I like Destiny

The OPAC, that is!

Silly librarian humor aside, I do like the Destiny with "Titlepeek" OPAC from Follett, and after speaking to the lead librarian  in my school district my initial impressions of this system have been verified. The librarian I interviewed works in one of the town's elementary schools and I work in the high school, though the elementary school I worked in last year (in a different school district) actually switched to Destiny mid-year, so I've been able to observe and use it in several different settings and situations. My current school district switched to Destiny at the beginning of the previous school year. I've always been pretty satisfied with it - it has loads of interesting features, though we don't utilize many of them for various reasons. But that could be a whole other blog post.

I was surprised at how we came to purchase and implement Destiny. The LMS I interviewed reported that the schools had previously used Athena but when Follett purchased it they stopped upgrading it, so it wasn't keeping pace with other available programs. Fewer tech support personnel were available for help, so it becamse necessary to make the upgrade. It seemed in some ways that unfortunately the district had little choice about upgrading to a more expensive system.

However, the librarian is very enthusiastic about Destiny and seems glad to have made the change. She appreciates the fact that it's web-based and can therefore be accessed from any computer, has helpful visual icons for younger patrons, and that Follet's "Titlewave" makes cataloging very easy. She likes the social networking-like "Destiny Quest" feature (which is a web-based application where students can connect through their "bookshelves," send messages, update their statuses, etc.), though at the high school where students are likely the only students in the district who are old enough to use this feature, they don't. The librarians at the high school have not yet promoted it because they are concerned about monitoring the messaging and other social features on the program -and students and teachers currently use Edmodo for similar puproses anyway. In theory though Destiny Quest is a fun and exciting way to get students involved in the library and the library staff would like to find a way to implement it (interestingly, they couldn't find a way to use Destiny Quest in my previous school district either).

One part of the process of choosing the OPAC that I hadn't been aware of was the fact that the lead librarian and the library staff posted to LISTSERVS to get feedback from LMSs in different school districts and then narrowed their search down to 4 OPACs. They then got vendor demonstrations and concluded that Destiny was the best choice for them, based on criteria like price, ease of use, and web-based access. I like knowing the most important criteria and how to prioritize it, as this will help me in the future, should I ever need to switch OPACs in my school - and it will also help me with ideas about what to emphasize in my proposal letter assignment this week.

Thank You, Catalog It

Because after reading 90 pages of this very dense and helpful book, I finally realized that I was confusing "cataloging" with "physical processing." I understand now!

I find that if I can translate tricky concepts into my own sentences then I do understand them. So here goes:

• I'm glad I now know my way around MARC records, what the numbers and symbols mean, and how and when to modify them, including subject headings. I can modify them even though they'll likely come completed bythe publisher.
• Modifications like these can help my users access materials more easily. More subjects - including topics I know are in the curriculum - help them find what they seek more efficiently.
• Dewey Decimal numbers CAN be changed...now I know why I've seen different organization and classification at every school library I've been in!
• Bar codes and call numbers (which include the Dewey Decimal number, which may be decided upon by how and where the LMS wants to classify the book) are LOCAL PHYSICAL PROCESSING, not cataloging. This is what I have more experience with in school libraries.

If anyone reading this sees any errors, let me know. Please do.

On to the next 80 pages of CI!!

Annotated Bibliography

This power point presentation I'm creating this week would be aimed at fifth grade students coming into the LMC for their fixed weekly or biweekly library time. I’ve worked in elementary, middle, and high schools, and I think around fifth grade is an ideal time to start exploring Internet safety with students in greater depth. Around that age level they can start to be given a tiny bit more freedom in their Internet useage at school, so it's very important that they are aware of safety issues before we have them online in this way. The PPT could be created jointly with any technology specialist that may work in the system. It’s an introduction to Internet safety; the goal is to teach young students about smart and positive habits to use when online.

I’ve decided to not delve too deeply into any one topic – this can come in later presentations, classes, and grade levels. I still want students to have a good set of pratical ideas, tips, and guidelines on Internet safety after viewing and discussing the presentation. A lot of the resources on cyberbullying that I encountered just seemed a bit too intense and mature for fifth graders, so I do touch upon cyberbullying so that students are aware of it - but in this imagined elementary/middle school the cyberbullying discussions would take place in sixth grade and beyond, where it is likely to become a bigger issue. The goal of this presentation is to introduce Internet safety ideas in an easily understandable and approachable way so that kids feel comfortable and knowledgeable, not overwhelmed. The games and videos will likely be used in the PPT presentation, while the articles and websites may be referenced, quoted in slides, and/or given to parents for future reference.

1. http://www.fbi.gov/fun-games/kids/kids-safety - This is a very brief, succinct set of basic tips or guidelines for kids to follow when they go online. It’s easy to understand and remember, and a good inspiration for my points on the PPT.
2. http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/internet_safety.html?tracking=K_RelatedArticle – The points in this article are similar to the FBI’s site, but a little more in-depth. The writing level is still accessible for fifth graders. It’s nice to have both simpler and more advanced options for students to look at. I also really like how the articles on this site have the “listen” button option for students who need help reading them.
3. http://kidshealth.org/kid/watch/house/online_id.html?tracking=K_RelatedArticle – This article is also from kidshealth.org and focuses more specifically on online identities and how to stay safe. It mentions social networking sites and cyberbullying, so I might pick and choose what to use in order to tailor the information to my presentation; it also has a nice set of safety rules to follow at the end. Both this and the previous article in this site link to additional, similar topics.
4. http://www.netsmartzkids.org/indexFL.htm - This whole site is full of resources for kids, parents, and educators. There is a fun “games” section on this site that might be useful in the PPR, as well as a “resources” area for more teaching/presentation ideas.
5. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opDkzuLHMs8&feature=related – Cute, quick video that kids will find funny and will enjoy. They can even say the words out loud along with the characters, because the characters don’t speak out loud (students are certain to notice this!).
6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVOqeqP4DLA&feature=related – Cute and gentle, but this topic needs to approached with caution in kids who are quite young and perhaps haven’t been exposed to cyberbullying yet. It is good to broach the topic during an introductory discussion on Internet safety with young kids. I’ll probably focus more on safe searching, protecting identity, etc.
7. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KecjG6HnNc&feature=related – Again, this video is cute and easy to understand. Because there are no words, the video is a great jumping-off point for discussion and exploration. For example, we could discuss: why does SSK look dazed? What does this have to do with surfing the Internet?
8. http://www.att.com/Common/images/safety/game.html - Fun game that’s appropriate for this age level. This can be introduced and demonstrated as a class, then at the end of the presentation students can pair off and play the game through in order to reinforce the concepts they’ve learned in the presentation. The 10-second loop of repeating musical notes is incredibly, incredibly irritating – it might help to turn the sound off!

My Experiences with PD...

...have been, as I noted in this week's discussion, less than ideal. I don't mean to sound negative, but I remember what it was like to be a busy, swamped classroom teacher who was at times less than enthusiastic to spend five hours learning about differentiated instruction...again. What I always really wanted (and was grateful for when my colleagues and I got) was time to do really focused work on my classroom needs, curriculum, even planning what would be best for our school community. Along with my colleagues I simply didn't want to sit and hear lectures about the latest educational theory, again.

For this week's assignment I chose a target audience of administrators, who can often be quite enthusiastic about implementing technology in schools.  I wanted to teach them about practical, readily applicable tools they could use right away. I thought it would be an interesting exercise for me to really deeply, fully explain Web 2.0 tools (making the assumption that my PD "students" were relatively new to them). I aimed to make an online mini-course that would take about 8 hours to go through. I chose an online course because these are online tools, so I figured people would learn best by doing. Besides, it's easy to get overwhelmed in a one-day course and forget all the stuff you're told, so I thought it would be nice for people to take their time and work in a self-directed way.

It was all going fine until I realized I had done no more than introduce blogs, and I was already five pages in! There are just so many details that need to be explained in order for "newbies" to really be comfortable. I realized that to do an overview of online communication tools (blogs, wikis, RSS feeds, photos, screencasts, podcasts, social bookmarking, and so on) would be an enormous undertaking - it'd essentially be the Module 2 of the course I'm taking right now, and probably far more in-depth than the assignment calls for.

It just kept getting bigger and bigger, so I've narrowed it down to blogs. They're a great starting point, they encourage communication and collaboration, and are even simpler than wikis. Once people have mastered a blog and feeling confident in their online application skills, I think they're much more likely to branch out into wikis and other tools. So the mini-course has morphed into being just about blogs (and Twitter as a sort of mini-blog). It's still lengthy - but I think the explanations and examples would be worth it for the participants.

Here's the opening blog post I wrote that I'd have them they'd read (blog name is LBS 850PD), and later in the course they'd add to it in addition to starting their own blogs.

All Sorts of Stuff

I like e-readers, from what I've seen. With my limited exposure to the outside world at this point (email me for more on that), I'm not able to go out and fiddle around with one. But I have seen several of my colleagues and friends using them. I like the Nook because it's like a little computer and has great graphics. But people tell me the non-glare/eye comfort feature of the Kindle is really helpful if you use it a lot. I'd like to get one at some point, and if I travelled a lot for my job I would have already gotten one. I think they'll become incorporated in more schools but I don't think they'll take over the majority of school libraries, like Cushing Academy. It's possible that this technology will be replaced by something new in the years to come, or it's possible that this is the future - I have no way of knowing now. I do know that while getting rid of books opens up the library to other educational uses, these e-readers are currently quite expensive and few schools could afford to do what Cushing did. I also know that books are not just containers of information; they are also physical artficacts, and are valuable in many ways as such. I'd welcome a mix of e-readers and books, but I hope that actual books are always at least a part of my librarian experiences.

By the way, I know no students who use these. I don't actually know many students who like to read! I'm sure there are students who have them, but I just don't know of any yet.

On to my top five tools. Not quite sure what is meant by this - top five in terms of potential? For personal use? In a classroom? In a library? I like different ones in different situations. Here's my best shot:

1. wiki (I typically use PBWorks)- I like this tool because it has so many uses, both professionally and personally. It's easy to use, collaborative, has great privacy settings for kids, and it's easy to tell who's done what (in terms of accountability in school assignments).
2. blog (I typically use blogger) - I was an English teacher for many years, so I really, really think students should be writing all the time. Just because we tweet and text doesn't mean we are not responsible for teaching our kids to be writers, and to organize their thoughts into lengthier pieces of writing. Writing is a part of nearly every job, to some extent, so I love a tool that has them writing but really feels appealingly like it's theirs. They can modify and personalize it, collaborate with others, share, comment, etc. - and has great safety features. Perfect.
3. Jing - I just love these screencasts. I think they're an enormously helpful tool in both teaching and professional development. They make it possible for students to re-visit parts of your lesson...and if that's available, they are likely to learn the concepts more solidly. I like that they can be personalized with your voice, too.
4. YouTube - or other online videos. I'm a visual learner, so I always welcome a visual aid to my learning. I think a lot of people are like that, too. Videos are a great way to introduce or reinforce concepts in a lesson -they are real-life examples of what students are learning about. This both engages them and reinforces what we teach. There is loads of great content on YouTube in addition to some junk that must be waded through.
5. Delicious/social bookmarking - though this wouldn't necessarily be used for a classroom, I think it's invaluable as an educator, or grad student, or any person who looks around the Internet a lot. Which is most people. Having the sites I need all in one place has saved me many times, especially in this grad program where I need to revisit certain concepts frequently. I like that I can look through other people's sites using the tags too. I think we put sites like Good Reads in the same category - I just love that because it helps me remember what I read, and I get to see what others recommend. And I get to see everything lined up so tidily and neatly - which is heaven to my compulsive organizing tendencies!

Social Networking and Education

The other element we looked at this week is social networking. I'm actually kind of a newcomer to these sites - I only joined Facebook last summer. And I have to admit that I'm one of those people who joined Facebook to keep current with other people, not to communicate anything about myself. One of my sisters-in law lives in Chicago with our nephew and is an avid FB user, so I like to follow her and see the latest nephew photos. Actually, it seems like one of the best ways to see others' photos nowadays is through Facebook, which I enjoy - but  I wonder if people actually print and frame pictures anymore.

I don't even post my own photos, and I've always used the (valid) excuse that I'm in public education and don't want my personal information readily available. But I also think it's my personality - I don't love sharing my stuff with the world, though I do think that it's important to participate in these sites to keep current. I do think that regardless of my personal relationship with social networking, it's vital that school librarians are aware of and even involved in the technology. This type of interaction seems to be the trend of the future - fast, public, and broad-reaching communcation that is definitely not limited by the boundaries of a classroom.

That being said, I have a tough time figuring out how  to safely and effectively use FB in education. I could see setting up a page for a classroom - but why bother? It's just as easy to make a secure website, blog, or wiki. I know that kids love FB and it would definitely be easy to get their attention on the site, but why not expect them to visit another site? It's not that much to ask, and I tend to agree with one of the posters on our discussion board this week: why should we not expect more out of our students than Facbook? Why not challenge them to visit another site that we could easily set up to have social/collaborative aspects but still be entirely safe?

Could I Become Addicted to Online Gaming?

Yes.

Have or will I?

No. I'd never tried online gaming before this week. But it's only because I get literally insane when I get too deeply into a game. I've learned over the years that I cannot handle any except the most casual gaming experiences and so have to carefully monitor my game useage. Kirby's Epic Yarn? I got it as a Christmas gift this year and love it because it's 1. easy  (aimed at 7 year-olds, I believe) and 2. very contained - there aren't a lot of choices. I lost the months of January and February to Harvest Moon last year -another game essentially aimed at children, so I knew I had to be cautious when exploring World of Warcraft and other online gaming experiences this week.

Luckily, I was able to talk to my friend's husband, who is a former W.O.W. player. He explained the concept to me, the storyline, and the characters...and then told me how completely addicted to it he had become a few years back. He tried to play less or not on certain days, but quickly realized he had to stop altogether. I understand why kids enjoy these and similar games, and I don't see an educational use for them. They can be fun in moderation and I'm glad I know about them as a librarian, but I'd rather focus my educational efforts on other online applications. Perhaps there could be an online gaming club afterschool to discuss strategy or gameplay- it'd be a way to connect with kids but still leaves the more valuable learning experiences (in my opinion, anyway) to the school day.

I found Second Life to have perhaps more educational possibilities, but it's still an environment that's enormous, potentially unsafe, and hard to monitor/control with students. I saw some great SL libraries that librarians had set up that are really fun ways to access online books and resources, and a way to chat with others who are interested in libraries. I would have enjoyed interacting with other librarian avatars but couldn't find any during my visits (or couldn't figure out how to find them). I'm sure that SL gets easier and more manageable with even more use. But I wouldn't want students chatting with random avatars on the site or visiting innapropriate or completely non-educational areas. So while there are possibilites (virutal field trips and assignments, virtual cross-curricular community planning, etc.) it would take a lot of time, energy, and planning to keep it safe, educational, and easy to access.