SLAV Conference: Students at the centre

It’s been a busy month for SLAV professional learning with a major curriculum-focussed conference, AusVELS: Constructing new Learners in March, followed by Libguides and Kevin Hennah workshops.  This broad range of events from curriculum, to delivery of online resources, through to library design, are an indication of the diverse professional learning required by school library staff.

2015 theme Students at the Centre of Learning was reflected in the AusVELS: Constructing new Learners conference.  Regardless of all other change in school libraries, focus cannot stray from student learning and the collaborative relationships necessary for success.  The Storify of #slavconf tweets below provides an insight into the day, however, for a more complete experience see presentations and notes on the SLAV website.

Main presentations were:

  • Curriculum Update: Setting the scene, Dr David Howes, VCAA (changes to AusVELS that teacher librarians can tap into)
  • Teachers changing practice in their schools – implications for school libraries, Dr Rosemary Abbott – Loreto Mandeville Hall, Toorak (Rosemary’s PhD research provides a compelling argument for strong communication between teachers and library staff)
  • The Information Experience: Introduction, Professor Christine Bruce, QUT  (Christine’s knowledge of how students learn and interact with information is a beacon to all educators and particularly teacher librarians).

Members sharing effective practice through a range of workshops was also an important part of the conference.  Learning with and from each other at events such as this is a great help in building community and getting to know each other as members of the the school library community.  Well done.

In the news – building perspective

maps

Studying the news and gaining perspective on an incident or event from another person’s point of view is a valuable learning experience.  Whether it be politics or sport, it is possible to help students see through another set of eyes by reading the news as it is presented in another country.  Here are some useful tools for the purpose:

Newspaper Map

Read news from a local perspective with links to more than 10,000 newspapers in over 130 countries.  Beautifully visual, simply to select a newspaper from its location on a world map and read it with the assistance of Google Translate.  Excellent for foreign language students and for anyone seeking to gain an understanding of the culture of another country.  See how nuclear energy features in European newspapers, for instance, compared to Australian newspapers.

Museum- Today’s Front Pages

Newseum displays the front pages of more than 2,000 newspapers worldwide on its website each day.  They are in their original, unedited form.  Access by gallery, list or location on a world map.  Functionality on the site is quite granular with the ability to sort by world region, then name of paper or country.  Translate function is accessible by using the link to website and using Google Translate.

OnlineNewspapers.com

A beautifully clean and fast site, OnlineNewspapers.com also includes online magazines with links to free worldwide magazines on a broad range of subjects.  Newspaper websites can be searched by country or region and are very quickly retrieved.  A few dead links seems to indicate a lack of maintenance on the site but it’s still a very useful resource.

ipl2 – Newspapers & Magazines

Organised as a basic database, the user starts at the international and regional level, drills down to country level, then can use the city index to locate a specific newspaper.  Less visual than other sites, it is still easy to use and reveals an amazing range of world news.

Newspapers are under attack with the rise of blogging and alternative news tools but they are still an effective tool for expanding a student’s perspective and providing opportunities for discussion.  Take time to explore.

 

Make the web work for you – new VicPLN course

H5546_BI

Many of you are part of the community that has grown out of the VicPLN series of online courses. With your feedback in mind, we’ve created a new course for 2015 which integrates the best of two previous courses into one:  Make the web work for you.

Make the web work for you introduces key concepts and skills in digital and information literacy, and models the use of simple and free web tools, enables people to join or create personal learning networks, and encourages everyone to play and explore online. But it’s also designed to give participants the chance to apply their learning to an authentic research task in a guided online learning experience.

The course is designed for people hoping to get more out of the web and build their confidence using technology in the workplace.

This six-unit, self-paced program covers:

  • advanced searching and information evaluation skills
  • social media for professional learning
  • web tools to help find, manage, store and share information
  • digital publishing including ebooks
  • online collaboration and networking.

We hope to keep challenging ourselves and our community to think differently about our work, how we learn and share ideas. As part of the work of a new team at the State Library Victoria focusing on learning design, we’ll be beginning to talk more about our professional learning model, Connected Inquiry.

Our new course Make the web work for you is based on the principles of Connected Inquiry, a great deal of thinking, evaluation and research. We’ve tried a few new things, we’ve done in-depth research in partnership with AITSL, and we’ve gathered really helpful feedback from course participants.

So what is Connected Inquiry about?  It’s in part a series of principles to help shape professional learning experiences that mirror the best of what we do as educators. Can an after school PD, online course or conference be built on the same principles we would an inquiry project for students – real life applications, personal relevance and curiosity? We think yes and we look forward to sharing our learning with you.

So if you’re interested in the course which begins April 20 or have any questions, you can contact us at learning@slv.vic.gov.au

Make the Web Work for You: an introduction to digital learning for school library teams and educators, 6 units over 8 weeks starting 20 April 2015.

And we’ll continue to be part of your personal learning networks: online, at SLAV conferences, and as part of the professional development program here at the State Library Victoria.

 Image credit – State Library Victoria

2014 SLAV Awards – acknowledging best practice

Success-cropped

Every year the School Library Association of Victoria Awards are presented in recognition of the contribution of members and school leaders, and to encourage research into best practice.  2014 award recipients were announced at the conference, Building Communities through Reading, held at the National Gallery of Victoria in November. That’s a couple of months ago, I know, but it’s not too late to acknowledge these professional achievements.

Four awards presented were:

  • The John Ward Award
  • School Leader’s Award
  • SLAV Innovator’s Grant
  • SLAV Research Fellowship

Teacher Librarian, Leonie Dyason of Mooroopna Secondary College is a worthy recipient of the John Ward Award, presented in recognition of outstanding commitment to school librarianship in Victoria and named in honour of founding member of the Association, John Ward.

During her time at Mooroopna (commencing in 1977) Leonie has worked to support a less advantaged community developing a high level of understanding of, and responding to particular learning needs by creating a targeted print and ICT-rich collection that is educationally and culturally appropriate. Leonie has been a staunch advocate for school libraries and has been an active member of the School Library Association of Victoria during her long career.

She has been a driving force and support for colleagues in the SLAV Goulburn Valley Branch since the 1980s serving on SLAV Committee of Management and other committees within the Association.  As a rural delegate, this has involved travelling from Mooroopna to Melbourne to attend meetings regularly. Commitment, dedication and collegiality have been a hallmark throughout Leonie’s teacher librarian career.
Congratulations Leonie!
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School Leaders are a critical component in the management and success of a school library.  2014 School Leader’s Award was presented to Marco DiCesare, Principal of Caroline Chisholm Catholic College, Braybrook and previously of Lavalla Catholic College, Traralgon. It was supported by commendations from Teacher Librarians, Barbara Roach (Caroline Chisholm Catholic College) and Jeananne Brown, (Lavalla Catholic College) both of whom have worked under the leadership of Marco.  Barbara and Jeananne and acknowledge that he possesses cutting edge understanding of the role of the Information Services sector of the educational community. This leadership is influenced by his deep understanding of how students learn which enables him to see the intrinsic value of school libraries.

Marco has encouraged innovation and looked for ways the school library can embrace learning opportunities. He encourages collaboration between the library and other departments and sums up his expectation for the role of the Teacher Librarian as:
Teacher Librarians support and implement the vision of the College through advocating and building effective library and information services and programs that contribute to the development of independent, interdisciplinary lifelong learners. The Teacher-Librarian partners and collaborates with teachers in the development of curriculum and pedagogy and manages the library and information resources and services of the school.”

Congratulations Marco.  The Principal is a key player in establishing the position of the school library within the school community.
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School libraries must be places of constant innovation and change responding to changing circumstances with new ways of working. Julie Purcell, Director Library Resource Centre at Ruyton Girls’ School and David Feighan, Information and Library Services Manager, Mentone Girls Grammar School were co-recipients of the SLAV Innovator’s Grant of 2014. The Grant was awarded in recognition of David and Julie’s work in initiating and setting up a shared ebook collection across two schools that are not under the same governing body nor in the same vicinity.

This project is innovative as it leads the way in inter school co-operation and enables both schools to offer larger, richer and more engaging ebook collections to their students.  It also demonstrates that two schools located some distance apart, with different library catalogue systems and no shared IT network, can still work effectively together. Well done!
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SLAV Research Fellowship for 2014 was awarded to teacher librarian, Amanda Baker, to allow her to further develop and extend the range of Reading Programs she has developed across Viewbank College, and which could serve as a model for other teacher librarians to follow.

Amanda’s presentation of her work to delegates at the conference was enthusiastically received. She illustrated that by working closely with English staff in the Middle Years, the Viewbank College Library has managed to build a thriving reading community. Activities such as the ‘Million Word Challenge’ and ‘The Reading Portfolio’ have increased student engagement, encouraged conversations about reading and increased involvement. In addition to supporting literacy outcomes, this reading model has strengthen the relationships between Teacher Librarian , the English faculty and other staff and supports a reading culture across the school.
Congratulations Amanda, we look forward to hearing more about your work.

Recognising exception practice within the profession is important. Whilst rewarding merit, it highlights exemplary practice and stimulates improvement. Watch out for the invitation to nominate candidates for 2015 awards later in the year.  Share the best practice that’s occurring within your school community.

Library Orientation – the essential Welcome!

welcome

Summer holidays are becoming a distant memory as we settle into a new school year. A new batch of students has been welcomed and they’re beginning that somewhat daunting task of finding their way around and mastering the new environment.

Last week, with the assistance of Year 7 class teachers, I introduced over 250 students to the complexities of setting up network passwords and establishing their presence on the college network. This learning space will be very familiar to them in no time, but for now, it is one of the essential orientation activities for new students. In the meantime my teacher librarian colleague Jessica Bishop, is launching the reading program and introducing students to the physical space. They are acclimatising quickly and already making enquiries about Lego and Minecraft.

Teacher librarian at Genazzano FCJ College, Catherine Farrell, shared details of her Year 7 library orientation in SLAV’s journal Synergy last year. In the article entitled QR Codes and Orientation she describes how students use a passport sized booklet with information and questions, to discover different areas and services within the library. QR codes provide easy access to supporting videos and other online information relating to the use of the library.

Read Catherine’s article and you will gain an appreciation of how this type of task becomes a learning activity for everybody involved. Students learn about the library and the library staff gain experience in using new and innovative ways of tackling a routine task such as new student orientation.

Also, in a previous post on this blog teacher librarian, Rachel Fidock, wrote a post Revamping your school library orientation in which she presented a number of novel approaches to library familiarisation. For example, have current students create a promo video about what they thought the library was going to be like, what it actually has to offer, and what they think the students will like about their library. Student voice is often so much more engaging than the library staff delivering the message. Check Rachel’s post for a number of good ideas.

The library can be a safe haven in the sometimes stormy sea of a new school. Orientation aside, library staff who are visible, open and welcoming play a critical role at the commencement of a new school year. Made welcome and ‘at home’, students soon become the life of the library. They are the chess players, the homework students, the readers and the one’s who are familiar with libraries and know the treasures that can lie within. Every school library has its own unique character and this is the time of year that character has a profound influence on a whole new generation of students entering the school for the first time.

Rachel reminds us in her blog not to ‘reinvent the wheel’. So, share ideas with colleagues and most importantly start the year off by showing that your school library is a vital player in the culture of the school. Enjoy!

Social Media:  Explore Library Orientation on Pinterest  or @AnitaBK on Twitter – Flip your library orientation

 

 

Libraries reinvented: No.1 of the top 10 list

maker

Last week a headline in eSchool News caught my eye – Top 10 of 2014, No 1: Libraries reinvented.  I tend to ignore social media notifications citing the Top 5, 10, 20 or 120 of the best tips, tools and everything you can imagine, but this one was a pleasant surprise worth investigating as it said:

Each year, the eSchool News editors compile 10 of the most influential ed-tech developments and examine how those topics dominated K–12 ed-tech conversations.  No. 1 on our list for 2014 is the new role of school libraries.

School libraries have evolved from quiet places to read books into bustling centers [sic] of collaboration, learning, and research. School librarians are emerging as leaders as they help teachers learn valuable technology integration skills. They also teach students how to research and evaluate information.

Many of us associated with school libraries have been focussing on the evolving role of school library personnel, and the function of the library within the school community for some time.  It’s interesting to note that eSchool News has made this selection because the ‘new role of school libraries’ has dominated K–12 ed-tech conversations during 2014.  This is good news. Mentioned in the post are two articles:

Here in Australia, potential and actual change in school libraries has been documented in School Library Assoc of Victoria (SLAV) publications, and those of other relevant organisations. Examples of articles in SLAV’s Synergy journal  (all but most recent edition is open source) which support the new model of school library and have guided the work of many of us in school libraries are:

I have to agree with Doug Johnson in his commentary of the eSchool news article however when he says, ‘Be warned – this phoenix will not be the same-old, same-old bird of the past, but a new creation, technology-infused, best practices-drive, with a new kind of librarian in the lead.’

School libraries are a vital resource in the life of a student – if they’ve moved into the 21st century.  They are exciting places of instruction, support and learning that students can call their own.   They are both physical and digital environments which are part of the life of the school through a range of learning and recreational activities.   Most importantly, they are lead by progressive, open minded individuals with a collaborative attitude and the courage to change.

What’s happening in your school library? Be a library leader today!  It may sound cliche but this truly is a time for school libraries to show a new face on the future but be warned…. it’s not the ‘same-old bird’.

The Future of Privacy: your future

privacy

Living life in public is the new default many of us have been experimenting with in recent years. It’s amazing how readily we have adapted to sharing our daily activities, thoughts and knowledge via social media. The consequences of this voluntary act of sharing and its impact on our privacy, is causing us to adjust our norms and our preparedness to be less private than we may once have been. Yet as danah boyd illustrated through her research of teenagers in – It’s complicated: the social lives of networked teens, young people are surprisingly selective as to what they make public.

We are living in the age of big data where once inconsequential information such as our purchasing habits are now being collected as an invisible, routine process. Where is it all heading? The Pew Research Center has recently released the report – The Future of Privacy: digital life in 2025 in which experts conclude that the struggle with our personal data and public profiles will extend through the next decade as attitudes and legislation adjust to the new landscape.

Some expect that governments and corporations will continue to expand upon the already prevalent tracking of people’s personal lives and the data-basing and magnetisation of personal information. Others expect it may be possible that new approaches will emerge to enable individuals to better control their identities and exercise more choice about who knows what.

There is much food for thought in this report as it looks towards the next 10 years.  Read the report…

Image source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/epics18/4239334095

Reading and curating – Flipboard, Zite, ScoopIt

As we relax and catch our breath over the holiday period, it’s an opportunity to explore some tools and see how they can work for us both personally and professionally. Curation tools that can be customised to filter and manage the information have developed to become magazine style products that enable you pull together information on specific interests from a broad range of sources. They’re easy to manage and a pleasure to read. Here are just three:

flipboardFlipboard: Summed up in one word – Flipboard is ‘extensive’ and it would be safe to say, it’s the most popular magazine style curation tool on the web. Flipboard’s strength is that it enables you to bring all your social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc into the one platform and combine it with news and information from your choice of sources. There are thousands to choose from. With Flipboard’s ‘magazine’ feature you can curate your own topics for sharing with others, or read and curate from other people’s magazines. Access Flipboard at www.flipboard.com where you can read magazines, edit your own and be directed to the Chrome store for the bookmarklet so you can bookmark items into Flipboard when on your PC.  For the best experience download the app from iTunes App or Google Play, Microsoft or Blackberry. Free.

ziteZite is a much simpler curation tool. Having recently been acquired by Flipboard, one wonders about its lifespan, however, I continue to use it as I like its simplicity. Use the search option to locate a specific topic and build your ‘Quicklist’, then with the ‘like’ option, select which of the resources presented most suit your needs. Over time the associated algorithm learns your preference and you’ll find the incoming information to be increasingly relevant to your interests. Zite makes it very easy to forward resources to other tools such as Evernote, Pocket, Google+, LinkedIn, Facebook etc for aggregation or sharing with others. Access Zite via the iTunes App Store or Google Playwww.zite.com. Free.

scoopitScoopIt is a curation tool that promotes you as a curator and enables to share your ‘Scoops’, follow others and comment. Resources aggregate from Google sources, an RSS feed or keywords. Set up your own topics, add articles and annotate them with your own insight and opinion on the topic. This feature makes ScoopIt applicable to the classroom where students could gather a series of articles and annotate them within a curated collection. The algorithm model also works on ScoopIt in that over time, it gets to know your preferences. ScoopIt is a freemium product. Set up 4 Scoops for free, then pay for any extras. Access Scoopit via your PC or via the iTunes App Store or Google Playwww.scoop.it

While these three curation tools are similar, they are also offer different features which will influence your use. I recommend trying them all and making a decision on what suits you best bearing in mind the value in being a producer of content rather than a passive user. The value for students, apart from access to information, is that it introduces them to a digital literacy skill that they can put to use for themselves.