Category Archives: Special

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Libraries in review 2015

Think bigIf you are typical, you may be unsure about whether you have “kept up” with your reading and awareness about the state of the nations’ libraries this year . Fear not, the American Library Association (ALA) has put together an easy to skim compilation of 2015 items that affected libraries. Everything from library tech consolidation to an account of the last library catalog card are yours in this short synopsis.

Looking for something with a more local focus? Check out our Minitex year in review post too!

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/px4ssu3, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Minitex year in review

PrintRecently, Minitex produced a picture that is indeed worth a thousand words. According to Zachariah Miller, Minitex Communications Manager, “…Minnesota’s libraries remained the cornerstone of Minnesota’s information sharing economy, as you have for over a century. And since 1971, Minitex has been proud to support you. Please review our year-in-review infographic to learn about what we accomplished in FY2015. Together, we’ll accomplish even more in the year to come.”

Whether you are just trying to understand what Minitex does, or if you are trying to understand the scope of its work, this infographic is worth your time.

 

Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

NYPL puts 180,000 high-res images online

Female Prospectors
1898, Women prospectors on their way to Klondyke.

You might have already heard the news… last Wednesday, the New York Public Library made over 180,000 high-resolution images available as public domain with no restrictions or permissions required. Previously low-res images were available to the public, but high resolution images required special permissions and fees to be used.

“These changes are intended to facilitate sharing, research and reuse by scholars, artists, educators, technologists, publishers, and internet users of all kinds,” the library said in a recent statement.

The library released out-of-copyright materials from its NYPL Digital Collections which included maps, posters, manuscripts, sheet music, drawings, photographs, letters, ancient texts. In addition, the NYPL is offering a Remix Residency to encourage the creative use of it’s collections and also several other creative project ideas.

Get all the details: NYPL makes high-res images available

Image credit:Public Domain B.W. Kilburn/New York Public Library
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Education Research Highlights from 2015

magnifyHere are 15 insightful and surprising studies from 2015 that every educator should know about. These published research studies cover some very intriguing topics. Some of these topics include:

#2 – The Benefits of Being Kind Last From Kindergarten to Adulthood
#6 – Low-Income Students Now a Majority
#8 – Don’t Assign More Than 70 Minutes of Homework
#10 – Boys Get Higher Math Scores When Graded by Teachers Who Know Their Names
#15 – When Teachers Collaborate, Math and Reading Scores Go Up

Education Research Study Highlights 2015

Image credit: http://tinyurl.com/ovgtb34, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Academic, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

TIES Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

Jenny McNewThe following post was submitted by CMLE scholarship recipient Jeanette McNew, Talahi Media Specialist, St. Cloud School District.

I would like to thank CMLE for the scholarship to attend the TIES 2015 Conference:  Breaking Through: Transforming Pedagogy with Technology!

In 1990, I attended my first TIES conference and was inspired by Roger Wagner’s HyperStudio. Things have really changed since then, but once again I was thrilled to be able to attend. As a Media Specialist in a school library working to integrate a MakerSpace, I was eager to listen to Sylvia Martinez author of Invent to Learn. Although she made many good points about authentic learning in the area of STEM, George Couros, author of The Innovator’s Mindset, stole the show. He is a gifted speaker and truly inspired us to think about being a kid in our classroom while making us laugh and cry all in the same moment. Listening to his keynote really motivated me to improve on what I do for myself and my students each and every day.

What I love about TIES in the recent years is it is no longer about the newest and coolest technology, but has embraced the application of those technologies in real-time situations. Many times during the two days I would hear the comment, “My brain is full!” There is something for everyone and rarely do you find someone there who is not inspired by something they heard in a session or while collaborating with a new connection that was made. Do not misunderstand me – I was one of those in the “playground” this year checking out the Lego robotics, Swivl, and the Bee-bots.

Several sessions I attended really made me think about branding. Who are we allowing to brand our school and why do we let them control what is being said about us? How can we make social media work for us in branding our school and teaching digital citizenship? With that comes staff development. How do we best meet our teachers’ needs for staff development in a differentiated manner? There were several really good sessions with some great ideas to implement meeting these needs of students and staff.

Once again, thank you CMLE for the opportunity to attend this amazing conference.