Tech Project 5 - GoAnimate - The Great Book Abduction

Intro video:
http://goanimate.com/movie/0M0ACWz4mqZk/1

Task & Process intro:
http://goanimate.com/movie/0U_JU4lPMm8M?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0sS67tasT74o

Congratulations:
http://goanimate.com/movie/0o7WNkKVe4eg?utm_source=linkshare&uid=0sS67tasT74o

#5 Conclusion

1. At the beginning of the class, my weakness was to know what to to use and when to use it.  Throughout this course I have gained some valuable resources and new tools.  I have taken the time to play with several of them and found ways to save the websites that were most attractive to me.  I feel more confident with some of the new tools and I have bookmarked them in a way that I have easy access to them and have them organized.  I beleive that I will be able to utilize more Web2.0 tools this year than I have in the past.
2. To keep up with new innovations in technology, I plan on continuing to take time to learn and explore new web2.0 tools.  I will continue to attend web2.0 classes that introduce the tools and give me time and chance to use the new tools in a valid activity. 
3. I will also teach the new tools to my classes and staff to help keep them fresh and to hold myself accountable for the web2.0 tools.  I have worked it out with my principal to have one Wednesday a month to show new tools to our staff and to give them worktime to utilize the new tools in their classrooms lessons. 

4. Organization

The implications of organizing by everyday "folk" for librarians, is that librarians must stay in touch with the real world and embrace change.  I feel this will be easier for the newer, younger librarians.  We are used to using tags and desire to search the full text of resources instead of being limited to the title and topic searches.  So often what we need to know is found by more specific search of the whole unit instead of just what the author or the cataloger decided what was important in the search.  Organizing through Web 2.0, is a collaborative effort, it is looking at the resources through multiple eyes and seeing the bigger picture.  When users tag or blog about what they find, are interested in or are reading, this connects to other users instead of confining them to the view of boring card catalog searches that only includes a blurb of what is available.  I like the idea of Courtney (2007), when she discusses relevancy ranking, clean interfaces and advance search opotions.  When Google gives you search options, it ranks them in order of what previous users have deemed as most useful.  Library catalogs need to be clean, useful and inviting.  Users should not have to search through several links before being able to find what they were looking for.  The advanced search options make the users more successful and less frustrated in their searches.  Yesterday I was looking for a crochet pattern.  I knew what I was looking for, but if I had to rely on the simple search, I would have had to scroll through 1500 patterns before possibly finding the one I wanted.  Instead, the advanced search allowed me to look at crochet, accessories, women, hat and it narrowed my search down to 13.  Amazing!  How many more library patrons would we have if we made it that simple for them? 

I find the tags in Delicious very useful.  Not only can I tag what is important and useful to me, I can search by tags to find other sites that librarians have found useful for their lessons.  If I use the tag digital storytelling and search, it brought up links for educational uses of and also gave me new links and resources to experience other sites for digital storytelling activities. 

When putting organization in the hands of the ordinary folks, I believe there is power.  There is no way that one person, one cataloger could tag and organize all the information availabe at this moment, much less with the rate that the online information is growing. 

Resources:

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: innovative technologies and tomorrow's user. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited.

Delicious. (n.d.). Delicious. Retrieved July 26, 2011, from http://delicious.com

Web 2.0...The Machine is Us/ing Us

At first I see "using" us and I think that means that it is controlling us, but after reading and watching the video, I beleive that we are Web 2.0.  Web 2.0 is an interactive approach to technology.  Instead of the computer being a place to just get answers, we can be part of those answers.  We can create, edit, read, synthesize, and organize the informtion on the Web.  I feel that Professor Wesch gave this title to the video because without us, Web 2.0 wouldn't exist.  It is us and it uses us to continue to be valuable and relevant to today's users.  The information is up to date and relevant to users. 

Handheld Devices

With a budget of $10,000 I would purchase 10 I-Pads and 10 HP Tablets - $499 each. 

I would purchase the I-pads for their apps and creativity.  There is an abundance of gaming apps that teach language art skills, math practice, and other drill activities to reinforce learning.  Apple products also have creative suites that can help the students use their creativity to create engaging presentations in video or audio projects.  They can gather information using the camera and voice recorders then put their information into the creative apps and manipulate the apps to share their creativity. 

I would use the rest of the money to purchase HP Tablets.  I want to include the tablets because the OS system is what we use as a district on our computers.  Students need to be able to gather information in the field and be able to transfer it to other computers in their classrooms/library to complete their research and collaborative projects.  I would encourage students to use this portable computers to take pictures of their projects, to record their thoughts and analysis as they do their projects and work together as teams. 

Students can use all the above devices to record video and voice throughout their projects and share them when they are finished.  They are all portable with word processors, video, camera, voice recorders and cables to transfer their hard work to share with others.  When students can take the technology with them, their possibilities are endless.

Resources:

Dell, (2011). I-Pad. Retrieved from http://www.apple.com/ipad/features/

HP, (2011). Tablet. Retrieved from http://www.shopping.hp.com/webapp/shopping/store_access.do?template_type=storefronts&landing=rts_tablet&category=rts_tablet

1. Individual Technology Assessment

As an educator, what are your present strengths and weaknesses in technology? How do you plan to use your strengths? How do you plan to address the weaknesses?

I feel that my present strengths as an educator is that I am not afraid to try new technology.  I grew up around technology and helped my husband install and train others on computers & technology.  I learn by doing - hand on learning.  My weaknesses are that I don't take the time to learn things unless I have a need or a project that needs to be done.  I also am not good at recalling technology when I need it, I always waste time by using the wrong tools and then "happening" across the one that I need.  I will use my strengths to continue to work with new technology and I am working on choosing a new technology tool every month to share with the staff at my school.  I am working on an online portfolio so that I can have examples of the different types of Web 2.0 tools and what they can be used for.  Hopefully, working with the staff, we can brainstorm new, innovative and engaging ways to introduce the tools/technology to the students and allow them to foster their creativity with the available resources.