Jing and Screencast

Have been attempting to record a screencast using Jing.
The code that needs to be embedded is below:

<!-- copy and paste. Modify height and width if desired. --> <a href="http://content.screencast.com/users/ElizabethLRC/folders/Jing/media/13538a94-265b-4efd-8901-91b7e05a3b50/2013-07-15_1606.png"><img class="embeddedObject" src="http://content.screencast.com/users/ElizabethLRC/folders/Jing/media/13538a94-265b-4efd-8901-91b7e05a3b50/2013-07-15_1606.png" width="1440" height="701" border="0" /></a>

I have altered the HTML code to change the width and height of the screencast to make it smaller.  Have added the screencast to this blog as a gadget - see right  ------->  

Bookmarking sites - continued

Have been invited to consider whether I am a vertical or horizontal organiser.

American philosopher, John Perry, identified two types of organisational thinking. Vertical organisers tend to to work on one task at a time, with an uncluttered surface and make good use of filing cabinets and (in a computer sense) hierarchical folders. Traditional bookmarking sites favour vertical thinking.

By contrast, horizontal organisers like all their projects spread out in front of them so everything is close to hand. The approach is used as a memory aid to keep track of project status, and as a prompt to carry out tasks. More modern bookmarking sites, such as PearlTrees, are better suited to horizontal organisers

* from: OUCS (2011) Reserach Information Managment: Organising Humanities Material. Oxford University Computing Service, Oxford.

I think I'm a horizontal organiser.  Multi-tasking on a very cluttered work surface is the way I tend to work.  Have investigated some of the book marking sites such as PearlTrees and CiteUlike (see earlier posts), but haven't felt that they are currently of use to the tasks I carry out on a

day-to-day basis.  However, it's introduced them to me as I wasn't aware they existed before so that is a great step forward.

Continuation of experiences with Prezi and Pearltrees

Was invited by a colleague to view her Pearltree.  Just couldn't find it!  Tried to look for it again on another day and Pearltrees wouldn't even let me log in to my own account!  Afraid at this point I felt I'd wasted enough time and admitted temporary defeat.  Never total defeat.  Think this Web 2.0 technology is fantastic overall.  Worth the occasional set back.

On a much happier note I am collaborating with two colleagues to produce a Prezi.  It is just a fun one to experiment with the technology.   It's a story called "A tale through the woods".

Dropbox - File Sharing and Collaboration

Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by Dropbox, Inc., that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, and client software. Dropbox allows users to create a special folder on each of their computers, which Dropbox then synchronizes so that it appears to be the same folder (with the same contents) regardless of which computer is used to view it. Files placed in this folder also are accessible through a website and mobile phone applications.

It is available for free, or you can pay to upgrade to the "Pro" or "Business" versions.

Liszen - a search engine for library blogs

Liszen is a search engine specifically for library blogs.

I did a search of the academic library blogs indexed by Liszen using "web 2.0".  The top 3 sites were:

www.librarian.net

http:libraryjuicepress.com/blog

creakysites.wordpress.com

The blogs themselves did not seem to have been updated recently.  The latest posts on two of the blogs was 2007 and the other was 2009.  A reflection of the fact that many blogs get abandoned when initial enthusiasm wanes.

Creating a Google Custom Search Engine

Have just added a Google Custom Search Engine to this blog.

Did start out by going directly to the Google CSE site, putting in my blog address to create an engine, then copying the code.  When I came to pasting the code into my blog I realised this was unnecessary as Blogger is a Google "animal" too.  Can be done very simply by using the add a gadget option on the blog via Design ----> Layout.

Guess the code would be needed if I was using a different blogging host. 
Below is the code I could use:

<script>
  (function() {
    var cx = '016051726456348803986:gwaupwseopc';
    var gcse = document.createElement('script');
    gcse.type = 'text/javascript';
    gcse.async = true;
    gcse.src = (document.location.protocol == 'https:' ? 'https:' : 'http:') +
        '//www.google.com/cse/cse.js?cx=' + cx;
    var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0];
    s.parentNode.insertBefore(gcse, s);
  })();
</script>
<gcse:search></gcse:search>

Am wondering if this code would be useful if attempting to integrate an engine into Moodle.

Reflective practice - just going round in circles?

This blog involves a lot of reflective writing.  So what is it, and why bother?

It is based on Kolb's 1986 model of experiential learning. 
 
Margaret Watson explains it in her book "Building your portfolio: the CILIP guide" like this:

"You do something.
You think about it.
You draw conclusions from the experience.
You plan how you can do it better.
You do it better".

It's an iterative process: you go round this as in a circle - repeatedly - to get the best results.

I first came across reflective learning when studying Open University courses.  The OU are very fond of reflective writing!  At first writing down my thoughts about something I'd learnt seemed an alien, unnatural process.  However, I came to enjoy doing it, and it works for me.