Thursday, August 27, 2009

I'm Done! Whoo Hooo!

This post marks the last day of Betty Blogger School for me. Yippeee!!!
While I will still continue to explore and to use many of the tools I've learned about in this course, I am glad to be done with the looming assignment deadlines.
Tah Tah y'all,
Mocha

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Task 10: Summary

Q:What was the most important thing you learned in the Betty Blogger summer school? Why?
A: The most important thing I learned taking this online course is that I don't know as much as I thought I did. There is always something new to learn. I was hesitant in signing up because I thought I knew enough about social networking and Web 2.0. Turns out, I still have much to learn.

Q:What was most challenging part of Betty Blogger? Why?
A: Finding the time to complete the tasks!!! Life is so hectic and after a full day of working on the computer at work, it is really hard to be motivated to get back on the computer during my free time.

Q:How successful was the “self-directed” learning model?
A: I think it worked well. There was some frustration when I had trouble getting back into my blog shortly after setting it up ... but I figured it out after doing some online reading.

Q:Looking back at your reasons for participating in the Betty Blogger summer school (see your blog entry for Task #1), did the program fulfill your expectations?
A:It exceeded my expectations. I was not expecting to learn as much as I did. Remember, I came to it, thinking it would be a review course not a lesson in discovery.

Q: If we ran this program again, would you recommend us to a friend?
A: Yes. I already have recommended it to my mom!

Task 9: Library Thing

My LibraryThing account can be viewed at:
http://www.librarything.com/catalog/NerdyNellie (library)

Q: What did you think of LibraryThing?
A: Very Cool! I had no idea how terrific LibraryThing really is, even though a few friends have been plugging it to me for some time now. I am a fan of the Talk and Groups sections. These forums offer insight into genres I don't usually read, such as, fantasy, for example. I also like the event listing area and the fact that you can search by geographic location...

Q: Is this a tool you'll use again?
A: For sure. I'm even thinking a little book club with a few local dogs.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Task 8: RSS Feeds

Q: What RSS feeds have you subscribed to?
A: I subscribed to the following:
How to Train a Dog
Dogs in Duds
OLA Meeting Space
SLA Blog
News from the Library Director

Q: Did you find Google Reader easy to use?
A: Yes. It was pretty simple. I have a Bloglines account and it is similar.

Q: Will you continue to use the aggregator, Google Reader?
A: I already use one. Now I'll compare the two and go with whichever suits me best.

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Task 7: Wiki Action

Q: What dish will you be bringing to our family meal?
A: I will bake a loaf of Zucchinni Bread. I've posted the recipe for those interested in using up their own ripe green gourds (are they? I'll have to double check) from the backyard garden.

Q: How was your PBWorks experience? Was it easy to use?
A: Marvelous. I had no problems using it.

Q: Do you have any need for your own wiki?
A: Yes. I'm going to create one for our family Christmas Party. We always have too many leftovers so hopefully all our relatives participate and this year's bash is more organized!

Zucchini Bread Recipe

Zucchini Bread

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 1/4 cups white sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated zucchini
1 cup chopped walnuts 
 

 
DIRECTIONS
Grease two 8 x 4 inch pans. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
Mix flour, salt, baking powder, soda, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Beat eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Combine these into one bowl and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts well. Pour batter into greased pans.
Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan to cool completely.

Monday, August 17, 2009

Task 3: Tagging

Q: What web sites did you bookmark?
A: I bookmarked the following websites:
www.cesarmillaninc.com
www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/dog.htm
http://breakingtorontonews.com

Q:What tags did you add to your bookmarks?
A: For the dog-related ones, I added dog, training,Betty, Blogger, summer, school, 2009. Tags for the breaking news site include: breaking, news, Toronto Star, CTV, CBC, and CP24.

Q: Will you continue to use Delicious?
A: Yes indeed. I've been meaning to set up an account for quite some time now. This assignment deadline gave me the push I needed to get it done! This is a very useful tool. Besides adding websites of personal interest, I will be bookmarking websites for professional reasons too.

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Task 4: Social Networks

Q: What do you think of Facebook?
A: I like Facebook. I use it often but I use the highest privacy settings. It is not a new thing for me.

Q: Do you have concerns about social networking?
A: Not really. I do worry about young people being victimized online but that can happen on email too so it is not an exclusive concern to social networking sites.

Q: Will you continue to use Facebook after the Betty Blogger program?
A: Absolutely.

Task 5: Photo Sharing

Q: What tags were assigned to the picture you sent me?
A: Tags assigned to this photo are: at, day, dogs, park, the, with

Q: What did you think of Picasa?
A: Picasa is a useful tool for photo sharing, although I have some privacy concerns with putting photos online.

Q: Will you continue to use this application?
A: Maybe, too soon to say one way or another.