Thing 11.5

Wow! I was determined to make it through all 23 plus 11.5 Things this summer! Being a brand new librarian, I have enough mountains to climb. I figured I could at least get the knowledge base for technology before I step into the position of a media specialist. I have learned so much this summer.

1. My favorite discoveries on 11.5 have been Bookr, and using Animoto. It is so fun to put together movies...I can see my students getting excited about it also. Bookr has been a blast to use with my grandchildren. They have made information books this summer about Dinosaurs, Trucks, Butterflies, and Babies. The thrill I saw in their faces as they used the technology to create their own books ...becoming authors... was well worth the time spent learning these "things." I also love Skype. I practiced this with another librarian. I would love to use this with students to collaborate with foreign school libraries.

2. My learning goals have not really changed. I have always striven to learn more in whatever profession I have chosen. What has changed is the vast array of tools that I have found to make that learning so enriched. Besides opening a door to those tools, I have also come out with a much more open mind. I really shunned a lot of things on the internet as fluff in the past, reserved mainly for entertainment. Now, I see how these tools can actually become mind tools for the learner. In grad school we learned of Johansen and his idea of mind tools. He talked about technology should not be a babysitter, but a mind tool in the hand of a creative learner to expand his own thinking. All of the "things" I have experimented with fit this profile. I was very impressed.

3. My biggest surprise was how many tools are out there. I had no idea there were so many image generators or blogging tools. My biggest takeaway is that I can do this. I was really fearful, that I would not be able to figure these items out and actually manipulate it to utilize them for production. When I actually used the itouch the other day, I could actually figure out how to download to it. When I used the Macbooks, I could use the flip cameras and create movies. I can use Flickr, Animoto, and others with ease now. So it was just the sheer awakening that these tools are for everyone and anyone can be taught to use them...me...and anyone else...especially students.

4. I would love to see a wiki added for comments and discussion when a tool is utilized. The wiki would show a running conversation, unlike a blog highlighting one person's thoughts at that time...even though I have gotten fond of blogging.

Thank you for making this training available. I have truly been enlightened this summer.

Thing #16

At the last school I attended there was a wiki set up for the staff. Each department within had their own page. I was the GT liaison for the building, so I had a page for my teachers. There were many pages I could click on and find information going on within that department, with links, discussions, and lists of important items. I think wiki is a very useful tool to organize information for an organization, giving members instant access to information and a platform for input. I have used it in my classroom for lit. circles and history discussion. I have also used it for my GT students to collaborate on projects. I will continue to use it in the library and hope to add the links to images and videos. I can see how using it to show the Bluebonnet books and offer input from students on books could be fun. I enjoyed reading the posts from others for 23 Things. I can see the transformation many of us have made with becoming aware of tech tools that aid us in our quest to offer educational opportunities to the next generation.