Thing 23 -- it's the end?!

My first thought is, "awwwww, I'm finished?" I'd love to keep going with this learning -- and one thing I've certainly learned from this experience is that I will keep going. 23 Things was an excellent structure through which we could explore technology in a meaningful way -- it wasn't willy nilly just wandering around the internet, but rather a guided tour of quality stuff where we could choose different interesting side paths then return to the main thoroughfare.

I couldn't possibly list everything I've learned from this experience. But some specifics that I'll continue to use once learned here are: RSS (once you get going it's such a wonderful learning tool), Blogging (I have set up a DCF blog at school, helped a teacher get a class blog going, and got my family keeping in touch with a blog), digital photo stuff (I constantly do mashups for fun signs and activities and family gifts!) and perhaps the thing that has most surprised me (and took the longest to get going) Facebook. I am now pleasantly addicted to Facebook and have found that my social skills and ability to connect with people has actually improved due to Facebook! I also feel better about interacting with students now that I have actually ventured into social networking instead of just dismissing it in ignorance.

If there is one area I would still like to explore that wasn't covered in 23 things it would be Twitter. I think it's another activity that will take a while to get going with but could be very interesting.

Learning in this way and trying 2.0 activities has taught me patience and acceptance of failure and mistakes. I started with such a self-conscious attitude just about the blogs I was going to post that it was really getting in my way. By allowing myself to look silly or go down dead ends or "waste" time on things that wouldn't necssarily get me to a direct result, I found a freedom I had never felt in school. I always wanted to do the assignments the right way from point a to point b and not call attention to myself by making any mistakes. I am learning to let that go and it sure makes learning more fun. I hope it also makes me a better teacher.

Thanks so much, folks at Vermont's 23 Things, for giving me the best professional (and personal) development experience I've had as a librarian.

Congratulations on a job very well done!

Thing 22 -- Podcasts

I am a big podcast listener. I couldn't clean my house or go on my walks without them at this point! I want to make the jump and get my students podcasting. I have basically used iTunes to find podcasts, but this exercise was wonderful because it opened up some great new sources to pass on to my teacher colleagues for education podcasts.

It takes so little tech equipment to do a podcast, and it's such a great literacy exercise that there is no excuse for not trying it with students. So that is a goal of mine to get going in that direction.

Thing 21 -- You Tube and Video sharing

It was great to learn more about You Tube, a phenomenon I thought I knew a lot about until I read the 23 Things article. Less expensive bandwidth led to video sharing, and what a change that has made in our learning and culture. Goes to show you that almost everything always comes down to money; something to think about when we advocate for internet use with lawmakers.

The non-linear nature of internet learning is something I think I am finally coming to not only accept but celebrate. Looking at various video sharing sites besides You Tube led me to explore videos by a blogger I had learned about from my first RSS experience of education bloggers, and his video gave me a great idea for my media literacy unit with 6th graders in January. It is the first step in learning to give up control, this online learning, and it hopefully helps me to do the same thing with my students -- let them have some more control so they can compete in this new era we are in.

And some of the library videos -- what a hoot. And again, I was led by the nature of You Tube related searches to one teenagers diatribe against mean librarians -- funny and yet disturbing in an eye opening way -- and then heartened by some comments that not all librarians are mean. This is a whole new world of sharing we are in now folks!

Thing 20 -- Web 2.0 Awards

This was an extremely interesting and important exercise. I had just read about the edublogs awards and forwarded that site on to my colleagues as a quick and easy way to find great education blogs. The web 2.0 awards site is even better, though. All the cool stuff in one page.

I looked at a couple of travel sites, a couple of the book sites, then I settled in to examine Swivel fully. I thought it was great. The ability to explore data and share data in one site was exciting. I am always looking for places to get data, as are many of my colleagues. The search function was OK, but it will be a bit hit or miss. It's not totally comprehensive, and there is always the chance that the data is inaccurate or crazily skewed, because of the 2.0 nature. But I liked that they include official sources who join. That raises the profile of the site in my opinion.

I could see public and school libraries using this site quite a bit.

Thing 19 -- online productivity tools

I had used Google docs for word processing and really liked the sharing feature. But I found the presentation feature difficult so I was determined to use this assignment to give it another go. I found it easier this time and there were even some features I preferred in the google version.

Thing 18 -- play with Wikis

After being in the sandbox a bit of several Wikis, I feel much more confident in using them. It makes a difference when you are completing someone else's assignment rather than following my own plan. It challenges me to have to learn something new that I didn't come up with.

Thing 17 -- Wikis

I had known about Wikis, created and used them, and was thinking I wouldn't be learning much of anything new with this assignment. Wrong again.

I love the Stephen Colbert videos, because they encapsulate the pitfalls of Wikis -- a lot of people sharing and collaborating does leave us open to a lot of bad information and just plain silly stuff, but on the other hand, getting to see the Simpsons wiki shows a great upside -- passionate people can create a great source of information on topics that are not generally covered in traditional media.

I haven't seen wikis work all that well in my school yet -- just haven't taken off. A class blog has already worked faster and better for the students to put work up than a wiki we created last year. And we have google apps, which I could see as a more effective way of teachers collaborating than a wiki.

BUT---I had a DCF blog going, and so I added a general book review blog and it hasn't worked at all. A schoolwide book review wiki would be much better, I think. I'm going to take down the blog and try a wiki.