If I were Steve, I would give me an A

This class is a living example of something that could easily be perceived as a "dumbing down" of the SCILS curriculum to people who operate out of an old school mentality. The truth is that the technologies we learned about here could quite possibly mean the difference between being merely a competant librarian and an excellent, innovative one. This class is not set up to initiate you into the "cult of 2.0 technology", but to introduce you to the potential of the technology and its related pitfalls. Honestly, this class would do more to enhance the practical skills of a librarian than MMP.

Things that I took from this class that I am using and will continue to use:

• Wikis--these are gifts from a higher power for group work. I have three going right now and am considering a fourth.
• Screencasting--invaluable skill. If a course that I take online does not use some kind of screencasting element I do not feel connected to the course in any way. I see incredible potential for this.
• Flickr--I like the concept. It's nice to play with a medium that is not word based. Has potential to engage the entire library community.
• Blogging--I've always kept journals, I have a lot of opinions, I love blogs. Great communication tool when paired with RSS feeds.

Hated with a blazing redhot hate:

• Gaming. I know why it's important, and I think it needs to be covered, but--blech!
• Myspace/Facebook--it is my belief that people use social networking sites for reasons that probably do not include libraries. Libraries need to be there and aware, but not count on these sites to create a community for them.

Ch-ch-ch-changes:

• I'm a fan of weekly forum activity. In this case I think responses to blog posts should be mandatory throughout, or at least strongly encouraged. Perhaps group IM'ing? I think that we all had some great things to say and I would have been interested to see what we would have had to say to each other.
• Second Life portion might be enhanced by "meeetings". Assign three or four time periods where we could all meet up in Second Life, possibly pair up for activity or something. I felt very isolated in SL, having my classmates there might help.

I did love the class. It was fun, but most importantly, it taught practical skills while engaging our critical thinking. It wasn't just about HOW, but about WHY. Sometimes it's about content, sometimes it's about how the content forces you to think. Some other courses in the SCILS curriculum could afford to take a page out of Steve's book.