K12 Online: The conference is coming

The 2nd annual K12 Online virtual conference is just about a month away. Make sure you attend, or attend the conference archive. The event is completely free. Important thinkers and dreamers and practitioners will present. Connect yourself with their visions of how our schools are evolving, how learning is changing.

Because the presentation list might overwhelm, yesterday the site began posting the workshop presenters’ teasers–short, online videos to give attendees a better idea of what their presentation will address. Four teasers are already up:

• Lisa Durff - “Pushing the Envelope or How to Integrate Web 2.0 Tools on a Shoestring”
• Chris Harbeck - “Release the Hounds”
• Dean Shareski - “Design Matters”
• Silvia Tolisano - “Travel Through Time and Space”

Let’s plan to demonstrate strong library presence at this one! Your attendance will help you help learners learn and help teachers teach.

Here’s the list of strands and presentations:

Classroom 2.0:

• Silvia Tolisano
  “Travel Through Space and Time”
• Drew Murphy
  “Step by Step- Building a Web2.0 Classroom”
• Chris Harbeck
  “Release the Hounds”
• Vance Stevens, Nelba Quintana, Doris Molero, Sasa Sirk, and Rita Zeinstejer
  “Motivating Student Writers by Fostering Collaboration through Tagging and Aggregating”
• Wendy Wolfe
  “If All My Classes Did This”
• Konrad Glogowski
  “Assessment and Evaluation”
• Anne Davis
  “Putting the Pedagogy into the Tools”
• Dean Shareski
  “Design matters”
• Jeff Utecht
  “Sustained Blogging in the Classroom”

New Tools:

• Liz Kolb
  “Cell Phones as Classroom Learning Tools”
• Frank Pirrone
  “Collaborative Concept Mapping - Breaking the Bounds of Location and Time… for $0.00 per Seat”
• Cheryl Oakes, Bob Sprankle, Alice Barr
  “Flat Agents of Change”
• Anne Davis
  “Learn to Blog : Blog to Learn”
• Jason Hando
  “LMS 2.0 - Engaging Learners Using More Advanced Techniques and the Odd Mash-up inside Moodle”
• Sharon Betts
  “Oodles of Googles”
• Kevin Jarrett and Sylvia Martinez
  “Second Life: K-20 Educators Exploring Virtual Worlds - Panel”
• Kurt Paccio and James Gates
  “The Electric Slide! Twenty-First Century Style”
• April Chamberlain
  “Trailfire”

Professional Learning Networks:

• Jen Wagner, Cheryl Oakes, Vicki Davis, Sharon Peters
  “Webcasting for Educators: Expanding the Conversation”
• Brandi Caldwell
  “Creating PLE’s with TLC”
• Kevin Hodgson and Bonnie Kaplan.
  “The Collaborative ABC Project: Using Technology to Tell Stories”
• Lee Baber, Paul Allison, Susan Ettenheim and Thomas Locke
  “Building Online Communities for Youth”
• Jeff Utecht
  “Online Professional Development”
• James Folkestad
  “Changing a System: Network Centric Learning Communities”
• Sharon Peters, Vincent Jansen
  “Building a Yardstick for PD Success: Establishing Key Performance Indicators for Web 2.0 Personal Optimized Learning Environments”
• Vinnie Vrotny
  “Expanding Horizons - Engaging the Adult Members of your Community (Teachers, Administrators, and Parents) through the Use of Personal/Professional Learning Networks”
• Alex Ragone and Arvind Grover
  “EdTechTalk: A Network of Homegrown Webcasters”

Obstacles to Opportunities:

• Patrick Ledesma
  “The Technology Specialist as Teacher Leader: Strategies to Ensure Successful Technology Integration and Student Learning in Schools”
• Ben Wilkoff
  “Starting From Scratch: Framing Change for All Stakeholders”
• Karen Richardson
  “Crossing the Copyright Boundary in the Digital Age”
• Shawn Nutting
  “Creating a Paradigm Shift in Technology”
• Lisa Durff
  “Pushing the Envelope or How to Integrate Web 2.0 Tools on a Shoestring”
• John Pearce
  ”Me blog? No way!!!”
• Sylvia Martinez
  “Web 2.0 Share the Adventure”
• Joseph Bires
  “Acceptable Use and the Web 2.0”
• Sylvia Martinez
  “Challenging Assumptions about Technology Professional Development”

Belated BlogDay

I finally posted a very belated BlogDay celebration on my SLJ Blog. (Their software and my Mac just don’t seem to get along.) Anyway, forgive my cheat. The occasion gave me an excuse to promote some of the wonderful bloggers in the school library world instead of the recommended stretching beyond.

I am back in the mountains again, squeezing the very last juice out of a too-short summer and hoping that our association and our school board can come to an agreement in their talks today. I hope not to be sharing pictures from the line in my upcoming posts. The shirt is ugly and I miss our students.

Post script:  We have a tentative agreement!  Good-bye to summer. Back to the lovely old schedule.

Database VoiceThread

In preparation for the Teachers Teaching Teachers webcast tonight, I put together a little VoiceThread called: Why I Love Databases. It’s a bit corny and it needs a little humor. I welcome your ideas!

Please try to join us tonight at 9 PM Eastern for an EdTechTalk conversation about using State Online Virtual Library Click on Listen to listen live. Participate in the live text chat by clicking on the CHAT link (no password needed).

Host Susan Ettenheim shares:

Joining us tonight, will be Nancy Keane, who taught the online class this past summer for YALSA about teens and database use and Michael Gorrell, the Chief Information Officer for EBSCO (thank you Karen Minton of GALILEO, Georgia for making the connection!) As a Dad of 5 boys, Michael understands our cries for support and greater understanding about using these resources. Join us to learn new info from the inside!

We also welcome back Kate Storms of NOVEL, New York, Sylvia Norton of MARVEL, Maine, Karen Minton and Courtney McGough of GALILEO, Georgia.
Join Lee Baber and I (Paul is still away) and Joyce Valenza and Kevin and TEB and all of the teachers who are sharing!

On hooding and babies and bathwater

I am back from Texas, from the UNT hooding ceremony and from visiting family in Houston. (Those of you who are already groaning, please keep reading, this post moves beyond the personal.)

First, let me say that I am grateful to the UNT SLIS faculty for offering me a precious gift–the chance to pursue the degree that eluded me through so many years of kids and work. I was able to graduate with two members of my wonderful cohort: Michael Stephens and Stacy Creel. And I am grateful to my committee: Carol Simpson, Brian O’Connor, Sam Hastings, and Marjorie Pappas for guiding me through an arduous process.

As I sat in the audience watching 72 doctoral candidates get hooded before it was my turn, I considered that arduous process.

I considered it in light of my recent post on databases in SLJ, the argument I’ve been following in Chronicle of Higher Education, Britannica’s Web 2.0 Forum, Prensky’s motto: “Engage me or enrage me,” our/my very honest passion for all things 2.0. And then Chris Sessums pointed to YouTube video based on an Alan Watts talk: Music and Life, fairly scornful of the arduous (empty) process.

I suspect the truth lies somewhere in between a scorn for the worn and the thrill of the new. Can we engage our learners without throwing out some of the 1.0 bathwater?

I grew up “paper trained.” But nearly every time I opened the bag I received (see that video), though I had to wait a bit, it actually did contain riches that allowed me to do the things I wanted to do and to grow as I did them. No one ever told me to sell insurance or wear a gray suit. Along the way there was time for music and dance and wine and friends.

Back in high school, I wrote carefully scrutinized papers, that were scanned for the quality of my argument and the quality of my evidence. I also worked on authentic projects; I tried to save the world; I created media (albeit primitive).

I am so impressed with Marco Torres’ students’ work. I want my students to create work like that, work is powerful and relevant and intelligent. I truly get the problems Marco’s students describe in Digital Students @ Analog Schools. I want my students to encounter university programs that allow them to continue to learn, to create in multiple media, to contribute.

But I want them also to learn to write a formal paper. I want them to develop the patience required to read serious nonfiction and journal articles. I want them to be able to carefully evaluate media and sources in any format. I want them to be ready and able to write an academic argument, an annual report, a carefully considered business plan.

As I work to engage them, as I look for projects that allow them to explore the power of media, to communicate effectively with expanded audiences, I want want them also to strive for quality. I want them to develop some more traditional skills.

I want them to have some level of academic patience. This work might take energy.

Though I want to make those databases I love way easier to find and use, I also don’t think asking students to go one more click beyond Google is too much to ask.

Teachers Teaching Teachers: Webcasts on Subscription Databases

Don’t miss the next two webcast chats on state subscription databases hosted by TeachersTeachingTeachers on the EdTechTalk channel. They’re coming up over the next two Wednesday nights at 9:00 PM Eastern time. Last night the TTT folks hosted representatives from Georgia’s Gallileo, New York’s NOVEL, Maine’s MARVEL!, and Florida’s FEL. Catch up with my SLJ post on the first chat (which I got to pretty late) and the things that keep me up at night. Thanks TTT for focusing on this important educational topic!

New NSBA Report: Net Dangers Overrated, Bring Social Networking to Schools

If you don’t yet have administrative or board blessing for curricular use of social networking, you might want to download the new NSBA (National School Board Association) study funded by Microsoft, News Corporation, and Verizon.

You may have already guessed it: the Internet is not always as dangerous as some people say.  Students use it in their work as learners:

Students report that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social networking scene is education. Almost 60 percent of students who use social networking talk about education topics online and, surprisingly, more than 50 percent talk specifically about schoolwork.

The report argues for the positive influence of social networking tools and urges districts to reexamine policies that limit educational opportunities:

. . . the vast majority of school districts have stringent rules against nearly all forms of social networking during the school day–even though students and parents report few problem behaviors online. Indeed, both district leaders and parents believe that social networking could play a positive role in students’ lives and they recognize opportunities for using it in education–at a time when teachers now routinely assign homework that requires the Internet to complete. In light of the study findings, school districts may want to consider reexamining their policies and practices and explore ways in which they could use social networking for educational purposes.

One of my favorite quotes:

Safety policies remain important, as does teaching student about online safety and responsible online expression, but students may learn these lessons while they’re actually using social networking tools.

The study concludes with some very reasonable recommendations for school board members (you may want to share these at meetings):

• Consider using social networking for staff communication and professional development
• Find ways to harness the educational value of social networking
• Ensure equitable access
• Pay attention to the nonconformists (as an influential leadership cadre among their peers and to improve their motivation and achievement)
• Reexamine social networking policies
• Encourage social networking companies to increase educational value

Greetings from Anchorage, Alaska where I got up early to prepare for a full day of workshops tomorrow. I was about to leave for a day of sightseeing, but two Twitter tweets got my attention this morning. (I am continually amazed at how my network on this ephemeral tool feeds my brain!)

First Al Lupton shared Mashable’s compilation of cool ways to search Flickr. The 11 Craziest Ways to Browse Flickr which should have some cool classroom and perhaps, research application. Among the crazy ways: by drawing an image, by entering song lyrics, by color.

And more importantly, Sheryl Nussbaum Beach posted a brilliant essay that helps us define and share the potential for Learning 2.0. Definitely read it and consider how you might use it in discussion with your faculty in September. Also see my SLJ post on Sheryl’s core components.

Now, off to see Anchorage!

Monday update: Update: Just saw another of Sheryl’s not-to-be-missed posts: The Art of Building Virtual Communities.  Read it. Share it.

Thoughts on retooling

Last week I attended our leadership summit in State College, PA. As a whole, our organization has been slow to embrace 2.0 technologies. Perhaps this is true of most state school library organizations.

But this is a critical year for school librarians in Pennsylvania.  And it is wise that this year our organization is fully focused on professional development.

Our state is entering the second fully-funded year of the Classrooms for the Future grant. The grant will put a laptop on the desk of every student in high school English, math, social studies, and science classrooms.

Each school in the program has a technology integrator who is experiencing a rich professional development experience. He or she is responsible for spreading the knowledge they gain with their high school faculties.

What this means is that Pennsylvania high school librarians must retool as our schools retool. Wait a minute. We must retool before our schools retool. It’s not optional.

We must all figure out how to teach and lead in technology infused, one-to-one schools. We must figure out how to lead in the areas of information technologies and new strategies for communicating information products. We must figure out how to best collaborate with our technology integrators. We must figure out how to reach students who are researching and writing in their classrooms.

This can happen through our virtual libraries. This can happen when we physically leave our libraries to partner with classroom teachers.

To get our feet wet, one of our first strategies was to set up a PSLA Ning. We are also considering following California’s example, investigating a program that resembles School Library Learning 2.0.

Did I mention that this is not optional?

Cool TL videos!

Elementary librarian Doug Valentine, a.k.a. Dr. Loopy, a member of our TeacherLibrarianNing, recently posted three very clever, tongue-in-cheek videos about our profession.  I later discovered that these are but three of his many funny efforts posted on TeacherTube.

He’s given me (us all?) some great ideas for new productions this fall and some cool material for inservices.

• Agent Codee Books fights an evil Lexile character who prevents children from reading books they themselves choose
• Blind Date explores classroom teacher/librarian collaboration in reality television, pop-up video format.
• Bionic Librarian shares the updated librarian image, as well as the potential super powers of collaboration.

Great fun. Thanks, Doug!

Note:  After writing this post I explored a little more of how school librarians and teacher librarians are represented in the world of teacher and student-produced video. Check out the longer post at my SLJ Blog.

Image sites that rock for the classroom

A heads-up.  I just posted a list of my very favorite image tools for the classroom on my School Library Journal blog.   Please take a little visual field trip there!