Webbing/Mindmapping

     Mindmapping is a technique that is being used by teachers and students to visually outline information.  The information can be displayed using colors and key words.  It allows for the student to be more engaged because it makes learning more interesting and easier to understand.
     Three internet sites that can be used to create a mindmapping are Spicynodes, WiseMapping, and Popplet.  All three provide a different perspective on Mindmapping.  

Spicynodes

The first Mindmapping website that I was able to use was Spicynodes.  I had a difficult time trying to use these program.  Once I got the hang of things, I was able to type in the information of my Mindmap in an outline form.  There was a limited amount of freedom in creating this map.  I was able to choose a style from only a few choices.  When I first saw my mindmap, I thought that everything had disappeared except three choices, but I soon discovered that it was animated, and I had to choose the next arrow for everything else to appear.  I did not like how it animated, and I was not given a choice to be able to change it.  I think this program would be a bit difficult for middle school kids to grasp or would need constant assistance to understand the program.  I would not choose this one to use with the students.  Here is the link just in case embedded code does not work:  http://www.spicynodes.org/a/03947f728c35a18ddbfa6f0b0a0b0a34.

 

WiseMapping

The next online program that I used was WiseMapping. It was a easier to use than Spicynodes.  You were able to create your Mindmap on your own without having to choose a style.  It is not animated, so I was able to pretty much set things up the way I wanted.  It did take me a while to get used to the program.  I really like the fact that I was able to create the Mindmap and set it up any way I wanted.  I think my students would be able to learn and handle WiseMapping with some kind of ease, but I would still have to help them out when they first get on the program. Here is the link to website just in case:  https://app.wisemapping.com/c/maps/184891

Popplet

     Of the three programs, I really enjoyed Popplet.  It was so much easier to use and I was able to change the color of the outline of the keyword bubble.  I was able to add pictures with captions at the bottom.  I could make the popplet as big or as small as I wanted.  I was able to freely arrange things easily.  It also caught my attention more because of the different things I was able to do with this program.  This would be the one that I consider to look best aesthetically.  It would also be the one that I would use with my students in the classroom since it was very easy to use and would not require for me to have to go one by one explaining the program. Here is the website just in case: http://popplet.com/app/#/1688939

What made the use of Popplet easier to use was a video on YouTube called How to Use a Popplet.  I think if the students watch this video prior to getting started with popplet, they will be able to immediately start using the program.

Reference

Cooper, N. & Edwards, S. (2010).  Mind mapping as a teaching resource.  Retrieved from 

https://shsu.blackboard.com/bbcswebdav/pid-990916-dt-content-rid-3461631_1/courses/LSSL539101214/Mind%20Mapping%20as%20a%20Teaching%20Resources.pdf.

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

YouTube Video

Today's libraries have many tools at their disposal to promote their libraries or to get a message across to students.  One of the most popular is through the creation of YouTube videos. In the YouTube channels, there are already libraries creating videos to promote books, motivate students to come to their library, and help students with procedures at the library or how to use their catalogs.  The following are examples of libraries using YouTube:

The NHS Library

As I was going through the videos from The NHS Library, I noticed that they have some videos on an Intro to Google Docs Part 1 and it went all the way to Part III.  I feel these videos will come in handy to students who are new to Google Docs.  They can have a visual of how to use these programs.

One of the videos created by this library that I think students must really enjoy is Pete the Cat .  The librarians got together and created a skit based on the book, Pete the Cat.  I think the kids are going to want to revisit this video and want to check the book.  I think they will also enjoy this video because they will want to visit their favorite library do some dancing and acting.

The Unquiet Library

The Unquiet Library also has video that will promote their library and help students with certain applications.  They also post many videos of teachers collaboration reflections and student reflections.  One video that I saw that would be very helpful to students is How to Use the EBSCOhost 2.0,  This video takes the student step by step on how to properly bookmark articles that they have searched on EBSCOhost 2.0.  

A video that I thought the students will have fun viewing is Wii Fun:  Rock Band at Unquiet Library.  Since it is actual students creating the music, I think they would enjoy more.

Pikesville High School Library

Pikesville High School Library also has videos on tutorials, book promotions and library highlights.  Below is a video that was posted on the library channel.  It is a tutorial for NetTrekker.  It takes the students step by step on searching for topics on the internet.

I think that one of the videos that the students will enjoy from this channel is the 

Library Video.  This video showcases Many of Pikesville High School students and activities that can be found at the library.  (The site did not allow for anyone to embed their videos, so I provided a link instead.)

BBMSMEDIA

In this library channel, you can find tutorials for some of the computer programs being used by the school.  In this particular on, one of the teachers is teaching the students how to use GoAnimate and Globster.  

This channel has many videos that are very appealing.  The students at this library create skits to get a message across to the student body.  For example, the Green Guy creates skits trying to convince people to take care of the environment.

Many of the other videos on this site are students requesting that overdue videos be turned in.  Many are very entertaining and allow the students to express themselves while trying to get the message across at the same time.  Here are examples of those videos:

Animoto

Animoto is another tool that the librarian can use to promote books.  This program creates short videos.  You can use pictures, video, and text.  Teachers can assign the students to choose a book and create a book trailer for it.  These trailers couldl be compiled and added to the library channel for the students to go review, and hopefully, they will be motivated to check out a book and read.  An example of a book trailer found in  Animoto is at the following link:  The Lightning Thief.

QR Codes

As you noticed above, I posted a link to the trailer The Lightning Thief, created by Owen Dirkes.   Since it did not have an embed code, another way to post that link is by using a QR code.  QR Codes are machine-readable code consisting of black and white squares.  A URL is stored in this square, and it can be accessed with a smartphone that has an app for reading QR Codes.  

In Animoto, I created a book trailer for Among the Hidden.  I was able to get a synopsis for the book from Amazon.com.  It is as follows:


Luke has never been to school. He's never had a birthday party, or gone to a friend's house for an overnight. In fact, Luke has never had a friend.  Luke is one of the shadow children, a third child forbidden by the Population Police. He's lived his entire life in hiding, and now, with a new housing development replacing the woods next to his family's farm, he is no longer even allowed to go outside.  Then, one day Luke sees a girl's face in the window of a house where he knows two other children already live. Finally, he's met a shadow child like himself. Jen is willing to risk everything to come out of the shadows -- does Luke dare to become involved in her dangerous plan? Can he afford not to?
QR Codes can be used anywhere to provide a quick link to a website.  I would like to create a bulletin board with pictures a various search engines and provide a QR Code so that the students can use their smartphones to quickly link to the sites.  

By scanning this QR Code, it will take you to the Animoto book trailer that I created for Among the Hidden.

Recently, I have been giving my students assignments on the internet using certain apps.  It is difficult to get all these children to copy a URL unto the address line, even with the address right in front of them.  I think it will make my life so much easier if I have QR Code readers on the IPads instead, so that they simply scan the code and are sent directly to the link.  Also, since they have to provide me links to their projects, I can also have them create their own code and email them to me or print out.

Many libraries use QR Codes to provide students with virtue tours of their libraries.  Others use them to provide quick links to book trailers in order to motivate students to read more books.  In some libraries at the universities, they use QR Codes to link students to study room reservations.  QR Codes can be used to link the library YouTube page, Twitter, or Facebook.

As I was looking for ways to use QR Codes in the library, I found an article in the Follet Software Company where Stacy, @Jansensae, talks about how she uses the codes in her middle school library.

     "In my middle grades library, I use QRs to guide scavenger hunts, play my version of “Mission Impossible,” embed author information and website, share my library website, and guide students to curated materials."

Ms. Stacy also says that she places QR Codes of book trailers from the publishers on her bookshelves so that the students can go to the trailers as they are searching for books.  I think it will make the library a more interesting place to be, and will lure students to come in more often to look for books. This is one example of the trailers she uses:

When librarians use YouTube, Animoto, and QR Codes in their libraries, they are keeping up-to-date with the technology the students are using on a daily basis.  They will be able to promote literacy when a student scans a QR Code and sees a book trailer that they must read to find out what will happen.  The librarian also fosters a love for reading when they allow students to use programs, such as Animoto, to create book trailers to be posted in the library channels on YouTube or be placed around the library in QR Codes.  With these tools, the librarian can communicate so much information to the students throughout the library in a short period of time, and make the library a much more fun place to be.

Blogs and Blog Readers

Blog Readers

In the internet universe, there are endless amounts of blogs that can fit the interest of any person.  I had no problem finding something that would interest me by a simple Google search, but the results introduced me to so many blogs that I wanted to come back and revisit that keeping up with them would almost be impossible, especially with my busy schedule.  Luckily for me, there are blog readers out there that can consolidate all my favorite blogs "into one spot instead of having to remember to visit the individual  websites every day (K. Perry)."

In my search for a blog reader, I found out that many would allow you to choose blogs from a list that was sorted according to interest, but I wanted to add my favorite blogs from other sites and not limit myself to just theirs.  The readers that I looked into all had a  +add button that would allow you to include any blog you wanted.  That is where I learned that I need to find blogs that were RSS or had an option called Atom Post.  I did not understand what they were talking about, so I went to YouTube.  I found a video that explained RSS in simple terms and how to add the subscription to the Blog Reader.  I am including it below because I really liked it and feel I can come back and revisit the site if I need to "refresh" what I learned.

Newsvibe

One of the blog readers that I tried out was Newsvibe.  This reader was the one that I disliked the most.  Since I am new to blog readers, I found this site to be user "unfriendly."  Once I got the hang of things, I was able to get the blogs that I wanted added to my list.  I found I was able to create folders for whatever topic I wanted and could organize my blogs that way.  I just was not able to get over how the page was just a couple of colors.  There were no pictures.  The blog post were all listed by the title of the page.  Once I clicked on article, it would take me to the colorful website, but I still don't think I would be motivated to come back to this page.

Feedly

Another blog reader I experimented with was Feedly.  This was a bit better than Newsvibe because you 

could see it by title only or with picture and title.  The background had more color, but I still felt a blog reader could give me more.  If I chose only the title view, it was as if I was going through Newsvibe.  As with Newsvibe, I was able to add my own blog pages and create files by a topic of my choosing.  The difference was that I was able to choose blogs that Feedly already had in their system.  

Digg Reader

Digg Reader was the most simple blog reader.  You simply added your favorite blogs and it would list them on the side panel. I was able to create files with the topic I wanted in order to organize my blogs.  This reader was "user friendly."  I really liked how it provided the most recent blog on the side along with the pictures.  This is a simple and effective blog reader.

Bloglovin'

The Bloglovin' site was very simple.  The only thing is that I was unable to find an option to create individual files according to the topic of my choosing.  If I wanted to find a particular blog, I had to do a general search.  I think this would be very time consuming as compared to the at-a-glance blog readers.  What I did not like was that I could not bring the blogs of my choice that I found elsewhere, or at least, I could not find that option anywhere on the page.  It did have good choices on the blogs to follow.

NewsBlur

All the blog readers that signed up for had simple sign up procedures.  In order for me to get on NewsBlur, I had to get on a waiting line.    NewsBlur made you wait until all the people who had signed up before you were given access to their website.  I grew impatient, but once in, I was able to add my blogs from outside sources and add the ones they had available through site.  I was able to organize my folders according to topic or the topic they had pre-made.  I was able to see the blog in a variety of ways.  I could see the text only, a short version of the blog, and the actual full-site of the blog.  The only problem I had with this blog reader was that the page felt like there was too much going on at once.  It looked very busy.

Bloglines

My favorite blog reader was Bloglines.  I really like the organization, the look, and that it was easy to use.  I like being able to choose a theme, though limited, for my blog reader.  The blogs were organized into tabs similar to Livebinder.  I was able to add any blog I wanted.  I was also allowed to have a task section and even a calendar.  I was able to include the postings from my Twitter  and Facebook accounts.  Everything was at-a-glance.  It did not look too busy because it was set up into blocked sections.  The blog reader was also very appealing and that is why I chose it over all the above blog readers.

Blogs

A blog is where one records their opinion on a certain topic and provides links to that topic, or whatever else they want to include.  There are several sites you can use in order to post blogs.  The following are my preference:

Both Blogger and Tumblr are "user friendly."  Both provide a place for you to create your blogs and follow blogs created by other people.  I really like the options that are provided in Tumblr.  It is eye-catching and you can view any picture in a large size.  You can follow any blog with just about any topic you can think of.  The following are a few sites that I decided to follow on Tumblr.

School Librarian

One of the blogs that I decided to follow is the School Librarian on Tumblr.  What caught my attention was that the librarian is giving her opinion on AR testing in the schools.  She is totally against having it in her school and she would like to get rid of it.  This blog is not kept up with, but I appreciated to be able to see her reasoning for doing away from AR.  Most of her blog is over the topic.

School Library Journal

The School Library Journal  is also a Tumblr blog that I decided to follow.  As I was going through the page, I saw that the blog provided up-dates on new books.  It provided many good quotes from past presidents and authors.  It also had pictures of authors, whom they have interviewed and posted their interviews.  It also posted the latest book award winners on their site, which is especially helpful when deciding what books to buy for the library.  There were also several videos posted about authors, book trailers, and people talking about books.

The Daring Librarian

A blog that I am following on Bloglines is The Daring Librarian.  Her website is very creative and she provides pages on how-to's on technology gadgets.  She also provides links for free fonts that will help with creating blogs or newsletters for the library.  On the side of her page, she provides many links to websites that can be useful to a librarian.  What I liked most was her candid opinion on many topics.

Library Displays

I am also following on Bloglines is the suggested blog by Dr. Perry called Library Displays. Once I saw it, I knew I had to come time and time again to refresh on ideas to decorate the library or for library displays.  The blog names the creators and shows a picture of their work.  I feel I can come to this page just to enjoy the amazing creativity by the people creating the displays.

The Open Book

This blog is created by the book company, The Lee and Low/tu books.  The Open Book is concentrating this month on Black History.  They provide a list of books by authors of color.  They also promote diversity on their page.  I think the coolest thing found in this page is a section for nail painting.  They show several hands with nails painted with the themes of children's books.  Since I love to read books that remind us of the African American history, this blog will provide me with new titles.

Tumblr and the School Library 

Tumblr has many school libraries posting blogs.  What they are doing is posting trailers to movies that were based on books, they display pictures of books they are trying to promote, they post pictures of activities in their libraries, and they put up quotes from famous authors. As I was going through these pages,  I did notice that many of the blogs were not kept up to date.  Many only posted a few items and had not posted over a year.  One of the best school library blogs was by Springston School Library.  They provided pictures of the activities going on in their library.  They also had copies of books covers with a small synopsis of the book.  They also provide a Shelfari with the latest books at their library.  Other school sites that I am following are:  Eisenhower High School LIbrary, Westfield Middle School LIbrary, and Lincoln School Secondary Library.

My Tumblr blog is at:  majcarmona.tumblr.com.

Mining PEW-Teens, Social Media, and Privacy

Beaton, M., Cortesi, S., Duggan, M., Gasser, U., Lenhart, A., Madden, M., & Smith, A.
     (2013).Teens, Social Media, and Privacy.  Pew Research Center, 1-107.  Retrieved
     from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/Teens-Social-Media-And-Privacy.aspx

     In this age of technology, teens are using the social media to share information about themselves.  They are posting their names, where they live, email, birth date, videos of themselves, photos, and their relationship status just to name a few of the things going online.  As a parent this can be very worrisome, since there are many predators out there that can steal identities or stalk their teens.  In a survey from the Pew Research Center, it was found that teens are not haphazardly adding their information on social media sites.  Some are making sure that they have the proper privacy settings so that only friends and family can view their information, but I feel parents still need to monitor closely what their teens are doing online in order for them to have a safe online experience.

     According to this report, 802 teens were surveyed on privacy management and on social media sites.  They compared two age groups of teens, 12-13 and 14-17.  They also did comparisons between girls and boys, ethnicity, and social media types.

     In the survey, it was found that depending on the age group, teens were posting certain types of information.  Older teens (14-17) were posting more photos of themselves, their school name, their relationship status and their cell phone numbers (Yikes!).  It turns out a higher percentage of the boys were posting their phone numbers.

     One of the alarming things that I found that teens said to be doing on the social media was having their profile to automatically post their location on their post. This was being done by both age groups, boys and girls, and by different ethnicity.  Their reasoning is that this was to signal to friends and family where they were.  I think that this will also signal online predators by letting them know exactly where you are.  I think a simple text message will let parents know the teens location.

Twitter

     Twitter is one of the social media sites that is on the rise according to this research.  In 2012 24% of teens were using Twitter.  It has grown from 16% in 2011 and 8% in 2009 when the question was first asked.  They did say that Afro-American teens are more likely (39%) to use Twitter when compared to white youth (23%).  The only problem that I saw with teens using Twitter is that most of them have public accounts, and some did not know whether their accounts were public or private.  As a parent, I strongly believe that if a teen is going to be on social media, he needs to be aware of the privacy settings and be conscious of what they are posting since the world will be watching.

Facebook

     Many of today's teens have an account on Facebook.  Your typical teen has about 300 friends.  It also appears that girls and the older group of teens have more Friends then boys and the younger group of teens.  The "Friend" group includes people they know from school, members of the extended family, brothers and sisters, parents, friends from other schools, teachers, coaches, celebrities, musicians, or athletes.   The younger group of teens (12-13) tend not to friend people from different schools, people they have never met, and their teachers and coaches.
     One of the things that seem to ironic is that teens were increasingly using Facebook as their main social site, but most of them were not too enthusiastic about using it.  They felt there was too much "drama" associated with the postings in that site.  They felt drained because it was happening very frequently.  Teens also felt stressed in having to manage their reputation on Facebook, but they would not stop using it because that was where everything was happening and they felt they had to stay on in order not to miss out on things.  Many teens expressed that they felt more comfortable using Twitter or Instagram.  They felt they could express themselves better on those social medias.
     I was happy to read that 60% of teens using Facebook are keeping their profiles private.  Majority of the girls (70%) were keeping their profile settings as private where only their friends can see their postings.  Only 50% of the boys were keeping their profiles private.  Many of the teens' parents want to be friends with their son or daughter in order to keep up with what they are doing.  It turns out that many of the teens accept their parents as friends and let them see the same things that their friends are seeing, but there are those that will create a different profile for their friends and one for their parents and family.  They want that ability to be themselves without their parents hindering them in their postings.
     On Facebook, teens are careful with their reputations.  They delete or edit something that was posted, delete comments from others, remove their names from photos, or completely delete their profile from Facebook in order to create the reputation they want.  Teens also block people to keep them from seeing their post.  This is a form of also managing their privacy on their profiles.  It does make me feel better to know that teens are this active in "curating" their own profiles.  I do get concerned with teens who have a higher network size.  They do tend to have a larger variety of people they have as  friends.  This includes people from schools they do not attend, with people they never met, or with their teachers and coaches.  I would think teachers would be O.K. to be friends with, but with the things going on in the news, it would be safer not to have them as friends, either.

     I think that this research does show that teens are being careful when they are using the social medias.  They are going to the settings of apps such as Facebook or Twitter and only allowing their friends and families to see their information.  I still believe that parents need to monitor what their teens are doing when on social medias.  It will keep them safe and make the social medias a more enjoyable experience.

   

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Infographic-Teens and Online Video

Lenhart, A. (2012). Teens & Online Video. Pew Internet & American Life Project,1-13.

     Retrieved from http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/Teens-and-online-video.aspx

   

     Today, many teens are using their mobile phones or tablets to get on social networks in order to socialize with their friends and family.  They can post their status for everyone  to see on Facebook or Twitter.  They also upload many pictures of themselves, their location, and what they are eating.  Increasingly, many teens are now turning to online videos to communicate in the social media.
     In a survey conducted by Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project, 799 teens were given a survey on online videos.  It turns out that 37% would participate in internet video chats, 27% of teens record and upload videos to the internet, and 13% of internet using teens would stream video live to the internet for other people to watch.  
     An interesting finding in this research was that the use of online video was not increasing because more teens had smartphones or other devices.  It did say that as more teens entered the social networks, the numbers using online video was increasing.

Video Chatting

     In the survey, it said that teens were using applications for Video Chatting, such as Skype, iChat, or Googletalk.  It also said that girls (42%) were more likely to video chat than boys (33%).  The survey also said that teens with parents of lower income were less likely to video chat than teens with parents whose income is higher than $75,000 or more annually.  It also said that frequent internet users, those who text, and those who use the social medias are more likely to use the video chat rooms.  I do not find this information surprising since teens have a tendency to want to look at each other while they are talking.  They like to see the other person's reactions as they are talking.  Video Chatting is the next thing to face to face communication.

Recording and Uploading Video

     According to the survey, 27% of older teens (14-17) are more likely to record and upload videos.  At this age the, there really is no difference between girls and boys recording and uploading videos online.  It also states that those teens using social media are more likely  to "shoot and share" video, especially, those teens who use Facebook and Twitter.  Again, here it states that it does not matter that there are more teens with smartphones or other devices.  That does not impact the number of teens recording and uploading.  I do not think that teens are that interested in sharing their videos.  I think they would rather take pictures and share them with their friends and followers.  I also think that many times the teens post videos that can be harmful to others.  This is the medium they use to record fights or other events and when they post them, many people get hurt.  Since this form of sharing video is on the rise, I think parents need to be more vigilant of what their teens are recording.

Streaming Video


     Another form of sharing video online is live streaming and this survey says that 13% of teens stream video live to the internet for others to watch.  Most of these teens have home broadband rather than dial-up users.  It did not matter if the teen was a boy or a girl or which age group they belonged.  If the teens are social media users, it was more likely that they would stream video online, especially, those using Facebook and Twitter.  I feel this form of video sharing is dangerous since it is live and not edited or censored so teens can be streaming anything and can hurt themselves or anyone in the process.  If it is used properly, streaming live video can help people attend events they would otherwise not be able to be present, for example a weeding or a child's baptism.

     As I was reading the survey, the article discussed how they called the teens to ask them questions.  They were instructed to tell a parent of the interview and if they were concerned, they could sit by.  What I found interesting is that the teens, whose parents decided to stay on the line, said that they used Facebook and those whose parents did not stay said that they use other social media.  I think this is the case because kids want a private place online and most parents want to be their "friends" in order to monitor what they are posting.
     Increasingly, more teens are using online video to share with friends and family.  They are using video chatting, they record and upload, and they stream video live online. If the guidelines for digital citizens are used, online video could be a great way to share events or share those moments you would not be able to explain unless a person was there to see them.


   

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