I'm pleased that the course is focusing on nuts and bolts technology this week. All the social networking web 2.0 is fantastic, of course. We all agree that knowing about Web 2.0 tools makes the school librarian valuable, not to mention alluring and oh-so-with-it. But we still need to talk to the (often) cranky tech person about prosaic things like servers, wonky lap tops and all manner of equipment failures. Reading through the wikipedia definitions of computer terms reassured me that this class was not going to be just about the newer social technologies.
Something I’ve just realized about most of the social networking tools we are playing with and learning about: Classroom teachers will likely require training (workshop, seminar, break room pitch?) before anything in the way of wikis or del.ici.ous gets implemented. I suppose that’s been said in various ways, but that’s the blunt reality, isn’t it?
My Two-bits on the readings for this week:
The RFID article:
First of all, when I was initially skimming it I thought I read that the Vatican was tagging children in Denmark amusement parks. Okaaaay. My opinion about RFID in libraries: put this one in the Monitor It file. It’s important to understand what it is, and how it can be used in libraries. But this stuff’s expensive, it’s most likely to happen in large public libraries, not school libraries. But I took note of the “not if, but when” comment at the end. I just think the When is not any time soon.
Streaming Video Article:
Hurrah, at last we are we are talking about a technology currently used in school libraries, that teacher’s already know about and use. And everyone seems to like it! Except that kid who didn’t get out of his homework just for being sick. (from the second page: “and a student who missed the lesson could view the video at home while sick!”). Loved the collection of streaming sites. The Academy library has a safari montage streaming service Yay. Sadly, there was “some kind of power surge” according to the outgoing librarian, and now it’s broken. Boo. So, one of the first things I get to do when I begin the job is get that streaming service back up. I think it’s been out of commission for some time. I feel like if premium library services like streaming video appear, and then drop off because they got broken and didn'tt get fixed quickly, then you lose your teacher’s mind share as a good resource.
Finally, couldn’t help but be hopeful for increased use of streaming services—it will cut down on the amount of junk ( in this case VHS cassettes and DVDs ) generally in the world, not to mention on my library shelves.
Invisible Access article:
Had a little song pop into my head as I read this one: Dream, Dream, Dream by The Everly Brothers. My first reaction was: Well, huh, this schooldistrict has money that they are willing to throw at this school in order to immerse it into all these technologies. I don’t have that and neither do most schools in the U.S. Mercifully, that initial reaction was followed by a more pertinent take-away for this article: This school has something more valuable than financial assets. It’s the communal nature of this group – they way the entire school is dedicated to education through technology, that makes these programs successful. Granted, it is a tech school, but still, I think changing the mindset of an entire school, staff and students, is more potent than having a huge budget to buy more tech toys.
1 comment:
Nuts and bolts can be fun too - that's what I thought when I read this post.
In terms of RFID - exactly right, it's important to keep this in mind as the technology improves and the price comes down. I'm reminded of the schools that said, we'll never have an automated catalog and now.... It's something that's inevitable at some point. The possibilities that RFID will bring in terms of opening up library service - what you'll have time to do when RFID is implemented is pretty amazing. That's one reason to push it a little bit. Once self-checkout is implemented I can do more with the teachers and students. Yay!
I bet if you can bring the streaming back the teachers will love you. It will be a great way to make friends quickly.
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