Wow it's the last one! Do we get a nice pretty certificate to say we've completed? If not I'll make myself one!!!
Anyway back to the serious stuff. I set up a Hootsuite account. I really like it. I don't need any more than three really. I've added Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin. It's much better than I thought it was going to be. Don't know what I expected, but somehow it wasn't that. I have never used any other SM management tools before, I just presumed everything had to be kept separate. Even though I like it, I don't think I'd pay to add other networks, I'll stick with the freebie.It is so easy to set up & I like the way you can follow different bits of the same site.
I do find it difficult to keep up hence Linkedin & at times even Twitter gets forgotten about & I actually like both of them, which is a shame. I will keep up with this though because it's very useful.
I intend to keep all the information from this course & keep looking back at it to remind myself of what I've learned. because of IT issues at work I haven't had the chance to really go into detail on some things because I just couldn't open things to have a look. The issues aren't resolved yet, but surely they must be in time.or else the students will all go elsewhere.
Thank you for an interesting course and thank you for some very encouraging comments. please let me know if you do something similar again.
Many thanks
Carol
Tuesday 13 October 2015
Thursday 8 October 2015
An Addition to Thing 12
I've just been looking through my posts & the comments & realised I was asked to share my experience in Sri Lanka. So here is a shortened version of my time there.
I was really affected by the 2004 tsunami. I don't know why. There are many disasters in the world that really get to us sometimes, but that one I just couldn't get out of my mind. A few months after it, there was a talk at CILIP HQ by Premila Gamage, who had come over to talk about the effect on Libraries. Many libraries and schools were destroyed, not to mention Librarians and teachers killed. I asked after her talk what I could do to help. I wasn't capable of doing any physical work such as rebuild things, but I just wanted to do something. Two months later I was on my way there for 2 weeks for turned out to be the first of 5 trips.
Premila had said I could help by helping with re-training and moral boosting for the children. So I spent 2 weeks travelling own the west coast that had been badly affected. The things I saw were heart breaking. The homes that had been destroyed by the water had to be seen to be believed and there so many tents that people were living in because they couldn't afford to re-build. At this point the Government there were just sitting on all the money that had been raised for these people.
Anyway I could go on, but what I actually did was work with groups of children and library staff and school teachers doing story telling sessions, activities, & workshops. It was fun, I can't deny that, but the stories I heard, & the sights I saw were heartbreaking. The one thing from that trip that stuck with me was how happy the children were despite what they had been through! It was incredible.
I cried all the way home, because when I left the tail end of a cyclone had just hit, & all those poor people in those awful tents were getting drenched & I was going home to a nice dry warm house.
So when I got back I started fund raising and collecting books. I called it "Taking Elmer to Sri Lanka" In total I collected 140 boxes of books, some were new from publishers, some were withdrawn library stock from all over!
I went out a few more time over the next 2 or 3 years - until my personal money ran out & I couldn't afford to go again. The itinery changed a little over the visits, & although I still visited the places worst affected by the tsunami, I also did workshops in the slums of Columbo, two different orphanages, and some very remote areas in the hills around Kandy. Also while I was there the war was still raging with the Tamils and I had to get used to beind stopped at gunpoint by soldiers checking who I was!! The first time was un-nerving, but I sort of got used to it.
On one of my visits I was asked to give a paper to the Sri Lankan Library association on children's librarianship and storytelling. That was far more scary than anything else I did!!
This is obviously a very brief description, & although a lot of it was very enjoyable, I have tried to hide away some of the things I heard & saw.
I hope I helped to make a difference, I'm told I did, & I would so love to go back, but it's so expensive - maybe one day.
I was really affected by the 2004 tsunami. I don't know why. There are many disasters in the world that really get to us sometimes, but that one I just couldn't get out of my mind. A few months after it, there was a talk at CILIP HQ by Premila Gamage, who had come over to talk about the effect on Libraries. Many libraries and schools were destroyed, not to mention Librarians and teachers killed. I asked after her talk what I could do to help. I wasn't capable of doing any physical work such as rebuild things, but I just wanted to do something. Two months later I was on my way there for 2 weeks for turned out to be the first of 5 trips.
Premila had said I could help by helping with re-training and moral boosting for the children. So I spent 2 weeks travelling own the west coast that had been badly affected. The things I saw were heart breaking. The homes that had been destroyed by the water had to be seen to be believed and there so many tents that people were living in because they couldn't afford to re-build. At this point the Government there were just sitting on all the money that had been raised for these people.
Anyway I could go on, but what I actually did was work with groups of children and library staff and school teachers doing story telling sessions, activities, & workshops. It was fun, I can't deny that, but the stories I heard, & the sights I saw were heartbreaking. The one thing from that trip that stuck with me was how happy the children were despite what they had been through! It was incredible.
I cried all the way home, because when I left the tail end of a cyclone had just hit, & all those poor people in those awful tents were getting drenched & I was going home to a nice dry warm house.
So when I got back I started fund raising and collecting books. I called it "Taking Elmer to Sri Lanka" In total I collected 140 boxes of books, some were new from publishers, some were withdrawn library stock from all over!
I went out a few more time over the next 2 or 3 years - until my personal money ran out & I couldn't afford to go again. The itinery changed a little over the visits, & although I still visited the places worst affected by the tsunami, I also did workshops in the slums of Columbo, two different orphanages, and some very remote areas in the hills around Kandy. Also while I was there the war was still raging with the Tamils and I had to get used to beind stopped at gunpoint by soldiers checking who I was!! The first time was un-nerving, but I sort of got used to it.
On one of my visits I was asked to give a paper to the Sri Lankan Library association on children's librarianship and storytelling. That was far more scary than anything else I did!!
This is obviously a very brief description, & although a lot of it was very enjoyable, I have tried to hide away some of the things I heard & saw.
I hope I helped to make a difference, I'm told I did, & I would so love to go back, but it's so expensive - maybe one day.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Thing 22 - Mobile Things
Is there really only one left after this? I'm actually going to miss it!! Anyway back to the thing ....
I love the Gum app. What a great thing to come up with. I've scanned a couple of bar-codes & I scanned the Fault in Our Stars, but there was only one other comment there. I like the way it's like having a little book club on your phone. I know you can scan other products, but I think I'll save it for books. I'm going to put it out on Facebook too - quite a few of my friends use Goodreads, so I think they may like it too.
The Beacons idea I also really like - but as there is a cost implication I know that isn't going to happen here at the moment. However I can see it working really well in an academic library. The students would know when they were having an information skills lesson, or Harvard etc. We could let them know when we are running events as well. Obviously we let them know all these things now, but doing it this way I think we would reach even more students. So when the financial situation improves I will show the rest of my colleagues & grovel a little!!
I don;t have a problem using my mobile phone for work things, but the powers that be don;t like us to be seen with our phones. Dinosaurs comes to mind. The 23 mobiles Things sounds useful & that is my next task to have a look at that.
I love the Gum app. What a great thing to come up with. I've scanned a couple of bar-codes & I scanned the Fault in Our Stars, but there was only one other comment there. I like the way it's like having a little book club on your phone. I know you can scan other products, but I think I'll save it for books. I'm going to put it out on Facebook too - quite a few of my friends use Goodreads, so I think they may like it too.
The Beacons idea I also really like - but as there is a cost implication I know that isn't going to happen here at the moment. However I can see it working really well in an academic library. The students would know when they were having an information skills lesson, or Harvard etc. We could let them know when we are running events as well. Obviously we let them know all these things now, but doing it this way I think we would reach even more students. So when the financial situation improves I will show the rest of my colleagues & grovel a little!!
I don;t have a problem using my mobile phone for work things, but the powers that be don;t like us to be seen with our phones. Dinosaurs comes to mind. The 23 mobiles Things sounds useful & that is my next task to have a look at that.
 |
| Taken from How to draw funny cartoons .com |
Thursday 1 October 2015
Thing 21 - Creating Infograpghics
Help! I found this really hard. I'm not sure why. I've opened accounts in both. I made a poster in Piktochart but I don't think very successfully. I watched the video, but still didn't really get it, but this is my attempt.
Module 1 is what we are working on at the moment, so I used this as a promotional tool, but i'm not sure I've got that right.
The other one - Easel.ly - well I'm afraid I really didn't understand it. I'm not a total technophobe, but I felt like it looking at this. I looked at the ones on Pinterest & they seemed quite whizzy compared to what I could achieve, so I'm afraid I deleted my attempts (a little in frustration I have to admit)
Having worked my way through the "Things", some have been easier than others obviously, I was beginning to feel a little more confident with things, but this has thrown me. I suppose sometimes it's better to stick with the things that you know & feel confident with.
I'm not saying I won't look at these again, but not at the moment.
I think I have seen infographics in and around libraries, but I don't know how they were done & if I have really grasped what infographics means.
Feel a bit daft now, but I think I have failed on this "Thing"
Carol
Module 1 is what we are working on at the moment, so I used this as a promotional tool, but i'm not sure I've got that right.
The other one - Easel.ly - well I'm afraid I really didn't understand it. I'm not a total technophobe, but I felt like it looking at this. I looked at the ones on Pinterest & they seemed quite whizzy compared to what I could achieve, so I'm afraid I deleted my attempts (a little in frustration I have to admit)
Having worked my way through the "Things", some have been easier than others obviously, I was beginning to feel a little more confident with things, but this has thrown me. I suppose sometimes it's better to stick with the things that you know & feel confident with.
I'm not saying I won't look at these again, but not at the moment.
I think I have seen infographics in and around libraries, but I don't know how they were done & if I have really grasped what infographics means.
Feel a bit daft now, but I think I have failed on this "Thing"
Carol
Thing 20 - Presentations
Like most people I have done quite a few PowerPoint presentations over the years. The I discovered Prezi.. Although I have only done a couple through Prezi, I really wish I could get some sort of training on it as I'm sure it does more than I can do with it.
I changed my Harvard Referencing presentation to Prezi last year & made it so much easier to show the students what I wanted to say and made a dull topic a bit more exciting.
I did another one about 3 weeks ago to do with online safety. It's not a long one, and the students have to do a short test after seeing it. It is part of an online module which they have to do. You can access it here.
http://prezi.com/pk-2sy2pmivv/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
From feedback so far, the students have understood it - without me having stood in front of the class presenting it. I have worried that a couple of bits of it might be too "wordy", but hopefully it is self explanatory. This time last year I would have presented it in class, but due to staff cuts, we no longer have enough staff to do this & we have had to do it online in our VLE, Blackboard.
I don't think I will use PowerPoint again, but I really do need to find out more about Prezi. It is so visual and can be broken down nicely to put your point across.
I'm a naturally nervous person who really doesn't like talking in public. But if I have a PowerPoint or Prezi there, it really makes me feel much more confident. One bit of advice that I would give is don't put anything in them that you don't understand or can't explain properly. Try to anticipate any questions, & if there's anything you really don't think you could answer properly, either reword it so you know what you are talking about or leave it out completely. Being tongue-tied in front of people when giving a presentation is an awful experience, especially if you have written the presentation!!!
As I've said, I'm still learning & I'm sure the above Prezi can be - and eventually will be - improved.
Carol
I changed my Harvard Referencing presentation to Prezi last year & made it so much easier to show the students what I wanted to say and made a dull topic a bit more exciting.
I did another one about 3 weeks ago to do with online safety. It's not a long one, and the students have to do a short test after seeing it. It is part of an online module which they have to do. You can access it here.
http://prezi.com/pk-2sy2pmivv/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share
From feedback so far, the students have understood it - without me having stood in front of the class presenting it. I have worried that a couple of bits of it might be too "wordy", but hopefully it is self explanatory. This time last year I would have presented it in class, but due to staff cuts, we no longer have enough staff to do this & we have had to do it online in our VLE, Blackboard.
I don't think I will use PowerPoint again, but I really do need to find out more about Prezi. It is so visual and can be broken down nicely to put your point across.
I'm a naturally nervous person who really doesn't like talking in public. But if I have a PowerPoint or Prezi there, it really makes me feel much more confident. One bit of advice that I would give is don't put anything in them that you don't understand or can't explain properly. Try to anticipate any questions, & if there's anything you really don't think you could answer properly, either reword it so you know what you are talking about or leave it out completely. Being tongue-tied in front of people when giving a presentation is an awful experience, especially if you have written the presentation!!!
As I've said, I'm still learning & I'm sure the above Prezi can be - and eventually will be - improved.
Carol
Thing 19 - The legal side of things
If I'm honest I don't really think I've thought about the legal side of things while writing these blogs! On my last one I did remember to say where the photo was from, but on others I know I forgot.
To me it seems crazy to admit that, as copyright is something I have to keep an eye on at work. With all the Subject Guides I've had to produce, I've had to make sure that any images etc I have used have been referenced.
I teach Harvard referencing to students, therefore I know the importance of it all. I don't know if because I am just writing what I want to say rather than quoting from anyone else, I haven't given it much thought, but the images I've added - fortunately not many - it hasn't crossed my mind.
When I get a bit of time I'll have a look back. It is so easy to forget about these things, & the students must feel the same way. Mind you that's why I'm there to teach about such things.
Carol
To me it seems crazy to admit that, as copyright is something I have to keep an eye on at work. With all the Subject Guides I've had to produce, I've had to make sure that any images etc I have used have been referenced.
I teach Harvard referencing to students, therefore I know the importance of it all. I don't know if because I am just writing what I want to say rather than quoting from anyone else, I haven't given it much thought, but the images I've added - fortunately not many - it hasn't crossed my mind.
When I get a bit of time I'll have a look back. It is so easy to forget about these things, & the students must feel the same way. Mind you that's why I'm there to teach about such things.
Carol
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