Week Nine Thing # 23

This has been an amazing learning journey. It took much time to explore and absorb the new ideas but it was totally worthwhile.

I’ve loved learning how to blog. I intend to explore Flickr more as I can see that I can view photos on one of our TV stations using our AT&T cable service. I also love using del.icio.us for bookmarking useful websites. The ability to be able to see these websites easily from any computer is very useful. I also liked learning about Google Docs as I can see applications for group work here – applicable for me and for students at school.

I am in the process of setting up a wiki for the APEL students at my school based on Joyce Valenza’s website. I can see teaching and learning applications linking the students and the teacher librarian to teacher blogs using iGoogle pages. Students could ask questions about the assignments which could be answered by either the teacher or the teacher librarian. As the blog is updated students would be automatically updated on their iGoogle page. I have developed a PowerPoint presentation which could be used at a professional growth day promoting this idea to teachers.

If another discovery program like this was offered in the future I would definitely avail myself of it. It was a very structured approach to some of the best features of web 2.0 tools. I liked being able to learn at my own pace. My life is frequently frenetic and so I have to use pockets of time as they arise.

And if I had to describe my learning experience in one word I could only choose ‘brilliant’. Thank you to the CSLA 2.0 team for this learning opportunity.

Week Nine Thing # 22

I explored LibriVox in my last ‘thing’ – where audiobook versions of copyright free books can be found.

This week I checked out World eBook Fair which can be found at http://www.worldebookfair.com/ or http://www.worldebookfair.org/
(I thought that finding it at both .com and .org was interesting). The site is well organized – I took the hint and started with the Browse Collections page at http://worldebookfair.org/Collections.htm

I found a fantastic list of books in the Classic Literature Collection. Students are often required to read a classic and now I will be able to direct them to the classics reproduced here. The font size was good and now I think I’d like a Kindle. I see on Amazon that Kindle version two has just been released. I know my husband would like to have another look at ‘Flatland’ by Edwin A. Abbott and I was excited to find ‘T. Tembaron’ by Francis Hodgson Burnett, one of her lesser known works.

I also looked up Poetry Collection – 8000 poems – and thought this could be useful for students at my school.

The British Library Online Gallery at http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/ttp/ttpbooks.html was fascinating and I’m glad this site has been drawn to my attention. I looked at Jane Austen’s ‘The History of England’ which she completed when she was just fifteen years of age. Her script is beautifully neat and I liked the illustrations which accompanied the work. I also checked out William Blake’s ‘The Tyger’. Besides the original poem, there is information about William Blake and about the poem. This site is worth exploring for its online gallery, virtual books, online exhibitions and definitely do the highlight tour too.

There are also some nice ecards which can be sent – arranged under different themes – check them out.

Week Nine Thing # 21

A podcast is a digital audio or audiovisual file that can be downloaded free by a computer user connected to the Internet. Podcasts are provided by news organizations, advocacy groups, radio and TV broadcasts, and individuals. NPR would be a good example. Many examples can be found on the Thomson Gale database under the multimedia tab.

I looked up Educational Podcast Directory at http://www.epnweb.org and found lots of interesting podcasts but my favorite so far is LibriVox which can be found under the English Language Arts link on the left hand side of the Education Podcast Network main page at http://www.epnweb.org/

LibriVox is an online digital library of free audiobooks from the public domain. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. The goal of LibriVox is to make all public domain books available as free audio books. It was only started in August 2005 and already there are over 2,000 books available. I looked up one of my favorite books and there it was - “Pride and Prejudice”. For many people professionally recorded audiobooks remain an expensive purchase – LibriVox could prove to be a viable alternative. It was simple to add the RSS feed to my iGoogle page.

Week Nine Thing # 20

Ah, so many to choose from. I couldn’t stop at just one video to add…

What about

Banned Book Week Sample Display for an idea at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHi6mkQz8dE&feature=related

And I do like finding humorous videos…

Try
Ninja librarian at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyLTqBARFt8&feature=related

Or
Cape Librarians Gone Wild at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ju3z-EtFQE

Or
Ma and Pa Kettle Do Math at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bfq5kju627c


YouTube is a simple site to use for ordinary computer users who wish to post their videos online. The site is very popular, covers a wide range of topics and is having a huge social impact. You Tube is easily searchable, video clips are easily shared with friends, and there is the ability to comment on the various videos.

There are some problems. Although I didn’t find any offensive material, YouTube is unable to check all videos before they go online. Viewers are requested to ‘flag’ the content of videos that is deemed inappropriate to bring it to the attention of YouTube staff.

Users posting videos are shown a message bringing to their attention copyright issues. YouTube has provided a Copyright Tips page and Community Guidelines. Nevertheless there are still many unauthorized clips from movies and TV shows. Apparently it is up to copyright holders to pursue this problem.

I’m sure that this is a site that will be around for a long time.

Week Eight Thing # 19

This week were were to take a look at LibraryThing at http://www.librarything.com and catalog some favorite books.

It was easy to sign up for LibraryThing. I like the fact that many of the books have reviews.

I added the following books to LibraryThing.

Pride and Prejudice
Lord of the Rings
Twilight
These Old Shades
The Handmaid’s Tale

These books were all found, and all had reviews.

I am looking forward to reading the recommendations from other readers. There are titles there with which I am not familiar.

I’ve noticed that there are forums on all sorts of topics. Some people apparently tag the books they have read and so kept track of their reading habits through 2008. I’ve really enjoyed browsing people’s posts. There are lots of good ideas too. Zotero anyone? I still have to look at some of the forums such as science fiction, fantasy, Read YA Lit, Historical fiction etc. The book recommendations should provide me with my next list of want to read books.

I can see how the blog widget from LibraryThing could be used to display new books on a library website. A good example was Shenandoah Public Library.