ETL 503 Topic 5: Web 2.0 and The School Library

I have had the most amazing, busy week!  Monday I started my new position as Kindergarten teacher at a local school.  Finally I can put into practice all those ideas I have been pinning on Pinterest!  But it has also kept me very busy after school, not to mention tired.  So study was put on the back burner this week until the weekend.  The house may be a mess but I have ploughed through topics 5 and 6.  Here are my notes for topic 5 which I had to post on the forum.

Key Aspects of Web 2.0 - sharing ideas and info: between teachers, between teachers and TLs, between exec and teachers, between students and teachers, ....possibilities are only limited by creativity. Everyone from the school community can be involved.

Opportunities for TLs- foster collaboration and participation, greater student involvement in the learning process. Links between home/school.

TLs cannot ignore such a unique, useful, interactive learning platform.

TL Blog use - promote new books & library activities, links to author's websites, links and info about searching, evaluating websites, useful links for assignments....

Possible problems - time, finding new ways to encourage readers/interaction.

Wikis - exploring the research process with students, publishing students work, student collaboration, student/teacher collaboration,  teacher collaboration, professional development, use as a sharing platform as you would a blog.

Social bookmarking - used in school context to gather information on specific topics/areas for professional development, collaboration on topics, collating resources for student use/teacher use.

Possible issues - need to check regularly that info is up to date, are there any dead links, evaluate links as you would any library resource which takes time.

Other aspects of web 2.0 - I use flickr for my logging any creative stuff I make and ideas for classroom displays/craft, Picasa for sharing and storing personal photos.  Pinterest has been the most useful professionally for me, it's great for finding ideas and storing faves visually.  I also use twitter for keeping up to date and finding new/interesting happenings in the world of the TL.

Critical Reflection

Shortly after submitting our first assignment for ETL503 - Resourcing the curriculum, we received a post assignment podcast from our supervisor, encouraging us to write a short critical reflection on the assignment/assignment process in preparation for ETL507 Reflective portfolio. When we had to write a critical reflection for ETL 401 I found it quite difficult because even though I had started writing this blog, I hadnt done much "reflective" writing at all. When I found out that in ETL 507 we will need to do a reflective portfolio I nearly fell over. Wouldn't it be useful to know right from the beginning that we should continue to write reflectively to assist with writing our reflective portfolio? Perhaps we were told that but if we were, I don't think it was said clearly enough. And what exactly is reflective writing? I found I had to do a little research for myself to really understand it. Anyway, I have come up with a bit of info about reflective writing and a handful of questions that will hopefully encourage it. If you are a Teacher Librarian student at CSU in particular, you may find this useful.

What is critical reflection and why should we do it?
Reflective writing enables the documentation of experiences, thoughts, questions. ideas and conclusions that signpost our learning journey ( see here). Basically, reflection provides an opportunity for us to think critically about what we do and why, so that change and improvement can result. By keeping some sort of reflective journal (ie a blog), we are keeping a record of events and results and our reaction to them, we are keeping data (useful for ETL507), and we are providing an opportunity to challenge and change ourselves.

Some ideas for getting started. (This is the hardest part for me).

• USE AN AGENDA: Describe the context. In our TL course, what is the issue/assignment? Where does it fit in the big picture? What are my assumptions? What could I do differently next time?
• FOCUS ON THE EXPERIENCE AND THINK (NOT ALOUD) IN WRITING: Take something you have read in the literature, or something that has occurred as part of the activity and think about the following - how does this connect with an aspect of my practice as a TL? What are the teaching and learning principles involved? What could I change in relation to this? What would happen if I did? Is there another way of looking at it?
• TAKING STOCK OF MY LEARING:What is the most important think I have learnt about the practice of a TL? What is the most important thing I have learnt about myself as a student? In what ways was I mistaken? How can I use this to improve as a TL/as a student?

Or put even more simply -

1. How do I feel about this?
2. What do I think about this?
3. What have I learned from this?
4. What action will I take as a result of my lessons learned?

Also, what have I learned with what I've done, and what have I done with what I've learned? (Shepherd, 2006)

I wonder how many students from last semesters ETL401 class have continued with their blogs, and if they have, how many are actually writing reflectively (instead of just descriptively)?

Reference
Shepherd, M. 2006. Using a learning journal to improve professional practice: A
journey of personal and professional self-discovery. Reflective Practice 7:333–48.

Announcing the 2011 Winners – Congrats to All!

Announcing the 2011 Winners – Congrats to All!

Click on the above link to see all the 2011 Edublog Blog winners. I am amazed at what teachers, librarians, students and others from school communities are blogging about.

Next Semester

I am busy studying for my statistics exam and so won't have a lot of time to blog over the next few weeks but I am applying for Master of Ed (Teacher Librarianship) to start of Christmas Hols, starting with Resourcing the curriculum and social media for information professsionals. I plan to keep blogging about these subjects so if you have been following my blog you are welcome to keep reading. I would also love to hear from anyone else who is continuing their studies or who is going to continue blogging. Best wishes!

Blog Bits

We got back last night from a weekend away and I felt too tired to do much "real study", so I've spent a couple of hours playing with my blog layout, viewing other blogs, looking for cool widgets. A few weeks back I didn't even know what a widget was! I spent some time checking out the ETL 401 forum and hopefully, tomorrow, I will get back to some proper study.

Busy, Busy, Busy

In between washing, cleaning and packing for a trip away on the weekend I've been fiddling with my blog (organising widgets, links etc), checking out websites, reading and making notes.

I'm gradually getting used to the idea of having a blog and adding bits and pieces to make it mine. I am really looking forward to seeing other students blogs as well.

I applied for a library card from the National Library and checked out Pandora, Australia's online web archive. What a fabulous resource it is! DH (Dear Husband) was most impressed when I found him some interesting info on Jack Brabham. (Other car nuts will understand this.) The website finds info to do with your search from all different websites, books and so on. I can't believe I have got this far in life without having come across it before.

Currently I am reading "Ch 5 National, State and Territory Libraries: information for the nation". This is one of the readings in the introduction module. What I've got most out of this reading is the fact that these libraries are incredibly important in collecting, preserving and enabling access to Australia's documentary heritage. They collect all kinds of items as well as books and more increasingly, digital resources.