One Librarian Responds to eBooks Issues

Agnostic, Maybe:  The Every Increasing Disappointment with eBooks

Curmudgeon or Realist?  Schools aren't rushing into the e-fiction frenzy as the sands of the publishing field are shifting.  Are your students asking for these or bringing in their devices for loading?  Are your iPad users stocked with good resources for reading?  Do you think our students own e-readers or would seek these over hot new books in print format?  Are your students reading Google Books or books from Project Gutenberg?  Are these suited to the needs of our struggling readers?  If not, where do we find the range of resources that is inclusive of the reading needs of our students who might not want to read the classics?  Do we like e-pub or do we see value in pdf access?  Do we look at annual subscriptions to lists we set or do we purchase e-books?  What platform (as in Overdrive) would we use for signing out e-books?  Do we want to assist our classroom colleagues in providing access to "class sets" or "sets of titles" of e-books for traditional or lit circle approaches to novel studies?  Loads of questions.  Do we create a discussion group?  Or do we let the sands settle?  There is certainly a lot of homework and research to be done ... but that's where we TLs excel.  Your Comments appreciated.

Thoughts about iPads and School Libraries

Don't get me wrong, I love everything about the iPad I have, including that it is mine to add to -- my books, my apps, etc.  It is mine for capturing photos, checking the internet when I am in a wi-fi environment or I tether it to my phone (it becomes a personal hotspot or "router" for the iPad), and I can take notes ... although not in the range of formats or with the same speed as I can when I use my laptop.  In this role, I think it suffices but I prefer my laptop.  I love the fact that I was forced to take Typing in high school ... I think and compose and edit at about the same speed as I input.

Anyone finding greater value in having iPads in school libraries than laptops?  I have been fairly adamant that we need laptops, not iPads, at least at first.  My sense of things, certainly for us in secondary schools, is that we need "production" devices, not "consumer" devices.  While production is possible in the iPad/tablet mode, I think it is terribly constrained.  You need retrieval and processing apps, some of which cost money (one problem with the iPad) as the student personalizes his/her learning, and all of which are "lost" when device is wiped.

Also, your views please on keyboarding:  Is it a dying requirement?  Are we down to poking and thumbing?  Or should we be supporting our students' capacities to "think and write" with keyboarding in the digital environment?

The market for and resources for e-reading are limited to Google Books, Project Gutenberg, and other online FREE resources until we acquire either a platform like the expensive and cumbersome Overdrive and various titles or a subscription collection like Orca's.  I also think iPads and similar devices are "personal" and do not appeal to those who like to personalize (that is, download info and apps) but then have to return the device.

And is it just me or do our students seem delighted with the reading of print materials that are engaging, not new titles, graphic novels, Guinness Books, etc.?  While I strongly support the need to have reading resources for our reluctant ones and our iPad or device-driven programs, I am daily reminded of the students who simply love books.

Your views please?  I haven't found any TL who answers they would rather have iPads than laptops, at least as the initial workhorse device. 

I am hoping I am not behind the times when I stand up to my colleagues who have insisted I need android and iPad devices!  Nice to have the choice but I simply think they don't understand what we do in the school library / learning commons.  Or is such thinking simply sacrilege in our new focus on and drive for 21st Century Learning?  Who else is asking the questions?

Time for Some Professional Reading ...

Did you read Charlie Naylor's 21st Century Learning: Widening the frame of focus and debate: A BCTF research discussion paper yet?   We are thrilled to have the BCTLA Points of Inquiry document both cited and quoted.  And if you are really attentive to details in reading Charlie’s paper, you will recognize the work that Sylvia has been involved in at Livingstone and the citation that includes her name.

In particular, Charlie heralds the ways in which education K-12 is being transformed by technology but cautions us to attend to the ways in which the messages about 21st Century Learning are being shaped.  They are steeped in some old understandings, such as de-schooling, and do not attend to such 21st C educational priorities such as social justice and sustainability or give credit to the many places that change is already under way in our schools. 

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Here are two documents that are must-reads -- certainly the latter is a must-scan -- as your school plans for technology and 21st Century learning:  

• From Ed Leadership this month, an issue entitled "Teaching Screenagers": A technology plan that works.  Guess what, you have to start with the teaching and learning ... then you select the the toys and tools that work best to achieve best practice.  Any plan that is founded on a brand name or a product is doomed to fail.

• The EL article above alludes to the North Carolina IMPACT media and technology integration approach which is fantastic.  It's a huge read at 347 pages but my quick review was that it would be worth spending some time on its important ideas.  In his Introduction to the document, Chairman of the NC State Board of Education Howard N. Lee writes:

We know that school library media and instructional technology programs are the foundation of a 21st Century education. The access to information that these programs afford makes the difference between the textbook-bound classroom of the past and the far-reaching, resource-based curriculum of today and tomorrow. Research tells us that instructional technology, used appropriately, results in higher test scores.  It is remarkably effective in sparking student interest, increasing motivation, and raising self-esteem, thus positively impacting student achievement. Research also tells us that a school library media center that provides up-to-date, accurate, and attractive resources managed by a professional school library media coordinator who collaborates with teachers to augment and enhance classroom instruction also results in increased test scores, especially in reading. IMPACT reflects both the reality of this research and the commitment to assuring that every teacher and student has the academic and personal advantage of access to these high quality programs.

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Feeling a need for some research on reading, literacy, and second language learning?  Thanks, Drs Annette Lamb and Larry Johnson, for the wonderfully deep Eduscapes site and these links on The School Library Media Specialist site to the significant work of Stephen Krashen.

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The 2011 Horizon Report produced annually by the New Media Consortium (That's Larry Johnson again) and Educause has just been released.  Here is one of many discussions of what are the 6 Top Trends in Technology identified in the Report.  



... Some Technology Research ...

Useful tools and resources to review and share:

• I am liking this Comox Valley English teacher Tara Colborne's blog for her Grade 11s.  Share this with colleagues.  And I couldn't agree more about the usefulness of blogging as a tool for reading and writing.  Here's an article from Ed Week:  Tech Tools Boost Literacy.
   
• WebList (create a list of URLs, images, documents, videos at a single web address to share with friends, students, colleagues) which I think has tons of instructional value.  Register to keep your discrete lists available.  Here's a great example:  Copyright-friendly Images

• The E-Book Directory for fine literature from around the world:  see the right-hand sidebar for links to YA and Children's Lit.  

• Online Maps - a definitive list of map sources available online, from the Library at Carleton University, including this one that is the subject of much tweeting this weekend:  Show/MappingWorlds.  You select a subject from the top menu and watch the countries on the map change their size. Instead of land mass, the size of each country will represent the data for that subject --both its share of the total and absolute value.

... and Some Professional Development 

Here's hoping we will see you at:

• District Technology Day Supporting Learning Through Technology on Friday, February 18.  It's at JO (8:30 to 1:30, $15) and will feature several workshops with and for TLs, including Denise doing Prezi, Aaron doing Social Media, Frances doing Blogging with Jacob (secondary science and literacy mentor) and Pawan (primary teacher and former literacy mentor), and Michele and I on Points of Inquiry as the impetus for building the school-wide plan for technology integration with teaching and learning.  Yep, that's right:  Michele is BACK!  Looking forward to seeing you there.
  
  REGISTER NOW: Supporting Learning Through Technology

• Winter Tonic:  All Wrapped Up ... February 22 at Van Tech.  Keynote Dr Eric Myers from SLAIS at UBC will discuss Social Networking.  Cheriee is presenting Book Trailers; Pat, Human Libraries; as usual, expect Adult Reads, and more.  There will be a Q & A panel for new TLs.  If you can`t find the registration form, contact Mark at Cunningham.  Send $40 to Jan at False Creek (includes VTLA membership) - $20 for out-of-district registrants.

• YSL6:  School Library Advocacy: Evidence and Image / March 4 to 18 / Check for information here.  The list of speakers includes BIG names, like Gary Hartzell, Keith Curry Lance, Stephen Krashen, and Buffy Hamilton.