Tag Archives: Update

School Media Specialist

TIES Highlights: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

Submitted by: Nancy Lorentz, Becker High School Media Specialist

Monday’s speaker, Sir Ken Robinson, gave an inspirational as well as humorous keynote. He discussed the state of education in the United States, and our emphasis on standardized testing and continuing to train our young people for an industrialized economy that simply no longer exists. We need to expose students to all sorts of experiences–arts, music, movement, technology as well as academics so that they can discover where their passions and talents lay.

The most valuable sessions I attended dealt with the use and management of mobile devices in education–specifically the iPad, and putting content on-line (especially using Moodle).

Becker High School will be rolling out a one-to-one program next fall, and every student will be issued an iPad for use during the school year. One of the challenges we will face is management of over 800 devices–without any extra personnel. A seemingly great solution was presented by JAMF Software out of Minneapolis in their session titled, “Apple Mobile Device Management Using the Casper Suite.” Some of the management capabilities of the Casper Suite iOS device management software include: Remote Wipe, Remote Lock and Remove Passcode. Mail can be set up on devices remotely; configuration profiles can be pushed to devices; the App Store can be removed from student devices; LDAP groups can be used to push out content and it automates the Apple Volume Purchasing Program. Sadly, there is a cost of approximately $8 per device for this service, so there will need to be a discussion about how to pay for it.

Because of our one-to-one initiative, the other topic I was interested in at TIES is creating content for the iPad. There were several sessions about future of textbooks in our schools. With more and more content being available digitally, teachers are able to find free materials and customize them for their own courses. A California initiative (CK12.org) provides “flexbook” content free for anyone to download, although most of the content is presently math and science/engineering related. The availability of this type of digital content, the ePub capabilities in iWork, the ease of creating presentations and video on the iPad will someday (hopefully soon) make the purchasing of expensive textbooks unnecessary.

Presently, about 25% of BHS teachers use Moodle and our wiki to put their content on-line. When all of our students have access to iPads 24/7, that means they will also need access to our content 24/7. Moodle is a free and easy way for teachers to post assignments, upload worksheets, link to websites, and create lessons and quizzes that students can access any time. The blogging and forum features of Moodle and wikis also make it easy for students to communicate with their teachers and each other on a regular basis. The math department in Byron, MN has done away with textbooks completely and now have all of their content–including videos of their lessons–on Moodle. While they pay licensing fees for some resources, the rest is a blend of open education resources and teacher-created content. Wolf Creek Online High School has used Moodle as its content management system for the past three years, using forums and on-line texts and journals with students to create and foster relationships between the students and their Learning Managers, and amongst themselves. The teachers have put together learning modules to teach academics, technology, career planning and personal and social skills to their students.

General, School Media Specialist

TIES 2010 Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

Submitted by: Mark Krueger, North Junior High Media Specialist

The TIES Conference 2010 was an excellent conference. There were many very good sessions to take part in. It seemed like the focus was more mobile devices than in the past. Such devices that were discussed in many sessions were iPods and iPads. Administrators who attended the conference received their own free iPads.

The keynote speaker on Monday was Sir Ken Robinson. He was an excellent speaker. Sir Robinson talked about how each learner has strengths and weaknesses. Each person has something that they are good at and education needs to change to help develop these personalized strengths. What also made him an excellent speaker was his ability to engage the audience with humor.

Overall I thought TIES 2010 was worth the trip. It is always a good experience to meet with other professionals in the area of education and technology. It is also a great time to talk with vendors about individual school needs. I know I talked with numerous vendors for multiple hours about what they have that could contribute to my school’s success. Such tools include projectors, document cameras, and audio devices. I would recommend the TIES conference in the future for any teacher or media specialist interested in technology and education.

School Media Specialist

AASL Launches Video Contest for Students

A partnership between the American Association of School Libraries (AASL), SchoolTube and Cisco has launched a project called Learning4Life in My School Library Student Video Contest. The videos should focus on how school libraries and their technologies encourage students to become lifelong learners. Student video submissions will be accepted between January 4th and March 18th. Winners will be announced April 1st, and will receive a Flip video camera and a prize for their school library. More information can be found at www.ala.org/aasl/l4lvideocontest/.

General, Public, School Media Specialist

TIES Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE scholarship recipient.

Submitted by: Joan Nevitt, Paynesville High School & Middle School Media Specialist

After attending one day of the 2010 Ties workshop, I was energized and inspired by the professional and relevant information that was presented. Unfortunately, I could only partake in 2 breakout sessions of the many offered.  Time and money would not allow for more this year. A big thank you to CMLE and the scholarship that allowed for me to attend. The first workshop that I chose was “Building a PLC (Professional Learning Community) using Google Docs and other tools”. Not only was the presenter knowledgeable, she also shared how this technology can inform staff with the ease of not rushing to countless meetings, etc. The other workshop provided insight and free applications for High School teachers to use with their Smart Boards.

The first staff meeting after the conference, I shared the many opportunities available for those who attend.  We will be sending staff members every year in the future. Serving on the Staff Development Community and Technology Committee will allow me to keep the word out about this amazing experience.

General, School Media Specialist

MEMO Conference Summary: A CMLE Scholarship

The following was submitted by a CMLE Scholarship recipient.

Submitted by: Wanda Erickson, Upsala Area Schools K-12 Librarian

6:30 a.m. came much too early for this night person!  Two mornings in a row I grumbled out of bed to meet my ride (Deb Disher, Holdingford’s master Media Specialist) and beat the sun into St. Cloud.  You will all laugh with me as I jerked awake Friday morning at 6:20, my alarm set for 7, because Deb was to arrive at 7.  Some have a reading dyslexia; I have a math dyslexia.

But I try not to miss the MEMO Fall Conference and especially appreciate the multi-year contract in St. Cloud as it means I can attend more easily.  Thursday evening’s vendor reception allows me to scout out the vendor area, talk to the various sales reps and begin to place my name in drawing bins.  (Whom do I talk to about not winning anything this year?)

Buffy Hamilton, Cathy Jo Nelson and Marcia Thornton Jones jogged ideas through my brain.  Participatory librarianship = a BIGGER vision!  PR will not make you relevant; YOUR vision for how the library can contribute does!  Develop 23 Things On a Stick for students and call it 5 Things In Our Pockets (put jeans pockets or old card pockets on a bulletin board-kids collect laminated activity cards when they complete each task-master Flip video camera, layout a poster, read an ebook, teach another student to request a title).

Assisting Joan Larson at the book tables in the past has whetted my appetite for more.  This year I volunteered to help with the author visits and the book tables.  What a wonderful time!  I gathered information from the authors to disseminate to my public library staff, who invest Legacy funds in author and illustrator visits.

I am a Boomer librarian who is not transitioning easily to life in the cloud.  I ponder the definition of library.  Where do my libraries live and just exactly when did they transform because I missed it?  Can a Skyped author visit really encompass the same energy as a F2F visit?  Seeing Pat Bauer and Dave Geister in full costume cannot be reproduced.  And, perhaps, there is no substitute for ‘real’ experiences.  After all, I learned one can storyboard very effectively with post-it notes on a laminated piece of cardboard.