Wrapping it Up!

It has been like pulling teeth to complete this last blog. I don’t mean to be negligible but blogging is just not my favorite pastime. I even know what I want to talk about, so I forced myself to sit down and do it. As the semester comes to an end, I can now fully reflect on the purpose of keeping this blog.
From the beginning:
The purpose of keeping this blog is to discuss my feelings about working with technology. What is it like to try something new? How does technology make me feel? How does it make me feel to not know what I should be doing? Share my experience working with a team. The goal is to have me develop a better understanding of how library patrons or staff may feel when encountering new technologies.

I have tried many different technologies in this class over the semester. I remember thinking that I needed to learn this stuff while I was in school. I am glad I took the class, because it did stretch me. I put myself in a position where I knew I would be uncomfortable, and by doing so I learned about cutting edge technology. I admit it was a roller coaster ride. There were times when I felt good, and times when I had no idea what was going on. A reoccurring question for me during the semester was: how do I learn to use the new software or new technology? For example, I downloaded CamStudio to my computer to use for training material. I was constantly going back to the “instructions” to find out how to do it. So, to answer my question I learn by reading about how to do it, then trying to do it on my own. When our class decided to use Wikispaces as the platform for our project, I found it easy enough to just jump in and try it. I only read the instructions a couple of times. The rest of what I learned about Wikispaces I learned from others in the class. I should mention here that my classmates and my teacher were very supportive. I also learned about widgets and podcasts. I now feel more confident about learning new technology, of course it helps when there are people who can answer my questions.