More Research Pathfinder 2.0 and Social Media: Travel Across the USA

Creekview High School LibGuides – Travels Across America with Mr. Martin – Home via kwout

My latest research pathfinder, Travel Across America USA, came together rather quickly, but it is one of my favorites to date.  Although I did not get to collaborate as much as I had hoped with the teacher on the project as of this evening, I feel confident we will conference next week and make any adjustments that may be needed since we have worked together, and he is really enthusiastic about using Google Docs and now moving on to Google Sites.

In this project, the students essentially must research and collect information about travel destinations between Juneau, Alaska and Key West , Florida.   You can see the requirements on the pathfinder page, but students are responsible for collecting multiple forms of data and representing it in an interesting and meaningful way.   I think the use of Google Docs (the presentation and spreadsheet tools) , Google Sites, and Google Maps can be instrumental in this project!  I am hopeful that I can confirm we will be using all three sets of tools to embed content and showcase the student projects.

This research pathfinder incorporates some of my favorite forms of social media:

• A widget featuring a travel guide via Google Books
• RSS feeds from Frommer’s and Lonely Planet Twitter accounts
• RSS feeds for blogs from these two travel powerhouses
• RSS feeds for travel podcasts and vodcasts
• Widgets featuring Flickr photo group pools sponsored from Frommer’s and Lonely Planet
• The use of “kwout” to highlight key websites that can be helpful for the assignment
• A Google Map I created to show some of the travel destinations I would choose if I were doing the assignment to model how students might use Google Maps; in addition, I have provided links to tutorials although students will have to use some of the instructional videos at home since they are embedded from YouTube
• An iTunes iMix of “travel music” created by National Geographic music (fun!)

I find it incredibly exciting to create a pathfinder that integrates so much social media to help students see how helpful and fun these resources can be.    What else would you add to this pathfinder?  Your suggestions are welcome!

Filed under: Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, research 2.0, social media , Flickr, iMix, iTunes, mashups, podcasts, research pathfinder, research pathfinder 2.0, research pathfinders, RSS, social media, subject guides, travel, Twitter, vodcasts

Integrating Social Media as Authoritative Information into Research Pathfinders

*This is a cross-post of an entry I wrote for the AASL blog, July 1, 2009*

The role of social media in reporting the events in Iran in recent weeks has highlighted the increasing role of emerging sources of authority and provides some authentic opportunities to engage in rich conversations with students and teachers about evaluation of information sources.   We are hearing more dialogue and a call for school districts to relax filter restrictions so that students may access social media resources like podcasts, blogs, Twitter, and YouTube.   Even mainstream media like CBS News and Time magazine are recognizing the role that social media networks like YouTube/CitizenTube and Twitter are playing in the reporting of news events and how that reporting is impacting the world event itself.  Clay Shirky illustrates this idea with razor sharp clarity in his TED Talk about the impact of social media on world events.

As we forge this brave new world of social scholarship, students and teachers will look to us for guidance in selecting and evaluating social media as valid sources of information.   In recent months, I have increasingly turned to nontraditional sources of information to use in conjunction with traditional authoritative sources to provide students a balanced research pathfinder.

Podcasts can provide valuable and timely information about a research topic.   The Library of Congress just announced this past Tuesday the debut of their iTunesU site which includes videos and podcasts.   I have also found that most podcasts I find in iTunes are available on the web with a RSS feed you can use so that if students are unable to access iTunes at school, then they can still access the podcasts via the web.    Here are some example of pathfinders I’ve created that utilize podcasts:

• Rick Stevens’  Audio France podcasts for a research pathfinder on places to see in Paris.
• Nature Podcasts:  a treasure trove for all things science
• Science Friday, NPR: they also offer a Twitter account and Facebook page; a Second Life presence is also available.
• Scientific American offers podcasts on a wide range of topics related to psychology and the sciences.  I have used these in Pageflakes pathfinders!
• PBS and American Experience offer podcasts on a diverse range of topics including history, biography, and literature; I have used podcasts on the Berlin Airflift and the Space Race with U.S. History classes.
• Podcasts from CNN
• NPR offers a variety of podcasts; this podcast on issues female veterans face upon their return home from duty was a valuable resource for students researching veterans’ issues.
• Podcasts from CNN and iTunes U were also utilized in our study of veterans’ issues.
• Podcasts from the U.S. Government

In the collaborative research pathfinder I’m designing with Dr. Robert Fernekes, Associate Professor and Information Services Librarian at Georgia Southern University, we created an entire tab of podcasts for our Business studies pathfinder page. By searching the Business Podcasts at iTunes, I was able to find podcasts to use; in the pathfinder, we elected to use the web-based feed for the podcasts rather than the specific iTunes links since not all students may have iTunes installed on their computers, but you can  easily include the link iTunes link if desired.  Even if you don’t link to the iTunes version of the podcast, iTunes is a great “search engine” for finding popular and quality podcasts in a particular topic.  iTunesU is also a great resource for quality podcasts (and videocasts, too)—I encourage you to explore the quality resources available.

Blogs can be another source of information and rich dialogue.  Although many blogs do have an obvious bias, a wealth of blogs reflect the thoughts, analysis, and reflections of experts in the field.  Just as we teach students to evaluate print and web resources, we can also scaffold students’ skills in evaluating social media.  This rubric and set of evaluation questions from Joyce Valenza provide librarians the teaching tools to evaluate the validity of the information in a blog.  Here are two examples  in which I incorporated blogs as valid sources of information:

• In our Business Resources pathfinder, Dr. Fernekes and I scoured the “blog” section of favorite and frequently used business publications.  In addition, I looked at lists of “top business” blogs from reputable websites to find additional blogs to add to the mix.
• In my Iran Election 2009 pathfinder, I incorporated blogs from reputable journalists as well as Iranian bloggers recommended by newspapers like The Washington Post; Mashable and the Read Write Web websites also provided suggestions for blogs to follow for first-hand accounts of the events in Tehran.

Twitter has received an incredible amount of attention lately for its role in the Iran Elections and protests of 2009.  Thanks to other librarians and educators in my personal learning network as well as The Washington Post, Mashable, and Read Write Web, I incorporated Twitter feeds from reputable journalists such as Ann Curry (NBC) and Lara Setrakian (ABC)  into my Iran Elections/Protests pathfinder; I also incorporated a Twitter feed from Tehran Bureau as well as a RSS feed for a saved search of the Twitter hashtag #Iranelection.  In our Business Resources pathfinder, Dr. Fernekes and I included Twitter RSS feeds from reputable publications such as Wall Street Journal as well as media outlets such as CNN Money.  Earlier this year, I included a Twitter feed from CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta the CDC Twitter account as part of my Swine Flu pathfinder.

Video is becoming an increasingly important medium and can be a great “hook” to get students’ interest in a topic.  I have used YouTube videos and videos from sources such as CNN,  CBS News, and ABC News  in pathfinders on Iran, Piracy and Somalia, Paris travel, Swine Flu,  Gun Control , Threats to Brazil’s Rain Forests ,  the Peanut Butter-Salmonella recall, and White House and Congress 2.0.  Videos are an essential source of information in my bookmarks  for my Veterans’ Issues research pathfinder.

I also included a saved video search of videos as well as a RSS feed from the CitizenTube video blog in my Iran Elections pathfinder.   In our Business Resources pathfinder, we have included video feed from MSNBC and a feed for the videocasts from The Economist.

Google Map mashups are another exciting new medium for illustrating information.  In my Iran Election/Protests 2009 pathfinder, I included a Google Maps  mashup featuring embassies accepting injured protesters.  My Swine Flu pathfinder includes a striking Google Maps mashup that illustrates the number of confirmed Swine flu/H1Ni1 cases.  For more ideas and resources on how to find and integrate Google Maps mashups into your research pathfinders, check out my bookmarks on Google Maps mashups.

As social scholarship continues to evolve, I feel it is imperative librarians tap into the power of social media and social networks for accessing, organizing, sharing, creating, and embedding information.  The use of social media as authoritative information reflects one of the common beliefs of the AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners:

The definition of information literacy has become more complex as esources and technologies have changed.  Information literacy has progressed from the simple definition of using reference resources to find information.   Multiple literacies, including digital, visual, textual, and technological, have now joined information literacy as crucial skills for this century.

Although these Social Networking Literacy Competencies are geared toward public and academic librarians, I feel they are competencies we must master as school librarians to prepare our students to be skilled lifelong learners in what is now an ever shifting landscape of information.  By incorporating social media and social networks as sources of information and as tools for learning, we can help our students master skill 4.1.7, “Use social networks and information tools to gather and share information.”

These AASL standards are also supported by the use of social media as authoritative information:

• 1.1.5 Evaluate information found in selected sources on the basis of accuracy, validity, appropriateness for needs, importance, and social and cultural context.
• 1.1.7 Make sense of information gathered from diverse sources by identifying misconceptions, main and supporting ideas, conflicting information, and point of view or bias.
• 1.2.4 Maintain a critical stance by questioning the validity and accuracy of all information.

By using both traditional and emerging sources of authoritative information, we can provide our students a broader menu of information sources for exploration and to ignite learning through research.  If you are interested in more readings on social scholarship, please check out my bookmarked resources. If you have examples of how you are using social media as an information source in your research pathfinders, please post them here to expand our concept how we can integrate social media as an authoritative information source.

Buffy Hamilton, School Library Media Specialist
Creekview High School
Canton, GA

Filed under: Information Literacy/Research Skills, research 2.0, social networking , authority, blogs, CitizenTube, Google Maps, iTunes, iTunes U, mashups, podcasts, social media, social networks, social scholarship, Twitter, video, YouTube

Netvibes Recognizes Its Use As a Virtual Library/Research Pathfinder!

We already knew this, but I loved seeing this on the Netvibes blog today!

Using public pages as virtual libraries! – Netvibes.com Blog via kwout

Don’t forget to check out The Unquiet Library on Netvibes; I have also updated my first pathfinder, Iran Election 2009, to include some additional Twitter feeds, new videos, blog entries, Citizentube, and a Yahoo Pipes mashup.

The Unquiet Library via kwout

Filed under: Information Literacy/Research Skills, Learning 2.0, Librarian Stuff, Web 2.0, research 2.0, social networking , Fun, libraries, Library 2.0, Netvibes, research pathfinders, subject guides, virtual libraries

The Argument for Social Media in Education

TeachPaperless: This is the Moment: Legitimize Social Media in Education via kwout

I discovered a most wonderful blog, Teach Paperless, this past week.  I urge you to read the argument here for social media in education—I literally got chills of excitement reading this post!

It compels us to act immediately as educators because our students can not afford to have their access to this Zeitgeist blocked by foolish laws and fearful bureaucrats.

The blocking debate ended this weekend.

Goodbye to the last vestiges of 20th century top-down media. Goodbye to the fear of what humans might produce given the opportunity to work collectively in thought and goodwill. Good morning, humankind.

So teachers, don’t try to teach kids to live in a world that doesn’t exist anymore. Rather, reach out and take hold of the possibilities social media offers. Anyone countering you doesn’t deserve the authority their office holds.

This is the moment. Legitimize social media in education.

Filed under: Censorship, Classroom 2.0, Information Literacy/Research Skills, Issues, Learning 2.0, Library 2.0, Media 21, SLM Issues, Web 2.0, research 2.0, social networking , authority, education, filtering, information, schools, social media

Social Scholarship in Action: Social Media as Authority

Two terrific resources that support my belief that we must tap into emerging sources of scholarly and/or credible information have come across my Google Reader in the last 24 hours.  As a high school librarian, I am very interested in the concepts of authority and emerging forms of social scholarship, but I am also intrigued by these ideas because they will tie into my first unit of study in August for my Media 21 Capstone project.

Here are two must read/see/watch resources:

Social networking changes everything – NeverEndingSearch – Blog on School Library Journal via kwout

Joyce Valenza pens a thoughtful and poignant post about the power of social media and the resources we might use as we help our students research and understand the current happenings in Iran.

Thanks to the “Free Technology for Teachers” blog, I was alerted to this powerful video by Clay Shirky on TED Talks called, “How  Cellphones,  Twitter,  and Facebook Can Make History”—while his video is not about the current events in Iran, the very principles he discusses apply.  I will be showing this video to mine and Susan Lester’s students come August!

Filed under: Information Literacy/Research Skills, Issues, Learning 2.0, Librarian Stuff, Library 2.0, Media 21, SLM Issues, Web 2.0, inspiration, research 2.0, social networking , information literacy, authority, social scholarship, Twitter, Facebook, current events, Joyce Valenza, social media, TED Talks, Clay Shirky