Friday Odds and Ends

A number of folks use their blogs as a sort of scrapbook for keeping snippets of information. Not a bad use, I suspect, and I do it myself. Here are a few patches I’m not sure exactly what to do with except store them here for later use. Most were gathered, I suspect, from other blogs. Attribution where I remembered.

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A billion minds unleashed from Macleans,Ca by Steve Maich

"Imagine a billion educated minds, and what they might be capable of. Now imagine those minds belonging to people whose desire for discovery is matched only by their hunger for prosperity -- the kind of hunger that can only be born out of grinding poverty. Picture all those minds growing up and learning in Asia, eastern Europe, South America and Africa. Think about just how different the world will be when those minds turn their attention from the lessons of the past to the possibilities of the future.
"Now stop imagining, because that's the world we'll be living in within 30 years."

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More on e-paper (My e-book is getting closer and closer!)

E Ink Imaging Film is an electrophoretic display material that looks like printed ink-on-paper and has been designed for use in paper-like electronic displays. Like paper, the material can be flexed and rolled. The film only consumes battery power while the image is updated.

Thanks to John Dyer for this one.

 

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A "new" Wiki for librarians: Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki. And a link to the its creator. Thanks to Shonda Brisco for sharing this one on LM_Net.

Also check out the The Collaborative Guide to Digital Information Technology in K-12 Schools wiki. Thanks to ISTE President Kurt Steinhaus for this one.) 

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A few must read articles:
Horton, "Boys are People too: boys and reading, truth and misconceptions." Teacher-Librarian, December, 2005. (Not online as far as I can tell.)

The entire issue of Educational Leadership, Dec/Jan 2005-06 on "Learning in the Digital Age." Articles by Marc Prensky, Lowell Monke, Will Richardson, and Joyce Valenza ought to be shared widely with teachers and administrators in your district. Nice to see technology and library writers preaching to the sinners rather than the choir by publishing with ASCD. (Online access to members of ASCD.)

If you haven’t seen them, ASCD also released two online special reports on educational technology worth looking at

This ASCD SmartBrief special report on educational technology includes a wealth of useful information on using technology to improve teaching and learning. Part I  takes a look at curriculum strategies and leadership development, while Part II  examines public policy and emerging technologies. 

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Wikipedia fans take heart. After nasty press for the fake biography of John Seigenthaler Sr, Nature Magazine releases the report “Internet encyclopaedias go head to head” in which a team of experts examine science topics from Brittanica Online and Wikipedia, with Wikipedia looking pretty good.

Firestorm on library listservs ensues.

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Minnesota goes high-tech. (Thanks to Nancy Steele’s SMILE Newsletter for these.)

A very cool project for history fans: Minnesota Reflections

Minnesota Reflections brings you more than 5,000 images shared by more than fifty cultural heritage organizations from across the state. This site offers a broad view of Minnesota's history for researchers, educators, students, and the public.

Minnesota eFolio Project

The State of Minnesota has purchased a perpetual license to use Avenet software and makes this available to all Minnesota residents.  This is the largest portfolio program in the world.  What can this do for you?  Teachers in all levels can use it to teach  technology in many ways.  It is especially useful with distance learning.  One of the general uses is to keep a resume up to date and readily accessible.  It can also be used for a class or personal on-line journal that shows development and progress over time.  Since the state provides a perpetual  license it will not go away over time  
http://AtomicLearning.com has tutorials.

Oh, and Dr. Don Descy's Mankato MN (spoof) site has a permanent home at: http://city-mankato.us The website that put Mankato on the map!

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CoSN’s Essential Leadership Skills Series added two new short articles:

Measuring Success: How Will We Know When We Get There? (PDF)
Comprehensive monograph (backgrounder book) that will help you get the most out of your assessment efforts.
Technology Planning Linked to Educational Goals (PDF)
Comprehensive monograph (backgrounder book) that will help you figure out how to demonstrate the value, in teaching and learning terms, of your technology investment.

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Bad Sex award (in books, that is)
The annual Literary Review Bad Sex in Fiction Award. Sort of a Bulwer-Lytton contest for sex scenes. But these are unintentional by mainstream writers, unlike the Bulwer-Lytton contest. Be sure to click the “Read all the longlisted passages here” link. (Caution – graphic, but badly drawn.)

Thanks to Ivan Chew, The Rambling Librarian in Singapore for this link (I think).

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And finally for you World is Flat fans…

http://www.comics.com/comics/grandave/