Take aways from the MEMO conference

The Minnesota Educational Media Organization (MEMO) Fall Conference was held in Bloomington last Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Despite the always gloomy predictions of a declining number of school library media positions in the state, this conference was a record breaker for us with ove4r 450 folks attending. A few observations...
__________

Nothing like being accused of being a mentor to make one feel old. My former graduate student, Karen Christensson who is now a media specialist at the Calvin Christian School in Edina, proudly showed me her new book, RADCAB: Your Vehicle for Information Evaluation published by UpStart Books.  Karen's system, RADCAB, is an acronym for Relevancy, Appropriateness, Detail, Currency, Authority, and Bias - tests students should be giving all information found on the Internet.

It's a wonderful little book that every library media specialist should own and share with his/her teachers and students. There are lots of nice support materials - book marks, poster, etc. - to accompany the very useful and usable book.

Karen, I couldn't be prouder to think I had any part in your success!

 __________

The LWW presented her always lively session on Interactive Storytelling. With the aid of only 300 pounds of props, she demonstrates how her elementary students don't just hear a story, but act it out using puppets, masks, and other clever stuff. One bit that was new to me and that I especially appreciated was how she tied these activities to Daniel Pink's conceptual skills he proposes all workers need to survive in his book A Whole New Mind. Who knew education could be both so much fun and so valuable.

 __________

I was very impressed but left feeling completely out of the loop after hearing the keynote and breakout session given by U of Wisconsin, Madison professor Constance Steinkuehler  who is an expert of the educational and social significance of computer games - especially  massively multiplayer online games such as  the World of Warcraft. (Pay attention, John Pederson.)  Pretty amazing research and theories, many of which appear in Ms Steinkuehler's  papers on her website.

All educators really do need to dig into these environments. My personal fear of doing so is not that I won't like the experience, but that I will find it addictive and not get much else accomplished.

__________

I had the privilege of moderating the opening panel discussion among State CIO Gopal Khanna, Minneapolist Public Library Director, Kit Hadley, and University of Minnesota professor, Scott McLeod. While none of the panels spoke directly to school library and technology programs, each had views that should inform our practice. Mr. Khanna observes that the public will continue to expect better services for less money; Ms Hadley urged librarians to approach library advocacy and lobbying with a user-centric approach; and Dr. McLeod warned of upcoming trends that will require education to change radically. (Not a surprise for those of us who read his Dangerously Irrelevant blog.) One very nice surprise was what an outstanding presenter Scott is. I hope to hear him again as a conference keynoter one day.

 __________

"To Teach and Inspire" was the theme of this year's conference, our charge from the first set of Minnesota? standards for school librarians. How much has our mission really changed? The tools yes, but our mission?

Thanks to all the volunteers for organizing a great conference.

Comments

[John Pederson]

Paying attention. Wow. err...WoW.