Tag: Social Media

Connecting the dots of information literacy with social media.

–Buffy Hamilton, Internet & Schools East, April 2010.

Presentation slides

Rethinking ways we can instruct our students with information literacy.

– How do we support and scaffold students’ ability to read and write an ever-growing world of information?

– How do we adapt our pracitce as librarians to effectively cultivate informationally fluent students who will thrive in today’s society? — help them learn to analyze/evaluate information.

-Seth Godin: “when industry norms start to die, people panic. it’s difficult to change when you think that you must change everything in order to succeed. Changing everything is too difficult.”

– strategic changes are much more helpful than changing everything.

Don’t reinvent the wheel; instead, find pivot points for change.

Pivot Point #1:

Keep your traditional sources of authoritative information in your research pathfinders, but let the research topic and mode of research guide the integration of social media information sources and tools for delivering that content to help students navigate the maze of today’s information world.

– days of trusting the printed reference book has come and gone. Teachers must get their heads around new authorities.

AASL 21st Century Standards

New Resources for Authorities

1. podcasts — students much more engaged at times if they listen or watch resources. Lots of resources now provide podcast; lots of authoritative information being delivered through podcasts.
   1. PBS
   2. CNN
   3. students weren’t just reading about situations; they were able to experience the situations.
   4. Podcasts can be a free and dynamic way to capture student interests
2. Blogs — lots of experts blogging about issues.
   1. Homefires Blog (veterans transitioning back into mainstream civilian life)
   2. Netvibes — RSS feeds from several blogs all on one page
   3. Students prefer to read the blogs over a textbook — they are much more organic and students are engaged. Plus blogs are free; textbooks are not.
3. Twitter
   1. #iranelection
   2. way to get current information about current issues.
4. Youtube/video
   1. YouTube blocked at schools, use Zamzar to download and convert YouTube videos.
   2. Treasure trove of videos that are free and online and full of information that students can use and explore.
   3. Video used as a teaser; then, students really got excited about learning and researching.
5. Google Maps/mashups
   1. taking data and putting it into map form
   2. Embassies Accepting Injured People in Iran
   3. Swine Flu Google Map
6. RSS Feeds
   1. Librarians’ best friends
   2. Database vendors (including Ebscohost & Gale) have RSS feeds
   3. Newspapers, Twitter, Podcasts all have RSS Feeds
   4. Streams of information to push the information out to students
   5. Google News
7. RSS Feeds/Widgets
   1. Don’t have to be an html expert to create widgets; already created for you.
   2. News, Topics, possibilities are endless

Teaching research is much more fun today, because so many tools available to teach research. Traditional research pathfinders are no longer. So many ways now to display research information in ways students will use them, and they are free

Pivot Point #2:

Keep focusing on teacher collaboration, but focus on creating conversations…

Create conversations about collaboration, leadership, and social responsibility….

1. research wiki (wetpaint)
   1. building living textbook
   2. continually being updated and created
   3. share with other classes involved with the same project. very rich and informative discussions in class
   4. cross-collaboration with students; no more lone-wolf learner in era of testing; how do we share information & replicate what we see in the real world
2. literature circle wiki
   1. book trailers
   2. notes on the face-to-face meetings posted to the class wiki.
   3. have follow-up discussions online through the class wiki, through comments on the discussion notes.

Pivot Point #3:

keep assesing student learning using traditinoal tools, but use alternative modes of assessment like blog to engage students in metacognition and to activiely reflect on their research strategities.

create conversation about adaptability and research strategies using blogs.

1. research student blogs
   1. students get excited about the research. “Life changing, these two words give a perfect summary of what this project has been for me….” –student blog comment
   2. Real world experts comment on student research blogs.
   3. Students engage, think about topics, and connect with real-life experts.
   4. Learning tool not just for one research project. Blogs are a way to have a voice and get ideas out there. Ideas have value and meaning

Pivot Point #4:

Keep teaching students how to access and consume information, but place….

Create….

1. multi-genre artifacts — can differentiate instruction & open up students who have abilities in other areas. Can learn online safety skills through these projects. Presentation Zen ideas covered.
   1. Facebook Page
   2. Voicethread
   3. Glogster
   4. Two Voice Poem
   5. Skit
   6. Song
2. Presentation Zen: Students had to think about the content, not just regurgitate. Had to learn to connect with the audience.

Pivot Point #5:

Keep creating research pathfinders for students, but teach students how to forge their own paths for learning and building their own information portals

Learning is the process of creating own network….

www.netvibes.com/alex7586#home (student created netvibes portal)

www.netvibes.com/samonte94#General (student created netvibes portal)

Students so excited about researching and learning about their topics.

Advice

1. Baby steps are ok.
2. anticipate some initial pushback, from both students & teachers. –for first time students were being asked, “What do you think?” Some students were ok, some not so much.

Embrace the messiness of social scholarship and questions of authority.

1. Rules are hard & fast now; not firm. What is authoritative. If students can articulate this, they have mastered these skills.