reThink, reCreate, reEmpower

For all those people attending the Syba Signs presentations in Brisbane and Sydney – the links to sites mentioned are available in the slideshare presentation below!

[A note to the conference attendees: I have been alerted that the slides have not uploaded well to slideshare this time. Some scrambled, some hyperlinks not showing etc. I am going to reformat and load up to slideshare before Friday’s session. In the meantime, some of the links are readable for your investigation. ][update- still having problems with slideshare. New version now, but some slides are still scrambled though the links do work. Will try again tomorrow]

Will Richardson talks!

Will began his by reflecting on citizen journalism – media, skype, ustreamTV, live tv shows from basements – by kids who are just entering high school. Will is going to take a group of keen teachers and teacher librarians on a wonderfully weaved journey through the read/write web. Retire, and make more by selling ads on your blog than you did in your day job!

Will reflects on the transformation taking place that is as radical a change as that which took place as a result of the invention of the printing press.

Will is providing all the links to his presentation via his wiki http://willrichardson.wikispaces.com/.

Copyright? this discussion is now global. what do we do when content is free, easily copyable, and easily distributable. It’s a different place for business too. http://www.surfthechannel.com/ Pick up any TV show! anything you like. These guys are in Sweden, they don’t run servers – they don’t believe they are doing anything wrong 🙂

The story of Wikinomics is one that we all need to take note of. IBM has 24,000 blogs – they are sharing, collaborating, and being transparent about their jobs. Even governments are changing – there is a pressure for transparency,

But education, by and large, is not changing.

The How 2 of Web 2.0

It’s 9.00 am and we are all looking forward to our day with Will Richardson! followed by a few good Aussies talking about Australian initiatives. Westley Field will enchant the audience with Skoolaborate; I will do my usual bit; and we’ll hear from Christine Mackenzie about the work at Yarra Pelnty Regional Library in Melbourne. The end of the day will have a panel discussion – which will be streamed to the world at 3.00 pm AEST via Will’s Weblogg-ed TV .

April Festival on the Islands of Jokaydia

Exciting! Jo Kay has announced the April Festival on the Islands of Jokaydia on the 19th and 20th of April!

It’s a chance for jokaydia Community members and friends to get together to share and support each other…. and of course have some fun!

Come for a newbie tour!

Find out about the Virtual Classroom project, featuring the project’s first Educator-in-Residence, Leigh Blackall (SL: Leroy Goalpost) working with Konrad Glogowski (SL: Konrad March) , who is inviting individual educators like Leigh to design and build their ideal learning space for use as either a virtual classroom in Second Life or as a prototype for a real-life classroom.

Join us for a social event and announcement of the winning entries in the Annual Jokaydia photo competition.

…..and lots more!

For full details, check out April Events on the Islands of Jokaydia. Looking forward to seeing lots of my friends there – and to making new ones too!

Nice!

Information Literacy meets Library 2.0

Web 2.0 technologies have been seen by many information professionals as critical to the future development of library services. This has led to the use of the term Library 2.0 to denote the kind of service that is envisaged. There has been considerable debate about what Library 2.0 might encompass, but, in the context of information literacy, it can be described as the application of interactive, collaborative, and multimedia technologies to web-based library services and collections.

These developments challenge librarians involved in information literacy with more complex and diverse web content, a range of exciting new tools with which to teach, and a steep learning curve to adjust to the constant change of the Web 2.0 world.

Of course my passion in this scenario is trying to understand what this all means for schools and school libraries.

So in case you haven’t heard Facet have recently published a new book, to which I contributed the School Library 2.0 chapter!

Godwin, P. and Parker, J. (eds) (2008) Information Literacy meets Library 2.0. London: Facet. ISBN 978-1-85604-637-4.

I have my own copy now, and the various chapters are jam packed with fantastic information for anyone involved in Library Services. It’s a fantastic roundup and the editors Peter Godwin and Jo Parker are to be congratulated on this excellent compilation.

“This edited collection from an international team of experts provides a practically-based overview of emerging Library 2.0 tools and technologies for information literacy practitioners; addresses the impact of the adoption of these technologies on information literacy teaching; provides case study exemplars for practitioners to help inform their practice; and examines the implications of Library 2.0 for the training of information literacy professionals.

Key topics include:

  • School Library 2.0: new skills and knowledge for the future
  • information literacy, Web 2.0 and public libraries
  • the blog as an assessment tool
  • using Wikipedia to eavesdrop on the scholarly conversation
  • information literacy and RSS feeds
  • library instruction on the go: podcasting
  • sparking Flickrs of insight into controlled vocabularies and subject searching
  • joining the YouTube conversation to teach information literacy
  • going beyond Google
  • teaching information literacy through digital games.”

It’s available from the Facet book shop and all good retailers.

Better still, the book is being updated via the Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 blog.

Buy the book and grab the RSS feed to stay in the conversation.

Thanks to Jo Parker and Peter Godwin for all the work they put into getting the book together

Photo: Earth from Sky

Mimobot – what drives your flash!

I’m currently on school holidays which means time to do fun things online as well as offline – in between ongoing commitments to school or my professional associations.

Watching twitter, I saw this post from Amy,
a librarian tweet friend, writing about funky Art Toy USB flash drives.

Mimobot ArtLeading the creative revolution in personal electronic accessories and functional designer toys, These toy USB Flash Drives are little friendly data fiends available in 512MB up to 4GB capacities, that hold all your essential data (tunes, pics, etc.). They come preloaded with removable bonus content like games, music, and animations!

Well off I went, and checked it out!

Yes, my fun holiday purchase coming right up! Couldn’t get the Star Wars ones that I wanted, so settled for Owlbert – ’cause, well, I am a librarian (as well as a teacher geek).

Check the video – very cute! Hope FedEx is fast 🙂

Jokaydia for teachers

I’m so lucky to know so many fabulous educators in Australia and around the world. Apart from the usual social networking connections, I also enjoy what I learn through my interactions with my colleagues in Second Life.

So I must promote the work of my most favourite Second Life educator, Jo Kay – and highly recommend a visit to her newly designed blog at Jokaydia.com.

Please drop by and read the blog, because there is a wealth of information there. Check out the latest projects too. Better still, come on over to Jokaydia, and visit ‘in world’ and make some new professional connections.

Thanks Jo!

Virtual tips and tricks

The enormously wonderful thing about social networking and passionate Teacher Librarians is  the ease with which they can source just the right information for your daily needs.

OK, I’m smiling as I write this 🙂  But I do want to bring another blog to your RSS reader – especially if you are looking for quick hits of useful bits and pieces related to learning and literacy in schools.

Joan joined me at St Joseph’s College just a couple of weeks ago in the role of Teacher Librarian – and is already a hit with her wonderful enthusiasm and depth of knowledge. She keeps us all on our toes!

Joan adds value to her daily work by writing JDS BlogA Blog for professional learnings “Teaching without learning is just talking”.

Drop by;  say hello;   and collect some great snippets of information.  

Photo: what lies within?

Creative Commons

Thanks to Mark for this very nice presentation on Creative Commons. An excellent discussion starter with students and teachers alike!

Vegemite on toast

I learnt a few things today!

  1. You can do stuff with vegemite and toast that I never dreamt of 🙂
  2. If YouTube is blocked, you still might be able to check Youtube videos via another country. Here’s what I found at mx.youtube.com
  3. Kids will always find a way around filters and blocks.