Collaboration - Thing #15

Working with teachers is one of the things I like best about being an LMS. It's fun to hear about projects the kids will be doing and to be part of the process by providing good sites, pulling books for them, and helping the students when they visit the LMC. Having been in the classroom for many years, I can empathize with the lack of time teachers have to do everything they want to do. Helping them with the research piece I know saves them precious time. Unfortunately, my EA was cut two years ago; consequently, there would have been no book pulling had it not been for the great interns I've had, and that part of the support I offer would have suffered. I worry about the future and I'm afraid that when there are no LMC interns or EAs at Como, the collaboration process will suffer. Working with the Como staff reminds me how lucky our students are to have such creative teachers who are very concerned about what their students learn. The MILI project has also reinforced LMS-classroom teacher teaming. When LMSs and teachers have the equipment they need, it makes the transfer of information literacy tips that much easier, not only from LMSs to teachers and students, but from teachers to students as well. For example, recently Kita, Kathy, Kristin and I got together (Steve had a 1 on 1 session later) and we explored how to do a smart search on Google, using the advanced search page and limiting searches to various domains like .edu. It took about 15 minutes. This productive time, then, led to these teachers showing their students the same tips. The result? Hundreds of kids benefited and will continue to benefit from one short collaboration session between the LMS and four teachers. This is just one example of the good that can come from LMSs and classroom teachers working as partners.

Dribbling Lessons - Thing #8

I like the access route to the dribbling lessons. If you want to work on question generation, just click "question," etc. I've been incorporating search term lessons into each project introduction when a teacher brings his/her class to the library to learn about the teacher's webpage for the project. I've written some suggestions for searching directly under the project title so the kids can refer to them later and won't have to take notes when I'm presenting. An example is Nancy Plagens' project webpage. One simple search tactic many kids don't know, for instance, is that when searching for famous rulers you use Roman numerals, not 1, 2, etc. or the words one, two, etc.

Research Project Calculator - Thing #7

It was a good review to see Leslie's presentation on the RPC at our last MILP meeting. I was reminded that while there is a great deal of info, one can focus on portions here and there when needed. The whole thing doesn't have to be tackled at once. I guess that's the approach I've taken, and it makes the RPC more usable for me. One way I introduce students to the RPC is by showing 9th graders during library orientation where the link to the RPC is on the Library Media Center website, so they all have easy access to it in the right column of the Research Process webpage. Also, because the 9th grade English teachers are present during these orientation sessions, they can see where it is too.

Metasearching - Thing #12

Years ago I used Metacrawler and Dogpile all the time, but dropped them as soon as Google hit the market. I was glad for the opportunity to revisit them, and to try out some new metasearch engines I'd not heard of before. I loved Kartoo's graphics, but personally prefer the simplicity of Clusty's Googlesque homepage and easy-to-follow clustering categories. As a matter of fact, I have it as a link on my ROR page. I'd seen the Search Engines Features Chart before and had found it helpful, so I posted it on my Smart Search Webpage. Clicking Quintura brought up an error page, so I'm not sure about that one, and MusicPlasma looked interesting, but I didn't want to set up an account.

Copyright & Plagiarism - Thing #10

The staff members at our school are very concerned about plagiarism; therefore, my second year as an LMS at Como, the English Department and I collaborated and came up with a list of possible consequences for plagiarism. I created a webpage that discusses plagiarism and points out how to avoid it. I noticed that Purdue's Owl was referenced under Thing #10. I, too, included it on an MLA citation page I created so that students can have a guide in citing correctly. I think it's one of the best sites around for looking up how to cite. (By the way,thank you to Leslie E. for having her intern create the original guide sheets several years ago. My former EA retyped them and now anyone can access them, even at home.) Also, because staff members care about the legalities of using various media, I added a Copyright and Fair Use webpage. Until recently it was relatively easy and free to type a segment from a student's paper into the Google search bar, put quotes around it, and voila, up came the source. It's not possible to do that anymore, and my guess is it's because the online paper writing warehouses have put some kind of block up that makes it impossible to track papers to them. Schools need to decide if they want to spend huge bucks to buy online plagiarism-detection tools such as Turnitin.com, CopyCatch and the Essay Verification Engine. Using the plagiarism proof assignment ideas listed under Thing #10 might be a cheaper, and in the end, more fruitful way to go.

Infinite Thinking Machine - More Googling - Thing #11

My wonderful colleague, Gail, just told me about a great Google workshop she attended and shared with me the wealth of Google knowledge she learned, all contained on one little handout titled "The Google Universe." It has so many good tips and quips I felt compelled to add several of the points to my Teacher Tools and Smart Search webpages, and to add the presenter's blog to my Helpful Blogs Urban Planet webpage. It's a website & blog called the Infinite Thinking Machine and can be found at http://www.infinitethinking.org/. From the "About" section of the ITM site: "ITM is designed to help teachers and students thrive in the 21st century. Through an active blog, an Internet TV show, and other media resources, the ITM shares a 'bazillion practical ideas' for turning the infinite universe of information into knowledge. We showcase examples of innovative instructional methods, talk with leading experts, and share real stories from the classroom to improve how we think, learn, teach, and live. And we try to have a little fun along the way."

College Kids Today on You Tube - Thing #21

Thanks to Leslie Y., who spent two hours Urban Planeting (why can't it be a verb just like "googling?") with some Como folks today, I took the time to add a new section to my webpage called "Helpful Blogs." I included Dr. Scott McLeod's blog, "Dangerously Irrelevant," to the section (thank you Ruth W. for reminding me of the name), along with several consumer-related blogs. While I was poking around DI, I noticed a video Dr. McLeod recommended which was produced by a Cultural Anthropology professor and his students using "digital ethnography." I was very intrigued by its subject matter: How do today's college kids spend their time, and how do their choices impact their future? I was also very entertained by the technique used to present the info. It turns out the students who collaborated on the video used Google docs to compile and edit the info: 200 students made 367 edits to one document. I was so impressed with the video I decided to post it here. It's around 4 minutes long, but is well worth the view time.

The following description of the video was taken from You Tube: "A short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University."

Databases - Thing #13 Part Deux

Our November 14 MILI meeting was very informative and practical. I found the format to be productive and realized that there were facets of Gale Student Edition I hadn't yet explored. For example, I didn't realize it included a Multimedia category. It was fun to team with two other librarians and bounce answers and ideas off one another. I vote for the session on the Research Calculator to be similar.

Google Analytics - Revisiting Oct. 20 Thing #17

I ended up unsubscribing to sitemeter because it wasn't picking up any of the visits to my webpages. In retrospect, I think it's because I missed a step. However, I'm now using Google Analytics to track how many visits my ROR pages and library homepage get. George Adams, an SPPS technical support person, lined me up with GA because it turns out the district uses it to keep track of traffic. So anyone with an SPPS webpage can contact him and set up an account with GA. What I've learned is that since the last week in August my library homepage has had 3,178 visits, my ROR page has had 3,141 visits and our school's homepage has had 21,674 visits. You can even select a map overlay option, and as you move the mouse across the world map, little bubbles pop up that tell you the number of visits from each country. So far, I've only been able to use this facet with the school's homepage, not mine, so I'm not sure if that tool is usable beyond the main page. GA is a marketing godsend, I'm sure, for businesses. There is so much measurable data in soooo many categories, it would take weeks to explore it. If you'd like to tour Google Analytics, you can.

Streaming Video - Thing #9

I saw this last spring and thought it would appeal to kids, but as it turns out, more adults than kids get a kick out of it! It's a You Tube video created by some high school students from North Little Rock High School. Actors/Singers: Holly H., Caitlin S., Aaron H., Quinn G., Wyndham W. Editor and Videographer: Joe C. Its purpose is to promote reading so the kids at NLRHS can become proficient and graduate. It's a parody of a Black Eyed Peas song. This one is called "My Books" and it was originally posted in December of 2006. I showed it to some kids last year. They were amused, but thought it was pretty lame. Not so with the adults who have seen it. Take 3 minutes to watch it and see what you think. Click the arrow in the middle of the video box to play it:

Reliable Free Websites - Thing #14

While the databases the school district and state purchase for our use are fantastic, it's not realistic to think that researchers will find everything they need in them. For example, current local information is not available there. So, the first place I start when I hit a dead end in the purchased databases is at Google's Advanced Search page, a fantastic tool. You can fine tune your search and even limit the domain. I always start by searching college/university websites first by putting .edu in the domain line. That way the only hits I get will be .edu links. While nothing is ever 100% on the internet, I feel 99% confident that colleges post reliable information. This technique is how I found most of the non-subscription links I posted on teachers' webpages for specific projects. Also, on my ROR page, I've included several that I've run across through the years like the CIA World Factbook, and the following, to name just a few:

Librarians’ Internet Index: A good site if you need to get topic ideas. It provides pathways (clustering) for broad topics. Includes a broad range of websites that can be trusted.

Clusty.com: Another pathways search engine that clusters search results into categories for easier reference.

Statistical Abstract.com: Provides statistics for states and U.S. departments.

Fedstats.gov: Provides statistics for states and U.S. government agencies.

Citizendium.org : Provides information written by experts in their fields.

When I list these and other free reliable websites on my ROR page, I tag each one with*(Not a purchased database.)
That way the kids know they have to figure out the citations and there won't be a convenient little icon to click that will generate the citation for them. I do include answers.com in the list but attach a disclaimer about Wikipedia, a useful but controversial resource, upon which answers.com heavily depends. I guess I agree with a U of M prof who said that she's perfectly ok with her students using Wikipedia as a starting point to generate ideas, but not as an authoritative source. I think of it as a springboard to other sources and ideas. Also, for the most part, information about long-dead people or historical events that happened years ago is usually ok. It's the info about current stars or politicians, political movements, etc., that we have to be really leery of:

Answers.com: Search by asking a question. Using a variety of reference sources it generates an organized page of relevant information about your search query without requiring you to click on any further Web links. Caution: Answers.com uses Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia which accepts information from anyone, so search results must be carefully evaluated. *(Not a purchased database.)

I love finding great links for staff and students. It's one of my favorite library media specialist responsibilities! The ultimate goal is to equip each student with the knowledge to effectively search the internet for reliable sources, to realize when they have found one, and to use it responsibly. To help them with this, I've created a "Smart Search" webpage.

Some Other Thing - Thing #33

I'm using the meditation exercises I learned yesterday at one of our Staff Development sessions to exhale all of the frustration and agitation I just experienced trying for the third time to convert my home printer to wireless by using a Netgear server I bought last week. This is what happens when you don't purchase expensive Mac gadgets to do what you want. I installed the software on my wired PC just fine, but when I wanted to add the Macbook, of course the nifty little installation directions didn't appear on the screen because Mac doesn't read .exe. Soooo I called Netgear support who said they don't support Mac products (even though on the Netgear box it says the server is compatible with OS X.) So I called AppleCare (incidentally, did you know our laptops come with AppleCare through 2010? Cool!) Anyway, Apple folks said they don't support 3rd party equipment. My last ditch effort was this a.m. when I put the Macbook on the PC side and tried. Yeah! The computer read the disk. BUT it hit a roadblock and after troubleshooting for a bit, I gave up. I uninstalled the server and it's in the box ready to go back to Office Depot. By the way, when I hear "server" I think of at least a computer-sized device. This one fits in my hand. I'm not sure how I'll print from my Macbook at home at this point. I'll have to do some more investigating. I may just wait until my daughter comes home from college this summer with her wireless printer.

Subscription Databases - Thing #13

The students are getting so used to using the citation link in the databases that when they can't find the "cite" link they get upset. Ninth graders are all introduced to Como's Reliable Online Resources webpage during library orientation. I've taken the district's ROR links and categorized them in student-friendly groups. I've also added to my ROR webpage several reliable websites that are not purchased databases. To reinforce the database introduction, four times a year during homeroom every ninth grader visits a computer lab and completes exercise sheets that explore four different databases. Additionally, when teachers ask me to put together links for a specific project, I always include the databases on that teacher's webpage. Our students are getting used to going to the ROR webpage or the teacher's webpage first before they try Google. The databases are great for many reasons, but the main one is that all of the information is reliable. Students and teachers can be sure that if a database is cited, it's ok. I only wish we had access to a literary criticism database. Maybe in the future.....

Teacher Guide to Research Calculator - Thing #6

It is clearly evident that a huge amount of work went into creating the Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator. I like that there's detailed explanations if you want them, or concise bullet-type info as well. The blue/green side-by-side layout of students' view and teachers' view made it easy to follow. The graphic organizers are very helpful, as are the guide sheets and the rubric. Regarding the research process and targeting a topic that will motivate students, I recall a student, who after many questions, finally realized he was worried about going bald because his father and brothers were. That's what he did his project on. There was no problem motivating him after he settled on a topic that was meaningful to him, just as Doug Johnson points out. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to easily find the personal "hook" for each student in the process of questioning, but when they do, it makes the paper writing much easier for them. As with everything at school, time is the issue. How much time can one realistically take per student to effectively probe and cull out an excellent research topic with provocative questions? How will the classroom teacher manage time so that the RPC can effectively be used? I can see parts of it being used at a time. Teachers' curriculum is often so jam-packed trying to meet state standards, it's hard for them to envision an open spot for something new, even though it might be very helpful.

Another New Thing - Thing #17

As you can see if you scroll down a bit and look on the right, I've discovered Photo Booth and now there's no turning back. Let me apologize in advance for all of the silly pictures you will see posted throughout this year. Learning how to use Mac applications is a big challenge for me because I'm not patient. I did, however, finally figure out how to get the pic from Photo Booth to the blog. I put it in iPhoto and then exported it to my desktop. There's probably a way to get it directly from iPhoto to the blog, or from Photo Booth directly to the blog, but I'll find out about that later. While exploring, I attempted to e-mail the picture to myself just to see if it would work. Evidently you need a Mac e-mail address which I tried to set up with no success. The photo in the top left corner is a daylily from my garden taken last summer. I plan to look at it in three months to remind me that summer isn't far away.

Another New Thing - Thing #17

I can see access to the internet any hour of the day or night may be a curse. Now I can't even eat without the laptop in front of me...
I just tried to create a comic page with the Comic Life software. I found the Windows clipart file and put a bunch of pics in a file on my desktop. I'm going to see if I can somehow get the comic I created onto this page. It didn't work. I'm not sure how to make the whole comic a jpg, not just the picture but the balloon with text too. Another picture will have to do for now.

More About Google - Thing #11

I wanted to take a stab at Thing #6, the teacher portion of the calculator, but no page came up. So, I'll talk about what wonderful things I've learned about Google. First of all, last year I learned how helpful the "Domain" section of the Advanced Search page was. To be able to limit hits to .edu or .gov cut down on so much wading through junk. At the MEMO conference I learned about iGoogle and Google Docs. I LOVE both of these features. I've customized my Google homepage (iGoogle) so that it has a link to my Gmail, to the weather in St. Paul (and Chicago, where my daughter is going to college), a to-do list, a U tube link, a big clock with the time, a GREAT calendar where I can put my appts., etc., and consoldiate my personal and school calendars, a dictionary, a tab that leads to a whole page of librarian stuff.....I could go on and on. It's great.
Then, I used Google Docs to gather opinions of SPPS LMSs on how Destiny, our new library program, can be improved. So far 3 have responded. A glitch occurred when the original e-mail introducing the Google Doc project went into most people's spamjam. Marcia also created a Google Doc and is gathering info on another topic, and I contributed to it. Soooo exciting to be able to collaborate from a distance and create one document together. OK, the weather is too nice. I'm done blogging for today....
The pic is a shot of Chicago I took from the top of the Sears Tower.

One New Thing - Thing #17

This morning I spent 2 hrs. on the phone with a tech person from Linksys who walked me through setting up a wireless router in my house so I can use the laptop at home. I bought the WRT546 model for $50 at Best Buy which can be used with either Windows or Macs. My first obstacle occurred when I inserted the installation CD. The folder showed up on the desktop with several files and I didn't know which one to use. Each one had several possibilities, and I had no idea which one to choose. So I called up the tech helpline. Long story short, if you can afford the extra $100 to buy Airport, Mac's wireless router, go for it. I think it will take you five minutes instead of 2 hours and numerous extra gray hairs. Or, if you are wireless savvy or know someone who is, then stick with the less expensive router. Linksys doesn't support Macs, so I had to download the software to my wired PC which did not go well because of all the anti-virus software I have on that computer. When the software was finally on my desktop, the techie signed off. I clicked the icon and it said my router wasn't supported. I called back again, got someone else who had me go out on the internet to locate the site I needed to finish the process. She instructed me to call someone else from Apple to finish the process. I called Best Buy's Geek Squad instead, since I had purchased the router at Best Buy. Plus, in the Apple book it said I needed date of purchase and some other info I wasn't sure I had. That call took 1 minute and now I'm good to go. Whew. What a process.
On another subject, sitemeter isn't picking up my ROR hits. I'm wondering if there's a firewall up somewhere. I'll have to investigate.

Urban Planet Webpage - Thing #5

Creating a webpage has been one of the best ways I've found to help students and staff. Any handouts I provide during staff presentations are posted here. It's easy for students to get to the Reliable Online Resources page I've customized for easy use because there's a shortcut: comosr.spps.org/ror. They can also find reliable sites to help them with career and college research: comosr.spps.org/cc. There are smart searching tips, good books to read, our plagiarism policy, and more. The "Research Process" webpage helps students through the research process, and the MLA guideline sheets for help in citing can be found at the shortcut comosr.spps.org/mla. The "Websites for Classes" webpage has teachers' names and links I've found or they have found to help students research for specific projects. Also, the "Teacher Tools" webpage has lots of links to help them in a pinch (i.e. printing graph paper, puzzles, rubric templates, etc.) There are also links to help them research academic databases for college courses they may be taking. The webpage has made it easier for students and teachers to access the information they need at home and at school AND it's cut down on the number of handouts distributed.

Thing #4 - Libraries

I had never used the MELSA map before -- very cool. Unfortunately, the link to my library in Washington County was not active. I've used Ask a Librarian many times, once to help me remember the name of a disco bar in Minneapolis that existed in the 70s, and most recently when I suddenly stopped receiving e-mail messages telling me when a book or CD I'd requested was in. Both questions were answered. Incidentally, while I love browsing my public library's shelves (the beautiful Stafford Library in Woodbury), I love even more the ability to order what I want online, get an e-mail when it's in, and dash over to the library to pick it up. It's so convenient.
On another note, I finally figured out how to resize pics from previous blogs. All you have to do is click on the pick and drag the corner. Duh..... Sometimes the answer is so simple and I waste too much time looking for all the hidden icons, tabs, etc.

Finished Things 1-3

I just realized I haven't been posting according to directions, so this post will take care of reporting that I've done the first three things. I also have enrolled at sitemeter so that I can see how many hits my library webpage receives and how many Como's Reliable Online Resources webpage receives. I think the e-mail with my username/password confirmation went into spamjam, however, so I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if it worked.

MEMO Conference

Eight SPPS LMSs, as well as Ann from Metronet, attended the MEMO conference (MN Educational Media Organization) at Cragun's in Brainerd this weekend. Info. Lit. Project members Marcia, Marilyn, Leslie Y., Ann and I attended some eye-opening sessions. I learned about podcasting, Second Life (3-D virtual world on the internet populated by avatars), using SMART Notebook instead of SMART Board as a much less expensive way to accomplish the same thing, iGoogle, Google Docs and more. I'm planning on using Google Docs right away to request some changes in our new library online program by having the LMSs list the changes they'd like on the same doc via the internet. It'll be like sitting around a table writing on the same sheet of paper, except we'll be doing it virtually. The pic above on the right shows Marcia and I discussing internet security with one of the guest speakers.:)
I decided to try 2 pics in this blog and putting them in different locations. I had to edit because some of the type ran into one of the pics and couldn't be easily read. So I moved the text way down. Also, I can't figure out how to go in and make my previous pics smaller. I'll work on that....

Carts & Locks for New Laptops & LCDs

Someone asked me to post this info, so here are the links for the locks and carts Como is ordering for the laptops & LCD projectors:
(Note that the lock is a double-headed model so you only need one lock to secure both the projector & the laptop.)
Kensington Locks
Carts

Catching Up

It turns out the LMSs will get laptops too with a trade-in. We're very happy about that.
I suppose it's pretty pathetic that I'm spending a Saturday morning blogging, but my dog woke me up at 5:00 today so I got all sorts of chores done early. Don't let the picture deceive you -- he's cute, but not at 5:00 a.m. I decided to look at some of my colleagues' blogs, do some of the 23 things, etc. I looked at the articles and found it encouraging that the president of Toshiba felt compelled to write about information literacy, making some good points as a matter of fact. Also, for the first time I skimmed the results of last year's MILP. I thought the teacher and LMS survey info was very interesting. Too bad about the pre- & post-test data. I hope this year's data is more reflective of what the project accomplished.
I'm mulling over where on my webpage to put a new section called "Helpful Blogs." I found some consumer-related blogs in the paper this summer that would help kids & staff, but I can't really post them on my Reliable Online Resources page, because I can't vouch for every blog like I can for the ROR sites. Maybe on the Research page --- nah, maybe not. I'll have to think about this some more.

Second Posting Attempt

The teachers are using their equipment and Leslie has offered to help those having "Mac Attacks" (in the computer sense, of course) one on one.
I'm excited because she'll be doing a Podcast workshop here on Nov. 9 for staff.
In the back of my mind I'm thinking about phase 2 of Information Literacy instruction here, which involves how best to teach kids the tools they need to do a smart search on Google. I feel like our staff is on board with directing our kids to use the ROR page, so the next step is to give them what they need if they hit a dead end there.

Blogging Baby Steps

After the frustration of technology that wasn't working, I was finally able to do this. Not easy but the first steps are done.