Friday, August 1, 2003

EduResources Site Map. I've seen this mentioned on other blogs in the past...but this is the first time I've looked at the site map of EduResources. Nice. Bookmark it! [elearnspace blog] Really nice. A model with all sorts of possibilities. I knew I liked Inspiration. 11:28:21 AM

	Friday, July 25, 2003

A colleague and friend has just finished her online course called Problem Based Learning with WebQuests from the University of Northern Iowa. Her final project -- a webquest about Bach -- is excellent. Great job, Seija! 4:16:08 PM

Search 101: Understanding Directories. The Search 101 series of articles has a new addition this week. Directories are an often ignored gem when it comes to locating useful Web sites. The new article, "Understanding Directories" explains what directories are, how they work, and why... [Web Search] 4:03:45 PM

	Thursday, July 24, 2003

An article in the Harvard Crimson covers the story of a New Jersey high school student whose acceptance to Harvard has been rescinded because of allegations of plagiarism. A quote from the article shows how easy it is for students to misunderstand the rules and conventions of citing sources. In a column by Hornstine in June printed next to the Courier-Post's note about the "misused sources," Hornstine said her citation problems stemmed from a lack of training in journalism. "I kept notes on what I had read," she wrote. "When finalizing my thoughts, I, like most every teen-ager who has use of a computer, cut and pasted my ideas together. I erroneously thought the way I had submitted the articles was appropriate." Hornstine wrote she now understands that she "was incorrect in...thinking that news articles didn't require as strict citation scrutiny as most school assignments because there was no place for footnotes or end notes." 11:28:27 AM

	Wednesday, July 23, 2003

Internet snags for young. Using the internet at school can lead to teenagers losing their confidence and becoming frustrated, a new study by a North lecturer claims. Most teenagers lack the more complex information gathering skills necessary for internet searching, ultimately using the internet inefficiently, says Dr Alison Pickard of Northumbria University. Dr Pickard has just completed a four-year research study into the subject ... [LISNews.com] The findings of this researcher are only surprising in their emphasis on the emotional results of inefficient searching. It's not something I've been aware of -- students losing confidence and blaming themselves when they can't find the information they need. In fact, my experience has been that students are much more confident about their skills than they should be, and they therefore don't realize what they're missing. This research, however, certainly gives one more reason to empower students with information literacy skills. 11:28:46 AM

	Thursday, July 17, 2003

The Library Hot Five from Classroom Connect for July 17 is about information literacy. The five sites cited (don't you love homonyms?) are rich resources to answer this question, including definitions, tutorials, and the application of info lit in mathematics. 5:20:26 PM

	Sunday, July 13, 2003

I've been reading about the Partnership for 21st Century Skills and about the report called "Milestones for Improving Learning and Education (MILE) Guide for 21st Century Skills" that this consortium issued at the NECC conference in June. This is a great effort, but isn't it what school librarians have been talking about for a long time? Information literacy, critical thinking, problem-solving,... Why isn't AASL right in the middle of this organization? I also wonder how these skills compare with NCREL's (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory) enGuage document, 21st Century Skills: Digital Literacies for a Digital Age.This latter document was cited in the recent ALA resolution, "School Libraries and Librarians are Critical to Educational Success." I certainly hope we find some way to pool our efforts. This is where I see the danger of the library/technology divide that is so evident in individual schools as well as in national and international organizations. Look at the separate committees for technology and libraries in ECIS. At least NECC now has a special interest group for media specialists (SIGMS). The presentation I am putting together for the AASL conference in October will talk about this, and from a look at the preliminary program for that conference, I'm not the only one addressing the issue of the need for better library/tech partnerships. 9:40:17 AM

	Friday, July 11, 2003

WTO Web-sites of National Statistical OfficesThis is. WTO Web-sites of National Statistical OfficesThis is not a resource I use very often... in fact, I haven't used it in over a year, however, when I need statistics about other countries, this site is ideal to know about. ... [MRSO] This looks like a great resource for middle and high school students who need statistics from specific countries. It could be the focus of a whole lesson on finding, using, evaluating statistics. 10:43:40 AM

© Copyright 2003 Deborah Wells-Clinton. Last update: 8/18/03; 7:40:14.