The ABC's of online organizational tools

I'd like to describe just a few of the sites we investigated this week but there are SO MANY tools available on the Read/Write web. I thought I'd have some fun; I hope you like it!
A is for Animoto for making vivid presentations
B is for BubblUs (brainstorming) and BigHugeLabs for creations
C is for Campusbug, chatting with fellow student minions
D is for Doodle for getting everyone’s opinions
E is for eHow teaching us how to do it all
F is for Flickr stores pictures to show one and all
G is for GoogleMaps , gives us fancy mappin’
H is for Hypertext which makes this all happen
I is for Instructables ; demonstrates how to...
J is for Jing ; I can send instructional images to you
K is for kilobytes; data we now consider small
L is for LinkedIn; networking professionals (they make house calls?!)
M is for MyStickies they're just like desktop post-its
N is for Notecentric , organize notes; then send it
O is for Openonmy storing files to 1 gig
P is for Prosper; helps find student loans (now that’s big!)
Q is for Qipit take pictures of your “.doc”
R is for Rollyo custom search engine; your list of what’s hot
S is for StumbleUpon ;find great sites with this tool and surveymonkey; survey if others find it cool
T is for ThinkFold; create outlines on the net
U is for user friendly; for these sites? You bet!

V is for voki creating people we know
W is for Wikipedia; information, we can edit as we go
X is for? Because X websites are Xtra hard to find
Y is for Yahoo! Bookmarks; help organize your mind
Finally, Z is for Zoho for word processing and Zamzar to convert it
Now you can organize your world; copy, print and transfer it

Extra! Extra! Read All About it!

That term is taking on a whole new meaning with the introduction of Real Simple Syndication or RSS feeds.

I must admit, I never really have time to read a newspaper. I would love to spend the morning sitting with a cup of coffee and a paper to find out what is happening in the world. Unfortunately, I’m lucky to just get the coffee and ten minutes of local weather. The paper became more useful for packing items for storage than anything else. I do take the time to check sites like Masslive.com and School Library Journal when I get the chance at the end of the day. However, there is such a vast amount of information pertinent to my job, my goals, and my family that I would have to be on the computer constantly in order to read all the websites I like.

Enter aggregators or feed collectors, a type of software that allows you to collect all the latest information from your favorite websites. It’s the little newsboy of the 21^st century who yells out the latest news to catch your interest. Here’s basically how it works. Using the description from Will Richardson’s Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts and other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms, “Weblogs generate a behind-the-scenes code in a language similar to HTML called XML.” This code gives readers access to the weblog’s information through “feeds”. In case that description is still too confusing, click on the link below for a Common Craft explanation of RSS feeds.

How has aggregators changed my life? Instead of spending hours searching all my favorites for the latest information, I link to their RSS feed or XML link, send it to my Google Reader account and… Viola! Instant information consolidated into one location. One-stop shopping! If I don’t find the information relevant, I just cancel the link. I can see it's applications in the classroom setting. Instead of students searching for information on projects, the information comes straight to them It’s amazing how technology has changed our world.

My choices for Google Reader include: Kathy Schrock's Kaffeeklatsch Blog, PBS Teachers “Learning Now” and “Media Shift”, the Library Advocate blog, Library Technology Guide, School Library Journal –Gadget News, Tools and Trends news and Professional Development News, and Wiki’s in Education to name a few . If I had to look at each of these sites individually, I would probably give up after the first week of enthusiasm. But aggregators like Googlereader allow me to see the latest news from each site in one location.

Let me give you some examples of items I’ve found through my Google Reader. RSS is just the beginning of further innovations like the article I found when reading PBS Media Shift on my Google Reader http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/washington-posts-web-ninjas-build-map-timeline-combo047.html

Here is an article from School Library Journal about using Tabbloid as an RSS reader. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6632445.html?nid=4660

This article discussed how Journalism Students used Twitter to report on the Australian Elections. http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2009/02/how-journalism-students-used-twitter-to-report-on-australian-elections034.html

Does that mean I'll never pick up a newspaper again? No...not at all. I long for those school vacations when I can spoil myself by sitting in my fluffy bathrobe and over-sized slippers, sipping coffee and browsing the newspaper. Aggregators have just freed up more time to spend with my family. Any innovation that can do that is worth keeping.

ARGH!!! Too Much Information!!!

The massive expanse of the World Wide Web can give me a headache with informational overload; sometimes it just too much. Every time I see a new website, blog or wiki that I like, I say to myself, "Ooooh! I have to remember where I found that." Not long ago I would have copied and pasted the links to a word document or bookmarked it to my extended list of Comcast’s favorite places. At least with favorite places, I could put them in folders; categorizing my thoughts to some extent. I have to say, I’m a busy Mom who needs to feel a little organized.

That was then! My world has now become a more organized and my eyes more open to new technology. I have discovered social bookmarking tools. My old ways were limiting. I could organize but not share. Social bookmarking has the benefit of organizing information with the bonus of sharing what you’ve found. Sites like Deli.cio.us give me access to all my information from any computer with internet access I wish to use. I can also share that information with anyone, anywhere in the world. Talk about a global world! Diigio is another popular social bookmarking site. For more information, let me show you a wonderful video by Lee LeFever and Craft Commons that explains social bookmarking to those who are visual learners (like me).

http://www.commoncraft.com/bookmarking-plain-english

Deli.ci.ous and Diigio are just two of many sites now available on the internet. Education World has a nice article that describes a variety of social bookmarking tools. http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/sites/sites080.shtml Another article by Steve Hargadon from School Library Journal also talks about their favorites in social bookmarking sites. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6505695.html

The emphasis is these articles as well as this blog is that our world is becoming more social. We don’t have to be encumbered by carrying discs or even memory sticks from place to place. We can share information with others instantly. The world is ours to discover and organize to our liking. That makes me a very happy mom!

The Wonderful World of Wikis

The Wonderful World of Wikis

I haven't written in my blog in a few days because our next assignment for Emerging Technologies is to design a wiki.

Yes, I've heard of wikis, or at least phenomena like Wikipedia. We've worked on building a wiki in my last class. This time we have the opportunity to use a wiki for other than education purposes. More on my choice for a wiki later.

Wiki's open editing style has both benefits and pitfalls in an educational setting. Teachers are uncomfortable with open internet access to classroom assignments and giving students control over actually editing items that the teacher may add. But that is the whole beauty of a wiki. It does give students the power to collaborate on a more equal footing. As far as open internet access the security of the wiki is up to the discretion the administrator. A wiki can be open for public viewing or secured to be viewed only by those with emails added to security. Wikis are user friendly, and can be started for free (Did you hear that! FREE) with sites like pbwiki, wetpaint and wikispaces. How can this be of benefit to education? WOW!! Let me show you some information I've found.

If you know nothing about wikis, here is a simple but effective presentation called "Wikis in plain English" by Lee LeFever http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=c04c7bfc822caf7c7459

My search for information on uses for wikis in education brought me to a blog by Stewart Mader, author of Using Wikis in Education . His blog entitled Future Changes has many insightful articles demonstrating the effectiveness of wikis in both the educational and corporate settings. See: http://www.ikiw.org/2008/04/10/interview-the-state-of-wikis-in-education/
This particular article attracted me because I wanted to get an overall concept of wikis benefits in education. I especially enjoyed reading about the suggestions for wikis in the classroom. We have such an opportunity to broaden our educational horizon, to make our students collaborators, this type of medium can ready our young people to the global market. Mr Mader calls himself a wiki evangelist. If you follow his blog you will see why, find many more interesting articles on the future of technology.

Another great internet site I found in my search was "Wikis in Education " a wiki resource through Wetpaint http://wikisineducation.wetpaint.com/?t=anon a fantastic collaborative site for teachers and... its a wiki! Educators can search for curriculum used by other educators with wikis to build on lessons and share ideas.

So, you might be wondering what I chose as my project. Since I am a co-leader of a Girl Scout Troop and we've been dealing with some communication problems (the girls aren't telling the parents about activities and the parents are in a "drop-them-off,pick-them-up-but-never-stay-and-help zone). My wiki is for my Troop. The girls are enjoying the online discussions. It's not without its glitches. My add-ons came off my laptop which uses Windows Vista. Some of its programs are not accessible for older Windows versions. Also the first window can confuse people. I've received a few "What do they mean by enter a password?" telephone calls and emails. I've also found small features I've taken for granted like "cut" and "paste" don't work well on the pbwiki editing section and I would love to have the Girl Scout logo as a background but I can't seem to get anything but the standard white to work. I'm just starting up the learning curve when it comes to wikis but I have to tell you, I've become an evangelist too! I'm sold!

Library Media Specialists = Higher school test scores

Week 2 of our Emerging Technologies class is just finishing. We've started working on Blogs (as you can see from this one). Our discussions have been numerous! Some of the subjects have included the school librarian advocating his/her position to show the relevance of a Library Media Specialist in public schools. There is so much research on the benefits of an active library on successful academics scores. For example, http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6536665.html?industryid=47071 an article from the School Library Journal gives preliminary research by Professor Ruth Small from the Syracuse University’s School of Information Studies showing a 10 point difference in ELA test scores among fourth grader who had a certified library media specialist. Here's another report from Scholastic Library publishing; http://librarypublishing.scholastic.com/content/stores/LibraryStore/pages/images/slw_06.pdf

Ok, I suppose the School Library Journal would be a bit biased. The National Center for Educational statistics through the U.S. Department of Education also has a report from a 2002 study with the same conclusions. http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/2005302.pdf
So why, with all this research, are school libaries considered secondary to a school curriculum? Why are Library Media specialists being replaced with library media aides or just completely eliminated? Some say it's because LMS don't have direct daily contact with students.
Here is a great site http://www.youngphillypolitics.com/topics/librarians
Take the time to read the comment section of this report. It's very interesting!