Free Webinar on VoiceThread

On Sat. 2/21 at 9am there is a free webinar offered by Classroom 2.0 explaining the use of VoiceThread in the classroom. If you haven't tried it yet, VoiceThread is a really easy way to use photographs to make movies. The basic software is free. For more info about VoiceThread, see this link:

http://voicethread.com/#home

To join in the Sat. webinar, see this link:

The topic this Saturday is: "Using VoiceThread in the Classroom". Our special guest will be Colette Cassinelli, author of blog, “edtech VISION”. Our Newbie Question of the Week will be: "What is VoiceThread and Ed.VoiceThread and how are they used?". We hope you'll join us to share your ideas and questions. The show lasts an hour and links for more information can be found at http://live.classroom20.com. We strive to make our shows beginner-friendly and if you've never participated in a live web meeting don't be afraid to come and take a peek at the show's format. We love newbies to join us and 'dip their toes in’ the conversations until you feel comfortable enough to "jump in the conversations with both feet"! We want to encourage "experienced Web 2.0 users" to join us by contributing and extending the conversation by sharing real-life examples and tips/suggestions. See the website to suggest future show topics!Date: Saturday, February 21, 2009Time: 9:00am PST/10:00am MST/11:00am CST/12:00pm ESTOther time zones link and a link to the actual meeting room can be found at http://live.classroom20.com/.Location: Elluminate https://sas.elluminate.com/m.jnlp?sid=2008350&password=M.435BAE14FFB967CCCC1E1F74F3DCA2

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Developing a Toolkit

Dear librarians:

I am currently working on a toolkit to organize my program here at JSerra. I am creating a course catalog and applying all instruction to the CA Standards, the AASL standards and to the ACRL standards. Once created, I can share this toolkit with all of you.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Info Lit Panel Discussion in Second Life

Hello everyone:

I will be on a panel with librarians from all types of libraries speaking about JSerra's information literacy program in the virtual world of Second Life. This takes place Wednesday, April 29, from 130pm - 5pm. Esther Grassian, Information Literacy Librarian at UCLA, is offering this panel discussion for UCLA library school students in SL and for any other SL avatars who wish to attend. If you don't already use SL, I highly recommend its use for networking and professional education purposes. It is free. You just download the software onto your computer, select an avatar, and get involved inworld. If you have any questions about SL, I'd be more than happy to help you.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

AASL Meeting at ALA National

The ALA National meeting in Chicago is shaping up to be an excellent time with many learning and networking opportunities. I have been asked to speak for a few minutes at the interdivisional meeting of the AASL/ACRL information literacy committee's workshop regarding collaborative partnerships. Here is the summary of the workshop from the conference webpage:

AASL
Closing the Gap: Making Information Literacy Seamless Across K-16
Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher Education and AASL’s Standards for the 21st Century Learner. This will be followed with short, showcase presentations highlighting effective collaboration between K-12 and higher education library personnel to bridge the information gap. The session will close by sharing resources to facilitate similar collaborative efforts, including a presentation about the Committee’s toolkit.

They are gathering school & higher ed librarians from across the country to speak about their programs and ideas that they use to cross those divides. This should be an enlightening discussion, and I am excited to be a part of this. I will share everything I learn with all of you. I hope some of my local colleagues will be able to attend the National meeting as well.

To look at the preliminary list of workshops being offered, see this link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/conferencesevents/upcoming/annual/2009/Early-preliminary-programs-an09.doc


Jeanne
JSerra Catholic HS

Video

Fellow Librarians: I found a funny youtube video called "Librarians to the Rescue" from the University of FL which is intended for university freshmen. I am going to show this to my juniors and seniors. It is highly applicable to what they do not know about college level research.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwANhl6QSk8&feature=related

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

The Latest

Good day everyone. I am reading two very good books that I wanted to pass on to all of you. The first is called Information Literacy Instruction Handbook by Christopher Cox distributed by the ACRL (2008). This book is comprised of chapters written by librarians who have some expertise in their subject matter. For example, there are chapters on Teaching, Curriculum Issues in Information Literacy, Collaboration, Program Management, Academic Integrity, and Instructional Technologies. I highly recommend your picking up a copy of this manual, as it is concise and to-the-point.

The other book I am reading is called College Knowledge: What it really takes for students to succeed and what we can do to get them ready by David T. Conley (1995). This book has been designated by my ALA LIRT committee as required reading for our meeting at ALA national in Chicago. LIRT is holding a summit meeting with the interdivisional AASL/ACRL information literacy committee to discuss the book and what is happening in schools across the country. I hope to have tons of great info to share with you after I return from that meeting.

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

Wiki or Not?

Dear members: I am thinking that instead of the Ning community that we start a blog of best practices. What do you all think of that??? Please comment here and let me know.

Thanks,

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS

AASL Learning 4 Life & Survey

The AASL has a new initiative called Learning 4 Life. They are developing standards for the 21st century learner which will be published soon and are encouraging all SLMS/LMTs to get involved in AASL. AASL is in Second Life (I am as well) and on Twitter. If you want help with either of those things, just ask. I'd be more than happy to help you get into SL -- the networking and educational opportunities are vast!!

For more information, see this link:

http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/aasl/aaslproftools/learning4life/index.cfm

Also, the AASL has asked all school librarians to take the following survey about their library. The last day to complete the survey is March 12!!

http://www.aaslsurvey.org/

Jeanne
JSerra Cath HS