Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Week #9, Thing #23 Summary of Thoughts on this Program

Well, this has been a very good program and it was very worthwhile. My own schedule was my biggest challenge. I started off quickly with the first lessons in April or May, and I thought I would have plenty of time during the summer to complete the program easily. But this summer turned out to be a real bear -- First, we hosted a student from Germany for a month, showing him all over California. Then we started an addition of a family room over our garage. Throw in teaching summer school, coaching a team, a cruise to Alaska and a few camping trips with family and the summer was gone! So I have spent the last few days "cramming" in the last few lessons. Many times I considered just giving it up for now, but I am glad I persevered because I was exposed to so many new sites, services, tools and ideas that have given me new inspiration as I begin this new school year.

My favorite lessons were on podcasts and wikis. This is the stuff I am really interested in applying to my own library web site this school year and that I have been trying to learn more about, so for me that was right on target.

Because of the way my schedule turned out to be so much more crazy than expected, I really liked the flexibility of this program -- we could cater it to our own lives. There were a few times that I became really frustrated with trying to upload or import something that just wouldn't take. I was able to leave it for a while and come back at a time when I could be more patient to work my way through it -- very valuable to me because I DID figure it out eventually.

I don't know of anything that could be done to administer this program differently; it worked well for me and I feel as though I have learned quire a lot and now I know where to go for more information about these topics. Maybe you could add a 24-hour telephone help line?? If you offered another "self discovery" program such as this one, I would probably participate. You can't beat the price and it is inspiring to read over 100 "handles" on the list of librarians who participated in this program.

In a word or phrase, this program was... an inspiring opportunity for librarians to serve students better by learning to use technology in California's school libraries. Thank you for all of the hard work and creativity that went into developing the lessons!

4 comments:

Jackie S, 2.0 project manager said...

Congratulations! You have successfully finished School Library Learning 2.0 -- you are now an official member of the CSLA 2.0 Team. Your blog has been moved to the "Congratulations - 2.0 Team" list.

Thanks for being a part of summer 2.0 fun -- we hope you will invite your colleagues to take the course so you can cheer them along. Cheering one another along is a great way to discover more 2.0 ideas. Best wishes.
- Jackie Siminitus
CSLA 2.0 Team project manager

Liz Dodds said...

Congratulations! I can't believe you actually finished this when you listed all of your summer activities! I hope you told your German exchange student about school libraries and lmt's, since they don't really have them over there!

IrmaPince said...

Congratulations! I can't believe all you achieved over the summer. With that kind of energy and your new found 2.0 skills you should wow them at school this year. Best of luck.

rob said...

Glad to hear that the flexibility of the program helped you to complete the 23 Things. I enjoyed reading your entries along the way. Keep on blogging!