David Loertscher – an expert in the field of school librarianship

Please let me clarify something. My post regarding David Loertscher and David Warlick was primarily about how a webcast can draw me away from gurus like David Loertscher, and not to be misunderstood. I’ve followed David Loertscher through the years, and he adds value and has given excellent guidance on implementing a solid school library program that supports student learning. My favorite David L. presentation is from his book Ban the Bird Units! He has been in SC in recent years at our annual SCASL conference, and is well known among the SC school librarians. Doug Johnson said very positive things about David Loertscher and the presentation given in Second Life Wednesday Night, and I am glad I was able to use his post about the presentation since I did opt for the Women of Web webcast instead of ISTE’s David Loertscher presentation in Second Life. David Loertscher is right on top of current trends as you can see with his three spaces for students.

Doug Johnson states it best here:

…David Loertscher has remained a constant source of inspiration and ideas in the field of school librarianship through out my career. He’s an amazing guy…

Thank you Doug for sharing the information from a presentation I had a hard time leaving as I made my way over to the Women of Web 2.0 webcast.

Cathy Nelson

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.

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

DISCUS Anyone?

Recently a live webcast I frequently tune in to (called Teachers Teaching Teachers Wednesdays at 9:00pm) focused on databases used in the schools, and their primary focus was state funded databases. [UPDATE August 11, 2007: Podcast NOW available here.] Our state funded database is called DISCUS, and I really do not know what I would do for database subscriptions if we did not have it. The focus of the conversations, both in the chat and in the skype calls focused on how our students and yes, even us, often first turn to Google for our information need, and the concern that this source is not necessarily a good source at all. The potential is so great for misinformation! If you are from South Carolina and you haven’t been in a while, you probably should check it the redesigned DISCUS site. It has a whole new look and feel. DISCUS is one of the only ways public schools in South Carolina can provide database subscriptions to their students and teachers. Generally a subscription to one of these databases would cost upwards of $1000, and many schools don’t even net that amount for one school year to buy books, let alone subscribe to databases. Be sure the next time you have an opportunity, thank our legislators who continue to support funding so that it is a free resource in our schools.

The discussion on TTT centered on why teacher-librarians and educators in general can’t seem to win students over on using these databses as a first choice in their research. Some of the reasons stated (Joyce Valenza for one) named the complexity of the interface as one reason. Another issue is the complexity in login/password. Google doesn’t require a password, does it? What are your thoughts??

Join the next two Wednesdays at 9:00pm to listen live, and perhaps join in the discussion, either through the chat or skype. You never know who is going to be there! Already booked an appointment or have a conflict? No problem, visit the TTT site to listen later straight from the web, or subscribe as a podcast. There is some powerful learning there for you.