My favorite discoveries in this Web 2.0 journey have been working with Flicker and Delicious. Having already been using several of the other organizational applications, I feel that these two tools of organizing both digital photos and websites will be a great way to help continue to organize both my professional and personal life. I'm also very excited to learn how easy it is to set up and use a blog. Blogging seemed at one time overwhelming to me, and now it seems like a new and practical way to update families about our library services.
As the world of libraries continues to move in the direction of technology and social media, I am glad to have experience and understanding of some of the applications my patrons will be talking about and to be able to share this information with my patrons. I believe that learning about these tools will help me shape future goals for my library, the children and teachers that I serve.
As a newbie to Web 2.0 tools, I was surprised at how many I was already using and familiar with such as google applications, searching for you tube videos appropriate for lessons, and wikis. I was also surprised at how relatively easy most of these tools are to use and share and how many different ways I felt I could share and use the knowledge I gained with others. I developed a greater sense of self-confidence in myself as a user of technology.
I thought the program was laid out well and offered great opportunites for learning. I was able to complete the program during the summer with a colleague in weekly sessions, so it was not too time consuming or
overwhelming. The discussions I had with my colleague furthered my learning and heightened our understanding of different topics.
If offered, I would be very interested in furthering my learning next summer with the next session, Beyond Two-Stepping. I believe that it would help me throughout the year knowing that I could take my learning to another level and be somewhat accountable to challenge myself throughout the year to use what I learned in this session.
