Share: Ken Robinson—Changing Education Paradigms

Thank you to my friend and colleague Andrea Stanfield for putting this most excellent video on my radar this evening via TED Talks | Best of the Web.

In this talk from RSA Animate, Sir Ken Robinson lays out the link between 3 troubling trends: rising drop-out rates, schools’ dwindling stake in the arts, and ADHD. An important, timely talk for parents and teachers.

Content Creation FTW: Information Literacy in the Wild

School Library Monthly Blog » Blog Archive » Enjoy Our Class Book : Information Literacy in the Wild via kwout

From teacher and librarian extraordinaire Kristin Fontichiaro and her SI 641 / EDCURINS 575 : Information Literacy for Teaching and Learning students comes Information Literacy in the Wild, a class created of compilation of essays reflecting their field experiences in public libraries, K-12 libraries, K-12 classrooms, college classrooms (online and face-to-face), academic libraries, museums, and more.  I can’t find words to say how fierce and awesome this project is! BRAVO!  Read more about this project on Kristin’s blog; in the meantime…

from Kristin:

We hope you will enjoy reading about our observations, projects, and conclusions. Here are some tidbits with which to tantalize you:
– how Lady Gaga’s meat dress is an example of synthesis
– how an AP language teacher plans to teach an information literacy unit
– the importance of a lesson “hook”
– how to sneak an IL lesson into a tech lesson
– how a map can guide even the most experienced researchers
– bird unit sightings in public libraries … and a physics classroom
– how the SCVNGR app can refresh and deepen library orientation

You can download it for your eReader here:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/115254

It is also available as a formatted-for-print PDF:
http://bit.ly/infowild

We are eager to hear your feedback:
informationliteracyinthewild@umich.edu

Thanks,
Kristin & SI 641/EDCURINS575

“The Library As Indicator Species: Evolution, or Extinction” from Char Booth

Presentation given at the University of Connecticut Libraries Fall Forum, October 2011; be sure to check out Char’s wonderful and thought-provoking blog post that is a companion piece to her slidedeck.

“Libraries and Learning Communities” Internet Librarian 2011 Keynote from Lee Rainie

Read more about Rainie’s keynote on the Internet Librarian 2011 Conference blog.

Student Facebook Groups, Privacy, and Parents

CC image via http://bit.ly/qk2f6j

I’d like to toss out a few general scenarios  for you all to consider:

• Students create and organize their own Facebook group for a specific class; the classroom teacher is invited to participate.  Should the teacher be the admin of the group,  merely a member, or even a participant?  And whether or not the teacher is part of the student created class group, should parents be admitted to the group?
• A teacher creates and organizes a class/course Facebook group for students and is the group admin.   Parents request to join the group—should they be admitted?
• If a teacher is posting content to a student organized Facebook class group, such as an informal discussion question that is not a graded assignment, is the teacher obligated to cross-post that discussion on the “official” course page?
• If a teacher posts class content (as a member, not an admin) on a student organized Facebook class group, is it reasonable for a parent to assume that once that teacher posts class content in that space, “he/she has changed the nature of the page, and parents should have access”?
• Is it reasonable for parents to equate a teacher moderating or participating in a student course Facebook group with “friending” students?

These scenarios could also be applied to those who may be using circles in Google Plus, Google Groups, or other similar networks.    The need for students to have a space they feel they can share information and express themselves openly is an important one; at the same time, transparent structures that encourage and allow for parental participation and involvement are also important.  How do we negotiate these tensions while respecting the needs of both teens and parents, particularly when the communication medium is one like Facebook where students gravitate and dwell?

What are your thoughts on these questions?  Does your district have any formal policies for teachers in place about the use of social networks like Facebook whether the network is administered by the teacher or not?  If you’re utilizing Facebook or comparable social network tools for learning and/or class conversation, what policies or protocols do you observe?