I was very exicted to try out some new applications this week and looked forward to delving into those that I'm already familiar with. I had mixed results (typical for me!). I really liked some and thought that others would have to be really, really stretched in order to use them in a classroom setting. I could think of uses for all of these sites - just not necessarily with students or in a school.
First, the ones I think would be good to use with students: a range of visual projects, documentations, and exploration can be done on Flickr. I like its privacy settings as well. There's a lot of fun, playful stuff a class can do on Dumpr and Voki (and I can think of a lot of academic applications for Voki as well). All of these seem fairly easy to use - I've documented my Flickr issues extensively - though Flickr is defintely the one I've looked at the most extensively.
I like Google Docs and Zoho as well, but I'm not sure why a person would use one over the other. They seem quite similar. If I already have a lot of google applications set up (like this blog, email, etc) it makes sense to stick with Google Docs.
I had trouble thinking of educational uses for StumbleUpon, Zamzar, and Doodle. I could see using Zamzar and Doodle in other professional or personal endeavors (converting files, scheduling meetings), but I'm not really sure how an average student would use these. In my assignment I discussed how Doodle could be used to communicate with parents and Zamzar could be used by students doing highly technological things (like producing segments for the school's TV news show). StumbleUpon seems kind of fun for personal use, but in addition to having RSS feeds and teaching students sharp website evaluation skills, this site just seems like it would be overwhelming for students, and might make their research harder rather than easier. Rollyo seems like it would be more helpful in research purposes.
I'm looking forward to hearing classmates' suggestions about how to use these applications. Perhaps I'm not thinking creatively enough. No matter what, I'm glad I've been exposed to all of them and look forward to using some in the LMC I work in.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Monday, February 14, 2011
Is this how it's done?
Just the link? Shouldn't the photos show up here?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59446774@N05/
These are a few pictures from our honeymoon a while back. For the first few days, we stayed at this unbelievable spa resort ("Alm") in Austria.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59446774@N05/
These are a few pictures from our honeymoon a while back. For the first few days, we stayed at this unbelievable spa resort ("Alm") in Austria.
Sunday, February 13, 2011
I am mad at Flickr...
First of all, the former English teacher in me is wondering why the "e" is missing in "Flickr." Is that necessary?
Then the frustrated grad student in me is ready to throw her laptop across the room after spending an hour attempting to link my Flickr account to this blog. I thought it would be nice to have my pictures show up here, and a good tool to know. Though it is fairly easy to upload photos on to Flickr (though honestly, not as quick or intuitive as other programs I've used in this class, like this blog or Twitter), I have found their Help section to be buried - they direct you to their Help forum first, which is just others' questions.
I guess it would be okay to just have the Flickr account for photos and just drop the blog issue, but I am trying to master these programs in order to use them in my professional and personal lives...so I am frustrated that I'm having this much trouble. Flickr's "test blog" worked and showed up here (I deleted it); why can't I get my own pictures here? I don't want just a link - or is a link all you can get for your own pictures? Can you only blog other people's photos, and if so, why? Is it because this is a Google application and Flickr seems to be connected to Yahoo (thouugh I signed in through my Google account)??
Hopefully my next post will be more positive and full of blogging/picture sharing success...
Then the frustrated grad student in me is ready to throw her laptop across the room after spending an hour attempting to link my Flickr account to this blog. I thought it would be nice to have my pictures show up here, and a good tool to know. Though it is fairly easy to upload photos on to Flickr (though honestly, not as quick or intuitive as other programs I've used in this class, like this blog or Twitter), I have found their Help section to be buried - they direct you to their Help forum first, which is just others' questions.
I guess it would be okay to just have the Flickr account for photos and just drop the blog issue, but I am trying to master these programs in order to use them in my professional and personal lives...so I am frustrated that I'm having this much trouble. Flickr's "test blog" worked and showed up here (I deleted it); why can't I get my own pictures here? I don't want just a link - or is a link all you can get for your own pictures? Can you only blog other people's photos, and if so, why? Is it because this is a Google application and Flickr seems to be connected to Yahoo (thouugh I signed in through my Google account)??
Hopefully my next post will be more positive and full of blogging/picture sharing success...
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
RSS Feeds
Setting up the RSS feed was really easy: I used Google Reader and followed the very intuitive layout: I clicked "Add a subscription," typed the addresses in, and I was all set. Again, I love how it's cleanly my infomration is organized; I won't have to remember whether or not I visited a site I like on any given day because they're all in one place for me to peruse. I like that I can add notes and share items with others - especially the library sites I'm following, which my classmates or colleagues might like to see. I can also envision how a teacher might share certain entries with her class, or students might also share with the class.
Currently, I am following several of the School Library Journal's blogs, including Adult Books for Teens (not "adult" adult, but rather books written for grownups that teens would like), one about the Internet, and one on great new books for students. I am also following boston.com's news feed, which is tough to keep up with, boston.com's food section, and a blog that I absolutely love called Food Network Humor (http://www.foodnetworkhumor.com/). I'm allowed to have a little fluff!
I can see how, like Twitter, RSS feeds can keep professionals up to date on the latest their colleagues are writing about. I particularly enjoy seeing the School Library Journal feed - especially the entries about technology and new books. As I mentioned in the Discussion board, I am not sure how practical or useful these feeds are in terms of direct student interaction; in other words, I am not sure about productive, intelligent ways to use RSS feeds in student research projects, unless their research has to do with blogging or other forms of social media. As I also mentioned, I would show students how to set these up for their personal use, like keeping track of the latest sports or celebrity blogs, or whatever they enjoy.
Finally, my husband brought up a good point when I attempted to put my new RSS feed knowledge to use and set one up for the 15 or so sites he likes to read on a daily basis: he enjoys the routine of going through his sites and reading the articles. He likes the visual set-up of each site, and the act of going through them. When he saw my RSS feed he felt like it would take away some of the relaxation he feels from this browsing routine, with everything in one place and looking fairly similar. I wonder if other people feel that way too - I can see his point. So I guess they're perhaps most helpful for people who need and want to look at large amount of materials on a daily basis to stay updated, and perhaps not the average reader who likes browsing around a bit for fun.
I'm still glad I know how to set one up now...though I don't know how much I'll use it. Between reading tweets from colleagues in the field, using delicious to remember any sites I may forget, and looking at the blogs I like, I guess I don't feel overwhelmed by manually going through sites as opposed to looking at the latest feed on the reader. That could easily change though as demands on my personal and professional time increase, however.
Currently, I am following several of the School Library Journal's blogs, including Adult Books for Teens (not "adult" adult, but rather books written for grownups that teens would like), one about the Internet, and one on great new books for students. I am also following boston.com's news feed, which is tough to keep up with, boston.com's food section, and a blog that I absolutely love called Food Network Humor (http://www.foodnetworkhumor.com/). I'm allowed to have a little fluff!
I can see how, like Twitter, RSS feeds can keep professionals up to date on the latest their colleagues are writing about. I particularly enjoy seeing the School Library Journal feed - especially the entries about technology and new books. As I mentioned in the Discussion board, I am not sure how practical or useful these feeds are in terms of direct student interaction; in other words, I am not sure about productive, intelligent ways to use RSS feeds in student research projects, unless their research has to do with blogging or other forms of social media. As I also mentioned, I would show students how to set these up for their personal use, like keeping track of the latest sports or celebrity blogs, or whatever they enjoy.
Finally, my husband brought up a good point when I attempted to put my new RSS feed knowledge to use and set one up for the 15 or so sites he likes to read on a daily basis: he enjoys the routine of going through his sites and reading the articles. He likes the visual set-up of each site, and the act of going through them. When he saw my RSS feed he felt like it would take away some of the relaxation he feels from this browsing routine, with everything in one place and looking fairly similar. I wonder if other people feel that way too - I can see his point. So I guess they're perhaps most helpful for people who need and want to look at large amount of materials on a daily basis to stay updated, and perhaps not the average reader who likes browsing around a bit for fun.
I'm still glad I know how to set one up now...though I don't know how much I'll use it. Between reading tweets from colleagues in the field, using delicious to remember any sites I may forget, and looking at the blogs I like, I guess I don't feel overwhelmed by manually going through sites as opposed to looking at the latest feed on the reader. That could easily change though as demands on my personal and professional time increase, however.
Good Reads
On to Good Reads...the link to my account is on the previous post.
I looked around Shelfari and Library Thing, and both looked excellent; I like Good Reads in particular though because it's not connected to a store (like Amazon with Shelfari); and though the cataloging feature in Library Thing is excellent, I don't feel I need it for my current job, I don't think the students would use this feature (see my explanation of Destiny and Destiny Quest in the next paragraph), and I don't want to have to pay a fee if I add more than 200 books.
I have had a Good Reads account set up for many years but I have actually never used it to post books I've read. I use it to look at what other people have read and their book opinions, because I love good book recommendations. For this week we were required to enter at least five books, and that was my plan out the outset. But...once I started adding books I had a hard time stopping! First of all, though slow, the site is very easy to use. You simply press the button that describes what you'd like to do: enter a book, rate a book, leave a comment, organize your shelves, etc. Secondly, for a visual, organized person like me, seeing the list with the accompanying book cover icons is enormously satisfying; it's like I get to tidily revisit all the things I've read recently. I can absolutely see why a librarian would want to use this in connection with her library/collection. At our school however we use the Destiny catalog,which has the Destiny Quest feature - which functions very similarly to Good Reads, and has the safety advantage of only being accessible to members of our school community. Users can "shelve" the books they've read, categorize, and rate them, and send each other messages. Since we're already paying for Destiny this is a useful social networking feature to get students exciting about reading. Good Reads connects users to other readers anywhere, not just in a school, which is particularly helpful when trying to connect with colleagues and get feedback about prospective books for the collection.
Next, the tool that perplexed me the most this week: RSS feeds.
I looked around Shelfari and Library Thing, and both looked excellent; I like Good Reads in particular though because it's not connected to a store (like Amazon with Shelfari); and though the cataloging feature in Library Thing is excellent, I don't feel I need it for my current job, I don't think the students would use this feature (see my explanation of Destiny and Destiny Quest in the next paragraph), and I don't want to have to pay a fee if I add more than 200 books.
I have had a Good Reads account set up for many years but I have actually never used it to post books I've read. I use it to look at what other people have read and their book opinions, because I love good book recommendations. For this week we were required to enter at least five books, and that was my plan out the outset. But...once I started adding books I had a hard time stopping! First of all, though slow, the site is very easy to use. You simply press the button that describes what you'd like to do: enter a book, rate a book, leave a comment, organize your shelves, etc. Secondly, for a visual, organized person like me, seeing the list with the accompanying book cover icons is enormously satisfying; it's like I get to tidily revisit all the things I've read recently. I can absolutely see why a librarian would want to use this in connection with her library/collection. At our school however we use the Destiny catalog,which has the Destiny Quest feature - which functions very similarly to Good Reads, and has the safety advantage of only being accessible to members of our school community. Users can "shelve" the books they've read, categorize, and rate them, and send each other messages. Since we're already paying for Destiny this is a useful social networking feature to get students exciting about reading. Good Reads connects users to other readers anywhere, not just in a school, which is particularly helpful when trying to connect with colleagues and get feedback about prospective books for the collection.
Next, the tool that perplexed me the most this week: RSS feeds.
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