Summary!

What was the most important thing I learned?

I really enjoyed this opportunity to learn about Web 2.0.  Until a month ago it was all a mystery. I wanted to learn about what our students are all talking about and I have!  I think the most important aha I came away with is that while one must be aware of the risks of giving out too much information this is a viable method of communicating, dialoging and sharing of information on the web.

What was most challenging and why?

Just a couple of technical glitches slowed me down really.  I appreciated the idea Library Lady of using the same password as much as possible, thanks for that!  It would have been very confusing without that help.  I found I now need time to read other people's blogs because I didn't have time for that.  I also would like to delve deeper into the various applications because I didn't have time for that either!  So, time as always the biggest challenge!

Would I like to see the library use Web 2.0 technologies to improve library services?

I don't think I can wrap my head around that much yet but I would possibly see opportunities for on-line book club comments from BPL patrons (sorry if that is available already and I don't know about it).  Would like to know more about e-books and audio e-books.  Would love to know if BPL has a newsletter service which would send out a monthly best seller list for Adult and Children's books.  

How successful was the self directed model?

For me this was a great choice for learning.  I like taking my own time and choice of time to complete.  Thanks for the option of tutorials you offered if needed at the BPL that kept everyone in the loop and provided support.  I think the only suggestion would be to have maybe a couple of weeks added on to the end of the course to respond more to other people's blog entries.  Thanks for this great opportunity!  I will surely suggest it to others and at $5 what a bargain! 

Link to Library Thing Book Comments!

http://www.librarything.com/catalog/mb2008lvit

Library Thing!

I think Library Thing will be a spot that I will spend some time with. I like the format of rating books and the opportunity for a comment. It has lots of info. on new books out, people's comments on books which have been around awhile and a great place to look for books of interest. I think this is a another option along with EBSCOhost for me. Below is my list of books.

RSS Feeds

What a great idea! This I can use. Downside was that I found some feeds down, or no longer available, so a little bit of a time grabber. However, rss feeds might be more efficient than receiving newsletters to my e-mail which I find hard to keep up with. I could have an endless list of feeds but I should stop now! Here are my current feeds that I have chosen. CBC News (Canadian content, up to date news), NY Times Travel(lots of great ideas about world travel, NY Times is such a great newspaper which I can't buy because I get other papers so this is a great way to read sections I like), ESPN(gives all the sports, all very current data, am a sport fan, don't get ESPN on TV so a great option), Teachers Love Smartboards(lots of lesson plan ideas that have been tried out, we are getting Smartboard tech. this year at our school so want to find info. to learn about this), NY Times Bestseller Lists(read this online on Sunday each week, a great list, obviously current by the week with info. about the book included).

Wikimania!

I would like to say that I have enjoyed watching the Common Craft videos! How simple a concept but so effective! Enjoyed doing the Thanksgiving Wiki! Should be a terrific bash! I think the concept behind Wiki is very user friendly and does make joint tasks so much easier to manage. I would like to try my own Wiki in the future for organizing a project involving a group. As an educator I have wrestled professionally with Wikis. On the one hand they can be a great source of information on the other how accurate are they? I have found that I like to use them myself as a starting point to get a sense of a topic and then branch out to other databases and scholarly sites. I feel I have imposed my views on the students I work with. But I now say to myself is that a fair judgement? I will have to think about that in the weeks to come having had this opportunity to learn more about the world of Wiki!

Google Docs

I think this is great option if you don't have access to Microsoft Office or some other word processing document. Another alternative to pdf documents for universal access. Again I like the fact that you are not using up valuable memory to store documents. I would find Google Docs useful.
Below is my recipe! Hope you have a chance to try it. It is easy!!!
http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dhczrchb_5d4xknmfx

Flickr

This picture below reminds me of my recent vacation to Myrtle Beach. I probably would use Flickr if I did alot of photography and needed the space to hold my photos rather than on my harddrive. Otherwise I would prefer to use iphoto. I found the whole process of getting the account, uploading someone else's free image rather long and somewhat frustrating. I admit to being somewhat confused on the uploading process through blogger but did read the instructions there. I ended up just uploading the photo from Flickr, (Creative Commons section) choosing the size, downloading the image onto my computer and uploading the image from there onto my blog. Lots of lovely photos on Flickr. In my opinion it must also be frustrating having to e-mail the person who submitted a photo to get their permission for use of a particular photo you really would like housed outside of Creative Commons. Could be a long wait. Would rather use my own photo or choose a photo from a free image service or from something like Print Shop. I think I am not yet sold on this?? Any opinions fellow bloggers??

Facebook

Interesting concept. Can't say that I am really that interested in using this for social reasons. Just not my thing. Don't really have time to deal with all the e-mails, messages etc. probably due to the fact I have a hard enough time keeping up with 2 e-mail accounts (1 work, 1 personal). I prefer to use e-mail to connect with friends, cell phone, telephone and face to face. Did find the groups part and applications area more interesting however. Could see finding out opinion/info. about travel, education, money etc. and others listed. Could see the value in using the wall section for group discussion especially if there is no blogg to discuss ideas, course material etc. I have read the Betty Blogger walls for this course and would find it interesting to review that periodically.