Emma's Library Blog

Second Life Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 03 May 2008 14:20:00 +0000

Even after almost a full week of exploration, I am still not a fan of Second Life--I found it very confusing and difficult to navigate. I do like the idea of it, but I just found myself bewildered and frustrated as I tried to figure out to how to more than wander around aimlessly. I did manage to visit Info Island, which seems like it would be a cool place, if I had known how to do more while I was there.

Here's my screenshot.

I also tried World of Warcraft, to see if I could get into any aspect of immersive gaming. I found WoW to be a little more user friendly--at least the gave me tips and guidance as I worked my way through.

Best practices: screencasting

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 00:08:00 +0000

Here are my discoveries for what it takes to create a successful screencast:

Know your content, and your audience. Don't try to create a screencast on something you are just learning yourself. And create a screencast that will keep your target audience engaged.
Know your equipment! Be familiar with how your mike, computer and screencasting software work. This helps eliminate "technical difficulties" once you are ready to start recording.
Practice, practice, practice! Do a run-through or two, especially if you are self-conscious when recording yourself. It will help you rehearse timings and transitions and also help you feel more comfortable with your presentation.

Which console for you?

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 12:46:00 +0000

So I really just have to say that if this decision were actually to be made in real life, I should NOT be the one to make it! I don't know much about gaming at all.

That said, I would of course undertake a lot of research before making a selection. Let's say I'm working in a school library, and we want to implement some gaming that can be used to both A) attract students to library events and B) increase learning. I'd start by surveying the students themselves, and faculty as well. I love the site SurveyMonkey
for purpose of creating quick and easy online surveys that people can fill out.

What are some other criteria I'd use in making my selection, besides the survey results? Here are some questions I'd ask:

How popular is it? Older consoles are pretty much out--no one's going to be interested in say, old-school Nintendo with Mario Brothers!
What level of interactivity does it offer? We don't want users to just come in and then sit in isolation in front of the console. We want them to interact with each other.
What games are available--specifically what educational games? I'm working in a school library, I want the kids to learn!

Based on the above criteria, and my limited knowledge of gaming consoles, I think I would probably end up going with Wii or Xbox 360. Not only are those popular and likely to draw kids in, but they also seem like they'd offer the degree of interactivity I'm looking for.

Online Gaming Screencast

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 14:41:00 +0000

I love Literati on Yahoo! Games.

Unfortunately, the girl I was playing with wasn't too fast, so this screen is mostly me waiting for her to make a move....

Literati

Ning

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:08:00 +0000

I think Ning is amazing! Libraries could do so much with it. While Facebook groups and MySpace pages are a great way for libraries to get the word out about what they offer, Ning offers so much more, because the library can have a whole social network all of its own. People joining the library Ning network can feel a real sense of belonging, and it might encourage them to take more advantage of the library's offerings in person.

Facebook How-To Screencast

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 19:02:00 +0000

Here's a quick screencast on one of the many applications Facebook offers, how to add it to your page and how to use it once it's there.

2008-04-13_1248

Sticky Social Network Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:56:00 +0000

I believe that sites like Facebook and MySpace are "sticky" for a few reasons. First of all, they offer a quick and easy way to stay in touch with, and/or "keep tabs on," people from all of one's many different social circles. I first got into Facebook because it was a great way to stay in touch with college friends, and to disperse life updates to all my friends quickly and easily. I think that's what initially draws a lot of people to the site. And, being able to be in touch so easily is addictive for many people, myself included.

And then came the applications. They are what keeps these sites sticky. There is so much to do, check, update and so on with any given visit to MySpace or Facebook that you really can spend hours at a time there.

My Favorite Class Video

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:31:00 +0000

I thought that Carina's video on how to teach your dog to sit was great! It looked very finished and was enjoyable to watch as well as being educational. AND I learned something that I can use! :)

Sitting Success by Carina

Snapz Pro X Screencast

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 17:27:00 +0000

I'm a Mac devotee, so I used Snapz Pro X to create a screencast about how to use a program called Mastery Manager, which my school district uses to track student achievement.

Click to play

Jing Screencast

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:12:00 +0000

For my first attempt at screencasting, I gave a quickie tour of my favorite lesson planning site, Web English Teacher. I did a sample search for lesson ideas using an upcoming unit I am planning for my 8th grade English classes.

Lesson Planning Fun!

Our Flickr Photos

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 18:50:00 +0000

In the first group, I loved seeing the photos of everyone's pets. I noticed a lot of photos of homes and children, too--seems all of us are happy to share our families!

I thought that the edexperience photos were really great--some really artistic approaches from people! Obviously with online learning lots of people shared photos of their computers. I liked noting the photos that showed workstations and how everyone finds a different spot where they're productive.

A fun project!

Embedded Video 2

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 22:26:00 +0000

This is my "educational" video, which is a clip of some of my 9th grade girls telling you a bit about their school.

Vodcasting: Entertainment v. Education

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:31:00 +0000

The thing that's important to understand about educational videos is that to be effective, they also have to be entertaining. As any teacher can tell you, if the manner of presentation is boring, the content will be lost on your students. I think that those who set out to produce educational videos should keep in mind the elements of what makes the most popular entertainment videos so successful. The YouTube video "The Machine Is Us/ing Us" is a very good example.

Embedded Video 1

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 00:02:00 +0000

My first video was made using iMovie (SO easy!) and it is a compilation of photographs from my wedding in January.

My Podcasting Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:33:00 +0000

I am very apprehensive about recording anything, so this was a big adventure for me! Here's my story.

I told a very short story little story about my spring break. I went to Canada on my honeymoon--opposite end of the earth from south Texas! We had a great time skiing and enjoying mountains and snow. I hope you all enjoy my little podcast!

Podcasting v. Blogging

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:30:00 +0000

The benefit that I see to podcasting over blogging is that it is a little more personal, a little easier to express yourself as you share material. As we all know, text can sometimes be misinterpreted. With a podcast, you have the added benefit of hearing the voice of the podcaster and it becomes less difficult to interpret their true intentions, meaning and emotions as you listen to the material.

I think podcasting would be a great way for a school librarian, or a children's librarian, to share the joy of reading aloud with online patrons.

Libraries and the Long Tail

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 18:24:00 +0000

Libraries and librarians have to actively make a decision to utilize the "long tail" of their collections. It can't and doesn't just happen. However, with strategic practices in place to make the long tail a useful tool, not an unnecessary obstacle, I think the idea of it presents a lot to offer libraries striving to fully enter the 21st century through the services they provide and the materials in their collections.

Flickr and my EdExperience

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 22:22:00 +0000

I've known about the existence of Flickr for a long time, but never used it. Now, I'm not sure why, because--as with just about everything else I've encountered in the course of this class--I love it, and I see the potential for so many different sorts of projects that could incorporate it.

And now on to the real topic of this post--my educational experience at RU. I was a little unsure about online learning when I first started the program a little over a year ago, but I have grown to love it. Even in my far south, almost-Mexico locale, my online learning experience has made a great education very accessible to me. With the benefits of my MacBook and wireless internet at home, it's also very easy to be connected and get work done, even when collaborating with my classmates.

Check out all the photos at: http://www.flickr.com/groups/scils598s08-edexperience/

Collaborating with Google

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 00:27:00 +0000

I can see lots of potential benefits to using Google Docs in collaborative projects for class. Using it for our group project this week has been a good way to share notes and thoughts. However, I think that wikis are better, for a number of reasons.

Sites like PBWiki seem generally more user-friendly than Google Docs
This is important when trying to sell less technologically advanced group members (or faculty members!) on the value of the tool
PBWiki has a more polished look to it, I feel

Nevertheless, Google Docs are a great way to get where you're going, if not for use as the finished product.

Look what we did!

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 21:05:00 +0000

I love del.icio.us! I'd never used it before last week and I don't quite know what I did without it. :) It's such a great way to share favorite sites, and I loved getting to see everyone else's bookmarks. I think this would be a fabulous way to get to know each other in a virtual classroom.

Wikispaces v. PB Wiki

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 20:48:00 +0000

I am more familiar with PBWiki and so I'm inclined to say I like it more, but I want to give Wikispaces a fair chance. I did like it. Both PBWiki and Wikispaces are very user friendly. I found that the introduction on Wikispaces was very nice--it popped right up after I created my account so I didn't have to hunt around for a tutorial or anything. And it was very thorough--possibly more so than the introductory info on PBWiki. But again, I didn't need much of an orientation to PBWiki. Both of these sites, however, are wonderful and would lend themselves well to classroom or school library needs.

Shelfari

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:48:00 +0000

Since I tried out LibraryThing last week, I thought this week I would take a stab at Shelfari. I like it--and I actually think I like it better than LibraryThing, at least for the purposes for which I would use it (a classroom library online catalog, to be shared on a class blog or wiki.) Here are some features of Shelfari that jumped out at me:

Very easy, with the click of a button, to add your shelf to your blog.
Books easily divided up into "reading" "read" and "want to read."
Fun bookshelf graphic display would appeal to my students.
It's super-easy to navigate and to add books--even if you don't know the complete title or author.

New to me: LibraryThing

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:19:00 +0000

At a classmate's suggestion, I tried LibraryThing this week for my "new to me" social software experience. I really didn't like Cataloging when I took it, but I'm not turned off by LibraryThing--I even like it, in fact!

I think what got me really sold on LibraryThing was thinking about how I could use it in conjunction with a class blog or wiki (I teach middle school English). It would be a great way to add just another little interactive component to getting students invested in books and reading.

Feed, take 2

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 01:13:00 +0000

I felt depressed after finishing this book. As I tried to put my finger on why, I came up with a couple of reasons.

I think that we are close to the society of Feed. Perhaps not literally, but our culture is already so incredibly consumer-driven. (Think about the amount of money invested in Superbowl commericals for example.) And when it comes to the internet, that consumer-driven culture just expands exponentially. With so much technology surrounding us, we need to be careful not to get overwhelmed and lose touch, which is what's happened in the novel.

And in the novel, that consumer-driven culture, taken to the extreme, has stripped humanity of, well, its humanity. I think that's really what made me so depressed about the way the novel ended. If people hadn't let it go so far, it wouldn't have ended so badly.

Bloglines vs. Google Reader

noreply@blogger.com (Emma McCandless) — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 01:20:00 +0000

I am newly obsessed with Bloglines. As I delve deeper into the world of blogging, I'm looking forward to using it to track not the blogs of my fellow students, but also the many other blogs out there that I'm getting more addicted to every day! I like being able to sort blogs into folders. Makes it easy to stay organized.

Google Reader, I don't like as well, probably because I just haven't spent as much time with it. I set up an account merely for comparison, after already getting sucked into Bloglines. I'll keep using it though, and see if it grows on me.

Oh, and one last thing that I liked about both sites: they suggested feeds I might like to subscribe to. That was great for someone like me, who wants to read blogs more but doesn't really know what's out there.