Category Archives: Professional learning

2010 SLAV awards

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The School Library Association of Victoria are proud to announce their 2010 Awards. The John Ward Award, The SLAV Research Fellowship, The SLAV Innovator’s Grant and the SLAV School Leaders Award are presented each year.  Applications close on Friday 17 September 2010. This is a fantastic opportunity to recognise the contributions of a colleague.

The John Ward Award

John Ward was a founding member of SLAV in the early 1960s, a founding member of Australian School Library Association in 1968 and a founding member of the International Association of School Librarianship.

He held the positions of Secretary and President of SLAV for many years and was the Secretary of ASLA during the 1970s, a period of rapid library expansion.

In recognition of John’s contribution to our profession, the SLAV Council established the John Ward Award in 1998, with a professional development grant of $2000 to be awarded annually.

The recipient/s must demonstrate an outstanding contribution to learning and teaching at their school and raise the profile of the profession through their role as teacher-librarian.


The SLAV Research Fellowship


In recent years education authorities have based curriculum reform on the results of research projects that have been carried out here and overseas.

Academics and practitioners alike have emphasised the need to carry out action research projects and document the impact that our school library programs have on student learning outcomes.

The SLAV Research Fellowship supports research projects that involve school libraries in learning and teaching.
The fellowship will take the form of a $1000 grant to provide practical support to a teacher-librarian implementing a local research project.


The SLAV Innovator’s Grant


Sponsored by Pledger Consulting Pty Ltd – Links Plus


In conjunction with Pledger Consulting, SLAV is particularly pleased to sponsor an award that goes to an innovative library or school team. Teams may self nominate or be nominated by SLAV branches.

The grant will consist of a package of SLAV professional development and/or publications to the value of $800 plus $200 worth of Pledger Consulting products.

SLAV would like to take this opportunity to thank Pledger Consulting for their generous sponsorship of this award. Over a period of many years Pledger Consulting Pty Ltd has provided directories of internet sites to learners, teacher-librarians and teachers in schools. All of their products are designed to guide research and save time for students, teachers and librarians.

The SLAV School Leader Award


Research has indicated that principal or school leader support of the library program is critical in encouraging teacher / teacher-librarian collaboration and in making the library program an integral part of the learning and teaching of the school. (Colorado Study, 1999)

The SLAV School Leader Award is made to a school leader who demonstrates outstanding support of the school library and the work of the school library team.

The award recipient will be recognised by the presentation of a certificate at the International School Libraries Day Dinner. School leaders can be nominated by a teacher-librarian or the school library team (SLAV membership required to nominate). School personnel who are members of the school leadership team within the school are eligible to be nominated.

Learning Essentials for Microsoft Office

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Microsoft is offering another free download aimed at the education market. Learning Essentials provides the following resources:

Learning Essentials adds curriculum-based templates and toolbars to Microsoft Office Word, PowerPoint, and Excel to guide students and teachers through projects. There is a separate set of tools for teachers and students. Some language versions include tools to create e-learning content.

Educator and Student Centers

Centers give educators and students a starting place for common assignments and tasks and guide them through a customizable interface to encourage project completion.

Templates & Toolbars

Templates help educators and students get beyond the blank page and produce high-quality work. Readily available toolbars bring together Office resources and commands for writing, presentations, math and science, and foreign languages.

Tutorials & Project Assistance

“Just in time” guidance and coaching from leading education publishers and expert Microsoft Office users can be seen side-by-side with work in progress. Handy Checklists help track progress within an assignment.

Microsoft has made some interesting additions to its free downloads and Learning Essentials could be useful for both students and teachers.

Enhancing Teachers’ Take-up of Digital Content: Factors and Design Principles in Technology Adoption

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The Enhancing_Teacher_Takeup_of_Digital_Content_Report commissioned by Education Services Australia (a merger between Curriculum Corporation and Education.au) and written by Professor Michael Gaffney has recently been published.

The Executive Summary explains:

  • Although digital uptake in schools increasing, many teachers do not use technology in their classroom

To ensure this is changed, the following points are recommended:

1. Contextual factors
1.1 Governments and education authorities have clear goals and policies for adoption.
1.2 The timeline for adoption by governments and education authorities (ie the political timeline) associated with policy development, program delivery and evaluation reflects the timeline for adoption by schools and teachers (ie the educational timeline) associated with finding, assessing relevance, take-up and refinement of the use of digital content.
1.3 Schools have the infrastructure necessary for adoption, including available, suitable and affordable technological tools.
1.4 Teachers and students appreciate the relevance of the digital content and how it relates to the curriculum, and see links to current teaching and learning practices.
2. General change factors
2.1 Leaders in government, education authorities and schools encourage a culture of inquiry and openness to change.
2.2 Government and education authorities provide an appropriate balance of pressure and support for change.
2.3 The capabilities and technical skills of teachers and students are recognised as assets rather than liabilities.
2.4 The technological tools are reliable, useful and aligned with the school culture.

1. Contextual factors

  • 1.1 Governments and education authorities have clear goals and policies for adoption.
  • 1.2 The timeline for adoption by governments and education authorities (ie the political timeline) associated with policy development, program delivery and evaluation reflects the timeline for adoption by schools and teachers (ie the educational timeline) associated with finding, assessing relevance, take-up and refinement of the use of digital content.
  • 1.3 Schools have the infrastructure necessary for adoption, including available, suitable and affordable technological tools.
  • 1.4 Teachers and students appreciate the relevance of the digital content and how it relates to the curriculum, and see links to current teaching and learning practices.

2. General change factors

  • 2.1 Leaders in government, education authorities and schools encourage a culture of inquiry and openness to change.
  • 2.2 Government and education authorities provide an appropriate balance of pressure and support for change.
  • 2.3 The capabilities and technical skills of teachers and students are recognised as assets rather than liabilities.
  • 2.4 The technological tools are reliable, useful and aligned with the school culture.

3. Innovation-specific factors

  • 3.1 Digital content is readily accessible, links with the curriculum, and does what it purports to do.
  • 3.2 There is a clear implementation path for adoption and it is linked to whole-school planning.
  • 3.3 Government and education authorities allocate resources strategically and equitably, and have processes to promote and monitor the use of digital content.
  • 3.4 Teachers and students have the resources to use digital content (including access to hardware and software, ‘how to’ guides, and expert technical and educational support).

4. Systemic factors

  • 4.1 There is awareness and consensus among government, education authorities, school leaders, teachers and students about their philosophy of educational technology and the value of digital content, as well as the means by which the use of such content can benefit students.
  • 4.2 The adoption process is designed and implemented so that the efforts of governments, education authorities, school leaders, teachers and students are aligned (through attention to the contextual, general change, innovation- specific, and systemic factors noted here) to achieve effective integration of digital content into teachers’ pedagogical practice.

This is a must read document (only 26 pages) for all Australian educators interested in raising digital participation in classrooms across the country.

The Emerging List of Top 100 Tools for Learning 2010

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For the fourth consecutive year, Jane Hart is compiling a list of the top 100 tools for learning. Anyone can add their voice by listing their top 10 tools. The voting will conclude on 17 October and the final listing will be released.

This list is always worth viewing and the sites that are new are worth exploring. Sites are listed according to rank and information includes:

  • previous years’ rank
  • name with linked URL
  • explanation of what the tool does
  • platform (desktop, server, online, mobile)
  • cost, if any
  • number of votes

This is a great way to explore the top online learning tools as voted by educators worldwide and to have your own say.

Make, Share, Do Smackdown wiki

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The final session of the School Library Association of Victoria Make, Share, Do conference held on Friday 30th July was a smackdown. A wiki was developed with resources for people interested in accessing resources for:

  • information fluency
  • digital citizenship
  • digital storytelling
  • reading 2.0
  • network building

Screen shot 2010-08-01 at 10.21.27 PM

Wallwisher walls were developed for each topic with conference delegates encouraged to add their own favourite sites, tools and ideas.

Reading 2.0 by Dr Joyce Valenza

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The second of Dr Joyce Valenza’s sessions at the  School Library Association of Victoria Make, Share, Do conference held on Friday 30th July focused on the use of social media to promote reading.

Library20

View more presentations from joycevalenza.
With so many options and ideas for library staff to use to promote reading, as well as ways to have students create presentations, there is at least one brilliant idea here for every school library to use.
Thanks again to Tania Sheko for her notes from the session. My notes are also available.

Dr Joyce Valenza @ SLAV

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On Friday 30th July, hundreds of educators packed the School Library Association of Victoria Make, Share, Do conference held at the Olympic Room at the Melbourne Cricket Ground to hear groundbreaking teacher librarian Dr Joyce Valenza speak about Library 2.0.

Wizard of Apps revised

View more presentations from joycevalenza.
As well as speaking energetically and passionately to two amazing keynote presentations, one of which is above, Dr Valenza was revealed to be a kind, thoughtful and inclusive presenter who made an instant connection with her audience. This conference will not be forgotten quickly and the slideshare above gives us a vast amount of material to pursue for our own school libraries.
Thank you to Tania Sheko who kindly shared her notes from this session. My notes are also available here.

New tools workshop wiki

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Joyce Valenza has done it again. This time she and David Warlick have created a vibrant and informative wiki that showcases new social media tools for learning.

Screen shot 2010-07-29 at 11.08.27 AM

With pages covering topics such as:

  • WallWisherIdeas
  • Backchannel
  • PlayaroundPage
  • What is 2.0?
  • Learning more
  • Fair Use and InfoEthics
  • Curriculum and Standards
  • Playing with images
  • Wikis
  • Blogs
  • Digital storytelling
  • Avatar Making
  • Podcasting
  • Video Tools
  • Writing Tools
  • Twitter
  • Nings, Social Networking, PLNs
  • Book Publishing
  • Social Bookmarking
  • Polling Quizzing tools
  • Interactive calendars
  • Personal information portals
  • Skype & Webinar Stuff
  • Search Tools
  • Assorted Widgets
  • Cartoon Generators
  • BackChannel and Chat
  • Map Apps
  • URL Shorteners
  • Media Literacy
  • On evaluating information
  • Game Generators
  • PowerPoint Reform Tools
  • Media parking lots
  • Feeds and aggregators
  • Miscellaneous other goodies
  • Mind Mapping, timelining, outlining, graphing, visualizing
  • Reading
  • ebook pathfinder
  • Screen Capture Apps
  • Interactive Whiteboards
  • iphoneapps
  • iPad
  • Privacy safety identity
  • To get you organized
  • Springfield Township High School Library
  • Teacher Tools

there is something for everyone interested in educational technology. As with any wiki, the New Tools Workshop wiki is a work in progress that will grow and evolve over time. Congratulations to Joyce and David on a wonderful site.