Web 2.0 Sites

My two sites are You Tube and Pandora.
You Tube is great for posting your own videos or being able to see the crazy stuff other people come up with. I see You Tube is giving a lot of freedom for people to be creative and to explore the technologies of sound and image. One of my favorite You Tube finds is Chad Vader, a comedy show about Darth Vader's less successful brother Chad.
My other favorite is Pandora. It is Internet radio at its best. It is a research project about people's tastes in music and what music elements seem to attract or repel people. You can like a song and Pandora will find more songs like that or you can unlike a song and it will remember not to play it again.
These are both great interactive sites!

Mulitmedia In Library

I would use the free downloadable books from sites like Librivox. These could be stores on MP3 players or burned to a disk and used as a resource for classroom teachers.

I would also use the wonderful on-line reference sites we have in Alabama through the Alabama Virtual Library.

Software for the Classroom

As a media specialist, I do not anticipate purchasing software for lesson plans. I would probably use the programs the classrooms teachers or the school systems had in place. However, I would purchase software for research and reference. Encyclopedia Britannica 2011 is one that I would definitely purchase. It has 10,000 articles plus a dictionary, thesaurus and the following features Spanish-English dictionary, and a world atlas.

Technology in Education

Two issues that are shaping the role of technology and education are: Accountability and the Standards Movement (how can technology be used to improve student test scores) and Distance Education (is it better, worse or the same as traditional education).

One of the things that we have learned from the history of education is that the old stuff still works. There is no need to continually purchase new and shiny models when the equipment that is available still functions well and gets the job done. Only when the equipment or software is outdated and unsupported is it really necessary to move up.

About Me

Me name is Elnora Douglas and I am currently a stay-at-home mom. I have a bachelor's in secondary education from Judson College. I never worked as a teacher because soon after graduation I went to work at the Tuscaloosa Public Library and after spending two years there I decided to get my master's degree in library information science. I was there two more years and finished that degree. I then spent two years working at a school library to replace a librarian who was on leave. I loved being a school librarian and so I decided to go back to school again to get my media specialist certificate.