Week 9 Thing 23

Well it is hard to know where to start here. It has been a great adventure. Most of the activities I found worthwhile and productive. Some just didn't do it for me. But the process was great. At first I wasn't sure about how to go about making the blog posts with the Week and Thing in it. It might be good to show a sample of putting the title with week and thing in one of the introductory activities.
After I got used to the format it was great. I enjoyed being able to post at anytime and have no defined time frame. This was good as some activities took lots of time and others did not require or acquire the same amount of time. It was very easy to get sidetracked and get involved in the activity exploration. It was also lots of fun for many of the activities. I also liked to be able to post about the activity immediately after completion or complete several activities and post. The book was a great addition to the class. It covered some areas and explained things in more depth and got into some philosophical things as well to make you think about some of the ideas or examples presented. They referred to many studies and provided lots of examples throughout the book. I liked the authors approach and even read more of the chapters than were required for this class.
We definitely covered a gamut of Web 2.0 tools. It was nice to have the option within an activity to do one or two things and the examples given were great. The curriculum connections were a good addition to the activities also. I think the time frame was reasonable as well. I was not so sure when I first started but as I got involved and started to complete some tasks it didn't seem so overwhelming. I wasn't sure what I had gotten myself into when I first took a look at the requirements and activities needed to be completed within the alloted time.
I liked the responses from the instructors and fellow classmates. A community blog for questions and answers might be an interesting option within the class. I remember reading several people's blog where they asked questions and things like that or weren't sure if they were doing something right. I don't know just a thought.
I would be interested in another adventure of this type. Thanks for offering this class during the summer.

Week 9 Thing 22 ebooks and audio ebooks

It was very interesting taking a closer look at those ebooks and audio ebooks. I have become a fan of ebooks in the past year for reference books providing access to multiple students at one time. This is one way to get the teachers to come to the library with their classes so everyone can access the resources at once. I have found this effective for several subjects especially social studies.
I was surprised at the number of sites offering free books so I took a closer look at several of these sites to see why they were offering the books for free. Some were authors and some just wanted to make these books available for all. I have read some poetry online and listened to books on tape but when reading I want to touch the book and put it down and pick it up again and read ahead or behind. I am old fashion when it comes to reading a book.

Week 9 Thing 21 Podcasting

Podcasting is an interesting way to share information. I listened to several podcasts and linked their feeds to my google reader. One of the time consuming things here is waiting for them to download. I still find this overwhelming but have managed to find some interesting podcasts out there. This is not something I am interested in spending lots of time on. There are many other things that interest me more. I have seen the application of utilizing a podcast for students to present information and been involved in making podcasts.

Week 9 Thing 20

I searched both TeacherTube and YouTube for videos on web 2.0, research, internet safety. It was interesting to see what came out of the searches. I think the most frustrating thing is waiting while they buffer. I put two of them on my blog but notice it takes a long time for them to load when I open my page. I think this is my network issue since I am using wireless. There is lots of information out there sorting through it is always a challenge to find something that may be appropriate to use with your students or with a specific class. It was lots of fun checking out the different videos and input from a variety of people on Web 2.0.

Week 9 Thing 20 Teacher Tube

Week 9 Thing 20

Week 8 Thing 19.1 Digital Pipeline

Here I have added the Sled Search sites widget for direct searching from your website or blog. Which I added to the bottom here.
I compared the different searches for elementary, middle school and high school. Each level provides more opportunities for information as they advance in levels.
I also found exploring the Consumer Health Database an interesting adventure and found some good information here.
I think I learned much here more than I realized even after all the times I have used it and help students and teacher use it to find information.
I think the small engine and automotive repair section would be handy for many Alaskans out there who are trying to figure out how to fix something. That however is not me. I am not the fix it type.


I learned how to create a journal alert and a search alert. I found that using the Ebsco how to's is easy and handy. Here is the information from Ebsco directly from their how to information.

How do I create a Journal Alert?

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Set up a Journal Alert | Set up a Search Alert for a Journal Title

Not all databases support journal alerts. For a list of databases that support journal alerts from the Publication Details Screen, click here.

To set up a Journal Alert:

1. Click the Publications link. To locate the publication, enter the title in the Browse Publications field and click Browse, or use the A - Z links and left/right arrows to browse through the list of titles.

2. From the title's Publication Details Screen, click the Journal Alert link. If you have not already signed in to My EBSCOhost, you will be prompted to do so.

3. The Save Journal Alert Screen appears. The Journal Alert name, Date Created, and Database name are automatically filled in.

4. In the Run Alert for field, select how long the journal alert should run:

• One month (the default)
• Two months
• Six months
• One year

5. Select the Results content - indicate whether you want to include: Link to TOC page on EBSCOhost or Article links embedded within the results.

6. Select the Results format (if including Article links): Brief or Detailed.

7. To limit EBSCOhost access to only the articles in the alert (rather than the entire site), mark the checkbox to the left of this field.

8. In the E-mail Options section, indicate how you would like to be notified. Select one:

• E-mail all alerts and notices (the default)
• E-mail only creation notice
• No e-mail (RSS only)

9. E-mail Address - to be notified by e-mail when a new issue is available, enter your e-mail address. If you are entering multiple e-mail addresses, place a semicolon between each e-mail address.

10. Subject - enter a brief explanation that will appear in the subject line of the Journal Alert e-mail.

11. Title - you can optionally enter a title for the e-mail. The default value for the title field is: EBSCOhost Alert Notification.

12. E-mail [From] address - defaults to EPAlerts@EPNET.COM. You can enter a different "From" e-mail address if desired.

13. Select the E-mail format to use: Plain Text or HTML.

14. To have your search string included with your results, mark the Include query string in results checkbox.

15. When you have finished making changes, click Save. You will be returned to the Publication Details Screen. A message is displayed that indicates a journal alert has been set for the publication.

Not all databases offer the journal alert feature from the Publication Details Screen. In this situation, you can set up a Search Alert using the publication title as your search string.

To set up a Search Alert for a journal title:

1. From the Advanced Search Screen, click the Publications button.
2. Enter the publication name in the Browse for field.
3. Check the box in front of the resulting publication name and click the Search button.
4. Click the Search History/Alerts link below the Find field.
5. Click the Save Searches/Alerts link.
6. Sign in to My EBSCOhost. If you do not have a personal account, click the I'm a new user link to set one up.
7. On the resulting Saved Searches/Alert Screen, click the radio button in front of Alert. Fill in the required fields, then click Save.

See also: EBSCOhost Journal Alert Help Sheet

ID:	1216
Topic:	Linking Services
Services:	EBSCOhost Research Databases, Canadian Reference Centre, EBSCOhost Text Only, UK Reference Centre
Link:	http://support.ebsco.com/knowledge_base/detail.php?id=1216