SLAV Connects is a blog by the School Libraries Association of Victoria (SLAV), formerly named Bright Ideas when a collaboration between SLAV and the State Library of Victoria (SLV). Its aim is to share news from the Association and to encourage teacher librarians, librarians, school library staff, educators and all interested persons to actively engage with the school libraries, to share tools and experiences; to network on a global scale; and to embrace dynamic teaching and learning opportunities.
The 2012 Victorian Personal Learning Network course has now come to a close. Participants explored a range of web tools throughout the twelve unit course, reflecting on their work in blog entries and working with each other in online conferences. Many of them are now using social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook to connect with other members of the VicPLN community.
Congratulations to all of the participants who have worked through the course this year. For a great summary of the course check out this Storify of the 2012 Victorian PLN.
Susan Mapleson, a Teacher Librarian at Christian College (Senior Campus) Geelong has developed a very funky blog for lovers of literature. The i.Read blog is cleverly titled and has been developing nicely throughout the year.
Susan explains how the blog came about:
I completed the SLAV PLN program earlier in the year and while this is not the blog I started during the PLN program is it the more meaningful and relevant blog I started along with Deb Canaway (the other Teacher Librarian here at the senior campus) during the year and includes many of the tools I learnt doing the program.
We started our blog for the students and teachers at Christian College Senior school and while we have not been overwhelmed with responses, certainly we have had many people access our blog.
It was aimed mainly at our Year 10 English classes who come to the Library usually at the beginning and end of the term to borrow books. It was another way to interact with the students, promote the Library and recommend books to students as we only review books we have in the Library. Year 10 students had to write a book review as part of their English curriculum and also submit a brief version onto the blog. The positive of this task was that the students got a real buzz out of seeing their reviews online and for many it was the first time they had read and or contributed to a blog.
In the future we would like to have our staff also contribute to the blog and find more ways to encourage students to leave comments.
Congratulations Sue and Deb for creating a vibrant and attractive blog. Now that the blog has a good body of work, it will be easier to promote it in the new year.
Some teachers in Australia have holidays beginning next week. So a brilliant time to access the Free Cyber Summit on 21st Century Readiness to be held between September 20 – October 5.
For more information click on this link and for international time zone conversions, click here. A fantastic opportunity to add to your professional learning and to broaden your personal learning network.
The School Library Association of Victoria in partnership with the State Library of Victoria present the PLN – Personal Learning Network program. This program is funded as part of the digital education content initiatives and strategies of the Victorian Department of Education and Early Childhood Development.
Your PLN is a reciprocal learning system designed just for you!
Create your own personalised learning network and share information, opinions and experiences with like-minded people from across the globe,
Apply a little intelligent filtering to the information overload out there,
Learn from others and contribute to others’ learning,
Connect around ideas that you are passionate about.
Find out how you can use the web 2.0 environment to:
Expand your personal learning network,
Manage the information that web 2.0 provides,
Use web 2.0 for learning and teaching,
Develop your skills and experience in a web 2.0 environment.
This twelve week online program, enhanced with regular Elluminate how-to sessions, exemplars, and online mentoring offers you a hands-on experience of a range of web 2.0 tools and activities.
This program is designed for novices to the web 2.0 world as well as those who wish to further explore this interactive web environment.
When: Commencing Tuesday 27 April 2010
Who: Teacher-librarians, teachers and library team members
How: Work at your own pace, explore new things week by week, share your learning as a team!
Why: So that you build a network of trusted sources for learning and collaboration.
Cost: $175 per person for SLAV members – team discounts apply!
Ollie Bray, a National Advisor for Emerging Technologies in Learning at LTS (Learning and Teaching Scotland) has produced a useful presentation.
Looking at tools for 21st Century learning and teaching, Bray asks questions such as how do we ensure students who have access to unlimited information develop emotional literacy and social maturity?
There are some new tools featured as well as ideas for Personal Learning Networks. Worth a look.
Camilla Elliott is a real learning leader. Her blog, Edubeacon has been informing readers for six years now, which is an amazingly long time in the relatively new world of Web 2.0. Camilla explains more about Edubeacon:
Why do we blog? I’ve been blogging at Edubeacon.com since January 2004. The site has gone through a name change and a platform change (starting on Blogger, then migrating to WordPress) but the purpose remains the same. It is a place for reflection; for storing resources with explanatory notes and for sharing with others. Most bloggers will give you the same answer.
‘Edubeacon’ is an extension of my website ‘Linking for Learning’ (L4L), which began life in about 1997 as ‘Staying Connected’ – an accessible place to store study resources. L4L needs some therapy but is a patient companion. I use it to link to my conference presentations and professional writing, thereby saving the odd tree or two and the photocopying budget. It is also an accessible site for beginners seeking resources of relevance to Australian educators.
Blogs, wikis, personal websites and collaborative spaces, reflect the open and sharing nature of the Internet and Web 2.0 resources in particular. Edubeacon serves as one of the cogs in my Personal Learning Network. It provides opportunities for the occasional conversation and has had various changes of pace over the years depending on life’s pressures.
Building a Personal Learning Network is an essential professional activity in this time of constant change. It’s a journey on which we build knowledge, collegiality and understanding with a variety of companions. Blogging on Edubeacon is part of my meandering learning journey.
Thank you Camilla for sharing your learning journey with the readers of Bright Ideas. Edubeacon really is a beacon of blogs; a shining light on technology and education that is thoughtfully researched and written.
