Digital Footprint - less

I have Googled myself, as suggested in my study of digital citizenship, and have discovered that I really don't exist in the digital world. In fact, the first listing was an obituary for a person with the same name - see I can't even write it here!! Which author famously wrote, "I am dead"? I obviously have to press harder in the sand.

I take Kevin Honeycutt's point that we don't have to be so careful that we don't exist, but should use the digital world to promote and celebrate the positive aspects of our lives and images.

So, this is one of my goals now - to create a positive digital tattoo. A much better word than footprint. The next big wave can wash the footprint away but information and images online are like a tattoo -  impossible to erase.

The School Library and Student Privacy - Is there any?

I had never previously considered the issue of student privacy in regards to their library borrowing and usage. I thought we were only helping! But was it the students or ourselves we were helping? Nor have I read any policies dealing with this in the school situation. We talk to students about their personal privacy and the danger of giving out personal details online, but are librarians abusing their position of authority and invading students’ privacy, albeit  unintentionally?? I would not like to accused of this.

This is what can be done immediately to begin to remedy this while formal policies are put in place:

• ·      Be pro-active and speak to the policy makers about making these suggestions formal.
• ·      Do not leave pages of log in names and passwords where others may see them.
• ·      Distribute library cards for students to keep rather than being kept in the library.
• ·      Issue overdue notices directly to the child and not to class teachers to distribute.
• ·      Decide on a fair criteria for teachers to be able to view student records.
• ·      Develop a set of guidelines for student use.
• ·      Speak to students about what the librarian is doing to protect their privacy and introduce them to the student guidelines.

Well, that’s a start.

What is digital citizenship?

Digital citizenship involves a vast range of responsibilities, technology, skills, behaviours and knowledge. Teachers will first need to understand it and develop it themselves before being able to construct policies and programs to promote it in the school community. It also has a shifting base as new forms of web 2.0 tools and social networking pervade all aspects of daily life.

To achieve ‘digital citizenship’ students are required to develop the ability to learn as a 21^st century learner with all that entails – the 4 ‘c’s as I call them: collaboration, connectivity, critical thinking and creativity – in a supportive and  safe, yet challenging educational setting.

As a TL, as Farmer (2010) suggested, it is the TL who sees all students and comes into contact with all staff so how much of the responsibility rests with them? How do we achieve school wide digital citizenship?

Digital Citizenship - Here I Come

Horizon Report

The implications for 2013 is that we have to begin to make the shift towards mobile device education. This means a huge shift in budget administration and pedagogy. A school needs qualified and passionate leaders to lead this change successfully. It’s a bit like stepping off a cliff into space because technology is changing so quickly we don’t know where it will take us or what’s coming next.

What the students need to learn has now changed. Facts are not what is important anymore. What’s important is that students know where to locate and efficiently select the information they need. In Denmark (I think) students are sent home with tests that they can complete using the resources of the internet. This type of shift has huge implications for our teaching content and our current methods of assessment, not to mention national testing programs.

The teacher librarian’s responsibility to teach information skills is now more important than ever when we look at the intricacies of defining a topic and the issue of website evaluation skills. These abilities cut across all curriculum areas.

Diigo

I have joined Diigo and applied for an educator account. Looking forward to using it to bookmark information for this course as I continue with my readings.

Blogs

I have recently set up a blog for students to use in association with the unit of work on Japan they are completing. Their task is to decide which Japanese city their family should move to according to certain provided criteria. They are using the blog to write their thoughts about what they are learning in their research, particularly about cultural differences, and these comments are read an commented upon by students in other classes studying the same unit and they have taken to it like ducks to water. It's so exciting.
My next project is to set up a blog to which students can upload book reviews for others to read and another for teachers to share new information about lessons and teaching and learning in the 21st century. A type of online professional learning.
Who knows from there... A library wiki with book e-trailers, links to websites, embedded videos...

Website Evaluation

Both Herring (2011) and Schrock (2002) write about the importance of the efficiency of a website including the time it takes to load the site, whether this is the same at all times of the day or if there are a large number is users trying to access it simultaneously. The WWWCRCE (McLachlan, 2002) does not address these issues, nor does it ask the user to evaluate the navigation, graphics or the amount of text and while these technical criteria do not rank as importantly as educational or reliability criteria they should still be considered when making an overall assessment of a website for student use. The First Look section asks the user to consider how quickly the user could determine the basic content and the intended audience of the site. This would appear to be superfluous because if it wasn’t obvious to the TL they would not bother to further evaluate the website.

When evaluating a website for student use for educational purposes it is most important that criteria relating to this should be considered. Not all published criteria do this well and some do not do it at all. The TL should assess the credibility of a webpage to ascertain whether they are an educationally qualified authority. (McKinney, 2007)