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Online
Conference - 2004
Information and Communication
Technology abstracts (last updated 6 April 2004))
| Pam Berger (Educational
Technology Consultant, and publisher and editor of Information
Searcher, New York, USA)
Pam Berger, an Educational
Technology Consultant, is the publisher and editor of Information
Searcher, a newsletter for integrating technology into
the curriculum. She is the author of Internet for
Active Learners: Curriculum Strategies for K-12 (ALA
Editions, Chicago, IL), and has written numerous articles
in library and education journals. Ms Berger, who
was a school librarian for 18 years, has presented at
conferences in over 35 US states in addition to Canada,
Australia, Singapore, Thailand, Great Britain and
Switzerland. Her web site, InfoSearcher (www.infosearcher.com),
features CyberTours, interactive Web tours designed for
educators.
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| Using the Web to
support inquiry learning (keynote paper) |
| The growth of the
Internet and the impact it has on our lives and how we do
business is indisputable. The Web has grown from
6,642,000 hosts in July 1995 to 171,638,297 hosts
worldwide in January 2003. Today the Internet
encompasses networks in over 250 countries with over 580
million users. Although it has become a primary
information resource for many as they research everything
from concert ticket availability to serious health
questions, the true potential of the Web focuses on
communication and community building tools.
The Web is different from other
technologies. It's the first technology that makes
user-to-user communication a reality. Other media
come close, newspapers offer letter to the editor, radio
shows provide call-in opportunities for listeners and TV
has talk shows. But they are all indirect. The
difference is that on the Web, the device you use to view
it is the same as the device you need to create it.
The Web allows its users to communicate with each other
publicly, directly and instantly. The medium the
communication takes place in might be virtual, but the
connection is real.
As our students encounter rapidly
changing information sources and technologies as well as
the need to understand a complex society, we find our
traditional models of learning are often inadequate for
coping with these changes. We know from research and
experience that deep learning is primarily a social
function and involves inquiry and a constructivist
environment; however, traditional curricula in most
countries have emphasized a delivery of content approach.
Join me in this session to explore
instructional models that utilize Web tools to build a
community of learners, online constructivist environments
where students are encouraged to examine complex
situation, work with multiple sources of media, find their
voice, collaborate and to be active learners.
Focusing on three very different approaches, Whyville,
Kahootz and Weblogs we will examine the essential
components of each as a learning community and how they
support inquiry learning. |
Phyllis DiBianco
(Library Media Specialist, Scarsdale High School, New
York, USA)
Phyllis DiBianco has been a
School Library Media Specialist in New York for twenty
years. Her interest in research began as an
experimental psychologist investigating the
psychophysiology of sleep and dreams. In addition to
her position as librarian at Scarsdale High School, she is
a 2001 American Memory Fellow of the Library of Congress,
USA, and is a regular columnist for The InfoSearcher
Newsletter. She has presented at state and
national conferences in the US and was a founding member
of the American Association of School Librarians ICONnect
technology initiative.
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| Teaching information
literacy skills in the age of search, click, copy, and
paste |
| It is more important
than ever to prepare our students with the research and
literacy skills that will make them effective and
discriminating users of ideas and information. As
educators, we must work together to design research
projects that teach our students research strategies -
from formulating questions and locating relevant print and
electronic information, to critically evaluating and
utilizing data.
How do we develop a dynamic web
environment that structures information resources and
leads students and teachers to the "best"
information for their specific research needs? How
do we combine the unique features of the Internet - 24/7
access, interactivity, multimedia capabilities - with
today's students' online habits to provide a framework for
school librarians and classroom teachers to teach
information literacy skills?
In this paper we will focus on
recent research findings about the online searching,
"clicking", casual browsing and
telecommunications habits of our students, and how we can
use this information for curriculum, web site and staff
development.
Discussion topics will include: the
difference between computer expertise and online research
skills; how we can make the research process less
ambiguous and help students select appropriate print and
online resources; how we can teach students when to look
where, and how to evaluate and utilize what they find;
techniques for developing plagiarism-unfriendly
assignments; the effective use of primary sources,
multimedia resources and online tutorials as teaching
tools; and new electronic tools that engage students and
facilitates the research process.
Exploring these areas will help us
to design inquiry-based research projects that are
accessible to our varied populations of students. A
variety of educational web sites will be examined and
discussion will be encouraged. |
Dr
Olivia Clarke (Program Implementation Advisor, The
Le@rningFederation, Carlton South, Melbourne, Australia)
Dr
Clarke currently works for The Le@rning Federation where
she is the Program Implementation Advisor to the national
initiative. Olivia has recently completed her PhD -
a comparative study of the use of multimedia technologies
in schools in Australia and the USA. Prior to her
appointment with The Le@rning Federation she
consulted to a range of schools about the implementation
and use of new technologies.
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| Supporting student
learning with digital resources: new challenges for the
education and library professionals |
In a unique
collaboration, the Australian Federal, State and Territory
governments and the government of New Zealand have jointly
funded The Le@rning Federation to produce purpose built
digital online curriculum resources to be made available
free to all Australian and New Zealand school
students. Based on the 'learning object' model, a
substantial body of high quality, pedagogically sound,
multimedia, interactive resources is currently being
developed for six curriculum priority areas.
- Mathematics and Numeracy
- Literacy for student at risk
- Science
- Innovation, Enterprise and
Creativity
- LOTE: Chinese, Japanese,
Indonesian
- Studies of Australia
The Le@rning Federation project
charts new ground in education. This paper explores
the principles which underpin and guide the development of
the learning objects, what we are learning from the pilot
schools currently trialling the new materials in authentic
curriculum contexts, and implications the increasing
availability of the materials might have for teachers and
school information specialists.
|
Mal Lee
(Director, Schools Networking Consortium Pty Ltd,
Canberra, Australia) Mal
Lee is a Director of SNC, an Australian company developing
fully web-based, database driven administrative and
communications solutions, central of which is the e-Administrator.
A business person, an education writer, consultant and
networker, Mal is a former director of schools, secondary
college principal and a member of the Mayer
Committee. A Fellow of the Australian Council for
Educational Administration (FACEA) Mal has been closely
associated with the use of information and communications
technology (ICT) in schooling for the last decade.
Mal was the instigator of a series of very successful
conferences, run by ITEC, on Schooling and the Information
Highway, and was also the architect of the first virtual
conference in Australian schooling in 1996. Mal has
written extensively, particularly in the Practising
Administrator and Access, on school planning
for the Information Age and the movement of schooling to a
networked mode. Mal brings to this session not only
a business and school administrators perspective, but also
an extensive understanding of the structural,
organisational and technological challenges facing teacher
librarians wanting to develop a holistic ICT policy. |
| School 'Chief
Information Officer' - Their centrality |
| This paper will explore
the vital importance of having a senior person within the
school community with the responsibility of a 'chief
information officer' (CIO), who coordinates all facets of
the information flow and ensures the school adopts an
appropriate holistic and integrated approach to the
educational and administrative use of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT).
The paper will address the current
situation in primary, secondary and K-12 schools, and in
both teaching and learning, and administration; propensity
for IT coordinators/'mechanics' to let the technology
shape the educational and administrative agendas; impact
of the segmented and hierarchical nature of schools upon
the adoption of holistic information approaches;
centrality of integration in future ICT deployments;
importance of a senior person or position in playing the
'CIO' role; attributes required/desired; and opportunities
for teacher librarians to seek 'CIO' positions. |
June Wall (Consultant, June
Wall Consultancy, Springwood, New South Wales, Australia) June
Wall (B.Ed., Grad Dip Teacher Librarianship, Master of
Information and Communication Technology) is a consultant
in the fields of information services, curriculum
development, and information and communication
technology. June has developed, written courseware
and implemented programs for teachers integrating ICT in
the curriculum. She has had experience at all levels
of education - primary, secondary and tertiary - and
developed the ICT outcomes to match the information
literacy process in Learning for the Future 2nd edn
(2001) published by Curriculum Corporation. |
| ICT as a key enabling
feature of lifelong learning - hmmm..make it so |
| How many times have
teachers heard that "xyz technology" will
revolutionise education? How often have teachers
waited for the revolution and found that it was in fact a
small bump in the normal curve? If teachers and
society are to do as Jean Luc Picard has often stated, we
must "make it so". Schools have utilised a
range of technologies for learning, from the graphics
calculator to high level learning management systems and
online learning. Excellent curriculum integration
methodologies include: a grounded understanding of
learning philosophy; learning edge applications of ICT;
and a willingness to take risks.
This paper discusses the building
blocks and stumbling blocks for ICT and learning. It
also challenges you by suggesting one process for
constructing a community of learners, which could mean
changes for how a learner operates as well as how a
teacher operates in the classroom...or maybe not.
(Picard, Jean Luc, Star Trek: The
Next Generation) |
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© ASLA Inc., 2003 Prepared
by: ASLA Webmaster
Last
updated: 6 April 2004
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