21st century school libraries presentation to School Library Association of Victoria 2009 provides an overview of trends and possible futures for 21st century school libraries, collection management and service delivery. Based on ideas from We-think (Leadbeater 2008)
Celebrate change: let’s make the whole school a library. Keynote presented at School Library Association of Victoria conference March 2010, this presentation explores the rationale for extending school library services and influence beyond the physical space of the library, and to identify the benefits to learning and teaching (and student engagement) that will flow from such an approach.
What can your library do to enhance teaching and learning?
Facing challenges of digital literacy, digital content, e-books and equitable access to information, libraries are at the forefront of addressing key educational and social issues of ICT and change.
Open online courses and massively untold storiesLeigh Blackall
This paper accounts for a small range of open online courses that helped to inform the early development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It laments the loss of meaning in the word open and its historic alignment to free and open source principles. It calls for more academic work to better represent the histories and range of critical perspectives on open online courses, and outlines how Wikipedia can be used as a central organising platform for such work.
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Leighblackall/Open_Online_Courses_and_Massively_untold_stories
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Leighblackall/An_ethical_framework_for_ubiquitous_learning
Ubiquitous learning, through its association to the phrase ‘ubiquitous computing’, is often taken to mean learning mediated through portable computing devices that are coupled with digital media and data. This paper argues for a consideration that is less determined by technology, positioning instead that it be used to describe a broad and deliberate approach to learning generally, with or without the aid of computing devices or digital media.
Based on a feed-back structure of ethics, principles, methods and outcomes used by David Holgrem to popularise Permaculture Design, an ethical framework for ubiquitous learning is put forward to guide considerations. It draws on the theories, critiques and proposals of Ivan Illich, Neil Postman, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Christopher Alexander, Richard Stallman and others to form three primary ethics: That learning happens everywhere; that it be relevant and; that it is shared. These ethics are substantiated through a number of principles that guide methods and hold outcomes accountable. And finally, to illustrate methods through this framework a range of projects and initiatives are presented. They include a situationist theatre production, The School of Everything and other convivial learning networks, and Open Educational Practices
OER: Open Educational Resources (Iowa 1:1)Wesley Fryer
Learn what the open content movement means for 1:1 schools (free digital curriculum.) This presentation was shared by Wesley Fryer at the Iowa 1:1 Institute (#i11i) sponsored by CASTLE on April 7, 2010.
Celebrate change: let’s make the whole school a library. Keynote presented at School Library Association of Victoria conference March 2010, this presentation explores the rationale for extending school library services and influence beyond the physical space of the library, and to identify the benefits to learning and teaching (and student engagement) that will flow from such an approach.
What can your library do to enhance teaching and learning?
Facing challenges of digital literacy, digital content, e-books and equitable access to information, libraries are at the forefront of addressing key educational and social issues of ICT and change.
Open online courses and massively untold storiesLeigh Blackall
This paper accounts for a small range of open online courses that helped to inform the early development of Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). It laments the loss of meaning in the word open and its historic alignment to free and open source principles. It calls for more academic work to better represent the histories and range of critical perspectives on open online courses, and outlines how Wikipedia can be used as a central organising platform for such work.
https://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Leighblackall/Open_Online_Courses_and_Massively_untold_stories
http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/User:Leighblackall/An_ethical_framework_for_ubiquitous_learning
Ubiquitous learning, through its association to the phrase ‘ubiquitous computing’, is often taken to mean learning mediated through portable computing devices that are coupled with digital media and data. This paper argues for a consideration that is less determined by technology, positioning instead that it be used to describe a broad and deliberate approach to learning generally, with or without the aid of computing devices or digital media.
Based on a feed-back structure of ethics, principles, methods and outcomes used by David Holgrem to popularise Permaculture Design, an ethical framework for ubiquitous learning is put forward to guide considerations. It draws on the theories, critiques and proposals of Ivan Illich, Neil Postman, Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Christopher Alexander, Richard Stallman and others to form three primary ethics: That learning happens everywhere; that it be relevant and; that it is shared. These ethics are substantiated through a number of principles that guide methods and hold outcomes accountable. And finally, to illustrate methods through this framework a range of projects and initiatives are presented. They include a situationist theatre production, The School of Everything and other convivial learning networks, and Open Educational Practices
OER: Open Educational Resources (Iowa 1:1)Wesley Fryer
Learn what the open content movement means for 1:1 schools (free digital curriculum.) This presentation was shared by Wesley Fryer at the Iowa 1:1 Institute (#i11i) sponsored by CASTLE on April 7, 2010.
UC CEISMIC: some thoughts on crowd-sourcing earthquake contentdonellemckinley
Digital History workshop: Crowdsourcing in the Humanities and cultural heritage sector. Victoria University of Wellington 23 April 2013
Session: UC CEISMIC: some thoughts on crowd-sourcing earthquake content
Presenter: Christopher Thomson
http://wtap.vuw.ac.nz/wordpress/digital-history/events/crowdsourcing-workshop/presenters/
Civic media as a tool for place-based community building & organizing
The Future of News and Civic Media Conference
Center For Future Civic Media
MIT Media Lab
June 18th, 2009
This session stems from a gathering of a few folks from the urban studies & planning arena at MIT (and branched out to other C4FCM folks) who are excited to share how we've been implementing digital storytelling/ interpretive history / participatory media for community building in various non-profit and university-community based initiatives.
Convergence in the digital world: Web 2.0, content, the librarian and the com...Mark-Shane Scale ♞
Workshop presentation for Library and Information Association of Jamaica conducted Friday, June 19, 2009 at the
Multi Purpose Room , US Embassy, 142 Old Hope Road , Kingston 6
10:00 am – 12 noon.
UC CEISMIC: some thoughts on crowd-sourcing earthquake contentdonellemckinley
Digital History workshop: Crowdsourcing in the Humanities and cultural heritage sector. Victoria University of Wellington 23 April 2013
Session: UC CEISMIC: some thoughts on crowd-sourcing earthquake content
Presenter: Christopher Thomson
http://wtap.vuw.ac.nz/wordpress/digital-history/events/crowdsourcing-workshop/presenters/
Civic media as a tool for place-based community building & organizing
The Future of News and Civic Media Conference
Center For Future Civic Media
MIT Media Lab
June 18th, 2009
This session stems from a gathering of a few folks from the urban studies & planning arena at MIT (and branched out to other C4FCM folks) who are excited to share how we've been implementing digital storytelling/ interpretive history / participatory media for community building in various non-profit and university-community based initiatives.
Convergence in the digital world: Web 2.0, content, the librarian and the com...Mark-Shane Scale ♞
Workshop presentation for Library and Information Association of Jamaica conducted Friday, June 19, 2009 at the
Multi Purpose Room , US Embassy, 142 Old Hope Road , Kingston 6
10:00 am – 12 noon.
This presentation as part of iMoot2010 online conference provides an overview of the Moodle-related services offered through Education Network Australia (edna). It takes a tour through adult learning courses, and professional association communities in edna Groups, plus online projects for K-12 teachers and students in OzProjects. It shares what we have learned about Moodle and users in 5 years of supporting Moodle courses and communities.
me.edu.au provides Australian education and training professionals with an online profile and networking space. Members of the education community are encouraged to use me.edu.au to create an online professional profile, connect with educators who have similar interests, share resources and publish ideas and opinions. me.edu.au puts the individual at the centre of the service and encourages them to collect, connect and publish beyond faculty, institution, state and sector boundaries.
Information literacy 2.0: experts or expats?Pru Mitchell
This presentation (rescued from the archives) was presented at the 2007 School Library Association of New Zealand Aotearoa Conference. It challenges library staff to reconsider their role in information literacy and how to ensure students and teachers are equipped to navigate the new information landscape. It asks for experts in contemporary information literacy issues, such as online identity, digital rights, social networking, personalisation and collaborative content, rather then expatriates continuing to do things as they did in ‘the old country’?
What has sparked this interest in ePortfolios and school libraries? Partly the introduction of a Personal Learning Plan for South Australian senior secondary students, combined with increasing discussion on ePortfolios in Australia and worldwide, and the ongoing debate about 21st century information literacy.
The latest in learning philosophy and technology, ICT and the Zettacosm, and the ICT trends and web 2.0 technologies that comprise the Learning 2.0 Ecosystem.
Creative Commons licenses were designed to help
creators utilize the Internet’s potential as a place
for collaboration without copyright law getting in
the way. Since CC was founded, the possibilities
for creativity on the Internet have expanded
tremendously. CC’s products and community must
continue to grow and transform too.
Presentation by Pru Mitchell and Les Kneebone for the Australian Committee on Cataloguing (ACOC) Seminar: Link by link: data integration and the evolving web held on 1 November 2013. Australia is implementing a machine-readable school curriculum published as RDF. Curriculum objectives are described using concepts from the Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT), a subject vocabulary used in education metadata and school library catalogues since 2003. This presentation uses the experience of several Education Services Australia metadata projects to highlight the benefits and challenges for libraries entering the world of linked data.
School library collections: Quality, digital, openPru Mitchell
Online class on school library collections presented to QUT teacher librarianship students. Understand the components of quality school library collections with particular focus on: digital resources and open resources. Consider how to include and promote these resources.
What does the 21st century school library collection look likePru Mitchell
The purpose and value of having current policies and procedures for the school library. Introduces the revised Manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres, with a focus on copyright and collection development. Presentation for the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Schools Group at Chevalier College, 25 May 2019.
Budgeting for the school library collectionPru Mitchell
Presentation from the Australian Library and Information Association Schools workshop to unpack the Budget chapter from A Manual for developing policies and procedures in Australian school library resource centres.
What counts in collections? Designing a school library collection rubricPru Mitchell
This workshop is based on a rubric designed for use in assessing school resource collections. The rubric outlines what a developing, foundation, established or outstanding collection looks like. It provides criteria related to a collection’s user focus, learning focus, funding and value, with clear descriptions of the components of collection development, collection management and collection evaluation.
Presentation at the School Library Association of Victoria conference 'Making the most of data'. This quote coined
by a journalist, applies equally well to students completng assignments, to teachers preparing lessons,
and to policymakers dealing with complex educational
issues. All rely on sources that are relevant, accurate
and accessible – exactly the type of sources that are
typically discovered in libraries. So how do we ensure
the sources available in school library collections meet
the needs of the school? Collecting and analysing data
from the school community is an important way of
evaluating the library’s services and collection.
The theme of this presentation for ALIA Schools is 21st century resourcing and the principles of maintenance and development of a digital collection in the school library.
In 2013 the Australian Library and Information Association predicted that the ratio of physical to digital resources in library collections would hit 50:50 by the year 2020. This survey collected data about use of digital book content in Australian schools in October 2014 to assist in understanding trends, and predictions and to inform an article for the 2015 Special Issue of the Australian Library Journal.
Citation needed: Information literacy lessons from WikipediaPru Mitchell
This session presented as a webinar for the Australian School Library Association is an opportunity for educators to learn about how Wikipedia works to realise its position as a ‘neutral compilation of verifiable, established facts.’ Participants will consider what information literacy education looks like in 2015, and how Wikipedia projects provide a way to move from a consumer to creator culture of learning.
Slides from national WIkipedia information sessions conducted by Wikimedia Australia for members of the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA).
This session considered ways libraries and Wikimedia Australia could work together, and provided an introduction to how Wikipedia works.
Meet key Australian Wikimedians from your area, and discover:
how Wikipedia really works
what other projects are associated with Wikipedia
why Wikipedia uses a Creative Commons licence
how libraries and Wikimedia are helping each other
how you, and your library community can get involved
answers to your wiki questions
Shake well before use: Library collections for blended learning
Is a collection of resources fundamental to the school library's role? In emerging learning environments what priority should be given to balanced, professionally selected and managed collections?
Presentation at International Association of School Librarianship Research Forum, describing a joint proof of concept project undertaken by researchers from the Flinders University Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in partnership with information managers from the Education Network Australia (edna) team at Education Services Australia to address the question of whether artificial intelligence techniques could be employed to help with creation and consistency of learning resource metadata and improve the efficiency of digital collection workflows?
edna workshop session 2009. Many educators are looking to the Web to make the sharing of learning resources 'free and easy'. This presentation addresses questions such as: What does free mean? Where do I find this stuff? How good is it? And what can I do with it?
As well as highlighting how to find open education resources, images and media, the session helps educators understand licences used when sharing online resources, including Creative Commons, and shows ways to record attribution in different types of situations.
2024.06.01 Introducing a competency framework for languag learning materials ...Sandy Millin
http://sandymillin.wordpress.com/iateflwebinar2024
Published classroom materials form the basis of syllabuses, drive teacher professional development, and have a potentially huge influence on learners, teachers and education systems. All teachers also create their own materials, whether a few sentences on a blackboard, a highly-structured fully-realised online course, or anything in between. Despite this, the knowledge and skills needed to create effective language learning materials are rarely part of teacher training, and are mostly learnt by trial and error.
Knowledge and skills frameworks, generally called competency frameworks, for ELT teachers, trainers and managers have existed for a few years now. However, until I created one for my MA dissertation, there wasn’t one drawing together what we need to know and do to be able to effectively produce language learning materials.
This webinar will introduce you to my framework, highlighting the key competencies I identified from my research. It will also show how anybody involved in language teaching (any language, not just English!), teacher training, managing schools or developing language learning materials can benefit from using the framework.
Biological screening of herbal drugs: Introduction and Need for
Phyto-Pharmacological Screening, New Strategies for evaluating
Natural Products, In vitro evaluation techniques for Antioxidants, Antimicrobial and Anticancer drugs. In vivo evaluation techniques
for Anti-inflammatory, Antiulcer, Anticancer, Wound healing, Antidiabetic, Hepatoprotective, Cardio protective, Diuretics and
Antifertility, Toxicity studies as per OECD guidelines
Normal Labour/ Stages of Labour/ Mechanism of LabourWasim Ak
Normal labor is also termed spontaneous labor, defined as the natural physiological process through which the fetus, placenta, and membranes are expelled from the uterus through the birth canal at term (37 to 42 weeks
MATATAG CURRICULUM: ASSESSING THE READINESS OF ELEM. PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS I...NelTorrente
In this research, it concludes that while the readiness of teachers in Caloocan City to implement the MATATAG Curriculum is generally positive, targeted efforts in professional development, resource distribution, support networks, and comprehensive preparation can address the existing gaps and ensure successful curriculum implementation.
Macroeconomics- Movie Location
This will be used as part of your Personal Professional Portfolio once graded.
Objective:
Prepare a presentation or a paper using research, basic comparative analysis, data organization and application of economic information. You will make an informed assessment of an economic climate outside of the United States to accomplish an entertainment industry objective.
Safalta Digital marketing institute in Noida, provide complete applications that encompass a huge range of virtual advertising and marketing additives, which includes search engine optimization, virtual communication advertising, pay-per-click on marketing, content material advertising, internet analytics, and greater. These university courses are designed for students who possess a comprehensive understanding of virtual marketing strategies and attributes.Safalta Digital Marketing Institute in Noida is a first choice for young individuals or students who are looking to start their careers in the field of digital advertising. The institute gives specialized courses designed and certification.
for beginners, providing thorough training in areas such as SEO, digital communication marketing, and PPC training in Noida. After finishing the program, students receive the certifications recognised by top different universitie, setting a strong foundation for a successful career in digital marketing.
A Strategic Approach: GenAI in EducationPeter Windle
Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies such as Generative AI, Image Generators and Large Language Models have had a dramatic impact on teaching, learning and assessment over the past 18 months. The most immediate threat AI posed was to Academic Integrity with Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) focusing their efforts on combating the use of GenAI in assessment. Guidelines were developed for staff and students, policies put in place too. Innovative educators have forged paths in the use of Generative AI for teaching, learning and assessments leading to pockets of transformation springing up across HEIs, often with little or no top-down guidance, support or direction.
This Gasta posits a strategic approach to integrating AI into HEIs to prepare staff, students and the curriculum for an evolving world and workplace. We will highlight the advantages of working with these technologies beyond the realm of teaching, learning and assessment by considering prompt engineering skills, industry impact, curriculum changes, and the need for staff upskilling. In contrast, not engaging strategically with Generative AI poses risks, including falling behind peers, missed opportunities and failing to ensure our graduates remain employable. The rapid evolution of AI technologies necessitates a proactive and strategic approach if we are to remain relevant.
June 3, 2024 Anti-Semitism Letter Sent to MIT President Kornbluth and MIT Cor...Levi Shapiro
Letter from the Congress of the United States regarding Anti-Semitism sent June 3rd to MIT President Sally Kornbluth, MIT Corp Chair, Mark Gorenberg
Dear Dr. Kornbluth and Mr. Gorenberg,
The US House of Representatives is deeply concerned by ongoing and pervasive acts of antisemitic
harassment and intimidation at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Failing to act decisively to ensure a safe learning environment for all students would be a grave dereliction of your responsibilities as President of MIT and Chair of the MIT Corporation.
This Congress will not stand idly by and allow an environment hostile to Jewish students to persist. The House believes that your institution is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and the inability or
unwillingness to rectify this violation through action requires accountability.
Postsecondary education is a unique opportunity for students to learn and have their ideas and beliefs challenged. However, universities receiving hundreds of millions of federal funds annually have denied
students that opportunity and have been hijacked to become venues for the promotion of terrorism, antisemitic harassment and intimidation, unlawful encampments, and in some cases, assaults and riots.
The House of Representatives will not countenance the use of federal funds to indoctrinate students into hateful, antisemitic, anti-American supporters of terrorism. Investigations into campus antisemitism by the Committee on Education and the Workforce and the Committee on Ways and Means have been expanded into a Congress-wide probe across all relevant jurisdictions to address this national crisis. The undersigned Committees will conduct oversight into the use of federal funds at MIT and its learning environment under authorities granted to each Committee.
• The Committee on Education and the Workforce has been investigating your institution since December 7, 2023. The Committee has broad jurisdiction over postsecondary education, including its compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, campus safety concerns over disruptions to the learning environment, and the awarding of federal student aid under the Higher Education Act.
• The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is investigating the sources of funding and other support flowing to groups espousing pro-Hamas propaganda and engaged in antisemitic harassment and intimidation of students. The Committee on Oversight and Accountability is the principal oversight committee of the US House of Representatives and has broad authority to investigate “any matter” at “any time” under House Rule X.
• The Committee on Ways and Means has been investigating several universities since November 15, 2023, when the Committee held a hearing entitled From Ivory Towers to Dark Corners: Investigating the Nexus Between Antisemitism, Tax-Exempt Universities, and Terror Financing. The Committee followed the hearing with letters to those institutions on January 10, 202
A review of the growth of the Israel Genealogy Research Association Database Collection for the last 12 months. Our collection is now passed the 3 million mark and still growing. See which archives have contributed the most. See the different types of records we have, and which years have had records added. You can also see what we have for the future.
A workshop hosted by the South African Journal of Science aimed at postgraduate students and early career researchers with little or no experience in writing and publishing journal articles.
6. Commercial content User-generated content available nationally local flavour standardised fresh, unique global, big brands community-based expensive supply chain builds local economy safe, standard quality fun, quality varies professional metadata user tagging
20. attribution skills Original Chart: Cogdogblog (Flickr) Made available under Creative Commons 2.0 Attribution Licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 Available at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cogdog/817669 Original Chart: Cogdogblog CC-by 2.0
It is certainly an unknown future we face in terms of technology. This session provides an overview of trends and possible futures for 21st century school libraries, collection management and service delivery. I am going to share some scenarios for libraries that are being discussed in blogs and journal articles, and being considered by some libraries. I would like you to consider the implications of these scenarios for your workplace, and to come up with ways of addressing these technology-related issues.
One popular description of Web 2.0 is the ‘read/write web’ (Gillmor 2004, p.3). Libraries have fantastic processes for managing physical resources, and many have applied these processes to dealing with the ‘read’ part of the web. Charles Leadbeater’s book We-think talks about the importance of mass innovation not mass production in the digital age. Resnick (2007) states “if we want children to develop as creative thinkers, we need to provide them with more opportunities to create”. His message is that consuming and interacting with content alone is not enough, we need to be involved in creating, constructing, designing, and reflecting about what we create. However, it is difficult to find evidence of libraries that deal effectively with digital content that makes use of the ‘write’ capabilities of Web 2.0 or user-generated content. The Horizon Report (2007, p.9) identified user created content as the technology then most likely to have an immediate impact on teaching and learning, with the people formerly known as the users now very much in control of everything “from classifying and tagging to creating and uploading.” As organisations that declare the users (or the learners) to be at the centre of their service, libraries seem particularly slow to trust their users and give them any of this control.
This presentation considers three elements of Web 2.0 philosophy and practice which represent a starting point for library staff seeking to optimise the learning potential of the read/write web. User-generated content recognises that contribution from the community builds authenticity, creativity and innovation and raises issues of digital archiving, personalisation and point of view. Social bookmarking invites users into the process of collecting and helps them develop concepts and practices around collaboration, collective intelligence (O’Reilly, 2006) and social tagging. Open licensing maximises the value of content by facilitating free flow of information, media, data and ideas, and by enabling users to remix these to create new content.
Learning about social tools and their use is important for students, but learning about this in Web 1.0 style information literacy programmes is not particularly helpful. McCrindle’s (2007) research on attitudes of 21st century learners counsels that “rather than traditional structure, hierarchy, and control - they are looking for relating, mentoring and guidance.” If we accept that educational institutions have an obligation to help their students develop the skills they may need to work in this environment, then we must also accept the imperative that educational institutions will employ the tools and principles that underpin the read/write web. There is a potential disconnect between those who are teaching about user-generated content but are not themselves experiencing or modelling active contribution in online communities. Experience is the best way to learn about the online safety, identity management and digital footprint issues (Madden, 2007) which arise because the very personalisation which delivers the power of Web 2.0 requires users to publish information and opinion which would traditionally have had a much smaller, more controlled audience. Collaborative learning and publishing and online community building require new skills and plenty of practice in goal setting, sharing, considering viewpoints, negotiation and responsible citizenship. There are benefits for teachers and students in developing such skills, and teachers who have gone down this path highlight the power of writing for a real audience, of the reputation building that happens as those with special skills and interests can connect with a wider community of learners and of the self-esteem boost for writers, bloggers and media producers when others comment favourably on their work.
Half table to come up with 5 benefits of buying food at the local grower’s market and half table come up with 5 benefits of buying food at large chain supermarket
Web 2.0 users are contributors, not consumers (Dodds, 2006) What is the content produced by students – teachers – library staff – school leaders that is not currently collected and shared digitally? What would be the issues to be resolved in turning that content over to the education cloud? Teachers create curriculum, lesson plans, teaching activities and presentations. They design assessment rubrics, tests and examinations, and increasingly they develop online courses. Leaders create policies, reports, promotional material, speeches, building specifications, strategic plans and professional learning programmes. Students create artworks, models, stories, essays, oral presentations, games and research projects. Library staff create displays, reading lists, procedures, user guides, answers to reference questions, teaching programmes, promotional material, presentations and catalogue records. Many people take photographs, videorecordings, take part in sport, drama, dance and music performances and write reports on school activities. How much of the content created by the people in your organisation is collected, organised and curated in the organisation? How accessible is it to other members of the school community, and how is it shared with the wider education community? What if this content was published openly? If staff were to post their reading lists, procedures manual, teaching programmes and photos of their displays online, would this negatively impact on their reputation, their job or their ability to do their job? Would anyone else be harmed by publishing this content online? If not, then perhaps there could be some benefit from a change in practice. Staff and leadership within the school might have a better idea of what library staff are doing and offering. Staff in other schools might be able to save time and produce better informed policy and learning activities. Students of school librarianship might build their knowledge on practitioner resources and be better prepared for their role. Policy makers might see what was happening in schools and better appreciate the demands and value of school libraries. Parents might be more aware, and perhaps more engaged in what is happening in their child's school. The staff member who is sharing their material might enhance their reputation in the education community.
Now, I’m sure you can all come up with many issues around the suggestion that school libraries might get involved in user-generated content. One of the issues with user generated content is that it doesn’t often come well-labelled and you certainly won’t find a SCIS record for it. How are your school’s sports day photos organised at the moment? Anyone involved with editing a school magazine knows the horrors of information and records management in schools. The shared drive is a nightmare etc However, there are technology solutions to some of this. Flickr, YouTube etc automate a certain amount of metadata, right down to things that you may not want collected and revealed, eg latitude/longitude location information, and type of camera used.
Flickr, YouTube etc also demonstrate that the creator of the content will be inclined to add metadata (catalogue record) if you make it easy enough. And LibraryThing demonstrates that people will improve that metadata if you make it easy enough
Libraries provide an amazing array of material but the only people who seem to be able to find anything they want are the library staff. The searching system that is available for the public often sucks despite how much you are often paying for it. All OPAC does is provide a location in your library - then I usually have to go and find a paper map or ask at the desk where that location is. Users expect to click straight through a la Google maps – what about shelf view. I go to Amazon or IMDB to get some actual information – even Wikipedia has more interesting stuff about a book than the typical OPAC – what do I care about the size of the book? Use 21st century standards designed for web world, not for catalogue cards Some libraries are looking at getting rid of the old style OPAC, joining with other libraries online to make something useful for patrons, getting them engaged, and contributing to the catalogue via the web. Library of Congress report says “Library users will continue to bypass catalogs in favor of search engines. Some studies have found that over three-quarters of library users start with a search engine and not the online catalog” http://www.loc.gov/catdir/calhoun-report-final.pdf. It's all too fussy, and library staff are so hung up about perfect metadata – most of which is never used. In Web 2.0 world everyone accepts and expects works in progress. Integrate with Libraries Australia, WorldCat, LibraryThing, Google, Amazon, IMDB, Wikipedia Education organisations – integrate with Learning Management system/repository We don’t yet know what the optimum resource discovery infrastructure of the future will be, but we can start trialling options and investigating what works. Some things can be predicted from current user behaviour. For example, stand alone databases are often under-used (Kim 2006) unless access to them is seamless from wherever the user is. This will no doubt be the same with user generated content and social bookmarking. To be useful the search interface has to be wherever the user is, whether that be the learning management system, the library catalogue or a search engine. There is also a strong indication that connections with other people will become as important in resource discovery as resource collections themselves, and while the role of the library in this new scenario is still evolving. Farmer (2007, p. xi) provides a simple way to judge the impact of the library in supporting this world of connections. “If the librarian impedes the connection then a disservice has been done. If however, the librarian facilitates the connection, then a value-added service has occurred.”
Social bookmarking – make the most of it. Selection and recommendation by users. If Wikipedia can harness so many editors, surely your library which is so important to its community will generate even better success. Reference and marketing literature has long referred to the power of personal influence and informal research networks in how people make choices about resources. According to a Nielsen survey (2009) recommendations from personal acquaintances or opinions posted online are now the most trusted forms of advertising. Vuorikari & Koper (2009) in researching techniques that assist users in obtaining information to meet their information needs by harnessing the knowledge or experience of other users, found that “search taking advantage of Social Information Retrieval (SIR) methods yields more relevant resources with less effort from the user.” If part of a library’s mission is to help patrons find resources, then surely techniques that yield more relevant resources more effectively would be readily adopted and promoted?
There are obvious ICT and digital literacy skills implied in this process, and while ePortfolios can be developed in PowerPoint or Inspiration etc, the large majority of ePortfolios are web-based and knowledge of basic linking and html are going to be useful to students. Recognition that server space is not unlimited is also an issue unless you are comfortable hosting your media rich ePortfolio resources in the ‘cloud’ Will we collect everything they produce, or is there a place for an ePortfolio collection policy? How much storage do you have after all? At what stages will you cull/weed your collection of resources/assets? Record WHY you have collected something (part of the reflection stage). ePortfolio owners need to be cataloguers also. They will need to apply subject headings (tags) to their work so they can retrieve it easily at the selecting and presenting stages. They need skills in subject analysis, probably need to develop a personal ePortfolio taxonomy (or list of headings) so they don’t end up with half their Personal development evidence coming up under Development. The concept that one piece of work might fulfil requirements for more than one assessment criteria can be new, understanding database and field-driven searches. Eg as the library catalogue to demonstrate how the same book might have 2 subject headings. Understanding rubrics (selection criteria) helps you select the most appropriate work from your collection, taking into account the format you are to present in. You might also select particularly original and interesting work to be ‘collected’ by the library or the institution for archival or promotional purposes.
Social bookmarking – connections again At the same time as they are consuming more and more information online, we find that people are struggling to find the information they want tailored to their context. Increasingly we look to our network to filter and recommend for us. Social bookmarking has now been incorporated in me.edu.au –including discussion on shared resources. The ecosystem then needs to be completed by feeding the popularity/significance metadata back into the search. In this way the community is acting as filter and recommendation agent for its members
me.edu.au as a learning stream
Earlier this year iPhone application developers were threatened with legal action for incorporating NSW RailCorp’s timetable data in their applications (data which was available only from their website with copyright terms prohibiting any re-use without prior written permission). The NSW Premier has now intervened promising to release the data feed to the public. "I spoke to the transport minister and we couldn't find any reason to withhold the data, especially given that RailCorp doesn't offer an equivalent service and this information actually belongs to the people of NSW." [i] So what does this story have to do with libraries? It is a great illustration of the distinction between ‘free’ information and ‘open’ information. The train arrival information was free (as in available at no cost to searchers) but it was not open for re-use or re-formatting and republishing to meet a new need or technology. This is exactly the situation with much of the information that we use in education. It may be ‘free to education’, but due to copyright restrictions it is not open to educators or students to use in creation of a new information product and republish in new contexts. While copyright licensing regimes and processes served education quite well in the 20th century, there is increasing concern that education can no longer afford the cost, complexity and restrictions of traditional copyright as it is being applied to digital content. Just as there is a move towards open licensing in Government (thanks to the government 2.0 taskforce, http://gov2.net.au) there is a strong case for moving education towards open licensed curriculum resources. [i] NSW Premier releases government data, 7 Sep 2009, Government News http://url.edna.edu.au/QsF2
It’s not only the high cost of current education copyright licence regimes that makes use of openly licensed resources attractive. The ability for teachers to adapt, build upon, remix and re-share learning resources licensed this way has the potential to greatly enhance efficiency and creativity of teaching and learning. Allowing teachers and students to find resources that are licensed in a way that encourages them to use, share and modify content will assist educators to more easily develop relevant learning materials for their students, will encourage them to build on the work of others and to share their own work with other educators. The terminology: mashups The Horizon report (2009) refers to the personalisation of learning resources enabled by Web 2.0. “Many online texts allow professors to edit, add to, or otherwise customize material for their own purposes, so that their students receive a tailored copy that exactly suits the style and pace of the course.” This provides a challenge for schools and libraries that have systems set up around cataloguing and managing resources and textbooks as static physical objects rather than as flexible, digital content that can be repackaged according to individual needs. Creator of the Web 2.0 term, Tim O’Reilly (2006a) makes the point that Web 2.0 saves users re-inventing the wheel continuously, and admonishes data and service providers to “open your data and services for re-use by others, and re-use the data and services of others whenever possible”. We all learn faster when we piggyback on the learning of colleagues. The web builds faster when we build on the back of those who have similar requirements.
Also public domain material – Australia finally realising the wealth it has locked up in archives. 3.5 million articles so far digitised from out of copyright Australian newspapers from all states 1800s - 1950s, full-text searchable content. Wiki format so users can correct the OCR errors A great public service assignment for students
Creative Commons licences offer content creators a best-of-both-worlds way to protect their works while encouraging certain uses of them - to declare "some rights reserved”. An excellent way to introduce staff and students to the ideas behind open licensing is to use one of the short videos such as Mayer and Bettle [i ] or Wanna work together . [ii ] All Creative Commons licences require the user to provide attribution to the creator and just as we teach citation and referencing, school library staff need to ensure their community are informed about the correct and most effective way to fulfil their obligations in use of Creative Commons licences. A useful overview of the licences and their education is available from Smartcopying [iii ] . A more detailed look at attribution requirements is also available in draft version, Creative Commons attribution guide for teachers and educators [ i] Mayer and Bettle 2008 Creative Commons Australia http://creativecommons.org/videos/mayer-and-bettle [ii] Wanna work together 2006 Creative Commons http:// creativecommons.org/videos/wanna -work-together [iii] Creative Commons Resources” 2008 Smartcopying , MCEETYA http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/pid/525
This example of best practice from Smartcopying website. Note that attribution can look cumbersome for print publications, but for online where hyperlinking is possible it does not have to look ugly. Remind teachers that attribution is like citation – not a new requirement just one many of them have been ignoring. Recommend that as a rule give attribution for ALL images/media used, even if GPL or public domain or purchased stock photos so that all subsequent users know immediately how to get permission themselves. What proportion of your time is spent teaching about copyright and how to reference information? What proportion of your time is spent teaching about open licensing and how to attribute under Creative Commons?
http://flickrcc.bluemountains.net Find photographs related to your physical education topic Correctly attribute them
Skimming very quickly over copyright for education, concentrating on the Free for education and Open Education benefits and solutions. If you want to know more about copyright in education, use the website smartcopying.edu.au – NOT general copyright agency websites Start with some free for education licences and resource repositories, then move into Australian cultural repositories, then international open education collections Activities: have you seen this/used it?
But your library spends so much on purchasing content and information that it is not allowed to share. Copyright that might have worked OK for physical resources are now being applied to digital content which doesn't have anything like the cost of production and distribution. Copyright licences are costing way too much, and are far too restrictive. There is plenty of good quality content available via Creative Commons, Research is being put into open access research repositories Many of the world's most brilliant thinkers are sharing their output openly Look at the huge volume of blogging, of podcasting and other user contributed content. Top universities release entire courses, podcast their best lecturers. But your library is not guiding people to this valuable content through their catalogue. They are promoting commercial interests only. Public funded libraries should not promote commercial interests. Surely the commercial content providers can pay for marketing their own stuff. What incentives can we provide for students, teachers, leaders and library staff to share their content? It is important to make the process easy and also to ensure contributors receive feedback on who or how many people are accessing their content. Provide access for other users to comment and provide feedback, and take opportunities to promote and re-use locally grown material with acknowledgement in your own bibliographies/information packages. However, if we are to assist our community to move from being merely consumers of information to contributors and creators, one of the areas that requires urgent attention is our community’s understanding of 21st century copyright.
Wikimedia projects are the ultimate in the sharing economy Wikis represent one of the most accessible and flexible platforms for building knowledge and collaborative learning. Todd (2008) describes the power of wikis in terms such as “open, contributory, living documents that facilitate social construction of knowledge, negotiation of meaning, and group’s best effort, not an individual.” In helping students learn about wikis and collaborative learning, it is impossible to ignore the power and potential benefit of collaborative projects such as Wikipedia and the other Wikimedia projects, and we do our students a disservice if we fail to address the specifics of these projects in our information literacy programmes. Wikimedia Commons is a media file repository making available over three million public domain and freely-licensed educational media content (images, sound and video clips) to all and to which anyone can contribute. The important page to work through with students and teachers is Commons: Reusing content outside Wikimedia . [i ] [ i] Commons: Reusing content outside Wikimedia , 2008 http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Reusing_content_outside_Wikimedia Commons.wikimedia.org – search for pictures, videos etc School libraries can support creative educators and students by providing and promoting efficient access to sources of open learning resources. The Wikimedia (2009) philosophy of bringing free content to the world is one example.
A new world…. Discuss: Is this is where we are heading? Are we there yet? What are the signs? Is this desirable? Do we want to be part of this? How will we get there? Quote from The CapeTown Open Education Declaration A good introduction to this topic is found in an international declaration on the benefits of open education Q. What qualifies as an open educational resource? The Cape Town Declaration defines open educational resources as "openly licensed course materials, lesson plans, textbooks, games, software and other materials that support teaching and learning." It goes on to state that these resources should be "... licensed to facilitate use, revision, translation, improvement and sharing by anyone." The text in the Declaration was inspired by the definition of open educational resources established by UNESCO in 2002. If you (or your organisation) signed this declaration what impact would it have on your practice?
Small steps: Blog Upload worksheets, lesson plans Start creating multimedia/digital stories Licence your workshop presentations as Creative Commons Get your school to start considering this The library should be promoting content that users can re-use, remix, improve/translate and republish. Make digitisation of rare/unique/your own content a high priority Shift your mental perspective – don't try and apply 20th century patterns to 21st century libraries. If you do even 10% of this you will have positioned your library service for an exciting and relevant future.
This is being picked up by other projects such as WikiEducator (2009), which is working to develop free content for e-learning. It is timely to consider how your school library policies reflect the value of openness? What proportion of your time is spent teaching about copyright as opposed to time spent teaching about open licensing and attribution of digital content? Does your school library catalogue include or promote open licensed resources and media? Other sources of learning resources with open licences are available at at Smartcopying website Creative Commons and other Open Access Resources on the Web [i ] . [ i] Creative Commons and other Open Access Resources on the Web 2008 Smartcopying MCEETYA http://www.smartcopying.edu.au/scw/go/cache/offonce/pid/525/ctnscroll_guidelinesContainer/1_1 OER Commons
There are many tools and services that can assist students, teachers and library staff to share and be creative in new ways. Implementing some form of social bookmarking that aggregates user-generated interest indicators such as ratings, bookmarks and tags is an excellent starting point, and one that can quickly provide diversity of viewpoints and formats compared to traditional collections. Amongst all these opportunities to be creative Godwin (2008, p.178) reminds us that information literacy remains the most important of the patchwork of capabilities which will help make sense of the world. As information specialists it is our responsibility to show leadership in the shift from traditional educational content to the read/write web. By constantly asking ‘is there an open way of accessing and organising educational content?’ library staff can reduce duplication of effort and cost of content. By inviting the people formerly known as the users into the collection, we can reduce the ‘content miles’ of that educational content and showcase the variety, freshness and freedom of open, user-generated content that has local interest and context.