Blogging Experience

Reflection on Blogging

Having created a blog for a previous class and not enjoying the experience I was skeptical that I would appreciate another attempt at blogging. I think the assigning of topics for the first part of the semester facilitated active participation in the assignment. I was assigned clicker technology, which I had no prior experience with. Had I chosen my own topic that I had knowledge of I may have edited details that I knew but others did not. The use of a novel topic made the experience beneficial to the blogger and the commenter alike.
I appreciate the interaction with a wider audience a blog may foster. A blog is great vehicle to bring individuals interested in common topic together and share their ideas. Searches online increasingly point to pages where users may comment on the topic of the page. In my experience the posted comments often add to a better understanding of the topic and lead to other helpful references.
In order to improve my blogging I think I would try to find some helpful tips for effective blogging, perhaps elements of style. For example, limiting posts to 100 words and including open-ended questions to encourage comments from users may improve a blog’s success. Is it better to have multiple short posts or long posts that appear less frequently?
As for usage in the classroom blogs may be used to encourage reluctant students to write and improve their writing style. Students may be more engaged in their writing when given the opportunity to write on topics important to them and connect to others interested in those topics.

Library Project

Google Books Library Project – An enhanced card catalog of the world's books

This project much like the publisher endeavor but works with university libraries to place their collections online. The major benefit of this is giving wide access to many rare and out of print texts, while ensuring further damge to those texts will not be encured.

Goal:
The Library Project's aim is simple: make it easier for people to find relevant books – specifically, books they wouldn't find any other way such as those that are out of print – while carefully respecting authors' and publishers' copyrights. Our ultimate goal is to work with publishers and libraries to create a comprehensive, searchable, virtual card catalog of all books in all languages that helps users discover new books and publishers discover new readers.

Partners:

• Harvard University

• University of Michigan

• New York Public Library

• University of Oxford

• Stanford University

• Bavarian State Library

• Columbia University

• Committee on Institutional Cooperation

• Complutense University of Madrid

• Cornell University

• Ghent University

• Keio University

• Princeton University

• University of California

• University of Lausanne

• University of Mysore

• University of Texas at Austin

• University of Virginia

• University of Wisconsin-Madison

Here the University of California discusses their involvement in the project:

Partner Program

You may learn more about how publishers may partner with Google in order to promote their books here:






Here are forward thinking publishers talking about Google and how it will play into their future plans:

Improved Access

According to Google there are currently 7 million text available in there library. 1 million in full preview mode as part of formal publisher agreements. Another 1 million are public domain works. This means that these 2 million texts may be fully accessed via the web without the need of obtaining a hard copy. Most of the other 5 million aren't in print or commercially available. Google today can only show snippets of their text.

In comparison Sun’s libraries contain 3.18 million volumes, which are only available through their on campus libraries.

Through the Google Book Search anybody may have access to the materials and at the same time. Hard copies may only be used by one user at a time. Have you ever been frustrated by the materials placed on hold by a professor for an entire class?

Another limitation to the hard copy model is the limited space within brick and mortar libraries. There are only so many volumes a building may house. Either new facilities have to be built or volumes eliminated in order to make space. With the Google model older texts may be archived off campus and made available via the internet using their service. This would lead to access maintained to these volumes at little additional cost, certainly less than building new libraries.

Google Book Search

For the second half of the semester I will be looking at the controversial Google Book Search program. I know very little about the project besides the basics; which is scanning texts and making them availiable on the net.

Outline of functions:

	Search Book Search works just like web search. Try a search on Google Book Search or on Google.com. When we find a book with content that contains a match for your search terms, we'll link to it in your search results.
	Browse books online If the book is out of copyright, or the publisher has given us permission, you'll be able to see a preview of the book, and in some cases the entire text. If it's in the public domain, you're free to download a PDF copy. Learn more about the different views.
	Learn more -- fast We've created reference pages for every book so you can quickly find all kinds of relevant information: book reviews, web references, maps and more. See an example.
	Buy the book ... or borrow it from the library If you find a book you like, click on the "Buy this book" and "Borrow this book" links to see where you can buy or borrow it.
	Where do the books come from? Currently, we are connecting readers with books in two ways: the Partner Program and the Library Project.

Looking closer at the site I have used this service many times. I was thinking about just covering the scanning of the books, which has been a hot topic lately. To me the most frustrating is finding the right book at your local library. Google Books is the search engine for the world's library. This tool helps to find books on the topic I'm interested in and where I can find them. It also allows me to review the materail and how it is rated by other users. These ratings helps to identufy quality material with little effort, a function that alot of our Web2.0 technologies have had. I have used this tool as my main library search tool and either took the book out from a local library or requessted it from interlibrary loan. If you haven't used inter library loan yet I highly suggest it, this servive greatly expands what is availibale to you. Nothing like receiving books from around the country at your own library.

Clicker Conclusion

Upon learning what classroom clicker technology was intrigued in its real world implementation. The positive outcomes from this technology include real time feedback on student outcomes, assessment understanding of topic material. Maintaining learners actively engaged was also a highlight of clicker use. Use of clickers outside of the classroom for surveys, homework, and tests was also mentioned for possible uses.

Drawbacks of the technology of the included upstart costs, training of users, and the practical effectiveness of the clickers use. Any technology would have the same drawbacks and in order for technology to be properly implemented each distinct situation must be evaluated.

I just returned from a conference where a clicker vendor was on hand. I enjoyed being able to hear their pitch and to try the technology for myself after reading about it in past couple of months. In the end I think clicker technology is best used in large class formats where interacting with each student is much more difficult. In smaller classes a good teacher should be able to engage the learner and keep them interested. I think the cost of clicker technology in smaller settings would not be cost effective. Of course the learner must make the effort to be actively engaged. In larger settings techniques used in smaller venues are not as viable. I can see clickers being much more cost effective in larger lecture classes.

Cost Reduction

So it seems that audience response systems work and can be found in classrooms with increasing regularity. As mentioned in an earlier post cost may be prohibitive in some applications. Cost effectiveness and simplicity are very important to me. So for me to use this technology I would need for it to not necessitate me to buy any new gadget and the service would need to be cheap. I think I have found a service that satisfies these two qualifiers for my adoption of the technology.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/how-it-works

Poll Everywhere utilizes the web to collect data through text messages and post them live. This method takes advantage of the almost ubiquitous ownership of cell phones, no need to buy any equipment. Of course the service does cost, but the availability of several scalable plans allows a user to custom fit it to there needs and means.

http://www.polleverywhere.com/plans/Free

At least this option would allow an organization to try audience response methods without a large investment.