Final Summary of PA Online Web 2.0

This course was thoroughly entertaining , enlightening and challenging! Going through the various steps reminded me of those very early days of the internet when I had one dial-in internet computer in the library at school, text only, but I went home every day just bubbling with excitement over the newest thing I discovered as I "practiced" using the internet. Not everything I found in this Web 2.0 course was thrilling, but each step got my creative juices flowing. Some of my discoveries I shared with other teachers, some with my husband, some with our local historical society members, some with friends. Some I tucked away for possible use when the need arose later.

I hated setting up this blog. What's a blog good for anyway? But little by little, as I ruminated on the various steps, I came to see that a blog might be for sharing with others, but a blog is first for me, a place to sort out my thoughts, a place to try out ideas. Yep, this blog was a good idea. And now I'm ready to pass along the idea; just yesterday I recommended to my superintendent that mentor teachers and inductees could use a blog or a wiki to build a rapport, to share plans, to invite thoughts on all aspects of the teaching profession.

LibraryThing, as I've mentioned before, has the greatest value for me. Even before this course I entered most of our Historical Society's library collection into LibraryThing to give the Society's library an online catalog. That activity was worth every hour we put into it! LibraryThing gives us a slick, professional-looking online catalog that our members can search from home, and visitors can search long before they enter our doors. Patrons at the local public libraries doing genealogical or local history research can check the historical society's online catalog from the public library--thus saving research time and steps.

Some of the things I want to take away from this course:
Using a wiki as an electronic handout for our students. When I find good websites for a particular assignment in the library, I type up the URLs, copy them in large print to half-sheets of paper, and leave the half-sheets between the computers in our library. But then students have to retype those URLs, often making mistakes, getting weird results. Good plan, but not great. By using a wiki, I can easily copy and paste the URLs into a library wiki under specific assignment headings, save the wiki, then point the students to the wiki site where they can just copy and paste the chosen URLs into their browsers. Slick! Far less frustrating for students and for me!
A second take away: Using a wiki as a way to gather local history information for our historical society, letting all the locals who are computer-savvy contribute their memories to the wiki. It would probably be good if I did a program on how to contribute to the wiki--either live and in person, or in a podcast on the historical society's website.
Now that summer break is here, I need to take the time to set up these two wikis. The small effort involved could have huge payoffs later on.

As for the course itself, I liked the Web 2.0 course plan. I got a kick out of exploring the sites, I liked the freedom to work on the course whenever I could, I liked journaling in a blog (that's a surprise to me!). My only suggestions for the course are that someone should keep it updated, and that a Web 2.0.1 should be devised wherein we discover newer sites. Now that we've started, we must keep up-to-date. Everyday someone publishes new free software; we must explore what they've provided!

I would very definitely sign on to another discovery program like this one. Thanks bunches for giving me the opportunity to take this course!

Audio ebooks

Well, I've clicked around the various recommended sites for free audio ebooks, and wasn't too impressed. It's not that I don't like audiobooks; my husband and I have dozens at home--on tape. He drives 40 miles one way to work each day. Often he has a student riding with him. But when he doesn't, he can only listen to so much Rush Limbaugh. Even ESPN radio isn't always satisfying. So, over the years, he's gotten used to listening to audio books, and we've taken audio books with us on vacation. A good audio book shortens those long drives across the prairie or through endless corn fields (orange groves, cane fields, tundra....whatever).

But our new cars have CD players, so all of our wonderful books on tape are packed away. And we just haven't purchased the portable equipment yet to download audio ebooks. When I walk, I want to talk to my husband, or listen to the birds. I have used audio books during the summer when I'm home alone washing walls and ironing drapes. Maybe I'll download an ebook to our laptop this summer, and listen to it while I work. Just for the experience. Maybe I'll get an ipod for Christmas.....who knows?

Ebooks

I am absolutely THRILLED with ebooks! I love netLibrary; what a blessing that we have it as part of Access PA POWER Library. Because of my delight with netLibrary, I've started purchasing ebooks for our school library's collection. I've been pleased with the ebooks from Follett and Salem Press, but I'm most impressed with the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Their federated search engine is awesome (and I rarely find the need to use that word). Furthermore, I've learned that when I purchase these ebooks for our high school library, they can be used throughout our school district--a sort of electronic interlibrary loan. Talk about spreading the wealth!

Just now I've explored some of the "Best Places to Get Free Books" sites. What a treat for a book lover! My niece showed me BookCrossing last year. Cool idea; kind of a hidden treasure search for curious book lovers. I shared WOWIO with my comic book-loving husband. WellToldTales appears to have some interesting stories; I need to go back there.

And then there's the British Library Online Gallery....oooo, rich! Every library has fragile but valuable books, pamphlets and other resources that should be shared with the world. But letting so many sweaty hands turn those crumbling pages over the years is dangerous to aging print. The BL has found a way to let the rest of us handle original print books safely. Once, long ago, I saw a facsimile of the original Alice's Adventures, and I promised myself I'd go back and read it some day. But before I could, the book was lost. (I suspect tossed out by someone who just wanted to clean out the space--I've never forgiven that person!) Today I saw the original of that book in the BL Online Gallery--oh, yes, I must go back and read it!