Library Trends R Us

The Pen or the Mouse?

2005-11-29T21:13:00.000-05:00

See the article "Is the Pen Mightier Than the Mouse?" in T.H.E. Journal, 33(4) Nov. 2005, pp.24-25. This up-to-date article discusses pentop computing, how it canbe used by students and teachers, and its benefits such as high levels of student engagement and better learning and retention of concepts.
There are other good articles in this issue such as "The Enrichments of Rich Media" and "The Power of Digital Integration."
Enjoy!

T.H.E.=Technological Horizons in Education

Literacy and Reading Online for Students

2005-11-27T09:07:00.000-05:00

The ability to locate, understand and use information online varies greatly among adolescents. Reading online is a new kind of literacy that must be taught in school. See the excellent article "Making Sense of Online Text" by Julie Coiro in Educational Leadership, Vol. 63(2) October 2005.

The following from ASCD regarding this article and will give you a good idea of what pointers you can find:
"Reading online: Helping students make sense of Internet content Reading on the Internet is a part of daily life, but many students do not have the proper skills to use online texts meaningfully, says Julie Coiro, a doctoral fellow at the University of Connecticut. According to Coiro, it's crucial for teachers to supplement the regular reading curriculum with additional lessons in four areas:
Search strategies
Web navigation
Critical evaluation of content
Information synthesis"

Writing, Graphics, and Publishing Tool K-8

2005-11-23T17:10:00.000-05:00

Canvastic is now available in Version 2.0. This integrated writing, graphics, and publishing tool for students in grades K-8 has been expanded and improved with over 40 new features. This tool can be customized for students' age and ability level. This sounds like a good tool for your balanced literacy programs. Choose from over 200 templates and try out the new soundtrack and full-screen playback options. Reasonably priced and can be downloaded from the web. Visit Canvastic and take a tour.

Free Science Videos

2005-11-23T17:02:00.000-05:00

ScienCentral, Inc. is currently providing their video stories free to educators who are planning on using them as teaching tools. Visit the ScienCentral website to check out the story content. A recent home page had stories on ecstasy and Parkinson's, humor and the sexes, organ repair, and drug discovery. The top stories are always changing. Teachers can contact ScienCentral by phone or email to request the video clips free of charge. The videos are provided in QuickTime, Real Media, Windows Media or on VHS/DVCam/Beta.

Class Notes Website

2005-11-19T18:05:00.000-05:00

Teachers can sign up for a free website to communicate with students and parents. Teachers can post daily work, assignments, homework, etc. for all of their classes. Students and parents can access the site from home (or anywhere). The website looks very easy to create. For more information or to sign up, go to ClassNotesOnline.com

Digital Games for Learning?

2005-11-18T21:07:00.000-05:00

The debate is still on about using digital games (aka computerized simulations) in school for educational purposes. Although this may seem like a relatively current topic, this dialogue has been going on for the past three decades. Henry Kelly, President of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS), organized a meeting on Oct. 25, 2005 for educators and game developers. Could the powerful attraction of digital games pull students into deeper academic learning? Developing games that convey academic subjects is a great challenge to create and costs millions of dollars. What do you think? Is it worth it? Will students learn from academic computer games? For more details on the meeting see the article by Andrew Trotter in Education Week, November 2, 2005. The FAS website has many articles in its Games for Learning Resources page.

Technology e-newsletter

2005-11-11T11:25:00.000-05:00

Education Week online has launched a monthly e-newsletter about education technology issues. You can sign up for TechTrends through Education Week and find out about the latest trends and news in K - 12 educational technology including student computer use and online learning.

Wiki for All Librarians

2005-11-10T14:42:00.000-05:00

Meredith Farkas, a distance-learning librarian in Vermont has launched a wiki for all librarians called "Library Success" www.libsucces.org This wiki is described as a "one-stop-shop for great ideas for librarians." Topics such as virtual reference, gaming, and web design receive many contributions, but other subjects such as school library are empty. Where are you School Library Media Specialists? Let's avoid "reinventing the wheel" and share our great ideas on this wiki. If you are not sure what a wiki is, go to the Introduction for more information an search the rest of this friendly site. "Library Success: A Best Practices Wiki" has been named Best Web Site of the Month in School Library Journal, Oct. 2005, p. 26. Let's help build this great resource for all librarians.

Science Fair Resource

2005-11-03T20:46:00.000-05:00

Do you know any students who need to do a science fair project? Check out Dr. Shawn's super collection of science fair projects. Dr. Shawn (Shawn Carlson, Ph.D.) is a physicist and well-known science writer who lives to help young people do great science fair projects and science experiments. He is the Founder and Executive Director of the Society for Amateur Scientists, a former columnist for Scientific American magazine, and the creator of LABRats. Your library can purchase the reasonably priced CD-ROM (Amateur Scientist 2.0) containing the science projects or you can become a member of LABRats Online and get a list of 1500 ideas. Topics include biology, earth science, chemistry, astronomy, etc. It looks like there is something for everyone.

Educating Jane

2005-11-01T19:34:00.000-05:00

This is a great site for girls, their parents, and teachers. It is about self-esteem, self-awareness, and involvement in the world. It could be an excellent resource for character education programs. EducatingJane.com searches for programs on the Internet and provides ideas for additional programs that encourage girls to take risks and master physical, intellectual and emotional challenges. Major programs address math and science education, media literacy, economic literacy, adolescent health, and sports participation. The grade level is middle/high school.

Visual Thesaurus

2005-10-30T18:08:00.000-05:00

You have to see the visual thesaurus from Thinkmap. It is a dictionary and thesaurus. Say good-bye to the dusty old thesaurus and "hop along the visual trail, uncovering dozens of linguistic links." (Edutopia, Oct. 2005, p. 13) This animated package provides a constellation of related terms across your screen. You can even hear the pronunciation of the word you are searching. The cost is very reasonable. For more information and a trial run, go to Visual Thesaurus.

Gaggle e-mail

2005-10-30T17:54:00.000-05:00

As noted in the November 2005 issue of Connected Newsletter, Gaggle is a safe and easy itneractive e-mail program that improves communication between teachers and students. Accounts are only provided to educators. What makes this e-mail program different is that the teacher is in complete control. The teacher can block incoming and outgoing messages and can rely on Gaggle to block a list of 200+ inappropriate words and phrases and graphic images. The service is free up to 2.5 MB of space per user. There is also a reasonably priced upgrade. Teachers can post homework assignments on easily accessible message boards. Teachers can access and monitor student accounts at any time. Visit www.gaggle.net to try it out.

Goosebumps Story Starters

2005-10-24T16:35:00.000-04:00

Here's a program from Scholastic to jump start the imaginations of 9 to13- year-old students. Go to Goosebumps Write It! and finish one of the story starters written by R.L. Stine. Each month the best stories are posted.

Halloween at the Monster Motel

2005-10-24T14:59:00.000-04:00

Write an instant monster story. This program is designed for students in grades 3-5. Visit over 250 monster profiles or write your own for some Halloween fun. It's like an online version of Mad Libs with a monster theme.

FLY-- Another Pentop computer

2005-10-22T14:08:00.000-04:00

The FLY, a pentop computer designed for tweens, developed by LeapFrog Enterprises, will be piloted at schools this fall. The talking pentop costs about $99 and has an optical sensor that tracks the motion of the pen. For example, on the special paper, you can draw a calculator and it becomes a functional calculator! For more detail, see the Cool Tools article in School Library Journal, Sept. 2005, p. 45.

Concept mapping

2005-10-16T20:54:00.000-04:00

This may not be one of the latest tools on the internet, but I thought it was worth mentioning. It is good for teachers and students. IHMC CmapTools version 3.10 allows you to construct, navigate, share and criticize knowledge models represented as concept maps. You can construct Cmaps in your personal computer, share them on servers (CmapServers) anywhere on the Internet, link Cmaps to other Cmaps on servers, automatically create web pages of concept maps on servers, edit maps synchronously with other users on the Internet, and search the web for information relevant to a concept map. Downloading this program for free is available at IHMC Cmap tools. The program is self-explanatory. I tried it and it works. Your concept maps will look much neater than doing them on a regular word processing program.

MY Access!

2005-10-14T20:30:00.000-04:00

We all know that writing is part of a balanced literacy program and now there is an essay question on the SAT. How can language arts teachers keep up with marking students' writings and keep track of their progress? They can use MY Access! As noted in School Library Journal, teachers can use this web-based writing instruction suite for automated essay-scoring systems and tracking. See the journal for details.

The Reading Pen

2005-10-10T20:20:00.000-04:00

Have you seen the Reading Pen? This is a small pen-shaped computer that can be used for help with vocabulary and pronunciation. Fifth graders at a school in White Plains, New York tried it out and found when they passed the pen over a word, the pen would give them the word's syllable breaks, dictionary definition, synonyms, and a Spanish translation. The pen also "speaks" by pronouncing the word and using it in a sentence. See how the Reading Pen can help in your class by going to the article in The Journal News, Sept. 30, 2005, pp. B1-2. (Dictionary made for the 'technology generation', by Meryl Hyman Harris.)

RFID vs. Barcodes

2005-10-08T15:57:00.000-04:00

Could barcodes be a thing of the past? School Library Journal describes RFID (radio frequency identification) as "one of the hottest topics in libraryland." How great would it be to do your entire library inventory in a couple of hours just by scanning your shelves?! Unlike barcode scanners, RFID readers don't need a line-of-sight contact to read the RFID tags so you just have to be near the product to scan it. This new technology could be used for library security, circulation, and inventory. Some libraries have already implemented it, however it is expensive. Right now, I would guess that most school districts can not afford the $3000 plus 70 cents per tag, but as use of RFID becomes more widespread, it will become less expensive. See the full article about RFID and other technologies in Cool Tools: A Savvy Librarian Reports on Promising Technology, School Library Journal, Sept. 2005, pp. 42-45.
Till then, happy scanning. Beep!