We are not going back!

This post on the blog Hey Jude: learning in an online world caught my Teacher-librarian eye. 
Teacher librarians are important.
I especially liked this image:

Image cc licensed ( BY NC ) flickr photoshared by mikefisher821

But, more importantly these words:

"Be sure you are understand online learning environments and the extra-ordinary potential of the social-media mind. Be sure you are involved with and present new ways and new information strategies to your teachers when working within the curriculum and the full knowledge dimension of learning. Be sure you bring with you a full understanding of information literacy and information fluency as the underpinning of all that you do."

GOOD NEWS!

Happily, I am able to report that yesterday I successfully negotiated with my principal and opened a Campus account to allow 750 students and 30 teachers access to Weebly for class websites and blogs. We are not going back!

Thinglink in your Future: Step Four

This new tool, Thinglink has created interest in education and technology blogs alike. We read about Valenza's experience "...annotating and enriching (a poster) with presentations, documents, and media from school library programs all over the country."  
Van Grove (2011) presents Thinglink on the Mashable site. "Thinglink changes how people interact with photos by transforming them into a navigational surface for search, commerce, and social connection."  It's tagging allows users to create new experiences for viewers of their image by simple addition of links to a variety of media.

Thinglink is easily added to blogs and web pages. It links sound, video, social networks, and web pages to digital images. The possibilities for professional use and for uses in the classroom are limitless. Baumbach lists 21 + Interesting uses for Thinglink in a Google doc presentation and illustrates some uses on auntytechideas . |I can't wait to introduce Thinglink to my colleagues and my students. 

The only concern I can see is the use of Thinglink in school boards where internet filters block personal websites and blog hosting sites as the tool must be embedded on a web page or blog.

Thinglink in Action: Step Three

Hover over the tag and click Thinglink markers to access links.
Note:If using Google reader please connect to this page to view tags.

Happy Banned Websites Awareness Day...missed it by 2 days

 Doug Johnson wrote on The Blue Skunk Blog in his post, Happy Banned Web Sites Awareness Day and 7 Myths that without the profession of school librarianship “the great tragedy would be that there would be nothing standing between children and censors”. I responded to two challenges to books on the OLA Red Maple reading list when I served as the Chair. I hadn’t thought of my role in quite this way before.

 He goes on to list 7 myths about Internet Filters.

Myth 4. The processes for reconsideration of print materials don’t apply to online resources. Digital resources are as legitimate as print resources and the same criteria for removing online resources apply to them as apply to library books, textbooks, magazines and videos.

I wonder who believes this myth. I wonder why we don’t have a process in place that reflects the legitimacy of digital resources and our role as professionals.

http://doug-johnson.squarespace.com/blue-skunk-blog/2011/9/28/happy-banned-websites-awareness-day-and-7-myths.html