Now that my class is over I am trying to decide what I should write about on my blog. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

23 Things I Learned from 23 Things Kansas!

1. Blogging is easy and can be about most anything!
2. I think blogging can be a great outlet for anyone.
3. I love facebook! It is a great way to reconnect with friends!
4. Online communities is a great way to connect with people who have similar interests as you.
5. You can find a webinar about most any topic!
6. A webinar is a great way to learn a new skill.
7. There are lots of places to upload your photos.
8. You can make your photos into almost anything from a coffee mug to a hardback book.
9. RSS feeds are a great way to keep up to date on your favorite websites.
10. I love checking my Google Reader to see what updates there are.
11. On delicious you can find other websites similar to ones you have already tagged.
12. Who knew there were so many websites about literacy skills!
13. Twitter is a great way to give a quick update.
14. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with all the tweets!
15. Cloud computing affords a great opportunity to meet other librarians.
16. You can have as many collaborators as you need on a project!
17. IM'ing can be a great way to brighten someone's day.
18. Anyone can make a video for Youtube!
19. I have shared Screencast-o-matic with all my coworkers. It is the best!
20. Animoto is a great way to share a short video about family or friends.
21. I love the recommendations Library Thing offers when you put in the books you have read.
22. Wikis make it easy for anyone to edit a web based document.
23. I have so many username/passwords I need to keep a blog about it.

I am glad I took the time to complete 23 Things Kansas. My favorite item was using the screencast-o-matic. I can see myself using this most with my students.
Some of the assignments I don't see myself using again or are blocked at my school.
I have learned a lot from this class and have enjoyed seeing what others are doing.
I am hoping to continue my blog especially since I will begin a new library position in the fall. We will see how it goes. Thanks for everything.

Wiki's

When I started reading this week's assignment I really wasn't sure how to begin. I have always told my students to be careful using information from Wikipedia since anyone can edit the pages. I never realized how easy it is to edit the pages. I looked through a few pages from my hometown and alma maters. I really wasn't sure what to add and didn't feel comfortable adding anything.

The 2nd part of the assignment was very easy to follow. I like the idea of having a collaborative page for all the participants to work together on. The wetpaint site was easy to use and follow. This would be a good way to get students to work together or give comments about a topic.

Have a great week!
Jean

Week 14 : Library Thing, etc

I have used similar library shelf programs through facebook. The hardest part is keeping your list up to date. I found Shelfari very easy to use and found some of my favorite books. This site would be a great way to connect with friends about what books they are reading. I like that you can find similar books to read as well.

Week 13 : Slide Sharing

After yesterday's frustrating experience trying to make a screencast I was a little reluctant to start this project today. Luckily I found Slide Sharing to be much more user friendly and easier to use. I chose Animoto and uploaded some pictures from a family birthday party held a month or so ago. Once I uploaded the photos I just added music and the program did the rest. What a fun way to share photos or videos from an event! I think my students would like this program to make short videos to share with others.
You can check out my video on Youtube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yueXi08FXt4.
Enjoy!
Jean

Week 12 : Screencasting

So I decided to try to do a screencast with Jing. I downloaded Jing and got my computer all set up to record a video about changing a document into PDF. I tried to record numerous times and encountered many problems. 1st the delay before it actually started recording seemed really long, like 5-10 seconds after the mic on countdown finished. 2nd everytime I moved the mouse it caused a skip in the screen shot. So now I am going to try the Screencast-o-matic and see how it goes. So far this is the most frustrating week!!!
Update--after having so much trouble with Jing I have Screencast-o-matic to be very easy to use! The only trouble I had was the amount of time it took for the document to open while screencasting. On my 1st try I lost the record button and was disappointed to find I could not edit out the last part of my video so I had to make a 2nd video.
The final product came out a little dry but I got the point across. Check it out on You Tube. Not sure if I'll use this feature too often. Maybe it would be a good tool for the kids to use. I could see them getting into it and having a lot of fun with it.