Friday, March 30, 2012

Share your ideas using Voicethread

                http://voicethread.com/share/2835776/


Jamin has set up a voicethread and would love you to contribute to: Soliciting ideas from fellow [school/teacher] librarians about adding interactive spaces to a school library.


What are you currently doing about adding interactive spaces, or planning to do, at your school library? Listen  to what the others have to say and then add your contribution.


Unsure of what Voicethread is or how to use it? Visit Teacher's FIrst -Voicethread
Using Voicethread 
Looking for more about Voicethread visit: http://toolkit4blogwalker.wikispaces.com/VoiceThread


Another idea is using Voicethread as a digital portfolio

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Are you happy to have your students use wikipedia as a credible source?

Wikipedia provides a wealth of information with over 26 billion pages of content.
Studies demonstrate that Wikipedia is "almost as accurate as the Encyclopedia Britannica."






Visit  Open Site - wikipedia for more information.

Wikipedia
Open-Site.org Lisa Haller

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Are you reading to rap? Join a reading adventure.


The Join a reading adventure! rap is now live from this page http://www.schools.nsw.edu.au/raps/
This rap supports the National Year of Reading 2012. 

There are activities that suit English K-10 and PDHPE 3-6. 
Have a look.
Join us and enjoy! 
The blog and Gallery will  be live all year. 
You can share your other reading celebrations through the blog and Gallery as well!  
via Colleen Foley 
Learning Services
Description: DEC Colour Logo
Latest issue

If you haven't already go and take a look at the new SCAN website as it is NOW live!!

Monday, March 19, 2012

Is your assistant skilled for 21C duties?

Libraries have changed so much over the past decades.

Statement on school libraries and information and comunication technologies

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Australian School Library Association (ASLA)
Teacher Librarians are expected to be ready...what about your assistant/s?

Has your assistant the skills necessary to assist in this day and age?

 created a list of  Technology Skills Library Staff Should Have . What would you add or subtract from this list?

                                                                    Nathan McGregor

Below are the technology competencies developed by the Library Support Staff Certification program .


(Revised May 5, 2011)
These competencies address the skills and knowledge about technology necessary for library work. This competency set also addresses the role of providing access to and educating the user in the use of technologies and equipment relevant to information seeking, access, and use.
Library Support Staff will know:
1. General trends and developments of appropriate technology in all
library functions and services, whether offered in the library or through remote access.
2. Technology’s role in creating, retrieving, and delivering library resources, functions, and services.
3. The role and responsibility of libraries to introduce relevant applications of technology to the public, including assistive technology.
4. Basic computer operations needed to access library applications, software, and productivity tools.
5. Basic networking technologies and protocols.
6. Basic data security principles and best practices to ensure the integrity of data and the confidentiality of user activities.
7. Concepts and issues concerning the appropriate use of technology by different user groups.

Library Support Staff will be able to:

8. Adapt to changes in technology.
9. Transfer information gained from training into the work place.
10. Assist and train users to operate public equipment, connect to the internet, utilize library software applications, and access library services from remote locations.
11. Use information discovery tools including the library’s catalog, core library databases, and internet search engines.
12. Perform basic troubleshooting of technical problems and resolve or appropriately refer those problems.
13. Access and use basic assistive technologies, where appropriate, to ensure that all users have equitable access to technology.
Do/es your assistants have these skills? Are there more important ones for assistants in school libraries?
What about any of your volunteers? Is it important to train volunteers? What must they know how to do?

Saturday, March 17, 2012

Build your iPad fluency and discover evaluation tools for educational apps..



Good criteria is key to locating and selecting quality resources. 



Below are a selection of educators who have developed tools to evaluate the quality of educational apps:


iPad App Assessment Rubric for Librarians - Google Docs Templates


Tony Vincent - Evaluate apps 


                    - Ways to evaluate-Rubric   


Time for some fun: Create your own e-book  
from Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano ~ GloballyConnectedLearning.com

Friday, March 16, 2012

Moving forward school libraries & expository text



        2012 
     National 
Year of Reading 
  in Australia.













"Research carried out by Krashen has shown that free voluntary reading has a positive impact on reading comprehension, vocabulary, spelling ability, grammar usage and writing style, and that children who read more typically have higher literacy development (Krashen 1993, 1998)."

Moving forward school libraries & expository text

View more PowerPoint from Jennifer LaGarde

Position Statement on the School Librarian's Role in Reading states that school libraries must provide students, staff, and families with open, non-restricted access to a varied high quality collection of reading materials in multiple formats that reflect academic needs and personal interests.

ASLA and ALIA are encouraging everyone to get involved in our What a difference a school library makes campaign.
Visit the wiki, join the Facebook Page and send to colleagues, friends, parents and carers.

Check out the Report on the Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement  5.2 Reading literacy 

Thursday, March 15, 2012

PhotoPin-a creative commons photo search site


PhotoPin is another great search tool that lets you search for creative commons images to use in class projects and blogs. This photo site for bloggers comes highly recommended. 


 Simply search for any topic using the search box , preview the photo, and click “get photo” to download the photo as well as the code with proper attribution link


So simple and easy to use.


If you prefer to pay for your photos rather than linking to it, the results at the top will take you to a stock photo site where you can buy photos instead (currently fotolia).

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Going multimodal...It's time to

Multimodal literacy is a major part of Multiliteracies.


Creation of multimodal texts such as animations, films, computer presentations, e-books, blogs, and web pages is now included in the new Australian Curriculum: English (2011). Creating is described as the development and/or production of spoken, written or multimodal texts in print or digital forms; and a multimodal text is defined as 'the combination of two or more communication modes'.




"Digital and multi-media technology have changed the way we communicate so that reading and writing can often combine the simultaneous processing of text, images, sound and movement.  For education for the 21st century, teachers need to understand “multimodal literacy”: the way literacy occurs with digital texts combined with paper-based texts."   Multimodal Texts and Reading - Brilliant research 
from Maureen Walsh via Rod Leonarder


Walsh defines: Multimodal texts as: "those texts that have more than one ‘mode’ so that meaning is communicated through a synchronisation of modes. That is, they may incorporate spoken or written language, still or moving images, they may be 
produced on paper or electronic screen and may incorporate sound. 


Different types of multimodal texts that students commonly encounter in their educational environment in print form are picture books, information books, newspapers and magazines. 


Multimodal texts in non-print form are film, video and, increasingly, those texts through the electronic screen such as email, the internet and digital media such as CD Roms or DVDs and now through tablet computers such as the iPad." from 
Reading visual and multimodal texts: how is ‘reading’different?

Various Digital Learning Objects from TaLe  can be used to introduce aspects of multimodal design and composition to support multimodal design and authoring.
This content is restricted to teachers and students in Australian schools and other bodies licensed by The Le@rning Federation.

In TaLe -You can create lists of your searches and saved items:My list- Design

Stage 1 Design a Talking Cat
Design a talking cat to present at show and tell. Create your cat by selecting from a range of elements such as mood, size and colour. Choose a voice and background picture for your cat. Decide on a name that suits your talking cat. Select a note about your cat. Watch the animation. Change your design as many times as you like. Evaluate the impact of your design by using icons and selecting a comment. This learning object is one in a series of six objects.

Can you put the puzzles together?









provided by flash-gear.com
Further readings from Maureen Walsh:

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Get searching with DeweyDigger.

Check out this fabulous, new, innovative search facility from


DeweyDigger.com
via Marion Silk

Monday, March 12, 2012

Ebooks in K-12 school libraries 2011.

Enjoy reading: Ebooks  The New Normal- Second Annual Survey of ebook penetration and use in US K-12 school libraries. 2011

Wheelers ePlatform offers one option for school libraries in Australia:

ePlatform in a nutshell

An ePlatform is a secure library lending-platform that hosts and facilitates the lending of eBook titles to library members, students and teachers (titles are available for lending to all departments in the school). Wheelers sets-up an individual ePlatform for each library (which Wheelers hosts). All titles are profiled in the library OPAC. The ePlatform enables both the purchases of eBooks and lending out of those titles. Note: If your school doesn't have an OPAC available for student use, students can use the Wheelers ePlatform as a stand alone product.


HOW IT WORKS
How it Works



Sunday, March 11, 2012

Vokis now have more features available.

One of my latest vokis
 Lesson Plans are available.
If you are new to voki there are  some resources to help you get started with Voki Classroom. 


Voki Classroom looks like a good answer for school libraries.


Add up to 10 classes
Add up to 200 students
Visit this site to watch a video and check  out the comparison between voki-free and voki-classroom. 

Manage Students. Add and manage your students. Assign students to one or more classes and give them each a unique login. There's no need for students to register!
Manage Classes & Lessons. Add and manage classes and lessons. Customize the appearance and instructions of each lesson. Students can easily view and complete their Voki assignments from the Student view.
Review Vokis. Easily review your students' Voki assignments in one place. Review and approve all student Vokis by lesson, or by student.

Saturday, March 10, 2012

R U Ready 2 Curate?

"Digital curation is the selection[1]preservation, maintenance, collection and archiving of digital assets[2][3]from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_curation


Introducing The Curator's Code
– a new standard for honoring attribution of discovery across the web.

The Curator’s Code is an effort to keep this whimsical rabbit hole open by honoring discovery through an actionable code of ethics — first, understanding why attribution matters, and then, implementing it across the web in a codified common standard, doing for attribution of discovery what Creative Commons has done for image attribution.


If you click on the links at the end of this sentence you will find a wide and useful range of  Digital Curation Platforms - Created by Students in LIBS605 at Old Dominion Univ.

Curate the Web and Learn to Live
                             Visit  Curate the Web and Learn to Live | Scoop.it by Pip Cleaves, provides a super selection of articles dealing with the many  aspects of curating.


"Here’s to a new dawn of keeping the Internet’s whimsical rabbit hole of information open by honoring discovery like the creative and intellectual labor that it is.

Introducing The Curator’s Code: A Standard for Honoring Attribution of Discovery Across the Web

Are you ready to endorse the code?




References:



  1. ^ Erin Scime (8 December 2009). "The Content Strategist as Digital Curator"A List Apart.
  2. a b "What is Digital Curation?"Digital Curation Centre. Retrieved 2008-04-01.
  3. ^ Elizabeth Yakel (2007). "Digital curation". Emerald Group Publishing. Retrieved 2008-04-01.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Has Information Literacy changed in the Digital Age?

First let's look at :Information Literacy: Why? What? How?
Information Literacy
View more PowerPoint from Learning and Teaching Scotland


Do you have the keys to tomorrow? Are you feeling that you are heading in the right direction for your students to succeed?
View more presentations from Judy O'Connell
Now  explore this  really comprehensive slideshare that positions the role of Teacher Librarian in the 21st century evidence based paradigm. via Victor Davidson on yammer.