Libraries are fantastic

Recently I sent our teacher-librarian some really interesting links which I’d like to highlight here. The Teacher Librarian Ning looks very interesting. It is “For those of us who connect, teach, share, and lead in new information landscapes. Come play in this exciting learning sandbox!” Created by Joyce Valenza it features a frappr map and a discussion titled ‘Best Book you’ve Read all year’ with 57 replies. I think I’ll be going there when it is summer holidays for me. I think that there are enough resources about education generally to make it worth looking at for any educator.

In the same email I also pointed to a voicethread called The Face Off: Databases VS Google by Technolibrary (Carolyn Foote) because I had been talking the my teacher librarian about specialized information sources that student were overlooking due to their overdependence on Google regardless of the purpose of their search. It is a clear and logical explanation and one more reason to experiment with voicethread.

And lastly I pointed to The Not so Distant Future blog by also Carolyn Foote, a librarian at a large public suburban high school, Westlake High School, in Austin, Texas. I’ve met Carolyn on a number of occasions on Ustream events and have come to respect her wisdom. Her latest blog entry ‘Learning in a Community’ is an example of that wisdom:

So, here are some ways to build a learning network if you want one:

1. Read a few blogs. Pick four blogs. Read them, and make a comment fairly often. Part of the idea here is conversation with others.
2. Create your own site that people can visit. A blog, a wiki, a website–so when you post on their blog, they can see who you are, and what your work or interests are.
3. Join a network, like Classroom 2.0 Ning, or Global Education Ning or Teacher Librarian Ning or Librarian 2.0 Ning. It’s a great way to find out projects other people are starting and join them. Those are also great places to post a question or to ask someone to join a project you want to do.
4. Join a network that has to do with your outside interests–visit a knitting blog or a football blog or a travel blog and post comments there.
5. Join a site like Twitter. The thing about twitter is–you can’t just join it and sit there if you want to get the power of it. Join Twitter, search for 4 twittees that are educators, librarians, biology teachers–whatever your area of interest is.

Fabulous.
tag: library, Carolyn Foote, Web 2.0, twitter, blogs, Ning, community, innovation, education, teaching, learning