My first reaction after reading about wikis is to say, "Boy, it's a good thing I am taking this class!" I had been telling everybody how bad wikis were because they didn't come from reputable sources and to stay away from them. I always thought that the information on the wikis was mostly unreliable because anybody can put anything on it. I found out by exploring the sites in this excercise, that while it's true that anyone can submit to a wiki, their post can be edited by others who usually will correct erroneous information. There are some wikis that can only be available for editing and posting to registered members. Those types of wikis would be good for schools. I noticed that some entries on Wikipedia might have a warning at the beginning that no sources were sited and to be aware that the information contained in that particular wiki might not be authoratative.
There is a teacher at my school who is very knowledgeable about technology and really wants to incorporate it into her curriculum. I am excited to collaborate with her on using a wiki for her class. We will design a lesson plan where students will be in groups and have group projects. Each student within the group will be responsible for one part of the assignment. The students will post to the wiki adding and editing to each others. They will create study questions and discussion topics based on information from the wikis.
I would like opinions on which wiki site is good for shool lessons? I will need to get one unblocked by the district.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Week #6, Thing #15 - Library 2.0
I read the five perspectives, the Wikipedia entry and one article from the Library 2.0 Discussions. The article was written by John Blyberg, a techi from Connecticut, who believes that L2 is essential for our survival. He states that if we ignore L2, "our libraries will just become storage rooms". I think he is right on. Look at how our students communicate with each other; instant message, text message, webcams, blogs. If they are active participants in everyday life, how can we expect them to be passive in their education? They are ready and willing to collaborate in group projects via wiki's or discuss books on a blog. L2 also emphasizes how our society is becoming a global one. Whether it's teacher's collaborating with teachers, librarians with librarians or students with students, studies show that collaboration, working and communicating with peers, increases learning.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Week #5, Thing #13 - Technorati
If ever a site needed to offer a tutorial on how to use the site, this one definitely does. Oh, wait...it does have a tutorial video but it doesn't match the Technorati page AT ALL. I kept looking at my address bar to make sure I was on the right page.I looked at Technorati a few weeks ago and got frustated because I couldn't find what I was looking for. So I tried it again, having a few more "things" under my belt, and it was even more frustrating. I searched "School Library Learning" in "blog posts" but couldn't find where to search for it "in tags" or "blog directory." I looked all over the site and couldn't find either one. I think they don't exist anymore. When I searched SLL, I did find that there were different results under blogs and posts but I couldn't figure out why. I also couldn't find out what "authority" means. I do get the idea behind the site. It would be really helpful to be able to use other people's tags when doing research. One disadvantage of tags would be if people put tags on topics that don't relate to the site.
Week #6, Thing #12 - Del.icio.us
I have used Del.icio.us for a few years now. I should say that I have been under-using it. I mainly use it so that I can access my bookmarks from any computer. After exploring this site more I can understand how valuable the tags are. I put a badge on the bottom of this page that shows my "tag cloud." I can see where this would be useful in a group research project. Students could learn from each other's tags.
Week #5, Thing #12 - Roll Your Own Rollyo
I looked at the search rolls listed on the discovery exercise. Seems having search rolls is an efficient way to find information. I explored the Reference site listed in SJLibrary's WIReD. That is a good example of how Rollyo can be used in the school library. A Rollyo search roll could be customed made with sites on a topic that a class is researching. I created an account and a search roll on school libraries. Since I am creating a web page for my library, I often refer to other school library sites to get ideas. Having all in one place will be much easier than searching for them on my bookmarks. I added the search roll to my blog page.
Week #5, Thing #11 - Explore Web 2.0
Naturally, this exercise took me much longer to do than I had planned because I couldn't just look at one site. I had to explore all of them. I went to the "short list" of Web 2.0 Award Winners and looked at every winner's site. Then I went back and concentrated on a few of them. I was so pleased to have found "feedburner." It answered my question from week #4 on how to get an RSS feed on my site. If I ever get my web based library newletter online, an RSS feed would be a greaat thing to have on the page. I also played with "Magnolia" and I didn't have any luck with it. I don't know if it was my computer or what but when I typed in a search item, it just kept searching and I finally had to stop it. I don't know why Del.icio.us wasn't on the winning list of social bookmarking. I have been using that since I first heard about it at a conference. I did join Ning and spent a lot of time on the TeacherLibraian site. I got a lot of useful information just by reading a few comments. I played the "Travel IG" game. That game could be addicting! I wonder if I will ever put the flag in the exact spot?
Friday, February 15, 2008
Week #5, Thing # 10- Online Image Generators
My magazine cover, made with fd's Flickr Toys, features a picture of Diamond Head I took while de-stressing on Waikiki beach last summer. If you click on the cover it will take you to my Flickr photos where you can read the headings in an enlarged view. I hope you will look at it in an enlarged view because it took quite awhile to come up with the clever headings and they are too small in this picture to read. Anyway to make the picture bigger on this page?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
