SCASL Update-Speakers

I want to give you all a quick update on some of the wonderful speakers that will be at our conference…this is in addition to the authors I updated you on last week!

You can look forward to hearing:

Gail Dickinson – she will be speaking about National Boards and the Library Media Specialist as well as helping us understand the new Standards for the 21st Century Learner.

Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson will be talking about effective ways of using technology.

Joyce Valenza will be one of our keynote speakers and will be talking about school library websites as well as Web 2.0.

Karen Lowe will help us get our collections in line!

Joanne Bongaarts (you heard and loved her last year) will return to tell you about great books!

Professors (experts!) from the School of Library & Information Science who will be speaking include: Dr. Hastings, Dr. Shannon, and Dr. Naidoo. Also be sure to stop by the SLIS Alumni Tea on Thursday, March 13 at 3pm.

Frank Baker and Martha Alewine will be speaking about media literacy and information literacy.

And, there will be so much more – I’m very excited about all of the wonderful sessions that will be presented by our very own SCASL membership! We have a wealth of knowledge out there…be ready to soak it all up! Expect to leave conference feeling POWERful!

Please note! In the Call to Conference, it states that Dr. Ruth Cox Clark will be attending our conference. Unfortunately, she has had to cancel because of a medical reason. But I know you will enjoy all the other wonderful speakers who will be at our conference!

Watch for more updates as the week draws to a close and conference gets closer and closer…

Valerie

Are you busy this Tuesday evening @9:00?

Joyce Valenza (uber-teacher librarian, SLJ’s Neverending Search ), who will be joining us at the SCASL conference is a scheduled guest on one of my favorite web shows, the Women of Web 2.0 this coming Tuesday night. She and the Director of Media and Technology Doug Johnson (Blue Skunk Blog fame) of Mankato, Minnesota (another oneof my favorites!!) will be visiting the 2.0 ladies  (hence the name of the show Women of Web 2.0, known to many as WOW 2.0.)  There is a planned Ustream, and the EdTech Talk website that hosts the live program offers an AWESOME chat for the virtual participants.  Someone from the show watches the chat, and always brings our comments into the mix.  Plan to join the show on EdTech Talk (or Ustream–they will share details about the Ustream as we get closer to Tuesday.)  The show is on just about EVERY Tuesday night at 9:00 PM. EST.

Want to join in but don’t feel so comfy using the site? Email me or chat to me in my gmail (cathyjonelson) and I’ll assist you getting in to listen and even chat if you like. First timers sometimes have difficulty finding the audio stream.  Of course if you’ll jump right in the chat and ask for help, many there (Lisa Durff, Lisa Parisi, Carolyn Foote, me, others) will offer all kinds of things to try.  I consider myself (and these friends) regulars in the chat room, and all of us go out of our way to assist newcomers.  The shows are always powerful, the hour flies by, and you will make many new friends.  Best, this Tuesday is ALL ABOUT what we are about–school libraries.

C’mon, represent South Carolina LMS’s THIS Tuesday!

The SCASL Call to Conference has been posted (www.scasl.net) and mailed out…I hope that you are all very excited about our conference…I know I am!

I am going to start sending out a little more information each week about our conference…details about sessions and tours, announcements, and more. If you have questions or want more information about something I send out, do not hesitate to let me know! The SCASL Conference is YOUR conference and I want you to get the most out of it! 

Technology is such an important aspect to our jobs and there are lots of exciting events happening this week for S.C. LMS to learn more about using technology with students and teachers. The EdTech Conference in Myrtle Beach, AASL in Reno, and the wrap up of the K12 Online Conference! Whew!

If you cannot attend EdTech or AASL, never fear! SCASL is bringing lots of technology sessions to OUR conference, March 12-14, 2008 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center. We will give you the tools you need to successfully integrate technology into the classroom and library!

Here’s just a little of what you can look forward to:

Annette Lamb (she will be at the AASL conference!)

Annette will be doing a variety of sessions for us on Wednesday, March 12 and Thursday, March 13. You can attend an all day pre-conference with her about E-scrapbooking; or pick a concurrent session to attend. She’ll be talking about using existing classroom technology tools (such as PowerPoint) to create engaging project starters in “PowerPoint Sidekicks and Desktop Learning Spaces.” Learn about using Google Earth to track a book character and using video conferencing for meetings in “Re-imagine, Rejuvenate, Renew” on Thursday. Her husband, Larry Johnson, will also be presenting sessions…you can catch an AM or PM pre-conference with Larry. He’ll be talking about collaborating with your classroom teachers and on Thursday, he’ll be talking about how to get out of the “Information Avalanche” by using RSS feeds to keep up with blog reading and other information we often find ourselves buried under! Find out more at their website: http://eduscapes.com/

Joyce Valenza

We all love her so much! Joyce will be one of our keynote speakers on Thursday and will be doing a couple concurrent sessions. Joyce is a blogger for School Library Journal (add it to your RSS feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SLJNeverEndingSearch) and an all around technology/library role model. Be sure to check her out!

Confused about all of those different 2.0 tools out there or not sure how to use them with your students? Attend the all day pre-conference session, “Power Up to the Future…with Web 2.0″ with the Richland One Instructional Technology Team. Be on the lookout for concurrent sessions by members of the team as well, many of whom are also presenting at EdTech!

Not sure what to do with that SMARTBoard (or any interactive whiteboard) in your library? We’ll have a concurrent session to help you! Barbie Zinkovich, Marilyn Gramling, and Lucy Ballew will be presenting this session at EdTech AND SCASL!

Martha Alewine and Frank Baker will help you provide your teachers with the best resources in understanding information/media/technology literacy at their concurrent session (they will also be presenting an all day pre-conference about using K.A.T.S. in your library)!  

Want time to explore Knowitall.org, DISCUS, and StreamlineSC? Our friends Andrea Thorpe, Amy Duernberger, and Donna Thompson will help you!

You know that SCASL has a blog and Flickr page, right? If you do not know how to post to these tools or want to learn more about them, visit our very own “Technology Queen,” Cathy Nelson, as she guides you through the use of these tools at our Exploritorium on Wednesday evening!

Finally, other technology related concurrent sessions to look for include (and this isn’t even ALL of them!):

Using 3D images and Videos

iPods in the Classroom

Introduction to SchoolRooms

Nuts and Bolts of Podcasting

MovieMaker Magic

Library of Congress resources online

WOW!

If you are going to a conference this week, have fun and learn lots! If you are stuck at school and you are waiting to go to the SCASL Conference, please look forward to excellent technology sessions!

More SCASL Conference updates next week!

Valerie Byrd Fort

SCASL 2008 Call to Conference!

The time has come-the SCASL Call to Conference is here! Take a look at what we have planned for our annual conference–pre-conference tours, sessions SURE to please, and so many wonderful guests including Jaime Adoff, Alan Katz, JOYCE VALENZA, and Will Hobbs.

If you get your registration in by December 31, 2007, you will not only get a reduced registration ($90 for a current member!!!), but you will also be eligible to win a ticket to our Authors Celebration Luncheon!

Can’t wait to see you at conference in Columbia, March 12-14, 2008!

Valerie Byrd Fort

SCASL President Elect

2008-call-to-conf-final.pdf

David Warlick or David Loertscher

Yesterday I was in a dilemma about what evening professional development event I wanted to participate in. I had read weeks ago that Second Life planned a presentation event in conjunction with ISTE featuring David Loertscher, library media guru and professor at San Jose State. I had also heard that David Warlick would be a guest on a weekly webcast i join, Women of Web 2.0. So at 9pm last night I was truly a multitasking person, pulling up both, and trying both at the same time. As I waited for David Loertscher to begin, I am standing there in SL thinking how eerie it feels to be in a virtual world, and how I was NEVER really a gamer, and didn’t know if I would EVER develop a comfort zone for this. I actually stood, too, b/c I could NOT make my avatar sit down. Seats were rapidly filling. But the other part of my computer was iTunes (as well as a chat window), and the folks were shrieking with laughter and very obviously having a great time. The conversation was LIVELY and fun, and I kept going back so I could follow the chat. The ladies and their guests always bring in the conversations happening in the chat, and last night was no less. I was incorrect about the guests though. David Warlick is going to visit soon, but last night was a show focusing on using social networks and new presentation tools. It was mentioned that WOW2.0 was competing with an ISTE event in SL, but the chatroom had a record crowd–in the upper 30s. The guests were Darren Draper of Blog “Drapes Takes,” 5th grade teacher Dean Meyer, and Steve Hargadon of blog fame, Ning fame, and best, Edublogger Con fame form NECC 2007.

What a WISE decision I made. Even though I was mildly disappointed that it wasn’t David Warlick, it was still very powerful conversations about new, free (mostly opensource) presentation tools, like Elluminate, FlashMeeting, Google Presentations, and others, and how these tools have enabled us to have meaningful professional development with tools designed not only to share, but also involve and interact with participants. Many of the new tools have a chat feature enabled, and sometimes the presenter can even incorporate the back channeled conversations right into their presentations. How awesome. We also talked of the power of social networks and social networking, reliving just a bit of the power that came from EdubloggerCon (which i attended and participated in at NECC Atlanta 2007!!)

Doug Johnson of Blue Skunk Blog fame had blogged yesterday about how he planned to attend the David Loertscher presentation in SL. So I emailed him and shared about my quandry–which one to choose? He emailed me back today, noting that he went to the SL presentation, and it seemed to me he was mildly disappointed that David Loertscher was only there apparently in handout form, as his assistant conducted the presentation. The content was good, but available as a pdf handout download. (NOTE: You can get good summary as well as Doug’s take and thought provoking questions from this SL presentation in a post on his blog today.)

So with this information I now am SO GLAD I choose Women of Web 2.0. It was well worth the hour I spent online in this chatroom as I listened to the guests and hostesses carry the program. Best of all, I was NOT alone in my choice. Reports are that the chatroom had record numbers, and included in the chatroom were some really big experts like David Jakes, Miguel Ghulin, and LMS’s Joyce Valenza, Carloyn Foote, and Lisa Durff. (Great minds think alike, and apparently meet up in the same chatrooms!) My friends, it is a wonderful opportunity to network with educators who have a similar interests in students and education. Here is quoted text from their site that tells what it is:

WOW 2.0 is for all who are using the tools of the internet whether it be in a classroom setting, leading seminars, authoring books, maintaining blogs or wikis, or just enjoying the tools of the internet in an educational and exciting way.

WOW2 is brought to you by Cheryl Oakes, Jennifer Wagner, Sharon Peters, & Vicki Davis, four women who not only love using the tools of the Internet but also love sharing the tools with others…Each Tuesday night’s chat is great fun and we invite you to join in the conversation via the chat room.

One last note. I asked Jennifer Wagner when David Warlick will be there. They are trying to have him mid October, which for the show translates to Tuesday night, October 16, from 9-10PM. I promise if you come any Tuesday night you won’t be disappointed.

Come Ride the Wave of Web 2.0 and Information Fluency

Come Ride the Wave of Web 2.0 and Information Fluency
Cathy Nelson
cathyjonelson@gmail.com
Electronic Article from SCASL’s Media Center Messenger Back to School Issue

2.0 Changes on the Horizon
Do you handle change very well? Brace yourselves, fellow LMS’s, for a tidal wave of change is coming. Expert media specialist Alice Yucht paints this picture of information literacy today by asking this thought provoking question:
Remember when we were all talking about the Information Superhighway? It was the new mode of travel. What an interesting analogy, because a highway has definite entrances and exits and was built to go somewhere specific. Today, however, our kids are learning to swim in the information ocean. There are no entrances and exits clearly defined, with tsunamis in every direction, pools of dangerous sharks, and yet as teachers we are charged with guiding our students through it. So how do we prepare our students and teachers for their swim in the information ocean? What is the implication for us? We continue our instructional practices for information fluency while modeling the appropriate and ethical use of the new web 2.0 tools.

So what exactly is Web 2.0?
Googling “Web 2.0” returns at the top of the search an article from Tim O’Reilly titled “What is Web 2.0?” It explains the conceptual genesis of Web 2.0 and defines Web 2.0 technology/applications. Wikipedia tells us that although the term suggests a new version of the World Wide Web, it does not refer to an update to Web technical specifications, but to changes in the ways software developers and end-users use the web as a platform. Popular terms associated with Web 2.0 include blogs, podcasts, digital video sharing, wikis, and social book

marking, just to name a few. How many of us have heard of Wikipedia, Flickr, MySpace, and other popular Web 2.0 tools? I’m positive most of our kids are familiar with, if not already using many of them. The best explanation I was given at one time was this—The Internet at its birth was 1.0. We were consumers of information from the World Wide Web. Now we are at the next level, called Web 2.0. Web 2.0 means that instead of just using the WWW to find information hopefully from the experts, suddenly we can give back to the Internet. The Internet has become a forum for users, and Web 2.0 adopters are finding that the collaborative nature of these tools can be useful in getting information as well as sharing ideas. Just as we adopted film, then instructional television and videos, and online databases and information resources, so too must we adopt and model the Web 2.0 wave of resources. Joyce Valenza compares the adoption of Web 2.0 tools to the well-known story Stone Soup. Let’s recap the story.

According to the story, some soldiers come to a village, carrying nothing more than an empty pot. Upon their arrival, the villagers are unwilling to share any of their food stores with the hungry soldiers. The soldiers fill the pot with water, drop a large stone in it, and place it over a fire in the village square. One of the villagers becomes curious and asks what they are doing. The soldiers answer that they are making “stone soup”, which tastes wonderful, although it still needs a little bit of garnish to improve the flavor, which they are missing. The villager doesn’t mind parting with just a little bit to help them out, so it gets added to the soup. Another villager walks by, inquiring about the pot, and the soldiers again mention their stone soup, which hasn’t reached its full potential yet. The villager hands them a little bit of seasoning to help them out. More and more villagers walk by, each adding another ingredient. Finally, a delicious and nourishing pot of soup is enjoyed by all. The stone may or may not be reused in the next soup, and fortunately is not eaten.

What is the implication of this little story?
We are all being bombarded with Web 2.0, whether we like it or not. Some are more reluctant than others, but most would agree, change happens, whether you are ready or not. And so too does Web 2.0. So how does that affect the school library media specialist? Are we to drop our online database subscriptions and throw out our collection development plans, now that the “information ocean” of blogs, podcasts, and wikis seem to be the first and most popular resource our students turn to? Of course not! This is not a battle that we can win. So, just like the soldiers in the story mentioned previously, we must adopt and earn buy in. One of the dominant issues involved with student-use (and yes even adult-use) of online material centers on finding information, evaluating it, and using it ethically. Web 2.0 has not changed that. We still are charged with teaching students to evaluate and use information in an ethical manner.

So how do we embrace this tidal wave called Web 2.0?
We present ourselves as lifesavers. We embrace the tools, and begin to learn about them. We model their appropriate use. Remember all those pathfinders you spent endless hours creating for appropriate web resources? How many times have you had to return and edit these same static websites? This is a great opportunity to create a wiki pathfinder. Teach your teachers and students to use the wiki, and make the creation a collaborative effort where everyone is adding information. What an awesome way to model a wiki and how it works. Begin reading blogs. Create blogs to serve your purposes. Over and over I am seeing school LMS’s create blogs for state or local book clubs. Blogs can become the 2.0 version of your traditional book clubs and literature circles. Remember the story of the Stone Soup. Just like the soldiers who couldn’t get anyone to give them resources to make a meal, it will be difficult to get some teachers (and even media specialists) to jump in and provide meat to create something. BUT if we model using the tools—just like they modeled making soup with a stone, we may pique interest and stir up buy in. You can be the catalyst for your school using Web 2.0 tools.

Some of you may very well have noticed that these tools are being modeled through our association (SCASL) at the state level. There is a SCASL Blog, and Martha Alewine, our state department of education liaison for library media programs also maintains a blog. The new tools are being modeled for you even now. Don’t turn your back on the wonderful opportunities these tools will offer. I promise, your students are not. And please don’t fret if you don’t have a comfort level in Web 2.0 yet. Most of us learn by doing, and teacher-librarian guru Joyce Valenza proclaims that she is yet to be 2.0, and hovers right around 1.8. According to her, its okay to still be in beta on this. So now I know its okay to not totally know everything.

Tools to get started!

Recipe for beginning the journey into learning about Web 2.0 for Educators
(Best done if read through an RSS aggregator like Bloglines )

1 dose daily: Read blogs from the experts in the field daily:

Joyce Valenza’s Neverending Search Blog
David Warlick’s 2cents Worth
Doug Johnson’s Blue Skunk Blog

1 dose periodically: Read professional blogs and/or listen to podcasts from fellow LMS’s in SC!

SCASL Blogs
Valerie Byrd-Fort’s Blog: “Library Goddess”
Mary Haddon’s Untitled Professional Blog
Cathy Nelson’s TechnoTuesday Blog

1 dose periodically: School Library Blogs & Podcasts of interest!

@ the Northside Library
Bookin’ It: DFES Podcast
Dutchfork Middle School Media Center
DFES – The Book Blog

Blogging Programs for beginners:
These programs are free and offer you a chance to begin your own blog. They are not listed in any specific order, as all seem to have a simple interface and offer easy access to your own blog. Don’t feel pressured to create one if you are not ready. Instead, enjoy reading others.

Google’s Blogger
WordPress
Edublogs (by teachers, for teachers)

Citations:
Valenza, Joyce K. “Web 2.0 Meets Information Fluency.” 6 July 2007. http://informationfluency.wikispaces.com

“Web 2.0.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 6 July 2007, 18:56 UTC. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 6 July 2007 . http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0

Yucht, Alice. [Podcast] “SIGMS Forum at NECC: Alice Yucht.” 7 July 2007. http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/contents/
media/SLJ_SIGMSForum_AliceYucht.mp3?nid=3381

Show your support for DISCUS and other db you use

Quoted right off LM_Net from Saturday, Joyce Valenza said:

Please consider joining the Teachers Teaching Teachers webcast on
Wednesday night, 9 PM Eastern–http://edtechtalk.com/taxonomy/term/58.

This critical event is the last of three discussions that attempt to share the value of subscription databases with classroom teachers and educational leaders who may not yet have had “the tour” and do not recognize the worth of these resources.

Please encourage any colleagues—including vendors and people who support your state and regional databases– to attend.

Read some of the archives here:

http://teachersteachingteachers.org/?p=130

My last two posts:
http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/2007/08/15/more-on-databases/
http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org/2007/08/10/teachers-teaching-teachers-webcasts-on-subscription-databases/
and a couple of my SLJ posts:
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334/post/1250012925.html

Friends, I am afraid most folks outside the library world don’t get it. Please help me spread THE WORD to the edtech community!

joyce

Joyce Kasman Valenza, Ph.D.
Springfield Township HS Library
Phone: 215-233-6030 Ext. 2502 Fax: 215-836-5237
Cell: 215-518-1846
Library website: http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/
NeverEndingSearch (School Library Journal)

http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/blog/1340000334.html

Personal Blog: http://joycevalenza.edublogs.org
TeacherLibrarianNetwork http://teacherlibrarian.ning.com

NECC 2007 — You can still tune in!

Even though Necc 2007 is now a distant memory, I am pleased to share many ways you can still enjoy this educational conference, an annual favorite of mine! Those who know me know that I am huge fan of library gurus Doug Johnson (of the Blue Skunk Blog) and Joyce Valenza (of the Neverending Search Blog), who I got to speak with personally at the conference. Yes, I was star struck by some of my favorites, but both of these are really easy going folks who love to talk about the state of libraries in education today. NECC made podcasts of many of the sessions, as well as webcasts. The podcasts are now available for you to listen to, and the webcasts will be coming soon. [UPDATE: Webcasts are available NOW here and HERE.]

Here is a link directly to Doug Johnson’s session titled Classrooms and Libraries for the Net Generation, and here is a link directly to Joyce Valenza’s session (co presented with Ken Rodoff) titled Inforamtion Fluency Meets Web 2.0. Both are excellent sessions I attended, and there was standing room only in these sessions. Many opted to sit on the floor. I even know of a small group who sat in the hallway and listend via someone “skypecasting” the session live!

There are a lot of other sessions available in this format at the Apple Learning Interchange Site, the official podcast channel of NECC.

No time to sit and listen?? Visit Hitchhikr or Technorati to read up on the sessions that were blogged. I wish I could share the energy in the blogger lounges as well, but most of that was unrecorded conversations. But you can read all about it in the blog postings from above.

As you enjoy your summer break, perhaps you’ll be able to enjoy this conference as well, even from afar.

Information Fluency Meets Web 2.0 — Joyce Valenza’s NECC 07 Presentation

This media guru always knows exactly what to say to make me feel I am right there with her! The media guru of the century, Joyce Valenza, admittedly calls herself a 1.8 person, not quite 2.0. She considers herself still in beta, but proclaims to all that it is okay to still be in beta. We are, after all, lifelong learners!

Valenza starts with a a pix of the soldiers from the story Stone Soup. Many want to believe they scammed the village, but in reality, if looked at a different way, they were instead an inspiration for change and a catalyst for collaboration in that village.

With the increase in Web 2.0 tools, our students are living in a very rich media world. As literacy teacher librarians, we should be embracing these tools to teach responsible use. We can model the use of these tools as well through our instructional practices. An IDEAL way to model is to change the way we do pathfinders, and instead of publishing static webpages, make wiki pathfinders! Of course this is just one way, but what a way to jump right in!

Joyce Valenza created a wiki for this presentation that can be easily accessed, and she welcomes its use for us to teach our faculty and staff, and yes, even students. There are some GREAT examples of end products of project based learning here as well, and a ton of ideas for us to start small (while we are still in beta) and grow to become authentic 2.0 users and contributors.

Remember the intro with the analogy of the soldiers and their stone soup? We as professional teacher librarians can be the soldiers of Web 2.0. We can model the use of web 2.0 tools in our own instructional practice, and help teachers integrate their use as well through solid collaboration. I left this session so inspired! Check out her avatar–I’ve got to find where this was made so I can make my own too!

Planning to revamp your Library’s Website?

What makes an exemplary school library media website? If you’re planning to revise your school library media website this summer, be sure to look at Joyce Valenza’s blog. She recently submitted her dissertation on the topic and is getting ready to defend it. She looked at how school library media websites have been changing since 1996. Here are the questions she was hoping to answer with her study:

1. What models of exemplary practice exist in school library websites?
2. What common features are presented in sites representing exemplary practice?
3. What common organizational structures and design characteristics are employed in exemplary school library sites?
4. From the models observed in sites identified as exemplary practice, can a functional descriptive taxonomy of features be developed?
5. How are school library sites evolving? How do the features and services offered by exemplary sites in 2006 differ from the state-of-the-art of the randomly selected sites last studied by Clyde in 2002?
6. To what extent do exemplary school library websites present features devoted to: information access and delivery, learning and teaching, and program administration, as expressed in the context of the current national standards document Information Power (AASL & AECT, 1998)?

She discusses what she found in several posts–so far–and I’m sure there will be more. Interesting findings and some great ideas for your own work here!

Here’s just a quote she made after reflecting on her dissertation topic about her own site–which I think is EXCELLENT!!

“I must rethink my website. My study convinced me that it is time to do some shifting. I am going to spend some of my summer making the site more interactive. I am going to move many of my pathfinders to wiki format to facilitate easy updates and to encourage collaboration. Pathfinders ought to be wikis!” (quoted from Joyce Valenza on her end of the year reflections via her blog.)

Yes, Joyce is the “founding mother” of TeacherLibrarianNing, and she’s also just added an LM_NET annex, a wiki-based site where you can upload and download files. (You can’t do that in LM_NET so check out the annex.) Some good stuff there already from some of our colleagues who are willing to share! Booklists, lesson plans, handouts, pathfinders, etc.

Thanks Donna of Sunlink Blog. You are moving way up on my blog radar as a favorite!

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