Week 5, Things #10 ,#11, and #12

Using Google Picasa to edit pictures and publish them in a blog is simpler than I thought it would be; so are the other image generator tools. These tools would be good to use for signage and other promotional materials. I'm still thinking about how to incorporate them into student projects so that students come up with a meaningful product.




So far I think that some of the comic strip generators lend themselves best to projects, such as an alternative book report or to incorporate into a book trailer.

For Thing #11, I added the del.ici.ous toolbar to Explorer and imported and tagged my bookmarks. So far I haven't shared any, but I suppose that high school students working on a group project might really benefit from this tool.

The del.ici.ous toolbar really slowed down the start up of my iGoogle page, so I ended up removing the program. For me, it would be really useful only for a collaborative project.

I had the opposite experience with Thing #12, Rollyo. I tried importing the sites that my 8th graders use to research Greek mythology, but Rollyo returns way too many hits for that age group to use effectively. I would predict that the students would gave trouble keeping their citations straight, too. Navigating one pre-selected site at a time, and citing it, works better, especially since the reading level of some of these sites is pretty high. I want to try using Rollyo for the sites I look at for free knitting patterns. I think it will work well for that.

Week 4, Things #8 and #9

I used Google Reader to add the RSS feeds. At first the bundles seemed like a good idea, but I soon decided that the numbers of new posts would be overwhelming. I decided that it was more realistic to remove the bundles and look for single feeds to add to my iGoogle page. I have added two from the Charlotte, NC library, one about Mysteries as well as one about YA General Fiction, and another from Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh that lists its weekly events. On the school library page, students could give their opinions about additions to the library collection by using the reviews from the Charlotte feed and could make suggestions for local events based on what they see that the Carnegie is offering.

Just remembered to try Thing #9 (after #11), so I searched for library blogs. I am trying to appreciate blogging, but so often, sorry to say, I come away from reading even library blogs with that too-much-information feeling. Maybe blogging is best when it is directed to a limited audience and is about a specific task or event. Too much free rein can be exhausting for a reader, and I include my own blog in these comments.

Week 3, Things #5, 6 and 7

My favorite tool in Flickr was the poster-maker at Big Huge Labs. I made one using a photo of my cat for the faux-movie Terrible Tabby. I think that students would really enjoy having the option of using Flickr for creating posters for books instead of writing the standard book report. Because I had already downloaded Picasa, I used it to add text to the above photo of Widener Library in Cambridge, MA and import it to this post.

Week 2, Things #3 and 4

I am most comfortable with Habit #2, "Accepting responsibility for my own learning," and least comfortable with Habit #7 1/2, "Play!" Most difficult of all is reconciling the two habits, although that is what I am coming to understand as the goal of Learning 2.0: I am on my way to becoming a playful learner.