Week 5--RSS Feeds--Google Reader

I decided to go with Google Reader because I already had other accounts with Google. Setting up the account was easy. I decided to try some of their recommended bundles first, so I looked for ones that had something to do with the library and education. I also checked ones about cooking and religious sites. Then I had to figure out how to delete subscriptions so I wouldn't get so many I couldn't keep up with them.

Next, I decided to try to subscribe to something either through the RSS Feeds link on a website or by copying and pasting the address into Google Reader. I subscribed to the updates from http://www.bridgehunter.com/ and a favorite Christian site in this manner. On a separate account, I get updates from my fellow classmates' blogs. Didn't intend to have 2 accounts, but I forgot which email address I'd used and ended up with 2 accounts.

Another reason I chose Google Reader is because it does not deliver anything to my email address. Everything is sent to the reader, so I don't have to worry about having an overflowing mailbox.

Week 4--Photo Sharing--Flickr

Class area.
Originally uploaded by ruthmusic

Thanks to reading a fellow classmate's blog, I figured out how to post this on my blog. This has been an interesting experience.

In the past, I have uploaded several pictures to Shutterfly because I use this company to print several of my photography projects. But I had never used Flickr before, except to look at other people's photos.

For this project, I took pictures of the La Cygne Elementary Library. I hope you enjoy your photo tour.

Week 3--Online Meetings

For this week's lesson, I chose to listen to an archived webinar on the SirsiDynix Institute website. Since I am interested in copright issues, both as a teacher/library media specialist and as a musician/writer/photographer, I selected a webinar titled The 21st Century Classroom: Copyright and Electronic Content by Dru Zuretti. I have included the link to this webinar here if anyone else is interested. http://www.sirsidynixinstitute.com/seminar_page.php?sid=99

I found this webinar very informative with valuable information that every teacher or librarian should have. Two aspects that were very helpful were the printable slides that go along with the webinar and the question/answer session at the end of the presentation. This particular webinar dealt with materials which are available on the Web--what can be copyrighted? The rule of thumb is that the creator of a work owns the rights to anything that is original, creative, and fixed. One thing Ms. Zuretti stressed is that "everything on the Web in not public domain; everything is protected." Ms. Zuretti also talked about the TEACH Act and how it affects accredited, non-profit educational institutes.

Webinars are an excellent opportunity for people to gain information without having to travel or, in some cases, spend a lot of money. In today's economy, these are positive aspects of this new technology. I can see webinars being used in the future as a means of professional development for school staff.