I'm kind of disappointed I can't add anything "sparkly" to up the interest level on this post (although my interest in it is quite high) so here's a cute picture to start us off.
I could kick myself every time I log into the ELM resources. I have them linked on our school website, but they aren’t being utilized like they should be. I blame that entirely on myself; I just don’t feel comfortable with this resource. I opted to complete all but one of the challenges (I’m not sharing a folder in NetLibrary yet), and am committing myself to teaching a course for teachers this summer on this resource. I couldn’t remember how to access ELM at home, but another media specialist filled me in on that password. It’s hard to keep on top of everything (obviously why this course is so valuable).
Next year, if our media specialists remain together for our peer learning groups, I’d love to be able to use NetLibrary to do a book study. Great way to further our studies, create shared notes and use a valuable resource. I really need to think of ways to get teachers excited about using the ELM resources with their kids. They are so stuck on googling everything. I’d like to roll the databases into a curriculum class so teachers get a chance to do some digging.
InfoTrack Student: I put the RSS feed about smoking in my Reader – that was pretty nifty. I can see teachers and students tracking info that way. I was disappointed that our district blocks the term “MySpace” because every article and other resources were blocked. I was able to get info using the search term “social networking” but the search hits included articles on Facebook and Bebo and other topics I didn’t want. It took a little digging to find the RSS feeds on NPR for Children’s Health, but once I found the News Feeds page, it was pretty slick. I chose to add the Politics & Society feed, rather than the Children’s Health feed.
I created a webpage in EBSCO Page Composer. I found it to be a bit persnickety. Setting up the page was SLO—OWW (I did get a message about some GALE issues during that time, so that might have been causing the speed problem). Editing is really limited, and I was disappointed that it doesn’t just send the info out to a blog, rather than create a webpage. I don’t have an official website anymore, now that our district has gone to a portal, using an html page is tricky. I also added a local image, which would not show up when I saved the picture in the same place as the html file, as the directions required. I edited the html file in Frontpage, so it wasn’t a big deal, but still a pain.
Oh my, do I love ProQuest. I created the webpage, which was emailed to me within seconds. It was easy to narrow my search. I did some searches and marked results as I went. It reminded me of tagging. Love this resource.
I’ll admit I heaved a large sigh as I looked through NetLibrary. I found quite a few resources on peer coaching and training – two areas I’m currently studying – and now I have MORE items on my reading list! I am impressed by the number of available books. I wish it were easier to download the books for offline viewing. I added notes to a number of books. I keep repeating myself, but these are amazing resources!
No comments:
Post a Comment