WOW! I can't believe everything that I learned through the 23 Things. When this all started I thought I thought I'd go through the exercises and probably not use any of the things. I was surprised that I really liked several of these things and will definitely continue to use them. The exercises that were related to photos were my favorite: online photo sharing, mashups, online image generators, animoto, etc. However, I was shocked to discover that I really like the RSS feeds. I still don't check it every day, but I always find something interesting when I do read the feeds.
This experience has opened my eyes to the way people are utilizing the web today. It has created many conversations with teachers in my building about the way we are currently teaching and the change in the way students receive information and that we are not on the same wave length. Often times I hear teachers talk about how low students are, but when I was conducting the computer survey with 3-6 grade, I realized that if students can do all the things online that they were discussing, then there is more going on in children's brains then we realize. We just have to tap into it. As the librarian, I believe that I need to help tap into this by utilizing some of the information learned in the 23 Things. I just have to figure out the best way to do this.
I also discovered that most of what we did is unknown to most people. I have talked to several different people at school and most of them didn't have a clue about what I was talking about.
I would definitely go through another exercise like this and if you were to change anything, it would be to have several get-togethers throughout the time period. Granted we are to be learning online, but there is something to be said about working among fellow bloggers. Overall, I highly enjoyed 23 Things and I take away many new tools to be used in the library.
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Yeah Anna! Congratulations! You're so right about the things we did being unknown to most people, at least most teachers in our buildings and many students at the elementary level. You've inspired many of us to do our own student surveys. I just need to get mine written. Of course, there's that website that lets you make your own surveys (is that a possibility for this, Mary???). We could create one and have the students go online during their lab or library times to complete it.
Anna, I agree that with you about what we have learned here doing the 23 Things. I want to use some of them in the library. I will once I am confident of the system to get parental approval.
I liked Flickr and Animoto the best. Although I had trouble getting my smash-up to post, it was a great deal of fun to create. I really liked linking the pictures to the maps on iGoogle.
Tell me more about the student surveys!
I think you're on to something when you say what we're all too familiar with: we all hear teachers talking about how low students are, and then when it comes to computers and technology, the students amaze us! They are the digital generation, yet as educators we're still insisting they work with pencil and paper, like the generation before them did with success. Why aren't we adjusting our methods, instead of expecting our students to adjust their learning style? As librarians, we can be the bridge between the two. As you well know, though, that bridge is often made between us and one or two teachers at a time before others will dare to cross over.
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