Google Reader

After discovering that I was already signed up for Google Reader, I did not explore any other RSS feed options.  The best thing I did to make Google Reader more accessible was make iGoogle my home page and then add the Google Reader gadget to my iGoogle.

I really like that I can see the new posts on my feed and even get a "quick view" by clicking on the title of the new post.  I am still working on training myself to add sites/blogs I visit to my Google Reader feed.  I have found that there are great links on Twitter and sometimes I "favourite" the tweet when I could just add the link to my feed and get the updates right on my home page.

I did spend some time organizing my list of sites/blogs I am following.

I created some basic categories to represent the current list of items I am following.  I can see refining this list as my feeds grow.  For example, "education" is a pretty broad category.  I know I may want to divide that into my teaching areas - like English 12, Literature,  or Leadership.  I can also see being more specific with my library feeds.  Richardson (2010) suggests taking the time to become comfortable with subscribing and managing and then you can play with some of the more advanced uses for Google Reader.

I try to keep on top of the new feeds that come in, but I have used the "mark all as read" button a few times, just to prevent feeling overwhelmed.  What I do like is the "star" feature that allows me to save specific posts that I want to revisit or read a little more closely.

In the past, I would bookmark or save pages and then never look at them again or forget they were there.  Because Google Reader is visible on my desktop all the time, I actually spend time reading and often commenting on feeds that I receive, but I can also save them in the same place so they are not so easily forgotten.  In a recent interview in Teacher Librarian (Valenza, 2011), Bobbi Newman points out that Google Reader shouldn't dominate your life, it should be "the servant, not the master." (Valenza, 2011, p. 28)  This shows how important it is to organize our online worlds and then make the tools work for us.  It took some exploring and "playing" for me to find the right visual tools to include on my iGoogle page, but now that I am happy with the set up, I find I am spending less time browsing, and more time reading meaningful ideas and posts.  Valenza (2010) talks about "weeding" and organizing her own networks like we do in the library.  It is important to stay on top of our feeds, which feeds are outdated or no longer reflect our PLN or needs?  Which feeds are inactive?  I also already find myself being more selective in the subscriptions I choose to add.  In a very Sienfeld moment I find myself wondering if this blog is "Google Reader worthy."

Reading about feeds, or "aggregators" has given me a better understanding of how they work so that I can add them to my reader, but also make my blogs available for others to follow. (Berger & Trexler, 2010)  I am hoping to encourage my students to add a feed reader to follow our class blog so that they can instantly get the updates, especially on their mobile devices.

Another thing I plan to continue to explore with Google Reader as suggested by Richardson (2010), is tagging the posts I want to save with my own tags.  Reader will then group them in folders for me.  This will be a great way to store ideas for future lessons or ideas for my library.  It would also be a great way to store material for presentations and professional reading and sharing.

References:

Berger, P. & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a digital world.

     Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Richardson, W. (2010). Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms.

     Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Valenza, J. (2011). In My Network Confession…. Teacher Librarian, 39(2), 27-32. 

Twitter

I was afraid of Twitter before I actually became a user.  It seemed "dumb" and pointless.  I already had Facebook, what did I need Twitter for?  I honestly thought it was a bunch of celebrities and wannabes posting about their every move, I did not know there was so much great "stuff" on Twitter.  Steven Johnson (2009), in his article for Time Magazine says that "the one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression." (Johnson, 2009, p. 1)  But as he later points out, "Twitter turns out to have unsuspected depth." (Johnson, 2009, p. 1)  I realize Johnson was writing about Twitter three years ago, but I would argue that his point still stands.  The proof of this is not just in my experience, but also in the experiences of other classmates who included Twitter as part of their inquiries.  Berger & Trexler (2010) tell us to "keep an eye on Twitter - we'll be seeing more instructional use in the near future!" (Berger & Trexler, 2010, p. 172) and they were right.  It almost seems like Twitter has "grown up," or perhaps we, as its users, have changed how Twitter can and is being used.

 

Here is another shameless plug as to why I NEED an iPhone, LOL.  Twitter is full of so many great ideas that it is easy to get wrapped up in scrolling through tweet after tweet.  When I first signed up I felt a bit overwhelmed and almost "worried" that I was going to miss something.  I have definitely limited the time I now spend on Twitter, but I know that if I had mobile access I could use it more, and use some of my "down time" to browse tweets from the day. (like when my daughters are at one of their activities)  I have found that it is easy to use Twitter on the iPad but I miss my "AddThis" bar - which is not available for the iPad... yet.  I am going to be attending Leadercast 2012 and I know that people will be tweeting during the event.  I am hopeful there will be WiFi so that I can use my laptop or iPad.  

Tweeting during events/conferences is one area that really interests me.  My friend, Maureen Parker, Director of Curriculum for the Battle River School Division in Alberta, is always posting interesting observations, quotations, and comments from events and conferences she attends and organizes.  I was also recently following Steven Anderson, during his attendance and presentations at #ASCD12.  There are so many great ideas that can be shared via Twitter, that previously would be left in someone's complimentary conference padfolio.  I like that these ideas can now be stored, retweeted, favourited, or read and discarded quickly, and often in "real time."

I do find that I am actually a bit intimidated when it comes to actually tweeting.  I feel this pressure to be somewhat profound or at least a little inspirational.  I often wonder what people like @web20classroom, @mrwejr, and @shannoninottawa actually do all day besides Tweet?  I don't have that kind of time and I'm not sure I want to be always thinking about how I can turn what I am doing, learning, or experiencing, into a tweet.  I know that for some, Tweeting is their job, but for others, it is not, they have just made it a priority in their daily activities.  Chris Wejr, @mrwejr, is a principal in my school district, and also a former student.  He is very active and well known in the social media world and education.  His iPhone is literally an extension of his hand, and often I don't even notice that he is tweeting while having a conversation or walking down the hall.  He is passionate about taking education is new directions and he is using Twitter to influence this change.  I still wonder however, are we just tweeting about "it," or actually doing?  Are we embedding the ideas we see and learn about on Twitter into our classrooms, schools, personal learning, or are we just appearing to be on the cutting edge because we tweet about all of these ideas?

Twitter has made me more philosophical about education and my teaching than I expected.  I am still trying to decide where Twitter fits in my vision and personal learning plan.  Do I want to use Twitter for ideas and contacts?  Or do I want to be part of the "trends" on #edchat or #edtech?  Twitter can be very overwhelming if I was to feel the need to implement every idea or theory that is tweeted.  The skill comes in discerning which tweets are worth a second look and which are people who are all about the trend, and not about the substance.

References:

Anderson, S. (2012, March 26). #ASCD12 - A Presentation On Creating Social Media Policies For 

     Schools And Districts [Web log post]. Retrieved from http://blog.web20classroom.org/

Berger, P. & Trexler, S. (2010). Choosing Web 2.0 tools for learning and teaching in a Digital World.

     Santa Barbara, CA: Libraries Unlimited.

Johnson, S. (2009, June 5). How Twitter will change the way we live. Time. Retrieved from

     http://www.time.com

Using Twitter to Expand Your PLN | District Administration Magazine

Thanks for sharing this Joanne.  I definitely feel that Twitter has expanded my PLN - didn't even know I had a PLN until Twitter, LOL.

Using Twitter to Expand Your PLN | District Administration Magazine

Progress Update or... inquiry leads to inquiry leads to inquiry...

Well, if I have learned anything in this inquiry project so far it is that inquiry leads to more inquiry.  I sit down ready to post and comment on my learning or to explore one of my inquiry choices and I end up blurry eyed from "clicking" from one site to the next.  Just before beginning this post I was sidetracked by a classmates mention of festisite and had to go check it out.  I actually had to talk myself down from playing on the site so I could complete a more substantial post on my learning blog today, LOL.

This week's small group discussion topic lead me to make some changes in how I am organizing my Web 2.0 world.  Admittedly, I am a "bookmarks" fan - but I just use the bookmarks bar to have easy visual access to the places I visit most.  I had been using my learning blog for this class and LIBE 465 to store links to my classmates' blogs in each class.  Because of my increased PLN, mostly due to Twitter, I realized I was not keeping up with what was happening.

I am a very visual person and need to "see" the links and sites I want to visit regularly.  I signed up for Delicious a year ago, but after the initial set-up and two days of adding "bookmarks" I quickly forgot about it and found it inconvenient.  But alas, I had an AHA moment this week.

I was researching RSS feeds and thought I would check out Google reader.  When I "clicked" the option, lo and behold I am already signed in and there is a list of the class blogs I had subscribed to!  Who knew?  This demonstrated to me how blind I have been to what I am already involved with in the Web 2.0 world.  I did not understand what "subscribe to this blog" meant or that I could easily access this information with one more "click."

Knowing my visual nature I was still concerned that the Google reader feeds required that I go to that Google page, but wait, what's this iGoogle?  Click!  AAAHHHHH, the heavens opened...  This is the answer I have been looking for.  I can add widgets for the things I check regularly and I can make it my Internet home page so it is "in my face" every time I log on.

I know that I need to "live" with this new tool for a bit to get it set up to best meet my needs, but so far I am really liking this organizational tool. (Although it wasn't originally part of my inquiry I think it is a great link for all of the items I am learning about.)  I just added the Google calendar widget today and the Google reader widget is awesome!  I know that I need to be careful not to add too many widgets or this tool might become more of a burden - although I'm not sure I can get rid of the "Hangman" game that Google already had on there, LOL.

I will definitely be introducing iGoogle to a couple of my staff "mentees" for their home pages.  I think they will find this a great way to organize their online social networking.