a discussion of information fluency, searching, teaching, and learning in the 21st century

My study looked at both features and characteristics of a small sample of exemplary school library sites. That is, it looked at both the “whats” and the “hows” of effective practice online. Regarding the “hows,” one of my research questions was: What common organizational structures and design characteristics are employed in exemplary school library sites? With [...]

You can tell it’s the end of the year. Their exam over, our AP US History students are a little more relaxed as they attack their final debate. You can tell the pressure is off. When I shared our new books on the environment, the girls grabbed them and broke into a [...]

Our students are just finishing up the latest in our series of learning objects.  I think they did an especially nice job on the critical disease, Prepositionitis!  These are becoming nifty tools for whole-school review.   http://www.sdst.org/shs/library/videos/prepositions.mov

A few weeks ago, Martin, one of my students, told me about a couple of his latest purchases from a web tech catalog in China. It took a while, but his package arrived.  Today he showed me his new Dick Tracy-style MP4 watch.  It’s very Martin; it’s not very Joyce.  I [...]

This week I discovered the new groups function in Ning.  Like the rest of our TeacherLibrarianNing, this little function appears to be growing nicely.  The widget allows the spawning of special interest groups off the main Ning.  Right now we have a high school librarians group and a YA literature group.  Please join us and begin a group of your [...]

I finally submitted my dissertation to the university after addressing my committee’s suggestions. The paper and the stuff that had to go with it were so bulky that Liza (above) had to help me stuff it all in the official envelope. Looking at my past posts, as well as the past couple of sentences, [...]

Jimmy Atkinson of the OEDb: Online Education Database (a group concerned with presenting reviews of online colleges and degree programs) wrote me yesterday to share OEDb’s newly published list of best tools for online research. And he asked, “let me know what you think.” This is a dangerous question to ask of this librarian. [...]

The SEOmoz’s new Web 2.0 Awards were announced today. Last year’s list led me to tools that have become a regular part of my life online. There’s lots to explore. Some are already favorites.  Some look like great fodder for pathfinders.  Others present some cool potential for incorporation in learning activities. Among [...]

I had a couple of conversations over the past week that involve preparing preservice teacher-librarians and working with the folks out there who don’t know what to do with the shift in the information landscape, as well as those who didn’t even feel it move. In fact, some of that talk occurred during my defense. [...]

(I know that the universe won’t shift with this news. So, those of you who read this blog because a professor is forcing you to, please wait for the next post which I promise will come soon now that I am released and relaxed.) Those of you who are friends and colleagues, please celebrate with [...]