I had never heard of Creative Commons before, so I watched several of the videos to see what it was all about and how it worked. It is the type of thing that you want to be aware of so that you can recommend it to others who may be searching for an answer to their personal copyright concerns. I would like to explore copyright with my elementary students next year and Creative Commons would certainly be a part of that.
Now, on to the summary of this wonderful class.
1. What were your favorite discoveries or exercises on this learning journey?
I have to admit that I was interested in almost everything I learned. My favorites were blogs, RSS feeds, del.icio.us, LibraryThing, and wikis.
2. How has this program assisted or affected your lifelong learning goals?
I have always been very excited to learn new things, esp. in technology.
In the past 3 years, it has seemed that I've become stagnant because budget cuts have taken away all my staff. To get through each day, I've been doing what is necessary and cutting out experimenting with new things, because the time just isn't there. The joy in the job used to be trying to figure out new and creative ways to have students engage in research and that has taken a back seat to all the other tasks. With this class, I have given myself myself a chance to be excited about something again. Even if I can't implement it all, at least I have my old enthusiasm back again. I feel so much better.
3. Were there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised you?
I have been surprised at how many of the new technologies I have comfortably adopted and now use every day. Of course, I enjoy the blog and will start another one after this about my travels this spring. That will free me up from feeling like I have to write to everyone while I'm away. Every morning, the first thing I check on my computer is Google Reader. The RSS feeds save me the trouble of checking out my favorite sites. Now, they come to me. I have the "subscribe" tab on my toolbar, so I can easily add others. I also now add websites to del.icio.us rather than bookmarking them to my favorites. I like being able to tag them, thus enabling me to find them more easily. Nine weeks ago, none of this was on my mind. In addition, my husband has gotten interested in what we learn each week and he has investigated several of these Web2.0 technologies and adopted them also.
4. What could we do differently to improve upon this program’s format or concept?
I think that there was a lot crammed into 9 weeks. It might have been good to spread it out a bit more. At one point, I felt like I was getting mixed up about all the new things I'd learned. Also, I often felt like I wanted to explore even more of the recommended sites, and ones that others in the class had mentioned, but at some point had to stop because the hours were just slipping away so quickly. I enjoyed reading everyone's posts through Google Reader. If it hadn't been for that, it would have been tough to keep up with all the posts every day. I liked commenting on others' posts, and wished that we could have had more of that kind of dialogue. I think that with so many people in the class, it was hard to comment on more than a handful of posts. Perhaps a smaller group would have been better. On the other hand, as a late enrollee, I wouldn't have wanted to have been left out.
5. If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you choose to participate?
Absolutely! I hope that it will happen. I'm sure there's plenty more to learn and even more still on its way. I just learned to use Skype this past week and love that.
6. How would you describe your learning experience in ONE WORD or in ONE SENTENCE, so we could use your words to promote CSLA learning activities?
INVIGORATING
Many thanks to the people who set this class up and who advertised it. It's been a lot of fun to get to know classmates through their blogs. I think that we are a highly motivated, interesting and adventurous group of people. Maybe we can have a reunion at the next MSLA Conference!
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2 comments:
I didn't know where to leave a response to the message you left on my blog, so I'm doing it here.
Your posts have always resonated strongly with me. You are thoughtful and express yourself well. I am resistant to the idea of saying goodbye and would much prefer to look forward to meeting you at a MSLA event (remember to put your alias on your nametag so I'll find you) or some other venue. I hope to continue my blog as it morphs into something new and start a wiki for elementary school librarians in MA. Perhaps you will keep me on your RSS feeds.
So no goodbyes. We work in elementary libraries so I'll leave you with one my students often say as they leave the library "See you later, alligator."
Thank you for your kind response to my blog. I have been uplifted and energized by your thoughts as well. Purple Glasses is right - we really shouldn't say good-bye - it's too fun to find so many of us "elementary types" all together here.
As for your prolific gerbils, all I can say is WOW! I breed by request and so far have had only three litters for a total of 16 animals and all survived. I've been very lucky. Thanks too for your kind words about my critters. I don't know that I'd go so far as to call my runt beautiful, but I have hopes for her - she is growing every day.
In the words of my kindergartners, "Holy Guacamole!" (Someone's been reading Skippyjon Jones.)
Be well!
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