I really enjoyed visiting the different web sites for media centers and was surprised to see many that were actually wikis, and some not so much! Most of the web sites had access to wikis for specific tasks or class assignments, and I was glad to see that they were indeed protected.

For the most part, I liked all the websites that were easily accessible from link to link, but that also had a main menu to return to specific pages on each link that was accessed. These are typically the ones I like to call user friendly, but the sites that frustrated me were the ones that would let you access a wiki, but would take you away from the media center's pages or easy links. Some of the sites I found were a bit overwhelming with access to Facebook, twitter, and so forth. I do not understand why one would need access to all of these places if you had the information posted on a wiki site; it seemed as thought he same information was posted on all of these different mediums. Why does a school library need the wiki web site and a facebook page? I understand the podcasts, blogs,other teacher wikis and favorite websites being available on the wiki web page, but too much can be over kill.

I also liked the sites that had podcasts links for various reasons, whether they were for book lists, or class projects to be seen.

I liked the sites that had blogging about different topics, especially ones that were question oriented. Students and teachers could use them to ask specific questions and anyone who is invited can answer and respond; this way it is not always necessary for the media specialist to find all the answers. I liked the sites that had easy links to podcasts or slide shows on how to use equipment in the classrooms or labs, and I also liked the ones that had slide shows for student purposes as well. Some had videos on how to use a wiki, some had videos on how to use Galileo, and some had videos on how to cite different sources for research. The possibilites are endless and it continues to amaze me how much is available that is not being used.

Finally, I have to say that viewing all of these web sites excited me to think that high schools could eventually offer online courses to students. I would love to be a teacher or media specialist that could assist with online courses. Students would be better prepared for the type of classes they will be taking in college and more familiar with using online sources for school activities and projects. I'm not quite sure if this will happen in my career but it would be exciting because the media specialists would have the site that would be central to all courses and activities, making our job even more important!