we've only just begun...

This course has been a terrific experience! Really, my favorite experience has been the interaction with fellow librarians, whether in chat or comments on the blog posts. It's a rare activity for me to be able to talk about technology such as we have with other librarians, and that has been great. I've had some experience with many of the social software tools we've been learning about, but this course gave me a better understanding of how they work, clarification of their differences, and how they might work in conjunction with each other. I think what I have found most interesting is how to use del.icio.us and using it with tools such as grazr or feed2js- a concept I think I may find most useful. Experiencing the course, too, and how it has been constructed has provided me with an excellent template that I hope to use in the future as I hope to promote and teach the use of these tools with other librarians.

I had no clear expectations of what would occur in this course, so much was unexpected. However, the connections I've made with those in my chat group and the link to the library 2.0 ning group, which has led to additional, potential connections, has probably been the most unexpected. This has been my first experience communicating to this degree with others online and gives me confidence in pursuing it in the future.

Some thoughts regarding the course (which really has no flaws):
- have some online/downloadable slides/screen shots of the various tools and the different pieces- or for each week have it for that weeks tools?
- Some discussion or demonstration on conversing in IM- how would that actually look if you were doing reference work with a patron in IM? what might etiquette be? how might it best work for us in our weekly chats?
- Even though the drupal chat worked, still have at least one week using AIM or Meebo, etc. to get that experience.
- in creating 'groups' such as we have, perhaps grouping by library type? While I've had some great discussion, I feel those of us in K-12 might have had some slightly different conversations, a slightly different focus(?) But then, that probably goes for all the various library types.
- buddy icons with the chat; it's difficult to keep everyone straight.