Beyond--Method #12 Last dance: reflection and evaluation

Well, typical of the way things have gone for me during the time I have taken this class, I had literally clicked the Publish button when my server went down and I lost the whole post. So here goes try #2. This time I’m typing it in Word and I’ll copy and paste it when I’ve finished. I think that’s called experience.


In spite of all of my technology issues (server issues at school, inability to access my library catalog from home, having to get a new computer in the middle of the process, etc.), I did enjoy this class. There was a lot of information presented. Some of it was brand new to me, some I have had some limited experience with, and some I am very familiar with.


My favorite new discoveries are Sliderocket, ScreenJelly and MixBooks. I can see so many uses for them, at school and at home. Fun to use in my own presentations and to teach staff and students to use them as well.


One outcome of this class that I didn’t expect and I doubt that you planned for is that it made me think about some of my students who have no access to technology except at school. The little tech issues that I had were so frustrating, but at least I knew that I had some options. What must it be like for those students who have nothing? I hope that I will remember and be more sympathetic and understanding when they are ready to just give up.


This class is organized very well. You have provided a lot of information (I can hardly imagine the hours and hours you’ve spent) in a format that is easy to understand and to follow. I like the fact that the Discovery Exercises are very specific in what is expected. There is so much to learn. I hope this site will be available for a while so that I can go back and reread parts that I may have missed the first time through. I have done that with the Dozen Ways to Two-Step.


In conclusion, thank you for the time and effort you have put into this course. I am definitely interested in taking any future classes that are offered by TSLAC.


Time spent on Method #12--approximately 2.5 hours.

Total time spent on Beyond Two-Steppin'--approximately 25.5 hours.

Beyond--Method #11 Survey says!

I have taken many online surveys, but never created one before. I liked reading about all of the different kinds that are available. I think that PollEverywhere would be a useful tool. I like the idea of the Jeopardy-style questions during library orientations. It would probably help keep the students engaged. I'm glad there is an option that doesn't require cell phones since our students are not supposed to use them during school hours.

Online surveys could help decide what programs a library would offer, what books and materials patrons would like to see in the collection, what patrons think about the library, etc. They seem like they would be very easy to use and very beneficial.

Just for fun, I created a survey using SurveyMonkey. Enjoy!

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world's leading questionnaire tool.

Time spent on Method #11--approximately 2 hours

Beyond--Method #10 Meet you online

I have to admit that when I saw the title for this section, I was thinking about dating sites. Wrong kind of meeting.

My library does not currently use any online conferencing or meeting tools. I think that it would be interesting to use Skype an Author. In this time of budget cuts, I doubt that my school would be willing to spend money to have an author actually come to campus, but virtual visits might be possible. I can see where videoconferencing might be useful for students who are homebound or away from campus on school trips. Possibly a webinar could be set up to inform parents about the use of our databases and other resources.

I have attended some webinars and online meetings. For the most part, they are effective. The only problems that I have noticed are those that are caused when the technology doesn't work as it is supposed to. I remember one conference where we had to have the presenter on a speaker phone because his voice would not project over the computer speakers. It's always good to have a backup plan.

Another time that I use online meeting programs is when I have to ask my tech support people to fix my computer. At some times I give them control of my computer and it is really strange to sit there and watch as things just seem to move around the screen all by themselves.

One tool that I do have in my library that has some of the features of web conferencing is SMART Sync. It allows the teacher to see student's computer screens, send messages or files to them, even control individual computers if needed. There are a lot of features that allow for interaction between teacher and students and between groups of students.

I was happy to see the list of archived TSLAC webinars. I plan to spend some time looking through those and finding a few that I would like to register for. I'm sure there are a lot that will be useful.

Time spent on Method #10--approximately 1.5 hours

Beyond--Method #9 Tell a (digital) story

This step was a little more enjoyable for me than the last one. Not as much frustration. I decided to use MixBook to create a digital photo album. I used some of the tools available, but not nearly all of them. I can see students using this or a similar site to create unique reports and presentations.

A link to my MixBook

http://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/education/simple-yearbook-5354458

Wouldn't it be fun to create digital storybooks for (or better yet with) young students?

Time spent on Method #9--approximately 2.5 hours

Beyond--Method #8 Capture your computer screen

This section has been frustrating for me, which is ironic because this is something that I could use right now to create login instructions to leave for substitutes who come into the library. I don't know if the problem is with the sites themselves or (more likely) with my network, but several of the sites have caused Internet Explorer to close everytime I try to use them. With some of the others, I get a message that IE cannot open the page.
I will try them again later on a different computer, but the problem is that the information I would like to record is only available on the intranet at my school. Ah me, the joys of technology.

Having said that, I will also say that I can see many potential uses for these screencasts. I like the suggestion of creating individual ones to help patrons remember all the steps in answering a reference question. Screencasts could help students and staff remember how to access library resources, how to search the library catalog, or just about any other process that involves using a computer.

OK, I tried this again at home with a little more success, so it must have been a network problem at school. I used ScreenJelly, which was very easy to do. I made a short video aboout one of the databases that we use at school. I would love to figure out a way to use ScreenJelly at school. Maybe my technologist can help me.

Here's my little effort.



Time spent on Method #8--approximately 4 hours.

Beyond--Method # 7 Next Gen Presentations

I enjoyed looking at these presentation options. I had done some work with Prezi and GoogleDocs, but not any of the others. Remember when PowerPoint was the newest, best thing ever? Not any more. There are a lot of options that are really interesting.

I decided to explore Sliderocket in a little more depth than the others. I imported a PowerPoint that I created last year and just played around with some of the available edits. I know that there is a lot more that I could have done, but I didn't have a lot of time to experiment. Nice to know it's available, though.

Here's what I created. It's a presentation that I gave last year to my district librarians about Dulcinea Media.



Another presentation tool that was not listed in this section that I have used is Glogster. I like it because everything is on one slide that can be made very visually appealing. The slide can be customized with links, photos, videos, clip art, etc. Here is the presentation I created for my library orientation.



It is fun to play (in the purposeful sense) with these tools, but I think it important to remember that content is still the most important aspect. I think that some of these presentations have so much "stuff" on them that viewers could be distracted from the message. It's also important to remember that technology tends to fail at the most inconvenient times, so a backup plan would be essential.

Most of these tools have tutorials that would make it possible for me to help a student or staff member create a presentation, even if I had not used that particular tool myself.
Time spent on Method #7--approximately 2.5 hours.

Beyond--Method #6 eBooks and eReaders and libraries, oh my!

This is an interesting section for several reasons. First, there have been some recent discussions about ebooks and ereaders on the TLC library listserv. Also, the librarians in my district spent some time at a recent meeting discussing the benefits and drawbacks of using ereaders in the library. And third, after resisting for a long time, I got a dedicated ereader (ColorNook) for Christmas. Wasn't sure I would like it, and now I can hardly bear to be without it. Now I think everybody should have one!

Project Gutenberg is another one of those services that I knew about, but had never spent a lot of time on. It is truly amazing how much material is available. I located an old favorite, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19337 I opened the HTML version and found it very easy to read. It even had beautiful illustrations.

I have not tried to download any titles yet, but this page of instructions http://goodereader.com/forum/showthread.php/4689-How-to-Transfer-EPUB-Files-to-your-Nook should be very useful. Imagine having access of tens of thousands of free books! Could life get any better? In this time of serious budget constraints, I think that librarians and library patrons will find Project Gutenberg very rewarding.

As I said earlier, I have become very attached to my Nook. Several friends have given me "real" books to read, but I have a hard time putting down my Nook. Once when I was reading a print book, I kept tapping the right side of the book trying to get the page to turn. On the other hand,when I was reading my Nook one day my husband asked me what I was reading and I started to hold it up to show him the cover.

I think that ebooks and ereaders will become increasingly common in libraries. For better or worse, librarians will have to adjust and adapt to yet another new technological advance.

Re: 5 Ways that eBooks are better than paper books: Another advantage is being able to read without turning on a lamp or overhead light. On the other hand, one can read a paper book even when there is no access to electricity (like I did yesterday when the power was out for an hour or so.)


Time spent on Method #6--approximately 1.5 hours. 

Beyond--Method #5 Tag, you’re it! Social Cataloging and Libraries

I have heard and read about social cataloging since I took my library classes several years ago. At the time, there was some discussion about whether or not patrons should be allowed to add tags to MARC records. There were good arguments on both sides, but I tend to think that MARC records should maintain the (more or less) standardized form that they have. The services featured in this section seem to be a great compromise between having good library records and allowing patrons to tag books with terms that are useful and meaningful to them.

I have used LibraryThing (trying to catalog the music in my church music library) and Shelfari (on my library website). I had heard about Goodreads, but I had not looked at it. I signed up for a Goodreads account. The book quiz was interesting.

One of the Shelfari pages on my library website

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

I do think that libraries could use the services described in this step. The sites are fun to use and offer a lot of information and posibililties for interaction about books.




Time spent on Method #5--approximately 1.5 hours.

Beyond--Method #4 Employment 2.0

This section was interesting to me because recently my daughter has been using online resources to look for a new job. I had heard her talk about some of these sites, but had not really looked closely at them myself.

The WebJunction video was good, but it seemed to apply more to public libraries than to a school library. I think that a few of the ideas could be adapted for school use. I can see teaching 21st century skills like LinkedIn as part of a library skills lesson, and possibly posting a resume workshop on the library website.

I had not seen the VisualCV site before. It was visually appealing and seems like a good way to distribute information. The only problem that I had with it is that the link to sign in or to create a resume was broken--or at least did not work on my computer.

The LinkedIn tutorial was informative. I had actually already signed up, but didn't really understand its purposes or uses. I liked the statement that "the power of networking is in the 2nd degree." I think that's almost always true. It reminds me of the old saying, "It's not what you know, it's who you know." I also liked the suggestion to ask for advice and not directly for a job. Good idea.

The FindingJobs page seems fairly straightforward to me. I don't think that it would take very long to develop enough computer skills to be able to navigate the site. The Computer Basics page would probably be very helpful in that regard.

Time spent on Method #4--approximately 2 hours.

Beyond--Method #3 Where in the World? Geography and Travel 2.0

I have used Google Maps and MapQuest before, but I have never created or saved a map to post on a website. With the directions that were given, I had no trouble at all in creating a map for my library. Here is the one I made.

View MFHS Library in a larger map

Just for practice and for fun, I did create a page on my library website for this map and I linked the map to it. I made the page inactive so that no one who visits the website will be able to see it. I know that the school address is public information, but it just seems a little scary to post a map. Besides, probably most people who need to come to the library already knows where it is since my patrons are students and staff at my school. I can see that a map like this would be useful for public libraries where patrons may not be aware of library locations. Still a fun thing to know, though. I just had classes in the library doing reports on vacation spots. I can definitely see them using a feature like this. I wish I had seen this before they came.

Time spent on Method #3--approximately 2 hours.

Beyond--Method #2 Customize Your Window to the Internet

I had created an iGoogle page a year or so ago after the technology teacher at my school told me about it, but hadn't used it in a while. I had forgotten how many links I had put on it. What a quick, easy way to access the information that I need or want. I have reset it as my home page.

NetVibes also looks very interesting. It would be great to be able to create a page for my library that included links to all of my databases and research resources. Unfortunately, in my school district there is a standard home page and staff members don't have rights to change very many things on the computers. Otherwise, NetVibes would be a good homepage for the libraries.

My first impression of these two pages is that, for my own personal use, I am more likely to use iGoogle since I am already used to it and already have a Google account. If I were able to use NetVibes at work, I think that would be a fun and useful tool. Seeing what the Cranbury Public Library has done confirms that opinion for me. Lots of important information in one visually appealing, easy-to-use format. I think a page like that would attract more interest than the standard page that I have now.

One of the things that I love about courses like this is that they open my eyes to so many new ideas and products. I would never have time to search and find all of these sites on my own. Thank you!

Time spent on Method #2--approximately 2 hours.

Beyond--Method #1 Dust off that blog

"Dust it off" is an accurate description. I have looked at the blog and read some of my old posts, but not added anything new since I finished the TSLAC course.

I enjoyed looking at all of the new options available for blogging. There were several design templates that I liked. I chose this one because I thought it was easier to read than some of the others. I added some new gadgets, changed my profile picture, updated my information--kind of like spring cleaning on the Internet.

I looked at avatars, but decided just to go with a photo because I didn't want to download a program that I didn't know anything about.

Of the 25 styles of blogging (who knew there were so many?), I think that I would be most likely to use life blogging or event blogging.

One funny thing happened while I was working on this step. I was going to look at the 25 Styles of Blogging slideshow while I was in my office today. I clicked on the link and got a message that IE couldn't display the page. I was just about make myself a note to report a broken link when I realized that the Internet was not working at all on my computer. Then I found out it wasn't just my computer, it was a problem throughout my entire school district. It wasn't the link, it was me!

I guess some things never change. When I first looked at the TSLAC site for this class, I got panicky. Just like when I was taking classes in library school, I was thinking that I had forgotten everything I ever knew and there was no way I could do this. Then I settled down and just started reading carefully and following directions step by step. I'm feeling a little better now. We'll see what Method #2 brings!


Time spent on Method #1--approximately 3.5 hours.

Beyond Two-Steppin' Introductory Message

This blog has been created in partial fulfillment of the requirements for The Texas State Library's Learning 2.0 program Beyond Two-Steppin': Additional Web Technology Training for Texas Librarians.


More postings will follow. Please come back often.