Redesigning Learning

Well….

I am very glad to announce that I have hopefully completed the Learning 2.0 @ McMaster!  I think this was an awesome experience and something that we can all be proud of!  I want to particularly thank the ETG (Emerging Technologies Committee) for their efforts on guiding us through this program.  Kelly Penfold from Innis deserves special mention as she has been very patient, kind and really excited for all us as we move along week to week. 

My only regret is not being able to go week to week with many others. 

I must confess that a lot of the materials covered in the course was not new to me, BUT this course reconfirmed what I knew and clarified things as well. I was impressed that there were so many different tools out there and that we should be aware of them.  Surprisingly, I also had a lot of fun with the gaming environment and social bookmarks such as Face-book.  I’ve yet to venture out to Second Life… 

I also think this course was an excellent way for us to communicate with each other, provide support and encouragement for one another as we went along the course.

P.S. Does anyone know how to fix the time on the blogs?  FYI, the real time is 11:28pm…..so I am officially done one day early!

Jeannie

Almost near the end…

I was able to load Fire-fox without any problems but I had lots of difficulty loading in the add-ons.  I don’t know what the problem is.  We have Fire-fox on the desktop at Innis, so I have been exposed to the tool.  I haven’t added anything on this at work as well.

I also tried adding the MORRIS bookmark-let page but it didn’t seem to work on my laptop from home.

I can see that Fire-fox does offer more functionality than IE and I heard people love Fire-fox and hate IE.  Personally, I can use both but prefer IE since I’s easier for me at the moment.  What I really like about IE 7,0? is that you can open multiple tabs on the same screen instead of opening the browser several times.

I will definitely have to go back to this section at a future date….

Jeannie  

Trying out a few games….

I’ve been actually playing on-line solitaire for a few years now.  I think I have beaten the computer at least 50 times!  Now I play solitaire mostly at airports when I am very BORED and waiting for my flight to take off. 

There was so many games to choose from but I tried first on-line scrabble.  This was really neat but it took awhile before the game was loaded on my PC and it locked it me out after about 10 minutes.  I had to re-load and I wasn’t able to finish the game.  What I like about this is that I know what the “real” rules of scrabble are.  Every time I tried to do something, it would correct me if I was wrong….

The other game I played was “Hollywood Moms Trivia”.  I guess I have been watching and reading the gossip as I answered more questions that I thought.   The “Hollywood Moms Trivia” was very easy to load and it was a lot of fun.  Did you know that Angelina Jolie did not adopt any children from China? 

I tried playing the game again but was disappointed when all the questions were the same…

As for gaming in libraries, I believe this is important for us to know as we develop ways to better communicate with our users and understand how they may see things differently from us.  We can also learn so many things about our users.  In terms of teaching, I think it is important to keep students engaged and connected.  I think we also need to respect our under generation for their ability to multi-task and their creative ability to solve problems through on-line gaming environments.  I noticed my son who could not type at all a few years ago, is now just a whiz.

Overall, I do think gaming can be fun and relaxing.  I also think however everything should be done in moderation and we should also value traditional forms of relaxation including playing outside with friends and engaging in outdoor activities.  I think having this balance is an important part for a healthy lifestyle.

Jeannie

Activity #1

I created a facebook account a couple of weeks ago and I must say this can be very addictive.  I heard about facebook and myspace, at library conferences and by our new University Librarian but I wasn’t ready to get involved.  My sons also have myspace accounts and my older son hasa facebook account as well.  When I mentioned “facebook” they were really surprised I knew about it.   

I actually waited until I was invited into “facebook” and ever since then, I’m been busy finding lost school friends and colleagues.  It’s actually surprising how many of my friends are not on facebook.  However, I was able to find one of my friends from my high school and was even more suprised to see my high school network group devoted to the year I graduated.  I quickly joined several groups and I’m thinking this is a great way to keep in touch. 

I joined several library groups including ACRL, ARL, OLA and Librarians on Facebook.  I was also invited to join the “Way Back Play Back” group that focuses on music when vinyl records were the way to go and very cool. 

I also have a LinkedIn account that I was also invited to join. This one is less FUN but more professional.  I did see a few McMaster librarians but not too many.  In LinkedIn, I had an invitation from someone who wanted to add me in their network BUT I never heard for him/her.  I couldn’t tell from the message if this person was a he or she.  Not knowing if I had just not remembered him/her I emailed for more information.  It turns out we did NOT know each other but we passed very similar lives….. We both went to the same University, were involved in the same campus activities, worked for the government than the same library BUT at different times.  It was a very interesting experience.  I still don’t know if the person is male or female and I don’t think I will ever know.

As a professional tool, I think LinkedIn is great because it can be a good way to network and for referrals.  I have already made some really good connections and when a tough business question comes my way, I now know I have several options including contacting someone from this network. 

Facebook on the other-hand is a lot of fun and a good way of keeping up with friends and colleagues.  It’s a bit distracting however, when I get an email update for any changes or additions on my account.  I know I can turn this feature off and I probably will.

Jeannie