Thursday, September 24, 2015

Blogs

Blogs...so many of them and so little time or so I thought. I had no clue that Blog Readers existed until now. As silly as that sounds...I'm actually in awe with my Blog Reader Feedly. I get to view my favorite blogs in just one place instead of having to go (and remembering) each one I follow.  Feedly is free, easy to use, and I can log in easily with my Google account.  I did explore others such as Bloglovin', Bloglines, Newsvibe, and Newsblur. I did like Feedbin and Digg a whole lot but the only disadvantage is that they're not free.

I added quite a few blogs to Feedly, but my favorite five blogs are...(drum roll please)

1. http://daringlibrary.edublogs.org/
    Quirky and hip the daring librarian is very resourceful. Her blog is full of wonderful ideas. As a matter of fact, her Banned Book Week Display is awesome! I follow her on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

2. http://blogs.slj.com/afuse8production/
   
     A SLJ Journal blog that has book reviews, book trailers, librarian previews and so much more. This blog serves as a great support system for librarians. It is very insightful and enjoy reading it's content.

3. http://d97cooltools.blogspot.com/

   This blog is definitely filled with cool tools. Cool tools for the 21st Century Learner that is.As librarians aka media specialists, it is our job to keep up to date with the latest trends in technology. This blog does just that.

4. http://yalsa.ala.org/blog/

What a great blog to meet the demands of our young adult readers. Many of the blogs I've read were based on something young adults can relate to. For example, the tweet of the week, Instagram of the week and even an app of the week. I also enjoy reading the professional development posts.

5. http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/

Tiffany is a middle school librarian. Her ideas are relevant to to all aspects of the library. She has so much information and resources that not only new librarians could us,but current librarians looking to make changes in their library will find this blog insightful
I really enjoyed listening to her podcast on genrefication found on the link below. I really like the ways she set up her books like they way you would see in a bookstore based on genres.
https://elementarylibrarian.com/podcast17/

I'm also new to Tumblr. What a great way to network and communicate with people of the same interests. I enjoy reading ideas for libraries from displays to good reads.

http://rcabriales.tumblr.com/


Posted by at 3 comments:

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Infographics


By visualizing information, we turn it into a landscape that you can explore with your eyes: a sort of information map. And when you're lost in information, an information map is kind of useful.
David McCandless

As I looked for the perfect definition of an infographic I found Whatls definition to hit it right on the nail...
An infographic (information graphic) is a representation of information in a graphic format designed to make the data easily understandable at a glance. People use infographics to quickly communicate a message, to simplify the presentation of large amounts of data, to see data patterns and relationships, and to monitor changes in variables over time. 

I explored infographic generating tools such as Easel.ly, Piktochart and Infogram. This is what I think of each tool:
First of all they are all free. You do have the option to upgrade but it is not necessary. The free account offers a variety of templates and images.
http://piktochart.com
Piktochart is easy to use. It has a drag and drop interface. It has a variety of free templates and images. If you want more variety and colorful images, then you would need to upgrade.
http://infogr.am
Infogr.am is also free and easy to use. It doesn't have many background templates, but it does have a variety of graphs. Excel spreadsheets can be uploaded.
https://canva.com
Out of the four infographic tools, this is my favorite. I didn't use this to create my infographic below because I discovered it after I had already created it using another tool. This is a tool that I will definitely continue using for future infographics. It has a drag and drop interface, easy to use, autosaves infographic. I really like the fact that it has plenty of colorful and free designs. It is not limited. You are able to upgrade, but it is not necessary.
www.easel.ly/
Easel.ly is so easy to use. It has a drag to drop interface. It has a variety of free templates and images. The templates are nice and colorful, but the images are mostly black and white. If you want colored images, you would need to upgrade.  It has editable text boxes in which you input your data and information. 

 Here is my first infographic created with www.easel.ly./

PublicwantsLibrariestoAdvanceEducationImproveDigit
Infographic data retrieved from:

  Horrigan, J. (2015, September 15). Public wants Libraries to Advance Education, Improve Digital Literacy and Serve Key Groups. Retrieved September 15, 2015, from http://www.pewinternet.org/files/2015/09/2015-09-15_libraries_FINAL.pdf
(51 pages)

 I'm so glad I was introduced to infographics. As a classroom teacher, I already have many ideas in mind how to use them when teaching in the content areas. It is also a great tool for my students to use for enrichment in their content areas.



David McCandless. (n.d.). BrainyQuote.com. Retrieved September 17, 2015, from BrainyQuote.com Web site: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/d/david_mccandless.html

What is infographics? - Definition from WhatIs.com. (n.d.). Retrieved September 18, 2015, from http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/infographics
Posted by at 1 comment:

Friday, September 4, 2015

Connecting with Twitter

I'll be totally honest...I didn't understand what all the hype was about when people tweeted this or tweeted that until I got an account. I can't believe what I've been missing out! It is a great social network site to connect with many people of interest. I have really enjoyed reading tweets from several leaders in educational technology and I will share my favorite tweets with you.

Kathy Schrock   @kathyschrock

Kathy tweets about this new collaborative tool. I explored the site and it is a really cool real time whiteboard. She is so knowledgeable on all aspects of technology. She not only provides critical information on her blog, but keeps you up to date on the latest apps.


Linda Brawn     @lbraun2000

I just admire that way Linda's tweets are geared mostly toward young adults and their educators. She has great insight on current trends. She shares many informative articles of interest. One tweet that I really enjoyed was on in which she shares a Dictionary for 21st users. The purpose of the dictionary is so educators can begin speaking the same language/terminology.


Tony Vincent       @tonyvincent

Tony has a plethora of technology information to share. My favorite tweet is the one on Infopics. I had no clue what it was until I viewed his YouTube video tutorial and was captivated. In this tutorial you will find examples and it also teaches tools and techniques for making your own.

Buffy Hamilton        @buffyhamilton

Buffy wears her heart on her sleeve. Most of her postings are geared toward her personal life. I found one post of interest to me (which has nothing to do with technology). She shared an article on 100 year old chalkboards discovered in Oklahoma. It is very interesting to see how the teaching method has changed drastically. Today, we use whiteboards, smart boards, etc. to as a teaching tool thus proving that technology has taken over as an educational tool.


The Daring Librarian    @Gwyneth Jones

Gwyneth is "daring". Her quirkiness and positive attitude towards the library is obvious. I can read all her tweets all day long if I could. I just love her passion for the library. I wanted to see how she does her orientation on the first days of school so I decided to look into the above mentioned tweet. I loved the way she used GoAnimate to make a comical video(that students can relate to) to explain the library procedures. She also created a quiz with Kahoot to quiz them after. I will be following her very closely.


Jim Lerman    @jimlerman

As I was reading Jim's tweets I came across an interesting tweet on 20 Ways to Learn with Technology. The information was in an Infopic (which I'm interested in learning more about). It gives you ideas how you can integrate technology to get students researching, exploring, creating and moving. Another interesting thing I should mention is that before I went into that article, I went into Scoop.it! It is free publishing platform that Jim uses to add his favorite content that he then shares on social media. Check it out...it is very intriguing.





Posted by at 1 comment:
Subscribe to: Comments (Atom)