Electronic Library Land

2009 has flown by at the speed of light, and as we come to the end of the year, we once again experience the staffing changes that are a yearly event in any school.

As you will already have heard, next year I am taking on a newly created position at Catholic Education head office in Dutton Park—working in the growing Multimedia/Library centre known as ResourceLink as the Education Officer for Digital Learning.

It is with sadness that I leave your wonderful community. I have very much enjoyed the time I have spent learning with and teaching the students of St Dympna’s, and working with a very dedicated and professional staff. In particular I must thank my two AMAZING library aides, Sue Thomas and Val Nielsen, from whom I have learnt so much and who have supported me in every way. Thank you also to our wonderful volunteers Margaret and Belinda, and finally thank you to the Administration team, Greg, Peter and Liz. It is often noted that the administration of a school is one of the most important determinants of a library’s success within a school, and it is clear to all that here at St Dympna’s, Admin very much value and support this vital area of the school.

Thank you as well to the school community; parents, students and all who have supported our library throughout the year in many different ways.

The end of the year brings with it also the usual tasks such as stocktake! To ensure that the library is in tip top order ready to go for 2010, we will be stocktaking all books in the final weeks of term.

YOU CAN HELP BY ENSURING YOUR CHILD HAS RETURNED ALL OF THEIR BOOKS !!!              

Best wishes for a wonderful Christmas, and all the very best  for 2010 and beyond.

Keep reading!   Kay.

Well rested and refreshed from holidays, we can now look back on the last week of school, when we celebrated our Bookweek Book Safari! I hope you enjoy this video, that captures the fun and excitement that was Bookweek 2009.

Looking forward to a terrific Term 4!

Kay

Created by Wordle http://www.wordle.net/

Here at St Dympna’s we are blessed to have a wonderful, well resourced library for our students, and the presence of full time staff means that the students can access it every day. At many schools, this is not possible, due to a range of factors including available funding, school size and the educational beliefs of the administration.

There has been a great deal of research done which conclusively proves that a well resourced and staffed school library results in increased achievment levels among students – if you are interested in reading more about this, definitely check out the Lonsdale report, entitled ‘The Impact of School Libraries on Student Achievement: a Review of the Research‘, or ‘School Libraries Work!‘

Even more recently, however, and in light of the decisions in other states to phase out the role of teacher librarian in schools, school libraries have been in the spotlight. Despite Kevin Rudd’s focus on new school libraries in the latest roll out of the stimulus package, there is a growing question about who will staff them, and what the value of a school library is if there is no teacher librarian there to guide the students in accessing the resources available, and to teach them skills in information literacy. The following interview from the ABC radio show ‘Life Matters’ features Mary Manning, from the School Library Association of Victoria. In the interview she succinctly states why school libraries and their staff are so important, and convincingly argues for their continued existence into the ‘digital and information age’.

Listen Now!

Yes, St Dympna’s is truly ahead of the pack in many ways – and the school library is definitely an asset of which the school can be proud.

I wrote about this two years ago, on my first blog, and I have to say that since then, my thoughts have changed somewhat. My original post focused on the potential of the social networking site : Teachers could post homework assignments on their students’ walls, post educational videos, websites they wanted their students to check out – they could use it to stimulate conversation or debate between students out of school hours, or to invite expert (who also had facebook accounts) to share their thoughts or ideas and also outlined the fact that it is probably too open for school use, and definitely so in a primary school setting.

In the two years that have passed, Facebook has become not just a fun place to do silly quizzes, but a vital communication channel for many – social networking has changed the face of the internet. However, many schools and educational departments completely block any form of this tool – which is, in my opinion, a shame, particularly as this rules out the use of more easily controlled sites, such as Ning.

I have used Ning to promote teacher professional development – you can see my efforts HERE…. but there is definitely scope for the classroom also.

Ning allows users to build their own social networks, which are completely password protected, and offers a great deal more privacy and control than Facebook. Another social networking tool that could also be used in educational settings (and has indeed been designed for such use) is Edmodo; from the site:

What can I do with Edmodo?

Edmodo provides a way for teachers and students to share notes, links, and files. Teachers have the ability to send alerts, events, and assignments to students.

Social networking certainly does seem the way of the future, and while Facebook may remain purely social, it seems that as educators, we need to be on the lookout for new and creative ways of capturing the interest and motivation of students in methods that speak to their modes of communication….

Any thoughts? I’d love to hear them!