Week 4, Thing #9 - RSS and Feeds

I have added feeds to both my Bloglines account and my Google Reader account. Right now I prefer Bloglines. It seems easier to add feeds, gives good options for screen viewing, and has Bloglines Top 1000 (a helpful place for a beginner to find feeds). My feeds include: CNN News, Word of the Day, Dilbert, Motley Fool, Librarians' Internet Index: New This Week, and PC Magazine: New Product Reviews. Now I just have to find time to read my feeds.

Week 4, Thing #8 - RSS Feeds and Newsreader Accounts

I have read about RSS ("Really Simple Syndication") and have set up "RSS aggregator" accounts on both Google Reader and Bloglines.

Week 3, Thing #7 - Technology Thoughts

I played some more with mashups.

My creation
Originally uploaded by wall.katy

I used a cool tool to create my own trading card:
http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/deck.php

Tech thoughts: As a school librarian, it is certainly good to keep abreast of new technology. However, I have found that staying on the cutting edge of technology often is more expensive in terms of both time and money invested than sitting back a bit and waiting until the new technologies develop. Web authoring is an example. Writing html code used to be a somewhat tedious undertaking. Many programs are now available for creating web pages that make the process quite simple and quick. I have watched the price of many pieces of technology drop after their initial introduction--computers, digital cameras, memory cards,... As new technologies emerge, I have to decide the optimum time to jump in and get my feet wet.

Week 3, Thing #6 - Flickr Mashups & Third Party Sites

Travel Talk
Originally uploaded by wall.katy

So many possiblilities--not enough hours in a day! I enjoyed using a Flickr mashup to create a magazine cover with a picture I had taken of my husband in London last year. Middle school students would love creating their own magazine covers. So many possibilities!

Link to create magazine covers: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/magazine.php

Week 3, Thing #5 - Explore Flickr

I spent some time exploring Flickr and third party mashups. I would like to try the magazine cover and trading card applications with some of my middle school students.

Week 2,Thing #4 - Register Blog

My blog is registered with Kathy and Chris (my cheerleader). Moving right along! Fun so far.

Week 2, Thing #3 - Set up blog; add avatar

Here it is. I have set up my own blog and added an avatar.

Week 1, Thing #2 - Seven Habits of Highly Effective Learners

I have gone through "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Lifelong Learners" PowerPoint. Yes, some of the habits come more naturally to me than others. The most challenging for me is Habit #3, "View problems as challenges." Sometimes I know intellectually that a problem can be overcome, but I tend to let problems upset me. I think I am getting better with this, however. I certainly follow Habit # 6, "Use technology to your advantage," although sometimes when technology does not do what it is supposed to, I say that I have a "love/hate relationship" with technology. Lately, networks have been running fairly smoothly. The color printer/fax/copier is another story. Maybe the service technician straightened it out on his last call. I'll keep my fingers crossed and view the machine as a challenge!

Week 1, Thing #1 - School Library Learning 2.0 - What's it all about?

I have begun the School Library Learning 2.0 journey. I have read through the blog and familiarized myself with the program.