• What were your favorite experiences in the course?

Unexpectedly, I found out how helpful step by step instructions are visually. I never thought of myself as a visual learner. Definitely this is something to consider when using new technologies as learning tools. The feeling of being part of a library community was the best part. I tend not to share the same interests as the teacher-librarians in my locale, so this was very rewarding for me to be able share technology experiences.

• What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use? What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?

Personally...not too sure yet. Professionally, however, the RSS seemed to be most important. I had no idea that this tool could filter so much. I discovered that wikis are a vast arena of unexpected resource sharing....still not a big blog fan, though. 

• Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?

I have been using Drupal both to organize my library class and as a learning log for students. It worked OK, but when I tried to use it as a collaborative space for teachers to share information, it bombed. Now I know why...I have a lot more information at my disposal about which tools are better for what...hence the incredible utility of the librarysuccess wiki.

• What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?

Great facilitation! I, too, found the course intensive, and maybe a mid-semester breathing space would be nice.

Sorry for being a wee bit late: life has intervened. I have benefitted from seeing how other people have formatted their proposals. I was particularly impressed with the use of the wiki to format the proposal--so I copied it! I also had the bright idea to use a wiki with RSS and tags. I am not completely sure if my RSS is working properly...sometimes I find that my del.icio.us tags don't all load.

My main concept is resource discovery, and sharing of community created resources. 

My proposal can be viewed here.

well...i have enjoyed this week's play. after my intitial curmudgeonly reaction to libraries on Myspace, i started to think that it wasn't such a bad idea. the whole idea is to make libraries accessible, not distant storehouses of knowledge where it is too much work to type in a reference question or query a catalogue. the 'human connection' cannot be overrestimated.

 i've enjoyed flickr, and certainly see the benefits as a learning tool in my school environment..less sure of the library connection for me right now.

Ok..my post isn't really about wiki literacy. as usual, i have had so much playing with the new tools and using them on a small scale. one of my new playthings is using a wiki as a collaborative short story writing space for grade 7 English. This project will actually take place next week. If you'd like to take a look (and offer suggestions!please, please!) you can find the wiki as part of a webquest. It still needs some tweaking. 

i think, though, that my project for this course will be on implementing a wiki as an information literacy site. so on one hand, i will use it to organize library instruction, but on the other hand, it will be used to organize instruction and gather assessment statistics by information literacy benchmarks. this way, i can show evidence about how students are improving and which areas still need work. at least, this way, there is greater opportunity for a collaborative effort.

So...i have practiced embedding feeds of del.icio.us tags into webpages. My question, or rather my pondering on the topic, is that you still have a 'list'of bookmarks. am i right? i don't like lists of links.  i don't find they're user-friendly--especially for teenagers. so now my thoughts are that this is a good tool for specific projects (i mean class research projects). but i'm back to thinking that searchable databases are better for overall collection of resources.

hierarchy is often the only means a student has of navigating through electronic systems.

Well I am on a technology high. I never liked RSS when I had to use a desktop program. This week I've experimented with bookmarking and RSS'ing resources that I want students to use in a webquest. love the updateability!! (feed2js is the the most fabulous tool)..before i would always feel like i had to have a bunch of sites compiled before i could start embedding them and it was a pain to update.

so my plan of the week: i think del.icio.us is really going to work in my organization because of the simplicity. my buzz word is 'knowledge sharing'...a way to get web resources centralized (w/o messing around with a database and php). i envision pathfinders as well. this way i can have teachers get involved in the library. as they find resources, or students submit excellent resources in their bibliographies, we can build a knowledge base that is sustainable as people leave the organization.

OK...I've been mulling a lot...the staff at my institution seem to feel that email is impersonal and resist technology. (There were nasty comments made at our staff ProD about people who broadcast emails instead of talking to people one-on-one.)

Blogging is faring much worse. I started a blog (I created the logins which were very simple) to disseminate information about sustainability topics.  I emailed staff to ask them to post their curriculum links to their blogs--I got one response.

 I envision blogs being used for resource sharing. Blogger is so simple to use that I think it is the way to go. I suspect that RSS may solve my problem. I'm not sure right now but I would like to have different department blog sites set up so that departments can post resources. I can imagine the resistance will be to the idea that this is "extra work" and people feel overburdened as it is. 

I am having trouble finding blogs that document student research projects. (The idea to have students post topics, resources, informal writing, etc. was listed in one of the articles.)

I was hoping that someone out there might have some knowledge of a project that has done this. Obviously I am using the wrong key words, because I keep getting articles rather than the real deal!

Thanks!

tamara

is there anyone who wouldn't mind switching from a morning time slot? or perhaps...the monday evening slot could be rescheduled?

warm regards,

tamara

hi everyone, i am a high school librarian in vancouver, canada working in an all girls school. i am interested in 'communication' --wow big topic--. i've been in school for a long time, and so have experienced a lot of the rhetoric regarding technology and learning in the classroom. and, like someone else commented, the real challenge is to be able to come up with concrete examples and applications that are clear and straight forward. i'm really looking forward to learning about the views of librarians in other fields!