blogs or wikis

week 7 already. On to blogs or wikis. Well as I sit here blogging I can see a difference between blogging and wikis. I do have to admit that I like blogging a bit better. Even though I feel more information can be laid out on a wiki. As I read through the many articles and chapters by Richardson I found myself developing a liking for both pieces of technology. When i have my own School library media center i feel that I will using blogging to keep students informed of what is happening in the library, however I will keep a wiki tio provide quick access to information relevant to school projects such as databases. Choosing between the both is very challenging that is why I feel incorporating both is benefitial.
As for collabortive projects in a graduate study class. I have mixed emotions. I clearly understand that group work is important but I feel that most of us already understand this and know how to be an active member of a group. The project assigned was interesting but most of us seemed to be coming up with the same ideas.
So on to week 8....

Copyrights and Safety

Wow on to week 6 already. Copyright is a very important serious issue. How do we go about following all the rules and regulations? Who knows where to begin. It is my belief that students should be taught on a situation by situation basis such as writing papers or doing research projects. I think that as a School Librarian it is part of our job to make sure that students and faculty can come to us with any concerns or questions. I think it is important that faculty should be trained as well. Well it is nice to have Simpsons book on hand it seems that Copyright Laws. I wonder if anyone else is having a problem with being able to show a movie to a class. I work in a Nursing Home and we often show movies as an activity. But the question remains are we really able to show these movies or does it reflect and infringement on copyright issues? There are many thoughts on this issue. I think it is important to follow copyright laws and we obviously do not want to get our schools or adminstration in trouble because the fines can be very steep. I know myself I will be able to make knowing copyright laws at the top of my list.
On to Safety...another important issue. I think knowing Internet Safety is very intrical in being a successful school librarian. Students need to be reminded not to put information on the net that they do not want to be shared. The Internet can be a very powerful tool but has its downfalls such as myspace and facebook. Used correctly these tools can be fun ways to keep in contact with friends and family, however used incorrectly students can put themselves at risk. So as School Librarians we need to teach these.

Search Tools

Hi everyone welcome to week 5. Moving right along to search tools. Search tools are a very important part of reseach which need to be taught and redefined at an early age. When being taught how to use these devices teachers and librarians should be very clear in making sure that their target audience are aware of the many possiblities provided for them. It is also very important to make it very clear that your sources be reliable and that is why I prefer databases to search engines although I do realize that they are not always avaialble, If I had to choose my favorite search engine I would probably choose Google for its wide variety of capabilities. I am not as fond of Bing and Yahoo. As for databases I prefer Infotrac to Proquest for Highschools and Public Libraries. For elementary students I prefer Searchasaurus and Worldbook Kids. Teachers also need training in these databases in oder to be able to serve their students better. In the last few weeks I been observing in school libraries and have found that many different schools have different views on the subject of searching. Smallwood elementary prefers to teach Google for searching whereas Herbert Hoover Elementary prefers Database searching. Amherst Highschool looks very fondly on databases as well such as Infotrac. I know when I have my own library I will make sure that I make as many possibilities available as I physically can.

Information Literacy

Wow, where to begin. Ok so this week we covered a large amount of information. But what I found as most informative was the Webquest on Information Literacy. I really like the idea that students need to be informed on the correct usage of technology. It is not so important to know how to send an e-mail or create a webpage as it is to know the function of how to perform these tasks. Although I believe that I could be a strong advocate for Information Literacy I believe there needs to be a strong collabortaive effort between librarians and staff in order to fully provide students the capabilities to success. Although I realize that getting staff to become less reluctant and take a leap may take alot of time and effort. Bloom also had a lot of information to think about. It is really surprising how much technology has developed since I was even in high school,(graduated in 1997). Simpson and Richardson both in chapters 3 were also very informative. I have never been very technical which is why I support teaching students and staff current updates in technology because bwhen facing the job force these skills can provide the capabilities to exceed. All right enough for now, on to next week.