What’s All the Hype with Social Networking AND the Media Center?

The hype behind social networking is that it allows clusters of small or large groups to gather in a median to share daily or life experiences, special events, recipes, photos and political views all on the same platform.  It’s a place to reconnect with old family and friends, as well as place to meet new ones that could be in your life forever.    In today’s time, websites have been used as the common median for groups to gather and share.  What’s great about social networking, especially online, is that it allows you to connect with people all around the world.  You can experience different cultures and express your views all from the Internet.  Often within a social networking group, you are in that group because it’s of interest to you and you have received an invitation to join.  What’s also great about online social networking is that you can create groups within groups to share within, hence making the group even larger (What is Social Networking?, 2012).

However with all good, there is some bad with social networking that can be deemed bad and even deadly.  The first is theft of your identity and information, since we have come to trust the Internet as a way of conversing and doing business.  Another is the possibility of downloading a virus sent from someone in the group. And third is the arena that is created for online predators to prey on potential victims, as they are not required to reveal their true identity (What is Social Networking?, 2012

The question becomes, can social networking sites be a positive enhancement to a Media Center? My thoughts are yes, if it is relevant and relatable to the school.  Students can get within their online group to discuss upcoming tests, readings, competitions or it can be a place where they blog on a topic given, as we are charged with doing for this class.  Online social networking has become the new way to share your thoughts and ideas with a mass of people without verbally communicating.  When we think of social networking today, the first sites that come to mind are Facebook and Twitter, yet there are so many other social networking groups that are informative and educational. 

Overall, I believe it is both ESSENTIAL and NECESSARY for Media Specialist to create an environment that allows opportunities for growth beyond a text book.  Sharing of ideas through online social networking allows for students to express themselves, as well as a platform for them to shine, in terms of the knowledge they share with their teachers and peers.  The Media Center has been limited far too long and needs to show society as a whole, that they are moving with the technology times and are open to students learning beyond a textbook.

What is Social Networking. Com.  (2012). What is Social Networking? Retrieved February 24, 2012 from http://www.whatissocialnetworking.com/

Tricia McCoy - Original Post

Media Center Websites: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

  

     As the Media Specialist, you need to have a school website that meets the needs of the students and teachers.  However, you probably are not a web designer and you need to keep it simple.  It’s important to focus on what you know and what you are good at and don’t attempt the things that you don’t know.

     The first thing you need when developing a web site is a plan.  What purpose do you want the web site to serve?  Do you have a vision for this web site and how it will look?

      There are several questions that you need to ask yourself when starting to develop the site. First, who is your audience?  Teachers, parents, students and administrators will be accessing your site to located pertinent information.  They will be looking for books they would like to read, information to help them create and teach lessons, recommended reading lists and websites for children.

     Second, you need to ask yourself what would make my website successful.  It is important at this point to look at other media center web sites to get an idea of what information they include, how they set up their sites, what is appealing to you about the sites, and how easily the sites can be navigated. School Library Websites is a place where you can view examples of difference web sites and get ideas. http://schoollibrarywebsites.wikispaces.com/

     Third, how do you want your web site to look?  Is it going to be the traditional web site, or are you leaning towards a blog or a wiki?  You want to make sure that your site uses complementary and soothing colors.  It’s important that the layout design is easy to read and doesn’t confuse the viewer.  Are you going to include sidebars, links to other sites, or columns?  Just remember, the sky is the limited when it comes to designing your web site.      

     Fourth, decide what information you want viewers to see on your site.  Do you want to highlight any special programs that are going on in the media center? Do you want a link to your OPAC, book lists, or other sites that might be useful to your patrons?  The website, 21^st Century School Teacher has a wealth of information on nationally known sites. You can access the site at: http://www.21stcenturyschoolteacher.com/cool-websites.html

     Finally, how are you going to evaluate your site? It is important that people be able to give you feedback on the site. Are you going to provide a location for comments, or ask patron to email you their comments?

     After you have asked yourself all of the questions and developed your plan, you are now ready to build your site.  There are things that you should do and things that you should not do when it comes to designing your website. Here are some recommended Do’s and Don’ts of Web Site Design.

Do’s:

1.     Do make your web site attractive and useful.

2.     Do make the titles on your web page make sense.

3.     Do make images that look like buttons act like buttons.

4.     Do keep the structure of your web pages consistent throughput your website.

5.     Do use standard design styles for you navigation.

6.     Do make your web pages viewable at 800 X 600 resolution.

7.     Do creative a custom 404 “Page not found” page.

8.     Do create a simple site map.

9.     Do keep your web pages under 60k in size.

10. Do make your web site easily accessible and user friendly.

Don’ts:

1.     Don’t use background music on your web pages.

2.     Don’t use busy backgrounds on your pages.

3.     Don’t set your type to all capital letters in your body text.

4.     Don’t have more than a few words in italics or bold case.

5.     Don’t use too many colors in your web site.

6.     Don’t use page counters.

7.     Don’t use blinking or flashing text.

8.     Don’t center everything on your web pages.

9.     Don’t force people to download a new browser or special plug-in to see your site.

10.  Don’t include “Under Construction” pages.

     The most important thing to remember is that your web site is a reflection of you and your media center.  You want it to have everything, but still be attractive and easy to use.  After looking at the different examples while researching for this blog, I realized that there are several changes that I want to make to my media center web site. 

Wiki - From Conception to the School Library Media Center

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Christi Lenz

Wikis – From Conception to the School Library Media Center

Although wikis seem like new technology to those of us just re-entering the world of higher education, wikis have been around since 1994, when Ward Cunningham invented the concept and gave it its name. Cunningham created the first wiki in 1994, and released it in 1995, in order to facilitate communication between software developers.  Wikipedia is probable the best know wiki project, having more than 290,000 entries since 2004. 

The word wiki comes from the Hawaiian word for quick.  Wikis are quick because they allow for a combined process of reading and editing.  According to the article Wide Open Spaces by Brian Lamb the fundamental principles of a wiki include;

·         anyone can change anything

·         wikis use simplified hyper text mark up

·         wiki page titles are mashed together

·         content is ego-less, time-less, and never finished

Wikis are great collaborative tools that are now making their way into the educational forefront.  Teachers are using wikis to set up student portfolios, as organizational tools, as collaborative sketch pads for students, and as collaborative spaces between teachers.  My son’s 8^th grade math teacher has a wiki set up for her class so the students can reach her at any time for homework help.  Each student has a login and password setting so she knows who is posting on the wiki and who she needs to help.  The students can post questions about their homework at anytime.  She has the wiki set to her email on her smart phone so students never have to wait long for a reply.

Some of the drawbacks to a wiki include the fact that it uses simple text and is not as attractive and flashy as a web page and more importantly the security is seen as “soft security”.  Since the nature of a wiki is that anyone can edit and make changes to the page it does pose some risks especially in a school setting.  Because of this wikis are often monitored to ensure that inappropriate language, spam, and incorrect or inappropriate content are not allowed. This can be very time-consuming. As a result, many wikis require authorization so only group members can modify content.

      Some media centers are using wiki spaces as their web page or as a feature of the web pages.  There are a lot of great tools that can be accessed and easily used as part of the wiki.  It is very user friendly and allows for collaboration with patrons.  The only drawback I can see to using the wiki for you web page interface is the lack of aesthetic beauty, so to speak.  In the lower grade a wiki would be a great way to conduct literature circles or book clubs.  As the students mature and learn to use the technology a wiki is a great way to build a collaborative space for research projects.  It also could be a great way for the school library media specialist to build and develop collaborative lessons with/for the classroom teacher.  Using the wiki as a research guide brings together the needs for collaborative lessons and providing research tools for the students.  A great example of this is shown in Amy Bowlan's School Library Journal article. In the article she describes how she used a Wiki to bring many resources together for teachers and students as they explored a particular book. You can check the article out at http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6590061.html.  Building subject guides or pathfinders is also a great way to help both the teacher and students. The Decatur High School Library has a great example of this located at   http://dhs.wikispaces.com/.  

Wikis are a great way to get teachers and students thinking, creating, and collaborating.  It is also one more way to show that as a school library media specialist we are not only relevant, but also are leaders in the growing world of information technology.

From the Podium to a PODCAST (original post)

From the Podium to a PODCAST

If you are not familiar with the term "podcast," you automatically know that it's dealing with technology and the use of the Internet.  Not knowing anything further, leads you to believe that this is something that only true techies can do.  However, this is not true because it’s SO easy to create a podcast that even first grade students have mastered the art of “podcasting!”

How do YOU define podcasting?  Well, podcasting to me is a digital audio file that can be downloaded on the Internet.  Knowing this much, how do YOU feel podcasting can be a relevant tool to today’s Media Specialist?

We have come to learn and understand; that the Media Center is the nucleus of the school where information is stored and distributed to all those who wish to visit.  Yet, the idea of the Media Center still remains as the place where only books are checked in and checked out and where school equipment is stored.  As we push to remove those thoughts and show that the Media Center is where technology literally “thrives,” podcasting takes us from the podium where the teacher stands and lectures or where the Media Specialist checks out books to a new way of higher-order thinking.  As a side-note, everything that we are engaged in as human beings deals with LITERACY…and now TECHNOLOGY! 

As the Media Specialist for a school, podcasting is a great tool to use by many to engage and motivate students in the learning process. But first, the teacher must be educated on podcasting and the benefits.  Here is where professional development is required on part of the Media Specialist to their most important counterpart – THE TEACHER!  Once teacher’s see that creating podcast encourages higher-order thinking, creativity, leadership, oratory skills, writing skills and reading comprehension…they will be creating podcast with every unit taught.  Classes can have scheduled visits into the Media Center where the Media Specialist along with the teacher can assist students in creating their podcast.  Overall, podcasting is a POWERFUL tool that not only encourages peer teaching with respect to creating podcast, but motivates the students to want to LEARN more as they enhance their podcast!

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