Joyce Valenza’s Neverending Search

I am preparing a workshop on evidence-based practice.  While I want to share the importance of reports that address student achievement, it occurs to me that some of the best evidence regarding our effectiveness has nothing to do with checking to see if student reading scores have grown by a few points, and, in fact, happily they have. 

Some of the evidence in the school library arena has to do with helping a school, its learners, and its teachers, grow into 21st century relevance.  So maybe evidence-based practice for teacher-librarians has got to also deal with portfolios and carefully looking at the work students create.  And some of it has to do with ensuring that the authentic tools of business and academics make their way to K12.  Can I truly be accountable if my students move on without those tools and the skills and attitudes they need to use them thoughtfully?  More on this as I work further on that presentation. 

I am just back from attending the 2nd Annual Edublogs Awards (the first to be podcast live). I am in awe of the amazing work of my fellow bloggers. The list of nominees pointed me to material I now consider required reading for keeping up with thought in the ed tech and learning fields.

The results are now posted on the award website http://incsub.org/awards/the-edublog-awards-2005/ and listed below.  The winners are in bold.

Most innovative edublogging project, service or programme
Edublogs http://www.edublogs.org/
Ed Tech Talk http://www.edtechtalk.com/
Elgg http://elgg.net/
Stephen’s Web http://www.downes.ca/

Best newcomer
Adventures of the 14 day thesis/beyond the 14 day thesis http://insidethewhitehouse.uniblogs.org/
Blog of proximinal development http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/
FLOSSE Posse http://flosse.dicole.org/
Remote Access http://remoteaccess.typepad.com/remote_access/
Smelly Knowledge http://forestfortrees.edublogs.org/
Stuart Yeates’s blog http://connect.educause.edu/blog/StuartYeates

Most influential post, resource or presentation
A Nomad’s Guide to Learning and Social Software http://ideant.typepad.com/ideant/2005/11/_a_nomads_guide.html
Connectivism: Learning as Network-Creation http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/networks.htm
EdTechTalk No. 20 part 2: Downes & Richardson http://edtechtalk.com/EdTechTalk_20_Part2_Will_Richardson_Stephen_Downes
EdTechTalk No. 24 Ganley http://worldbridges.com/livewire/?p=93
E-learning 2.0 http://elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=articles&article=29-1
Future VLE - The Visual Version http://www.cetis.ac.uk/members/scott/blogview?entry=20050125170206

Best designed/ Most beautiful edublog
D’Arcy Norman Dot Net http://www.darcynorman.net/
The HUMlab Blog http://blog.humlab.umu.se/
Inline Comments http://web.mit.edu/benbr/notes/
Professional Lurker http://www.professional-lurker.com/
Room 208 http://bobsprankle.com/blog/
Tangled up in Purple http://www.nixit.co.nz/wordpress/
Tim Wang’s eLearning Blog http://blog.loaz.com/timwang/

Best library / librarian blog
Caveat Lector http://cavlec.yarinareth.net/
Infomancy http://www.schoolof.info/infomancy/
Joyce Valenza’s NeverEnding Search http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/
Librarian.net http://www.librarian.net/
Open Stacks http://openstacks.net/os/
The Shifted Librarian http://www.theshiftedlibrarian.com/

Best teachers blog
Blog of proximal development http://www.teachandlearn.ca/blog/static-page-1/
Edublog Insights http://anne.teachesme.com/
Gardner Writes http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1/
The Open Classroom http://theopenclassroom.blogspot.com/
Room 208 http://bobsprankle.com/blog/

Best audio/ and or video blog
Connect Learning http://davidwarlick.com/connectlearning/
Ed Tech Posse http://edtechposse.ca/
Ed Tech Talk http://edtechtalk.com/
Pod-EFL http://www.pod-efl.com/
SmartHistory http://www.smarthistory.blogspot.com/
TILT TV http://tilttv.blogspot.com/
Vlog 3.0 http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vlog/

Best example/case study of use of weblogs within teaching and learning
A Case Study of Pre-service Teachers Learning http://www.educationaltechnology.ca/couros/publications/Nolan-EdMedia2005.pdf
Assessment by blog http://incsub.org/blogtalk/?page_id=62
EdTechTalk No. 24: Ganley http://worldbridges.com/livewire/?p=93
iGeneration http://i-generation.blogspot.com/
Polar Science http://www.polarscience.ca/
Radcliffe Riverside LIVE http://radclifferiverside.com/live/index.php?automodule=blog
Rhythm in Architecture http://dyg-brainmaps.buzznet.com/user/
vSKOOL.org http://www.vskool.org/www/vskoolblog.html

Best group blog
BizDeansTalk http://www.deanstalk.net/
Dekita.org http://dekita.org/
The HUMlab blog http://blog.humlab.umu.se/
Kairosnews http://kairosnews.org/
Worldbridges http://worldbridges.com/livewire/

Best Individual Blog
bgblogging http://mt.middlebury.edu/middblogs/ganley/bgblogging/
Ideant http://ideant.typepad.com/
OLDaily http://www.downes.ca/news/OLDaily.htm
Weblogg-Ed http://www.weblogg-ed.com/

In addition to the blog awards, with its impressive sound effects and elegant and eloquent masters/mistress of ceremony–Dave Cormier, Josier Fraser–who took off her heels after the event–and James Farmer, the show presented provocative “entertainment.” Below are EdTechTalk’s Most Significant Educational Technology Stories of the Year.

Here are the top ten stories according to Dave and Jeff (who invite argument) on the EdTechTalk site http://edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/6:

• 10–BlackBoard’s takeover of WebCt
• 9–Moodle’s inception over the Internet, with two massive online universities switching to this open source alternative
• 8—Web2.0
• 7—The release of Open Office 2.0 which is likely to be strong competition to Microsoft
• 6—What do we do about our students being on the internet? The implications of blogging, IMing, etc. for schools
• 5—Podcasting is cool. Folks argued it should it be higher on the list. Will it change media?
• 4–$100 laptop (Annoounced as being developed by a team at MIT as a solution for the technology divide in developing countries. But does it exist?)
• 3—Wikipedia news reporting. The open source reference project’s on the spot reporting brings immediate personalized news to millions.
• 2—Firefox. On 10/19/2005 the browser experienced its one millionth download. Another solid competitor for Microsoft.
• 1–Browser-based applications. Will desktop applications become a thing of the past?

“There are two types of cheaters in high school today.  Type one cheats to get into Harvard or Yale.  Type two cheats because cheating is easier than learning and teachers just don’t care.” (10th grade girl)

“I would never cheat in [Teacher's] class because I know that would really hurt her feelings. Plus she really does want her students to do well, and gives us lots of opportunities to do extra credit so we will make good grades.” (10th grade girl)

I just got my copy of Guiding Students from Cheating and Plagiarism to Honesty and Intergrity: Stategies for Change by Ann Lathrop and Kathleen Foss. (Libraries Unlimited, 2005) 

My copy of the authors’ first book, Student Cheating and Plagiarism in the Internet Era (Libraries Unlimited, 2000), remains dog-eared and colorfully sticky-noted from constant reference and its heavy use in planning teacher workshops and inservices. I used and used its “COPY ME” pages.  It inspired the creation of our own Research Integrity Policy (http://mciu.org/~spjvweb/acadintegrity.html) and the establishment of our Academic Standards Committee.

This follow-up companion volume is ripe for future dog-earing.  It reveals that cheating is not just for students who struggle.  Above average students are just as likely to cheat in their quest for scholarships and top tier admissions. 

The book includes the results of a four-question, open-ended survey of 600 students, grades 7 through 12. Among the reasons students gave for cheating were that their teachers made it easy or that they didn’t like or respect a particular teacher. The authors report that only 26 of 906 student comments refer to parents’ attitudes or moral standards.

Any school struggling to improve its culture of honesty will want a copy.  We ALL own this issue and this book offers strategies for attack on all fronts.  Chapters include: Parents’ Role in Developing Student Honesty and Integrity; Leadership in Action; Integrity in the Writing Process; Using Technology with Integrity.  Its very practical COPY MEs include: a letter from a teacher to his students; a handout on conquering homework hassles; Michael Josephson’s Six Pillars of Character; a list of model policies; Nobody Likes a Cheat; a “Clean Hands” test for teachers; Identifying a Plagiarized Paper; and Carol Simpson’s Copyright and Plagiarism Guidelines for Students.

There’s much more. I’ve got my sticky notes ready.