Earlier this week, I blogged about about first efforts in Media 21 to use mindmapping as a strategy for thinking and inquiry as well as a springboard for discussion in our Fishbowl groups.  One of our creative mindmappers took a few minutes today to share her first two mindmaps that go  outside some of the traditional mediums and how mindmapping helps her as a learner.

Library on Wheels is a program that the Sequoyah High School Media Center has been doing for a little over three years now, and we are pleased with the results.  Library on Wheels  is the name we have given to loading a cart with books and a laptop and taking it to the cafeteria.  We try to stock the cart with our latest novels or nonfiction/reference books like Guinness World Records which might appeal to a reluctant reader.   We then wheel the cart around to each table and ask students if they would like to check out a book.  We have been jokingly compared to hospital candy stripers or Brooks Hatlan in Shawshank Redemption, but I think that a flight attendant may be the best analogy.  While not every student  takes advantage of this service, this form of outreach helps us to connect with students we might not normally see during lunch and helps improve the visibility of the library by going to where the students are.

Sequoyah High School has four lunch periods, and our goal is to visit each lunch period once a week.  We find that some students who never darken the doors of the media center will see a book on the cart and choose to check it out.  We also answers many questions, including  questions such as “What time do you close?” and “When is my book due?”   We have found it extremely enjoyable to interact with the kids in a different way outside of our mainstream point of access.  Library on Wheels allows us to see a different side of them.  In addition to checking books out and answering questions, students pay quite a few fines while we are in the cafeteria and also return books.  When you combine all those advantages with increased circulation statistics, the program is a win-win and beneficial for the library program and  for the students.

Jan Reed, Media Specialist
Sequoyah High School
Canton, GA 

Please also check out my blog post for the American Libraries Membership Blog from today as well that spotlights Day 1 of this two day event at ALA Midwinter 2012.

Susan Lester’s 10th Honors World Literature/Composition students recently began a novel study of All Quiet on the Western Front.    Since students knew little about World War I, we gave students the opportunity to choose a World War I topic of interest to them ( a menu was provided but students could come up with their own topics, too) to research.  Susan and I decided to help students dwell in the connecting stage of inquiry by having students mindmap their research and then share those findings in a Fishbowl discussion group.  Using mindmaps that Howard Rheingold’s students created and published as our models, we gave students the choice for the tools and mediums they wanted to use to mindmap the key ideas and findings of their research on their topic.  Most preferred creating their mindmaps with concrete materials like paper and ink, but others like using Word or Bubbl.us.

After our Fishbowl meeting and having time to share our mindmaps last Tuesday, students shared their reflections on the effectiveness of mindmaps as a medium for sharing key ideas and information.

• Students were generally quite positive about the process and indicated it was helpful in better discerning important information and big ideas as well as organizing that information; this feedback was encouraging since these were challenges students identified in our research  project last semester.
• Other students shared they felt they were able to initiate and sustain a richer level of participation and engagement as members of their Fishbowls because the mindmap helped them easily remember key ideas they wanted to share and was a quick way to prompt talking points as opposed to looking a written reflection.
• Several students also indicated they felt creating the mindmap helped them better synthesize and remember the information they were finding in their research.
• Some students indicated they would enjoy having the option to create a mindmap rather than always writing a narrative reflection for Fishbowl discussions about their novel/book studies.
• One student shared that the mindmapping helped her feel as though her Fishbowl now had multiple experts on different topics and that the group was able to cover a broader amount of information with more depth; additionally, she thought the mindmap sharing created a different element of fun for the Fishbowl discussion.  She described mindmapping as helping students to create a “3D” perspective about a topic instead of just “brushing the surface with a boring 2D” perspective.

A few students indicated they encountered difficulty in the mindmapping process and in looking at some student mindmaps, we could see others might need some help in the organization of their mindmaps.   For our next mindmapping endeavor, I think I will scaffold their skills by doing a group think and do a group exercise in which we create a mindmap together to help those who are struggling and to grow the skills of those who feel comfortable with that  strategy.  I am also hopeful I can encourage other teachers to try this strategy in other courses and continue to grow my best practices for teaching students mindmapping.

If you are using mindmapping as a tool for building and sharing background knowledge, what strategies or approaches are you taking help students learn this skill and medium?  I encourage teachers, professors, and librarians to share your ideas here in the comments.

The uncut version, which features about 3.5 additional minutes of discussion:

Resources:

• Learn more about these two session from ALA Midwinter on Empowering Voices, Transforming Libraries
• Stacy Weitzner’s website
• David Lankes screencast from Day 1 of Empowering Voices, Transforming Libraries
• David Lankes screencast from Day 2 of Empowering Voices, Transforming Libraries

No Shelf Required 2: Use and Management of Electronic Books – Books / Professional Development – Books for Academic Librarians – Books for Public Librarians – New Products – ALA Store via kwout

I’m happy to share that Sue Polanka’s No Shelf Required II is now available for purchase as a print book or ebook.  I’m also honored to be a contributor to this book, especially in light of the long list of distinguished colleagues across all areas of librarianship who contributed chapters to this insightful volume.

From the ALA bookstore, here is a book overview and table of contents:

With their explosive sales and widespread availability over the past few years, e-books have definitively proven that they’re here to stay. In this sequel to her best-selling book of the same title, expert Polanka dives even deeper into the world of digital distribution. Contributors from across the e-book world offer their perspectives on what’s happening now and what to expect in the coming months and years. Included in this invaluable resource are

• Guidelines for performing traditional library processes such as cataloging, weeding, archiving, and managing e-book accessibility for patrons with special needs
• Explorations of topics such as the e-book digital divide and open-access publishing
• Case studies from an array of academic, public, and school libraries, offering firsthand accounts of what works, what doesn’t, and why
• Discussions of the emerging model of the electronic-only library and the rich possibilities of enhanced e-books

All librarians will want to familiarize themselves with the wealth of advice in this volume on best practices for use and management of e-books.

Table of Contents/Contributors

Table of Contents

1 Going Digital but Not Bookless
Physical, Digital Library Spaces
Amelia Brunskill

2 Do E-books Bridge the Digital Divide?
Sarah E. Twill

3 Accessibility Issues in E-books and E-book Readers
Ken Petri

4 Making Sense of Change
E-books, Access, and the Academic Library
Lisa Carlucci Thomas

5 E-book Preservation
Business and Content Challenges
Amy Kirchhoff

6 Weeding E-books
Alice Crosetto

7 What Is RDA, and Why Should E-book Managers Care?
Steve Kelley

8 Enhanced E-books
How Books Are Coming Alive in the Digital Environment
Sylvia K. Miller

9 E-book Sea Change in Public Libraries
Lending, Devices, Training, and Budgets
Michael Porter, Matt Weaver, and Bobbi Newman

10 Libraries as Zones for Content Creation
Indie Publishing, and Print on Demand
Thomas A. Peters

11 Getting Control, Staying Relevant
How Libraries Can Push the E-book Envelope to Their Advantage
Joseph Sanchez

12 The iPad Loaner Program at Oberlin College Library
Jessica Grim and Allison Gallaher

13 Leading and Learning
Technology and E-book Adoption in School Libraries
Carolyn Foote

14 E-reader Adoption in the School Library Media Center
A Journey of Collaboration and Discovery
Jennifer LaGarde and Christine James

15 Give Them Something to Talk About: The Kindle Pilot Program at the Unquiet Library
Buffy Hamilton

16 Using E-books with Reluctant Readers
Kathy Parker

About the Editor

Sue Polanka created the award-winning blog No Shelf Required about the issues surrounding e-books for librarians and publishers. The blog led to the ALA Editions book No Shelf Required: E-books in Libraries in 2011. Polanka is the Head of Reference and Instruction at the Wright State University Libraries in Dayton, Ohio and the Vice President/President Elect of the Academic Library Association of Ohio. She has served on Booklist’s Reference Books Bulletin Editorial Board for over ten years, serving as Chair from 2007 – 2010.  Her column on electronic reference, “Off The Shelf,” appears quarterly in Booklist. She was named a Library Journal 2011 Mover and Shaker for her work with e-books.

Our first interview was Thursday, January 12 with Lisa Roth of Montgomery Roth Architecture & Interior Design, L.L.C.   Meet the brainchild behind this Skype session and her insights on the value of Skype in the classroom:

Other student insights included:

• learning about how to select a college and qualities to look for in program related to the field of architecture
• pathways to careers in architecture
• what kinds of learning experiences to expect in a program of study for architecture
• the field of interior design and how study in this area might enhance or shape a career as an architect
• the importance of learning the culture of a geographic area before embarking on a design
• Ms. Roth’s approach to the process of architectural design
• details about specific design projects Ms. Roth’s firm has completed (a student favorite)
• the cost and security of structures have a diverse range depending on the needs of the client
• the importance of designing an effective sales pitch or sales presentation for a project
• applications of what has been learned in class to “real world” architecture

Our second interview was with Danny Abshire of Newton Running.   Students got to ask questions about the design process and learned not only about the logistics of shoe design and Abshire’s story of co-founding his business, but they also received sound advice on dealing with the highs and lows of following one’s passions and dreams.  Students were truly impressed and engaged with Abshire’s energy and love for what he does; many commented it was a valuable and memorable learning experience.

Like last week’s Skype session, the catalyst for this conversation was learning was rooted in a student’s desire to connect with an expert.  Duncan shares how his study in Ms. Salas’s class intersected with his Senior Project and his reflections on how today’s learning experiences have impacted him as a student.  His joy and delight are infectious!

I’d like to thank our students, Ms. Salas, and our experts for their time and willingness to engage in a conversation for learning through Skype and our library.   I’m especially happy that students have not only gained new content related knowledge, but that they have also felt the power of interviewing an expert and that the Skype experience has fueled their passion and curiosity for learning!