Teacher-Librarian Magazine - Learning Commons issue

The challenges and new role of librarians in the 21st century

April 2012 issue of Teacher Librarian magazine.  

Digital version of the magazine

(or click the links below to read individual articles through EBSCO. Name and password will be needed for home access.)

Teacher Librarian Recognizes Visionary Leaders of the Learning Commons Concept (Cover story)

This article discusses the challenges and new role of librarians in the 21st century, and announces the recipients of the first annual Teacher Librarian Leadership Awards.  

Here are some of the recipients' websites:

 

• Canadian TL Carol Koechlin's site (created together with David Loertscher) -- School Learning Commons
• Karen Bonanno's site -- School Libraries, Technology and Creativity
• Michelle Luhtala's blog -- bibliotech.me
• Robin Cicchetti's blog -- CCHS Library Learning Commons
• Valerie Diggs's slide show presentation -- From Library To Learning Commons
• Lyn Hay's 11 slide show presentations
• Gwyneth Jones's blog -- The Daring Librarian
  

Links to additional articles in the April Issue

• Dear Teachers: The Learning Commons and the Future of Learning: Response to a Canadian Study by David V. Loertscher and Carol Koechlin
• The Creation of the Edgewood Experiential Lab and Learning Commons for the 21st-Century Learner by Tamara Mitchell and Fran Potvin-Schafer
• Engaging Students with AASL's Best Websites for Teaching and Learning by Melissa Jacobs Israel and Heather Moorefield-Lang
• Cool Tools, Social Media, and Curriculum by Joanne Troutner
• Graphic Inquiry: Dynamic Differentiation and Digital Age Learning by Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson
  

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I “C” Technology - eBook - Free download

The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book  - I "C" Technology

[link to PDF book]

The Amazing Web 2.0 Projects Book is a free, downloadable publication from the educational technology site ICT in Education. The book's 94 contributors suggest 87 projects along with their learning outcomes, 10 further resources and 52 applications. The contributors also describe the benefits and challenges of using Web 2.0 applications as well as how educators who conducted the projects handled the issues and what they recommend you do if you run them.

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Tech Apps and sites on Pinterest

A Visual Way to track good Tech sites

http://pinterest.com/techtators/

Explore this extensive collection of tech sites and apps. The Pinterest interface offers an appealing way to organize these resources.

These are some of the categories represented:

• Presentation Tools 30 pins
• Collage/Poster Tools 19 pins
• Comic Style Tools 29 pins
• Timeline Tools 12 pins
• Makin' Movies 25 pins
• Photo/Image Editors 29 pins
• Online Book Creators 17 pins
• iBook/eBook Essentials 30 pins
• Collaborative Tools34 pins
• Newspaper and Magazine Creators online 9 pins
• Word Cloud Generators  14 pins
• Flipped Classroom Audio/Video Resources 32 pins
  

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Educational Videos and Games - Science, Math, Socials, English & more

NeoK12: Tools for learning and teaching

http://www.neok12.com/

A good clearinghouse of educational videos from Metacafé, Youtube etc, bundled with Flickr Images and wealth of Web 2.0 animations and games to consolidate thinking. Worth exploring.

"At NeoK12, we believe that kids learn best when they 'see' how things work, when, where and why they happen. NeoK12 also features Web2.0 tools for learning and teaching. Our "School Presentation" tool, a mashup of Flickr and Wikipedia, allows users to create and share interesting school presentations online. There are also excellent interactive whiteboard resources for the classroom. Other tools allow teachers to create and share video playlists with notes and instructions for their students; find and recommend new videos for NeoK12.

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Online Games: Literature, New Media, and Narrative

MMO's: Literature, New Media, and Narrative

Jay Clayton

https://www.coursera.org/course/onlinegames

Next session: July 2013 (7 weeks long)

"For both newcomers and hard-core gamers who want to reflect on their passion, this course will explore what happens to stories, paintings, and films when they are turned into online games."

Intro video

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"Game Theory" from Stanford

Game Theory Course

taught by Dr. Matthew O. Jackson and Dr. Yoav Shoham (Stanford)

Watch the intro video to get a feel for the course

https://www.coursera.org/course/gametheory

See the course content here:

https://class.coursera.org/gametheory/lecture/preview/index

"The course will provide the basics: representing games and strategies, the extensive form (which computer scientists call game trees), Bayesian games (modeling things like auctions), repeated and stochastic games, and more."

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Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society

Fundamental concepts with hands-on design

https://www.coursera.org/course/design

Karl T. Ulrich offers "Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society"

He will combine fundamental concepts with hands-on design challenges to become a better designer.

Link to his free eText

http://opim.wharton.upenn.edu/~ulrich/designbook.html

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Coursera - online courses - free

Life-Long Learning - for everyone

https://www.coursera.org/category/music

Coursera offers a variety of classes, from a range of post-secondary institutions.

Here's the course list from the "Music & Film" section.

• Introduction to Digital Sound Design
• The Language of Hollywood: Storytelling, Sound, and Color
• Introduction to Music Production
• Songwriting
• Introduction to Guitar
• Introduction to Improvisation
• The Camera Never Lies
• How Music Works
• Listening to World Music
  

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EdX - free university level courses

Learning designed specifically for the web

https://www.edx.org/

"EdX is a not-for-profit enterprise of its founding partners Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that features learning designed specifically for interactive study via the web."

Here's one of the courses set to begin in November:

Foundations of Computer Graphics at BerkeleyX

https://www.edx.org/courses/BerkeleyX/CS184.1x/2012_Fall/about

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Word 2008 for Mac tutorials

Finding your way around Word 2008

I've had some requests for "Word:Mac 2008" tutorials.

Here are some links that might be useful!

PDF guide you can download

http://www.bgsu.edu/downloads/cio/file19292.pdf

Video: Getting started with Word 2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L06C28Awu3U&feature=related

Video: A playlist of how-to videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6AmGFiRSnKo&list=PLy00AiWTkqYuOld5B-3tzgcYemdIBFl-I&feature=plcp

Video: Creating a brochure

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqGzoNntnsc&feature=channel&list=UL

Video: A set of intro tutorials that introduce Powerpoint and Word

http://www.vtc.com/products/Microsoft-Office-2008-For-Mac-Tutorials.htm

Scroll down a bit to see the Word section. (The more in-depth tutorials require a subscription, but they will get you started.)

Video: Another set of intro tutorials

http://www.lynda.com/Office-2008-tutorials/word-2008-for-mac-essential-training/530-2.html

(You need subscribe to get the more in-depth content.)

PDF guides on various features of Word 2008

http://www.rockingham.k12.va.us/howto/word2008mac/word2008mac.htm

Three Books... : NPR

In which authors recommend three books on a single theme.

http://www.npr.org/series/three-books/

This is a great series for book lovers. Once a month (or so) NPR asks a well-known author to pick 3 books that are related by a theme, topic or feel.

Here are some recent lists:

• Play the Numbers: Three (Useful) Books About Data
• Disaster Strikes! Three Books Where Things Go Awry
• Fanciful Fauna: 3 Tall Tales Of Clever Critters
• Fight Like A Girl: 3 Books That Pack A Deadly Punch
• Too Cool For School: 3 Books On Scandalous Teachers
  

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TED Books - feed your craving for ideas

Short original electronic books - from TED

http://www.ted.com/pages/tedbooks

Check out the TED Books App and get a text, audio and video exerience. Shorter than a novel, but longer than a magazine article -- "a TED Book is a great way to feed your craving for ideas anytime."

"TED Books are short original electronic books produced every two weeks by TED Conferences. Like the best TEDTalks, they're personal and provocative, and designed to spread great ideas. TED Books are typically under 20,000 words — long enough to unleash a powerful narrative, but short enough to be read in a single sitting. (Watch the TED Books video to learn more.)

The TED Books App embeds audio, video and social features into every book, broadening the depth and detail of each work.

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Circulatory System - video and links

The Life Pump - Circulatory System

http://www.imcpl.org/kids/blog/?p=12430

This page, from the Indianapolis Public Library, offers some good links on the circulatory system, as well as a short but informative Youtube clip that illustrates the action of the heart.

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Un bolide humain - Baumgartner

Mission accomplie! Un saut de plus de 39 km

http://www.lesdebrouillards.com/client/page_article.asp?page=6552&clef=&clef2=4

Vidéo et images.

Felix Baumgartner a réussi son pari ! Il est devenu le premier être humain à franchir le mur du son en chute libre. Un saut de plus de 39 km.

Felix Baumgartner a écrit une page d'histoire en devenant la première personne à faire un saut en chute libre de plus de 39 km de hauteur. Sa descente, à plus de 1300 km/h, lui a fait traverser le mur du son. Jamais personne n'avait tenté cet exploit auparavant.

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From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom: Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning

An expert perspective on 21st century education

http://www.sagepub.com/books/Book237857#tabview=google

From Digital Natives to Digital Wisdom - Hopeful Essays for 21st Century Learning by Marc Prensky       (Foreword by Milton Chen)

View a GoogleBooks preview of this resource.

"What can you learn on a cell phone? Almost anything! How does that concept fit with our traditional system of education? It doesn't. Best-selling author and futurist Marc Prensky's book of essays challenges educators to "reboot" and make the changes necessary to prepare students for 21st century careers. His "bottom-up" vision is based on interviews with young people and includes their ideas about what they need from teachers, schools, and education. Also featured are easy-to-do, high-impact classroom strategies that help what he calls "digital natives" acquire "digital wisdom."

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Vancouver Kidsbooks - RTLA night booklist

Booklist of recommended titles from the October Kidsbooks Night

http://www.bookmanager.com/1317857/?q=h.tviewer&using_sb=featured&STG=1053123395

Can't remember the titles you saw at the Kidsbooks night last week? Or maybe you couldn't make it but would still like to see what books were featured? Visit the link to see covers and read sumamries.

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Education Canada | Fall 2012 Volume 52 Issue 4 (CEA)

Canadian Education Association's "Education Canada" Magazine

http://www.cea-ace.ca/education-canada/issue/fall2012

Fall 2012- Volume 52  Issue 4

Table of Contents

• Book Review:- The Kids Cannot Wait: Making High School Work
• End Notes: Building Cool Things
• Features: The International Quest for Educational Excellence: Understanding Canada's High Performance
• If I Didn't Laugh I'd Cry: An Essay on Happiness, Productivity, and the Death of Humanities Education
• Mixing It Up: Bringing Young People's Digital Creativity to Class
• La formation des mentors : Un tournant dans l'évolution du programme de mentorat à la commission scolaire des patriotes
• Are Two Minds Better than One? Creativity and Teacher Education
• Young People's Confidence in School, Community, and the Future: Why It Matters and What We Can Do About It
• Personalized Learning: Hiring Educators for the 21st Century
• Web-Exclusive - Exposing Technomyths: Getting Technical about Technology and Teaching / A Solid Foundation of Success: Research Supports the Effectiveness of Interactive Whiteboards
• Notre Monde Aujourd'hui: L'insertion des enseignants Débutants : Une expérience Chilienne
• Promising Practices: Understanding the Heartbeat
  

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Caring for the Air - Metro Vancouver 2012

Metro Vancouver's Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Management Plan

http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/air/Documents/Caring_for_the_Air-MV2012.pdf

Information on Metro Vancouver's new Integrated Air Quality and Greenhouse Gas Management Plan, and what's being done about our most pressing air quality and climate change issues including:

• Fine particulate matter and diesel particulate• Ground-level ozone• Visual air quality

• Greenhouse gases• Data on the "state of the air" in the Lower Mainland – key sources of emissions and measured air quality concentrations.

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