Plans for implementing Technology

It has been overwhelming for me to think of all the different types of online technology I have learned about since June, and most of it is free. Equally overwhelming is all the ways in which this technology can be used in education to make learning more enticing to students. I have been ashamed of my ignorance of creative applications to use in the classroom. I plan to implement wikis as a method of communicating with faculty and administrators about book orders, meetings or needed trainings. I plan to show teachers how to use a wiki to help better plan subject meetings and implement and share new ideas with each other. I think the booktrailer coupled with a grading rubric is an excellent alternative to a book report. I think research conducted by students could be presented to their classes and teachers using googledocs. One thing that I did use with my classes before this class was scavenger hunts using the libraries available databases to find information or digital images. I will also encourage teachers to use podcasts or audio books as alternatives for dyslexia students or students with other reading or writing disabilities. I plan to maintain a Delicious account to organize my bookmarks and have in fact shared with my daughter's school principal a list of free online resources for teachers that I found as a result of this class, she was amazed. I want to learn more about developing school websites and make one that the students and faculty regularly use and check. I plan to keep up with technology and do presentations of relevant material to spark an interest in the topic as well as the technology. I want to include game technology in a responsible way to encourage students to actively seek knowledge. I have a son that loves virtual computer games like WOW. I hated them initially because of the violence until I noticed he had learned to anticipate problems and plan ahead plus he learned a lot about ancient history. The games did not make him more violent because he understood the difference between reality and digital imagery. He has made friends all over the world and some he has had for over 5 years now. He has better hand-eye coordination and improved his critical thinking skills. I am unsure of the effect virtual games have on students of different backgrounds, but it is something to research. I think the way to make teachers try more technology is by showing them how it will make their job easier by helping them plan, making students more independent learners and more excited about learning. I think all teachers want their students to enjoy their class, but often times don't have any idea where to start with technology. I just think the possibilities are limited only by our creativity and our motivation to seek out new technology.

Job of Organizing -

This assignment was a little overwhelming for me. Organizing has always been a struggle for me, but I keep trying. I have noticed in my own life the need to organize pictures, files, house, etc. I never realized how consuming the challenges of organizing a library was going to be. Librarians are going to be kept busy keeping of with new trends of finding and verifying information. I personally enjoy books and I am sure they will always be around, but it seems to me that libraries are going to turn into technology centers. It is kind of like a mashup for me. I have always been into researching and when the computer came along it was great and I started using it. If I needed something local that I couldn't find online I went to the library and looked through the microfiche, it never occurred to me how libraries were having to change to keep up with technology. I really stopped using the library for research and never completely realized it because I still check out books for reading. I found the databases we have access to in the UNT library amazing. I live in a small town so my expectations of our small library have never been very high. I have found this class to be so enlightening because I have been isolated and have not kept up with technology. I keep up with world events, but this is something more. I feel like a clown in the circus trying to walk on a big ball and trying to maintain my balance. I am being engulfed by this tidal wave of new information especially all the websites and applications that I was not aware of or had even considered. I guess I have become accustomed to tags, but there are times when I do miss traditional subject headings. The problem with traditional subject headings is that they cover so much that you have to "weed through" to find what you are looking for and this can be time consuming. I believe I have used my Thesaurus more trying to figure out tags than I ever did in college or high school, but sometimes that is still faster than traditional headings. Librarians appear to be pioneers in the technolgy frontier and it is a very large world that I don't think will be "settled" anytime soon.

The Machine is us/using

I viewed a video today about how we are using the internet or is it using us. I also read chapter 1 in Library 2.0 and beyond by Nancy Courtney. I felt a real understanding about the debate or prespective of the web. Before this class, I had basically used the internet for research purposes and Facebook every once in a while. While I was in college I learned to use one of the first publishing computers and believed myself to be quite technologically savy. As the years went along I began to fall behind in technology and start to feel overwhelmed by all the advances. I have really got by into it because I had to in order to do well in this class. It is somewhat scary to see how far we have come, it is like the history teacher I had in high school always saying big brother is watching. We grow to depend on technology, but I never realized how much technology depended on us. Every time we go to Amazon to look at books they keep track of what we are interested in and use that information to send information or recommendations to other members. When a user contributes to a wiki, they are sharing their knowledge. We get on social networking site and often times join groups or express opinions, all of which is information to be used by "the machine." I shop online and the things I buy go into the research that affects how things are marketed. The fact that I don't have to buy updates for my computer that sites are constantly updating and making their sites more user friendly shows my value to "them." I guess I worry too much, but I often wonder what would happen if we lost it all, could we function without technology? Could our children learn to compete and learn the "old fashioned way", I wonder. I have noticed that I am constantly being helped with my technology issues by much younger generations and the way it seems natural to them. Does the internet encourage individuality or discourage it? Would we have more complete families and less divorce? Has the internet helped us as much as we have helped it? Are we better off today than we were 40 years ago? I really don't know, only time will tell and maybe not in our lifetimes. I am always suspicious when things are made too easy, but for the time being I am really enjoying all the conveniences that technology has to offer.

Handheld computers in the library

This blog is about an assignment where our technology director gave us $10,000 to spend on technology. I chose to spend the money on the Apple ipod 32G. This particular ipod is $299. per unit, this would allow the library to buy 33 ipods. The remainder of the money, a little over $100, will be used for extra ear pods, each unit comes with a set. Students will be encouraged to purchase their own. The itunes store offers free educational apps for the ipod. I noticed celebrations about Jamestown's 400th birthday, art projects as well as ebooks. This would also be an excellent way for nonreaders to complete their reading assignments. This would be great to use for example in a history class. The students could chose a character from the Jamestown podcast and produce a power point or report to describing Jamestown from his perspective 400 years ago. Geography classes could down load videos about countries they are studying and get a more accurate feel for the culture and the environment than a textbook could give them. Ipods could also be used for students that missed an important assembly or presentation, this would especially be good for homebound students. While browsing through the itunes store I was reminded of the Apple application where anytime anyone says anything the announcer says, "There's an app for that."

Technology strengths and weaknesses

This is my first post in my class where I am supposed to discuss my skills or lack thereof when it comes to technology.

I am really good using the computer and various search engines to find information. I worked in criminal justice and tracked child support evaders. I also like finding answers to questions that other people usually can not find. I think I am probably weakest in doing things like this. I have a confession, this is my first blog entry and I have a degree in journalism. I also get very frustrated working with graphs and photographs. I am getting better working with pictures. I think my researching skills will help me and I will continue practicing on implementing photography into my work. I also will continue to work on this blog so the design does not look like a first grader did it, no offense to first graders. I have a lot to learn, but I am really looking forward to the journey.