Monday, September 21, 2009

Thing #28 Google Reader

With this being my second round of exploring Google Reader, I spent part of this month really making an effort to check it frequently and read the RSS feeds that I had subscribed to earlier. I then found I needed to make my list more manageable and ended up deleting several feeds that didn't really catch my interest. At the same time, I really enjoyed several of the feeds and ending up sharing them in Google Reader and e-mailing two to a friend who teaches elementary ages. Sharing and sending were my two new skills learned. I sent one feed to my blog (previous post) and a link to another to my Facebook account.

Google Reader is a great way to have my RSS feeds together but I still like to use the RSS feed ability of Microsoft Outlook. I can log into my e-mail and easily scan the subjects of the feeds after I read my e-mail. Google Reader has the advantage of letting me move between the different feeds very easily by using the left side-bar list and going up and down in the window of the feed I am currently looking at.

Now I just have to find more time to read feeds and stay more current on things happening in the world in general. Thanks Allana for your shared items on Nebraska libraries.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

eMints: eThemes

I've been using Google Reader as a way to get several RSS feeds in one place for easy browsing. I found this on the Librarian's Internet Index. I shared it with a friend via e-mail but decided it was worth sending to my blog too. It has links to a vast amount of information. When exploring Africa, I was impressed that suggestions also let you know if the linked site also contained advertisements.

eMints: eThemes: "'eThemes is an extensive database of content-rich, age-appropriate resources organized around specific themes. These resources are created for educators to use in their classrooms.' Search or browse 'more than 1,000 eThemes ... on topics ranging from Africa to Yellowstone National Park.' A service of the eMints National Center and maintained by University of Missouri-Columbia College of Education staff and graduate students from the School of Information Science and Learning Technologies."