Eva's One-Year Slideshow. Was she ever really this little? Will our new baby really be this tiny too? I should post some more of her videos up on this blog. They are just sitting on my desktop.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Playing Around with Online Multimedia
This week in class we're studying online multimedia (YouTube, TeacherTube, Podcast Alley, iTunes, VoiceThread, Europa Film Treasures, etc.)
Personally, I love YouTube. I think what I love most about it is that the community always has what I'm looking for. Whether it is a sewing tutorial, a cooking technique, a laughing baby, or a guy tripping on a treadmill, I can always find a video to entertain my interests.
I also love YouTube because it's a surefire way to entertain the little one with videos of Elmo on both the iTouch and iMac. If I'm getting dressed or folding laundry, I put Elmo on the iMac and Eva will dance and sing in a room where there isn't much for her to do (except get into trouble in Daddy's fishing box). If we're on the go or in the car, I put a video on the iTouch. Now that's raising information literate children for you right there!
I'm not really into listening to Podcasts. Maybe I haven't found the right voice yet. But, I don't think my attention span is that of a podcast listener. I love them for searchable content though. For example, if I'm looking for an expert on library education, I like that I can search for a podcast to provide me with that expert opinion and easily share that podcast with others.
Kids love online multimedia. Therefore, I think we should be using YouTube and podcasts in the classroom whenever possible. Just make sure they are staying focused on the research topic. Otherwise, it's two hours later and they are still watching guys falling off the treadmill.
Personally, I love YouTube. I think what I love most about it is that the community always has what I'm looking for. Whether it is a sewing tutorial, a cooking technique, a laughing baby, or a guy tripping on a treadmill, I can always find a video to entertain my interests.
I also love YouTube because it's a surefire way to entertain the little one with videos of Elmo on both the iTouch and iMac. If I'm getting dressed or folding laundry, I put Elmo on the iMac and Eva will dance and sing in a room where there isn't much for her to do (except get into trouble in Daddy's fishing box). If we're on the go or in the car, I put a video on the iTouch. Now that's raising information literate children for you right there!
I'm not really into listening to Podcasts. Maybe I haven't found the right voice yet. But, I don't think my attention span is that of a podcast listener. I love them for searchable content though. For example, if I'm looking for an expert on library education, I like that I can search for a podcast to provide me with that expert opinion and easily share that podcast with others.
Kids love online multimedia. Therefore, I think we should be using YouTube and podcasts in the classroom whenever possible. Just make sure they are staying focused on the research topic. Otherwise, it's two hours later and they are still watching guys falling off the treadmill.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
School Librarians and Online Apps
Every day I read about a new online app in my GoogleReader. New reviews are posted daily by intelligent bloggers at Mashable and Go2Web20, just to name my favorite outlets. I truly believe that it is our responsibility as school librarians and media specialists to read these reviews. It is our responsibility to further evaluate these applications, finding ways to incorporate them into the education setting. Whether the tools can be used for curriculum planning, collaboration between teachers, or for creative expression by our students, there is a place for online apps in our schools. As school librarians, we must be advocates for online applications (most of which are FREE) and lead the way for our teachers and students.
This week, my Emerging Technologies for Librarians class at Salem State College is examining the following apps:
Flickr http://flickr.com
BigHugeLabs http://bighugelabs.com/flickr
Dumpr http://www.dumpr.net
Zoho http://writer.zoho.com
GoogleDocs http://docs.google.com
Zamzar http://www.zamzar.com
SurveyMonkey http://www.surveymonkey.com
Doodle http://www.doodle.com/main.html
StumbleUpon http://www.stumbleupon.com
Rollyo http://rollyo.com
BubblUs http://www.bubbl.us
Voki http://www.voki.com
Jing http://www.jingproject.com
Animoto http://animoto.com
I'm still examining them myself.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Read to Your Children
According to the March 2010 Parenting The Early Years,
"More than 1,000,000 - The number of written words children are exposed to per year with just 15 minutes of out-of-school reading a day."
"More than 1,000,000 - The number of written words children are exposed to per year with just 15 minutes of out-of-school reading a day."
Monday, March 1, 2010
GoodReads; Good Fun
This week I explored online book organization sites for the first time. After briefly exploring Shelfari, GoodReads and LibraryThing, I decided to join GoodReads simply because it has a free app for the iTouch. I use my iTouch frequently around the house and around town if the baby falls asleep in the car.
My username is egibson and my “bookshelf” can be found at http://www.goodreads.com/user/show/3340762.
It was fun to find the books that are in my to read pile and even some cute children's books that Eva and I read together nightly. I'm not sure how often I'll log on (especially since I don't get to read as much as I'd like). But, I do like feeling that I'm finally part of this online world of book lovers. Yay!
I think I can add my books to my Facebook page too, right?
Social bookmarking and me
Social bookmarking is a very critical tool for students and information users of all ages. It allows us to keep and save important information and useful Web sites / tools that we find on the Internet. Social bookmarking sites also allow us to share and find other the Internet Web sites that other users find important.
I use social bookmarking for professional use more than personal. Most personal sites are saved to my desktop bookmarks, whereas the sites I find professionally critical are saved to my del.icio.us site at http://delicious.com/GibsonEDU.
I would ensourage my students to also use del.icio.us to save the Web sites and online applications that they would like to share with others or recall for future use.
I use social bookmarking for professional use more than personal. Most personal sites are saved to my desktop bookmarks, whereas the sites I find professionally critical are saved to my del.icio.us site at http://delicious.com/GibsonEDU.
I would ensourage my students to also use del.icio.us to save the Web sites and online applications that they would like to share with others or recall for future use.
Getting into the blogging groove; Using RSS
As you'll notice, it's been almost two weeks since my last blog post. That isn't right. I should be posting more often in order to keep my readers engaged and entertained. It's very hard to become a “blogger.” A blogger is open to sharing their experiences and feelins with their readers. I owe you my few kind readers more. I promise to be a better blogger.
Now for the school work:
What blogs in my RSS reader? A LOT! I have blogs for mommies, blogs for foodies, blogs for crafters, blogs for librarians, blogs for Bostonians, blogs for cupcake lovers (yes there are more than one!). I keep them sorted and categorized by work and play. I check my Google RSS reader daily. If it's been a few days, I quickly scan the titles and then mark all as read when I'm done. I am a better blog reader when I read daily. If I let the feeds build up then I get more overwhelmed and retain less of the information I read.
I think RSS is a strong tool for education and we should be teaching all students how to use RSS to help sort and manage information overload.
Some of my favorite blogs are:
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