Friday, November 21, 2008

A journey, not a destination...

This week, my final exercise for CML’s Learn & Play is to reflect upon my learning journey. While I really started this program to get the USB stick (and maybe one of the other cool prizes), I’ve learned new things and stepped outside my comfort zone. And I finished, which is a personal goal. Here's some additional reflections:

What were my favorite discoveries on this learning journey?
Flickr and its toys -- for fun
Delicious -- for work
You Tube -- to interact on common ground with my tween
My colleagues

Were there any take-aways from this program that surprised you?
I really enjoyed reading others blogs and getting to know them; finding connections with coworkers. While I wanted to make connections, I have really enjoyed finding the nuggets that have opened avenues of communication at meetings, expanding my capacity. Also, having the freedom to try new things in an environment which encouraged me to learn was really refreshing (thanks boss!)

What could we do differently to improve upon this program's format or concept?
I think we all learned that not every activity took 15 - 20 minutes, so allotting more some extra time is good. Not everyone learns at the same pace. Also, sometimes I felt overwhelmed when 2 things popped up on the blog on Monday, instead of one. I was already behind and that psychological idea that now there were 2 more things instead of 1 could be discouraging.

If we offered another discovery program like this in the future, would you partipate?
ABSOLUTELY!

How has this program assisted/affected your lifelong learning goals?
In addition to the USB stick, I've got new tools at my disposal and I've broadened my horizons about those tools. I keep thinking of ways to use them.

I am disappointed that my dad hasn't been able to participate as we planned, but when I see him over the holidays, I will share some of the cool things I've learned. We might even set up a modified Learn & Play. You're never too old to learn, if you're open to the possibilities.

Thanks CML for this opportunity.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

MOLDI, but not an oldie

This week I played around with MOLDI, the Mid-Ohio Library Digital Initiative. If you don't have a library card through a member library, I think you are only able to browse. I’ve looked around this resource before, but no so intently. The searching was a little awkward and I’m frustrated that newer items are nearly always checked out.

This time, I reserved Inkheart in an audiobook format. Since the movie’s coming out soon, I thought I could listen to the book and maybe even get my daughter to listen. I was disappointed that it didn’t show up on my CML account reserve list to check on it, but then I remembered MOLDI has its own log in. I just checked on it and it’s not in yet. I’m excited to try something new.

I’m not a huge fan of audiobooks. Slowly, I’m being converted. I’ve spent so long reading textbooks, I’m enjoying re-discovering pleasure reading again and I’m like a junkie! I do like reading the physical book in the evening and listening to a chapter or two in the car. I’ve learned I have to be careful during my commute because I get distracted and run red lights. Sometimes, my reading choices are not always suitable for tween ears in the car. So many books, so little time. I will remember MOLDI as an additional option when I’m looking for titles.

Thursday, November 6, 2008

Thing #21: Podcasts

I was looking forward to learning about and play with podcasts for purely selfish reasons – I hoped to find podcasts related to fitness walking. I did look through the podcast directories, since I don’t have iTunes, and I found podcastalley to be a little more organized in it’s layout. However, on both podcastalley and podfeed, the user has to wade through a lot of drivel. Additionally, the search is pretty basic and I couldn’t find any way to refine my searches. I was successful in finding a library-related feed: http://sirsidynixinstitute.com/podcast.xml and I found several that provided me music for my 1 mile walks. I added all these to my Bloglines account.

What would be really useful podcasting for CML is the obvious -- putting children’s storytime in a podcast; (although there might be some copyright issues with that), book review groups, or keeping patrons updated on the many events in the system. More specifically, we could make some of CML’s classes for customers available in podcast form, so they can come to the "library" on their time, not just when we say.

I just discovered Thing 1 (my husband) has an iTunes account; I’ll be looking for more podcasts there.

Podcasts: 2 music notes.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Not 23 but Thing 1 & Thing 2


Just taking a moment to share our scary Halloween party photo, since it fit into the theme of the blog...