Reflecting on 5Weeks...

I sure did have fun this winter!

And it is all because of Five Weeks to a Social Library!!!

What were your favorite experiences in the course?
Working, playing and discovering with all of you! My favorite experiences were the webcasts, screencasts, activities and the group chats. I looked forward to my 11am group chat on Fridays. What a great group! Thank you so much for all your support and inspiring conversations. Honestly, I loved everything about this course.

What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use?
RSS feeds! I would have never thought that feeds would fire me up with so many ideas and possibilities.   

What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?
Wikis! What an amazing tool to organize information. Did I mention that I also have Wiki Fever! In the past 5 weeks, I would catch myself thinking..."Wow, that would be a great wiki!" I'm talking all aspects of daily life. That's just how great they are! 

Were there any unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Probably, how much I have learned in just 5 weeks. Incredible! In just a short time, I created 2 wikis (Bead-It & Library’s 50th Anniversary), a book discussion group web page that pulls in RSS feeds (Girls Night Out), developed a blog (Trendy Librarian) and I am completely obsessed with Flickr. I couldn’t stop! I also wanted to add that Drupal was a wondeful choice. It was really easy to use and navigate.

What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
Our group chats were so great, as I’m sure others were. Maybe, portions of the chats could be archived so other groups could see what was discussed. Or the same with the presenter chats, these were inspiring. I also agree with some of the participants in that indicating a time length for the screencasts would make it easier to work them into your schedule. The only other thing, would be to provide a course completion document that could be printed to put into our personal files.

I have to say, the concept of creating a Free online course like this, is unbelieveable. It is commendable and all of you should be praised for the hard work you've done. *Standing ovation*

If there is anything else you'd like to tell us about your experiences in this course, please feel free to do so.
I don’t know how to thank you for giving me this opportunity to be apart of such a truly amazing and unique experience. It changed me in so many ways. Thinking back to what  I had hoped to get out this course. I not only achieved that but I gained so much more in the process. I remember saying, “I am the youngest librarian in my department and integrating social software tools into the library seems only natural, since this is how my generation is communicating. The opportunity to participate in this course will not only allow me to gain personal knowledge to contribute to my professional development but it will also assist me in supporting my library to project an image that we are moving fast enough into the social networking sphere to keep evolving to meet the needs of the community." Now I'm confident that I can do this! 

I admired all of you who created this course, participated and appreciate all your efforts and time. I hope we all keep in touch.

Thank you very much! :)