To boldly go where I haven't gone before...

This week was spent exploring tools on the Internet (it was also spent being vomited on, scrambling at work, and dropping off a sobbing 3-year-old at preschool, but that's material for another blog) that will be useful in a school library.

Here are some of my discoveries:

RSS Feeds
First...do I finally understand RSS feeds?? AFTER LIKE 10 YEARS OF PRETENDING TO UNDERSTAND?! RSS in Plain English by Lee LeFever is possibly the funniest tutorial I've ever seen. I don't recall 2007 that clearly, but I *know* there was powerpoint. So I love how this guy took a super low-tech approach to explaining something (a bit) high-tech.

I've understood that an RSS feed compiles news/blog entries for you, and sends them to...a spot. I think the big disconnect for me is that I enjoy visiting the blogs that I frequent. I like the design elements. I like the possibility of exploration and discovery. Perchance, it's time to admit that I love wasting time.  Eek. That's a tough thing to admit.

Getting technical, I also didn't understand how you went from clicking on the orange button to actually setting up the feed. RSS in Plain English outlines this fairly clearly.

Well, my first foray into RSS feeds just went poorly. I created a free account on feedspot, and apparently the free plan only supports... one feed? And there's a pushy "join feedspot gold" popup that cannot be closed. See ya, Feedspot. :-(

Oh boy. And the second RSS feed I just went to explore - Digg Reader - shut down in 2018.

Suddenly, I see why I haven't gotten very far in the world of RSS...

So, success with Feedly. But, I thought the whole point was that you could read the article in the RSS feed and not visit the actual website? But Feedly just shows a short preview of each article. 👽 Ah, shoot...

Goodreads
So, I love Goodreads. We go way back, to March 2010. I started using it as a way to remember which books I've read, since apparently I have a mind like a sieve. Then I began using it to check out my friends' book selections, to inform my TBR pile. I've found that my friend Paula and I NEVER agree, so I look at her stars and then do the opposite. I always agree with Samantha's picks. And in the past several years, I began using it as a reference point before diving into a book. If a book has fewer than 4 stars (on average), I won't read it. And, as of three weeks ago, I took a chance on a Goodreads book recommendation for the first time, and it was 👍👍. And, 50 minutes ago, I started my first Goodreads group.

To be honest, I kind of think the book group thing will fizzle out as there isn't a current need for it, but it was fun to explore a new side of an old friend tool (or is it an app?). And I could see the group being a good asset in a school library setting, as it could be one more way to connect with teachers. The group has folders, so a librarian could make folders for topics, e.g., Black History Month, International Dot Day, D-Day, and fill it with book recommendations. That said, a different platform, one that could hold book recommendations and curriculum connections, would be more ideal...so perhaps the groups could be for students in book clubs.

Regardless of its use in the classroom, Goodreads is a popular app, one that has staying power, and I think it would be a fun thing for students to know about. It makes reading a social (i.e, popular) activity, and that's fabulous in my book.

EdShelf
EdShelf is a simple platform that is a "socially-curated discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning." Educators compile "shelves" of tools and apps that other people can use in instruction. These shelves are organized by topic, and remind me of a folder that a good friend might give me to get me started on a new topic. While exploring the site, I did come across a few...idiosyncrasies. I was surprised by the absence of some popular apps, like Instagram and Hootsuite. The site itself was buggy, and I was unable to select filters. And, it took me three tries to build a shelf, because I kept getting redirected when I tried to find an app, and then my shelf hadn't saved. 

That said, I created an EdShelf for school nurses to use in their school health office. I want to note here that some of these apps are for FACULTY & STAFF - if they ask the school nurse for recommendations. I would never advocate for a nurse to recommend something like MyFitnessPal to a student.

Google Tools For Educators
Well, the G-Suite video on Abby Dawson was certainly inspiring! I use Google daily in my current role in the central office of a school district. I use Google Drive to share files with school principals, Google Sheets to share spreadsheets, and Google Docs on conference calls. It makes everything verrrrry easy. In the discussion, someone shared a story of a student who needed to print something from his Chromebook, but he was unable to connect to the library's printer and he became frozen. (I'm picturing an evil Google exec rubbing his hands together in glee at that story.) I do think it's important to show students that there's a world outside Google. And in some cases, another company does it better than Google. Agility is the name of the game, and we all have to adapt!

I played around with Diigo this week, but I didn't quite get the hang of it yet. And I am spending way too much brain power trying to figure out if "Diigo" should be pronounced in a significant way that would explain the name. And as of right now, Symbaloo is the one that got away...