Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Into the West

I can now say that I have blogged. This is just one take away from this Learning 2.0 Experience that I never thought I would do. I have known for a long time that I learn best when I am able to take the time to sit and write about something. This experience has given me just that excuse. This program has also enabled me to gain a passing knowledge of some of today’s key web tools. Before this I was not all that inclined towards technology. I was, and in many way still am, intimidated by it, but through this experience and through other classes I am coming to recognize that technology and the ability to use it and adapt to it are essential tools for librarians. As a fan of science fiction, I always admired the system designers, hackers, scientists, and other tech savvy characters of this world, but I never felt like I could be one of them. I know that I have a long way to go from a tea drinking, Jane Austen worshiping, history and science fiction enthusiast to a tech savvy librarian, but this brief introduction to web 2.0 has motivated me to not settle for my current level of knowledge. I want to keep learning and growing until I can hack Skynet, track an anomaly through subspace, or write in code.

I found many of the Learning  2.0 Modules to be nice mixture of creative and organizational tools. I have to say that exploring Flickr was one of my favorite exercises. I liked being able to create tags and sentimental descriptions for my pictures. I also was very interested in the RSS Feed applications. I have been able to use it to learn new words courtesy of word a day calendars, I have been able to read poetry and quotes all courtesy of my RSS Feed; however it has also proven infinitely useful for enabling me to stay current on recent developments in the LIS World. Pod casts were an interesting exploration. I had actually never heard of such a thing until I found it here. I am glad that something like this is offered s away for people to put their thoughts and investigations out there for others to find. Podcasts remind me of the golden age of radio because they are a medium for learning that encourages you to listen, which is something that we are not as apt to do these days.

I also really appreciated being able to read my classmate’s thoughts on the assignments and on life in general. I am often a take things as they are kind of person, but the thoughts of my classmates and peers encouraged me to look deeper into each application and really evaluate it for pros and cons. I know I shouldn’t be surprised that learning in a community is often more engaging than learning by oneself, but it was nice to be able to discover this for what feels like the hundredth time. On a related by slightly tangential note,  It might be interesting if you were able to create a section on your website that hosted current blogs for students so that we can more easily find each other in the great digital realm.

So in closing, I am excited to continue my journey Into the West. 

4 comments:

  1. I agree with your last thought, Ruth, that it might be easier to comment on multiple classmates' thoughts if the blogs were all found together in one spot. When we first began this exercise, I had no idea how I was supposed to find any posts. Maybe having everyone post their links initially in one spot? Instead of having to browse through the log? I'm not sure!

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  2. There is a discussion board post now that has all the blogs and all the web urls listed.

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  3. Thanks for the feedback about creating an avenue to more easily keep up-to-date about each other's entries. Your recognition of the value of a learning community is good evidence that this aspect of the assignment was successful. Last time this activity was used there was much less community involvement. A pattern of learning involves reflecting and learning from your mistakes. Next time this activity is offered your comment about making it easier to keep up on classmates' posts will be taken into consideration.

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  4. You go Roofie! Love you! And you rock! Jesus loves you! Can't wait to see you in three weeks <3

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