The Scanner, V3N2 by ISTE SIGMS

The Scanner In this Issue: Teaching & Learning

Volume 3 Number 2

Page 2-3 ISTE 2012 Page 4 Professionally Speaking Page 5 SIGMS Newsletter Guidelines Pages 6-7 Mobile Books are Here to Stay Pages 8-11 Mobile Learning in High School Pages 12-15 Digital Citizenship Pages 16-21

What is SIGMS? SIGMS provides a support network to school library media specialists and others in leadership positions who are working to promote the use of instructional technologies to enhance student learning. It provides a forum where we can consider and explore ways in which we can best use existing and emerging technologies to improve and enhance teaching and instruction, student learning and management, helping students and teachers become competent, critical and ethical users of information.

Down from the Hallway Bulletin Boardâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;Up On the Web Pages 22-23 Teaching with Technology in Authentic Contexts Pages 24-25 Transporting to Literacy Pages 26-30 What Does a 21st Century Media Center Look Like? Page 31 Our Organization

http://www.isteconference.org/2012/

Laurie Conzemius Communications Chair ISTE 2012 ISTE 2012 in San Diego is fast approaching! As you begin to fill your conference planner, please take note of these special SIGMS events.

Playground: Watch for volunteer opportunities!

Please note that Tuesday’s Forum and Wednesday’s Breakfast are both ticketed events. You must sign up for them during your registration process in order to receive a ticket and gain entry to these sessions, even though there is no additional charge.

Tuesday, June 26 – 2 PM to 3:15 PM – ticketed event! SIGMS Forum: Expanded Learning Opportunities: Using Social Media in the Library Lisa Perez, Steve Hargadon & Leading Librarians The SIGMS Forum will be a highlight of ISTE 2012 for our members. The forum features nationally known keynote speaker Steve Hargadon with the “Digital Diva” Joquetta Johnson and SIGMS ViceChair Tiffany Whitehead (Mighty Little Librarian).

Sunday, June 24 – 3:00 PM SIG Fair: Watch for the SIGMS booth, where you can “Hang out with the Stars”! Monday, June 25 – 8 AM to 4:00 PM 21st Century Media Center

Evening Social: Location & exact time to be announced

We’ll also have some funpacked social media games throughout the session. This is one event you won’t want to miss! Wednesday, June 27 – 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM – ticketed event! SIGMS Breakfast Meeting & Awards Alan November, Keynote Links you need: Conference Registration: www.isteconference.org/ 2012 Conference Planner: www.isteconference.org/ 2012/planner ISTE Conference Ning: http:// iste2012.org SIGMS Wiki: http:// sigms.iste.wikispaces.net

Brenda D. Anderson Professional Development Chair Professionally Speaking SIGMS brings you two exciting webinar series this year: ISTE SIGMS webinars and 1 Tool at a Time webinars. With the wealth of education webinars to attend, why choose to participate in these particular webinars? Time spent attending a SIGMS professional development event, is time well spent. Our webinars offer:  Practical content to apply to teaching practice  Great presenters who are educators leading the way in technology integration  Professional networking  Free professional development from the comfort of your home  Free resources Many of the topics focus on the professional needs of media specialists, however the content is applicable to any educator wanting to learn about the latest tools, news, and issues in the educational technology world. SIGMS wants to support your professional development on an on-going basis, so check out the resources found on our webinar wiki pages. Here you will find links to archived webinars and associated presenter resources.

ISTE SIGMS Webinar Series http://sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/Webinars

Upcoming Events

Upcoming events can be located on the SIGMS wiki at http:// sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/ Webinars.

lated to educational technology for school, community college, and higher ed librarians; teachers, administrators, and other members. Additional information may be found on the Australia Series wiki page which is maintained at http:// sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/ australiaseries.

Archived Events

Links to the archives of previously presented webinars can be found on the webinar page at http://sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/ Webinars.

Australia Series

ISTE SIGMS is proud to partner with the Australia Series to provide a wealth of timely international professional development webinars for our members. This partnership allows us to offer events in a wider variety of time zones to meet the needs of our international members. These webinars will focus on topics re-

The 1 Tool At a Time: Build Your Toolbelt webinar series is brought to you monthly by ISTE's SIGMS and SIGILT. Each webinar lasts for 30 minutes and focuses on a particular tool. Classroom integration strategies are highlighted and there is time for discussion. Previews of the upcoming 1 Tool at a Time events as well as archives of previous events can be accessed at http://1toolatatime.wikispaces.com

Carolyn Starkey Newsletter Committee Chair SIGMS Newsletter Guidelines The SIGMS Scanner is the newsletter of ISTE's special interest group for library media specialists and related school leaders working to promote the use of instructional technologies to enhance student learning. This newsletter will feature SIGMS business items, SIGMS professional development alerts, member article submissions, personal success stories, and links to great resources. We will be publishing 3 newsletters this year.

Issue Themes Winter (March 2012) Tools of the Trade

Article Proposals

Proposals for feature and short articles should be 100 words or less and submitted through this Googledoc form: https:// spreadsheets.google.com/ viewform? hl=en&formkey=dFppbmwtT19E M3pIcm1SYmxBVk9iVUE6MQ#g id=0

Article Lengths

a) Feature articles and personal success stories should be between 500 and 1,000 words. A maximum of 2 photos and/ or graphics may be submitted with the article. b) Short articles of less than 500 words are welcome. These articles may be accompanied by 1 photo or graphic. c) An author photo and brief biography should be submitted with the article.

Final Submissions

Spring (April 2012) Teaching and Learning Pre-Conference (June 2012) Professional Development Policy Issues

Deadlines Deadlines associated with The Scanner may be found on the SIGMS wiki at http:// sigms.iste.wikispaces.net/ SIGMS+Scanner+Newsletter+Gui delines.

After notification of acceptance, final versions of articles and other submissions should be submitted to sigms.newsletter@gmail.com.

Information

Additional information regarding SIGMS Scanner submissions should addressed to sigms.newsletter@gmail.com.

Rick Weinberg Mobile Books are Here to Stay With Android and iDevices the ability to instantly download books to a mobile device keeps getting easier and easier. Just about every state in the United States has a public library accessible to the residents of that state. It is just a matter of applying for a free library card, connecting your mobile device to your account and downloading eBooks and audiobooks. This is emerging technology outside the United States, but in the U.S., it is very new and not very well known. Ten years ago, the definition of a book was pretty clear cut, and the thought that a book would be something other than a bound stack of paper was not one that entered most people’s minds. Today, a book can be defined in many ways. In addition to a traditional book, there are a number of applications that allow books to be downloaded to a wireless mobile device through thin air. Many of the digital books no longer have page numbers but use a percentage of the book that’s been read. The advantage is that, if the reader

chooses, these digital books could be here today and within seconds, downloaded from just about any place in the world, and be gone tomorrow. To make this magic happen you have to do a few things in advance. One of the first things you will want to do is find a library in your state

that provides digital content. Often local libraries provide digital content as well, but most times, libraries in large cities or state capitals have larger digital collections. With the power of the Internet, proximity to the library is no longer important.

Once you find a library you will want to apply for a library card. Most library cards are free and can be applied for online or by printing an application, filling it out and faxing it back to the library (or scanning it and emailing the application). The library will also require proof that you are associated with that state. For example, I live in Pennsylvania but work in New York State. I am a member of the New York Public Library (nypl.org). I am a member because I work in New York State. Libraries require that the member applying for a library card either work, live or go to school in the state the library is physically located. After you apply and receive your library card (sometimes libraries will give you a temporary card until your full card is sent to you), you can start to check out “books.” You could always sign out eBooks or Audiobooks to your computer and read them or listen to them that way. The only problem with this method is that it is not mobile. Available on all iDevices and Android devices is the OverDrive Me-

Rick Weinberg works for 22 different school districts in New York State. He works at Cattaraugus Allegany Board of Cooperative Educational Services and has for 11 years. He provides professional development on Technology Integration and Educational Leadership to teachers and administrators in Allegany and Cattaraugus Counties. Rick has also written for ISTE’s Learning and Leading Magazine, SIGML and contributed to the ISTE published, Liz Kolb book “Cell Phones in the Classroom.” Rick is also a member of the leadership team of SIGTC.

Mobile Books are Here to Stay dia App (Overdrive.com). You can find this application in a couple ways. If you own an Android device you can go to the Android Market and download the app for free. And if you are an iDevice (iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch) owner you can go to the App Store, on your device, and download the app for free. Once you download the app, you have to add your library or libraries to the Overdrive Media app. To do this you click on the “Get Books” Button on the app and click “Add a Library.” Next you can either search for a local library or browse for a library. If you browse for a library, the libraries are categorized by country and then by either city or state. Select your library and then click “get books.” Look for the digital book that you want in the library and enter your library card and password. You will want to download books over a wifi connection.

I know what you are thinking. How does this work with Copyright? Well, the Overdrive Media app only allows you to “keep” the book for a maximum of 21 days. After 21 days, the book is deleted from

your device and, if you want to keep reading it, you can easily download it again. Here is the great thing: I have had to do this twice, and each time the Overdrive Media app remembered where I was in

the book and kept all of my bookmarks. It kept this information even if I had to wait to download the book when someone requested it. You can also borrow Kindle and Nook books but you have to have accounts at each of the respective companies and these books use different apps. Most often, I use the Overdrive Media app to download audio books that I want to listen to in the car, either with my family or for my own learning. As a professional developer for 22 school districts in New York State, I have taught teachers how to download books to mobile devices for free for a few years now and the results are coming in. Many teachers report that students who are struggling readers are starting to enjoy reading due to listening to audiobooks. Some students are even reading on their own. In many cases, the audiobook excites students enough to read print books. I have always felt that the overarching goal for any library media specialist is to help ignite the flame that sparks a student to enjoy reading.

Nicole Lakusta Mobile Learning in High School High school students already have powerful smartphone devices in their pockets and purses. Showing teachers, library media specialists and students how to use them purposefully and effectively in the learning environment is key to developing confident digital citizens. The following tools, resources and examples can easily be incorporated in any library media center.

Learner Management System Edmodo – is a social learning platform and management system that is easy to set up for librarians to connect, collaborate and share content with students at each grade level or even with each class. With an area for polls, quizzes, backchannels, discussions, video clip and other attachments, Edmodo is a free, secure and safe platform to use. The company itself offers a variety of helpful hints online and via webinars. I also

have set up a mock SIGMS student example in Edmodo that you can check out. Go to http://www.edmodo.com, click on “I’m a student” and type group code hhpy27. You will be asked to register yourself and there is no need to enter an email address. As well, Edmodo is easily accessible via a mobile phone or tablet either through an android/ apple app or through http:// m.edmodo.com, giving students 24/7 anywhere access.

with students in 2011. See http:// twolibrariesonevoice.blogspot.ca/2011/0 5/where-will-van-meter-andbrook-forest.html for their story.

A really great example of using Edmodo was one shared by VanMeter and Brook Forest schools. The two libraries started a summer reading club

PollEverywhere is a tool where you can use your mobile device to answer questions, either through a text message, website, or Twitter.

And for those of you who want even more ideas on how to use Edmodo, check this GoogleDoc list at http://bit.ly/ HsmcKt .

Polls/Surveys

Nicole Lakusta is a Curriculum Educational Technology Facilitator with Parkland School Division 70 in north central Alberta. She is passionate about linking technology with engaging, authentic and challenging learning experiences for all students, teachers and administrators. She can contacted via http:// about.me/nlakusta.

Mobile Learning in High School to take pictures of a particular topic or novel being studied and send it to a specific Flickr account. This account will then have a stream of photos added to it.

It collects the responses immediately, generates a report, there is no need for any software download to use it and you can embed the polls into presentations like Powerpoint, Prezi and Keynote. Polleverywhere is free for up to 40 responses per poll. You can also buy the premium version which allows for more responses. Polls can be set up as yes/no, multiple choice, or free-form text (sentences). A quick “how it works” is found at http:// www.polleverywhere.com/ how-it-works. See how Buffy Hamilton engages her students in the library with PollEverywhere

http:// alalearning.org/2010/02/11/ engaging-learners-with-polleverywhere/.

Photos Using Flickr Photostream in the library can take advantage of students’ mobile cameras. You can ask students

It’s quick and easy to establish a Flickr account at http:// www.flickr.com/. Once this is set up, the Flickr account comes with its own unique email address. Share this email address with students once you have designed a specific assignment using photos. Ask students to enter the photo title in the subject line and in the body add a description or more info. With the number of smartphones that have a great camera and even photo editor apps, this activity will certainly be a visual delight for everyone involved. As you get more photos on a particular topic you can put them together into a “set”.

Nicole Lakusta Mobile Learning in High School live or moderated. A school library could have its own iPadio channel.

Phlog/Microblog Creating online spaces for students to reflect on books read, research, current news or suggestions to posed questions is also easy with iPadio and Tumblr.

Cite Sources Ensuring that students cite sources properly while they are researching and developing their ideas for specific assignments is important. I find that Ottobib - http:// www.ottobib.com/ and David Warlick’s Son of a Citation Machine - http:// citationmachine.net are the easiest and fastest way to cite sources.

iPadio at http:// www.ipadio.com, combines the telephone with the blog to create an audio “phonecast”/ phlog which is streamed live to the Internet. You can phonecast from any phone, anywhere in the world - no need for a computer or even access to the Internet. Phonecasts can be cross-posted to social media and blogging platforms and embedded on any number of websites. Phonecasts can be converted to text, geo-located and put on a map, and either streamed

To see how iPadio works, think about this question: How have you used or can you use audio recordings in your classroom/library/school? Once you have an idea of what you’d like to say, call 1-888-200 -1292, enter the registered number 780-975-1573 and the pin: 5248. This audio recording will be sent to my iPadio site and my email address. I can then moderate it quickly, refresh my iPadio website and on the site will be your audio recording. This recording can be shared, embedded and you will see a speech-to-text conversion after a few minutes. My demo channel is http:// www.ipadio.com/channels/ NicoleLakusta where your ex-

Mobile Learning in High School ample recordings will be hosted, if you choose to generate an iPadio recording.

variety of formats, which could then be linked to the school website.

I like that iPadio can be used from any mobile and landline and it gives students an opportunity to reflect out loud rather than in written form.

Or you can use Tumblr as a group space where you share a specific email address linked to a Tumblr account for students to share pictures or text possibly relating to a particular topic that is being discussed in class.

Generate Interest

Tumblr - http:// www.tumblr.com is a microblogging platform that allows teachers, librarians and students an opportunity to share their experiences, their learning and their reflections in a variety of ways easily and quickly. You can set up a professional/personal Tumblr account in which you can input text, photos, quotes, links, and chats, audio or video clips. A library could have Tumblr account set up to share various information in a

QR codes have been around for more than a decade and they continue to entice educators to use them in innovative and engaging ways. These three dimensional bar codes can be linked to websites, text, quotes, audio, and video clips. Students need to download a special qr code reader app on their

smartphone or tablet to access the content from these 3D codes. Cheryl Burnette has a great Slideshare at http:// www.slideshare.net/ CherylBurnette/successfullyusing-qr-codes-in-libraries explaining how she uses QR codes in the library. Whether is managing information and assignments, posing a question via a poll, engaging in visual and auditory literacy, citing sources, phlogging or blogging or generating interest via QR codes, the library media center continues to be a special place for capturing studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interests and engaging conversations. I hope to hear from those of you who are trying any of these aforementioned tools. I can be reached at http:// about.me/nlakusta.

Mary Jo Davis Digital Citizenship: As 21st century students attend school, teachers are responsible for guiding their educational journey. Teaching in classrooms focus on the three ‘Rs —reading, (w)riting, and (a)rithmetic. I suggest there should be an additional R in all grades of PK-12 education—instruction on how to be a Responsible digital citizen. Students do not obtain their digital citizenship automatically, these skills must be taught. “Digital citizenship does not just happen. Teaching it has to be intentional, with lessons that show students acceptable norms of online behavior” (Winn, 2011). We can teach our students by demonstrating appropriate digital citizenship, providing them with ageappropriate training, and be knowledgeable about new technologies so we can demonstrate correct use of these tools. An example of how to teach your students about

responsible digital citizenship could be your district’s Acceptable Use Policy (AUP). AUPs, are designed to provide the district with some legal protection by outlining to everyone what is acceptable for online behavior, but the mere act of signing an AUP does not help students understand how to be a responsible digital citizen. In a past position as technical coordinator and network administrator for a small charter school, I was

required by our Ameritech grant to insure there was an appropriate AUP in place for our school. AUPs can be designed from online templates, through discussions with other school districts, or from examples shared by regional educational consortiums. When teaching basic computer skills at this same school, one of the first lessons included a discussion of the school AUP, reasons for each rule, and how the consequences could affect

Coordinator Kromer Instructional Materials Center Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

We Teach Through Example, Instruction, and Leadership student learning. Check with your district administration to learn more about your district’s AUP, then use that AUP to guide student instruction. Your AUP can serve as a hands-on tool for teaching students about responsible digital citizenship. When providing instruction in digital citizenship, there are outstanding resources available both online and in print form. Digital citizenship is defined by Mike

Ribble in “Digital Citizenship in Schools” (an ISTE Publication) as “…norms of appropriate, responsible behavior with regard to technology use (Ribble, 2011). In the Ribble book, nine elements are listed that can help schools/ educators teach our students how to become responsible digital citizens. These nine elements and a brief description follow: 1. Digital Access—insure that all users can access digi-

tal content when desired and at the levels they choose to participate. 2. Digital Commerce— students must have adequate knowledge about how to safely buy and sell goods in a digital marketplace. 3. Digital Communication—all users must understand all forms of digital communication and be able to apply each type of communication when applicable. 4. Digital Literacy—each user must make an appropriate level of effort to understand digital tools and their uses, along with sharing their knowledge appropriately with others. 5. Digital Etiquette— digital citizens must understand and be able to follow communication context and conduct as expected and in consideration of fellow netizens. 6. Digital Law—all users must fully understand rules

Mary Jo Davis Digital Citizenship: and policies governing digital technologies, be prepared to take responsibility for their actions, and be willing to accept the consequences of digital misdeeds. 7. Digital Rights and Responsibilities—rights extend to everyone and responsible digital citizens must be ready to defend both their own rights and the rights of others. 8. Digital Health and Wellness—users must consider all risks for engaging with digital technology, both physical and psychological. 9. Digital Security—users must be prepared to protect themselves and others from security breaches in data and personal information access (Ribble, 2011). These nine elements of digital citizenship encompass the breadth of activities and issues that the typical digital user would face. The elements help to remind all users of ethical, legal, and personal

responsibilities that come with being a citizen in the digital world of the 21st century. Digital citizenship is not just another subject to be added to an already crowded schedule in today’s PK-12 classrooms. Educators must not only learn about how to create digital citizens, but we must pattern our behavior so we demonstrate to students how a responsible digital citizen behaves. While instructing students in responsible digital citizenship, be sure students understand the reasoning behind guidelines, such as user safety, ethical conduct, and copyright. These all provide lesson topics that can be taught to any age group. Leadership on how to be a responsible digital citizen can come in many forms from media specialists. A great place to start could be working oneon-one or in small groups in your media center, guiding student research and web ac-

tivity. Hollingsworth, et. al. talk about how media specialists, teachers, administrators and parents, which they call “the village,” are responsible for keeping abreast of new technologies, and how they can be used by students. “…it is important that parents and schools stay informed, involved, and actually become advocates for the newest technologies” (Hollingsworth, Dowdy, Donavan, 2011). By

Coordinator Kromer Instructional Materials Center Central Michigan University Mount Pleasant, MI 48859

We Teach Through Example, Instruction, and Leadership keeping current with industry trends and issues, educators will provide students with information needed to make informed decisions about their digital behavior. Regardless of the age of students at your school, your students and staff will benefit by your serving as a knowledgeable â&#x20AC;&#x153;technology guru.â&#x20AC;? Serving as a technology leader you can insure your school is using digital sources both properly

and to their best advantage. Leadership can also take the form of the example you show your students. Educators must follow digital citizenship guidelines in all daily activity. Not sure about online copyright or other digital citizenship concerns? Find the information you need to be an informed user of digital content. By providing all students with outstanding examples, instruction, and leadership, we can help all students become responsible digital citizens of the 21st century, prepared to get the most from all technological resources, now and in the future.

References: Hollingsworth, R., Dowdy, L., & Donavan, J. (2011). Digital citizenship in K-12: It takes a village. TechTrends, 55(4), 3747. Lindsay, J., & Davis, V. (2010). Navigate the Digital Rapids. Learning & Leading with

Technology, 37(6), 12-17. Oxley, C. (2010). Digital citizenship: Developing an ethical and responsible online culture. Paper presented at the School Library Association of Queensland and the International Association of School Librarianship Conference incorporating the International Forum on Research in School Librarianship (Brisbane, QLD, Australia, September 27-October 1, 2010). Retrieved online from ERIC on March 12, 2012. Ribble, M. (2008). Passport to Digital Citizenship. Learning & Leading with Technology, 36(4), 14-17. Ribble, M., & Bailey, G. (2011). Digital Citizenship in Schools (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. Winn, M. R. (2011). Promote Digital Citizenship Through School-Based Social Networking. Learning & Leading with Technology, 39(4), 10-13.

Mark Gura

Down from the Hallway Bulletin Board - Up on the Web: Using Technology The school Library/Media Center can play a crucial role in transforming student writing through establishing a virtual clearinghouse of Authentic Student Writing/ Publishing Projects and facilitating dissemination of these student works to peer readers. In doing this it will help students find and learn from real audiences for their writing, fostering learning in numerous areas of Literacy as a result. What follows is a description of a transformative approach for which the Library/Media Center serves as a hub of organization and communication that can make it all work. For decades our studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level of achievement in the area of Writing has been distressingly low. Many statistics spell this out. For me, however, the data point presented in The Nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Report Card (2007) in-

forming that 88% of Eighth Graders (that is almost all) perform at the lowest level of achievement measured, says it all. It is not that teaching writ-

ing does not get much bandwidth in our schools. Writing is considered important enough to be measured in standardized tests. It is a major component of the ELA curriculum and in many dis-

tricts figures in the instruction of Science, Social Studies, and other subjects, as well. Yet, we seem perennially to produce poor results in this set of skills. One, by the way, that those who track the dynamics of School to Work assure us is a key to success in the workplace. Employers feel strong frustrated, as the level of writing of employees is, in their opinion, lamentably lacking, impacting negatively on business. By the way, poor performance in this skill set has implications that reach further than just writing. There is strong evidence that Reading and Writing, as well as the other pillars of Literacy, Speaking and Listening, are not only related, but are complementary. Strength in one contributes to strength in the others. Writing instruction in American schools often is

markgura@verizon.net

to Build a School-wide Community of Peer Writers and Readers based on non-contextualized exercises that comprise a buffet of related skills. Many educators have come to consider that this lack of strong context is one of the key reasons our students fail to learn to write easily and well. One dimension of The Writing Process, a powerful framework to support learning to write, offers the key to fixing this. In its classic form, The Writing Process is comprised of the following stages: Prewriting (brainstorming, gathering information, outlining, etc.) – Drafting – Revising – Proof Reading and Copy Editing – and Publishing. It is the final stage, Publishing, that is key to improvement of writing in our current era of technology dependent Literacy. In the real world, we know very well what the term “Publishing” refers to; professionally prepared text items that we find for sale in bookstores and newsstands and at libraries. In the classroom, though, this has always been something of a stretch, with teachers often directing students to Read your writing aloud to a group – or - Send a

copy to a friend or relative – or - Put your writing on display in attempts to approximate in a culminating activity the finality and impact of real publishing. With the advent of Web 2.0 resources though, actual publishing of student work is made possible, with the line between the look and feel of the products put out by commercial publishing houses and classrooms continually blurring. It is the technology that makes this possible. Many in the field of Education have assimilated some of this into their understandings, something that is made clear by The National Council of Teachers of English in its publication Writing Now: A Policy Research Brief, stating, “Digital Technologies influence the processes of writing… and students need to learn how to work effectively with them.” Another way of looking at the profound impact of Student Publishing is that it allows for student writing instruction finally to meaningfully contextualize instructional activities. When students are traditionally as-

signed to write an essay on an arbitrary, albeit instructionally appropriate topic, they sense that they are doing so simply because teacher told them to and that there is no intrinsic purpose in and certainly no expected actual impact on the world that will result. In today’s connected world, students hunger for involvement in authentic activities that have real, palpable connections to the real world and offer the possibility of their participation in it. It is no longer sufficient to design student activities by simply focusing on content. The factor of Student Engagement must be made an important instructional design consideration from conception of activities. This point is made abundantly clear in the NCREL Quick Key Action Guide 10 - Using Student Engagement to Improve Adolescent Literacy, stating, “Educators who teach reading and writing skills without addressing student engagement are unlikely to yield substantial improvements.” Student publishing, then, can no longer be interpreted as hanging a

Mark Gura

Down from the Hallway Bulletin Board - Up on the Web: Using Technology final ‘best copy’ on the class bulletin board in the hallway or sending it home to be affixed to the refrigerator door with a magnet. Today’s students need something more, something authentic. It is the context of authenticity that engages students and writing real pieces that serve real purposes to be presented to real audiences is an approach that satisfies this need for highly engaging, instructionally appropriate and rich context. Authentic Student Writing and Publishing projects are a path to engagement that is highly consistent with individualized and differentiated learning, and project-based learning. It is an approach by the way that, if implemented thoughtfully and effectively, involves students in extensive and relevant use of technology, a factor that further contributes to the level of student engagement and learning. Researching and writing a report based on a self-selected theme and then using sophisticated word processing to render it into a professionally produced book or magazine is

eminently do-able in today’s classrooms. And while it is not yet a common practice, it is certainly done in numerous classrooms currently. Educators need to push this practice a little further though, tapping technology to disseminate student works in order to fully realize the context of authentic student writing and publishing. This can be done by saving the work in PDF format and uploading it to one of the free online document sharing resources. By doing this we surmount the ultimate hurdle in the equation, to provide an audience for student writers and publishers. Its one thing to engage students in writing activities that focus and motivate them with the promise of readers who choose to read their work out of interest, but delivering this audience can be challenging. The natural and logical audience for student work is other students. By setting up a school-wide program to facilitate this, the Library/Media Center can support all members of the learning community in growing as readers and writers. A

simple centralized, searchable listing of student works is all that has needed. Students contribute works as the culminating phase of their research and writing efforts, activities that are constants in all instructional programs. Additionally, they include peer works as part of the reading they choose for ‘next’ projects. The notion of a “Circle of Readers and Writers” is a longstanding one among Literacy educators. Students derive inspiration, motivation, and a wealth of ‘how to’ knowledge about writing through their activities as readers (and vice versa). By establishing students as readers of peer student writing, a broad spectrum of benefits in the learning culture of a school may be brought about, bringing the concept of collaborative learning to strongly bear on Literacy, our most core mission in education. At any level of implementation, setting this cycle in motion provides a significant enhancement to tired, traditional programs in writing instruction. However, one can easily

markgura@verizon.net

to Build a School-wide Community of Peer Writers and Readers imagine the value added by this approach a few semesters or years into implementation when the body of available student written and published works numbers in the hundreds or thousands and the school culture has integrated the practice thoroughly. Encouragingly, there is little to this that requires a great deal more work on the part of the teacher or the student. And there are many schools in which parts of this broad approach are already done. However, it is through organizing and centralizing this practice that a transformative critical mass of available works will be achieved and the members of the school community will see the practice as key to effective learning of the skill set of Writing. In this, the library media center can play a central and crucial role. The library media center is the school-site nexus through which such exchanges be-

tween student writers and their peer readers can be facilitated and encouraged, and thus, becomes an essential enabling component of this type of highly enriched literacy community. Furthermore, teachers involved in assigning and guiding students in writing and

publishing activities within such an extended literacy community will need access to resources (e.g. computers; software; Internet access; and online writing, editing and publishing tools, etc.) as well as expertise (for both their students and themselves) in their use for: student research for writing and publishing

project content, guidance in preparation of student writing for publication (e.g. citations, indexing, book publishing format and conventions, etc.), and Web 2.0 self/school community publishing methods, to name a few areas requiring such support. This may be especially important in supporting teachers of subject areas like Social Studies and Science in which there is high potential for literacy learning across the curriculum. Their professional preparation and acquired bag of tricks is likely inadequate to handle realizing such potential on their own. The Library/Media Center is the school-based resource through which these varieties of support can be organized and delivered effectively. To make this all function as intended, the necessary central cog is an organized, online resource, a student publishing virtual â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;home baseâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; that all members of the com-

Mark Gura

Down from the Hallway Bulletin Board - Up on the Web: Using Technology munity have access to in order to research, identify and locate peer works, download them for reading, and (with proper permissions controlled by adults) upload works and give authors and other readers feedback and recommendations based on their own experience. This can be accomplished relatively easily with userfriendly, ubiquitous Web 2.0 tools. However, what’s key here is that the school set a standard for doing this. It will not do to have students from a variety of classes approaching this differently as the purpose is to establish the school as a community in which all students are, or can aspire to easily be, on the same page. This is one more important aspect of the practice that the Library/ Media Center can be instrumental in facilitating from its centralized position and existing partner relationships with teachers and students throughout the school.

By uploading each completed student work to a document sharing resource like Scirbd.com or Docstoc.com, they are available instantly to read online or download. Some go beyond simply providing Vanilla posting and sharing of documents. Youblisher.com, for instance,

offers a particularly nice page flipping, virtual book, online interface for those who want to offer reading works that way as part of their program. An essential element in all of this is maintaining an annotated listing (organized however, the Librarian/Media Specialist feels would work

best for the school) on which each student’s work is entered. This is not only emblematic of the individual student’s participation in a community of writers and readers, but facilitates locating works of interest. By maintaining a single web page, quite possibly an easy to set up blog, on which to post this frequently updated listing, it can be searched (blogs like Google’s blogger now offer search box widgets that are easy to add.) Students submit a short description/ summary that sits under the listing entry of their work (title and author etc.) And, of course, leveraging the convenience of technology, within each student’s listing would be a link that takes interested readers directly to the student work so that it can be read or downloaded. Just as students would be directed to the traditional online catalogue to locate works to read by author or in-

markgura@verizon.net

to Build a School-wide Community of Peer Writers and Readers terest related keywords, they would search through this blog listing of peer student work to make a selection to read. With a little bit more sophisticated organization and setup, the blog can be tweaked to receive comments from readers, something that would make this already rich practice offer still more learning value. The body of available plug in widgets or “gadgets” available for blogs is an ever improving, moving target. And the motivated user can now configure blogs to include comments that sit ‘on top of’ existing posts (Google Blogger’s ‘Recent Comments’ gadget, is an example), eliminating the need to do every student entry as a separate post. The intricacies of blogging are too extensive to explore here, but a little imagination and perseverance will produce an easy to create, easy to maintain and update resource without the need for advanced tech skills or investment of significant amounts of time. By the way, in their current state, all of these Web 2.0 resources can be tweaked to

give teachers and librarians control over who sees the student work and comments made about it. While up on the Web, none of this has to be made available to the general public, unless of course that is one of the intentional dimensions of the model adopted and the resource’s preferences are set that way. And if you think about it, this is something that a school might well opt for, as increasing the potential readership exponentially by open access could lead to many benefits. Security can be assured, however, by opting to list things on the open Web with no other identifier about who the student author actually is other than a first name or perhaps a penname. Imagine the impact down the road when, should this approach be adopted by a good number of schools, all of which participate in the same pool of writing, publishing, and reading of student work activities. Student writing and publishing projects are the logical outgrowth of The Writing Process, a well-established framework to foster the skill

set of Writing. Publishing has traditionally been its capstone phase. In the era of EdTech, though, it should be seen as the keystone phase. The full power of publishing, however, will never be realized until it is fully authentic, that is, publishing in the sense of garnering a true audience, one that appreciates and learns from the student writing and that, in turn, may offer feedback from which the student author can learn, as well. ELA classes functioning on their own will not be able to implement this practice, which ironically, is one that offers them a path to realizing their own goals highly effectively. What’s needed is the transformation of the school as collection of independent learning efforts (classes and courses) to a fully integrated learning community that writes for one another and, in turn, values reading peer writing as part of its body of important literacy activities. The school Library/Media Center can function as the catalyst to bring this important next step in Literacy learning to fruition.

Kathryn Dirkin Teaching with Technology in Authentic Contexts Last year I decided to confront a problem of practice I had been having for some time. Some of my undergraduate students in my Technology in Education class were just not seeing themselves as future professionals. I do have to point out that my class often consists of freshmen who haven’t yet been accepted into the teacher education program. Therefore, they haven’t had their content area or professional education courses. I found that some of my students completed the coursework for a grade or they made superficial connections to using technology in the service of learning. I realized that while the activities were constructed to engage them in tasks that would help them meet our standards for pre -service teachers, well, they weren’t very authentic. Let me explain. I found myself in the trap that perhaps many of you find yourselves. I thought that if I had students “do” some of the things that teachers “do” that my activities were authentic. The problem was that in the real world authentic activities have consequences. We don’t

just put the artifact out there; we put it out there, use it, get feedback and evaluate its success. So I decided to make a change, a real world change. Real world change involves collaboration. So last spring I had my students create web resources for students in a middle school classroom studying the Civil Rights Movement. Last fall my students created web resources about current and future trends in educational technology for students in a high school classroom in China. At the end of the unit in the fall they were able to Skype with the students in China. This article presents some of the tips and tricks I learned along the way when developing collaborative projects. 1.

Make contact early and make it mutually beneficial. Consider all of the important stakeholders and contact them as soon as possible. Most K12 technology projects involve two important groups of people: the classroom teacher and the library media specialist. Library media specialists are key in terms of supporting students

as they develop the information fluency skills that are critical for 21st century learning. K12 teachers not only provide access to classrooms but also serve as role models and experts in terms of modeling the application of content area and pedagogical knowledge in real world settings. However, in the current economic climate we are asked to do more with less and take on more and more responsibilities. It is hard to find time to develop quality web based resources that students and teachers can access from home and school. By connecting with classroom teachers and library media specialists my students have opportunities to build digital learning environments that can actually be used by teachers, students, and staff in K12 education. 2. Create quality artifacts by providing opportunities for feedback at multiple stages from their peers and from outside sources. While students construct their resources I pass out peer evalu-

dirki1kh@cmich.edu

Teaching with Technology in Authentic Contexts ation forms on paper so that students can get quick feedback from their peers. After the project has been completed I create a Google form with my class to collect feedback on the resource we developed. I have had middle school students, other undergraduate students, and professionals in the field evaluate and provide feedback on my studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; work. Once again all stakeholders are involved. The classroom teacher and media specialist can inform the evaluation questions so that it aligns with their approach to teaching information literacy skills. The Google form serves as a teachable moment for the classroom teacher or library media specialist when they instruct students on how to evaluate a collection of resources. This process also works in the reverse direction. Students can use Google forms to gather information from my students. 3.

Use Web 2.0 tools to access and organize information and build engaging

environments. Whenever you engage in a cross-site collaborative endeavor it seems almost impossible to accomplish your goals without using Web 2.0 technologies. Library media specialists can share examples of quality web resources for K12 students using sites like Diigo, which will let them share annotated web pages. Students can use collaborative web-based tools such as Google docs or wikis to plan their resource. They can collect and organize information using web-based tools such as Livebinders or Diigo. They can share what they have found using a plethora of web based publication sites. Blogs, wikis, and web pages are just the beginning. Sites that let you include other web 2.0 tools have the added bonus of allowing you to customize your content for your audience. Web pages for young learners can include a speaking Voki avatar that introduces the topic or tells them how to use the site. The benefit of the avatar is twofold.

Students are drawn in by the speaking character and more information can be communicated without worrying that young students have understood the written text. Both of these projects were incredibly successful for everyone involved. The middle school students went on to present their projects at a state conference. Students in my class and the high school in China learned that they had much in common. Teachers and library media specialists can also initiate partnerships with universities. These partnerships not only provide valuable learning opportunities for both college and K12 students but they are also an untapped resource for media specialists and K12 teachers who are looking to provide their students and staff with customized web-based content. Special thanks to Jodi Cloutier and Ruhui Ni. Sites mentioned: Voki http:// www.voki.com/, LiveBinder http://www.livebinders.com/ , Diigo http://www.diigo.com/, Google Docs https:// docs.google.com/

Ruth Brewington Transporting to Transliteracy In these days of shrinking budgets and strictly allotted teaching time, the field trip is often the first item jettisoned from the curriculum. But the field trip offers the opportunity for hands on learning, as well as hitting upon Standard 3 of the AASL Standards for 21st Century – “Learners use skills, resources, and tools to share knowledge ethically and productively as members of our democratic.” The "field trip" can become a basis for transliteracy (defined “as the ability to read, write, and interact across a range of platforms, tools, and media”), as opposed to just a day out of school. The T.H. Harris Library sponsors one or two yearly field trips. Students pay for the trip by reading, responding, and using various Web 2.0 tools to react to the subject. Once on the field trip they are active participants using technology and field notes to create a final digital product; a digital walking tour using Google Maps or a movie trailer using apps for IPad are two examples. With Harris, the road to transliteracy began with a catastrophic event and a student’s cavalier response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Our school is less than 10 miles away from one of the major levee

breaches at the 17th Street Canal. So with the help of the 8th grade English teacher, a field trip was developed to tour the devastated areas of New Orleans. Prior to the trip, students researched aspects of the storm using books and magazines. Students went on the field trip, took close to 700 pictures, but finished only a rough draft. Part of it was due to lack of timing, but also how real the destruction was to them. They talked to other students about it, wrote legislators, but most importantly unknown to the teacher and I- they cried at the levee breach. While the teacher and I knew that they had been deeply affected by the trip and their scores in Language Arts portion of standardized test reflected this. We had little to show for the effort. In October 2006, it was decided to go on a “NOLA” field trip; the students were affected and did the necessary leg work, but did not create a quality print prod-

uct. Other students began clamoring for the opportunity to go on the “Katrina” trip and the need was still there; but there had to be a better connection to the students. One day while working on a presentation, I came across Google pictures of New Orleans. But these pictures were not of the devastated city, they were of the New Orleans that existed prior to the storm. Then it hit me; students needed to know that people really lived in these devastated areas - that these were once thriving vibrant neighborhoods. By 2007, Web 2.0 tools were coming to the forefront and they proved to be an excellent starting point for our trip and its new purpose – NOLA Neighborhoods – Before, During, and After Katrina. A wiki was created for the pro-

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Transporting to Transliteracy ject with links and photographs to help guide the students. A Google video was shown to the students –” A Hurricane Katrina Tribute. “The students were assigned various neighborhoods to research using books and web sites. Their photos and research were saved to their computers. Students that had posted their notes on the wiki were allowed on the field trip. In order to further make the connection, students were also given a tally list of New Orleans architectural styles. On the field trip, students tallied the different styles of the houses, as well as their livability. The students used these findings to create brochures, which were published on our schools web page and later embedded into a wiki. Students were using all sorts of tools - digital photographs, web pages, and surveys

to create a unique product. They were beginning to practice Transliteracy. The field trip to New Orleans has become an annual tradition at our school, and each year the teachers and I strive to find a unique tool or medium to document the ongoing recovery of New Orleans. In 2008, they created videos ; in 2009 voice threads were done on neighborhoods, in 2010 they created museum boxes; and in 2011 they created a digital walking tour of the Make It Right neighborhood. With each trip, a wiki was built to guide the students as well as to showcase their work. Blogs were used not only to comment on their trips but also as a vehicle for book reviews. Online notes, such as wall wisher and lion it, were used as a check for understanding as well as a qualifier for the field trips. The students’ work on the field trips also became a basis for our school’s

work with local institutions, such as the Louisiana State Museum, Jean Lafitte Bara aria National Park, and the World War II Museum. With each institution, a product was created that involved real life experience, videoconferencing, blogging, print and digital research. While on a field trip to Jean Lafitte, students were sent out on the trails to document the flora and fauna. Upon their return, they searched for archival images and combined them with images from their trip to create an online notebook. With the Louisiana State Museum, they created podcasts for artifacts in the Presbytere and the Cabildo, as well as digital stories about their hurricane experiences. With the World War II Museum they acted as i-reporters to the Grand Opening of the museum’s’ expansion in 2009. They commented and posted videos on tumblr as they interviewed WWII veterans. This fall they posted reviews about historical novels on a dippity timeline, tweeted about the Louisiana Renaissance Festival, and they are currently creating video trailers about the festival. What’s next? Well, Operation Sail is coming to New Orleans in spring 2012 and Harris students will be there.

Robert Stackpole What Does a Twenty-first Century Media Center Look Like? During the 11-12 school year RSU57's Massabesic High School decided to use government stimulus funds to reinvent its library and turn it into a twenty-first century media center. This is the story of that journey. From first concept to final deployment the question of what does a twenty-first century media center look like is examined. Focusing on student work flow, a new learning environment is created that supports information gathering, and information creation. Located in Waterboro Maine, Rural School Unit #57 (RSU57) is on a journey. This journey involves the transfor-

mation of our district into a Proficiency Based Educational environment (PBE). Fortunately, RSU 57 was the recipient of a significant amount of federal stimulus dollars to aid us in this quest. Our first question as a district was how do we use these funds as a capital “one time” investment that supports PBE and positively affects student learning for years to come. One idea that quickly floated to the surface was to upgrade the high school’s library.

about thirty years ago. It was a place of book stacks and magazine racks. The major new technologies located there were a few old Macintosh and Windows computers. The library had an extensive catalog of VHS tapes along with VHS players attached to CRT Televisions. Of course there was still the odd film strip and overhead projector, along with several film projectors. In fact, this library looked a lot like the library in my high school... and I graduated in 1971!

The library at Massabesic High School had never received a physical, or, conceptual upgrade since its construction was completed

Someone in the planning group stated that we need to change the name from the Library to the Media Center. Another said that the Media

Robert G. Stackpole is an educator is southern Maine. He has worked for RSU57 for over thirty years. His career began as an elementary school teacher and then moved into technology education as the district's Technology Coordinator. Additionally, Mr. Stackpole has served as a school board member in his home town, and as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Southern Maine. He is also the founder of ACTEM (the Association of Computer Technology Educators of Maine).

What Does a Twenty-first Century Media Center Look Like? Center had to support twentyfirst century learning. In piecing all this together we came up with the term “Twentyfirst Century Media Center”. “So, what does a twentyfirst century media center look like?” someone asked. That’s when the looks of consternation and befuddlement began to appear. After an elongated discussion the planning group defined a twentyfirst century media center as place where students can access information and create new information to be shared. During the next several planning meetings we began to put some meat on the bones of this concept. We

realized that gathering information didn’t mean just having networked computers. Twenty-first century students are mobile and they will need access to mobile devices. This means laptops, iPods, and iPads. Since MHS is not a one to one school (every student is not assigned a computer), students will need to be able to check out devices from the Media Center. Special Needs students will need accessible furniture setups and adaptive technology. Then we looked at the flip side of the coin and addressed what students would need to create new sources of information and then be able to

share that information with peers, and possibly the world. Clearly they would use the hardware identified in the previous paragraph along with software applications like iMovie, GarageBand, iPhoto, Pages, and Keynote, but that’s really just a starting place. Today’s desktops and mobile devices have a fantastic array of tools available for content creation; however they focus mainly on the individual experience. Modern scholars need access to an ad hoc video/sound studio where they can work in groups to produce and record school news programs, act out skits for course projects, and perform scenes from Shake-

Robert Stackpole What Does a Twenty-first Century Media Center Look Like? speare. Equally important will be a recording studio for students to create and record original music and narrations. The audio and video labs will use professional level software applications like Aperture, Final Cut, and Logic, for students to create professional quality files that they will have an intrinsic desire to share. Round this out with a high end video streaming server and an audio file server and weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve made a giant leap forward toward enhancing project based learning. This also establishes a locally focused information source for all students to access.

The placement of a widescreen high definition TV in a corner of the Media Center creating a small theater environment is the icing on the cake. The TV will have a cable connection to let the world into the Media Center. The addition of an Apple TV device supports student/ teacher presentations. Using Airplay students will present their video projects to large groups. Using the same setup small groups are able to view professional educational videos from an extensive video library streamed from iTunes. With the philosophical discussions behind us and a solid

purchase plan in place the planning committee began looking at the physical space available. The current footprint of the Library would support the hardware/access goals of the planning committee. However, the current layout would not suffice. Radical changes to the layout and other storage spaces would have to occur for the plan to be successful. The magazine storage area was the first space reviewed. The simple fact was that paper magazines just werenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t that popular with students anymore. The trend was to read more and more magazines and

What Does a Twenty-first Century Media Center Look Like? blogs online. In the day of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Googleâ&#x20AC;? why were we storing National Geographic going back to 1960? It was decided that the magazines in the magazine storage area were to be tossed or donated, the area cleaned out and used as a combination server closet and technical support work space. The real plus is that the tech support staff member for the building would be located in the media center and immediately available to support the new technologies. Next we tackled the AV closet. This was comprised of many CRT TVs on carts. Most of these carts never moved out of this space as teachers

now used Smart board projectors with their laptops to show classroom videos. These carts and other small devices were either given to teachers to store in their rooms if desired or tossed (recycled). This provided space, with walls, for the recording studio. The recording studio/AV closet is positioned adjacent to a conference room. A plan for a sound studio quickly emerged. Fortunately, the wall separating the two rooms was not a supporting wall. Cables run through the ceiling and over the wall into the recording studio allow the microphones used with the re-

cording studio to be shared and used for video recording and production. This space could quickly be converted back and forth from a sound studio to a conference room as needed. Using the circulation system for data, it was determined that almost 50% of the books in the stacks had not been checked out in a decade. Once identified, these books would be donated to a needy source and the physical bookcases removed. With this completed the space would be used for the theater and an expanded desktop computer area.

Robert Stackpole What Does a Twenty-first Century Media Center Look Like? Summer came and the work began. POs were processed as the new equipment was ordered. Several accessible computer stations and touch screen computers were ordered to address student special needs. New rugs were laid down and the walls were painted. Student volunteers moved the furniture and reorganized the book stacks. The tech staff ran new cabling to support the new computers. Additional electrical circuits and electrical outlets were added. Computers and other devices were unboxed and prepared for student use.

files and one for streaming video)

So what did we purchase? 40 iMac computer

2 professional quality digital video cameras

2 Mac servers (one as a file server for audio and video

It is too soon to estimate the educational impact of the

30 laptops with a laptop cart 3 special order touch screen iMacs 30 iPad 2 with a sync cart 30 iPod Touch with a sync cart 10 digital video cameras 2 digital SLR cameras Camera accessories (tripods, cases, memory sticks) A professional quality recording studio (cost about 15k. Equipment list provided by request)

sigms

new media center on learning at MHS. While students use this new environment daily, it remains an investment in the future. RSU57 is in the beginning stages of our transformative journey. As the professional staff and students transform themselves into twentyfirst century teachers and learners the seeds of the new media center will take root and bear fruit. Our concept is solid. A twenty-first century media center is a place where students access information in new ways, while having the tools to synthesize and create new information for sharing and collaboration within the school, community, and the world.

Second Life

Our Organization Executive Committee

Committee Chairs

Maureen Sanders-Brunner Chair Ball State University Muncie, Indiana mdsbrunner@gmail.com

Advocacy Kathy Sanders Taylor Prairie IMC Director kathy_sanders@mgschools. net

Tiffany Whitehead Vice Chair Central Community Schools Baton Rouge, Louisana twhitehead@centralcss.org

International Librarianship Lesley Farmer California State University Long Beach lfarmer@csulb.edu

Laurie Conzemius Communications Chair Pine Meadow Elementary School conzemius@q.com

Newsletter Carolyn Starkey Buckhorn High School admin@jojo-starkey.com

Brenda Anderson Professional Development Chair Montgomery County Public Schools brendadanderson@gmail.com

Webinar Jennifer Gossman Holy Redeemer jgossman@insightbb.com Andrea Christman Rosa Parks Middle School Andrea_L_christman@mcpsmd .org

Annette Lamb, Ph.D. Member-at-Large School of Library and Information Science Indiana University alamb@eduscapes.com

Technology Innovation Award Tim Staal MAME tstaal@gmail.com

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