Free Technology for Teachers

I have posted a link to this website on my Tech Resources page. There are lots of free ebooks for teachers (or TLs) about using technology in the classroom, info on creating blogs and websites, great resources, and resources to help you develop your own PLN (personal learning network). There are too many other things to mention here so take a look. I'm sure you will find something useful!

A Guide to e-book purchasing

Click on this link to read an interesting article by Sue Polanka, author of "No Shelf Required". It looks at the transfer from print to digital, business models, publishers, aggregators and wholesalers, buying through consortia and evaluating vendors. Polanka provides lots of practical information on how buying ebooks is different to buying print and things you need to know such as licensing issues and establishing clear ebook purchasing goals.

Housekeeping & PLNs

I spent the morning tidying and reorganising the Portal. I wanted it to be a bit more user friendly and practical. I also wanted to include a page for my personal learning network (PLN) after reading about it in the latest SCAN magazine (Vol 30 Number 4 2011). If you can get yourself a copy, Ruth Buchanan's article, "Developing a Personal Learning Network" is well worth a read. Many school libraries subscribe to SCAN and probably wouldn't mind lending a copy. For CSU students, the current issue isn't available yet online in the library. I've also begun compiling lists of tech and TL resources, some of which were on My Delicious but I wanted them all in one place. I also spend more time on the blog then perusing the delicious stacks. It also meant I could delete the useful websites list on my main page and free up the space for something more interesting. Note that I have changed the "Selection Aids" page to "Selectn & Weedg" - shortened to fit into the allowed space - and also to include weeding resources that I've found. One of my favourite is "Awful Library Books" who I've been following for a while via Twitter. They feature some library books that you can't believe were still on some library shelf somewhere. Hope you find my new pages useful! I would love to get some comments and while you're at it, if you regularly check in to the Portal, please follow me on Google Friend Connect. Just another way to extend that personal learning network!

Some Issues with e-book lending

Amazon is trying to organise an ebook lending scheme with a monthly subscription which libraries in USA are keen for - it's the publishers who are holding back.

Read "Everyone loves e-books, but no one wants to lend them" for the full story. Could be a while yet before e-book lending becomes commonplace in our libraries.

Selection Aids and Blogger Pages

I've been toying with the idea of adding pages to my blog for a while and my current study of selection aids for ETL503 has provided the perfect opportunity. While reading through the lists of websites in Module 2 I was thinking I needed to make a list of these to put them all in one place, so I don't have to rummage through all my subject modules at a later date trying to find them. Then I remembered about adding additional pages to my blog and it seems to have worked well. I'm proud of the fact I worked out how to put hyperlinks in a blog post. If you're not sure and you are with blogger, try this blog post. So have a look at my selection aids page. It's not finished yet but if you know of any good ones (not in the ETL503 module notes), let me know.

New Information Literacy Curriculum

On 10th November, Sheffield University Information School hosted a seminar on an Information Literacy Curriculum. Full documentation is available at
http://newcurriculum.wordpress.com/

This includes an explanation of the ideas behind the curriculum and recommendations on how it may be used and taught. All the reports are available under reports and outputs. The curriculum document is straightforward and practical and I think would be useful for Australian TLs as well.

Create yourself as a Simpson's Character

Had lots of fun today but didn't do much work (obviously).

http://www.simpsonsmovie.com/main.html?cid=us

Tools for Teaching Students at the top of Bloom's Taxonomy

https://docs.google.com/present/view?id=dhsgv8zv_4143np48dg

A fabulous slide presentation with links to internet tools.

You as a South Park character

My new profile pic was created using: http://www.sp-studio.de/
Basically you choose facial features, clothing etc and build yourself as a South Park character. I can imagine this would be wildly popular with highschool kids - if it is accessible via the DEC internet!

The Innovative Educator: Video Games for Learning? Why Not?

The Innovative Educator: Video Games for Learning? Why Not?: Editor's Note: This post was originally posted on career advice expert, Penelope Trunk's Homeschooling blog. If you'd rather read it (and th...

Video games start to shape classroom curriculum

Video games start to shape classroom curriculum

An interesting article on the ways that gaming is affecting education.

Education Hashtags on twitter

This is an awesome resource for TLs. This guy "the Cybrary Man" has compiled a list of educational hashtags that educators can use on twitter to find great resources and info. I find twitter is a fabulous way to keep up with what's new and find interesting things.

http://www.cybraryman.com/edhashtags.html

Who selects for the library collection?

Librarians' specialist knowledge and skills in collection management should be combined with users and people with subject expertise. It is essential a selection policy is written that outlines roles and responsibilities. If the selection policy is written with a clearly outlined decision making model included, there shouldnt be any issues with who selects what. Sometimes it will be the librarian and sometimes it will be a student or a teacher that identifies and requests a new resource. As long as it meets the criteria and budget, it is the policy that makes the final decision. What do others think?

The best thing about twitter is it is a way to increase your PD without going anywhere!

School Libraries: What's now, what's next, what's yet to come

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/96705

I came across this FREE ebook on Facebook and wanted to share with all who haven't seen it yet. It is an amazing resource for all TLs and includes chapters on learners, who and when we teach, emerging and multiple literacies, gaming, reading, physical libraries, virtual libraries, collaboration, and professional learning. There are over 50 articles by many TLs, including Joyce Valenza.

EER500 Introduction to Educational Research

Well, I have begun my second and third subjects for Master Ed (TL) and after much research and deliberation I think I have settled on an area of interest for my assignment. One of the articles we had to read for ETL 503 (Resourcing the Curriculum) is Doug Johnson's "Libraries for a post-literate society". http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/verve/_resources/connections_72.pdf
I have always been interested in how digital technology is affecting education and society and Doug's article really got me thinking. Also Australia's literacy levels have declined over the last decade (one of the few in the OECD according to PISA (http://www.pisa.oecd.org/pages/0,2987,en_32252351_32235731_1_1_1_1_1,00.html) and after a bit on online research I think I would like to find out more as to what connections there may be between literacy levels and digital technology. I also wonder how this may affect TLs and school libraries. More on this later...

Re-thinking the role of the teacher-librarian in a post literate society

View more presentations from International Association of School Librarianship

Semester Three - Here I come!

Well, after a little break we're back into it again. I have accepted an offer to do Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship) and this semester I'm doing ETL 503 "Resourcing the curriculum" and EER 500 "Introduction to Educational Research". It will be busy but I cant wait! It was comforting to read some familiar names on the forum for ETL 503 as well.