This time I created a Wordle of ART: Evaluating Research Project Assignments and saved it from Jing to my documents (instead of using the embed code).  Now I’m going to upload it as an image and see how it works…ah, it worked!  and if you click on the image you can see it larger.

While I haven’t started to use the networking capabilities, I see their potential.  How many times do you email links to coworkers?  Steps could be eliminated by establishing a network and common tags.  Steps are also eliminated by just sharing a bookmark (i.e. since I just blogged about wikis, check out my bookmarks: http://del.icio.us/kareneidem/Wikis

One of the bloggers I subscribe to has started using the “Daily Blog Postings” function — I can quickly scan what this “expert-in-the-field” thought was important enough to bookmark, and it can lead to some good, new information.

I think this was one of the more interesting “Things” for me when I started learning about it I had such a misconception about its purpose.  To quote a couple of songs from the 60’s and 70’s — “I can see clearly now” and “I’m a believer.”

“Wiki Wiki” = Quick.  And that has been my experience with wikis — they are quick to set up and use.  I remember someone asking, “Sooo, it’s basically just a website, right?” and I’d say yes — a basic website that anyone with access can edit.  Again, I think this goes back to the book “Wisdom of Crowds” — there are a lot of people out there with a lot of good thoughts and information on a multitude of topics.  Isn’t it a good idea to have places for them to share their information?  And then isn’t it a good idea that other people can either verify or change that information?

We’ve talked about multiple uses for these at MILI — handbooks, curriculum organizers, student project organizers, book reviews, school websites . . . the options are nearly endless.  I really like the examples that are given throughout pbwiki.

Here are wikis I’ve made or helped to make:

http://milicopyrightwiki.pbwiki.com/  (password: mili)

http://kareneidemslibrarymediacenterhandbook.pbwiki.com/  (when I showed this to an MLIS class, the instructor said that she had a paradigm shift seeing a handbook online instead of as paper in a binder.  Currently, I would be the only one to edit this, but if I were to have one at a job, and leave that job, my replacement would have everything at his or her fingertips and be able to change it easily.)

I had been trying to figure out how to make my blog become the main place I “store” all of the information I acquire as I am “Finding My Way” in the information world, library world, and world in general.  One major source of information I wanted to make available to myself (and others, if interested) was my classwork.  I’ve done  a lot of work for these MLIS classes that are making me a librarian, and much of it could be useful to me in the future.  But computers come and go, so I didn’t want to save everything on my hard drive.  Zip drives and other storage units are great, but they are prone to loss and destruction.  Plus, I didn’t know of an easy way to make these formats available on my blog without copy/pasting the content into a post.

Lo and behold, along comes Zoho Viewer.  As its tagline says, “Get rid of attachments. Just upload your document, grab the URL, and share it with your friends or post it in blogs / forums. No sign up required.”  So, in a way it is like Google Documents, because you can allow others to edit your documents — yet another Web 2.0 tool encouraging and allowing easy collaboration.  OR you can just let others view your document, which is what I’m doing on my blog.

Since I already use it, I tried Google docs, too, after I realized Zoho is similar.  But I like Zoho better for this purpose because it has a “Bulk” upload option which is easier — less clicking.  Plus I like the final view better in Zoho.  Also, Zoho might be a good option for collaborating with people online who do not (for whatever reason) want to set up a Google Account.

Cooperation = Teacher and Media Specialist working independently.

Coordination = Teacher and Media Specialist working together toward a common goal.  They meet to discuss goals but not to share responsibility.

 Collaboration = Teacher and Media Specialist have an expanded planning connection.  They share goals and have carefully defined roles.

Loertscher’s Taxonomy of School Library Media Programs

1 thru 4 = Cooperation, 5 thru 7 = Coordination, 8 thru 11 = Collaboration

To Collaborate

• attend departmental or grade level meetings
• keep record of units taught in the past
• take advantage of teachable moments
• become involved in developing local standards
• be aware of state standards

To Promote Collaboration

• connect with early adopters
• offer suggestions for upcoming units
• talk up successes through newsletters, bulletin boards, displays, & meetings

Administrators can . . .

• ensure teachers have planning time
• use subs to free up classroom teachers
• adequately staff the media center so that M.S. has time to collaborate with teachers
• encourage training of student interns
• promote a climate of collaboration

Questions for collaboration

• Why are we doing this?
• What are the transferrable concepts we want students to develop?
• How will the students extract and gather information?
• How will the students process and organize the information?
• How will students produce their findings?
• How will students, teacher, and media specialist be evaluated?

Collaborative Unit Templates

http://www.indianalearns.org/downloads/Page33Planning.pdf

http://www.libsci.sc.edu/miller/collaboration_template.pdf

http://www.teacherlibrarian.com/images/media/Collaborative%20Program%20Planning.pdf