14 Ways K-12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media
by Joyce Valenza, Ph.D
Sept. 21, 2009, Neverendingsearch
“This is the best time in history to be a teacher-librarian. Major shifts in our information and communication landscapes present new opportunities for librarians to teach and lead in areas that were always considered part of their role, helping learners of all ages effectively use, manage, evaluate, organize and communicate information, and to love reading in its glorious new variety. A school’s teacher-librarian is its chief information officer, but in a networked world, the position is more that of moderator or coach, the person who ensures that students and teachers can effectively interact with information and leverage it to create and share and make a difference in the community and beyond.”
“For background, take a look at the Standards for the 21st Century Learner (http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/standards.cfm) . These information-fluency standards scream inquiry, critical thinking, digital citizenship, creative communication, collaboration, and networking. For librarians, and for most other professionals, the game has changed. There is no textbook for new practice, and it is absolutely true that some of us are a little more retooled than others. Nevertheless, there are at least 14 retooled learning strategies that teacher-librarians should be sharing with classroom teachers and learners in the 2009–2010 school year.
Skillsoft Survey Provides Evidence for Rethinking Learning
by Clive Shepard
July 27, 2009, Clive on Learning
“There’s plenty to ponder in the results of Rethinking Learning (http://www.skillsoft.com/about/press_room/press_releases/June_23_09_UK.asp) , a report published in June by SkillSoft and based on research conducted on their behalf by OnePoll. The survey canvassed 2019 people working in companies with more than fifty employees, evenly divided across eight European countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and the UK). Here are some of the findings that grabbed my attention:”
– A large majority (67 percent) would like their employer to offer more opportunities for learning and 76 percent think they could be more effective and productive at work if these were offered.
– Around half of the respondents say that the formal classroom training they had been given was only useful in parts, with an overwhelming majority (87 percent) preferring to learn at their own pace.
– Over half (56 percent) would like more time honing their ‘softer skills’, with Germans and Poles (68 percent and 70 percent) wanting far more tutoring on these skills than the French (43 percent).
– When asked “what helps you to concentrate?”, exactly half say “the facility to go back and revisit parts you didn’t understand”.
– Well over two thirds like to be able to snack and have a drink and/or get up and walk around when they want.
– Only 15 percent think that listening to music helps them to focus.
– Almost five times as many like to study early in the morning compared with late at night.
– Overall 30 percent prefer to learn during working hours.
– Addressing the question: “wat best helps you retain recently acquired knowledge?” there is steady support for continuous testing, visual prompts and interactive learning. However, by far the most important method (71 percent) is putting knowledge into practice as soon as possible.
– Only 35 percent have tried e-learning. Of these, 65 percent would either like to try it or would like to try it but don’t feel they know very much about it.
“Tinkering Toward Utopia”
by Will Richardson
July 20, 2009, Webblogg-ed
In [Phillip Schlechty’s newish book “Leading for Learning: How to Transform Schools into Learning Organizations”], “he makes a pretty compelling case that ‘reform’ is really not going to cut it in the face of the disruptions social Web technologies are creating and that we really do have to think more about “transform” when it comes to talking about schools. There are echoes of Sir Ken Robinson here, and I’ve still got Scott McLeod’s NECC presentation riff on Christensen’s ‘Disrupting Class’ on my brain as well, especially the ‘the disruption isn’t online learning; it’s personalized learning’ quote. And while there are others who I could cite here who are trumpeting the idea that this isn’t business as usual, I think Schlechty does as good a job as I’ve seen of breaking down why schools in their current form as “bureaucratic” structures will end up on the “ash heap of history” if we don’t get our brains around what’s happening. In a sentence:”
“ ‘Schools must be transformed from platforms for instruction to platforms for learning, from bureaucracies bent on control to learning organizations aimed at encouraging disciplined inquiry and creativity.’ “
“To that end, Schlechty refers to past efforts at reform as ‘tinkering toward utopia’ and says that if we continue to introduce change at the edges, we’ll continue to spin our wheels. He says that schools are made up primarily of two types of systems, operating systems and social systems, and makes the point that up to now, most efforts to improve schools have centered on changing the former, not the latter.” . . .
A Learning Community For Teens on a Virtual Island – The Schome Park Teen Second Life Pilot Project
by Julia Gillen, Peter Twining, Rebecca Ferguson, Oliver Butters, Gill Clough, Mark Gaved, Anna Peachey, Dan Seamans and Kieron Sheehy1
June 2009, eLearning Papers
“Virtual 3D worlds such as Second Life2 and online gaming environments are attracting educationalists’ interest. This paper reports upon the first European Teen Second Life educational project for 13-17 year olds: the Schome Park NAGTY (National Association for Gifted and Talented Youth) Pilot. This project aimed to collect evidence about fresh approaches to education beyond the existing curricula of formal schooling through exploring the educational potentials and pitfalls of Second Life. Diverse quantitative and qualitative data sources are drawn upon to investigate issues relating to engagement, development of domain-specific and knowledge age skills as well as challenges for educators.” . . .
“Our experience suggests the importance of understanding the role of teachers in this kind of innovative environment, not as the possessors of relevant knowledge but as facilitators and promoters of a cooperative ethos. We conclude that, despite multiple challenges, there is evidence to support dramatic new possibilities for pedagogic redesigns. Students who engaged with the virtual island, the wiki and the forum demonstrated higher levels of the knowledge age skills of communication, leadership, teamwork and creativity.” . . .
90+ Videos for Tech. and Media Literacy
May 21, 2009, Open Thinking
“Over the past few years, I have been collecting interesting Internet videos that would be appropriate for lessons and presentations, or personal research, related to technological and media literacy. Here are 70+ videos organized into various sub-categories. These videos are of varying quality, cross several genres, and are of varied suitability for classroom use.”
[Here are some I had a chance to look at this afternoon – they are great! These ones here would be great to show as an intro to a faculty training session, as an ice breaker or something like that. There are others that are more educational in nature that I haven’t looked at yet. Chris]
2. Trendspotting: Social Networking (http://www.milkandcookies.com/link/42199/detail/) – Comedian Dimitri Martin will make you laugh as he discusses social networking. This video is useful in deconstructing concepts of friendship and interaction in the age of social networks.
3. Did You Know 3.0 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpEnFwiqdx8) – Widely viewed video by Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod that gives light to the changes imminent in our emerging knowledge-based society. This is an excellent video for framing and introducing the new reality to students, teachers, faculty, and administrators.
4. Introducing the Book (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek) – This comedic portrayal of a medieval helpdesk relays the point that each new technology will bring with it challenges of user adoption and a steep learning curve.
5. Mr. Winkle Wakes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lm1sCsl2MQY) – A great video by Matthew Needleman retelling a classic story about the resistance of schools to change.
8. Web Crash 2007 (http://www.theonion.com/content/video/breaking_news_all_online_data) – This is an excellent, very funny video from The Onion that describes the horrible Internet crash of 2007.
9. Five Minute University (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRBW8eJGTVs) – This is a classic clip from Father Guido Sarducci from Saturday Night Live fame. The video gives humorous critique to learning in higher education. (Suggested by ZaidLearn).
A List of 100+ Education Reporters on Twitter
by Meranda Watling
July 7, 2009, Meranda Writes
For months, I’ve had in mind finding all my education reporter peers across the country on Twitter. I decided this afternoon it was time to finally put together what I’ve gathered and to see how many more I could find. What follows is a somewhat comprehensive list of education reporters on Twitter. I say somewhat because there are a few exceptions.” . . .
“So what is the purpose of spending several hours on my day off putting this together? Honestly, it was kind of selfish. I think it’s interesting to see what other peers on this beat are covering. In many cases, we’re writing about the same things. We struggle with the same FOIA-ignorant officials and try to wrap our heads around similarly incomprehensible state test data. And I figured extending my own network to include more of those folks could help me with ideas, trends to look into, and just some camaraderie.” . . .
7 Things You Should Know About… Personal Learning Environments
May 2009, Educause Learning Initiative
“The term personal learning environment (PLE) describes the tools, communities, and services that constitute the individual educational platforms learners use to direct their own learning and pursue educational goals. A PLE is frequently contrasted with a learning management system in that an LMS tends to be course-centric, whereas a PLE is learner-centric. At the same time, a PLE may or may not intersect with an institutional LMS, and individuals might integrate components of an LMS into the educational environments that they construct for themselves.”
“A typical PLE, for example, might incorporate blogs where students comment on what they are learning, and their posts may reflect information drawn from across the web — on sites like YouTube or in RSS feeds from news agencies. While most discussions of PLEs focus on online environments, the term encompasses the entire set of resources that a learner uses to answer questions, provide context, and illustrate processes. As used here, the term refers not to a specific service or application but rather to an idea of how individuals approach the task of learning.” . . .
10 Rules That Govern Groups
by Jeremy Dean
July 10, 2009, PSYBlog
“Much of our lives are spent in groups with other people: we form groups to socialise, earn money, play sport, make music, even to change the world. But although groups are diverse, many of the psychological processes involved are remarkably similar. Here are 10 insightful studies that give a flavour of what has been discovered about the dynamics of group psychology.” . . .
There are lots of free resources here – “Open Culture explores cultural and educational media (podcasts, videos, online courses, etc.) that’s freely available on the web, and that makes learning dynamic, productive, and fun. We sift through all the media, highlight the good and jettison the bad, and centralize it in one place. Trust us, you’ll find engaging content here that will keep you learning and sharp. And you will find it much more efficiently than if you spend your time searching with Google, Yahoo or iTunes.”
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