Thursday, May 1, 2008

Revisiting earlier online training (since August)

It's nice to see this blog is still out here. I guess it doesn't "expire" from lack of use. I have recently needed it to get a log of my hours to get credit for my work - from a district that won't accept my paperwork for 18 hours of training because the online format doesn't fit in their box. Luckily the blog automatically logged my hours each time I posted.
It is also nice to re-visit this site and see all the neat things I learned that I haven't had time to think about since the school year started.
Another problem - from school I can't access my blog, or the social bookmarking, or the cool, useful sites, or even the librarylearning2.0 site. I have a request submitted (I filled out the proper form) to be allowed to access the online training site run by CSLA for professional development purposes. As a colleague at the district level commented: "it is monitored by librarians!" We'll see if it is granted.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Week 9 Thing 23 reflections 6

6) How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote CSLA learning activities?
To use a quote from Oliver Twist, and emphasize the pleading tone:
"Please sir, may I have some more?"

Week 9 Thing 23 reflections 5

5) If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
This is the easiest question to answer: Yes, yes, yes!!!

Week 9 Thing 23 reflections 4

4) What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
That's a hard one. It was pretty awesome.
It could be downsized or broken down into portions for those that can't commit to a long session.
For some it may have been too overwhelming to start, but if they did one section, say just blogging and Nings, or Library Thing and ebooks, and got to the finish line easily and quickly, then they may want to move on to another. It would be like finishing a book and wanting to read another, as opposed to reading a chapter and thinking they'll never finish the book.
I would like this to be directed towards general teachers.
Maybe it could be promoted by offering hours per "section" instead of all 18 or nothing. Once started I bet many people will not be able to stop!
I think you had the right momentum by introducing avatars and Flikr toys early on to demonstrate how creative one can get with these tools - the fun of learning.
I plan to show my movie poster sample early on in the school year to get attention "how did you make that?" "Oh, its, easy - here let me show you" (being sure it is bookmarked and at my fingertips - no good fumbling when you want to demonstrate how easy something is) - leading to other "easy" things to learn in short periods of time.

Week 9 Thing 23 reflections 3

3) Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
It surprised me how much I could learn in so short a time. (I did compress it into just over 1 week because of other time commitments.) The terminology comes easily now because I have experienced, not just heard about the tools. The nicest thing was the connection made with my teenager. I thought it would help communications and our relationship to know more about her interests, but it went beyond that. My husband, who works with computers and networking from a hardware end, was supportive. I've gained more respect from him. I think my service to others at the school will show improvement too, which may lead others into learning more in time. This could have a domino effect.

Week 9 Thing 23 - reflections 2

2) How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
School Library Learning 2.0 made some of the things I wanted to learn so easy with its scaffolding and exploring opportunities. My goal to be a lifelong learner has been made more accessible. I won't have to miss training that is held during my working hours when I can go online and learn at my own pace and on my available time. I can learn from home more easily now that I've found out that free stuff out there is pretty good and isn't messing up my computer. The learning curve for using it has been flattened. So the use if it is more accessible and learning, while using instead of in order to use, has become more rewarding. What am I saying? The tools for learning have made learning easier and more fun and therefore more learning can take place.

Week 9 thing 23 - reflections 1

1) What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I really liked the ease of creating personalized items in Flikr Toys. I can use the Movie Poster for awarding students in a way that makes them feel much more special. I liked adding my travel photos to a map. I can see great potential there for visuals in social studies: Westward movement, The missions, the colonies, Native American tribes, etc.
Library Thing is a great tool for promoting new books. It is also a new way to promote "reading programs" like CYRM, especially combined with podcasts of book talks on the novels (if I can find them).
I actually liked blogging, which I didn't expect to. The networking can be addictive.
And I like discovering that signing up and using these free programs is so easy now. Other than my experience with Yahoo's music machine, which brought back memories of past frustrations trying to use a new program, the ease of use and speed of delivery was - is - amazing and gratifying.