Technology

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  Videoconferencing for K-12 classrooms : a program development guide by Camille Cole, Kecia Ray, and Jan Zanetis (ISTE, 2009, 183 p., $______, ISBN: 9781564842565)

  This trio of authors describe how to set up sophisticated videoconferencing systems complete with a technology staff and sophisticated equipment. They also provide guidance for the type of learning experiences to create that will take advantage of the system. There is, if course, a place for the fancy systems because it can take a great deal of pressure off both the classroom teacher and the building teacher librarian. There is also the low-end systems we can all learn such as Skyping an expert or a small group or another class in a remote location. The potential for interacting and collaborating remotely both by text, audio, and video have never been better. If you have an802.11g network available to you, then the possibilities for enough bandwidth to have a great experience is very real. Skype, Elluminate, and a wide variety to web 2.0 systems allow videoconferencing with one or several individuals without a lot of technical knowhow. Here is where your building Geek Squad of volunteer students can assist you. They love to do all the connecting and troubleshoot the problems that arise.  It all keeps getting better and better. So, do you need this book? Only if you are doing high end stuff. Otherwise there are plenty of opportunities for do it yourselfers.

   

• Going beyond Google : the Invisible Web in learning and teaching by Jane Devine and Francine Egger-sider (Neal-Schuman, 2009, 156 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781555706333)

  Have you ever met a fabulous reference librarian who seemed to be able to find the answer to any question not matter how difficult? Kids and teens and perhaps most adults say they have met this librarian named Google. Of course Google provides the right answer, the right information, and the best information to every query whether I am a fourth grader or a college professor. NOT! Well, what’s missing? I already get too much information when I do a search, what more should I want or need? Our expert authors answer this question in a depth that makes the difference between a novice and an information professional. They teach us and teach us how to teach what is beyond the scope of what Google and other search engines might provide access to. It is called the invisible web or the deep web and if you have not had a major professional development experience in this type of searching and use with kids and teens, then this book is for you. Yes, the examples are a bit above the K-12 level but the search techniques are not and the examples are easily adapted. Kids and teens will never go beyond Google…well, neither will teachers…unless we guide them there. If I as a professional information specialist don’t have twenty techniques at my finger tips for searching the invisible web or really don’t know what that is, then take a course or read this book. Put on that magical hat that makes your expert ices sought out and valued.

   

   

• The Web and parents : are you tech savvy? By Judy Hauser (Libraries Unlimited, 2009, 236 p., $_____, ISBN: 9781591587958)

  While this book is targeted at parents, anyone wanting to be introduced to a wide variety of Web 2.0 tools would benefit. The author covers the creation, use, with lots of answered questions and examples for blogs, social networks, wikis, search engines, podcasts, RSS, web sites, forums, photo management, graphic generators, amd Internet safety.  Simple directions for “getting on” complete with screen shots are given for several popular tools for each category. This book would be a great one for adults who might get a lesson from a kid on the tool but then “bone up” after the direct help is gone. It might also serve as a sample guide for the geek squad to is preparing to teach a tool to the entire school and are preparing their own plans. An excellent and up to date (at least for the moment)  group of tools that are popularly used in many schools. If you need such a guide, buy this one quick before it goes the way of anything on the Internet.

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• Beyond cut-and-paste: engaging students in making good new ideas, by Jamie Mckenzie (FNO Press, 2009, 164 p., $_____, ISBN: 9780967407807)

  If you are a regular reader of Jamie Mckenzie’s columns in his FNO newsletter, then you have read all these articles published in the last couple of years. Sage advice with Jamie’s clever turn of a phrase make for thoughtful pieces to share with the faculty. So, if you want a handy copy of his columns, here is his latest collection. If you are not a subscriber to his newsletter, find it on the Internet and subscribe. Always food for thought.

   

• ISTE's technology facilitation and leadership standards : what every K-12 leader should know and be able to do, by Jo Williamson and Traci Redish (ISTE, 2009, 260 p. $39.95, ISBN: 9781564842527)

  For teacher librarians, one expects to be certified by a school that is either ALA accredited or NCATE accredited. Standards for this certification have been developed by an AASL committee for NCATE. Likewise, if you want to be a technology facilitator, I term  this person a teacher technologist, a person who is an instructional leader rather than the stereotypical tech director interested in constructing networks and fixing computers, then IStE has worked with NCATE to develop standards of what this person should know and be able to do. Some state have certification for such a position in the schools, others do not. Teacher librarians should have the ability to be leaders in the use of technology in teaching and learning. This publication sees another professional without library education being able to take a leadership role. So, does a school hire two professionals – perhaps four? Two professionals who worry about networks, wires, cataloging, collection development, and two other professionals that are concerned with teaching and learning using technology and information resources? It is easy to envision here a war between two professionals vying for a position in a school that can only afford to hire one person. The major question is what kind of person is likely to maximize the impact of both information and technology on student achievement and how teachers teach in an information-rich and technology-rich environment? Certainly every educator of both roles on both sides of the fence need to understand the emphasis of preparation for both types of credentials out there. This lengthy book covers the ISTE version. The ISTE standards for the technology facilitator are as follows: technology operation and concepts; planning and designing learning environments and  experiences; teaching, learning, and the curriculum; assessment and evaluation; productivity and professional practice; social, legal, ethical, and human issues; procedures, policies, planning,  and budget for technology environments; leadership and vision. Given all that, when the reader really gets to the central ideas pursued here, I find the concept of technology’s promise to teaching and learning somewhat clouded. We all understand that a central function of technology is  to introduce efficiency into teaching and learning. That is, we all appreciate the difference between the typewriter and the word processor and its impact. We are beginning to understand that the collaborative nature of web 2.0 technologies spurs collaborative learning introducing the idea that as a learner I know things and we know things and that both individual and group intelligence is a central element of global competitiveness. This concept is danced around but not defined clearly. Another  problem is the lack of clarity about the role of technology to boost deep understanding of the topic I am studying. If I live in the desert and read a book about the rain forest vs. if I see a film or interact in real time with someone who lives there, my knowledge of the rain forest can and should expand exponentially because of the technology. I can learn more in the same amount of time and that deep understanding has many implications for what I can do and what I should do next. A third important lack of clarity is the central idea of what collaboration means between the classroom teacher and the technology facilitator is. As I read it, the role carved out is one of a coach but not an actual participant in a learning experience as a co-teacher. In other words, it would seem that the authors paint the technologist outside the learning circle rather than central to it as does the AASL Empowering Learners document does. Perhaps I missed the idea that two heads are better than one when planning, creating, teaching, and assessing a learning experience. Since there is no index to the publication, one cannot be absolutely certain. An electronic version of the book will facilitate the search of key terms and tags. However, with each of the three cloudy or missing elements pointed out, I think the publication has a flaw that I see in the approach that has been taken with technology over the past couple of decades. That would make a great debate in a symposium of experts from a wide variety of perspectives. Now to the issue ow whether you should own a copy of this publication. Certainly, every library media educator needs a copy to read and study and compare with the current curriculum of certification of teacher librarians. District teacher librarian coordinators should own a copy and understand it in depth in order to stimulate discussions about the roles of the various professionals in the district. In a number of schools there are instances of a major split between library and technology. Such a stance is unfortunate because the two more traditional roles have more in common than differences if both parties take the time to talk, plan, and co-teach together with classroom teachers. AASL will need to develop a book like this one as new standards are adopted by NCATE concerning the preparation of teacher librarians that are expected in the next year or two.

   

• The next 100 years : a forecast for the 21st century by George Friedman (Doubleday, 2009, 253 p., $25.95, ISBN: 9780385517058) If you look up this title on Amazon or the Library of Congress, you will find lots of prophetic books of the same title written in various decades of the last century beginning with one written in 1936. And, while it would be fun to read them all and comment on their predictions, we thought this title might be a good summer read just to tickle the imagination. Our predictor, a respected author looks decade by decade and politics, technology, population, and various countries. In his eyes, Mexico and China loom large…but we spoil the fun.

• Internet technologies and information services by Joseph B. Miller (Libraries Unlimited, 2009, 387 p, $_____, ISBN: 9781591586265)

  Did you take an in-depth course in computers and technology while in library school? I did, back in the days of the punched cards! One does not need to be very old to admit familiarity with that era. But times have changed and Miller’s book written as a textbook for a technology course is a current example of just what all librarians including teacher librarians need to understand about the digital and virtual world. Check your knowledge against the topics of the table of contents to judge whether you need this book: Introduction (covers the history of computers and the Internet you have probably lived through), Networks (how they work whether wired or wireless), Internet Technologies TCP/IP, Internet Protocols (from email to http), Internet Computers and Security, Web Design, Graphic Printer, Web Publishing with HTML and XML, Styles in HTML, Web Programming, XML Printer, Internet Content, Information Retrieval, Internet Search, Web 2 and 3.0. Well, how did you do? Such a book and a course in the topic poses a good question for all of us: How much do we really need to know and understand about the technical workings of the Internet and must we know HTML to be able to construct information spaces and assist patrons in searching and construction? Having made assignments to graduate students to construct virtual learning commons using the various simple construction tools such as Google Sites, those who succeed the best are those who do have HTML background, but the tools keep getting better so that one begins to believe that to operate a refrigerator, you don’t need a degree in engineering or manufacturing. Do you have to be a cataloger to use the OPAC effectively? Well, it does help, but it is becoming more and more optional. So, if you have the inclination dig in deeper and have a week to attack the book, one chapter at a time, this is one choice among so many books on the market. The advantage here is that Miller also speaks library in addition to computers. However, read it quick while most of it is still current.

   

• Safe practices for life online : a guide for middle and high school by Doug Fodeman and Marje Monroe (ISTE, 2009, 241 p. $29.95, ISBN: 9781564842480)

  Teacher librarians are often worried about accessibility of web sites and Web 2.0 tools for studnts and opportunities to interact online during the school day are increasing in spite of many horror stories and tech directors who just say no. As access opens up, the opportunities to teach young people how to create their own information spaces, manage those information spaces, and manage themselves in those information spaces increase. Fodeman, a tech director and Monroe, a clinical social worker, team up to create over a hundred quick exercises to do with teens to help them manage themselves in the wonderful yet unpredictable world of the Internet. They cover a wide spectrum of topics including screen names and passwords, identity theft, cyberbullying, instant messaging, social networking, media literacy, phishing, giving out personal information, and safety at home. What we like about this book is that a several-page introduction is provided for the adult reader about the problem. It is good to read these essays because we may not, as adults, be aware of the problem and it helps us communicate to the students, some of whom are more tech savvy than we are. These essays are followed up by a number of quick exercises that can be done quickly with kids. These exercises can be integrated into assignments and explorations when they fit and when they might be remembered by the students. We would have liked to see a teacher librarian on this writing team to cover some concerns that we have, but, bottom line, this is a book to own and use. Its emphasis is on asking probing questions of the teens and participating with them in the construction of safe practices rather than telling them what not to do. A must purchase.

   

• Using WEB 2.0 tools in the K-12 classroom by Beverley E. Crane (Neil-Schuman, 2009, 188 p., $______, ISBN: 9781555706531)

  Cran is an example of a writer in educational technology who focuses on enhancing teaching and learning through technology rather than standing back to admire the glitz or worship of the software or network potential. A good example is her first main chapter on blogging in the language arts. She introduces the tool, then demonstrates the process of using blogs in an I-Search project. She teaches not only podcasting, but how to use it in a history class  studying immigrants and emigration. We learn how to create wikis to stimulate both individual and collaborative writing activities across the curriculum with a full chapter devoted to digital stoty-telling. She devotes a chapter to using various Google tools and another chapter on working with ELL students. We recommend this book for its usefulness. Each chapter can be used in a professional development session where teachers are introduced to a technology, but more importantly develop ways to use that technology in their classrooms to boost leering. For the intermediate user of web 2.0 tools, the value here is a range of ideas that may not have occurred to us before. Highly recommended.

   

• Redefining literacy 2.0, 2^nd ed.,  by David F. Warlick (Linworth, 2008, 183 p., $34.95, ISN: 9781586833336) Warlick acknowledges in his introduction that since his first edition published just in 2004, much has changed and developed in the world of information technology. So, while many of the same messages of the original still grace these pages, new examples, ideas, and trends are noted. This is an extremely important book for every teacher librarian to read and think about. What are the expanding ideas about literacy beyond skilled reading and writing? And, how are new technologies foundational in the demands of the flat world that requires new skills to compete successfully on a global stage? What actions can teacher librarians and teacher technologists in addition to other school leaders take to insure that kids are growing up in a changed literacy environment? Even if you have read the previous edition, put this on your professional learning community’s list. Named as one of the best professional books of 2008 by Teacher Librarian.