Thursday, February 18, 2010

Method 12 - Reflection and Evaluation

I really appreciated being able to work through this course at my own pace. I enjoyed the embedded links to interesting and helpful articles and videos, especially the In Plain English tutorials. Those were simple and fun.

I had previously created a Facebook account for another training, but then did not use it. Now I have added to it a lot, added friends, posted a picture, and plan to use it more often, if only to keep up with my kids at first. My son offered to give me a "lesson" in the privacy controls.

I also had previously created a Delicious account but did not use it much. Now, I have the needed Delicious icon and the Tag icon and have a long list of favorite sites, appropriately tagged for easy locating. I have used it quite a bit on a daily basis and appreciate the fact that I can access it from home as well as the library.

One thing I plan to use more often is RSS feeds. I can see how it can save enormous amounts of time.

There were a couple of times when I really wanted to ask someone for help. I did ask when I saw that in one lesson we could practice IM with someone at the State Library, and I was promptly helped. I think it would be helpful if there was someone available to assist when people have questions (if staffing allows).

If another similar course were offered, I would sign up for it and recommend it to others. Thanks, TSLAC, for a great, informative course.

Method 11 - Podcasting

I found this unit a little more difficult as far as navigating and finding a podcast I wanted to view/listen to and getting it to work. I really liked one I found through the Bridgewater State College link in this lesson. It was from OCLC and was of Helen Blowers speaking to a group. I found another good one that was Book Talks, Quick and Simple. My library does use podcasts, as teaching instruments embedded in online classes, and as tutorials on the library website.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Method 10 - Wikis

I really liked the In Plain English video about the wiki used for planning and collaborating. I totally agree that e-mail is a mess to try to do this. In a class I have used e-mail for group projects, and it is so confusing trying to figure which is your current e-mail and which one to use to respond to. Then we used Google Docs, which I don't if it technically a wiki, but it allowed us to all work on the same document and add to it or edit, save our changes, and see what the others had done.

When I posted my favorite blog to the wiki, I had trouble getting it to show up under the View tab, even though I had Saved and I could see it under the Edit tab. I finally had to delete it and redo it.

Method 9 - Chat & IM

I did the Meebo chat embedded in this lesson to chat with Naomi. It was easy, but I did not notice at first that she was not online and had to wait until she was online. I have used IM as a student to ask a reference question and it was very easy, quick, and helpful for my assignment.

Neither the library I just came from (small public library), nor the one where I currently work (academic library) have IM Reference. I imagine the reason is because of trying to arrange staffing for it. But as someone pointed out in one of this lesson's readings or videos (I can't remember where, or I would give credit), IM reference service doesn't have to mean 24/7. We can post our availabilty hours on the IM box, and just assign reference duties for someone to sign in to be available during regular reference hours. I can see that this may be a possiblity in the future, especially at the academic library since there are more people to staff it.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Method 8 Social Networking

I think social networking sites are great for those who like to use them, as long as they don't "air their dirty laundry" for all to see. I do have privacy concerns and would be unlikely to make a personal site public for all to see. I created an account very recently because everyone at work is really into it and talking about it. But then I forgot my password (!!) and forgot about Facebook altogether. It just hasn't been a priority.

OK. Gotta new password, logged on, looked around, sent a few Friend Requests (my kids), Confirmed a few Friend Requests. OK. Now. I guess I'll log in later to see if my kids will let me be their friends! I also need to tweek my profile and privacy settings. Some of the things I just read on some of my Friends' sites, make me think I don't want someone posting something like that (embarassing) on my site and then have everyone able to read it!

My library does have a Facebook account, and I need to and plan to get more familiar with it and the amount of usuage it gets. It looks like its used for announcements, events, photos, etc.

Friday, February 5, 2010

Method 7 Social Bookmarking

I had created a Delicious account a year or two ago in another training, but had not really used it. So I dug out my password, viewed the tutorials, explored the site, saved the Delicious and Tag buttons to my toolbar, and saved a bunch of my favorite sites to my Delicious account.

I had a computer crash recently, so I lost all my favorites saved on it. SO - I really wish I had saved them in Delicious. Now I will start saving them there as I come across them again!

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Method 6 YouTube

I haven't done much with YouTube, but I like this video showing college students what the library has to offer them.