virtuous virtuals

Still a bit of a challenging week computer wise but I'm finally back on my home pc and things are looking up! Now, onto the virtues of virtuals...

Before I began my quest to discover the qualities of great virtual school libraries (vsl's), I thought I'd better find out a little more about them. I found this definition of a digital library in the "Teacher Training Manual" section of the International Children's Digital Library:


"William Arms, creator of D-Lib Magazine, gives a simple yet effective definition of a digital library. He defines a digital library as a “managed collection of information, with
associated services, where the information is stored in digital formats and accessible over
a network” (Arms, 2000, p. 2). Digital libraries are considered extensions of the physical
library, not replacements. They have benefits such as being “open” twenty-four hours a
day at a relatively low cost, bringing the library to the user, allowing for powerful
searching and browsing, being able to share unique collections, and providing access to
up-to-date information (Arms, 2000).

Arms, W.Y. (2000). Digital Libraries. Boston, MA: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Press.
Borgman, C. L. (1999, May 23-26, 1999). What are digital libraries, who is building them, and why? Digital
Libraries: Interdisciplinary Concepts, Challenges, and Opportunities. 23-38."


I liked this definition especially because it included the statement about digital/virtual libraries being extensions of the physical library, working in collaboration with existing traditional formats not simply replacing them. At this point in time, this is important simply because not all learners in the school community have computer access. Until online libraries can confidently claim that they're accessible to all learners, the traditional versions must remain intact, up to date and provide the "virtual space" (computers) so that all learners have access.


What intrigues me -- vsl's being open 24/7 and the notion of bringing the library to the learner, wonderful implications for teaching and learning.


Here's a summary of my initial thoughts and some highlights (and low lights) from the virtual libraries I searched:




Springfield Township virtual library (Joyce Valenza)

• Great, fun graphics--enjoyable to explore


• Easy to navigate


• Some of what it contains:

1. catalogs and databases-high quality, full text, web based eg POWER
2. on-line research guide-search strategies included
3. reference tools - wikis eg kids click! search engine
4. resources for librarians, online lessons
5. links for students/teachers
6. Virtual Reference desk-assistance through email
   

Parkcrest Library

• mission statement
• catalog info
• student/staff links-student links not working when I tried
• promotion of school events
• easy to navigate - simple, straight forward

McLurg Elementary Virtual Library

• unique is the Student Work section where you can see work done by students using wordle and a voice thread slideshow, very neat
  
• liked the pictures in the old site, seemed friendlier


• new site has more information, but too "clustered" for my liking


• "What to Read" section-great idea
  

Bessie Chin Library

• very busy, lots going on--hard to know where to "click", didn't want to stay on this site!
  
• I found the constant scrolling on top to be bothersome (I kept thinking something was wrong with Internet explorer!)
  

Quickly moving on...

Grandview School Library

• loved the graphics, very kid friendly. Also loved the grade level links and the simple, user friendly (especially for kids) catalog.
  

John Newbery Elementary -

• good research resource: "Pathfinders" - Bright, graphic page with different topics under each grade level to help students find the information they're looking for. Students click on their topic and they're directed to a list of resources (print, on-line and video)
  

Birch Lane Elementary

• a little sterile looking but liked the layout (headings on the left and links on the right)
  
• out dated "Battle of the Books" link (from 2004)


• not a large selection of online data bases


• liked the student book review section and power point use on "how to do research" beside the homework link
  

S.C. Lee Jr. High

• links to Web 2.0 applications-- first time I saw this
  
• Great teacher resources links
  

Virtual Middle School

• really liked the bottom of their home page, had a date for when the links where last checked
  
  

Virtual Reference Desk

• set up by the Public Libraries of BC to provide "quick access to a virtual library of websites ...reputable websites that have been reviewed by librarians"
• did a quick search of bears and was impressed by the "localness" of it (BC websites)
  
  

Ecole des Deux Mondes

• my daughter's school in our school district (was better developed than I thought it might be!)
• some useful links "en francais"
• Still a work in progress!
  
  

The National Science Digital Library

• has resources for K-12 teachers
  

Smithsonian Library and Archival Exhibits

• on the web "3000 links to online exhibitions from libraries, archives, and museums around the world."
  
  
  

Based on my very preliminary observations, here's a list of the qualities of a great virtual library (in no particular order):

• Great graphics (especially pictures of books) to help draw the user in



• Online Catalog where students can independently search titles available in the school library



• Research Resources -subscription databases, curriculum related websites (with the help of a search tool like Pathfinders where there's a page with different topics listed under appropriate grade levels), links to help with the research process (Big 6)



• "How to" on searching effectively and links to search engines adapted to specific information (eg NoodleTools)



• "How to" on evaluating a website



• Links to author websites



• Links specific for students, parents and staff



• Links to games/fun stuff that promotes reading (eg Scholastic)



• Reading lists- grade level, choices and reviews by students, "what should I read next?"



• E book links(eg International Children's Digital Library)



• Promotion on site of literary and school events (eg Battle of the Books)



• Links to local, public libraries



• Section to showcase student achievements



• Virtual reference desk to offer assistance through email or portal to provide feedback



• Dates of when links were last checked

There are many potentials and advantages for using vsl's along with traditional libraries. Some of these include decreasing library costs because there's no damaged or lost books to replace, creating access to many and remote collections of books or research materials and promoting critical thinking in students by having them work independently in a quality web based environment.

How could these sites be improved or changed with the incorporation of new or different technologies? What I see is the addition of more web 2.0 tools that would allow for collaboration and interaction. Perhaps a student blog or chat room area where members could discuss various books, assignments, resources or concerns and get feedback from authors, teachers or librarians.

As a final note, John V. Lombardi points out in his 2000 article on Academic Libraries in a Digital Age, there are still many challenges facing virtual libraries. Number one being expense, the updating of obsolete hardware/software as well as conversion into digital format, and issues around property rights of information.

What remains consistent in this virtual age is that librarians will continue to do the job they've always done. " They will provide their constituents with help and assistance, as they always have, in finding, evaluating, and understanding the universe of information that the digital world has provided us. They will spend less time and energy developing collections and much more developing on-line guides to subjects, topics, and resources. " (Lombardi, 2000)

Frustrations and Turkey

Frustration, turkey, more frustration and some more turkey--pretty much sums up my week. Allow me to explain, here's the condensed version...



It all began when, earlier on in the week, I embarked on my podcasting journey. I happily began reading chapter 8 of Richardson's text and found out that "Podcasting is basically the creation of and distribution of amateur radio." (p. 110) Very cool, this was going to be fun. I watched Lee LeFever's Common Craft video, Podcasting in Plain English, and discovered that podcasting was different from regular broadcasting in that it is "personal and on demand". Basically, I can listen to what I want when I want, with the help of a "podcatcher" (for example itunes) and a RSS feed subscription. Ricardson and Lee Fever assured me that creating my own podcast was just as simple as subscribing to and downloading one that had been broadcast by someone else. After listening to student created podcasts (readings of a Newbury Award book in the educating alice blog), I was inspired and motivated (much as these students were) to create my very own podcast.



Reading on, I knew that I needed a way of recording digital audio. Hmmm... my daughter has an MP3 player with a built in mic, that ought to work. I created a free account with "Audacity" as I needed some software to convert what I recorded into MP3 format . Easy enough to create the account but here's the beginning of my frustration. The "synching up process", that's casually mentioned in Richarson's text (p. 117), to get my recorded files onto my hard drive was extremely time consuming (for me, anyway) and the recorded results were an inferior quality (partly due to the cheap MP3 player). So, off I went to purchase a good quality mic to save time, hopefully, and produce some better sounding recordings for my podcast.



The mic worked great and way easier than trying to record via the MP3. All I needed now was to transfer the MP3 file to an online server that would create a URL, enabling my file to be linked to my blog. First, I tried Our Media (Richarson's first suggestion, p. 118) for free storage of my audio file. My frustration continued...it took forever to download a small test file I created (actually, I don't think it ever really did download...) . Next, I decided to try "Podomatic" (another Richardson suggestion, p. 119), a web-based service where you can record, store and share your podcast all on the one site!
Why I didn't read and try this first...frustration gave way to some relief, if only temporary...



Success! Using Audacity, I recorded my daughter, Claire, reading and essay she wrote, and won an award for, about the "Spirit of B.C." (see previous posting) Using "Podomatic", I downloaded my MP3 file, stored and posted it directly to my blog--a great feature this site offers. All quickly and efficiently--they even sent me an email letting me know this had been done successfully.



Things were looking up, or so I thought...



Great, my podcast was done, a first step in assignment completion! It took way longer than anticipated, but I'm grateful I tried it on my own before attempting it with a class. Now, all that was left was to finish my blog post about this podcasting process. Shouldn't be too difficult, considering I had carefully saved the links of my readings etc. in a word document...



Disaster struck...



One turkey dinner down and it was time to start blogging, I just needed to fire up the computer. It didn't just "fire up". Long story very short, after a trip to the computer shop, power is thankfully restored. New problem. As soon as it powers up, it freezes. Nothing. Not good. Also not good is that it's Thanksgiving weekend and the IT guy has gone home for his turkey dinner. I can't access anything. This is where I start to reflect (a little late) on the benefits of web-based storage of documents. Also, a good time to think about the frustrations many of us feel when, especially at school, computers are down and there's a huge wait for someone in the IT department. Obstacles to this great Web 2.0 technology.



More turkey and a rescue...



Another turkey dinner down and, along with it, the borrowing of my Mother-in-laws laptop (there could be a great joke here...) So I'm back online, but without my carefully preserved word document, I'm flying by the seat of my pants and spending way more time, that I don't happen to have, trying to re-do what I had already done. Frustration once again...

In spite of all this, I do see great implications for using podcasting in the classroom. I was struck with Joyce Valenza's comments when discussing what a library should look like in the 21st century in the Women of Web2.0 podcast. She mentioned that catalogued and posted in libraries should be archives of student created materials. Podcasts are certainly a great way to archive student achievements, whether it be reading favourite literary passages or interviewing someone as part of a radio show podcast. Also, what a treasured addition to a portfolio of student work. What parent wouldn't be thrilled with an audio file that their child created? (I sent mine off to both sets of grandparents...) As far a creating podcasts in the classroom, the sheer motivational factor of making an audio file that can be shared and replayed is huge for student learning.

As well, Will Richardson states in Podcating 101:

"Teachers find podcasts are a great way for students to present what they are learning in the classroom. So when the kids at Radio Willow Web in Omaha , for example, produce a show about “Those Amazing Ants,” they are doing work that has a real purpose beyond the classroom." "...real purpose beyond the classroom"... meaningful and relevant learning, exactly our goals for students in today's classrooms.

After listening to the first podcast created by Mabry Middle School, the power of this Web 2.0 tool as a communication device between home and school is incredible. Families can download school newsletters, concert performances, classroom assignments etc, listening to and sharing them at their convenience. Students can easily pick up missed classroom assignments by listening to a podcast created by their teacher or classmate.

For myself, listening to podcasts, whether for professional or personal reasons, is the ultimate, multi-tasking time saver. I can do chores while listening to some great reviews of children's literature (eg. Just One More Book). I may not always have time to read, but having the option of listening when and where I want, while doing other things, will greatly enhance my professional development. (A great list of podcasts for educational use put out by David Warlick can be found at The Education Podcast Network website).

Frustrations will continue, I'm sure, with technology and with the "newness" of most of these Web 2.0 tools. As for me, I'll continue to persevere and be thankful for turkey dinners as well as encouragement and support from wonderful friends (thanks Jacquie!) and family.

First attempt at podcast!

"Diiging" in...

I began looking into social bookmarking as a way of getting organized in the Web 2.0 environment. I was wanting a way of managing my favourites, making them easier to find and retrieve. Social bookmarking offers this by sorting bookmarks by 'tags' - single keywords that I create - making them more "findable". It has the added benefit of being public (or private, if prefered) so that tagged sites can be shared with peers, students and parents. The big bonus of bookmarking socially is the access to well read, like-minded taggers and being able to view sites they've marked, which enriches my collection.

Teaching Today article offers some answers to why use social bookmarking in the classroom, primarily for management reasons (web-based storage of bookmarks), collaboration and news gathering. I see other great implications, especially in having a tool that gives students the potential to collaborate and share information with other classmates. Simply feeling more empowered, students will be motivated to contribute quality content that they know others will read.

This Educase Learning document from Joanne's "Trailfire" says it well:
"Social bookmarking creates a true web of resources and connections—
one that is not limited to individuals and their folders
but represents the interests and judgments of a
community of users."

In my search for a social bookmarking site, I decided to start with Diigo based on Richarson's recommendation, "...another one of my favourite tools on the Read/Write Web. Diigo is a tool that not only allows you to begin constructing your own little piece of the web, it's a way of organizing it for yourself and for those you are collaborating with." (p.91 of Blogs, Wikis and Podcasts)

My intention was to explore a few others but I got so entrenched in Diigo it was hard "diiging" out. Here's what I "dug" up...

Diigo was easy to sign on to and download their tool bar. This has several useful features, such as the ability to highlight passages you're reading, comment on them (privately or publicly) and send them to your blog for editing or posting. These features are unique to Diigo (Richardson p.92) and part of the reason why I chose to focus on this site.

Another great features on Diigo is the video and slideshare introductory tutorials at the Diigo Help Center. Perfect for saving time and good visuals for newbie learners, such as myself. The following is one such video that also includes an explanation of social bookmarking:




Also, there's some informative user-generated tutorials (see below) that not only teaches what the acronym Diigo means (Digest of Internet Information, Groups and Other Stuff) but offers some great links for using Diigo in an educational setting (eg. see p. 20 "Avatar links for students")

Dig Deeper with Diigo

Dig Deeper with Diigo

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: web 2.0)

"This is a comprehensive tutorial for using Diigo in educational settings"

Which brings me to another great feature, the Diigo Educator Account. Here, you can safely set up student group accounts for classroom use. (Student email addresses are optional when setting up the accounts and privacy features allow only teacher and classmate communication) Classes automatically are set up as a Diigo group that includes group bookmarks, annotations and forums. Great implications for a classroom use whether collaborative bookmarking on research links, discussing these links using annotations or evaluating student comments on these sites.

One more neat thing I discovered with Diigo is that I could embed a Diigo slideshow onto my blog (see widget on the left of this posting) where I can organize and share a list of some of my bookmarkings . (What I noticed is that my highlights and post-it annotations didn't show up on my slideshow sample, most likely something I'm doing wrong.) I can see using this much like a "Trailfire" where you could have a list of bookmarked sites for students to peruse.

So I'm signed on, playing with all the gadgets (including regularly referring to tutorials), finding that using the toolbar is a great way to organize and liking the collaborative nature (particularly seeing what others have marked!).

I was reading Liz B Davies, in the "Getting Started" tutorials on Diigo, and I should have been a little leery when she mentioned Diigo as being "delicious on steroids". I've had this feeling all along that delicious is probably more my style - straight forward, simple - but glad I've persisted with Diigo and looking forward to "diiging" in some more!

"All-About-Me" Tube

OK, it's official, I really don't get the whole YouTube phenomenon...


To date, my experience with it has been through the eyes of my young children (11 and 13). They're completely fascinated with the medium and spend countless hours with friends watching, and re-watching, videos such as "Harry Potter Puppet Pals" (no link here intended!). They've begged me to allow them to post videos (they're also completely fascinated with viewing themselves). As with any posting of their images on the net, I am very leery and I was looking forward to investigating this site further through this course work.

So I began to explore YouTube and reflect on the implications for teaching and learning. I watched Michael Wesch's "An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPAO-lZ4_hU) with complete fascination. Two hundred thousand videos uploaded everyday - the most commonly viewed are remixed versions of home videos and the 18-24 age group is the growing percentage of people using YouTube. Interesting stats. So that's what kids are doing instead of reading... (admittedly, I was learning something watching a YouTube video - there really is some great stuff out there!)

Apart from being a fun place to view some interesting or obscure videos and develop a "hyper self awareness" (Wesch) by posting to the YouTube community, I don't see huge educational merits to YouTube in an elementary classroom setting. Yes, there's lots of cool clips that could be added to spice up some dry curriculum, but concerns over the "authenticity crisis" (Wesch) that plagues this site would really make me think twice before using it (also, are my concerns with privacy over publishing to such a huge audience).

What I do see as a huge implication for teaching and learning is the sheer motivational factor of video sharing in this type of medium. What child doesn't love watching (and apparently re-watching 1000's of times) clips of themselves or their friends? What if they could publish their learning, safely, in a fun/cool video and share it with others?

I was relieved as I went on to discover Teacher Tube (http://www.teachertube.com/index.php) and read what they had to say in their "About Us" tab: (http://www.teachertube.com/about.php)
"Our goal is to provide an online community for sharing instructional videos. We seek to fill a need for a more educationally focused, safe venue for teachers, schools, and home learners. It is a site to provide anytime, anywhere professional development with teachers teaching teachers. As well, it is a site where teachers can post videos designed for students to view in order to learn a concept or skill."

Ahh..."educationally focused, safe venue...", this is more like it...what a great site! I was immediately drawn to this video about blogging, since we had just recently looked into the merits of this Web 2.0 tool (why I didn't see it before...) In this video, "Why Let Our Students Blog?" Rachel Boyd, a teacher from New Zealand, highlights the benefits and reasons for blogging in a classroom setting.(http://www.teachertube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=be6ec9b852b0a542e2f3&page=1&viewtype=&category=)

When browsing around Teacher Tube I ran across an article by Alison Lapp from PC Magazine, which I thought served as an interesting reminder when using downloaded videos from these sites in the classroom:
"..."It's an awfully easy thing to abuse, in the sense of using it as a babysitter," says Ed Miller of Alliance for Childhood. Because of the services' interactive nature, educators adopting the technology are hopeful that it won't be just an enabler for lazy teachers (remember film strips?)." (http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1759,2146880,00.asp

Not certain it's being abused yet in the classrooms I've been in (most hadn't used any video sharing sites), but, as with any media, I think the message here is to make sure they're used meaningfully and in conjunction with other learning tools.

Now, here's how my frustration begins with this tool...

As part of my learning, I'm trying out some of these video sharing sites and demonstrating my new found knowledge. Easier said than done for me! Part of it, I know, is my own lack of tech skills and time that's required to acquire them (as well as an increasingly slow computer...)

I thought I'd try making a video using my digital camera, edit it and then find a site to host it so I could share it on my blog. I choose Google Video (http://video.google.com/), because I'm familiar with it and I have an account there. Uploading took forever (almost 45 minutes on my computer) and I still can't seem to access it. Next I tried uploading it through blogger and just adding it to my blog post. Well, I started at 5:23 pm and it was still loading at 7:23pm...('Help' told me it should take all of 5 minutes...)

Anyway, it's been a frustrating, time consuming lesson...sprinkled with a few tears...

(If you see a video magically appear you'll know I've found success!)

We're on Teacher Tube!

We're a "Group" on Teacher Tube, check it out!
http://www.teachertube.com/groups_home.php?urlkey=edes501

Niagra Falls (US side)

Niagra Falls (US side),
originally uploaded by janpeach.

Just trying out the annotation feature of Flickr, very easy to do!