Reflections on the final

I think that the technology components that we've selected are applicable for the Underground Railroad assignment. We tried to bring the students into a learning environment that was interactive and exciting. We used Animoto and chose an appropirate song and also took them to a site on National Geographic that simulated a slave's escape. Also, the Wordle was used as an introduction and Webspiration because it is a good organizational tool. I liked the shelf that we created on LibraryThing and the links to encyclopedias and websites because the students we not just out on the Internet haphazardly looking for information. I think anytime that you can take something from history and present it in a more interactive way it will help to convey it better.

Library 2.0 will continue to have a huge impact on the way we teach information literacy in the 21st century. As librarians we should look for opportunities to present information in the most exciting ways and social networking tools allow us to that. Collaboration can take place in and out of the classroom with tools like Skype and wikis. Students need to be taught to be ethical users of information and teachers need to give assignments that are creative. Hopefully, school libraries will be at the center of all of this and play an active role, possibly spearheading opportunities if the do not presently exist.

One potential problem that came up during the assignment was that we had chosen Google for our wiki, but found that many other online tools did not work with it. We initially thought that it would be simpler to work with because we'd be able to find everything that we needed right there on Google. When we switched over to Wikispacewe found that it was easier to work with.

I thought the project's success was helped by collaborating, since this was the first time we were creating a new product. We were able to communicate able to communicate via telephone, email and chat to discuss ideas and problems. I thought that my partner and I worked well together.

This is a wordle that I came up with to explain why you would use one.

The buzz about Social Newtowking

Social Networking is an easy and fun way to connect with students, teachers and parents. Some social networking sites that are popular are blogs, wikis, and rss feeds. A blog is simple to set up and you can post things on it like: new books, what we're reading, recommended, and professional resources for example. Also, people can post items to your blog, like: questions, comments, reviews and be part of an online community that you create. With a blog, you can "follow" other educators or writers blogs and their posts will be sent to you. Some of the sites that I am familiar with are: Twitter, Del.ici.ous, and LibraryThing.

Classroom applications for blogs

Blogs are a wonderful way to teach writing skills in various subject areas. If students know that their work will be read by others, they will take their assignment more seriously. Blogging encourages students to take the information that they have accumulated and use it in a creative way. For example, a great way to introduce a lesson on biographies is to have the students assume an avatar and then have the other students ask questions to deduce who the historical figure is.