Thing 8

This is a work in progress.

My slideshow (on Thumbstacks) is available at:

My 23 Things Show

My photo slideshow is above (Thing 8 continued)

My database (all of three entries to start) is at:

Books I Have Read

Perusing this assignment left Miss Shelved with the smug feeling that, to a great extent, we had "been there, done that." Our districtwide server's capacity for sharing is extensively used to share photos, slideshows, databases, and documents among colleagues. Then, when attempting to pull up some archived photos it came to our attention that the district server is down --and likely to be so for much of the summer--for upgrades. Ah, yes, there is a great deal to be said for saving to the web. Necessity is the mother of invention. To the prompts:

• Use for these tools? Photo slideshows are fast becoming a tradition for graduations, retirements, etc. Indeed, such products as PictureTrail raise the bar for the poor Media Specialist who can surely (in her ample free time) womp up several of these imaginative little entertainments each spring. One supposes if it must be done, these tools make it easier. The slide sharer used (Thumbstacks) was somewhat balky. Sharing presentations is often a necessity -- but it would be preferable to be able to share ones already created with more user friendly software. Surely, presentations are rarely prepared (at least at this presenter's level) with the forethought of sharing. As for databases, the same would hold true: one creates a database for personal or team use rather than assuming it needs to be public. Lazybase does allow one to upload an existing database, but Miss Shelved could not try that method since her district server (where such things reside) is down.
• Ease of navigation? Thumbstacks lacked basic instructions and relies heavily on right clicks -- an initial stumble and ongoing annoyance for the Apple user. Also, items carefully and artistically laid out on a slide do not stay in place and look sloppy in presentation. Picturetrail, on the other hand, was very easy (though adding pictures was time-consuming). Lazybase was okay. The ePortfolio site was the most interesting: clearly on-line resumes and portfolios will be the norm.
• Would you recommend? Maybe Picturetrail. Certainly ePortfolio.
• DO you use other sharing tools? Yes: our district has had Moodle pages for a few years now. These are designed for on-line courses, but different teachers use them in different ways to share information, photos, blogs, calendars, etc. with students, colleagues and parents. Moodle is useful, but could also be more flexible and easy to use. Adding a photo, for example, requires a good few too many steps, IMHO!