This week we did several things that I will use not only in my professional life, but in my personal life as well. I have to say that I wasn't totally sold on RSS feeds after reading the chapter in the book, but once I actually created an account and started subscribing to feeds my feelings changed. I think they are fabulous. I was able to set up feed for my professional use and I set up some feeds for my personal use. It is my goal to look at them daily so that I can benefit from the information that I'm receiving. I like the fact that I can be logged in to one site to find information that can help me, and yes I can see how time will be saved. I plan on sharing this with my staff when we do a technology sharing day. I don't think many people are familiar with it, but I think many staff members would find it useful.
I also found the tutorial on google sites interesting and actually started setting up site. It was very easy to do and I thought I may make a library site where I can include help sheets and tips for students, so that they always have access to help if they need it.
The photo sharing was really fun. I have had a Shutterfly account for years, but I have never used the share feature. I found that creating a website to share was very easy and it looks really nice. I am able to share not only my photos, but videos, and photo books that I have made. It also has a blogging feature that I thought was neat and a calendar. I will continue to use this with my family and I have thought of how I could use it at work. I've have embedded a couple of photos on this blog as well. One of the ideas I had was to create a Battle of the Books website. As the students go through the process we take pictures and video, so this would be a neat place to post those as well as have the students blog their experience. Overall, I found this week very helpful and I've learned about a lot of new tools that I can use.
I too was a little doubtful about RSS feeds. Richardson makes everything sound so wonderful. I guess I am a believe it if I see it kind of person. Once I signed up for Google Reader and then subscribed to the RSS feeds that I wanted to follow I could see the value of aggregators and RSS feeds. I do worry about getting caught up in following too many and then drowning in too much information. I guess it is a trial and error thing. Try one out, if you don't find it useful then unsubscribe.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, love the boys and the cornstalks. My kids couldn't get enough of looking at the fish tank picture.
I think setting up an account for Battle of the Books is a great idea. The kids at our school get so into it and what a way for them to share and post their experiences. I also have had a Shutterfly account for years but only used it to develop pictures. I think I also made a book for my in-laws! I can't wait to hear how the blog goes. I think this will be something that I will have to start next year.
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