This class took me from Web0.0 to Web2.0 in the short time of just five days. I came into this class thinking Google was simply a search engine that turned up way too many websites when conducting a search, but came to learn about the vast amount of useful Google applications that I will use going forward to narrow down the information I'm looking for.
I was always somewhat reluctant to accept the ways of the "net" generation thinking that moving away from more traditional libraries was a bad thing, but at the same time realizing the importance of being current and relevant.
At first I was completely overwhelmed by all of the technology we were seemingly drowning in during this class, but after the first day of feeling that way, I found it very fun and enjoyable to learn. And, even better, everything we learned can and should be incorporated into our own School Media Centers in the future to promote literacy.
As an example, on the very first day of class we learned about Wikispaces and Blogs, which we as librarians can both learn from and utilize to promote our own libraries to parents, students and the community. And on the second day we learned about building a PLN - Personal Learning Network - through social networking (Twitter and facebook),as well as blogs to create connectoins with others who we can ask questions and receive answers and information from. This is definitely something I plan to keep up with. We also learned about social bookmarking through Delicious, which is another Web2.0 tool I will continue to use to organize the web resources I suggest for students and other educators and guide them to the most relevant web sites for a given topic. I also plan to use Shelfari to develop recommended reading lists.
All of the image sharing tools were great as well. They can be used to create interesting images for library newsletters and to decorate the library. I Think I will use Spell with Flickr, Wordle and Amaztype frequently.
I love the digital storytelling tools, especially VoiceThread and Photostory. VoiceThread is a great collaboration tool and I think Photostory would be a perfect tool for student book reports and promoting new books.
The possibilities are endless with Web2.0. I don't think there is anything I wouldn't use at some point. Now I just have to find a SMS position after I graduate and prove that I am relevant with my Web2.0 knowledge.
