Rethinking del.icio.us, Rollyo and Google Custom Search

I spent some time this weekend (aren't 3 day weekends glorious) trying to figure out how to use these tools in the library. Our 7th grade students are about to begin their research for Medieval Market (our version of the Renaissance Fair). All three of these tools would help guide their research. I created a Google Custom Search and a Rollyo search with appropriate websites for their research. Unless I create a del.icio.us account for the school - which might not be a bad idea - students would see all of my bookmarks along with the ones selected for their projects. So, now that I have these search engines set up, where do my students access them? My website is through TeacherWeb.com and I've not figured out a way to include the Rollyo or Google search box on the site. Any suggestions???

Week 6, Thing 13 del.icio.us

Early on in this tutorial, I explored del.icio.us because I needed a way to access all of my bookmarks from any computer I used. I wasn't able to connect to the 12 minute video and will try to at another time. Instead, I found this tutorial at CommonCraft.com and thought it explained social bookmarking in an easy to understand format. Enjoy...

Ooops

Maybe I should explore more fully before posting on my blog. I just discovered that you can import your existing bookmarks into Rollyo. Now I can really see how I'll use this tool at work. Time to start working on those custom searches for my students. I guess I have my work cut out for me organizing bookmarks on the various computers I use daily. It will be nice to have my favorite sites accessible from anywhere. I'll have an excuse to play on the internet during the rare moments when no one is in the library :)

Week 5, Thing 12

Select...knitting, etc.Search The Web

Ok, so I've played with/on Rollyo. I decided to use knitting as my topic as I have dozens of sites I search through individually - this might expedite my searching. Although I do think this tool is very much like Google's Custom Searche Engine, I do think there are ways I can use this at school. Since our conference last November, I've wanted to create some custom searches for various assignments my students have throughout the year, but best laid plans.... now that I have Rollyo, I've run out of excuses. I'm not sure I like using it. It takes some time to set up searches. I like the ease of using del.icio.us and might like Rollyo better if it were easier find your favorite sites within Rollyo and then just add them to the "searchbox". I found that if I had 2 tabs open, I could search on one and then copy and paste the urls into the Rollyo window. I think the kids might like using it for their searches and I do like that you can limit their searches to just what has been entered into Rollyo. It just might keep those kids on task.

Week 5, Thing 11

I was able to spend more time exploring the sites/tools from the "short list" of Web 2.0 Awards winners. I was surprised at how many of these tools I currently use. I use "Personalized Google" as my home page. I like that I can customize the page and have added some useful and fun items to my iGoogle page. I especially like that I can access my groups and email from this page. I'm also able to get to my blog easily from iGoogle.

At the beginning of this quest, I set up a Del.icio.us page. I keep all of the places I frequent on this page. Using tabs (I love this feature), I'm able to have Del.icio.us on one tab and my blog or School Library Learning 2.0 up on other tabs. I think I like using Del.icio.us more than Google Reader. I know that they serve different functions, but I'm still getting used to all of these tools. I know I could use Del.icio.us to create bookmark lists for the various projects my students are working on, although I think that Google Custom Search might be a better application for that purpose.

I've also played with Library Thing and Shelfari (a cousin invited me to join). The jury is still out on which application I'll end up using. Either one could be used to post new additions to the library on my web page. My sister uses Kayak for all of her travel arrangements, but after playing on Farecast, I might get her to change. Zillow has been around for a while. I've looked up the value of our house along with home values in areas where I might want to live. It's fun, but not reliable. I love One Sentence - the language arts teachers do an activity similar to this. It would be fun for their students to have their stories posted on this site. Another site I enjoyed was Coverpop. I love the screen with all of the kids books - but there is no way to include it in my blog or post it on my library web page. It would be great to include a short annotation of the book - maybe even the AR or Reading Counts info when clicking on the cover.

All in all, this activity was fun. It felt good to know I wasn't as behind the times as I thought. Thank goodness for NPR - many of these tools/sites have been mentioned on various NPR radio shows. It's a good thing that I have a commute to work.

I did join a NING, but not sure how much I'll participate or follow the group. I feel pretty connected being a member of CSLA and following the discussions on CALIB keeps me busy.

Play -- of course I had to check out the game sites - played a Mah Jongg game and then checked my Travel IQ. I am definetely geographically challenged :)

Week 5, Thing 11

One of the problems I've had with this tutorial is not wanting to miss anything. So, after exploring a number sites from the Web 2.0 awards list, I chose to add a widget from yourminis.com. Needless to say, this widget says it all - I'll explore more tomorrow, but for today, I'll rely on this decision maker.

Just a Suggestion

I love getting comments on my blog and would sometimes like to respond, but haven't found an easy way to do so. If I hit reply, the message goes to "noreply-comment@blogger.com" Is there a way to email the commenter directly? If so, I haven't discovered it. I was able to respond to someone, but on information overload, I can't remember how? Any suggestions?