Image by Jason A. Howie. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.
Do you consider yourself to be a history buff? Would SixDegrees, Friendster and MySpace come to mind when you think about social media? In Trivial Pursuit, the 20th Anniversary Edition, it would probably fall under the category for “Innovations.”
Take a moment and breeze through Matt Smith’s quick history lesson about start-ups that built the foundation to what we refer to today as “social media.” In his article, October 2013, Smith gives a nod to early innovations such as the BBS (Bulletin Board System) and IRC (Internet Relay Chat.) These technologies predated the World Wide Web in the mid-90’s; opening a market for other platforms which ultimately bolstering sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest. Smith predicts, “While Facebook is king, there’s still room for niche alternatives, particularly those that emphasis images or video rather than an infinitely updating news feed.” Click here to read the full article, Social Media: Did it really start with Facebook? [Geek History Lesson], MakeUseof.
Tip: CMLE often highlights ways teacher librarians can incorporate forms of social media into classroom and instructional processes. Here are two additional free resources for you to consider;
Facebook Guide for Educators: A tool for teaching and learning, made available online by The Education Foundation 2013. Click here to download the pdf.
Image by RLHyde. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.
Many librarians teach formally and informally patrons/students how to conduct research. Dawn Casey-Rowe, a high school teacher and prominent writer for Edudemic, targets best practices for educators. This October, Casey-Rowe published an article titled, 10 Web Resources to Help Teach About Primary Sources. In this post, she talks about her experience with students after assigning a research paper pertaining to current events. She stated, “There is such an overload of information. Students need to be able to identify and decode sources, then make a decision as to what they mean in terms of causes and consequences.” Sound familiar? Casey-Rowe goes on to list resources that you might also find helpful, regardless of the researcher’s age.
One of the most common stumbling blocks in research is not understanding the best practices to conduct a search. In a related article, Holly Clark talks about the new “digital divide”as it relates to students’ ability to effectively find and process information while conducting searches. Here is a link to Clark’s full article, “Do Your Students Know How to Search?” also posted on Edudemic’s site (October 2013.)
Were you unable to attend the recent MEMO Conference in St. Cloud? Did you attend the conference but upon returning to work you were completely buried as a result of taking time off to invest in yourself? Perhaps you cannot even find those notes you took during the conference. No matter what your story is, Michelle Kiley and I attended the conference in order to report back some of the things we learned, and to help you feel more professionally connected too. With that in mind, some conference resources you may find interesting and helpful include:
Twitter hash tag for the conference was: #mnmemo. Many MEMO colleagues were tweeting during the conference and often embed links that may not be made available anywhere else, so check it out!
Tip: Through social media I often find out the Twitter hash tag for national conferences I am unable to attend. Then when I go into my Twitter account, I do a search for the hash tag to view conference content. Sometimes, even the keynotes are available in this way. Try it out!
Image by sidduz. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.
Would you like help selecting the best devices for a specific grade level?
If your school services various devices, or if you are thinking about purchasing additional devices, this article may help. Edudemic posted a brief review of the following four technologies, 1) OS, 2) Netbook, 3) Notebook, and 4) Tablet. Author David Matheson provides a brief overview with pros and cons of each type of device. Then, he links these uses to the general tasks needed at various grade levels. Click here to read the full article, How to Pick the Best Devices for Your Grade Level (August 2013.)
This post was provided by Minitex, a cooperative purchasing and electronic resource service.
Minitext is offering a set of free trials for you to consider in your library now through October 31st. Electronic resources are grouped by theme and include:
