Scholarly Article #3
School Libraries & Evidence: Seize the Day; Begin the Future by Dr. Ross J. Todd
After reading the article about information literacy in Canada, I found this article by Dr. Ross Todd who has had the opportunity to also meet with educators around the world.
The first thing that struck me was at the very beginning of the article he quoted a librarian from Australia who talked about how librarians advocate constantly to raise awareness by being involved in the school community, meetings, councils, in-services, assemblies and workshops. There is the theme again of having to justify what we are doing and making sure people know it is important. It seems funny to me that you don’t have to advocate if you are a math teacher or biology or social studies.
This author took a different approach and even though it is important to advocate for our profession we sometimes get lost in the negatives. His view is to “focus on an evidence-based approach, and make this the public voice of the profession”. He states that it is this evidence of student improvement that will demonstrate how libraries make a difference. And he challenges librarians to become familiar with research and to communicate these results to the community.
Some of the International research that he talked about identified some more common themes such as instructional role, informational search processes, student use of on-line technologies, program evaluation and student achievement. Todd also suggests strategies and processes, based on studies done in Australia, which they use to document success.
· Assessment tasks
· Feedback tasks
· Rubric measures
· Interview measures
· More formal school surveys
· Portfolios
· Using available school data
· Undertaking small action research projects
So by using some of these evidence collecting techniques you will be able to proudly demonstrate that libraries and library programs do make a difference. This was an article that made sense to me and left me feeling a bit more positive about the future.
Todd, R. (2003, August). School Libraries & Evidence: Seize the Day, Begin the Future. Library Media Connection, 22 (1), 12-18. Retrieved November 24, 2008, from Academic Search Premier database.
http://search.ebscohost.com.login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=105792098&site=ehost-live
Monday, November 24, 2008
Geogrphical Resources
Geographical Resources
As I am also a little late in posting I decided to try Viviana’s lesson plan from the CIDA site. Thank you for sharing, Viviana. I found the lesson to be very timely and useful. Our grade 6 teacher has the students adopt a country for the year and has students compare statistics from Canada and to their chosen country. This will be an excellent way to introduce on-line atlases to the students in a meaningful way. I found the site very user friendly and I have also looked at the other lesson plans and know that this will be a valuable site.
I also looked at Altapedia and like Megan found the ads a little distracting. At first I wasn’t sure how to enter the site and then scrolled to the bottom to find the information. Other sites like the Canadian Atlas were very useful and user friendly. I liked the way you could look up information in themes and find teaching activities for your grade and province. It had a gazetteer and a comprehensive glossary. The students will enjoy some of the games and crosswords related to the different themes.
A couple of other sites to explore:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/08/f-world-heritage.html
Fifteen Canadian sites to treasure and protect: I discovered this site on one of the links and thought it might be of interest. It has an interactive map and shows 15 sites recognized by UNESCO as heritage sites worth preserving.
http://educ.queensu.ca/~ecs/curr/geography/geography.htm
This website has a collection of geography websites all in one place. Definitely a Canadian collection here. Some of the links didn’t work but there was enough selection and topics that did work.
As I am also a little late in posting I decided to try Viviana’s lesson plan from the CIDA site. Thank you for sharing, Viviana. I found the lesson to be very timely and useful. Our grade 6 teacher has the students adopt a country for the year and has students compare statistics from Canada and to their chosen country. This will be an excellent way to introduce on-line atlases to the students in a meaningful way. I found the site very user friendly and I have also looked at the other lesson plans and know that this will be a valuable site.
I also looked at Altapedia and like Megan found the ads a little distracting. At first I wasn’t sure how to enter the site and then scrolled to the bottom to find the information. Other sites like the Canadian Atlas were very useful and user friendly. I liked the way you could look up information in themes and find teaching activities for your grade and province. It had a gazetteer and a comprehensive glossary. The students will enjoy some of the games and crosswords related to the different themes.
A couple of other sites to explore:
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2008/07/08/f-world-heritage.html
Fifteen Canadian sites to treasure and protect: I discovered this site on one of the links and thought it might be of interest. It has an interactive map and shows 15 sites recognized by UNESCO as heritage sites worth preserving.
http://educ.queensu.ca/~ecs/curr/geography/geography.htm
This website has a collection of geography websites all in one place. Definitely a Canadian collection here. Some of the links didn’t work but there was enough selection and topics that did work.
Database Activity
Database Activity
I also used this activity as a chance to find my last scholarly article. I used Ebsco’s Academic Search Complete. I was able to find an article after I had adjusted the dates and narrowed the search. I was also looking for full text and found several articles and then saved them in a folder. I then printed but you can also e-mail them. The other flexibility you have is you are able to look at the abstract or the complete article.
I then used the Gale Thomson Databases and completed the same search. When you have entered your subject you are then able to choose between Magazines/Academic Journals/Books/News/Multimedia. Beside each choice it had the number of articles found. You could bookmark your choices and there was also a choice of citations.
I also used this activity as a chance to find my last scholarly article. I used Ebsco’s Academic Search Complete. I was able to find an article after I had adjusted the dates and narrowed the search. I was also looking for full text and found several articles and then saved them in a folder. I then printed but you can also e-mail them. The other flexibility you have is you are able to look at the abstract or the complete article.
I then used the Gale Thomson Databases and completed the same search. When you have entered your subject you are then able to choose between Magazines/Academic Journals/Books/News/Multimedia. Beside each choice it had the number of articles found. You could bookmark your choices and there was also a choice of citations.
Databases
Databases
Since our district subscribes to Ebsco, we have a similar bundle to other districts in the province. Our district pays $1.00 per student. Our bundle also includes Thomson Gale which provides access to Canadian Periodicals, Student Resource Centre- Gold, Gale Virtual Library and Biography Resource Centre.
Our local library also subscribes to Ebsco:
Their package includes some of the same access: Academic Search Premier, Novelist, World Book, Consumer Health, Searchasaurus as well as Encyclopedia of BC.
The only sites that were different from the library were Auto Repair Reference Centre, Electronic Law Library, QP LegalEze-provides current laws in BC and BC Codes- building codes.
GreenFILE is one of the databases through Ebsco. Some people may not be familiar with this one. GreenFILE offers information covering all aspects of human impact on the environment.
As mentioned by others, I find it hard to believe that all school districts do not have the same access to services. I agree wholeheartedly with James that negotiating province wide or across Canada would ensure that all Canadian students have equal access to resources.
When I asked our staff if they used any of these sites, many didn’t know about them so I showed them at a ProD session. Some of the teachers are trying them out especially Searchasaurus and World Book.
Since our district subscribes to Ebsco, we have a similar bundle to other districts in the province. Our district pays $1.00 per student. Our bundle also includes Thomson Gale which provides access to Canadian Periodicals, Student Resource Centre- Gold, Gale Virtual Library and Biography Resource Centre.
Our local library also subscribes to Ebsco:
Their package includes some of the same access: Academic Search Premier, Novelist, World Book, Consumer Health, Searchasaurus as well as Encyclopedia of BC.
The only sites that were different from the library were Auto Repair Reference Centre, Electronic Law Library, QP LegalEze-provides current laws in BC and BC Codes- building codes.
GreenFILE is one of the databases through Ebsco. Some people may not be familiar with this one. GreenFILE offers information covering all aspects of human impact on the environment.
As mentioned by others, I find it hard to believe that all school districts do not have the same access to services. I agree wholeheartedly with James that negotiating province wide or across Canada would ensure that all Canadian students have equal access to resources.
When I asked our staff if they used any of these sites, many didn’t know about them so I showed them at a ProD session. Some of the teachers are trying them out especially Searchasaurus and World Book.
Scholarly Article #2
Scholarly Article #2 Canada: An Information Literacy Case Study
I chose this article because I was interested in the overview of information literacy in Canada. This paper was prepared for UNESCO in 2002. It provides background information on the approach Canada has taken as a nation toward access of information. There are also recommendations for ways to enhance and embrace change so that Canada makes progress in this area to benefit all Canadians.
One thing that surprised me as I was reading the report is that Canada was the first nation in the world to provide internet service for its public schools and libraries. This happened in 1999-only 10 years ago and now the information highway has become jammed almost beyond comprehension. The problem with this service was that there was not education to go with the access. It seems to me that this hasn’t changed too much. We are still lamenting the fact that some schools do not have trained teacher-librarians and there is not sufficient time set aside for development of effective research skills.
Another recommendation from the International Information Technologies Panel in 2002 suggested that information literacy is best achieved through integration of “cognitive and technical learning”. In other words it is important that the skills are taught in practical situations where the student has to compare and evaluate the information that is accessed. It is important that authentic experiences are provided in conjunction with information skills. It has always been my opinion that skills taught in isolation do not become part of the learner’s understanding until there is meaning.
One factor that makes a federal initiative difficult is the fact that education is a provincial jurisdiction and there are no national education policies. It was interesting to note that one of the fundamental employability skills was the ability to manage information-access, analyze and apply knowledge.
So where does that leave libraries? Always looking for ways to prove their worth and justify their existence. So often you hear comments about not needing libraries because everything is on-line. That may be true but who is going to be left to help students assess and evaluate all this information? I don’t understand why the justification is necessary when there is research that demonstrates that academic progress is related to the strength of the library program.
Some of the recommendations of this paper included a call for more research and that Information Literacy policies are developed. Educators, administrators must raise awareness to further the support for information literacy.
Martha J. Whitehead, Catherine A. Quinlan, ”Canada: An Information Literacy Case Study,” July 2002, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, the Czech Republic.
http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/quinlan-fullpaper.pdf
I chose this article because I was interested in the overview of information literacy in Canada. This paper was prepared for UNESCO in 2002. It provides background information on the approach Canada has taken as a nation toward access of information. There are also recommendations for ways to enhance and embrace change so that Canada makes progress in this area to benefit all Canadians.
One thing that surprised me as I was reading the report is that Canada was the first nation in the world to provide internet service for its public schools and libraries. This happened in 1999-only 10 years ago and now the information highway has become jammed almost beyond comprehension. The problem with this service was that there was not education to go with the access. It seems to me that this hasn’t changed too much. We are still lamenting the fact that some schools do not have trained teacher-librarians and there is not sufficient time set aside for development of effective research skills.
Another recommendation from the International Information Technologies Panel in 2002 suggested that information literacy is best achieved through integration of “cognitive and technical learning”. In other words it is important that the skills are taught in practical situations where the student has to compare and evaluate the information that is accessed. It is important that authentic experiences are provided in conjunction with information skills. It has always been my opinion that skills taught in isolation do not become part of the learner’s understanding until there is meaning.
One factor that makes a federal initiative difficult is the fact that education is a provincial jurisdiction and there are no national education policies. It was interesting to note that one of the fundamental employability skills was the ability to manage information-access, analyze and apply knowledge.
So where does that leave libraries? Always looking for ways to prove their worth and justify their existence. So often you hear comments about not needing libraries because everything is on-line. That may be true but who is going to be left to help students assess and evaluate all this information? I don’t understand why the justification is necessary when there is research that demonstrates that academic progress is related to the strength of the library program.
Some of the recommendations of this paper included a call for more research and that Information Literacy policies are developed. Educators, administrators must raise awareness to further the support for information literacy.
Martha J. Whitehead, Catherine A. Quinlan, ”Canada: An Information Literacy Case Study,” July 2002, White Paper prepared for UNESCO, the US National Commission on Libraries and Information Science, and the National Forum on Information Literacy, for use at the Information Literacy Meeting of Experts, Prague, the Czech Republic.
http://www.nclis.gov/libinter/infolitconf&meet/papers/quinlan-fullpaper.pdf
Encyclopedias Part 2
Encyclopedias Part 2
After having a chance to look at some of the on-line encyclopedias and completing the readings, I felt a little more confident about entering the discussion on established vs. citizen built encyclopedias like Wikipedia.
I did find a good article published in Booklist Online which I found very helpful as I fumbled my way through this immense topic of encyclopedias. It was by Barbara Bibel and Shauna Yusko entitled Encyclopedia Update, 2008 and originally published September 15, 2008 in Booklist.
The link is:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2935134
The authors both are librarians and they concisely highlighted the new products or additions to print encyclopedias and online resources. As they reviewed they talked about the commonalities and unique features. I was especially interested in the comments about World Book as I am leaning toward this print version for our school. They said the 2008 version had been updated with 67 new articles and included 400 new photographs and 300 bibliographies have been updated. There have also been revisions to 400 maps including Panama Canal, California and Alberta. They also said the index is detailed and easy to use and there was a Research Guide which helped students organize projects. Also mentioned is that World Book continues to be the first choice for libraries, schools and homes. Looking at the details on the packages offered I also found an offer specifically designed for Canadian schools which offered World Book 2009, Discovery Encyclopedia and Living Green for the price of $1200.00 including shipping and handling. I guess that encyclopedia sales are suffering as well as everything else during these economic times.
After reading the Berinstein and Harris articles, I had a look at the comparison of the citizen- built and the established encyclopedia chart done by Karen. It was interesting to see the information summarized side by side. Like others new to Wikipedia I had no idea it was a citizen built encyclopedia. I didn’t even know that there were so many different kinds of encyclopedias out there either in print or on-line. As I was looking for new reference materials it seemed that there were encyclopedias for just about every subject you could think of. It makes the job of evaluating resources even more important to ensure that the already small budgets stretch as far as they can.
I too found that the reference as to how the Oxford Dictionary was created parallels what is happening now to Wikipedia. I think that rather than choosing one site over another, we must always look back to the definition of a reference source- Does it answer the question or not? As well, the Research Quest or other models we have looked at emphasize that you consider a range of sources and then filter out and decide about the information that will be useful. This is the stage where you look at authority and accuracy to see if the information is valid or not. This is the role of t-l to help students look at information critically and to ask questions.
Another article that I found through the Gale Research data base that our district subscribes to was one by Doug Achterman called Beyond Wikipedia,(using Wikipedia as an educational tool)(Website overview). This was originally published in the Teacher Librarian (Dec 2006).
http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=CPI
This article takes a look at five features of wikis and how they can be a tool for collaboration among students. Along with the features, Achterman gives examples of how he used wikis in partnership with teachers. The ability for students to work in groups or partners helps develop higher level thinking skills as they compare, contrast and analyze information. This is a subject that I will have to spend more time on to see how or if I could incorporate this into a skills continuum for our school.
I also looked up the article by Goldsborough that Lorraine referred to and found that he has quite a few other articles. Another one that I found useful is called Wikis Offer Promise and Peril. In this article he discusses comparisons made with information collected from Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Out of the number of entries compared there were 162 errors in Wikipedia versus 123 in Encyclopedia Britannica. There are websites to look up the actual study and it will be interesting to investigate this a little further.
After having a chance to look at some of the on-line encyclopedias and completing the readings, I felt a little more confident about entering the discussion on established vs. citizen built encyclopedias like Wikipedia.
I did find a good article published in Booklist Online which I found very helpful as I fumbled my way through this immense topic of encyclopedias. It was by Barbara Bibel and Shauna Yusko entitled Encyclopedia Update, 2008 and originally published September 15, 2008 in Booklist.
The link is:
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=2935134
The authors both are librarians and they concisely highlighted the new products or additions to print encyclopedias and online resources. As they reviewed they talked about the commonalities and unique features. I was especially interested in the comments about World Book as I am leaning toward this print version for our school. They said the 2008 version had been updated with 67 new articles and included 400 new photographs and 300 bibliographies have been updated. There have also been revisions to 400 maps including Panama Canal, California and Alberta. They also said the index is detailed and easy to use and there was a Research Guide which helped students organize projects. Also mentioned is that World Book continues to be the first choice for libraries, schools and homes. Looking at the details on the packages offered I also found an offer specifically designed for Canadian schools which offered World Book 2009, Discovery Encyclopedia and Living Green for the price of $1200.00 including shipping and handling. I guess that encyclopedia sales are suffering as well as everything else during these economic times.
After reading the Berinstein and Harris articles, I had a look at the comparison of the citizen- built and the established encyclopedia chart done by Karen. It was interesting to see the information summarized side by side. Like others new to Wikipedia I had no idea it was a citizen built encyclopedia. I didn’t even know that there were so many different kinds of encyclopedias out there either in print or on-line. As I was looking for new reference materials it seemed that there were encyclopedias for just about every subject you could think of. It makes the job of evaluating resources even more important to ensure that the already small budgets stretch as far as they can.
I too found that the reference as to how the Oxford Dictionary was created parallels what is happening now to Wikipedia. I think that rather than choosing one site over another, we must always look back to the definition of a reference source- Does it answer the question or not? As well, the Research Quest or other models we have looked at emphasize that you consider a range of sources and then filter out and decide about the information that will be useful. This is the stage where you look at authority and accuracy to see if the information is valid or not. This is the role of t-l to help students look at information critically and to ask questions.
Another article that I found through the Gale Research data base that our district subscribes to was one by Doug Achterman called Beyond Wikipedia,(using Wikipedia as an educational tool)(Website overview). This was originally published in the Teacher Librarian (Dec 2006).
http://find.galegroup.com/itx/start.do?prodId=CPI
This article takes a look at five features of wikis and how they can be a tool for collaboration among students. Along with the features, Achterman gives examples of how he used wikis in partnership with teachers. The ability for students to work in groups or partners helps develop higher level thinking skills as they compare, contrast and analyze information. This is a subject that I will have to spend more time on to see how or if I could incorporate this into a skills continuum for our school.
I also looked up the article by Goldsborough that Lorraine referred to and found that he has quite a few other articles. Another one that I found useful is called Wikis Offer Promise and Peril. In this article he discusses comparisons made with information collected from Encyclopedia Britannica and Wikipedia. Out of the number of entries compared there were 162 errors in Wikipedia versus 123 in Encyclopedia Britannica. There are websites to look up the actual study and it will be interesting to investigate this a little further.
Capstone Activity
Capstone Activity: Evaluation of an Online Encyclopedia
This was the first time I had looked at the EBC and I found it easy to navigate and filled with unique articles about BC.
Encyclopedia of British Columbia
Comments
Scope
The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work for anything to do with British Columbia. There are more than 4000 entries and it contains hundreds of photos, maps, tables and charts.
Emphasis
The emphasis is on BC people and places. It includes articles on every established community in the province.
Reading Entries
The entries are clearly written and use pictures, graphs and charts to enhance the explanation. It is well laid out for intermediate and secondary students.
Authority
The EBC is produced by Harbour Publishing which has produced many other books about BC history and culture. Each entry has been written by an expert in that particular field and then the article was reviewed and checked for accuracy by a team of editors. Also on the team was Daniel Francis who was a contributor to the Canadian Encyclopedia and a contributing editor to the Junior Encyclopedia of Canada. The Ministry of Education has a licensing agreement with the EBC and is providing this resource to many schools in BC.
Style
The EBC also includes an Introductory Teacher’s Resource which includes teaching strategies.
Recency
Originally published by Harbour Publishing in 2000, it was made available on-line in 2001. Information is continuously updated.
Viewpoint and Objectivity
Articles were reviewed by another person who was knowledgeable in that field to ensure that information was presented in a balanced fashion. If opinions were expressed then the opposite point of view was also presented.
Arrangement and Entry
You may search for articles either by keyword or subject.
Index
Links to alphabetical listings of EBC articles and it is cross-referenced. There are links within the articles to other related entries.
Format
The navigation panel has:
Home: returns to opening page
Search: allows complete text searching
Subjects: subject guides and overview articles
Index: alphabetical listing
Videos: index of video clips
This was the first time I had looked at the EBC and I found it easy to navigate and filled with unique articles about BC.
Encyclopedia of British Columbia
Comments
Scope
The encyclopedia is designed as a reference work for anything to do with British Columbia. There are more than 4000 entries and it contains hundreds of photos, maps, tables and charts.
Emphasis
The emphasis is on BC people and places. It includes articles on every established community in the province.
Reading Entries
The entries are clearly written and use pictures, graphs and charts to enhance the explanation. It is well laid out for intermediate and secondary students.
Authority
The EBC is produced by Harbour Publishing which has produced many other books about BC history and culture. Each entry has been written by an expert in that particular field and then the article was reviewed and checked for accuracy by a team of editors. Also on the team was Daniel Francis who was a contributor to the Canadian Encyclopedia and a contributing editor to the Junior Encyclopedia of Canada. The Ministry of Education has a licensing agreement with the EBC and is providing this resource to many schools in BC.
Style
The EBC also includes an Introductory Teacher’s Resource which includes teaching strategies.
Recency
Originally published by Harbour Publishing in 2000, it was made available on-line in 2001. Information is continuously updated.
Viewpoint and Objectivity
Articles were reviewed by another person who was knowledgeable in that field to ensure that information was presented in a balanced fashion. If opinions were expressed then the opposite point of view was also presented.
Arrangement and Entry
You may search for articles either by keyword or subject.
Index
Links to alphabetical listings of EBC articles and it is cross-referenced. There are links within the articles to other related entries.
Format
The navigation panel has:
Home: returns to opening page
Search: allows complete text searching
Subjects: subject guides and overview articles
Index: alphabetical listing
Videos: index of video clips
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)