These items are things I have actually used in the past for personal things. Actually most of these items are very similar to what I have used through YAHOO.
Google Alerts are very handy to have. Possible uses for this could be working with teachers who are doing topics that spread over a period of time. Could be very handy to use with teachers who are working with a current affairs topic, government classes following the election process, business classes doing a stock project, etc. Having news articles, pictures, etc sent dirctly to me would allow me to stay up-to-date on information. I can then forward these articles, etc dirctly to the teacher for him/her to use in their class. I can tie this in with emial and send updated links to various groups (student groups, teacher groups, etc.)
Google Calendar is great for posting my library class schedule, meetings, important events (both personal and professional.) I can have ereminders sent directly to me from this calendar. I actually have something similar set up though one of my Yahoo accounts. I didn't play with the Google one too deep yet, but my yahoo calendar I can have reminder sent either to my email or my cell phone. This can come in handy during those times I'm not a computer.
iGoogle is nice for setting up a custom home page. Again, similar to Yahoo. You can set up a page of information that is specific to my needs. I can follow things like my stocks, sports teams I like and other personal things at a quick glance. For school, I can set this page up so that I can keep up with current events, news articles etc. Some of the gadgets are cool! World Clocks, satelite maps, etc. If a student is an exchange student, I can easily tell them what time it is back home. I can zoom in on structures, world landmarks, etc. Great for teaching students in history...they can see a satelite picture of the Great Wall of China, Eifle Tower, etc. Quotes of the day, calculators, etc. There are so many things to look at here. I could take days just learning what is on here. 15 minutes of playing just is a SMALL taste of what this has to offer.
Google Notebooks... I was a little confused on this one. I can see the benefits of somthing like this...Sharing info with school teachers, students, great way of communicating with parents, etc. I will need to go back and work on this part later on as to how to clip items to the notebook, videos, etc.
Picassa Web albums is very much like Flikr. Great promotional tool for the library. Sharing great things through pictures of what goes on in the library with parents, students, principals, etc., is very important for p.r. Half of working in a library is p.r. Google has a lot to offer. All these items I will have to revisit and learn more. It looks to be something that everytime I get on, there is a tendency to learn something new.
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3 comments:
Excellent observations on all of these tools and you're right - they ARE similar to what Yahoo offers.It doesn't really matter which you become familiar with as long as you know that these things are out there and put them to use in some way - just as our students and some teachers are doing.
I think I'm going to set up a Google calendar, because I'm really tired of trying to keep up with a calendar in every location! However, since Google is blocked, maybe I should try the Yahoo calendar. I haven't looked at it yet. Does it have as many features? Is Google blocked at the high school level?
No, Google is not blocked at the HS level.
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