Wrapping Up 2.0

This course has been a wonderful experience and has added tremendously to my knowledge. It has given me new confidence in the navigation of internet land. I can speak with some knowledge and have overcome the intimidation I once felt. There is so much more playing I want to do and there are several opportunities for weaving what I now know into some benefit for the College.

I promised myself that I would obtain a new phone upon completion of this course. I want to be able to see the internet news, check my email accounts, send text messages, IM, post to Facebook walls, take/store photos and videos and download my favorite country songs into one device. I bought a Blackberry yesterday. And I feel like I finally get why these phones or Iphones are required accessories for the 2.0 savvy.

Thank you Mary for the opportunity. You changed my life.

Social Networks Sites

There is quite a bit of opportunity for Marymount College to participate in social networking sites. We have been exploring this opportunity quite a bit recently. On vendo we have spoken with has a system for the cultivation of alumni using the social networking sites. Another vendor was able to gather "the student's impression" of marymount Collge by searching the social networking sites and channeling/synthesizing what's out there to create an opinion of Marymount.

Although I've had a Facebook page for about a month, and to the dismay of my 16 year old, I don't find it compelling. Perhaps if I had more friends...

Instant messaging

I think instant mesaging can be really distracting when I am working. I enjoy the feature from my laptop when I am doing non-work things. But sometimes, it's just best to ignore the IM-addicted. I have watched my kids IMing with severalpeople at once. Feels to me that you could easily say the wrong thing to the wrong person and mess up a good friendship. I'm not convinced that this feature has a place in the classroom. But I like the idea of students sharing their thoughts about a learning topi through IM, but after class hours only.

Podcasts

Several years back I followed the account written by columnist Steve Lopez of the LA Times about the street musician. Now a major motion picture this story fascinates me. I went to the NPR podcast that included an interview with Steve Lopez. It was 30 minutes of intriguing talk about Lopez's experience. It definately made me feel even more interested in seeing the movie.

UTube Voila!

This lesson was particularly relevant to me. I searched UTube and discovered three videos produced by Marymount College that offer both student and professor testimonials about why Marymount College is such a great place to go to school. This week I am working with a national firm in higher education to identify our uniqueness, our brand, our attributes. This added to my collection of knowledge and the videos were shared with the team members.

Upload an image

I have an uncompleted task. I need to upload an image on my blog. I figured out how to add my photo. I also want to add a photo from the web. So I will go our hunting and return. Couldn't make it again. Drats. Will try again.

delicious

This was an interesting lesson. I currently do not have a large collection of favorite or bookmarked sites. But I am doing research into alumni programs and will use delicious to track the many sites where I find valuable information.

Wikis and Wikipedia

A month or so ago Dr. Brophy asked me to check the Marymount College posting on Wikipedia. It has errors and it had mean stuff. I was able to change and register to be notified when other changes were meade. Today I checked it and something wrong was there again. So I changed it. Guess this means I will need to check it periodically to make sure it acurately reflects us.

Photos and Graphics Uploads

I have spent so many hours trying to upload my photo to my twitter account. Additionally I have tried unsuccessfuly to add an image to this blog. I need some one-on-one tutoring help. It's probably simple, but has eluded me.

I am having an impossible go at adding a graphic image to my blog. Think I need some one-to-one assitance to make this week's lesson work. I'll play around for a little while more. I hate to be a quitter.

Google Documents

Lesson #5 opened a whole new world for me. As a publication writer and editor I have been frustrated by collecting documents and notes from a variety of contributors and then organizing the content into a single document. Often contributors submit more than once so the tracking of the most updated copy version was cumbersome. So I plan to write/edit the next issue of Today magazine in Google docs. I anticipate that I will find the process simplified.

I like the availability of blogs and editorial through RSS from professional associations about alumni relations programs. This is a good way for me to discover emerging trends in the field. I believe the more I learn about alumni relations the better a job I will be able to do in this area for Marymount College.

Today I played around with RSS. I really can see the value of RSS feeds. I am interested in learning more about higher education alumni relations programs so I have subscribed to some feeds that will daily add to my knowledge.

Messing up

I have actually messed up and posted comments on my own blog instead of adding to my own blog. Oh well, it's all part of the learning process.

I liked playing around with Flickr. I set up a yahoo account and then a flickr account. I want to practice more and actually upload some photos soon.

First Try at Blogging

This is so exciting. Entering the blogsphere makes me feel hipper and smarter. I can show my kids that their old school mom can really learn new tricks.