Campus Library 2.0
Library Journal
129 no7 30-3 Ap 15, 2004

Since we have read about Library 2.0, and will talk about it more probably, this article caught my eye. It is about a student who attends one school but goes to the library at another school – why? “I like it,” he says.

What makes a student like a certain library? Perhaps it is the idea of the information commons, a breath of fresh air for libraries that since the late 1990s were facing declining gate counts and circulation figures.

What is the information commons? Well, it seems somewhat elusive, even to the author of this article who was actively visiting such places. There doesn’t seem to be a common idea. The basics, however, do seem to be fairly common (no pun intended) and include many computers, collaborative space, comfortable furniture, and some kind of café or lounge.
Why “make the change?” According to University of Indiana officials, gate counts increased about 20 percent after the addition of the information commons. The actual physical change is actually just a representation of the practice that has already changed. Many libraries have already shifted to more digital teaching. The main goal of course is accepting that technology is a part of our everyday lives, and as such, how do we make it easiest for the user?

The bottom line is some libraries were deserted and how can we help users then? The different is now with offering additional resource, technology, instruction and collaborative and social space, the libraries are busy, thriving places.
My recurring thought throughout this article, and other similar discussions, remains a concern about building a “traditional” school. We are in the process of building a new school with completion expected in 2007/2008. I fear that we just rebuilt our current design in a different place rather than really considering what the future will be.

Noteworthy
By Mark Smith
Technology & Learning 26 no10 44 My 2006

I found this short article about a digital pen that uses a USB flashdrive to transfer handwritten notes into typed documents very interesting. I was aware of tablets to do this, but a pen that is used on regular paper was a new idea for me and very intriguing. I have many students who retype their notes. While many do this for retention of ideas, there are some that do it for improved readability. We had a special needs student who had to dictate all their papers and tests to a volunteer, and I am thinking this would have been a wonderful tool for this student. Unfortunately, he graduated, but at least I know of it now in case the need ever arises again!

Prepping for Prime Time
By Carol S. Holzberg
Technology & Learning 26 no9 34, 36 Ap 2006

An article about electronic portfolios?!? Now how could I pass that one up! My peers in the SLMS program and I will be completing an electronic portfolio before we receive our degree. With new legislation requiring a media specialist in every district, we will need to document our professional performance with electronic portfolios. In addition, the school I am currently working in is implementing a three-year plan starting this school year to require a capstone project of the graduating seniors that is basically an electronic portfolio. With so many relevant uses, I was happy to check out all the links listed in this article, even though it took hours to check them all out.

I found them all interesting in their own way. After looking through a couple of them, I had a take a break as my mind was swimming. There is a huge wealth of information available! Dr. Helen Barrett at electronicportfolios.org has more information than I could process. It is helpful to see how different places are doing portfolios and observe some of the templates such as ones from NETS and others.

One of the most amazing links was the MEHS student portfolios. I would love to share this site with the teachers at my school who do not feel our students are “behind” in their technological skills. Wow – the portfolios these students put together are really amazing, and they inspired me to push for this aspect in the work of our students in their capstone project.

The only problem after looking at all these sites discussing and highlighting electronic portfolios is that I still have not started on mine!

Simple Questions, Difficult Answers.
By Trevor Shaw
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools; Jan/Feb2006, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p38-40, 3p

This article is related to my earlier post about One to One Wisdom. I still think the day will come when every student in my school is issued a tablet or iBook. It just makes sense to me – it solves issues of scheduling the lab and is a more efficient use of that valuable class time when the students don’t have to physically move to the lab. But more than that, the value comes in the fact that technology then becomes “a regular part of the day-to-day operation of the class” rather than an additional activity or something that happens outside of the classroom. Let’s be honest, most, if not all, of these students will be using technology on a daily basis, as part of their normal work routine in their careers, so why not prepare them for that in their education?

The article was written by Trevor Shaw who initiated the Learning Unleashed project of a one to one program at the Dwight Englewood School in Bergen Coutny, N.J. Here he shares his thoughts on the implementation and success of this program. One of the ideas he shared that I agreed with was that if teachers don’t have to sign up for the only projector in the building and then spend 20 minutes setting it up, they would be more likely to use it. I would love to see a projector in every classroom in the new school we are building, but at least there will be 10 to 12 which is much better than the 2 we currently have.

I also chuckled at the observation that the rules of the game in regards to reliability have changed. As we become more and more dependent on technology, even the briefest outages constitute major problems. We need the application during 5th period, so if it is down for even half of that class period, the lesson is blown. While 100 percent reliability isn’t possible, it seems to be desired by many.

I also could relate to the teacher concerns regarding web surfing, game playing and emailing during class. In the brief, informal conversations regarding a one to one computing program I have had with the teachers in my school, this always comes up. I am thankful that if we ever do go to such a design, there are others who have blazed the way, and we can learn from them (more helpful advice Shaw provides by the way).

LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTS and the FUTURE: A Conversation with Ken Haycock
By Joyce Kasman Valenza
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools; Jan/Feb2006, Vol. 13 Issue 1, p11-15, 5p, 1c

You can do it – You need to do it seems to be the message being brought to teacher librarians in this article. Although it is a chapter taken from Joyce Kasman Valenza’s book Super Searchers Go to School, the article talks some about searching strategies, but more about how to promote your library within your school.

At first I felt put-down by the reality that teacher librarians don’t bridge the communication gap very well, but by the end of the article, I was agreeing that we need to avoid our information literacy jargon and get out there and promote and communicate and be the information experts that we know we are! As the article states, “We need to help people understand the tools that will make their lives easier,” and “If you can’t sell it personally, I don’t think you’re going to make a difference.” We need to be able to break through the busyness that teachers face and reach them with an aspect that they are interested in.

I also was encouraged to work with the faculty at my school at agreeing upon and reinforcing a research model. At this point, it is every teacher does their preferred way and the students are left not sure what the expectations or process are. I feel this would be easy to connect with the information literacy curriculum I am currently working on. Uh Oh! I am doing it – using the library jargon that the rest of the faculty doesn’t understand. I am going to have to change that title!

I also appreciate his point of using pre-assessment and then clustering those kids who need additional help. It certainly does make the most sense to target those kids to ensure mastery that doing a refresher for an entire class. I would like to develop this as well – pre-assessment tests in a variety of areas.

Staff Development 2.0
By David Jakes
Technology & Learning 26 no10 20-4 My 2006

This article caught my eye because I thought it might relate to the Web 2.0 and Library 2.0. I also was interested in it because I lead a lot of inservices at my school and thought it might have helpful information regarding that.

While the article was designed more for district wide inservices and I work with just my building, there were interesting things I learned. I realize that all educators are not equal when it comes to applying technology to the learning process, and it was helpful to be reminded that “the assessment of educator skill level and readiness is critical.”

I also found it helpful to identify technology standards for teachers and students. We are working on an information literacy curriculum, but I hadn’t considered identifying these for teachers. While some of the teachers in my building would be intimidated by this, I like the idea of requiring “every teacher to have a core level of technology competencey and demonstrate mastery on a formal assessment.”

I also appreciated the idea of extended training. Too often our inservices are informational or inspiring, but then the busyness of educational life enters and the newly learned skills sit idle because there is no time to develop them. I don’t see this happening very often though, and until it does, professional development will never be as effective as it could and should be.

The final idea that I really appreciated in this article was the idea to encourage community. I am impressed that in one school weekly reflections are emailed to the administrator and the administrator replies to each teacher as well as emails a weekly reflection. I would love to see our teachers interacting about professional ideas and tools more frequently whether it be via blogs or emails.

One-To-One Wisdom
By Chris Cutler
Technology & Learning 26 no9, 30, 32 Ap 2006

This article discusses laptop computer programs that promote one to one learning. I found this interesting since we are building a new school and there was discussion about building a lab or just issuing each student a laptop. Needless to say, we built the traditional lab, but it is interesting to me to consider.

I also found it interesting that one director of curriculum and technology in a school using ibooks with each student suggests that technology expertise should not be an issue when involving teachers in this plan. They just need to be flexible and open to new ideas. Another school, Illinois Virtual High School, however, does require teacher tech skills as a prerequisite. One test is requiring submission of applications electronically as well as ISTE’s technology assessment test.

The best thing I learned from this article is not a new concept, but still struck me. The article suggests that having teachers use technology in their personal lives leads them to using it in the classroom. Not a great new concept, I mean we have long realized that teaching skills in isolation is not effective. The problem I see is that too often we have an in-service training session on “how to” do some technology aspect rather than integrating it into the teachers’ lives and having them learn from that.

I also found the advice to learn something new two to three times per year as beneficial when looking at library programs. There is so many tools and so much we could be doing that it can get overwhelming. The goal is consistent improvement though, and a few new things each year is a good pace.

The Proof is in the Podding
By Stephen Abram
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools; May/June 2006, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p. 22 - 24, 3p

OK, I admit it, I was first attracted to this article because of the title. Pretty creative isn’t it? However, I do want to learn more about podcasting and its use in education, so I read on.

The Duke University experiment of providing iPods to all students is an interesting one, and one I am sure the students at my school wish we would try. I will admit I am one of those who thinks iPods=music and iTunes= songs to buy. I am aware of the other uses, but just don’t think about them. It requires a shift in my natural association patterns. I can do it though. I learned of the 20,000 podcasts, 11,000 audiobooks and 3,000 videos on iTunes in addition to the 3,000 videos. And, I did not know that the iTumes server software can be used to create a private digital school to support curriculum, teaching and learners where teachers and learners can post podcasts, photos, music, voice and text in many formats.

I love this statement from this article:

“To ignore iPods and their kin in the education space in 2006 is the same as ignoring the Web in 1996 or
the Internet in 1986. You won't go extinct, but you won't evolve too quickly either.”

I also learned about the emerging vodcasting from this article. This was a new one for me, and it basically is video podcasting. Not surprising that this would be the next step. I also learned that you can search for podcasts through Podscope and Podzinger.

While I probably won’t push for getting every student an iPod, I do think there are several educational uses, and at the very least, I will include this information, as well as the information I received in a presentation at UNI, in a teacher-in-service soon.

A LOOK AT ... Digital Cameras, Visual Literacy, and the Xbox Generation
By Charles G. Doe
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools; March/April 2006, Vol. 13 Issue 2, p. 26 - 30, 4p

This article focused on digital cameras. It reminded me of a presentation in my graduate course at UNI yesterday. It talked about a few cameras, what features to look for and how to use them both in the classroom and the library.
One of the most pertinent comments in the article, I felt, was the statement:

“Student experience seems to have become so much more visual in nature that educators can’t compete using the same tools we used when we were our student’s age. Given the amount of information students now get visually, the ability to communicate and understand through visual means—visual literacy—is becoming increasingly important.”

I thought this was a good point not only for the use of digital cameras, but also blogs, production software such as I-movie or Inspiration, etc.

This article shared what I already knew about digital cameras, which is that there are many, many out there. The author also suggested to focus on the need of the camera and how it will be used when deciding which one to purchase. I learned that a 3 or 4 megapixel camera is probably fine for most purposes and that a 3x optical – not digital – zoom is enough. I wasn’t aware of the difference between the two zooms until reading this article, and then it was also mentioned in my grad school class. I always love it when things are reinforced like that! I also learned that the camera speed is a consideration – as some have a faster image processor enabling you to take up to 5 pictures in 1.2 seconds. Fun! And of course, the battery is an important factor, and some cameras have a ‘super-life’ battery.

I have used digital cameras for a variety of projects in the library and will continue to do so.

Social Networking: A New Tech Tool and a New Security Concern for Teens and Schools
By Joanne Barrett
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools; May/June 2006, Vol. 13 Issue 3, p.8-11, 4p

This article focused on student use of social networking sites. I found it interesting as the author began with what was, in my opinion, a fairly bold statement. “What has been the hottest tech issue in your school this year?” She answered that she was confident it was student usage of social networking sites, and for my school, she is correct. With the dateline series about myspace, and local newspaper articles, the panic button was pushed. We as a faculty discussed the exact issues she brought up in the article:
• that we need to educate students how to use technology tools wisely,
• that teens have the time and desire to experiment extensively with social networking sites,
• that these sites have become prime places for predators and cyber bullies to harass members,
• that students don’t fully understand the public arena these postings are and they also don’t understand that what they post can impact them for years to come.

I agree with the author that this is a challenge we will need to solve in the future. What the answer is, however, I do not know. I like the ending of the article as it states:

"How do you educate when you have removed access at school? Are we creating a new type of teen prohibition that will make them want access even more? Education into the use of these resources will be one of our biggest challenges for some time to come."

Indeed, I wish I could see five years into the future to know how to resolve this issue. As of right now, we too are blocking these sites in our library. However, I know that doesn’t stop the students from using them, and we are implementing an awareness approach in the fall that will hopefully help educate our students as to the concerns involved with social networking sites.