Final Reflection

1. How has your view of social software changed since starting the course?
I have a much broader view of social software tools then before the course. Also, I have a strong understanding of how to use social software for use with a library or any other organization and not just as a social tool to communicate with friends and family.

2. What technology did you find most interesting for your personal use? What technology did you think would be most useful professionally?
I have been using my RSS reader (Google reader) since we learned about it at the beginning of class, and I cannot believe I went as long as I did without one. I use it every day--sometimes a few times a day--and get many recipes from food blogs and general info from those blogs I read from my smart phone.
Professionally, I found blogs to be a mostful tool to use in a library setting. Perhaps it's not as 'new' as micro-blogging on twitter, but I think a lot can be said on blogs and can be said to interest many people, but there are general rules of etiquette that ought to be noted before one starts up a blog. I have a stronger understanding of what those are from this course and from composing a blog of my own for the first time.

3. What surprised you during the course?
I was very surprised when learning about Twitter. I had not used it before this course, and I found it to be much more simplistic than I originally thought--in my opinion, TOO simplistic. I can see its use for organizations that don't necessarily want to communicate with their customers, but for an individual who wants to do more than put little thoughts out there for the world, I am constantly frustrated by it.

4. What suggestions do you have for improving the learning activities (exercises, assignments, blog posts, readings, examples, etc.)?
I honestly cannot think of anything. I think the course was well organized with many different activities that were hands-on for those more intimate learning experiences.

5. How did your experience using Drupal differ from your experience in Angel classrooms (or classes using other traditional course management systems)?
N.A. We used Angel :)

6. Looking back, how would you sum up your experience?
 I learned so much about Web 2.0 that could be very useful right now in a library. Unfortunately, by the time I actually land a professional job in the library field, many of these tools might not be in use, but that's not to say that this information will not be useful. I learned much more general things than just how to use various tools such as how to implement a new technology in a library, the things to watch out for that might make a brand new technology go under or fail, how to assess a community's technology needs, and much more. The concepts learned in the class are just as valuable, if not more so, than learning how to use twitter, blogs, and wikis.