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Care to Moodle your Google (GDocs that is)?

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on November 11, 2008 at 3:30pm

Care to Moodle your Google (GDocs that is)?

moodle your google

Learn the basics of GDocs collaboration in ths week long fully facilitated online class. Learn a bit about G-Docs, get introduced to Moodle based online learning, and have some fun!

It's a simple search puzzle to find us: Use Google to search with these keywords:

information fluency

Follow the first link and you'll be on the path to an interesting and inexpensive online learning experience!

Questions, as always, will be cheerfully answered!

~ Dennis

Getting Your Children Excited About the Library

Posted by Naveed Ahmad on October 29, 2008 at 3:47pm

Dear All,It may be of your intrestFor further reading please follow the linkLink: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/24056RegardsNaveed

Getting Your Children Excited About the Library

Posted by Naveed Ahmad on October 29, 2008 at 3:45pm

Dear All,It may be of your intrest.For further reading please follow the linkLink: http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/24056RegardsNaveed

New events feature!

Posted by Joyce Valenza on October 19, 2008 at 5:41am

I just added an events widget to the side right of our Ning. Please use it for announcements of events of interest to our community!

David Loertscher in SL: Reinventing School Libraries

Posted by Joyce Valenza on October 19, 2008 at 5:36am

If you're like me, you are continually thinking about what's next, for our profession and for the learners we serve.Every conversation I have ever had with the phenomenal David Loertscher (whom I consider a mentor), forces me to further consider and often to refine or rethink my vision.Don't miss this opportunity to meet David in Second Life.On behalf of ISTE's SIG-MS and AASL, Lisa Perez (aka Elaine Tulip) invites us all to attend Reinventing School Libraries and Computer Labs: The Time Has Come! The event takes place Tuesday, October 21 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT.Here's the provocative official description:The advent of the Google Generation, who usually ignore the school library and surpass easily what is being taught in computer labs, causes us all to re-examine the entire model of school libraries designed fifty years ago. It requires the re-examination of everything we learned in library and technology education. It means starting with the customer to build information and technology systems that get used and that push learners toward excellence. David Loertscher will take us on a tour of a completely re-thought learning commons where all the specialists, not just teacher librarians or teacher technologiests operate, but a place that is really the heart of teaching and learning in the school. You can read his ideas in advance in the new book: The New School Learning Commons Where Learners Win, available from LMC Source. In any event, come not just to listen, but get in the creative mood yourself to examine bold new strategies equal to the excellence in education this country must pursue. Visit the companion wiki http://schoollearningcommons.pbwiki.com/ to continue the discussion.Instructions for joining the discussion:Log onto Second Life 15 minutes prior to the meeting time. Instant message Elaine Tulip for a teleport to the meeting location or use the SLURL. http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island%203/116/207/29New to Second Life?To set up an account to join Second Life, do the following:1. Go to the Second Life website several days in advance to set up your free basic account.2. Verify that your computer and connectivity meets the systems requirements/3. Click on the orange Get Started! button. Go through the subsequent screens to create your avatar account.4. Download and install the Second Life viewer software.5. Open the software and log into Second Life using your avatar first name, last name, and password. Watch your avatar be born. Complete the orientation activities to learn about how to communicate, move, search, and edit your appearance.6. When finished, search Places for locations such as Chicago Public Schools, ISTE, or the American Library Association. Teleport to a favorite location, explore, and become acquainted with Second Life. (When searching, make sure the “search mature places” square is checked.)7. Fifteen minutes prior to scheduled meetings, log on and IM Elaine Tulip for a teleport to the meeting location or use the SLURL.http://slurl.com/secondlife/ISTE%20Island%203/116/207/2I hope to see many of you in-world!

4th Grade Struggling Readers

Posted by Kenneth Miles on October 16, 2008 at 10:06am

I am passionate about promoting the importance of children learning to read and write with both fluency and comprehension. In my eight years of teaching elementary school, I have encountered too many kids third grade and beyond who can't read or produce a complete sentence. This bothers me a great deal. Many of these struggling readers go on to high school and college lacking basic reading and writing skills. So. during my first grad school experience, I developed "A Curriculum to Improve Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension in Fourth Grade Struglling Readers" and would like to eventually implement this program someday but, I'm unsure as where or how to begin. Any Comments?

K-12 Online Classes

Posted by Kenneth Miles on October 16, 2008 at 9:41am

I teach at an online K-12 grade charter school where students are given laptops to work at their own pace in completion of previously missed assignments, and to acquire needed credits to graduate. Most of these upper grade kids were kicked out of public schools for one reason or another and this place is pretty much their last resort. For several students, this means that if they don't adhere they will go back to jail or will simply be kicked out--including young teen mothers. Most of these kids are without any structure and has never owned a laptop computer to say the least, thus using it for reasons other than its intended purpose (school work). It is quite difficult to get them to do their school work and stay focused. I came aboard about about 2 months into the school year. They have full use of the laptops at school and are permitted to take them home. No one has taken the time to set up security measures that prevent unauthourized website visits. Until the students learn to respect themselves, others, and authority, and value education, they are doomed to continue the cycle of failure. I think giving middle and high schoolers laptops without enforcing strict and structured rules is a big mistake.A lot can be said about online education. I welcome ideas and thoughts from others.Ken

Dewey Cutter Table

Posted by Naveed Ahmad on October 14, 2008 at 3:45pm

Dear Professionals,Use the following link to free download Cutter Table and easily getcutter numbers.http://www.oclc.org/dewey/support/program/default.htmRegards,Naveed

Google Documents (Fully Facilitated 5 Day Online Class)

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on October 10, 2008 at 2:43pm

Moodle BasedFully Facilitated!Login as guest: http://21cif.mrooms.net/course/view.php?id=58FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions:How much time will this take?

Plan for at least 5 hours of instruction (about an hour a day). It will be easy to put in more time than that. We hope you'll find the information so interesting that the time will fly by.

Do I have to login at a specific time each day?The course is completely time shifted. It's designed so that participants can enter the online classroom 24/7 and still interact. This let's you fit the class to your schedule. We'll go Monday - Friday, with the following Saturday to wrap things up.

What will I learn how to do?

Create a Google account
Upload documents to Google docs
Share a Google document with a colleague
View the revision history of a shared document (a wiki like function of Gdocs)
Publish a shared document as a web page that automatically updates when the source document is edited.
We also have an optional independent study module on how to use Google Docs offline.

How is this course taught?

Instruction includes the use of illustrated webpages and video. Additionally Dennis O'Connor will be facilitating this class. (Dennis is a highly trained online teacher.) There are discussion forums where participants can share ideas. The instructor will also be monitoring the class for questions and be available for trouble shooting help.

What about teaching resources?

You will find many resources with ideas for teachers and librarians interested in using Google Docs in the classroom.

How long will I have access to this course?

The course remains open to you for at least three months so you can continue study and have access to the resources. How do I register?

First establish an account on http://21cif.mrooms.net. Note the graphic on the course home page. (Each person taking the class should create their own account.)
Next login using your established username and password.
Click into the Gdocs online classroom.(Found in the Information Fluency Category.)
When you first enter you'll be presented with a PayPal registration page.
Click through to pay for the class by credit card.
You do not need a Pay Pal account to use this secure system. (We do not store your credit card information.)
Once you have paid you'll be returned to the Gdocs class.
The full course will open on October 27th.

We hope to see you online!

Dewey and Wordle

Posted by Kathy Epps on October 5, 2008 at 12:11am

I read Joyce Valenza's post (thank you Lucy and Ethel's Library Schemes') and couldn't wait to test this great idea out with Wordle! Here's the results so far. Also discovered that there's a Dewey Decimal group on Flickr, so I sent these pictures there.

Information Fluency: It's Elementary (Beta Testers needed for learning games)

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on October 3, 2008 at 9:08am

Carl Heine is developing a series of online learning games to teach elementary students the essentials of search. We're looking for feedback and suggestions as we begin the development cycle.You will find all the details on the Information Fluency group We are asking for feedback on our new elementary age games to be posted to the group's discussion thread. Please join the group and participate!

job open in Geneva CH

Posted by Kathy Epps on September 21, 2008 at 9:56pm

International School of GenevaGeneva, SwitzerlandSeeks for beginning January 2009HEAD LIBRARIAN/LIBRARY MEDIA SPECIALISTThe library media specialist has a working knowledge of child development, teaching strategies and learning styles and is responsible for helping students develop the knowledge, skills, and attitude to become effective, self-directed, life-long learners. The successful candidate will model the IB learner profile, possess exceptional communication and interpersonal competencies, and demonstrate technological and problem solving abilities. We are looking for a bilingual English/French librarian who is able to collaboratively plan, implement and evaluate research and information literacy within the curriculum with teachers. Training or experience working in an IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) school would be an advantage. This post carries a Level 1 responsibility allowance. Qualified applicants who are available to start January 2009 will be given priority; however, we will also receive applications for availability starting September 2009.Please address your applications to the Primary School Principal, Mrs. Maggie Lopez and email your letter of application to ines.wingate@ecolint.ch before 3rd October 2008.www.ecolint.ch

My Blog

Posted by Amy King on September 20, 2008 at 3:30pm

You can read my blog at this url:http://timetorenew.blogspot.com/

K12 Online Conference 2008

Posted by Yolan Mistele on September 18, 2008 at 6:07pm

Mark your calendars now for the upcoming online conference!"The K-12 Online Conference invites participation from educators around the world interested in innovative ways Web 2.0 tools and technologies can be used to improve learning. This FREE conference is run by volunteers and open to everyone. The 2008 conference theme is “Amplifying Possibilities”. This year’s conference begins with a pre-conference keynote the week of October 13, 2008. The following two weeks, October 20-24 and October 27-31, forty presentations will be posted online to the conference blog for participants to download and view. Live Events in the form of three “Fireside Chats” and a culminating “When Night Falls” event will be announced. Everyone is encouraged to participate in both live events during the conference as well as asynchronous conversations."Keynote presentors include Stephen Heppell, Alice Barr, Cheryl Oakes, Bob Sprankle, Gardner Campbell, Chris Lehmann, Vicki Davis, and Julie Lindsay.Teasers are being prepared and can be viewed here.Don't miss out on a great professional development opportunity.

Overdue books

Posted by Deborah Bradford on September 14, 2008 at 2:57am

I need some ideas on what to do about overdue books. I am an librarian for K-4. When the other students check out books, my overdues sit at a table and wait. It doesn't seem productive, but I do not want to reward them, some have had their books out more than four weeks. Then what happens after you have sent home mutiple notices? How will I get these books in? Deborah

Online Courses in Information Fluency!

Posted by Dennis O'Connor on September 7, 2008 at 8:04am

Search Help, Evaluation and Digital Ethics for School, Business and Home

Courses Starting Soon...

Need to create a bachttp://21cif.com/img/IF_logo500.jpgk to school training?

Use our modular content to snap together your own unique training course.

Power Searching in a Web 2.0 World

Next session starts September 22, 2008 (4 Weeks $99) View as Guest | Enroll | Course Description

Website Investigator: An Introduction to Information Forensics

Next session starts October 6, 2008 (2 Weeks $68) View as Guest | Enroll | Course Description

Receive 21cif newsletter for announcements about these and other courses. To subscribe to our newsletter, click here.

Web 2.0

Posted by Ross Teller on August 27, 2008 at 7:42am

I'm currently using Moodle to create a professional development course about Web 2.0 technologies. I'm using a topic structure for my modules. Each module will last a week. I have five modules planned: blogs, wikis, RSS, social bookmarking and mashups, and podcasts and images. I'm creating the course for the El Paso Area Libraries consortium. It will be made available to librarians across El Paso. Has anyone done anything similar. I would love to get into contact with someone who has a similar course. We could compare organization, sources, content, or anything else.

ELECTION PROJECT: MEET THE CANDIDATES--JOIN!!

Posted by karenklieg on August 24, 2008 at 10:39pm

I have created a webquest for upper elementary-middle school classes called "Meet the Candidates." This is an award-winning project, updated for the 2008 election, with web 2.0 tools incorporated. The project is available at: http://eev.liu.edu/KK/election/meetthecandidates/index.htmYour students will learn about candidates and elections as they participate in this timely project by working in teams to research platforms and policies, develop marketing plans, or plan for public awareness campaigns. All links are included. The project will culminate with a virtual election.Would you like your class to participate in this project??Deadline to join is: September 5th, 2008. Project must be completed by October 31st. To join: go to the project website, read through it, and then click on the 'teacher' page for directions on how to participate!Hoping classes across the country will participate! Check it out!

Free Online Public Records Databases

Posted by Naveed Ahmad on August 20, 2008 at 9:01pm

Dear All,Fellow the link below.It may be of your intrest.Link: Free Online Public Records DatabasesRegardsNaveed Ahmad

Hurricane Song by Paul Volponi

Posted by bj neary on August 20, 2008 at 2:23am

Wow! Once again, Paul Volponi has written a stunningly awesome book and the horror of New Orleans and Hurricane Katrina is all too crushingly real from Miles' point of view. He has only been living with his jazz playing dad for a short time when he, his uncle and his dad take their possessions in a hefty bag and head for the Super Dome. I was afraid of the gangs preying upon the families, so sad for the meaningless deaths of so many and the squalor, and oppressive heat that they had to endure. Once you pick this bbook up you won;t be able to put it down. It is an engrossing read which offers the reader an inside look at the passage of time during one of the low points in our country's history. Reluctant readers, YA and adults are all urged to read this book!

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.