Project Play 2nd Sem Weeks 11-12 Wrap Up

Wow! Time flew by - I think that this semester passed even faster than the fall semester did. But I know I've learned about a lot more about technology tools and how to hopefully incorporate them into what I'm all ready doing to make my and my patrons lives easier. :) That is a great long term goal.

Godin's video was interesting. I had to keep stopping the video and "rewinding" so I could catch what he was saying. I had the sound all the way up, but with background noise, I didn't always catch it. I think it is very true, that formal education help to make people less curious. Schooling tells children this is what you need to know and doesn't usually leave them time to learn about and look at things they are curious about in school. There are so many demands placed on teachers! In this time of No Child Left Behind, teachers are becoming less creative and open to do different types of projects because the children in their classrooms need to pass these tests or they are in trouble and the school district risks losing money. It makes things tricky. Generally, some one has to encourage the curiosity in the children and help them to look in to the things they are curious about, but also outside the realm of the school day. Teachers can foster the creativity and get children started, but other adults have to help and follow through on this.

I think I am a curious person. If there is something that I want to know more about, I take the time to look into it and see what I can do to have my curiosity need met. I know I have a list of things that I want to accomplish, because I am curious about them and because I know they will help me in the long run. There are so many things out there, I never know what I am going to stumble upon next.

Sparking creativity in children is easy, they are generally curious about things! :) Sometimes it just takes giving them the right book to peak their curiosity and other time it takes some suggesting and relating them to topics they all ready like and how they are similar. Making people think out of the box and learning something new isn't always easy to do. I think the best way to make people curious about something is to keep talking about it. By talking about it all the time, hopefully you can get their curiosity and they will take the time to look into it.

I think this really applies to what Project Play is all about. I had to be curious enough about the tools to sign up for this and then willing to follow through and learn about all of these different types of technology tools. If I wasn't curious, I never would have signed up and increased my knowledge.

I think project play was awesome! I learn more about new technology, quickly and easily, than I have ever learned in college. I know I keep taking college continuing education classes, especially in the technology field, but nothing like this was presented and most definitely I never would have gotten the chance to play around with all of these tools. I think this would make a great college class. I would recommend it to anyone working in a library- it couldn't have been easier and less stressful than this was!

I try to keep up with changing technology, but sometimes it changes so quickly, it doesn't seem that I'll ever keep up. :) It would be nice to know that down the road, there would possibly be another project play to sharpen my technology skills once again. But until then and as long as technology doesn't change too much (yeah right) I will keep trying to learn about new changes. I'll keep reading about what is new, trying to find the time in the day to look at some of the new things, and keep looking for classes and opportunities to learn about the new technology is available. It isn't ever go away- I might as well learn about it right away to keep up with the rest of the world and at the same time introduce new technology to others. It really is all about trying to make life simpler and easier.

Project Play 2nd Sem Week 10

Well, mashups are fun. I spend a good chunk of time this morning looking at the mashups links provided. I thought it was fun to look that the meebo map and see who was IMing. You can tell what part of the world is sleeping! :) I also liked the Zip code Census Dashboard. That was a great way to see information. I looked for my community as well as the community I work in.

I think they are a great way to combine tools to make things that should be easier for the user. I agree that the only problem is that people- librarians included- need to make sure the information is accurate before using it or passing it along to some one else.

I'm not very creative right now, so I don't have any ideas of how to best use them in the children's area. It might be fun to show which picture books are circulating the most, but I don't know how practical that would really be or who it would benefit. I'll have to think and see if I can come up with a good idea for the children's area.

The library could possibly a mashup to create a map with directions to the library including pictures of landmarks to look for. I know that would be helpful to me when I'm trying to give directions to people of how to get here. So I'm sure other people would benefit from this information as well.

Hmm... I need to keep thinking and see if I can think of anything else the would be beneficial.