Learning from Students Again--Web 2.0 School Sites

My MLS students had to explore a number of Web 2.0 sites in order to do an assigment somewhat similar to 23 Things. Here are some good sites I picked up from their submissions:

• Educational Podcast Network/EPN: I already had this one tagged but was glad of the reminder: http://epnweb.org/
• Wiki from a school in Redondo Beach, CA: http://adamsnews.wikispaces.com/
• How to make all sorts of cool things: http://blog.makezine.com/archive/make_podcast/
• Great podcasts: Sarah Anne Long's Longshots: http://www.sarahlong.org/podcast/
• School-wide wiki: http://villagewiki.pbwiki.com/
  
• Houston school librarian blog: http://alibraryisalibrary.blogspot.com/
• Tech teacher wiki with lots of good links: http://computerkiddoswiki.pbwiki.com/

I think it is great to visit these and a growing number of school sites that show creative ideas for using Web 2.0 resources. Further, I hope that people who are currently blocked by filters will take note of these and similar sites. Show them to the powers that be in your schools and districts. Ask them why so many other educators and students have access, while yours are being blocked. Maybe this is one tool that can help others gain access.

MySpace Musings

I am again happily staying at home and grading work from my MLS students. As always, I learn from them as I go through submissions. I am going to make a few comments and also share sites as I progress. One thing students were required to do was explore MySpace. Comments below are my musings on their findings.

• One student just shared that, in the process of looking at MySpace for an assignment, she found some pages that belonged to her own 4th & 5th grade students, who were obviously lying about their ages and also were giving out private information. So she presented a general lesson on netiquette and online safety and, without singling out students, discussed safety and privacy. She got positive feedback from both students and parents. Now here is where I want to rant...naturally due to filters she had to do this search at home. What on earth is the sense of blocking librarians, counselors, principals and other professionals from getting to any site immediately from their offices or schools? EVERY SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE IMMEDIATE FILTER OVERRIDE POWER ON CAMPUS, vested in several people. This bit about blocking access to everyone is DANGEROUS instead of enhancing safety.
• About MySpace--I am not saying that we should open it for general school use, but rather that all educators should know about it and be acquainted with its strengths and weaknesses. Not allowing educators to gain access to any website they need to see goes beyond paternalism and into the realm of insult. The assignment my students did (working from home of course) called upon them to find one inappropriate MySpace site, and one "good" site. More than anything I wanted them to explore this environment and see its possibilities rather than just have opinions based of media hype. Most of my students admit they have never even visited MySpace or FaceBook before.
  
• Here is a very good MySpace page from Florida, Ask a Librarian: http://www.myspace.com/askalibrarianfl
• Here is another great library MySpace, from Denver Public Library: http://room132.com/

OMG I Am Gonna Get Smarter!!!

Since having recently acquired two appurtenances disseminated by Apple, a MacBook Pro and an iPhone, I have noticed an upward trend in my intellect! Now I perceive a scholarly endeavor supports the veracity of this phenomenon!

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89408933

Texas translation: Hey ya'll, I am fixin' t'git smarter with m' new stuff.Publish Post

I Am So Lucky!

I just came back to my porch after turning off the sprinkler. I looked down at my surroundings and saw the following:

• Two comfy lounge chairs
• My dog Ringo who goes where I go
• Kindle
• Zippy the Flip Cam
• Idella the iPhone
• Maxine the MacBookPro
• My bike

I am a very lucky person. But I am thinking...which of these do I treasure the most? Ringo, of course! But after that...what I am getting at is which gadgets do I/you value the most? Can I put them in some kind of hierarchy? Can you? Which can you least imagine getting along without?

Vote in my Poll!

For fun I am asking people what they think I should name my Kindle. I am wavering between Grendal and Gwin as explained in my earlier post about my new gizmo. I am stepping out a bit here also, and allowing people to tell me that I am silly to name my gadgets.

Getting to know Zippy the Flip Cam

Wow! This is one cool tool! My Flip Cam seemed to practically jump out of its no nonsense box. It came with a cute little pouch and two cords. Documentation was negligible but who needs to read up on this thing? It is ready to go, intuitive, and everything about it says HURRY UP! HOOK ME UP! USE ME! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR??? All I had to do was slip in a couple of AA batteries and turn it over in my hands a couple of times to look at the obvious and intuitive controls. When you slide the lever down, the USB connector hops right out and seems eager to connect with the nearest computer. What am I going to do, alone in the house on a Friday evening, to satisfy my little friend's hunger for action? What else? I film my very best friend, Ringo Bell, my trusty canine companion. I daresay every time I have gotten a new camera in recent years, the first thing I have done is to turn it on one pet or another. Sorry Nancy Pearl.

All that happened last night. Now I am sitting on my back porch, soaking up the springtime green sights and smells, and playing again with Zippy. The name came to me a few minutes ago. It seems to epitomize my camera's eager and peppy demeanor. Did I mention Zippy is orange and white? Yep, since orange and blue are SHSU colors, we all got orange cams. Or at least I did...don't know if other people asked for other colors or not. I just satisfied Zippy's urge to sync with Maxine, my MacBookPro. Ok I know this sounds suggestive but I cannot help it. Installing the software and viewing my first effort was done in minutes. In fact here I am blogging about it just 20 minutes after I first sat down out here. I am attaching the video, an obvious first effort, but enough to prove it works, and easily at that.


NOTE: I just got an email about the sound on this being really loud. This was not evident on my Mac but very much on my PC. I will study up myself, but does anyone know if you can adjust the sound before you record? Sorry about the loudness...if you want to see, you may want to turn down your sound first.

Getting to know my Kindle

I think I will name her Grendel. I always rooted for Grendel in the Beowulf stories, and for some reason thought the monster should be a she. I also thought of Gwin, the ferret in the Ink series, but like the complete rhyming quality of Grendel. Anyway, I just got my hands on a long-awaited Kindle yesterday. Our department ordered several back in November, and we have waited all this time for their arrival. As I have done with other new acquisitions, I want to chronicle my first impressions of my new friend.

First off, when opening her, I had an almost MAC feeling. The packaging reminded me a little of the unpacking of my iPhone. There was the heavy duty box with the cute little clasp, and the packaging inside of the unit, cords, and brief documentation booklet. Oh and the cover! It was lovingly covered in a sexy little translucent sleeve. The only difference was that the Kindle was nestled in rather ugly gray egg-cartonish cardboard rather than soft, cushy Styrofoam. I wonder about the comparative biodegradability (is that a word?) of the two presentations. Anyway, I lifted it out gently and felt a little thrill as I carefully peeled off the plastic coverings. Lots of people say Kindles are ugly and complain about the color. I was not put off by Grendel's pure whiteness, personally. I liked the weight and the feel of the back cover which is non-skid material and a bit friendly to the touch. So far so good!

I determined to be a good girl and read the instruction book. No problem--there is not much there to read. The real user guide is appropriately housed in the unit, ready to be your first reading experience. I spent some time going through the guide and getting a feel for handling the gizmo.

Here are some early impressions

• The appearance of the displays is very appealing. It does look more like book pages than any other portable reader I have seen, because of the ink-like print and the matte finish screen.
• Adjusting text size is nice so I don't have to wear my cheater glasses to see small print.
• One early problem I have noted that is still persisting is that it is awfully easy to hit a page forward button by mistake. One review I read last night points out that there is no really obvious way to hold the Kindle and let your hands rest. I tried using the unit with and without the cover and found that the problem exists either way.
• Another issue with handling was that I tended to hold it in such a way that left bottom corner was digging into my left hand. It made me wish all corners were more rounded. As with the button problem, this may be something that goes away as I get more used to holding it.
  
• The keyboard has very small symbols. It took me a while to figure out which one stood for home page, something that I wanted to know very early on.
  
• Actual reading from the device is fun and comfortable. I am pleased with this, which of course is the raison d'etre for the device in the first place.

After early exploring I do have questions. My goal for the next day or so is to find answers for them:

• First off I wanted to download blogs. In my mind I can download someone's entire blog history and then subscribe for future updates. I can find how to go to Amazon and subscribe there, but it seems to be fee based, with a small fee attached to using them for RSS. I don't want to have to pay for reading blogs that are free in other formats. This is top of my question list.
• A colleague, Dr. Frank Hoffmann, wants to know about archiving. His question is, once you download a book from Amazon, can you then save it as well to a computer and then to a CD? From what I read, the answer is not clear. I do know that Amazon helpfully offers to keep all your files for you at your profile site. I am thinking that is their remedy for this question.
  
• Somewhat related to my blog question, I want to know what can I download from where, and get for free? I am stingy! Hoping to figure out more about that today.

As I said, this entry is just to record first impressions. This evening or tomorrow I want to post an update describing how I am getting along with my new friend after spending more time with her, and what answers I have found to my questions. Overall, my first speed date with Grendel was enchanting. I am looking forward to getting to know her (OK now I am thinking maybe Grendel is a HE) better!

PS OK Grendel IS a guy...I just reviewed and remembered this in (where else?) Wikipedia. I also looked up Gwin, and reminded myself that he was a martin, not a ferret. So my memory is hazy. Big deal. Anybody that knows me is aware of that! And as a TOTAL ASIDE I read again about the plans for an Inkheart movie. It is supposed to come out in October of this year. Cannot wait! In my opinion, the Inkheart series beats the heck out of HP for fantasy reading. There is still a chance I may change the name of my buddy from Grendel to Gwin...

Here are some questions:

1. About blogs...does a blog have to be listed with Amazon for you to subscribe? I know you can also browse to blogs which is likely what I will do, but wondering.
2. Is there a way to move stuff from your Kindle to a computer, as in backing up a book? I know Amazon helpfully saves for you, but wondering about alternative.