Final Reflection

This course has offered me an invaluable introspection at ways to integrate web 2.0 resources into my school media center.  I am an advocate for progression of education into the 21st Century.  Watching my own children go to school and receive both traditional lessons and lessons utilizing technological resources I wholeheartedly believe that technology is the best way for us to prepare students for the future global economy.  I think blogging is an excellent alternative to journaling and while I think students need to learn penmanship I believe that this in itself is a dying art as our culture moves us towards complete reliance on electronic forms of communication.  I also think that students are a captive audience readily embracing technology and any way to integrate this into the classroom is a success. 

A class blog, a school media website, using online media programs for students to present research information, and the use of internet as primary reference source will be commonplace are just a few ways I plan to reach out to my students, colleagues, administrators and parents.  The more hands on the children can be with technology the greater the value of the lessons. 

I felt very exited to take the course.  I was looking forward to everything that I would learn and the outcome surpassed my expectations.  I was pleasantly surprised at how user friendly the educational resources are for the user.  While I have always valued the internet for personal use, and for use in my schooling I now have a better understanding of how I can use the internet as a resource in my future career.   

In regards to social networking sight I am eagerly following Joyce Valenza and other media specialists. I love that I have interesting and relevant information available to me on my smart phone at all times.  I was already adept in the use of social networking sight in my personal life but this class has broadened my perspective as to the value of these tools.  Bag the web is a great addition to any school media center website by giving students access to important links that you can bring them from the web to support their curriculum.  On a whole A ++ for this class for relevance and what I am taking away from it.

Today's class was by far the most frustrating day for me however I did come away with a lot of information.  The presentation tools portion offered a lot of insight into different programs that I can use with future students.  I'm sure kids would have a great time using them, and several of the programs were extremely user friendly and can be used for a variety of functions.  I wish there had been more time to experiment with glogster and I'm sure going forward I will spend more time with it, in class, and out. 

PhotoStory

Great program.  I love this.  It was so easy to use and upload to youtube, and embed.  I can easily see using this to create photostories for my libraries website and to use in the classroom.  It is a great alternative to power point for research presentations.  The kids would be really excited to use this.

Class Day 3

I thought today's class was great.  I am completely in love with Google Docs.  The ease of use is great and it is practical for me now as a student, and will support my needs even better in the future as a teacher librarian.   This class is so much more than I expected even though I came in with high expectations.  The hands on approach means so much more in a class where we are utilizing web based resources.  Every software application/social media site we have been exposed to presents limitless possibilities.

Using Diigo in the Classroom

Diigo seems like an excellent online collaboration tools.  I can envision myself using this to collaborate with my classroom teachers.  In this way you can have an even greater impact on your school by helping classroom teachers find online resources.  This is also a great tool to allow your classroom teachers and administrators to see where you are getting background information regarding your lessons in the classroom.  Additionally this is also a great way to collaborate with the other teacher librarians in your district and in other districts, the people you do not have daily face to face contact with but may be valuable collaborators.

http://www.diigo.com/user/tbechtler

Social Media in Plain English, read and respond

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ILQrUrEWe8&feature=player_embedded

I find the statistics in this video both awesome and alarming.  While I fully embrace technology and the use of social media I have to wonder if having so much information power at our finger tips is hindering free thought?  Is this a blessing or a burden?  I am constantly torn between loving my cell phone and wondering how I ever lived without it..... and burying it in the yard.

Or is the upswing in information technology contributing to free thought and encouraging the collaboration of original ideas by placing the control of information in the hand of everyone rather than the hands of the few.

For this purpose the evolution of technology cannot be argued against, but my concern comes from the perspective that there may come a time when we as people reach a point of information overload.  It has been surmised that the act of multi-tasking has been shown to lower i.q.  With this absolute bombardement of information around the clock it is impossible to avoid having to multi-task in information processing alone.  Check out this article by the Chicago Tribune for more info on the effects of multitasking.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-08-10/news/ct-oped-0811-multitask-20100810_1_iqs-study-information-overload

The progression will be interesting to watch, and while I am on board and embrace technology and it's infinite uses, I also have the privelage of coming from a world free of mainstream access to technology, web 2.0, social media, and cell phones.  There are times where my daily tasks seem easier to contend with because of something as simple as my cell phone, but there are other times when it seems to create complications.  This I know.............I am more at ease and relaxed when my phone is OFF.