Inspiration, Innovation & Information for school libraries and learning.
By Jill Driver
Last year my school had a consultant do an audit of ICT within the entire school. The aim was to consult everyone and form an all-encompassing plan for co-ordinated, logical and intelligent placement of ICT around the school, so all students would get maximum benefits from the service.
It is vital that school librarians are very pro-active; representing the library at this time, so that the research, information literacy, and other services the Library is providing, are recognised and supported in the new ICT plan.
Here are my suggestions for others whose schools undergo an ICT audit.
Request a meeting time with the auditor to discuss the Library service. You will need at least 20 minutes.Find out who is doing the audit. Investigate what experience the auditor has and where does he/she place the emphasis? Find out if the auditor is familiar with school libraries and education or just purely ICT orientated? Check out the website or blogs or articles the auditor has published. What language does the person use? Use the same terms in your presentation/discussion.
Ensure that you are ready with a vision and plan for the future development of the library and its services in your school. Consult your library users. Look at your library data. In particular, be very aware of the number and adequacy of other computer suites in your school. During the discussion always emphasize the entire library service and talk about ICT as one important part of this service.
Give the auditor a brief outline of the existing library service and usage of the library. Indicate any speciality areas that are particular to your school. Show where any current ICT equipment currently fits into your service delivery e.g. computers, wireless access, data projectors, smartboards, ipads/tablets, e-readers, digital cameras, OPACs et cetera.
Use evidence of the use of your existing ICT; data such as booking schedules, number of periods computers are used, use of library ICT resources for your own or other presentations, such as staff meetings, visiting presenters. Show planning progression through the past few years with Annual or Term Reports, budget requests etc.
Show, through the library’s input in to the Annual Strategic Plan, where the library service fits in to the proposed ICT landscape.
Outline your plan for developing your Library service for the next few years and the ICT required enhancing that service. For instance you may need new library software to incorporate e-books into your service, or you may need a smartboard for delivery of library lessons on internet searching or other library based skills.
Take control. Make sure your voice is heard. Be proactive to ensure positive outcomes for the library.
By Anne
Be part of an incredible opportunity for students to engage in authentic learning by enacting change within a global context: ITU Telecom, an organization which facilitates global events for governments and industry leaders on behalf of the United Nations, is holding a World Event in Geneva at the end of October. The World Event is an opportunity for participants to think about and develop manifestos for change, using telecommunications technology, which address a range of global issues, from poverty to climate change and free access to education.
This year 10 000 students from around the world are invited to participate virtually in a project to design innovations which will help change the lives of others and address the following issues:
Read more about how your student can participate or view some of the amazing infographics, such as this interactive map which shows the relationship between global development and poverty in the last 200 years and think about how these can be shared with your school community.
Please let us know if your students participate. We'd love to celebrate NZ students' efforts to make a difference globally.
image by s_w_ellis
By Carrie
CamScanner is a simple app for Android and the iPhone that will turn your phone into a scanner. It only takes a minute to put the app on your phone and it is easy and intuitive to use.
You take a picture of whatever you want to scan (a document, your whiteboard, your colleague’s notes, an article…) and CamScanner lets you crop it using your touchscreen and turn it into a PDF. The app also processes the image to enhance the quality and can auto-detect edges and auto-crop, which results in a better image than you would get with your camera alone.
When your PDF is ready you can share it through email or upload it to Evernote , Dropbox or a Google Doc. CamScanner has a free version and a paid version. The free version includes advertisements and creates PDF files with a watermark, but those things might not bother you, depending on how you are planning to use the documents. Check out the Android Market and itunes for more information and how to get started.
With more and more students carrying smartphones in their blazer pockets, CamScanner could be a great tool to use in your library or classroom. Students can scan group brainstorms on paper and the whiteboard, quickly capture information for bibliographies and copy each other’s notes. If you run across a document you would like to share with the class you can instantly scan it, email it and put it on your class Moodle page without even leaving the room! CamScanner also offers you an opportunity to easily lighten your paper load by turning more things digital without having to haul documents all over the school looking for a free copier.
Have you used CamScanner? Would it be useful in your classroom or library?
image by osde8info
by Lisa O
Open content is a philosophical shift that educators are making. As the learning process takes precedence over information content and as educators face the challenges of making best use of the exponential growth of information, sharing and open content become more important. “ Research and Innovative Thinking .
Schools in New Zealand are shifting to an open content model. How are school libraries positioned to support this new model?
Many schools in New Zealand are taking a decision not to buy textbooks to support their teaching and learning, but rather to find , develop and share their own materials to support their teaching. Instead of buying textbooks to underpin their lessons, the teachers are thinking about their pedagogy and the important skills their students need to be active participants as global citizens. To stimulate deep learning and critical thinking processes in their students, teachers are thinking in new ways about transforming their teaching practice: creating, sharing, re-mixing digital resources to support their objectives.
Given libraries’ mission of providing access to information – the shift to an open content environment is a great opportunity for the school library to provide pivotal services to enable the successful transformation of their schools.
By working with administration, ICT support, and teachers, librarians are perfectly positioned to create systems for storage and retrieval of this locally created material. In this central role, the librarian can then easily take on a knowledge manager role helping teachers to connect to each other as they develop, share and re-use their locally created materials. Librarians are also well positioned to help the teachers to understand and use standards as they are developed so that content can be shared amongst schools as well as within schools.
Apart from the benefits of custom made resources to support learning, there is also a monetary savings in ceasing to purchase proprietary content.
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