Module 9

I have completed all the modules for this class and I can honestly say I have enjoyed every one of them. This has been a lot of fun at times it was a lot of work, but I got a lot out of every assignment. Here is the link to my project a rollover map using IMOD from the University System of Georgia.

United States Map

Del.icio.us PPT

Here is the link to the PowerPoint Presentation I created about del.icio.us Del.icio.us

del.icio.us podcast

Odeo no longer allows you to create podcasts to I had to find a new site. PodcastPeople provides free podcast creation and hosting in mp3 quality audio. I did try podomatic, but the audio quality was terrible. The library's system's librarian liked the audio quality from podcastpeople and the fact we did not have to download software to create a podcast. The podcast discusses some of the features and benefits of del.icio.us.com. My fellow librarian and colleague Mary Jane Rootes agreed to be my guest. There are benefits to having co-workers take the same class. Here is the link to podcast del.icio.us Please feel free to post your feedback.

del.icio.us

At last year's Georgia Information Literacy Conference in Savannah one of the presentations I attended was about del.icio.us. I came away really impressed with the website and the possibilities for it to be used in higher education. This is not a social networking site like Facebook or MySpace. Instead it is a social bookmarking site. del.icio.us.com allows you to create a network of people who are interested in similar topics and subjects. You can also import/export your bookmarked websites to del.icio.us from whatever web browser you use. Using this website allows you to access your bookmarked websites from any computer. This allows you to share information with students in an online environment or a classroom setting. If you need to change a site for a presentation or lecture you can do it by accessing your del.icio.us account and finding the website you need. Creating tags for your bookmarked websites help you to share them with others and find similar sites. The site contains a list of topics or tags. The bolder the letters indicates the number of sites tagged under that topic. This site is simple and easy to use and the tagging of sites becomes intuitive once you do it a few times. I would recommend people try del.icio.us because it is great a way to share information and to find information you need with performing a Google search and trying to look through too many results to find the one good site you need for a project or lecture.

Webinar

Last night (June 30th) I had the opportunity to participate in the webinar with three of my fellow students, Paul, Sandra and Bessie. This was the first time I used Wimba and thought it had some nice features. It allowed people to talk or text. If people had a question they could "raise their hand." The four of us used the webinar to discuss the group project and what we need to do to complete the assignment. We also had a discussion about the difficulty of getting people together in a synchronous environment to work on group projects. Synchronous tools are useful, but to make them work successfully a schedule needs to be posted and one must make accommodations for different time zones and schedules. I would definitely use this tool in an online class, but would create guidelines and a schedule to make it work successfully.

Google Talk

I opened a Google account about three years ago and really like the features of Gmail. It has an excellent spam filter and when they added the chat feature it was a welcome addition to Gmail. Unfortunately, I was not able to make the chat session on Friday because I was interviewing a candidate for a graduate assistantship. I have used Google Talk in the past and one of the features I like about it is the fact there is a trasnscript of the session. If you were using this with an online class and a student had a question after your chat session you could go back and review the transcript. Since it is a free service people should give it a try. Google Talk

Survey Results

I created a simple six question survey about the library's blog and wiki and included the link in an e-mail to the libstaff listserv. I had twelve people complete the survey and it was evenly divided between staff and librarians. The analysis of the results was very helpful. The majority of respondents read the blog and wiki, but very few people post to either. Another interesting result was the majority of people responding thing the wiki should be used to post procedure manuals. If I had surveys to administer to large groups of people I would upgrade my account and use Survey Monkey again. Once I decided on the subject of my survey and created the questions it was easy to create the survey. I also liked the fact you could preview the survey and edit the questions before you created the link for it. This was a fun and informative assignment.