Thing #15

Wow! I had a professor once who said we should not hold our students to our (way of) learning. I must say that the video pointed out that there are too many educators still teaching the way they were taught. Most educators are comfortable with what they are familiar with. (Hey, we got to the moon with good old fashioned teaching. It worked for me, for them, why not forever?) I tend to believe that we shouldn't "throw out the baby with the bath water". There still needs to be a person to respond. I think that a lot of educators can remember the small town library, mine was a square red brick building, downtown, with one middle-aged librarian on staff. This is the LIbrary 1.0 that I read about today. It seems transitioning to 2.0 is where we are today. There are many people that are comfortable with the 1.0 model. and moving into the 2.0 , the Product, is somewhat intimidating. Does anyone have this contrast in their family? I have two relatives who are 89 years old. One has a computer and sends e-mails, looks up information on the internet. The other wouldn't come near a computer much less own one. People are different at any age. At some future time will there be "internet police" that will raid the local library and force them into compliance?
This course has really made me realize the complexity and depth of the internet. Yes, I have heard of things like blogs, avatars, but never ventured into that. This is only the tip of the iceburg. How long do you think it will take to get to 4.0? The year 2525 comes to mind (Ha!). However, when I think of the advancement from the horse and buggy to the landing on the moon, it shouldn't take us long.

Thing #13

Using Del.icio.us was easy to make bookmarks and store them. Looking for topics I would be interested in was time consuming. I will move my bookmarks to this and have them available no matter what computer I am on. My students will be able to use tags as they research certain topics. It could be very helpful and expedite the process.

Thing #14

This has been interesting to explore Technorati. I am continually amazed at how much is being shared in a world I never really understood before. I do fear that I will spend way too much time at this, however. It is like pulling a thread on a sweater and the sweater is soon gone. I begin to read these blogs and before long, all of my time is gone. I can see that I need discipline and I need to focus only on what I want to know and not allow myself to get sidetracked by other related topics. That is not always a good thing. I love the show clips. The articles I found are not that long but the number of comments are fascinating, yet time consuming to read.

Thing #12

This activity is very helpful to really using and enjoying my blog. I understand more about the use of comments and how it connects me to other bloggers who may have similar interests. In "How to Comment Like a King (orQueen), I gained insight into writing a meaningful comment. By showing the blog author that you are actually influenced by what they have written, it will encourage them to write more about the topic. Another interesting point to me is that if I receive a comment, then I can reply to it. It may encourage more of a dialogue. I also believe that the more I comment, the easier it will be to do. I certainly don't want to be a "lurker"!

Thing #11

What an incredible opportunity to share books and get ideas on books that other people have enjoyed. It was so easy to use. Setting up the library was literally a "click of the mouse"! It is also interesting to see how many others share my taste in books.

Thing #10 Revisited

I couldn't get the Comic Strip Generator to cooperate. Very frustrating. It would not download. So, I went to Quick Toons which is minimal cartoon creating site, still in Beta format, but it worked fairly easily to make a fun cartoon strip. I found Quick Toons through the site http://www.web20links.net. If you scroll down to Comix 2.0, you will find a list cartoon making and comic sites. If you want to see my comic strip, or create one of your own, here is the link:
http://www.quicktoons.com/818201/



Maybe I could use some "Braino" to open up the thought processes. This image came from the Custom Sign Generator under Wacky Packages. This was a fun place to visit.

Thing #10

I used the Image Chef under the Discovery Resources. It was fun to make and students can make creative images to display their thoughts or information about a topic.
ImageChef.com Flower Text