Elluminate creates free social learning network for educators

Elluminate creates free social learning network for educators

Shared via AddThis

Widget for "Share This"

Tom Kahn shared a cool tool -- a widget called "Share This" so I experimented with it on a number of my blogs. It allows me (and readers) to share a post with other social networking accounts. I shared an item from my Advocate4Libraries blog with my Facebook account, but could also share (re-post) with my Twitter and other places. See http://sharethis.com/

How would you use this? Here is an example that I recommend CSLA member try: Post a message on your blog or Facebook account about the California School Library Association's popular, free, onlineweb educational technology tutorials for teachers called "Classroom Learning 2.0" and "Discovering Assistive Technology". For those who have completed or almost completed School Library Learning 2.0, add a testimonial about how much you learned and enjoyed the discovery learning format. You get the idea! Now share it. The more who hear about the CSLA professional development and program tutorials, the more visibility for school libraries. Remember, strong school libraries build strong students and lifelong learners!

Social Media Revolution?

Social Media Revolution



What do you think?

web 2.0 URLs

Want more info/resources about web 2.0, and how to integrate it? Start with these URLS:
http://www.csla.net (of course)
http://aasl.ala.org/essentiallinks/index.php?title=Social_Networking_Guide
http://aasl.ala.org/essentiallinks/index.php?title=Technology
http://www.webjunction.org/1
http://www.cue.org
http://www.iste.org
http://www.sldirectory.com/libsf/resf/web2.html
http://infolitlib20.blogspot.com/2009/07/pivots-for-change-in-school-libraries.html
http://www.classroom20.com/
http://www.education-world.com/a_tech/

contributed by Lesley Farmer

Point Smart, ClickSafe - Report on CyberSafety

See 2009 Internet Safety Task Force report on CyberSafety, "PointSmart, ClickSafe". Task Force suggested ways to improve cybersafety for children:

• education before a child gets on the Internet
• control while the child is online, and
  
• having set procedures if problems arise.

A word-search of the 69-page document found 6 occurrences of the word "library' -- several members of the task force, for example.

OpenOffice.org has an Education Project

Just learned that the free, productivity tool OpenOffice.org has a site especially for educators and their students called the OpenOffice Education Project. Here is it's mission:
"Its purpose his to help teachers as well as students or anybody involved in education to enter the OpenOffice.org project and find a place where to contribute or to find information. Another aim is to be a central point for tools and initiatives around OpenOffice.org the product and the sources that can be shared by our international community and where students of any level can find a place to easily participate." For more information about this productivity tool, or to contribute, see the Education Project wiki.

Would this be a good project for a high school team of students to work on, with guidance from teachers and teacher librarians?

Blended Learning - Students Do Better with Mix of f2f and online instruction

eSchool News reports on results of a U.S. Department of Education study on Blended Learning. Bottom line: study reveals that students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.

Given the finding that students do better with a mix of f2f and online instruction, it follows that teacher librarians should work with their classroom teachers and district curriculum leaders to identify or develop curriculum-supporting tutorials or mini-courses. The CSLA web 2.0 tutorial for middle school students, Learning 2.0, is an example of a library-generated online course that addresses information literacy issues as it teaches 21st century learning skills. Another CSLA tutorial, Discovering Assistive Technology, is suitable for high school students as well as adults. CSLA members are encouraged to offer both to their students and classroom teachers, and to include on the school library website.