Exercise #23 - The 23 Things

Done at last. Nothing motivates like a deadline. Ahh the questions:

1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on the learning journey?
I like using the blog stuff. Blogspot, Bloglines. I want to explore Flickr a little more. I've never been a big picture person, but it was fun doing a mashup.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
Having Bloglines is helping me keep up with events and subjects I find interesting. I like it.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
Unexpected outcomes. I did not expect to sign up for so many new accounts. Now the challenge is now keeping up with all the names and passwords.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?
Good job PLAN. The play days were helpful and needed. Thanks.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
YES!

Exercise #22 - NetLibrary

Our library uses NetLibrary and it has helped our students. When all the physical books on a subject are checked out because of the titles we selected from NetLibrary the students still have access to the content they need for their papers from NetLibrary. In talking to students they have used our NetLibrary collection from home to complete their papers. NetLibrary won't let you print the whole book, but you can print a limited number of pages from the book. There have been times when we have selected a physical title on a needed topic and then selected the same title in NetLibrary so our students will have the access they need. The Gutenberg Project started in 1971 and is still going. Very neat. The movie makers say they are losing their audiences and the news says the Americans are getting fatter very year. That's because people are sitting in front of their computers using all these new technologies. We are all watching YouTube, blogging, podding casting, wiki and more.

Exercise #21 - Podcasting

My favorite podcast is RockBoom. I try to check it everyday. I have noticed that it's not updated everyday. Sometimes they miss a day or two, but every week there's something new about events that are happening in the world; some I could care less about and others every interesting. That's the world of podcasting. While looking around I noticed that some sites have not had a new post in over a year. You could spend alot of time podcasting. Just let the kids go hungry. Just kidding. Podcast responsibility is a must. Give yourself a 1/2 hour a day. :-0

Exercies #20 - YouTube

YouTube has the corner on the market of video shorts on the web. Here's a link on how to make a lemon battery. http://youtube.com/watch?v=AY9qcDCFeVI . YouTube is WOW. You can spend all your time crusing YouTube. Here's another on called Did you know; Shift happen - globalization ; Information Age. http://youtube.com/watch?v=ljbI-363A2Q . This stuff is neat. There is a product called Camtasia that our library uses to create online tutorials. It's neat too. I have seen a YouTube short on the Bay County Library. The possiblities are only limited by you.

Exercise # 19 - Web 2.0

I looked at the list of Web 2.0 Awards and in the category of Blog Guides I see Bloglines got 2nd place. Technorati got 1st. Hmmm. I have looked at both of these products and I like Bloglines better. Since signing up for a Blogline account as part of PLANs new technologies. I have used Blogline everyday. I'm finding that I'm getting the same news I find in the newspaper and on the TV news before the fact of reading the newspaper or watching the TV news. If this continues to happen it's going to change the way I keep up with what going on in the world. I recommend Bloglines.

Exercise #18 - Online Productivity

I have an account with Google Docs and I have used Google docs. This is a decent wordprocessing program and an alternative to MS Word. It offers the ability for collaboration on a document amoung mulitple users. Matt ( a fellow librarian) and I have experimented with this feature. Because you save your documents on their server you can get to your stuff on any computer with internet access. I recommend it.

Exercise # 17 - Sandbox

I like the PB Wiki Sandbox. It might be useful tool for keeping up with all the lists of thing I want to do, want to go, want to buy. I have these lists now but I keep misplacing them.