Libraries of the Future

Posted on July 21, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

Students and researchers expect to be able to access information around the clock from almost anywhere in the world. Libraries are at a turning point. As technology rapidly transforms the way we access information, and resources are increasingly available online and in digital formats, the established role of the library as a physical space housing racks of books is looking increasingly out of step with the needs of students and researchers.

JISC’s ‘Libraries of the Future‘ debate has gone digital, with a specially-commissioned documentary. Over 200 people have already viewed the ten minute video, which marks the culmination of a year long campaign.

The Libraries of the Future campaign stimulated debate among librarians, information professionals and academics on the issues surrounding technology’s impact on the emerging role of the academic library in the 21st century through a series of events, printed resources and podcast interviews.

The Libraries of the Future publication explores the issues surrounding Libraries of the Future, showcases the events and activities of the campaign and looks forward to some possible solutions.

Download the Libraries of the Future Brochure.

This documentary showcases interviews with leaders from JISC, Oxford University and LSE as well as students and academics who discuss what the library of the future will look like.

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Future Learning in a Digital Age

Posted on July 14, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

I encourage you to read this report from the MacArthur foundation, published by MIT Press The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age (.pdf).

The project began as a draft document posted on a collaborative Web site developed by the Institute for the Future of the Book (http://www.futureofthebook.org) in January of 2007. The draft remained on the Institute’s site for over a year (and still remains there) inviting comments by anyone registered to the site. This recent Report is a redaction of the argument in what is a book-in-progress, currently titled The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age, which is to be published in 2010, after the culmination of extensive research and collaboration face to face and virtually.

Quotes that attracted my attention which have immediate relevance to our planning in schools – both formal and informal:

Since the current generation of student has no memory of the historical moment before the advent of the Internet, we are suggesting that participatory learning as a practice is no longer exotic or new but a commonplace way of socializing and learning.

This puts education and educators in the position of bringing up the rearguard, of holding desperately to the fragments of an educational system which, in its form, content, and assessments, is deeply rooted in an antiquated mode of learning.

Most fundamental to such a change is the understanding that participatory learning is about a process and not always a final product.

According to the report, there are ten principles which are foundational to rethinking the future of learning institutions.

Self-learning
Horizontal structures
From presumed authority to collective credibility
A de-centred pedagogy
Networked learning
Open source education
Learning as connectivity and interactivity
Lifelong learning
Learning institutions as mobilizing networks
Flexible scalability and simulation

Some wonderful reading and professional discussion could ensue if you can get your school’s leadership team to consider these ten Pillars of Institutional Pedagogy.

I am particularly interested in the focus on virtual learning. For example, Quest to Learn: New York, is scheduled to open in the fall of 2009. Quest to Learn, a school using game-inspired methods to teach traditional and multimedia literacies, is a joint venture between the Transformative Media at Parsons The New School for Design in collaboration with the nonprofit organization New Visions for Public Schools (See http://www.q2l.org/).

I know that while it is difficult for schools and education authorities to fast-track their thinking and to be strategic in changing cultures and educational practices, this report, and the book that will follow should provide an opportunity to mandate future developments.

Emerging technologies = librarian

Posted on May 13, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

Thanks to my friend (and fellow chocoholic) Kathryn Greenhill for sharing this fabulous set of slides and presentation – which really puts into perspective what librarians should be about – if they aren’t already!!

The challenges are bigger in schools – emerging technologies are not seen as core business! But let’s be clear about this. We are not talking about ‘using’ technology – but rather about changing our whole mode of operation to deal with disruptive change – and dare I say it? to actively create disruptive change for the sake of the learners in our schools.

Kathryn is a tertiary emerging technologies librarian. What she shares is equally vital and relevant for schools.

From Tim Berners-Lee to … Muriel?

Posted on May 2, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

Twenty years ago today, Tim Berners-Lee wrote his original proposal for a better kind of linked information system. He was doing consulting for CERN in Switzerland, and found that its communication infrastructure was leading to information loss. So he proposed a solution using something called Hypertext. This led to the Hypertext Markup Language, or, as it’s more commonly known now, HTML. That in turn, led to the World Wide Web.

Were you around to see all these changes? I certainly was, and I definitely remember the trouble I had teaching teachers the concept of the WWW, what it might do for learning, and how to go about using it. Navigation nightmare – that’s what it was! But now we all use the Net for stuff – and mostly we incorporate it into our learning experiences for our students, albeit badly at times. But the argument is won and we have moved onto the whole new media thing – and the relevance of connectedness.

So what’s next?

In the TED Talk below Tim Berners-Lee provides insight into developments that will power the semantic web, and the basis for it’s development which is rooted in linked data. Way back in 2006 Tim was already writing about ‘linked data‘ which no doubt explains the advances made in subsequent years in semantic web research. As he explained then

The Semantic Web isn’t just about putting data on the web. It is about making links, so that a person or machine can explore the web of data. With linked data, when you have some of it, you can find other, related, data.

Now we understand the potential of the semantic web differently and the implications are profound. You must read The Future of Federated Search: Muriel doesn’t search, but DFAST does, by Lee LeBlanc. This will give you a ‘picture’ of what might be – in a way that we can understand. I would never have understood what Tim was trying to explain in his original proposal for the web. But now I understand virtual environments and crave interoperability and interactivity 24/7! I won’t be contributing to the evolution any time soon, like the folks over at LinkedOpenCommunity at W3C SWEO Community, but I sure am grateful for their efforts!

A couple of snippets here, then watch the video 🙂

Our information seeking behaviors will come to be shaped by the information we seek. Devices and the access channels we seek information through will further define our search behaviors. The computer is only one of these devices; interaction search technologies another.

In 1995, a user expended time searching; in 2035, a user spends precious time thinking -differently. The days of sitting in front of a dumb search box are over. Users no longer pound the keys in frustration getting zero results or billions or results. How will this happen?

Empowering New Learners

Posted on March 21, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

In this film, Heppell makes his way through London, describing his vision for schools, meeting with kids , and exploring ideas for learning design and integration of technology in 21st century learning.

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Horizon Report – K12 at last!

Posted on March 12, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

The Horizon Report 2009 K-12 is here! Naturally I’m thrilled to bits, for professional and personal reasons.

Firstly, because the Horizon reports, that have been released since 2004 and which have provided critical information for educators about emerging technologies and their impact on society and education – has now released its first report for K-12. Horizon.K12 focuses on emerging technologies for elementary and secondary learning institutions.

Secondly, I was so lucky to be included on the Advisory Panel of the K-12 Report. Just being part of the process was amazing – but seeing such a breadth of information, and engaging in the process of filtering was an education in itself. Much material was covered, as we read, filtered and sifted priorities – we’ve seen what didn’t make it into the report – so maybe we got to know what might come next 🙂

While there are many local factors affecting the practice of education, there are also issues that transcend regional boundaries, questions we all face in K-12 education, and it was with these in mind that this K12 report was created. The hope is that the report is useful to educators worldwide, and the international composition of the Advisory Board reflects the care with which a global perspective was assembled.

Information on all the Horizon Reports may be found, and downloaded, at
http://www.nmc.org/horizon. The Horizon K-12 Report may be downloaded here.

Fast Forward

Posted on January 3, 2009 by Judy O'Connell

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So lets see…my standard toolkit includes: Wordpess, Gmail, Google calendar, Google chat, and a host of other Google doc tools, Delicious, Nings galore, facebook, twitter, flickr, flickrCC, SnipThis, TwitThat, Feedly, Clip to Evernote, Tumblr, Kwout, Wikispaces, Wetpaint, Youtube and other video sites, and of course Vodpod to store my most important video finds, skype, Elluminate as well as WizIQ and Flashmeeting. Of course, there are raft of tools that are associated with virtual learning environments – a Second Life for me! That is not all, but that is already making my mind exhausted when I think of the shift in my ‘way of being’ – exhausted not for my self, but for the communication barrier that exists between me and so many of those that I work with.

More rumination….while I make a small movie from text!

What I am actually a bit worried about is that the pace of change has been so great, that the gap between the digitally adept and the digitally challenged is getting wider and wider, and perhaps will become too big a gap to bridge. I think I should settle for rumination, rather than worry, and let 2009 take care of itself 🙂

Powering Practice in 09

Posted on December 16, 2008 by Judy O'Connell

The end of the school year – yes! The end of planning changes – no! Last week an intrepid Powerful Learning Practice team at Joeys gathered to plan for their work in 09. Our day was about developing concrete steps forward, as well as sharing, dreaming, and wondering how to move forward.

Dean Groom came along for the day, and acted as facilitator extraordinaire – an outside voice always makes a difference. Best of all, Ross (Headmaster) came along for the beginning hour or two, and urged us to look for achievable gains..even if small to begin with. So, true to his intention, we have come up with some small but achievable actions to begin to turn the learning focus around.Our focus will be on Year 7 in terms of a whole school project, even though each of us will be doing things in our own classes, we figure that a full school focus will add that extra level change.

First up – we will introduce all Year 7 to their new school and their new life at Joeys via a Ning. Each boy will join the Year 7 Ning, and use it to build up their profiles, network socially within the school, and achieve what is traditionally done in Year 7 in terms of ‘introducing myself’ into a new school environment.

Second – the reason for this first jump into a Ning, familiarisation, and establishing connections is to move to the next phase of the project – digital citizenship. Again, the Ning will model online behaviours, allow for indepth work in the area, and expand the boys understanding of digital citizenship with a broader range of tools, so that the learning landscape becomes embedded in their online world. Amongst the tools chosen for early use will be Glogster – so that students can fashion their classroom projects (some of which will still be relatively analogue depending on the class they are in) and enhance their wikispaces accordingly. Hey, this will be a new take on the inevitable poster/powerpoint activity! I am going to use the new eduGlogster to set up accounts for all the boys in Year 7, and Anthony will set up the Ning.

Finally – we will of course use a variety of tools as the project progresses. But the idea will be to embrace digital citizenship and online learning as a normal part of schooling. Cool.

We are not sure how it will evolve – it’s a work in progress. The main thing is that we are embedding online learning as mainstream for these boys – so regardless of whether they are at school for study or at home for homework, they can connect and continue their learning and thinking. I hope that my work with my Year 7 English class (which I also asked for, so I could ‘do’ rather than ‘mentor’ all the time) will help us to better understand the possibilities for us at our school at our point in the learning journey revolution.

I have to thank my PLP team for being so keen to do this, given the remarkable constraints that the workload in a 24/7 boarding school imposes. We don’t get much time at all to participate in the PLP online Ning, but we do chip away at it at school, taking ideas and enthusiasm from the PLP project run by Will Richardson and Sherly Nussbaum-Beach which is empowering our transformation. We’ve embedded an official time each fortnight within our teaching schedules so that we can be guaranteed to meet and evolve our own understanding as well as our student’s learning. We have online collaborative tools that enhance our connectivity – Google Chat and Google docs are our mainstay at the moment. We will probaby also use Microsoft Onenote within school too.

Will we go into virtual worlds together? I certainly hope so, as there is such a strong interest emerging in Australia now, and Jokaydia is getting to be such a central hub for developments in the school and tertiary sectors.

Roll on 2009!

Celebrating Blue Day with Al Upton

Eemo Dean and Judy

A new Horizon for me and for you

Posted on December 8, 2008 by Judy O'Connell

The 2008 Horizon Report, Australia and New Zealand Edition, has recently been released, and is available online, and to download making it an easily accessible and important addition to your professional reading.

The Horizon Report series is the product of the New Media Consortium’s Horizon Project, an ongoing research project that seeks to identify and describe emerging technologies likely to have a large impact on teaching, learning, or creative expression within higher education around the globe. This volume, the 2008 Horizon Report, Australia–New Zealand Edition, is the first in a new series of regional reports, and examines emerging technologies as they appear in and affect higher education in Australia and New Zealand in particular.

Information on all the Horizon Reports may be found, and downloaded, at
http://www.nmc.org/horizon

Participation on an Horizon Project Advisory Board is by invitation, and so I’m thrilled to have been invited to join the first Horizon Report for K-12

This is really exciting for me! I can’t make it to Dallas for the launch of the Advisory Group (no secret sponsors), but I will really relish the opportunity to contribute in some small way to this project. I will be joining my fellow bloggers Kim Cofino (International School, Bangkok), Julie Lindsay (Qatar Academy, Qatar), Gary Putland (edNA Australia) and Westley Field (Skoolaborate and MLC School, Sydney) in this new endeavour. I don’t know the others, except for the inspirational Alan Levine from NMC, and Marco Torres.

Horizon.K12 is a new project that applies the process developed for the New
Media Consortium’s Horizon Project with a focus on emerging technologies for elementary and secondary learning institutions.

Members of the K-12 education community are encouraged to follow the Advisory Board’s progress as the discussion unfolds.