Topic 5 Blogs

I have been using Blog ed at school for a number of years. This is the nsw DEC version and it can be selected to only be available internally to staff and students through their DEC portal or be available online. Ours is only available to our school at this stage.

My first was a Blog for the Student Representative Council to communicate what we were working on and for sharing achievements etc. It evolved from a single author (teacher) blog with a few comments made by students a few years ago  to this year’s version which has multiple authors  (the SRC members) who create posts and make many decisions regarding layout etc. They love the sense of ownership they have. They have become the teachers as they have had responsibility to ensure that students and teachers in their classes know how to access the blog  and make comments.

 I also have a general library blog where library related events and info for students  is posted and discussed. There is also a third one which lists all new resources which are added to the collection.  

The issues I have are:

·         finding enough time to keep blogs up to date and relevant.

·         finding time to promote them to students and staff.

·         Students forget about them and only view when reminded or when they are used in library lesson.( Out of sight out of mind.)

topic 5 Web 2.0

Aspects of web 2.0 which will impact on teacher librarians are the following:

• Keeping up to date with what is available
• Broken Links appear to be a big problem as these regularly need checking. It can be frustrating when links are not available or not working and send students elsewhere .
• The overwhelming number of tools available – selecting some that work well for the age of students and the context adding more gradually.
  Time to implement and plan their integration into teaching and learning
• Training other staff to use

Teacher librarians can not afford to ignore web 2.0 as students are motivated and connected to many of these tools already. We will only increase the divide of teacher and learner if we do so.

Websites - Identifying, searching for and evaluating information sources

Websites - reliability Criteria  In reading ahead for assignment 1, I’ve just located the Harris article in the module 3 Readings . After Reading the first paragraph titled “Getting Started: Screening Information” , I immediately noticed a quite sexually suggestive advertisement for IMVU ( not sure what that is) on the right hand side of page which also indicates “Get Started”  but  in a very different way. This led me to question and check the authority,  reliability and trustworthiness  of the site. Due to the nature of the article it seems innapropriate. Also I wondered if  this ad deliberately placed there to raise awareness of advertising as an important aspect to consider when evaluating websites? How much control does an author have when it comes to advertising?  Do these adds regularly change?

Harris, R. (2010). Evaluating Internet research resources.

Reference Material

Should we abandon the idea of reference material altogether? Or should the term be kept only for non-borrowable print resources in the library?

I’m not sure if we should abandon the idea of reference material altogether. It depends on the actual resource, the school community and the context. Working in a  primary school library I have been asked by students if they could borrow reference material and have usually had to say no.  I did however have a Tibetan student just this week  ask me if he could  borrow a picture dictionary and take it home to help with learning English. It was an easy decision to say yes as the resource was not overly expensive or difficult to replace if need be and he would be unlikely to sit and read it during library time.  In the past some reference materials were very expensive and difficult to replace such as a collection of traditional encyclopedias.  New online versions have devalued those outdated physical versions. But what do we do with the old now? You can hardly allow students to lug volumes of encyclopedias home for borrowing, but having said that in the last two years they haven’t been touched at school and we are wondering what to do. 

My school is currently trialling an online encyclopedia and the students are excited and navigating the information successfully. The benefits of the online version far outweigh the older physical version. All students have access 24/7. Our visually impaired student has access to enlarged( text), special needs students  have varying reading levels and our English as a second language students EALD  are are able to translate information into most languages.

Information is all about providing equal access at any time or place  and traditional models of  using reference material don’t  fit this any more. Maybe it is time to loosen up a little!

ETL 501 Forum 1 Blooms Taxonomy

Comment on the table activity, the new explanations of Bloom's Taxonomy and how these have been applied using technology.

The table activity was difficult as deeper and more critical thinking was required for higher order tasks. The tasks that developed and applied the understanding and knowledge were simpler to complete. I think some of the higher order thinking taxonomies are often neglected in school education because they do require more thought and planning and are challenging to teach and for students to learn. I must be honest and say that I didn’t know that Blooms had been updated and being a visual learner I needed to see both side by side. I found the following image on Apps 4 Stages ,which shows the difference between the two . http://apps4stages.wikispaces.com/Blooms+Taxon

It makes sense to use vocabulary and actions that very young students and EALD (English as an Additional Language or Dialect) students  more readily understand. I am amazed  when I see young students and those with a second language from the video in ‘More Than English’ speaking so well and demonstrating their understandings about a concept using BLOOMs. I particularly love the Bloom’s Ball activity.

The younger that students learn these terms and work in this way the more they will become second nature. They must be immersed in the language of the taxonomies from an early age (k -2).  Higher order activities are the  most difficult aspects for teachers to devise learning activities for and also for students to achieve. Technology enhances Blooms and provides so many new avenues for investigating and applying knowledge.