementing any new type of social networking in a a school setting has its challenges ... getting all of the staff on board might not be easy ( I see in my school that not everyone is comfortable with new technology) and setting rules and guidelines for student use is also tricky "... we aren't allowed to use our ipods in school". These are hurdles to overcome but in our quickly changing world, we are getting used to making new rules.
He speaks with Christopher Harris who seems to have a realistic approach to things. He does not want to get rid of books but suggests an approach which combines books with digital information. Yes, I definitely like this. I am teaching world geography to one of my classes. We are using an atlas and large maps but I find myself going on - line once in a while to get an up to date answer to ..."Is this still a country?". What would we do without the internet in this case?
I have spoken with my students and they seem to "get it". So I guess this is what Harris is talking about when he says ,"The role of the school librarian in ten years will be to serve as a guide through the chaos of information". Okay, so there is definitely more information to go through today but hasn't a librarian always had the magical ability to help find any information one could need ( even when it was in the form of books only)? So, yes, we will boldly go and "blaze the trails through the chaos to the information zones" ... I am looking froward to it!
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