Is there anything for school librarians at NECC this year?

Next time you want funding to go to a conference, try this: Instead of showing your administrator the brochure for the conference, pick out the individual sessions that will be of benefit to you and your school and show him/her those descriptions. Might tip the scales. Give it a shot. What do you have to lose?

Now this will blow you away. Find below a list activities and events for school library media specialists at this June's NECC Conference in Atlanta compiled by SIGMS Chair Peggy Milam. She says she needs to be cloned to get to everything that would be of value to her. I agree.

A big public thanks to Peggy for doing an OUTSTANDING job as SIGMS Chair and conference planner.

See you in Atlanta next month!

ELC NECC 2007 Library Crawl 
[Other Program Events: Field Trip]
Sunday, 6/24/2007, 9:00am–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Welcome media specialists and friends! You are invited to visit several special libraries in the Atlanta metro area. Our six-hour bus trip, with box lunches included, will take us to the Georgia Archives, which opened in 2003. We will also visit the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library and the newly renovated library at Georgia Tech University.
 
EMS SIGMS Forum: The Changing Landscape of 21st Century School Information Centers 
[Other Program Events: Forum]
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 10:30am–12:30pm; (location available mid-May)
The SIGMS forum will feature a discussion about the changing landscape of the 21st century school information center led by a panel of technology experts. These experts will include bloggers, wikiers, tech gurus, technology information specialists, school library media specialists, and administrators. Nonmembers welcome! (Open to all conference attendees but requires pre-registration. No additional fee.)

21st-Century Media Center 
[Playground: ]
Robbie Reasoner, Georgia Department of Education with Peggy Milam and Judy Serritella
Monday, 6/25/2007, 9:00am–4:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Come explore the possibilities! Interactive stations showcase how the 21st Century Media Specialist can embrace emerging technologies and promote student-centered learning.

Re-imagine, Rejuvenate, Renew: Beyond Library Media Specialist 2.0 
[Session: Spotlight]
Annette Lamb, Indiana University at Indianapolis
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 1:30pm–2:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Combine the potential of Web 2.0 applications such as blogs, wikis, and social and interactive technology with powerful approaches to inquiry, information, teaching, and learning.

Information Inquiry: Student Information Scientists and Lifelong Learning 
[Poster: Traditional]
Annette Lamb, Indiana University at Indianapolis with Larry Johnson
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 1:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Explore the information inquiry process and methods, techniques, and concepts useful for teachers and students associated with information/media/technology literacy and creative/critical thinking.

Making a Student News Show 
[Poster: Traditional]
Richard Cook, Peeples Middle School with Beth Wynn
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 1:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Want to do a student news show? This session will give some information on hardware, software, content, funding, and fun. (Commercial Content)

Multimedia Technology and Project-based Learning in Rural School Districts 
[Poster: Traditional]
Carol Koroghlanian, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 9:00am–11:00am; (location available mid-May)
We will share and discuss the experiences, results, and student work from a grant where rural school students used multimedia technology to produce projects

Readers as Leaders: A Schoolwide Initiative for Technology Integration 
[Poster: Traditional]
Sue Hanuschak, Ashton School with Dianne Arzoomanian, Henry Brito, Karen Brousseau and Nidia Karbonik
Monday, 6/25/2007, 1:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Readers as Leaders incorporates existing curriculum, integrates technology at all levels (K-5), and brings the school together for a culminating celebration. Sponsored by HP. (Exhibitor-Sponsored)

Taking Booktalks to the Next Level: Creating Video Booktalks 
[Poster: Traditional]
Terence Cavanaugh, University of North Florida
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 9:00am–11:00am; (location available mid-May)
Discover how to create exciting video booktalks using free software, still images, and a microphone for narration. You don’t even need a video camera.

Talking Books: Using Multimedia to Support Learning and Literacy 
[Poster: Traditional]
Jonathan Brinkerhoff, University of New Mexico with Susan Bowdoin
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 9:00am–11:00am; (location available mid-May)
Take PowerPoint beyond bulleted lists to create engaging multimedia experiences supporting content learning and literacy development. View samples and tips for creating your own. (Commercial Content)

Team Collaboration: Hitting a Grand Slam with Collaboratively Planned Units 
[Poster: Traditional]
James Pate, Clearmont Elementary with Kay Ball
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 1:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Team collaboration wins again. Come experience media- and technology-integrated lessons used by Clearmont Elemnentary, one of NC's IMPACT Model Schools, an EETT program. (Commercial Content)

TWIRT: Video Podcasting in Action on a Shoestring Budget 
[Poster: Traditional]
Will Blaylock, Rockwood School District with Chris Beeson and Mark Pennycuick
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 9:00am–11:00am; (location available mid-May)
See how easy it is to create a video podcast on a Windows-based system! Using inexpensive software and hardware—it can be done!

Be More 21st Century: PBS Resources for Teachers and Students 
[Session: Panel]
Donelle Blubaugh, PBS with Elaine Gambrell, Carolyn Holderman and Patrice Weaver
Monday, 6/25/2007, 12:30pm–1:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Learn how blogs, podcasts, interactive media, and professional development, in addition to TV programs from PBS, help teachers and students sharpen 21st-century knowledge and skills. (Commercial Content)  (Exhibitor-Sponsored)

Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Generation 
[Session: Lecture]
Doug Johnson, ISTE/Mankato Area Public Schools :-)
Monday, 6/25/2007, 3:30pm–4:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Classrooms and libraries will be more effective if educators acknowledge the unique attributes of "Net Generation" students and design educational environments to suit them.

CNN Student News: Broadcast, Webcast, and Podcast 
[Session: Lecture]
Donna Krache, CNN with Lisa Porterfield, Audrey Schewe and Gerald Smith
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 3:30pm–4:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Use technology to turn news into knowledge! Get the download on CNN’s free programs and curriculum. Learn how to tie current events to classroom content. (Commercial Content)

Contemporary Literacy in the New Information Landscape 
[Session: Spotlight]
David Warlick, The Landmark Project
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 2:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Information is digital, networked, and overwhelming. This inspiring presentation will describe the literacy skills of the 21st century.

Copyright in the Multimedia Age: An Online Resource 
[Session: Lecture]
AnneMarie Walter, Adventure of the American Mind, Mars Hill College with John Brim, Abbie Brown and Elizabeth Lang
Monday, 6/25/2007, 12:30pm–1:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Presentation and description of the development of an interactive Web site using digital video to answer copyright questions for teachers and school librarian/media coordinators.

Information Fluency Meets Web 2.0 
[Session: Lecture]
Joyce Valenza, Neverending Search blog with Ken Rodoff
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 8:30am–9:30am; (location available mid-May)
How do we translate traditional information skills for an information landscape that is genre-shifting, multi-modal, media-rich, participatory, socially connected, and brilliantly chaotic?

Literature Circles for 21st Century Skills 
[Session: Lecture]
Terence Cavanaugh, University of North Florida
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 1:30pm–2:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Take literature circle activities to the next level by integrating information and communication technology, including concept mapping and imaging software, electronic books, and online research.
[Session: Model Lesson]
Jimmy Bostock, Educational Technology Training Center @ NSC with Lisa Dubernard
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 8:30am–9:30am; (location available mid-May)
In this session, you are the student. We will model strategies in lesson design that encourage active student participation using interactive whiteboards and assessment devices. (Commercial Content)  (Exhibitor-Sponsored)
  
Primarily Speaking: Developing Digital Literacy with Primary Documents 
[Session: Lecture]
Becky Firth, Northwest Educational Service District 189
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 12:00pm–1:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Bring history alive and improve digital literacy by learning to utilize thousands of primary documents available via the Internet in this classroom friendly session.

PrimaryAccess: Creating Digital Documentaries in the Social Studies Classroom 
[Session: Hands-on BYOL]
Glen Bull, University of Virginia with Tom Hammond and Meghan McGlinn
Monday, 6/25/2007, 12:30pm–1:30pm; (location available mid-May)
PrimaryAccess, a Web-based tool designed expressly for the creation of digital documentaries in the social studies classroom, will be demonstrated with student and teacher examples.

Problem Solving, Technology, and America’s Future 
[Session: Hands-on BYOL]
Ed Coughlin, The Metiri Group
Monday, 6/25/2007, 3:30pm–4:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Heuristic problem solving. It may be the key to America’s economic viability, now and in the future. Learning technologies can build this important skill.

Professional Development Transformed through Personal Learning Spaces 
[Session: Lecture]
Sharon Betts, Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 3:30pm–4:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Teachers, like students, learn from doing. Discover how to build an infrastructure for continual professional development using Web 2.0 tools.

Project Headware: Raising Expectations for Student Impact Higher and Higher 
[Session: Spotlight]
Bernajean Porter, Bernajean Porter Consulting
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 1:30pm–2:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Technology accelerates something! It takes more than programs such as 1:1 initiatives for student results. Collect simple strategies for shifting schools into extra H.O.T. 21st-century practices.    

Project Pluto: Making a Case for the “Un-Planet” 
[Session: Model Lesson]
Jana Craig Hare, ALTEC with Kari Stubbs
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 10:30am–11:30am; (location available mid-May)
After discussing the recent news about Pluto, participants will use technology tools to inquire and discuss the issue, determine where they stand, and make their case. (Exhibitor-Sponsored)

Promoting Tolerance through Technology: Illustrated Stories Address Bullying 
[Session: Model Lesson]
Emily Vickery, The Montgomery Academy with Larry Vinson
Monday, 6/25/2007, 2:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Team-up with colleagues, digital cameras, iPhoto, and ComicLife in teaching lessons of tolerance to help students understand and cross social barriers of bias and stereotyping.

Race, Gender, and International Multicultural ICT Solutions for Today's Educator 
[Session: Spotlight]
James L. Smith, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction with David Potter, Sylvester Robertson and Rachael Tuwhangai
Monday, 6/25/2007, 2:00pm–3:00pm; (location available mid-May)
An international panel will focus on multicultural multimedia solutions that include race, gender, and economic curriculum ideas that can be implemented in your home, classroom, or community center today.

Ramapo Islands: Another Dimension of Learning 
[Session: Lecture]
Peggy Sheehy, Ramapo Central School District/Suffern Middle School
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 12:30pm–1:30pm; (location available mid-May)
Extend your classroom with the tools of simulation, socialization, and edutainment in Second Life: an immersive, persistent 3-D world where curriculum-based constructivist learning flourishes. (Commercial Content)

Reading in the 21st Century: The Challenges of Modern Media 
[Session: Lecture]
Abbie Brown, East Carolina University with Heidi Blair and Ken Luterbach
Monday, 6/25/2007, 11:00am–12:00pm; (location available mid-May)
An examination of the challenges readers face as they learn to decode, navigate, comprehend, interpret, and create text in interactive, computer-based formats.
[Session: Model Lesson]
Jimmy Bostock, Educational Technology Training Center @ NSC with Lisa Dubernard
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 8:30am–9:30am; (location available mid-May)
In this session, you are the student. We will model strategies in lesson design that encourage active student participation using interactive whiteboards and assessment devices. (Commercial Content)  (Exhibitor-Sponsored)
 
TP434 Library of Congress: The Crash Course 
[Workshop: Hands-on]
Leni Donlan, Library of Congress with Gail Petri
Tuesday, 6/26/2007, 1:00pm–4:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Do you want to use Library of Congress resources but don't quite know where to begin? Get a kick-start from this three-hour crash course!

Closing Keynote 
[Session: Keynote]
Tim Tyson, Mabry Middle School
Wednesday, 6/27/2007, 2:45pm–4:00pm; (location available mid-May)
Join Cobb County Georgia's Mabry Middle School Principal, Tim Tyson, and his students as they showcase selected films from the annual Mabry Film Festival.

Eating the elephant in 23 bites

Illinois librarians were aghast last Friday.

In nearly every session of of Northern Suburban Library System and Metropolitan Library System's Library 2.0: Delivery Twice the Value conference, school, public and academic librarians were being introduced to Web 2.0 (and 3.0) tools. In nearly every session, the question was raised - "When do we find the time to learn all this stuff!"

Same thing I hear from teachers all the time. And to be honest, the question crosses my mind now and then.

But I was impressed  by the solution of  Helene Blowers, Public Services Technology Director for The Charlotte & Meckenburg County Public Library System and a co-panelist at the conference.  She has developed a philosophy of  "discovery and play" and urged everyone to invest even 15 minutes a day in learning new things. And to help guide learners, she developed a discovery learning program called Learning 2.0 -  a list of 23 things that can be done in short periods of time. (The program for her staff runs nine weeks.)

Great idea! Eating the Web 2.0 elephant in 23 small bites. I thought, "I'm going home and using her model to create a similar program for my school library media specialists and teachers."

But I was beaten to the punch. Check out  School Library Learning 2.0 created by the California School Library Association's Library Learning 2.0 Team.* Great stuff. Now how does our district and state media association make this work for us?

 

(Thanks to Carolyn Foote at Not So Distant Future blog for the heads up about School Library Learning 2.0 work!)

*Doug Achterman, Diane Alexander, Jamie Boston, Andrea Catania, Rob Darrow, Lizz Dodds, Steve Grant, Byron Heiser, Mary Holst, K.E. Hones,  Barbara Jeffus, Thomas Kaun, Teresa Lai,  Judith Martin, George Pilling, Maria Petropulos,  Jane Ritter, Martha Rowland, Robert Skapura,  Deb Stanley, Alison Steinberg, Susan Thompson

Virtual Tinkertoys

In response to yesterday's post on criteria that might impact large scale technology adoption by teachers, Generation YES's Sylvia Martinez commented:

I'm wondering if there is another criteria - something like "extensibility". The old idea of "no floor, no ceiling." I hate learning something new and then finding that there is no way to extend it, add options, go under the hood, etc. Not that everyone wants that, but in an educational setting, having tools that you only have to learn once yet can accommodate different learners and different styles seems like important criteria. Maybe there's a better word for it?

My response: 

I think I understand the concept. But could you give me a couple of examples? Maybe of technologies that are and aren't extensible? I've personally always liked what I call "Tinkertoy" software that lets me build instead of just use things that are already built. And a lot of kids do too. Not so sure about adults!

 And Sylvia replies:

Tinkertoy software is a great name for it! (and you know I'm always up for sneaking constructivist-like thinking in here somewhere!) I'm thinking that for example, Hypercard and HyperStudio were better than PowerPoint - because you could build more than just slideshows, you could actually program objects and actions. With PowerPoint, you can only make slideshows, and if that's all you wanted, you could make slideshows with those other applications.

It's too bad they are gone! But there are still things around today.

For a slightly higher initial investment in effort, you could use Flash or MicroWorlds. Both can make slideshows - but you have so much more under the hood for the future. For some kids, these tools will give them more range than they ever thought possible, it will unlock hidden potential and give them wings. I guarantee you PowerPoint won't do that.

For kids, neither one of those applications is hard to learn, or hard to use. But adults have this horrible reaction to them.

Or - Why not teach kids HTML instead of making them learn some "easy" editor. I know, I know I can hear the groans from teachers everywhere.

We talk about differentiated instruction, but that concept shouldn't stop at the instructional door. Everything we put in kids hands should have the ability to offer differentiated and leveled experiences for kids who are ready, willing, and able (and they are).

I really feel that a lot of the problems with teaching technology reflect adult fears, not student ability or needs.

Great, now I've got enough for a blog ;-) (And here is her blog posting!)

This set me to thinking about a couple things.

First, it was a good reminder that teachers' resistance to technology is less about technology itself but more about unfamiliar ways of teaching.  Learning HyperStudio is not an issue; adopting a new teaching philosophy in which students learn by creating instead of absorbing is an issue.

And happily, between reading Sylvia's comments, reading David Warlick's recent post, and thinking about a conversation I had with Mike Eisenberg back in January when I visited with him in Seattle, I am beginning to see some true educational possibilities for Second Life. 

I have to admit that Second Life does not strike me as a great teaching medium if you insist on doing stand-and-deliver. (Or as Ian Jukes puts it, full frontal presentation.) Chat is not how one delivers a lecture or even holds a decent guided discussion if you ask me.

BUT, Second Life is the ultimate tinker toy set. Mike E. envisions that the outcome of a student history research assignment be a virtual museum exhibit - a room in which are gathered photos, documents, analysis, etc. If a display is considered worthy, it would become a permanent exhibit in this virtual museum. How cool would that be?

But with the tools in Second Life, one need not be limited to a single room. Why not let a class build the whole museum? Or recreated Peter the Great's Hermitage? Or recreate the massacre at Wounded Knee? Or build Rosa Park's bus and populate it with avatars that reflect the points of view of the era? Design eco-systems in science? Build Huck Finn's raft or Well's Time Machine? Think of the physics simulations! (I was in Second Life's Transylvania recently, but it seemed more inspired by Ann Rice than Bram Stoker.)

I am sure I am day late and dollar short in my thinking on this. And remember that this comes from somebody who has created but a single object in Second Life and have relied on the charity of others even for simple furniture. 

Is Second Life the ultimate Tinker toy application? Are the examples from education that now exist and I just don't know about?  

At right, my avatar admiring his sole creation -  a picture  for his wall.