Thing 3: Online Communities

I've had a facebook and twitter account for some time. I use my facebook more for a personal online community, although I'm friends with professional colleagues. I'm enjoying the SLS Cool Tools facebook group. It's great to see what "cool" things are happening in other libraries.  One gets to pick the brains of colleagues without being in the same room! Although I haven't been big on tweeting, I do check out the library gurus' tweets! It's great if I just have a minute or two to see what's happening in the library and tech world, that I might want to investiagate further.
I did try to put a twitter button on this blog, but I wasn't able to figure out where to paste the code.  I thought it would be under my profile, but there was no place to edit the html. Maybe someone can help me?!?

Thing 2: Part 2

I figured there would be a number of staff and students who received e-readers for the holidays, so I wanted a way to highlight Overdrive and the library's Nooks. After watching Paige's Voki, I thought it would be a cool tool to try.  I just typed in my text because I didn't have a good microphone at home.  As you can see there was a little problem with the pronunciation of e-reader.  I'm going to try again Monday at school using a microphone.  I have a visual impaired student and I think this would work great as a presentation tool. She could create a Voki and then record her information.

Thing #2

Iphone Animoto: The Barn
When I got the email about Thing #2 Storytelling I was in the middle of a Book Trailer project, using Animoto, with a seventh grade English class. I also had just  received an email  about the iphone and ipad app for Animoto.  I decide to use  Animoto because it was tool I was familiar with, but try to use the app for these other devices. Of course then the holidays came along and need I say more... I took Polly's advice and used pictures I had on my iphone, so that's why it's garden video! This video took about five minutes to produce.


Ipad Animoto: Keelin's and Jimmy's Wedding
I also used pictures I had on my ipad to produce this video, thus the wedding video. I really  love the ease of using Animoto to produce videos.  I've done a number of different projects, with my seventh graders, using it.  Most of the projects revolved around books. Simple to use, simple video. For more complex videos I have the students use iMovie. As far as the apps, it was quick and easy to produce a video using both the iphone and ipad. The one  drawback was it limited the number of pictures/slides to 12. Depending on the project this may or may not be a problem. I can see the schools that have classroom sets of ipads being able to  use the Animoto app to create great projects.


Last year Amy Carpenter, shared an Library Highlights Animoto video she produced for her administrators and board. I loved the idea, so I did one of my own. Professionally, Animoto is an easy tool to use to showcase "evidence" for the APPR.


I'm hoping to explore another tool, using the photos of our seniors visiting and using the ACC Library this past week! A big thank-you to Joyce Miller!