District 112 23+1 Information Literacy Things

Welcome to MILI

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Metronet is pleased to expand the Information Literacy Initiative to the high school, middle schools, and NInth Grade Center in the Chaska School District. The Metronet Information Literacy Initiative (MILI) is based on the premise that student achievement is impacted by a strong school library media program that is staffed by professional media specialists who collaborate with teachers in incorporating information literacy skills into classroom teaching. Lots of research has been done on this, including two studies of Minnesota's library media programs conducted by Metronet. We know that this collaboration takes time, resources, and skills that not all media specialists and teachers have! So, MILI was started to help small learning communities in the schools develop the skills and find some time to focus on information literacy.

Another impetus for the project is the Minnesota State Legislature. In 2006, it passed a law that requires the Commissioner of Education to embed Technology & Information Literacy Standards into the Minnesota Academic Standards. This process has already started with the revision of the Math Standards. MILI participants will ahead of the curve on this, since they will be experienced in teaching information literacy! The Technology & Information Literacy Standards were developed by MEMO, the professional association serving school media and information technology professionals. MILI uses these standards as the foundation of its program and training, too. The Initiative focuses on two of the nine Technology & Information Literacy Standards : (1) Research process, including the use of appropriate resources, and (4) Responsible use of information and information technology. We have expanded the two standards into 3 Rs:

Research
Reliable Resources
Responsible Use (of Technology and Information)

All of our training focuses on one or more of these Rs.

23+1 Information Literacy Things

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The core of MILI is the 23+1 Information Literacy Things. We have adapted this from the original concept of “23 Things” which has taken off in the library world and other areas. The original 23 Things were created to help library staff become more familiar with technology and how it impacts library service and library patrons. It started in public libraries and has expanded to school libraries. It has received rave reviews from participants--they love the idea of a reason to focus on their own learning and and to have excuse to play around with technology and the Web.

Our 23 + 1 Information Literacy Things are built around the concepts of information literacy, and the 3 Rs—Research, Reliable Resources, and Responsible Use of technology and information.

How It Works
By May 15, all participants will have completed their 23+1 Information Literacy Things. Everyone will complete all 17 of the Core Things and choose 6 from More Things to explore and learn more about Information Literacy and how to incorporate the concepts of Research, Reliable Resources, and Responsible Use into their teaching. The +1 Thing is to write some final reflections on the entire process. Interns and administrators will do most of the Core Things, since some would not be possible, such as Streaming Video, and make up the difference from the More Things.

To maintain accountability for participants and administrations, each participant will have an individual blog (Thing 2) and update the blog weekly with reflections on each Thing as it is completed, the MILI experience, and meetings.

The Things are designed to be accomplished both on your own and in the monthly after school meetings. We don't expect it to take much more than an hour or so a week. While posts should be thoughtful and reflective, they don't have to be extensive or scholarly. We just want to know what you are doing for MILI and what you have learned. Except for the first 3 Things, you can do the Things in any order that works for you.

Have fun with the idea and the Things--this is an opportunity to focus on you and your learning--and to use that learning in your teaching.

Required Things

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These are the Information Literacy Things that all teachers and media specialists must complete. To reach your 23+1 Things, you choose from the optional Things. Click on the links for the details for each Thing. Remember, once you have done Things 1-3, you can do the Things in any order that works for you.

Thing 1. What Are You Talking About? Understanding Information Literacy

Begin the project by thinking about information literacy & what it means to you and your students.
Check out the Standards we keep talking about and learn our vocabulary.

Thing 2. Create Your Blog & Post About It

We want to know about your discoveries, your ideas, your thoughts on the project, and more. Post at least once a week on your experience with the Things, other discoveries, or comments, and what you are learning, and applying.
And remember--at least one post a week will get your name in our monthly drawing for door prizes!

Thing 3. RSS & Newsreaders

Keep up with your fellow MILI bloggers by setting up a Bloglines account.
Add a feed or two to your blog.

Thing 4. Get to Know Your Public Library

Public libraries are a wealth of information resources both in person and virtually. And they are there when you can't be. Take time to learn more.
Introduce your students to the world of the public library. That library card really is a key to knowledge.

Thing 5. Create and Maintain a Teacher Web Page

Teacher Web pages offer a way to provide students with "one-stop shopping" about your curriculum, assignments, resources, and more. Your Web page is one more way to introduce information literacy and the 3Rs to your students.

Thing 6. Use the Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator (RPC)

This new feature of the RPC helps teachers easily integrate the steps of the research process.
Take time to review the RPC steps and all the features of the Teacher Guide.

Thing 7. Get to Know the Research Project Calculator (RPC)

Introduce the RPC to students to teach the research process and develop their information literacy skills.

Thing 8. Dribbling Lessons for Information Literacy

These quick lessons can be dropped into any class to introduce information literacy skills. Browse the lessons by RPC step.
Lots more available, too, including lessons by subject area and a bibliography for a more in-depth look at information literacy.

Thing 9. Streaming Video

Streaming video offers lots of resources beyond video clips. Explore some of the other features including quizzes, atlases, photos, and more in your classroom.

Thing 10. Copyright & Plagiarism

Responsible Use addresses the issues of copyright, proper citation of resources, discussions of plagiarism, and more.

Thing 11. All About Google

There's more to Google than "Googling." Take time to explore the features of Google.
Google reaches out to teachers and librarians with newsletters and more. Check it out!

Thing 12. Other Search Engines

And there are search engines beyond Google. Take a look at various search engines, including metasearch engines that search multiple engines simultaneously.
Visual search engines offer a different presentation of results.

Thing 13. Subscription Databases

Reliable Resources are rich and deep on the subscription databases that school districts, ELM, and local public libraries offer. Much more targeted and reliable than a typical Internet search.

Thing 14. Reliable Online Resources

There are reliable resources available free on the Internet--the challenge is finding them. Use these expert-created sources to find authentic Web sites, obscure documents, and interesting resources.

Thing 15. Collaboration

Teacher/media specialist collaboration gives students the best of both worlds--subject specialists combined with research and information specialists.
Plan a collaborative lesson incorporating both sets of skills.

Thing 16. MnLINK

More resources at your fingertips. MnLINK offers the ability to search hundreds of Minnesota library catalogs at once, find items not available locally, and create requests for journal articles and more.

Thing 17. One New Thing

We know you will discover new "Things" as you learn about the Things on the list. Take time to share what you find!

Optional Things

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You get to choose what you want to learn about in the rest of your 23 Things. Choose 6 (or more; no limits on learning!). Be sure to blog about each one you do! Note that you may need to do some of these at home--many districts block video sites, social networking sites, and anything downloadable. But don't let that stop you from choosing the ones that interest you. Spend time at home or your local public library learning about these Things.

Thing 18. One Student Thing

What are your students talking about in regard to technology? Anything new out there?Ask them how they think a new technology can be used to enhance teaching.

Thing 19. Just for Fun

Have some fun playing around with an online image generator.
Explore any site from the Web 2.0 awards list or Edutopia's Top 10.

Thing 20. Podcasts, Downloadable Audio Books and More

Learn about podcasts, find some interesting ones, and if you feel up to it, make and share your own.Local public libraries offer audio books to download to your MP3 player or computer.

Thing 21. YouTube and More

Looking for that TV episode you missed? Or how about a science fair project recorded on video. That and more is available on YouTube.
Explore some other video services aimed at educators. TeacherTube or Yahoo! for Teachers are two.

Thing 22. Ebooks and NetLibrary

More online resources available for reference or reading.

Thing 23. Technorati, Tagging, and Del.icio.us

Enter the world of blogs and social bookmarking.
Read a few perspectives on Web 2. tools, Library 2.0 and the future of libraries.

Thing 24. Online Gaming

Metronet sponsored a conference on gaming in libraries a few years ago. Take a look at the speakers' presentations.
Have a Second Life?

Thing 25. Digital Map Collections

The Internet does open the world--of maps. Take a look at these digitized collections.

Thing 26. Digital Image Collections

Museums, libraries and other institutions share their image collections. Browse these for inspiration.
Responsible Use applies to images, too.

Thing 27. Customize Your Home Page

Want to consolidate all your interests in one spot? Try customizing your homepage.

Thing 28. Photos & Images

Explore Flickr and learn about this popular image hosting site.

Thing 29. Online Learning

There are many tutorials and courses online that can help you learn new skills or brush up on your current skills.

Thing 30. Field Trip Options a. and b.

Metronet will pay for one field trip per teacher that is directly related to the information literacy aspects of a research project.

Thing 31.Bibliographic Tools

Responsible Use requires proper citation of resources. Learn about free online tools and introduce them to your students.

Thing 32. Wikis

Wikipedia is bashed as a poor choice for reliable information. Learn more about it.
Wiki software is free--think about how you can use it for a class project

Thing 33. Some Other Thing

Have we missed something? If you find a Thing that we should all do, let us know!

Thing 34. Research Organizers

There are many free online resources to help you and your students organize their research. Take a look a few and try them out.

Thing 35. Smart Tips

Keep up with what's new and find tips on using what you know better.

Thing 35. Online Productivity Tools

Need to create a PDF or an online slide show? Take a look at these free productivity tools and more.

Thing 36. Social Networking

Facebook and MySpace can be the bane of a school's daily life. Learn how colleges are using social networking as part of their learning communities.

Thing 1. What Are You Talking About? Understanding Information Literacy

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A quick definition of information literacy: the ability to assess the need for information and to then be able to locate, retrieve, evaluate, analyze, and apply information at home, at work, and in the community.

These competencies and skills are developed over time and are essential for lifelong learning. When information literacy skills are integrated into the curriculum across all disciplines we build a foundation for lifelong, independent learning related to finding, using, and evaluating information tools, formats, sources, and products.

A key to successful teaching of information literacy is the collaboration of library media specialists and teachers. Library media specialists look at curriculum, assignments, and learning in terms of the information resources, processes, and technologies required for student success. They collaborate with teachers to share their in-depth knowledge of resources of all types, how to teach the use of research materials and the research process, and provide support and expertise in integrating technology into curriculum. A collaborative team will ensure that all students get the information literacy instruction they need.

Core
1. Read and review these four articles on information literacy the Minnesota Information and Technology Literacy Standards:

Lippincott, Joan K., Student Content Creators: Convergence of Literacies, Educause, November/December 2007). Positive argument for teaching information literacy in the context of new media and content creation.
Information Literacy for Faculty and Administrators, Association of College and Research Libraries
21st Century Skills: Information Literacy, EnGauge, National Central Education Laboratory.
Nishimuro, Taizo. 1999. "Information Literacy: How does it differ from Traditional or Computer Literacy?" TechKnowLogia (September/October)

2. Familiarize yourself with the MILI Vocabulary. This list gives you common language for teaching information literacy concepts. We don’t want you to teach the vocabulary—no quizzes—but instead use these terms when you are teaching or talking about the concepts.

3. You received a brochure with a summary of the Information & Technology Standards in your first training session. Look at the full Standards and at a Scope and Sequence document based on these Standards.

Click on sidebar links for these documents.

Blog Prompts
Use these ideas or your own for your blog post on Thing 1.

Are the concepts of information literacy new to you? Did the articles introduce any new ideas?
How do you collaborate now?
How do you foresee your content area standards can address the information and technology literacy standards?

Click here for more for Thing 1., if you want to go deeper.

More for Thing 1.

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Take a look at the Minnesota Math Standards, the first content standards to have information and technology literacy embedded in them. MEMO has a version with the Information Literacy and Technology Standards highlighted. Click on sidebar links for these documents. Post your thoughts. MILI participants will be ahead of the game when it comes to integrating information literacy into the Minnesota Content Standards. Take a look at the Legislation that Information Literacy be embedded into the content standards.

Blog Prompt

Should there be a legislative mandate?

Thing 2. Create Your Blog & Then Post About It

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Now that you know what’s going on with MILI and the Information Literacy Things, it’s time to set up a blog! You will use the blog to record your thoughts, ideas, discoveries, and the results of your activities. We recommend using including Blogger a Google product. You do not need a Gmail account to set up a Blogger blog.

Note that Blogger doesn’t love Safari. Mac users should try Internet Explorer or Foxfire.

Set up your blog by following these steps:

1. Create an account in Blogger

Go to Blogger.com
Click on the long orange arrow that says Create Your Blog Now. Follow the 3 step instructions.
You will need an email address. You can use any address—it does not need to be a Gmail address. Your email becomes your Username.
Create a password for your Blogger account (if you already have a Google account for other services, that will be used here, too.)
Remember to write down your Username and Password.

2. Name your blog

This is the hard part! You will create a both a display name and a URL for your blog.
The display name is the name that will appear on the banner at the top of your blog. The URL is how you will find your blog or tell others how to find it—your Web address.
Remember that the whole web world can see your blog title and blog address. Consider creating a name that reflects the 23 Things On a Stick program, but is uniquely yours. Here are some names of other people’s 23 Things blogs: LibLongLearn or Lindsay’s 23 Things

In Blogger, the URL format is name.blogspot.com There is no www in the address when using Blogger.com software. The URL for your blog will look like these examples:
http://liblonglearn.blogspot.com/
http://lindsaypeifer.blogspot.com/
Please remember your URL address and/or bookmark it.

3. Select your template.
The fun part--Blogger has several templates so choose one that fits you. The first Choose Template screen has only a few; choose one. If you want to experiment with other Templates, go to Layout and choose Pick New Template. You will see many more choices. Try some out; it is easy to see how your blog will look in the different choices.

Hints

If you run into problems, check out Blogger's Help file and Tutorial or here’s a MINITEX Blog Tutorial . Another tutorial is here. You can ask us, too.
Be sure to enable comments on Blogger.
Spend some time exploring the features of Blogger—spell check, upload photos or video, font choices, text size, and other features are available.

4. Register your blog with MILI.

Send an email to metromili@gmail.com Register in the subject box and your name and your blog name and the blog URL in the message.
We will add you to the blogroll so we can read and track your posts.

You’re ready to start posting!

Whenever you complete a Thing, write a post reflecting your experience with the Thing you accomplished. Please clearly label each entry in your blog in with Thing number and the subject. We just need to be able to see which Thing you are doing. Read and comment on other 23 Things bloggers’ posts, too. That’s part of being in a the project.Each of your posts should provide insights into what you’ve discovered and learned. Share what worked for you, what didn’t, what you’ve shared with your colleagues, any surprises, frustrations, and eureka moments. We will offer some blog prompts to get you thinking, but don’t feel limited by those—splash out and share!

There is More for Thing 2.--try some additional features and have some fun.

More for Thing 2.

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Add features to your blog. Take time to look at the features that Blogger offers, as well as features you can add from third party services. Some options:

Create an avatar (http://avatars.yahoo.com/) and add it to your blog
Add third Party Features including visitor counts, email subscriptions, feeds, and more.
Feedburner and Sitemeter are two sources of additional features.
Find some information literacy or education blogs of interest and add them to your Blogroll
Add photos or video to your blog.
Find and add other features you find useful.

Post about your experience.

Thing 3. RSS/Feed Aggregator

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So everyone in MILI now has a blog and we told you to read your fellow learners’ blogs. Are you thinking, “What, I have to click on 20+ bookmarks to see if anyone has updated?!? Forget it; waaaay too much time.”

But what if you could visit all those blogs and more information sources plus web pages in just one place and all at the same time? Would that be valuable to you? Well, you can! A lot smart people out there who like to keep up-to-date and save time have created services to make it easy to follow your favorite blogs and other information sources. It’s called RSS.

RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication.” It is a file format for delivering regularly updated information over the web. Read more about RSS or see this video at BlipTV. In the information world, RSS has changed the way news, media and content creators share information, and it is changing the way everyday users are consuming information.

Core
1. Set up an aggregator account using Bloglines . It’s free.

Once you have your reader set-up:
2. Add feeds for your fellow MILI bloggers’ blogs to your reader.
3. Add at least 3 other feeds—see More Things for Thing 3. below for some tools to help you find feeds.

Resources

Learn more about RSS at Wikipedia.
Two tutorials for Bloglines (for different learning styles!)

Teachers 2.0 Bloglines Tutorial (video)
TechLearning Bloglines Tutorial

Make the Information Literacy Connection
Set up feeds from sources that provide reliable resources. You can keep up to date on headlines from national newspapers like the New York Times, document finders like Docuticker, or more.Your students can set an RSS feed for your blog or your Web page and get updates every time you add or change something.

Blog Prompts

What do you like about RSS and newsreaders?
How do you think you might be able to use this technology in your school or personal life?
How can teachers or media specialists libraries use RSS or take advantage of this new technology?

You can find additional feeds plus other info at More for Thing 3.

More for Thing 3.

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Now that you have an RSS Reader, you add other feeds that interest you. Find some information literacy related blogs, school library blogs, teaching blogs. podcasts, headlines, or other resources. Share these with MILI via a blog post. There are several ways you can locate RSS feeds:

Look for RSS feed icons when you visit your favorite Web sites or blogs. Often a feed icon will be displayed somewhere in the navigation of the site.
Use Blogline's Search tool. This recently expanded search tool lets you search for news feeds in addition to posts, citations and the Web. Use the Search for Feeds option to locate RSS feeds you might be interested in.
Check out the top "Edublog" award-winning blogs and school library blogs.
Explore some of these search tools to locate some new feeds.
Feedster - One of the largest collections of RSS feeds, Feedster lets you search for feeds in three categories: news, blogs & podcasts
Topix.net - This search tool focuses specifically on news and media outlets RSS feeds for information, not blogs. Search using keywords or phrases.
Technorati - Technorati is a popular tool that lets you search for blogs. Since RSS feeds are part of all blogging tools, Technorati Blog Search can help you find RSS feeds for topic specific blogs . Look at the Technorati Tutorial on finding and adding your blog.
Google Blog Search—A Google tool that searches exclusively for blogs.Share your posts easily. Add a feed icon to your blog via Feedburner.

Blog Prompts

Which tool for finding feeds was easiest to use?
What other tools or ways did you find to locate newsfeeds?
Find any great sources we should all add to our feed reader?

Thing 4. Get to Know Your Public Library

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Public libraries are the doorway to information for you and your students. The Twin Cities is lucky to have 9 public libraries supported by MELSA the regional public library system. The 9 libraries are funded by their local governments (counties in 7 cases and the cities for Minneapolis and St. Paul). These libraries provide direct service to library users both in person and virtually. They do the traditional library services—loan books and other materials, maintain reference and research collections, do programming for kids, youth, and adults, answer reference questions of people seeking information or research help, recommend materials, and all those Library 1.0 services most of us are familiar with.

MELSA provides training and networking for library staff, funds regional database purchases, and fosters cooperative relationships among its 9 members. Anyone with a valid library card can borrow materials from any library (any library in Minnesota, too) and then return those materials to the most convenient location.

In the Library 2.0 world, librarians have expanded their reach through online reference through IM and email, created blogs to reach out to patrons, encourage user generated content, whether with patrons’ book recommendations or other conversations, and are looking to the future to see how public libraries will evolve and change to meet the needs of future library users.

Another role public libraries have filled is to help bridge the digital divide. Almost 100% of American public libraries have high-speed public access to the Internet. Your students may use their local libraries not only for research, but for all Internet-related activity.

As wonderful and resource-full public libraries are, they are not a substitute or replacement for school library media programs. A school library meets the unique needs of the teachers and students in its building. The media specialist builds the resource collection to respond to the curriculum and collaborates with teachers on research and other projects. A cooperative relationship between school and public libraries brings the best of both to students and teachers.
Do the Core things and explore the More if you have the time.

Core

1. Be sure you have an active public library card and PIN. A PIN is necessary for remote access to library resources and services. Find your library at http://www.melsa.org/locations.cfm. Remember—once you have a card from a Minnesota public library, it is good at any public library in Minnesota! And you can return most materials to any library location, too, and it will end up back at its “home.”
2. Explore your local public library’s resources. Each library system offers different things, but look for:

Downloadable audio books
IM Reference
Ask a Librarian (email reference)
Book groups
Book lists
Programs
Databases with remote and/or in-library access
Email notices
Rosetta Stone (St. Paul Public, Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Carver Co., Anoka Co., Dakota Co.)
And much, much more

4. Use at least one service of your library besides borrowing materials.
Be sure your students have library cards and PINs and encourage them to explore their library. Need help? Contact your local public library.

Resources

Melsa.org will lead you to links to all local public libraries. There is a list of all MELSA purchased databases, too.
For fun: History of Libraries

Make the Information Literacy Connection
Well, not a big stretch here. Public libraries and their librarians have been leaders in all types of literacy since their beginnings. As early adopters of new technology, public and school librarians have learned and then taught others how to use and integrate technology into daily lives. Some curriculum ideas:

Invite your local public librarian to visit your classroom or media center to sign up students for library cards, talk about public library resources, and/or role play ways to approach a librarian and how to ask for help.
Include public library links on your Teacher Web page for easy student access to reliable resources.

Blog Ideas

What is your experience with public libraries and librarians? Long time user? Scared away by mean librarian in your youth?
What would you improve about your library and its services?
How do you use your public library to support your teaching?

Expand your knowledge of libraries at More for Thing 4.

More for Thing 4.

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If you have time and interest, try these services related to Thing 4.

Have trouble getting things back to the library on time? Check out Library ELF, a third party service that will send you email reminders for overdues and holds on a schedule you establish. You can register multiple cards (yours and family members) from multiple libraries. Seven of the 9 metro libraries work with the service.
Own enough books to open your own library? Have classroom collections that need to be organized? Want to know who owns what you own? Try cataloging your books with Library Thing. "Enter what you're reading or your whole library—it's an easy, library-quality catalog. LibraryThing also connects you with people who read the same things." A social network around cataloging--who knew?

Thing 5. Create and Maintain a Teacher Web Page

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All teachers and LMS are busy—some say they are too busy to create and maintain a Web page for their classes. We might agree with that if setting up a Web page required in-depth knowledge of HTML (the language for coding Web sites) or brilliant design skills. However, it doesn't. Many districts offer Cozmos/Urban Planet or other services that are template-based services, to create simple Web pages. Check out what your district offers. There are other free sources, too, including Google Page Creator.

So why have a Web page? Here are a few reasons:

Put learning in the hands of your students and make them feel proactive in their education. Encourage them to rely on your Web page for updates, assignments, and more.
Parents can assess assignments away from school and (we hope) get involved in their student’s education.
A Web page is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days per week. Posting documents on your website means students always have access to them. If home access is a problem, you can still send students to school computers and have them print copies of what is needed.
Post reminders about special events, fundraisers, due dates, and other things.
Give students easy access to Reliable Resources that reinforce what is taught in class.
How about a FAQ page—frequently asked questions will receive consistent answers via FAQa.
Increase collaboration with the Media Specialist—work with her to find more resources to link on your Web page to help students get started on a project.
Post podcasts of your lectures, share you slides, & other presentations so students who missed a class can catch up.
Post school policies of importance to your academics—your school’s Academic Integrity Policy or citation policy for example.

Setting up a one-stop shopping spot for students in your classes will help them with the 3Rs.

Core

Create a Web page that focuses on your teaching and classes. Teachers should work with their media specialist to identify reliable resources appropriate for your classes.
Think about working as a learning community to incorporate the 3Rs into the page.
Link your Web page to your blog, so we can all see it.
Keep your Web page up-to-date and relevant for your classes.

Resources

Explore other teachers’ sites.

Make the Information Literacy Connection
Encouraging students to use your Web page as a source for reliable information sets an example for them as they do their research. Integrating technology into your teaching will enable you to be more efficient and spend more time on teaching the research and information literacy skills.

Other Ideas
How about student Web pages? There are services out there for free Web pages (check with the District for “approved” sites).

Blog Prompts

Do you have a current Web page? How do you use it?
How do your students react to the idea of a teacher Web page?
Do you have recommendations for teachers/LMS who are going to set up a Web page?

Thing 6. Use the Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator

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The Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator (RPC) assists teachers in planning, managing, and teaching the often daunting research process by providing them with resources and step-by-step instructions, based on the five-step process outlined in the RPC. You can find it at . The site begins with an About the RPC section that provides an overview of the calculator, describes the role of the teacher in detail, and explains the resources included in the tool. There is even a streamlined version called No Time? for busy teachers. (Is there any other kind?)

Core

Take a look at the About section and compare what it suggests to what you already know and do. Which areas of the process are you confident in teaching? What do need you to work on? What resources do you need in order to be more confident with the research process?
Look at the Support Materials (link in the yellow box on RPC Teacher Guide) and choose at least two you can use with your students.
Plan how you will approach teaching research to your students, keeping the dribbling concept in mind. Think about whether the focus of your research project is teaching your students how to conduct research, having them master the content, or both. Then decide exactly what area/steps of the research process you want students to focus on, so you don’t become overwhelmed trying to do more than is possible.
Choose pieces of the Teacher Guide to embed the skills in your teaching and their learning. If content mastery is the primary focus of the project, you may choose to emphasize the reliable resources available for research (Step 2. Gather). If the final product is most important, focus on Step 4. Communicate.

Note that we want to influence the process of research; we know you are the experts on the research products or outcomes of your students. The key question: How can your classroom research projects integrate the research process and content mastery into a successful project with positive impact on learning the research process and producing outstanding student products?

Making the Information Literacy Connection
The most important teacher role in the research process is the role of information literacy coach. The trick is that the teacher needs to know and understand the research process in order to lead students. Use the RPC Teacher Guide to improve your skills in weak areas.

Blog Prompts

What is easy for you about teaching research? What are the challenges?
How might the RPC Teacher Guide help you plan and manage research projects?
How can you keep the planning, teaching and managing of research projects sane for you as a teacher?
What additional support or resources do you need to be successful in this area of information literacy?

Have feed back or comments on the RPC Teacher Guide? Click the Leave Feedback link and fire away!

Thing 7. Research Project Calculator

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The Research Project Calculator (RPC) is based on the University of Minnesota Assignment Calculator for undergraduate students. The RPC was created to help secondary students plan for and navigate the research process in an ethical manner, using reliable resources. In addition to providing a timeline, deadlines and reminders, the tool offers a strategy.

The first rule of conducting research is to have a plan and the RPC does this by breaking the process down into the following five steps:

Question
Gather
Conclude
Communicate
Evaluate

The beauty is that the five-step approach will serve your students not just for academic research, but for all personal and learning related information problems they confront. The process the steps teach will assist them in a job or car search, a health care crisis, or choosing a career.

Core

Look at the student RPC and decide what features and steps you’d like your students to be aware of. Then introduce it to your classes (ask your LMS for help with this!) Example: The citation tool links are good for students to know about Take time to get to know the Calculator and the five steps.
Introduce the Calculator to your classes (LMS are great resources here!) Choose at least 2 of the steps to use with your class research process.
Blog about the students’ reactions and yours.

Don’t try to cover every aspect of the tool, but rather choose the steps you think your students need to focus on, then walk students through the information presented. Warning: Step 2 is the longest and most involved. Think about how you wish to approach this step. Remember the dribbling concept…

Making the Information Literacy Connection
Information literacy has been called a “liberal art.” We live in a world awash with information of all kinds. We need to ensure that our students have solid skills in place to find, evaluate and use information. We also want them to use information and technology ethically and need to teach them why this is important and how to do it.

Blog Prompts

What features/steps of the RPC did you show your students? Why?
What did they think?How do you think the RPC can help your students successfully do research?
What additional resources do they need in order to be successful?

Thing 8. Dribbling Lessons for Information Literacy

2007-11-17T10:28:00.000-06:00

Discover this great resource for teaching information literacy skills. You can use these lessons any time you need to find a simple way to explain how to define your question, find reliable resources, or any of the other five steps in the Research Project Calculator. Lessons are organized by Research steps, plus there are links to lessons by subject area. Save time by looking here first, not trolling the Internet. Compiled by Karen Eidem, Metronet’s intern. Karen is a student in the MLIS program at St. Catherine’s.

1. Select at least one “dribbling” lessons that relates to the part of the Research Calculator (Thing 7) you are working on with your students.
2. Use it in teaching the research process.
3. Blog about the lesson, its usefulness, or any other ideas you have for teaching the Calculator.

Resources
Here are some additional resources and perspectives on teaching information literacy:
Teaching Information Literacy to the Advanced Writing Class in Three Sessions
One philosophy and expectations of higher ed and information literacy.

Make the Information Literacy Connection
The Research Project Calculator is an important tool in teaching information literacy skills. It helps both teachers and students define the process, create a timeline for completion, and offers guidance on how to complete each step. The RPC can be used in any subject area. It is designed to be adaptable and useful.

Blog Prompts

How did the lessons work? Any changes you implemented?
Are there lessons you need you couldn't find? Are they skill related or subject specific?Would you recommend this dribbling lesson list to others?
Do you have other lessons you use to teach the research process that you can share?

Thing 9. Streaming Video

2007-11-16T10:40:00.000-06:00

Streaming video (or streaming media) is video that is transmitted over the Internet and viewed as it is being received. You don't have to wait for big files to download. Think YouTube or those episodes of Lost you watch online. In education, streaming video is the 21st century version of filmstrips and VHS tapes. But better, because you don't need to rely on an in-building or district collection of films and then hope they are available. Plus, no copyright issues when using an educational service. Many districts subscribe to Discovery Education Streaming (formerly UnitedStreaming) video-on-demand service, which offers "4,000 full-length videos segmented into 40,000 content-specific clips." In addition, it offers other resources including an Assignment Builder, Quiz Center, Writing Prompt Generator, and more Discovery Streaming offers video on almost any topic, from knife skills for FACS classes to history, English, science, and more.

Core

Find appropriate video on United Streaming. Check with your media specialist for log-in information. No UnitedStreaming in your district--find appropriate video on YouTube, TeacherTube, Google Video, or in another source.

Use another feature of the service--build a quiz, customize an assignment, or another improvement. Or try embedding a clip into another application to save time in your presentation.

Resources
Here are some ideas and tips for video in the classroom:

Why Use Video in the Classroom from The National Teacher Training Institute (NTTI). NTTI provides teachers with the vision, strategies, and resources they need to make dynamic use of classroom technology. Lots more on their Web site.
Tips on integrating video into lesson plans.
General strategies for information and media literacy using video
ALA Fact Sheet on Copyright and Video

Make the Connection
Using Discovery Streaming is a way to embed Reliable Resources into classroom teaching. All of the videos are selected by experts for their educational value.

Blog Prompts

Blog about your experience with the video. Is this new to you/ Was it easy? Any problems?
How did students react?
How did the video enhance/improve the lesson?

Thing 10. Copyright and Plagiarism

2007-11-15T10:53:00.000-06:00

Respecting others’ work with proper citations and respect for their copyright is one piece of Responsible Use of information and technology.

When we talk about copyright and plagiarism, we tend to lump them together with little distinction between the two. But they are different, and students will benefit from distinguishing between them. One distinction is that plagiarism is enforced by the school and copyright violations are enforced through government regulation and the courts.

Copyright is a form of intellectual property law. It protects original works of authorship including literary, dramatic, musical, and artistic works, such as poetry, novels, movies, songs, computer software, and architecture. Copyright does not protect facts, ideas, systems, or methods of operation, although it may protect the way these things are expressed.

In schools, it is often teachers and media specialists who face copyright questions about “fair use,” showing copyrighted movies and videos, using music, and similar issues in their teaching and distribution of materials. Students face copyright issues when they download music and videos, use pictures, maps, photos, videos, music, and more in their research and then try to “mash-up” any and all of the above without violating anyone’s copyright.

Plagiarism is the act of passing off as one's own the ideas or writings of another. It is unethical and is considered intellectual theft. Examples of plagiarism:

Turning in another student’s work, with or without that student’s knowledge, as your own
Buying or downloading a paper from a service and turning it in as your own work
Copying material from a source, supplying proper documentation, but leaving out quotation marks
Copying any portion of another’s work without proper acknowledgement
Paraphrasing ideas and language from a source without proper documentation

Students can avoid plagiarism by always citing sources, giving credit where credit is due, and learning to paraphrase .

Teachers can help their students avoid plagiarism by creating "plagiarism-proof" assignments. These assignments may take more thought and effort on a teacher's part, but the upfront work pays off in students that produce more research and less repetition of others' ideas and less work for teachers in trying to "catch" plagiarism. Here is a great resource to help with creating those assignments.

Core

Take one or both of these copyright quizzes. Lots of hard questions and situations! How did you do? Reflect on your results in your blog.
More quizzes—on plagiarism. Is it a paraphrase or not?
Choose one or more of the dribbling lessons on Responsible Use of Information and use it with your classes.

Resources

US Copyright Office--The horse's mouth--get the straight info on copyright using the FAQs and Fact Sheets.
Taking the Mystery Out of Copyright--A Flash video from the Copyright Office that explains copyright to students and teachers.
10 Big Myths About Copyright ExplainedJust what it says--written in student-accessible language.
The Copyright Website is "the ultimate copyright portal providing real world, practical (and some irrelevant) copyright information. For over twelve years, we've delivered the goods: General copyright information for educators, students, web surfers and confused citizens. Specialized information for webmasters, musicians, movie makers, screenwriters, programmers and photographers.” (This is a great resource for the “bleeding edge,” as it says, of copyright issues in especially Web, movies, and music. Interesting, current cases and examples.)
Plagiarism and Copyright—What Are the Differences? From the National Council of Teachers of English. A group with a big interest in these topics!
Resources on Plagiarism and Other Ethical Issues (The Council Chronicle, Nov. 05)More from National Council of Teachers of English
Copyright and Plagiarism for Print, Video, Images, and Electronic Articles TechLearning article with many explanations and resources. Go here for brushing up and learning more.

Blog Prompts

How do you deal with issues of plagiarism in your class?
What resources do you use to teach these concepts?
Any problems (students, parents, administrators....) when trying to enforce a plagiarism policy?

More for Thing 10.

2007-11-14T11:16:00.000-06:00

Keep the discussion going throughout the year with students and teachers. Here are some more Things around Copyright and Plagiarism:

Have your students take one or more of the quizzes and use them as discussion starters.
The 10 Myths is another great discussion starter--you have probably heard students express most of these already.
If your school does not have a Academic Integrity Policy in place, work to create one and make it uniform across the building. Reinforcing the concepts from class to class and subject to subject will help students internalize not only the concepts, but it will influence their research and results.
Consider adopting a school-wide resource for source citations, too. There are many to choose from including Modern Language Association, Chicago Manual of Style, APA, and others. This is more reinforcement for students and preparation for higher learning.

Thing 11. All About Google

2007-11-13T11:18:00.000-06:00

With that optimistic title, we will attempt to showcase some of Google’s features that are useful for media specialists and librarians. Google is busy buying up applications (recently YouTube, GrandCentral, and Feedburner) creating new features and services, and improving previous versions, so this will change regularly!

Googling
Since Googling has entered our vocabulary, the range of ways to Google has expanded. The most commonly known and frequently used Google’s search features are all linked from the Google search page:

Web Search
Everyone Googles, for better or worse results. Beyond a simple Web search, Google offers many more features. You can view them all here.

Image Search
Find images related to your search by a Google Image Search, or by adding words like 'pics' or 'pictures' to your search terms when you do a regular web search. Keep in mind that some inappropriate images may show up in the thumbnails, even if the actual sites are blocked.

Maps
View basic or custom maps, including business locations, contact information, and driving directions. Click and drag maps to view adjacent sections immediately. View satellite image with or without map data of your desired location that you can zoom and pan.

Video
Search for video clips on both YouTube and Google Video with one search. The Google Video Search page has a variety of categories including recommendations, popular, comedy, sports, education, and more. The day I looked at the search page, a St. Paul Winter Carnival video was “recommended.”

You can use the Search box to perform some very specific functions, too—a “quick reference” set of tools. Just enter the information in the search box.

Calculator solves math problems involving basic arithmetic, more complicated math, units of measure and conversions, and physical constants. Enter the calculation and hit enter.
Currency Conversion will convert dollars to pounds, euros to pesos, and just about any country's currency to another's. Enter the conversion you want in the Google search box and hit Enter or click the Google Search button.
Definitions Use the dictionary function to find the definition of a word or phrase. Put Define and the word phrase you seek in the search box and hit Enter. (eg, Define byte).
PhoneBook Look up a US street address or phone number by entering various what you know in the search box and and hit Enter.
Q&A Ask a fact-based question or query (like "temperature in Tokyo") by typing it into the Google search box and hit Enter. The answer displays at the top of the search results page. It includes the link to the source for this information.
And a handy feature for typos in a search string or misspellings--Google Spell Checker automatically checks that you are using the most common version of a word's spelling. If not, it offers alternatives.

There are more, too, including stock quotes, street maps, travel info, package tracking, music info, movies, and on and on. Take a look and try them out.

Beyond Googling: Google Services & Tools
Google has an ever-expanding range of services & tools. There are search tools, tools for communication, application tools, photo service, mobile tools, email, productivity tools like calendars and document sharing, and more. You can view the entire list here.

We are all users of Blogger, the free blogging software we used to set up the MILI blogs. We talked about Google Reader, an aggregator similar to Bloglines that checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. There are many more.

So which ones might have classroom or library application? Take a look at these:

Advanced Search If you click Advanced Search on the Google home page, you get a page with many ways to expand or limit your search to find more precise results. By following the directions by each box, you can choose to include all search terms, exclude terms, search by language, file format, date or number range, and more. Another feature is “Find Similar Pages”: enter a URL of a page and Google retrieves pages with similar information.

Advanced Search uses special characters in searches. Use the + sign to include a term that would otherwise be excluded from a search or the ~ to search synonyms. You might want to print Google’s Cheat Sheet of Advanced Operators to help you and the students use Advanced Search.

Special Searches
Customized Search Engine This feature has great classroom/library application. You can create a set of sites and limit your Google search to just those sites. You can save this set and host it on your Web site so users will be able to search the set

Google has created several customized search engines for everyone to use. Search government sites. Search to a specific University website. Others include Microsoft, Linux, and Apple Macintosh.
Alerts

Set up a Google Alert to receive email updates about your topics—people, sports, news, whatever. Some people set up a Google Alert on their name or institution. Teachers and librarians can set up alerts on current events or people or another topic useful to class activity.

Book Search Full text of books from cooperating partners allows users to search book content. Includes links to Buy this Book or Borrow This Book to show availability. Learn more.

Scholar Scholar provides a broad search for scholarly literature. “Search across many disciplines and sources: peer-reviewed papers, theses, books, abstracts and articles, from academic publishers, professional societies, ... universities and other scholarly organizations.” Google provides links to libraries or Web resources when available. Learn more. Do a deeper search using Ebsco Academic Premier or another ELM database.

Google Docs Google Docs is free, but you do need a Google account (register with any email address). Once registered you can create, edit and upload documents, spreadsheets and presentations, or create new ones from scratch. Once there you can access and edit from anywhere with a Web browser. Invite people to your documents and make changes together, at the same time. Handy for teacher collaboration, students working together, or your own work—docs are stored online, so no flash drive or other storage device needed. Learn more.

iGoogle Homepage A quick way to have a customized homepage. You can drag and drop elements on the page to suit your needs. Google Account required.

News Archive Searches historical archives. In A nice feature is that the News archive search can automatically create timelines which show selected results from relevant time periods. Not a substitute for subscription databases like Ethnic NewsWatch or ProQuest or other subscription database, but you will get a quick news review.

Earth This interactive mapping application allows users to navigate the entire globe. It uses satellite imagery with overlays of roads, buildings, geographic features, and the like. This requires a download to use.

Even More Tools

Gmail Web-based email application with a lot of free storage (“never delete” is a Gmail tag line). Free.
Notebook You can add clippings of text, images and links from web pages to your Google Notebook without ever leaving your browser window. You can have multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, drag and drop to organize. You can make your notebooks public to share them with the world. Handy for note taking when using different sites. Need Google Account.
Page Creator A free online tool that makes it easy to create and publish useful web pages in a few minutes.
Google Suggest A beta search that offers suggestions of other search terms based on what you entered. Google encourages users to play around with its ideas that aren't quite ready for prime time. These “beta” products (in test or tryout phase) show what Google developers have in mind for new products. Take a look--Google Mars and Google Trends are fun.

Want to help Google improve its searching capabilities? Join an experimental group and give feedback on the products.

Core

Create a customized search engine to use with your class(es). Add it to your Teacher Home page.
Explore Google Earth. How could this be used in history, language arts, world languages...?
Do a News Archive search and click Show Timeline. Useful in classroom?
Look at Google Librarian Central and Google for Educators. Consider subscribing to the newsletters, printing the posters or bookmarks (!), or joining the forums.
Choose one other feature to explore. Blog about your choice and share whether it is useful, fun, a waste of time, or ….

Blog Prompts

Is Google your first stop on a Web search? Why or why not?
How many of Google’s features do you use regularly?
How do you use Google with students?
Why do we love Google? Or do you?

Resources

Improve your own Google searching, learn how to use Google in a classroom, and keep up with changes with these resources.

Google for Educators Google has a site for teachers to help you understand Google’s features and how to integrate them into the classroom. Includes activities and printable stuff like bookmarks and posters.
Google Librarian Central Aimed at helping librarians understand and use Google. Also has printable stuff, hints on teaching Google, and more.
Google Friends Newsletter includes messages about new features and other information.
What’s Google up to now? Online resources for keeping up with Google and search engines. C&RL News (College and Research Libraries), September 2006, Vol. 67, No.8. This artcle offers some sources to help track what's new.
About.com offers reviews of Google products and services.

Books

Really want to learn more? Check out these books and others on using Google. Use Thing 16. MnLINK to find which Minnesota libraries own them.

Google Earth For Dummies by David A. Crowder. For Dummies; 1 edition (February 27, 2007).
Google: The Missing Manual by Rael Dornfest, et. al. O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (March 10, 2006).
Googlepedia: The Ultimate Google Resource, (2nd Edition) by Michael Miller. O'Reilly Media, Inc.; 2 edition (March 10, 2006).

Make the Information Literacy Connection
Google is often the focus of discussions about information literacy as teachers and librarians often despair that it is the first and maybe the only source of research for students. Instead of banning Google, teach students its useful features and how to evaluate the information they find on Google. They will Gather at least some of their information via Google; we need to be sure they understand they must evaluate and analyze it, too.

More about Google here!

More for Thing 11.

2007-11-12T12:59:00.000-06:00

There is enough to explore in Google that it could have its own 23 Things! Play around with some of these features and share your experience:

Use Page Creator to set up your own Web page. Link it in your blog so we can see it.
Customize your home page with iGoogle
Try some of Google's beta features and join an Experimental group. Give them feed back about your experience.
Read the About Google page and explore other features that interest you. A glance at Jobs at Google and the US and International locations show just how rapidly growing and widespread Google's reach is. Share with the MILI group what you have learned.

Thing 12. Other Search Engines

2007-11-11T13:01:00.000-06:00

Google may be first choice for searching for many of us, but there are other search engines that you and your students may be using. How each search engine finds its results is a big secret, but you can look at the results returned to determine which is most useful for your purpose. Your searching will be more efficient and return more results if you take a few minutes to compare the search results from various search engines (Google, Ask, Yahoo, MSN) and metasearch engines (Clusty, Dogpile). Different search engines may be better for certain types of searches.

Core
1. Run the same searches in more than one search engine and compare the results. Try Ask.com, Yahoo!, MSN, or another one you know and use. Use both broad terms (eg cardinal and narrower terms--cardinal baseball). How did the results compare?
2. These tools can make the comparison easier:
This tool shows results from LiveSearch, Google, and Yahoo. It gives Best Results, but also shows unique hits from each search engine.
This guy has a way to show Google and Yahoo results side-by-side.
This tool gives an interesting visualization of Google (top) and Yahoo (bottom) results.
3. Meta search engines they make it easy to send a query to several search engines at once. DogPile and Clusty are two to try.
4. Visual search engines display results in a more graphical format. Try your search in these search engines: Kartoo displays a visual map of results. Qunitura gives both a graphical result and a list 5. This is a different approach to visual display of information. Just for fun, try MusicPlasma.

Resources

SearchEngineShowdown will help you keep-up-to-date on the news of search engines.
SearchEngineLand watches the big three: Google, Yahoo!, and LiveSearch. Each has its own “land” for info, as well as a Web news on the home page. This has a marketing bent, but also notes other info on the various engines.
This article gives an update on changes in Yahoo! And LiveSearch.
Handy Chart of Search Engine Features with links to full review of each search engine.
Same info in a different format.

Make the Connection

Students—and teachers and LMS and parents and basically all of us—will continue to use the search engines as a main source of our research. Understanding that different search engines retrieve different results can help students improve their search results. And, of course, that goes hand-in-hand with teaching how to evaluate the information on the sites in the results list.

Blog Prompts

How do the search engine results compare to the database results?
Did you get similar or different results from different search engines? Meta-search engines?
Are there different features offered by various engines which you like or dislike?
Did this exercise impact your opinion about any of the engines you tried?
Did you try MusicPlasma? What did you think?

Thing 13. Subscription Databases

2007-11-10T13:08:00.000-06:00

Reliable Resources are rich and deep on the subscription databases that school districts, ELM, and local public libraries offer. The databases offer articles from journals, magazines, and newspapers, as well as from reference books. Many include video and audio clips, primary resources, multimedia presentations, podcasts, maps, charts, photos, and more. There are teacher resources, research process help, timeline creation, and more. And the more is the issue—the databases have many tools and features that get overlooked in the rush to find those reliable resources.

We are fortunate in Minnesota to have access to a wide range of subscription databases. Look at these sources to find databases that are appropriate for your and your students’ use.
Your school district offers many online resources for your use. Explore the list and identify those you can use with your classes.

ELM is a group of databases licensed by the State of Minnesota for everyone to use. They are available via most school district Web sites and through your public library. Here is the direct link http://elm4you.org/ . All have remote access for searching from home.
MELSA, the regional public library system, recently purchased the Historic New York Times for all metro library users. Check it out! You can find it via your local library Web site.
MELSA pays for a group of 12 databases, including Literature Resource Center, for all public libraries in the metro area; many have remote access if you have a valid library card and PIN.
Individual library systems may have additional databases. Check your local system for its list.

Since most of us are not going to become expert database searchers—nor is that our goal—this exercise aims at helping you understand which database is going to answer your question most completely and efficiently (chances are, no one database will do it all). Before you begin searching a database, you will want to figure out if the database actually contains the information you need for your research. Spending a few minutes evaluating the database can save you valuable time, insure you use the appropriate database, and help create searches to get the best
results.

This is how librarians and media specialists approach a new database—either to purchase it or the first few times they use it. Spending the 15-30 minutes upfront saves time and frustration in the long run. So rather than jumping right in to a database, typing in a search term or phrase, and then hoping for results, use the questions below to get to know the databases contents and features. After all, there is no point in searching for up-to-the-minute news stories in the Historical New York Times or for Consumer Reports in ProQuest; it is in Ebsco.

Core

Choose one or more databases from the lists above to examine in depth.
Look at the database(s) and ask these questions:

Is there information about the database's creator? An "About" Section? An FAQ?

What type of content does the database contain? Where is the content from?

Do you like the first view of the database? Why or why not? How about the subsequent views?

Click on various links and options the database offers – what do you discover? What do/don't you like?

Is the site easy to navigate? How is the content of the database categorized? Is it effective?

What types of things does the database provide? Articles? Videos? Maps? Charts? Sound clips? Photos?

How are search results displayed? Do you like the format? Why or Why not? Are there other options?

3. See if the database offers the following:

Multiple search levels? Search tips?

Tutorials? A "Help" section?

Limiters? Wild cards? Boolean? Sorting?

Thesaurus? Dictionary?

Citation help?

Teacher resources?

Personalization?

Saving? Printing? Exporting? RSS? Additional things to consider:

Why would someone use this database -- for what type of project would this database be helpful?

What do you think is the best thing about this database?

What is "hook" that would convince students (or teachers) to use this database?

Make the Connection

Reliable resources are definitely part of information literacy, but so are the skills to evaluate which database will be most useful. The process includes being able to find the information you need; that includes what sources will contain the information. Consider using an abbreviated version of this exploration exercise with your students.

Resources

If you want to really get into a database, check out the archived Webinars that MINITEX offers librarians on the features of the various databases.
galeschools offers teachers and media specialists tools, activities, posters, and more to teach their databases.

Blog Prompts

What is your first step when approaching a new database?
What did you learn about the database(se) that you didn't know before?
How successful are you when you search a database? Will this exploration help?
How would you abbreviate this exercise to use with students?

Thing 14. Reliable Online Resources

2007-11-09T13:44:00.000-06:00

Web sites, news sites, images, and more are all on the Web for our entertainment and enlightenment. And we all know—as do most of our students—that anyone can create and publish a Web site. A lot of what is there is based on opinion, rhetoric, opinions, stories, interpretations, or parodies. It may be reliable or purposely false; it may be there to persuade you to buy an item or particular idea or change your attitude or belief. The “good stuff” is there, too, but how do we find it?

Human-created directories where experts (librarians or others) have reviewed and evaluated the Web sites before they are added to the links are a good place to start. These directories lead to validated, authentic sites, which can then be used to delve deeper.

Core
1. Explore these links which lead to reliable online resources:

Librarians Index to the Internet
Internet Public Library
DocuTicker offers a hand-picked selection of resources, reports and publications from government agencies, NGOs, think tanks and other public interest organizations. Updated daily (Add to your Bloglines/Reader account if this interests you.) DMOZ is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors.
Complete Planet will help you find reliable databases related to your subject.

2. To find other directories or resources that lead you and your students to reliable resources look at your local public library Web site for links, academic library Web sites, the sites of your professional organizations, museums, or other trusted organizations. Share what you find on your blog.

Make the Connection
Reliable resources is one of the 3Rs of the MILI project. Making the connection that evaluating individual resources is important when using the Internet is key when using the online sources for research. Offer these directories as an alternative to Google or Yahoo! searches. Directories don’t eliminate the need to evaluate the resource for its applicability to the need at hand, but they do provide a “shortcut” to reliable online resources.

Blog Prompts

How could you introduce these resources to your students?
Have you dealt with the impatience of students waiting for that instant answer? How do you handle that?
What other reliable online resources do you rely on?

Thing 15. Collaboration

2007-11-09T13:10:00.000-06:00

Collaboration is teachers and library media specialists working together to create learning experiences that take advantage of the knowledge and skills of each person involved. Each partner brings special expertise to the information literacy process, helping to make more effective use of resources and teaching time. Collaboration increases content, improves process, and impacts student achievement. Collaboration helps students acquire knowledge about a subject and the problem solving and research skills they need as they do research now and in the future.

And it takes time. One of the reasons Metronet provides interns in the media centers is to help the media specialists find the time to collaborate with teachers. This is a stopgap—collaboration time needs to be built into the library media program. As does adequate staffing of the media program—one media specialist cannot effectively collaborate with a hundred teachers and provide the research and reference assistance students demand.

As part of a MILI learning community, you have the opportunity to develop new collaborative relationships or report on those already in place.

Core

Read these perspectives on teacher-media specialist collaboration.

What and Why of Collaboration

A Rubric for Collaboration

2. Describe your experience with collaboration.
3. Describe a successful collaboration you have been part of . What made it work?

More
Develop a new collaborative lesson with another MILI participant and describe the process, product, and results.

Blog Prompts

What do you see as barriers to collaboration?
How can the barriers be overcome?
Is collaboration worth it?

Thing 16. Using MnLINK

2007-11-08T13:53:00.000-06:00

Interlibrary loan (ILL) is a long and hallowed tradition in American libraries—dating from the mid-1800s. Through interlibrary loan a library requests material from, or supplies material to, another library. This allows users of a local library access to millions of items the users’ local library does not own. It is a reciprocal arrangement—to borrow, you must agree to lend. There is a Code that governs American interlibrary loan. ILL is an important and complicated service.

Technology has had a tremendous—mostly positive—impact on interlibrary loan. Online library catalogs with availability information and the electronic transmission of requests coupled with delivery services has reduced the waiting time for an ILL request. These same factors have had a dramatic impact on the quantity of ILLs libraries now see.

The MnLINK Gateway is a portal into nearly all of Minnesota's library resources. The MnLINK Gateway provides libraries and community members access to online catalogs from over 20 Minnesota library systems and the Electronic Library for Minnesota (ELM). This gateway allows the people of Minnesota to log in using their local library card and to request materials from around the state be delivered to their local library. This expanded interlibrary loan brings the request process directly to the library user as they select items and place their "Get It" request online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The MnLINK Gateway is supported by your tax dollars. It is one of many services provided to libraries and their users by the MINITEX Library Information Network. (MINITEX is the developer/host of the Research Project Calculator.) Users are not charged for delivery of their requests. Some libraries do place a limit on the total number of requests a user can have at one time, but all of the participating libraries are provide free access.

MnLINK offers both basic and advanced searching capabilities (using Boolean operators and fields to limit by language, reading level, and/or format or media). You can save your searches and run them again later, search all libraries in MnLINK or just one or a few, create and save Search Profiles (groups of libraries that you want to search more than once), search for peer-reviewed journals, and limit your search by date.You can track your requests: each request will have a note of its location in the process (under library review, in process, at your local library, returned, or not available through MnLINK, to name a few.) And, best of all—the Get It! Button. (Flash file)

Once you find an item you want, you click the Get It! Button. This sends a request to the system to find an available copy of that particular item in library. You choose your pick-up location (your local public library branch, most likely) and the item is delivered there. Note that the item may come from a library different from the one in record you selected—you will get a “bibliographically identical” item—same edition, ISBN, etc.

If you can’t find a record for the item you seek, you can Create a Request by entering as much information as you have about the item. MnLINK will track it down through other resources.
To use the Get It! Button and some of the advanced features you do need a library card. Promote MnLINK to your students with these resources.

Core
1. Watch the tutorials (scroll down) on how to use the service. They are broken down into short screencasts so you can view only what you need.
2. Search MnLINK. Choose an item you want to use in class, a book you want to read, or a movie you want to watch. Do the same search in both Basic and Advanced Search. Did you find the item?
3. Make MnLINK a Favorite or Bookmark so it is at your fingertips!

Blog Prompts

How will using MnLINK help your students? Is timing an issue?
How can you help students plan for ILL for completing their projects?
Have you used MnLINK in the past? What was your experience?

Making the Information Literacy Connection

Finding the information you need is one of the components of information literacy and ILL is a staple of academic libraries as they assist students complete their studies. Students need to know that the world of information is open to them—and is wider and deeper than Google and their local libraries.

Curriculum Connection
Work with your media specialist to introduce MnLINK to students and to explain your district ILL capabilities, too.

More for Thing 16. here.

More for Thing 16.

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There is a lot to learn when searching and requesting items on MnLINK. Explore the capabilities by searching for different types of materials (CD, DVD, journal, etc.), by language, and/or by reading level.

Request an item on MnLINK with the Get It! Button. How long did it take to arrive?
Take a look at the list In Constant Demand. MINITEX publishes this list for libraries to show books and media that are probably not available on ILL due to heavy local use. It is an interesting snapshot of what Minnesota library users are reading and watching. Have you read or watched anything on the list? Did you borrow it from a library?

Thing 17. One New Thing

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Learning never ends, as we all know. We want to learn along with you. As you are exploring the Things and tools, share what you find with us.

Core
1. Now that you are keeping up with technology, online services, and more, tell us something you have discovered that has an impact on information literacy, the Three Rs, or using technology in the classroom.
2. Blog about your discovery and ask to make a brief presentation in an after school meeting.

Making the Connection

Lifelong learning is a goal of information literacy--we want to have the skills ourselves to find what we need to know and how to use the information. Teaching these skills to our students is one of the best things we can do--they will face an even greater (!) onslaught of information and will need to be able to identify valid info from worthless, where to find it, and how to manage it all. Practice these skills finding that New Thing to share.

Thing 19. Just for Fun (Online Image Generator)

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Most of us don’t have the time or necessarily the artistic talent to create specialized graphics or logos for projects. Enter the Online Image Generator! These handy-dandy tools let you create many types of images – framed pictures, slideshows, comic-style captions, trading cards, calendars, and much more.

Why Use This Tool?
Create trading cards of authors, scientists, historical figures, or even concepts you’re trying to teach, such as astronomy, algebraic equations, historical figures (“I’ll trade you two Ben Franklins for an Eleanor Roosevelt!”). Or have your students create trading cards of themselves to help them get to know each other. Other possibilities include creating a calendar with an image related to what you’re teaching that month, or a mosaic with multiple images related to your subject area. The possibilities are endless! As is the time you can spend playing around with these sites—beware!

Activity

Go to Big Huge Labs (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/).
Create a trading card and save it to your computer
Upload the image to your blog to share with others

Resources
Big Huge Labs: http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/
Image Chef: http://www.imagechef.com/
Toon Doo: http://www.toondoo.com/Home.on
(Note: Due to firewall issues I wasn’t able to use the tools to create anything at Toon Doo, but it looks fun.)

Information Literacy Connection
Graphics are a great way to convey information and can add some fun and creativity to your students’ research projects (with your guidance, of course). Encourage your students to create customized images for their PowerPoint presentations, WTVeb pages, and other projects. This is also an opportunity to talk to your students about copyright and licensing issues – some image generators use characters from popular TV shows (The Simpsons, South Park, etc.) – is this legal or part of the Internet free-for-all?

Other Ideas
Librarians at Carleton College are using trading cards as a way to reach their students.

Blog Prompts

How can you use customized images in your teaching?
How can students use images to convey information in their research projects?