# 15 RSS

Great way to keep up to date with the latest information on topics of personal interest as well as information relating to topics being taught in the classroom.

Activity # 12 Flickr

Originally uploaded by kicuio

Found this photo on Flickr and have sent it to my blog.


Loved Flikr. Downloaded some of my own photos as well. I can see myself using this often with my school library blog.

Activity # 11 The library thing

I can see it's usefulness for small libraries that are in need of a free and easy cataloguing system, and it's usefulness in being able to share information about books with people.

For me personally though, if I've got the time (and I rarely do), then I want to spend it actually reading a book, not reading about a book online. I'll stick to the weekend newspaper book review sections to read about books, it only takes a milisecond to open the paper to the right page.

#10 Generators

Image by Cool Text: Logo and Button Generator - Create Your Own

Had a play with all the generator sites listed. Loved doing the Flikr Toys and Image Generator in particular.

# 9 Second Life

Who'd have known there were so many other worlds to choose from? (Although my children always loved the Sims). My initial thought after reading the Wikepedia entry was that "this is not for me". However, after further reading I can see that there are many positive things about virtual worlds -in relation to possibilties for education, learning, design, commerce, research and development, and so much more. I particularly appreciated the You Tube presentation from Karen at the Murdoch University Library. She pointed out second life's ability to offer people with disablities access, as well as the valid point that we, as library staff and/or educators, need to understand the literacy of the second life environment. I'd love to do one of their introductory workshops, but the links to them seem to have been dropped, leading me to suspect that they are no longer offered.

On another topic - doing the iGoogle activity gave me a much better understanding of gadgets, so I've gone back to my blog and added a few.

# 7 iGoogle

Took me a little while to get it, but once I did, I loved setting up my iGoogle page - great to have those links all on the one page. Added Facebook, Wordweb Online, Word of the Day (today's is jaunt), You Tube, My Google Booksearch library, ABC News, Google Docs, and the To Do gadget. I've made up my To Do list (number 1: Write this blog!), checked my documents and much more. I'd like to make this my homepage.

Have also been reading up on other people's blogs to see how they are going with the course. Came across a great You Tube clip on Rhozlibraryblog - digital natives - really worth watching - especially for educators.

I'm enjoying this course, I'm learning so much.

I'd love to work for Google, though I'm not sure what I have to offer them. I'll certainly be getting my 16 year old to check it out though, I can certainly see her lounging around on one of their hammock, working out a design issue!

Activities # 5 6 7

Just had a play with google docs - how liberating. I need to spend a lot more time on it though to become more familiar. Created a new document, sent it to my colleague Jill for editing, and she's now in the process of sending it back to me. Also had a go at uploading. Success! Jill's just sent me a couple of items she has uploaded. It's very exciting.

Google maps is easy to use and very handy. Just checked out a B&B in a central west town where my daughter will be staying and its proximity to the TAFE where she's doing a course.

Google Books is huge, and I need much more time to get my head around it. I want to read what other course participants have to say about it, but at the moment, the Participants Blog List is a blocked site with NSW DET. I've logged a call to the ICT helpdesk so that should be sorted out by Monday. In terms of education - there are a number of applications, but at it's most basic, and also so important, the ability to alert and to share in the joy of books and reading.