As I finish
Thing 23 and complete 23 Mobile Things, I want to say a huge, “THANK YOU!” to
the Minnesota Multitypes for providing another fantastic learning
experience. I have learned so much and
my expectations were exceeded. This has
been a fun way to discover ways to use mobile devices, both at work and at
home. Thank you!
Now,
here is my recap:
Go back to your thoughts/ideas about mobile
devices and apps. Has anything changed as a result of this experience?
I’m not
sure if my thoughts have changed as a result of 23 Mobile Things, but I think
they have been more clearly defined. We
live in an age where technology is fast growing and quickly changing. It is hard to keep up on the latest popular
“things.” Although I love learning new
things, I tend to use the spaghetti test (throw it against the wall to see if
it sticks) for new technology. For 23
Mobile Things, I tried to experiment with most of the apps. Some of the apps immediately caught my
attention and stuck. I could easily see
using these apps in the Media Center and/or for personal use. For others, I will have to wait and see if they
are useful or needed. If I cannot come
up with a viable use, the app will be deleted.
Also, I was a little surprised by how many of the 23 Mobile Things apps were
blocked at school. This was, more than a
little, frustrating for me.
What were your favorite Things and
discoveries?
I was
thrilled to become a part of 23 Mobile Things.
I love learning new things and knew that this would be a terrific
learning opportunity. I also enjoy
blogging, even though I’m not very good at it, and this was a chance to revive
my blog.
This
was a very useful “thing.” My favorite
iPhone tips are:
- With
iOS7 I can have unlimited apps in each folder.
- I can
use the camera without unlocking the screen.
- I can
use the volume button to take photos.
- Learning
how to speech-to-text for both messages and notes.
- Adding
the Emoji keyboard.
My
favorite Thing 3 app is RedLaser for scanning barcodes, QR codes and for
storing loyalty cards.
I also
enjoyed putting my new knowledge into action by creating a 2014 Winter Olympics
display that incorporated QR codes.
After
trying out both Flipboard and Zite for Thing 4, I think I will stick to Feedly to help me
keep up with social media. I am not
thrilled with Feedly, but for my purposes, I like it more than either Flipboard
or Zite. Time permitting; I may look
into Flipboard a little more. It did
interest me.
For Thing 6, QuickOffice
wins my top spot over CloudOn simply because their spell check is free. Both apps were easy to use and worked
wonderfully.
Pinterest
wins! I use Pinterest every day. For work, I get ideas for book displays and
see what other libraries are doing. For
personal use, I get recipes, craft ideas, inspiration and more. Even though I was already an avid Pinterest user, Thing 7 was fun to explore!
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| Some of My 23 Mobile Things Inspired Pins |
Thing 8: Social Media Management Tools
I doubt
I will use either Cloze or Hootsuite. I
enjoy going to the actual apps (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to check on what is
going on. I appreciate that Thing 8 introduced me to these options.
ColorSplurge wins my top spot for Thing 9.
Being able to highlight an area of a photo with color is just
plain cool.
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| ColorSplurged |
After
my Thing 10 blog post rant about Snapchat, I went to a fish fry last Friday night with a
family whose daughters are teenage and tween.
They were so excited when they found me on Snapchat. I had the girls show me around Snapchat and
saw their enthusiasm for this app. Since
my original blog post and thoughts about Snapchat, I now see that it can be really
fun.
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| My Day 2 Instagram Photo for the 30 Days of Biking Challenge |
So many
books, so little time! You can never
have too many books, can you? I cannot
pick just one app; I loved all of the apps in Thing 12: Wattpad, Free Books and
Audiobooks.
Although Thing 15 was interesting, I wasn’t thrilled by any of the apps.
I can
see using any one of the Thing 16 apps (Audioboo, ipadio, SoundCloud) in the library
for student book reviews, interviews with teachers and also for classroom
projects. I will be investigating
further whether or not you can save the audio clips and import them into
iMovie, which would make these apps even more useful.
My
favorite new app for Thing 17 is Highlights of the Superior Hiking Trail and I was also pleased
to see the Minnesota State Fair app, which I use every year at the Fair.
colAR
Mix definitely wins for Thing 18, but is also an overall 23 Mobile Things
favorite. This is such a cool app. I have shared this app with kids of all ages
and they all LOVE it! Very, very fun!
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| colAR Mix |
RoadNinja
will be useful when we travel, but my favorite app for Thing 19 is
Spotify. I really enjoyed the challenge
of finding a way to use Spotify in the Media Center.
ERHS Popular/Edgy Playlist
Too many
games, too little time! Or is it, too
little time, because of too many games?
Since completing Thing 20, I have added Word Abacus and Word Collapse to
my regular gaming routing. Both are fun
and addicting!
Thing 21 allowed me to discover favorite
apps from other 23 Mobile Things participants:
23Things on the Bookmobile from the Arrowhead Library System (ALS) recommended
the Instant Heart Rate app. To use this
app, you simply put your finger over the camera lens and in 10 seconds, your
heart rate has been recorded. I have
showed this to several people. It amazes
me that my iPhone can monitor my heart rate.
Oh,
boy, there are so many neat apps out there!
I appreciate knowing about Quixey and Apps Gone Free to search for new
apps. Of the new apps I discovered while
doing Thing 22, my favorite are: Workout Trainer, Beautiful Mosaic, Grid Lens,
and Mystic.
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| Mystic App |
How did you connect with others doing the 23
Mobile Things?
I
walked across the Media Center to connect with my boss, who is also doing 23
Mobile Things. For other participants, I
subscribed to some blogs. I also found that
I would check out other participant blogs when I was struggling with what to
blog about for certain “things.”
Were
there any take-a-ways or unexpected outcomes from this program that surprised
you?
I was
surprised by how much I enjoyed Thing 14 about videos. The students at ERHS use iMovie to create
videos. Even though I know a little
about iMovie, I cringe a little whenever a student asks me for help. It surprised me to see how easy it is to
create videos using the apps listed in Thing 14.
If we
offered another 23 Things program like this in the future would you
participate?
Yes,
yes, yes!
How would you describe your learning
experience in one word or in one sentence, so we could use your words to
promote 23 Things learning activities to others?
Awesome!
