Life Long Learner

Week 9- Think 23

2008-05-19T21:03:00.001-07:00

Summarizing this class.....I really enjoyed this class. I will admit, that it takes time...but, I knew that. I am really happy that I had the chance to take this course. I am looking forward to this summer, so that I can learn/explore a lot more.

There is so much information to take in. At times I was lost and confused (nothing too bad). Thank you for all of the info.

Week 9- Thing 22

2008-05-19T20:57:00.000-07:00

I really enjoyed the ebooks. I think there is so much information out there that is available to us. I think that if we start to use the ebooks a little more, the students would think that learning/reading is fun. I think that the sites that you had to pay money for, would have better books, as opposed to the free sights.

Week 9-Thing 21

2008-05-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

WOW! I must say, there is so much information out there. It is so easy to get lost (as I have). As I was exploring, I found many different things. I think that the booktalks would be the most beneficial to me. I plan on exploring the podcasts more during the summer, when I have more time.

Week 9- thing 20

2008-05-19T20:07:00.000-07:00

YouTube is another one of those tools that can be useful (if used correctly and monitored closely). A lot of people use this tool in the classroom or for family useage. There are so many videos to choose from. There are so many different topics...this can be a negative. It would be so easy to get lost in the video world. My favorite videos are the inspirational videos.

Week 8 Thing 19

2008-05-11T21:19:00.000-07:00

The Library Thing is soooo cool. I love this. I can see so many opportunities for the use of this site. Working in the High School Library, I can see having book talks about some of the various books that we read. Also, I can see the benefits of adding a book to my "library" and getting other books that might be compareable. "if you like this, you might like this"....I think this can be very useful. See my library at http://www.librarything.com/catalog/lllmola

I am loving this!!!!!!

blog post week 8 thing 18

2008-05-11T21:06:00.003-07:00

Week 8-Thing 18

Working in the library at the High School, I can name numerous times that I have students that have typed their information at home, saved it to a disk and brought it to school to print it out...only to find that they are unable to pull the document up because they have a different version of microsoft office than we have at the school. I think that using the Zoho writer could eliminate any problems. If students used the Zoho Writer, and saved their information...They would be able to access the document when they get to school and print out the doc. Zoho has all of the features that Microsoft Office Word has so, why not use it?

blog post week 8 thing 18

2008-05-11T21:06:00.001-07:00

Week 8-Thing 18

Week 7- Thing 16 & 17

2008-05-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Wikis----I believe that wikis can be useful. They are a way for people to communicate information to a broad group of people. Take Librarians for instance...they are able to get information to all of their "patrons" through a wiki. Librarians are able to communicate any and all information that the deem important to the patrons of their library. Teachers can also benefit from wikis in the classroom. Teachers are able to communicate with students this way. I believe that the wikis can be used as an "online tutorial". Teachers can post information that would help the students on the wiki. Teachers can post their class notes, syllabus, important dates, contact information, assignments so that students and parents can stay on top of things and plan ahead. The thing that I don't like about the Wikis is that anyone that has a "wiki account" can go in and change any information that they want (whether it is correct or incorrect information).

Week 6- Thing 15

2008-05-11T19:42:00.000-07:00

While reading the different views on Library 2.0, I came to the conclusion that the Library that we know today and the one we knew yesterday are all out dated. I think it is really great that we have so much technology at our fingertips. I do believe that in a world of "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"....we are leaving all of us "technology challanged" people behind. What about us????? I am so very happy that we have librarians that are learning all about all of the technology that is out there and that they are teaching us where to go and how to use this "stuff". I have to admit that it really scares me and at times I feel overwhelmed...but, I think the technology that we have available, with the knowledge of how to use it, is very important and extremely helpful. With a world of information at our fingertips, it is easy to get lost and rely on the wrong information. Library 2.0 is a tool that will help the Librarians (the Information "Queens/Kings") show all of us the usefulness of the technologies that we have available.

Week 6----thing 14

2008-05-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

If you do a search for tags only, there are many different things that pull up. Thing that may ,may not really be what you are looking for. I found that looking at actual blog posts was better (for me). It actually narrows down the search results.

What do I thing about tagging??????I have mixed feelings about tagging. I feel that it can be useful. Tagging is a way to mark what you find, making it easier to find what you are looking for. If you want to do a search or education. Anything that you have tagged as education will be pulled up. This is good and bad. I believe that sometimes it could be too much information.

Week 6- Thing 13

2008-05-09T19:47:00.000-07:00

I really like that you are able to read other's comments about each site. You can view whether this would be a good site for you or not. I think this tool would be great for assistance on research. You would be able to pull up several different sites, giving you a broad range of topics.

With the comments feature, you are able to view what others think about each particular site. If it would help you or not. Libraries are able to take advantage of the social bookmarking by increasing their technology sources for different topics. If you have a class coming in for some different topics, you could show the students the social bookmarking site so that they may create their own bookmark and eliminate the , "What was that site". They can bookmark the site and access it from any computer at any time.

I can't wait until I have some more free time, so that I can explore del.icio.us further. I can see that this sight will be very useful.

Week 5- Thing 12

2008-04-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

Ok, I am not quite sure if I did this correctly. I ran my own search tool with rollyo. I did this using the High School Databases. I created a link to my rollyo on my blog page.

Week 5- Thing 11

2008-04-16T08:36:00.000-07:00

This week we are supposed to explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list. A couple of my favorite are Library Thing http://www.librarything.com/ and Writeboard http://www.writeboard.com/. On the Library Thing site, you can enter information about the books you are reading. You can get ideas for books that you may want to read. The best thing...you can start an online discussion about the books you have read (an online book club). I thought the Write Board site was great and could be really useful for the teachers. I believe that it could help them to use the modern technology of today in the classroom. You are able to have group discussions about assingments. You never know, the students might think this is a really cool way to participate (if you can't get them to participate in class the old fashioned way, make it fun/interesting for them).

I found myself not wanting to quit exploring for this assignment. There are so many cool sight to see. I hope that you all had as much fun as I did.

Aimee

My creation Week 5-Thing 10

2008-04-15T07:41:00.001-07:00

My creation
Originally uploaded by mcgough21

Just playing around....I used the (fd's Flickr Toys) http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/ to create this puzzle of a picture I had taken. I think it is pretty cool that you can actually order the puzzle.

Aimee

softball

2008-04-09T20:10:00.001-07:00

Just playing around....This is what has been consuming all of my time. I have two daughters playing softball (same team....Thank God!)

Week 4- thing #9

2008-04-09T20:00:00.000-07:00

I could not get the Feedster search tool to work...said something about the website being redirected. I found the Topix.net very useful. My favorite was teh Technorati. To me, it seemed that this was very user friendly. The Syndic8.com was very difficult to understand. I think I will use the Topix.net and the Technorati (my two favs).

Week 4- Thing #8

2008-04-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

It seems, from what I have read that the RSS feeds cut out the unwanted stuff (all the junk). It irritates me when you are looking at something and you have all of these advertisements. The Bloglines newsreader account is pretty cool too. Instead of searching each individual sight....It will send you updates. It is like a Wal-Mart...one stop shop....for technology. Pretty awesome! This will save a lot of time.

Week 3- Thing # 7

2008-04-09T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that I am a little on the challenged side when it comes to "modern" technology. Now, I am 31 years old...and I have to admit, I feel really old. I used to think that I was pretty savvy when it came to technology....I have to tell you, I have been surpassed. My husband got an IPOD touch for his birthday....and I have fallen in love with this little creation. I think it is so awesome that we can put thousands of songs on this little thing. That we can organize all of the songs (put them into folders, organize by artist, genre, etc). We can also upload ebooks and videos. With this IPOD, we are able to check the weather and get online. There are many features. Another cool thing is the docking station that we got. It has portable speakers. All we have to do is put the IPOD on the docking station (which serves as a charging station as well), get the remote and push play. We can remove the speakers and take them any where within a hundred feet (even cooler is that the remote works this distance too). This past sunday, we (my husband and I) were able to listen to our favorite songs, while working in the yard! Totally awesome.

Week 3-Thing #6

2008-04-09T19:01:00.000-07:00

Ok, I was able to play around with the Flickr mashups and I looked at a few of the 3rd party sights. I do have to say that the mashups are pretty cool. I love the trading card maker. It is so easy.

Thing #5

2008-04-09T18:27:00.001-07:00

This picture is pretty cool. It is of a blue bonnet that was growing on an island in the middle of the Llano River. This was the only one growing there...in the sand...it was pretty amazing!

Web 2.0-thing #4

2008-03-06T10:29:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I have finally registered my blog. I am catching up!

Web 2.0 Week 2- Thing 3

2008-03-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Week 2 thing 3 says to set up my own blog. Ok....I think I have accomplished that one. I was a bit challenged by the avatar. I was able to figure it out. The avatar is posted. I have to admit, this whole blog thing is pretty cool. I am really enjoying this. The avatar is the coolest (wish I really looked like that). It is like picking out an outfit. You change it to express who you are and what you are thinking/feeling.

Web 2.0 Week 1 Thing 2

2008-03-06T09:21:00.000-08:00

I read the 7 and 1/2 Habits of Highly Successful like I was supposed to. When trying to decide which habit would be the easiest for me and which would be the hardest, I had a difficult time. Let us begin with #1. Begin with an end in mind. I always do this....I begin everything that I do, with an end in mind. I get up every morning with the thought of going back to bed that night. No problem there. I have to admit that I am a bit challenged in this area though. I have a difficult time getting started if I don't have an end in mind. (example: I want to go back to school so that I can teach. My problem is, I don't know what area I want to focus on. Do I want to teach younger students or older? If I teach the older students, what subject do I want to focus on? I just don't know what I want to do when I grow up. Because of this uncertainty, I can't get started.)
Now, Habit # 2: Accept responsibility for your own learning. Ok, I can do this one too. I know that no one can do this for me. It has to be me (all me). :)
Habit # 3: View Problems as a challenge. I can do that too.....I love a challenge...but I don't necessarily love problems. LOL. Again though, my problem is, I have to see the big picture. Everything must have plan and an alternate plan. Can you say OCD?! LOL.
Habit # 4: Have confidence in yourself as a competent, effective learner. Ok, maybe I struggle with this one a little bit. I mean, I have no doubt that I can do ANYTHING that I put my mind to. If I want something bad enough I can make it happen. My fear is... the what ifs....(you know, what if I get a bad grade....what if I decide to do something else....what if......). So I guess you could say that habit #4 is difficult for me.
Habit #5: Create your own learning toolbox. I think that we all do this. I think this toolbox is constantly changing. Everyday we have different needs. Everyday, we have different challenges. Everyday is a new adventure. For each adventure we need another tool.
Habit #6: Use technology to your advantage. I think I can say that I clearly do this. What am I doing now....trying to learn a little bit about technology. Technology is like our toolbox. It is always changing. The hard part is staying on top of technology because it is ever changing. That is what I struggle with.....staying on top of technology. At one time...I considered myself pretty savvy when it came to technology. Now days....I am not so sure. I mean.....I can't even figure out how to put songs onto my daughter's mp3 player. (I think this is just that time thing again...I don't have enough time to figure it out...because, I know that if there were more hours in the day, I would have everything figured out.)
Habit #7: Teach/mentor others. Well.....I do this everyday. I mean, I am a mother. I teach/mentor everyday (at work and at home).
Habit #7 and 1/2: (Now this is the one that I truly struggle with!) Play! Who has time for that?! I guess I just take everything too serious (or so I am told). I have a hard time kicking back and just having fun. There is always something else that I should be doing. My work is never done.

Because my work is never done....I must get back to it.

Web 2.0 Week 1 Thing # 1

2008-03-06T09:14:00.000-08:00

Ok..I know I am a little behind the game here (just posting and everything). I have to tell you what I think so far. I am excited! This Web 2.0 class is so informative and not to mention fun! I catch myself not wanting to stop working on it. Although I am enjoying the information, I am finding it difficult to post to my blog at each step. I suppose I will work on that. LOL.

Well, I hope that everyone else is enjoying this as much as I am.