Long Tail Libraries in Indiana
These are the transcripts of Knitter conversations happening during a six-hour workshop in Indianapolis with school Librarians from across the state.
Clovis Muddybluster (NC) • 2009-06-10 08:53:48
I am looking forward to reading your conversation.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 08:54:53
something
Carl Harvey (IN) • 2009-06-10 08:54:55
Good Morning!
Lael DuBois (IN) • 2009-06-10 08:55:00
hi david
Carl Harvey (IN) • 2009-06-10 09:27:14
Point of technology helping to stay connected with folks after you move on to other phases of life is very interesting--and true, I think.
''It's possible that this is where we will learn the true power of these technologies. I use to think that what was special about computer technology was that "Here is a machine that you operate by communicating with the machine." Now I know that what is special, is a machine through which we can communicate with each other.'
Jo Ellen (IN) • 2009-06-10 09:28:21
We should really be looking at the way we deliver information to students. We need wireless access, cell phones, ipods, etc. in our classrooms on a daily basis to meet them where they are coming from. They have so much more at home or even on the bus than they do when they enter the school building.
I agree almost entirely with what you say here. My one diviation is that we need to be looking forward ways that students can learn by experimentation and discovery, rather than finding ways to deliver content. But delivering content is certainly not going away, nor should it.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 09:36:45
do we really want American govt providing, and unavoidably regulating, internet access?
I get your point here. But it is a national problem and, I believe, one of those services that is a basic right -- the right to information. I do not believe that we can rely solely on the marketplace to provide it. We needed a way to transport goods and ourselves more easily, so the government established the interstate system, which has been a huge success -- so long as it is maintained.
Carl Harvey (IN) • 2009-06-10 09:44:57
The phrase "We're preparing students for their future, not ours" is really key.
...and much about their future is already happening in their outside-the-classroom information experiences.
Shellie (IN) • 2009-06-10 09:53:40
As the ways to use media evolve, the ways that intellectual property is managed needs to change, too. Otherwise: new haves/have-nots.
Too true. If you do not already know about him, you should follow the work of Larwerence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:12:44
Schools no longer hold a monopoly on young social networking. Will colleges look for students that are "getting involved" online?
They already are. A recent NYTimes article reported how admission offices are using social networks to recruit talent to their schools. Unfortunately, when the students arrive, they find instructors who teach the same way they were taught.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:17:18
While "message boards/forums" are blocked in this particular high school, I'm hoping colleges will prove to be more progressive
There are certainly progressive instructors in colleges. But I do not believe it is the rule -- yet. Universities are under more pressure -- because they are more market based.
If there are things in your school that should not be blocked, then justify their unblocking instructionally, and make your case all the way up.
Shellie (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:20:33
This is why Facebook is even any good: not that it's really innovative or nimble, but that so many people use it.
Consider Twitter. Can you think of anything more basic and simple. Or ever blogging. It's the basis of its success, that you do not have to be a geek to publish a blog. Anyone can.
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:21:03
I use facebook to talk to people
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:21:21
I would never get a chance to talk to otherwise
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:22:43
I even use it to share experiences and lesson plans/ideas with other teachers and librarians that are not in my school district.
Excellent! But I wonder if we need something more specific to the sharing of instructional resources. I'm not sure what, and I might be wrong. Many systems have been set up, but nothing is universal, unless you search blogs.
Shellie (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:22:54
@Katie But fb is better than MySpace, right? Because our friends are there, not just our kids friends. We are the content?
If you want to access or talk music, then MySpace is the place to go. My problem with all of this is that I find myself with too many channels to monitor. FB, Twitter, E-mail, my aggregator, txting, etc. I miss the days of just e-mail. Boy, was that a 1990's thing to say ;-)
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:23:54
Interestingly enough, facebook was conceptualized as a place not to meet people, but to stay connected to people you have already met
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:24:35
I use facebook because my friends are there... I dislike myspace because sometimes it can be too complicated. I just want to send a simple message to a friend. I have a myspace, but I never use it.
Good point. It's about connection and communication (people), not about technology. When we more commonly realize this, it will become much easier for us to figure out how to use tech in the classroom and school.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:26:09
I find it ironic that you find the more youth-oriented myspace more complicated than the adult-oriented facebook.
I find facebook to be too deep. Again, too many channels.
What if we had a social network, without the social network. Rather than having to join a place or service, you simply maintain a profile, so to speak, and the entire system helps you connect with people who have things to share, of value to you.
Jane Doe (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:27:00
And that's not meant as an insult, children really are capable of learning these new systems faster.
The question should be, "Why do kids pick this stuff up more easily than we do?" This needs to be fixed. We shouldn't be satisfied that we are slower. We shouldn't use our digital immigrant status as an excuse.
I think it is because they do not see it as technology -- a machine (hardware or software) to be mastered. For them, it's all conduit. For us, it's technology, a machine. That's a barrier...
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 10:28:06
Haha I'm not insulted, you are exactly right..
Ah, but should we be insulted?
CB (IN) • 2009-06-10 11:45:16
We need better photos!
Jane Doe (UP) • 2009-06-10 11:45:47
Is it bad that I thought the far left was Andy Warhol?
Jo Ellen (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:02:27
The best way to teach copyright is to have the students take it apart and make their own multimedia projects about it.
And then, ask them to copyright it. People come to respect property, when they become property owners. Students, I believe, will come to respect intellectual property, when they become intellectual property owners.
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:20:18
My school district that moves in the opposite direction of technology. I asked my principal to start a moodle and he said no. Suggestions?
Don't ask for a Moodle. Ask for a way to create more continuity in your courses/classes through online resources and working spaces. Our students need a way to do their work socially, in the same way that they socialize. Point to the research -- PEW is full of it. There's also the recent MacArther Foundation findings.
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:20:48
This is my first year... I need a plan of attack for my second year
Do you remember my talking about new literacy (contemporary literacy). It's about accessing, working, and expressing information (reading, arithmatic, writing). I expanded the three Rs to:
- Exposing what's true
- Employing information
- Expressing ideas compellingly
''Throw in information Ethics. Libraries are traditional thought of as being part of the first one -- a place to go to find information and read it. What if your library come also become about working the information and expressing it ethically. What if libraries were seen as encompasing the full range of information literacy, not just a place to find and read.
Think "Kinkos for Kids."
Jane Doe (UP) • 2009-06-10 12:37:53
"I'm afraid that what I'm used to happening isn't going to happen anymore." Irony.
Carl Harvey (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:40:41
Have to find the way that the technology is important to the principal accomplishing their goal.
That is very true. But also look beyond the technology, to the why. Make a case without mentioning technology, blogs, Moodle, or any single accronym ;-)
Carl Harvey (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:41:22
For example, my principal is huge into literacy. If I can connect things to that, I know he is going to be more receptive.
"I believe (find the research) that our students will write better when they are writing to peer groups, and read better when they are reading and responding to each others writings"
Two weeks later, "Blogs! Here are five blogging services specifically designed for classrooms."
Katie Clark (IN) • 2009-06-10 12:49:06
@carlharvey thanks!
