Final Reflection

I am a tech weenie and I decided to try Cool Tools to get over some of my tech fear.  I started at the beginning (Track 1) with the thought of doing all 10, but time was not on my side and I struggled to get through the first 5 options.  I researched"  Curation, Digital Storytelling, Social Media, Photo Fun and starting a blog.  I enjoyed all of my topics and learned something from each of them.  Curation was interesting and I never even thought about all the different careers people can have in this field.  I think this is definitely something to look into once I finish my career as a school librarian.  Digital Storytelling was familiar to me and it is something I would love to explore more with my students in the future.  Time is a factor here in the library and I usually only have 30 minutes to get 25 or more students through the library.  One can only hope that schedules will continue to evolve and there will be more time for actual education in the library in the future.  I'm still not a great fan of Social Media, however, I am beginning to use "wechat" at home because it is one of the few ways that I can keep in touch with my son in China.  I loved exploring around the different sites of Photo Fun.  This is a great way to store photos.  The sites make it so easy to categorize and organize your photos.  Blogging was ok.  I have done blogs before, but never really kept up with them.  Again, time can be an issue.  One of my biggest challenges was not having my own computer at home.  I have my work computer and a work issued laptop for home, but so many of the sites I wanted to explore were blocked.  This tells me that I really need to update my technology for home use.

I would love to continue to learn with Cool Tools.  A quick look around this site tells me I have sooooo much more to learn.  I would like to do more with Digital Storytelling with my students, and again, if I have the time, work on lesson plans that revolve around storytelling.  I really don't think I'm in the position to share what I have learned with others (except my husband or kids who kind of laugh and say they learned these skills in the 90s) but that's ok.  As long as I learned something, I feel great.

I loved the way Cool Tools was set up.  It allowed me to do the lessons when I had the time.  I was slightly intimidated at first, but I worked through that.  For me, a woman in her late 50's, this was a great learning experience and I would definitely look for this workshop in the future.