Teacher Librarians everywhere are having the same experiences, pondering the same questions, and collectively tackling Web 2.0.  The important thing here – the beauty of Web 2.0 – is that we aren’t alone.  Thanks to things like wikis and weblogs, we are able to learn and grow together.

One Teacher-Librarian I have a great deal of respect for is Joyce Valenza.  She is a role model for everyone, as she has taken her school library online, offering a ‘Virtual Library’.  She maintains a fabulous and informative blog ( NeverEndingSearch Blog )  and has recently started ‘Teacher Librarian Ning’ - an online community for Teacher Librarians and educators (for those who want to lead in new information landscapes).  I love it!  She describes it as a ”learning sandbox”, which seems a fitting analogy.  She is responsible for initiating many incredible projects, such as the Teacher Librarian Wiki (topics include: Web 2, School Library 2, Books, Info Lit & models). 

A Grade 4 Class Blog

A Gr. 8 Web Classroom (includes blog, podcast, studycast, class webpage)

A Book Blog (like a novel study but via blog)

A Library Skills Blog

Technology takes time.  That is what I have learned through this process.  It always takes longer than you think it will.  That being said, what specifically takes time is finding other sites to link to, or videos to share via YouTube, or technical difficulties that were more associated with setting the blog up in the beginning.   Now that the blog is up-and-running, it doesn’t seem that hard to continue, which I think I will.   If anything, it keeps a history of all the technological things I have discovered and considered with regards to schools.   Months from now if I want to refer back to an article or website, the link will be conveniently located in this blog.  Plus, I am hoping to generate discussion (comments) as I go.  

I think a good realization I have made is that incorporating technology isn’t too hard, and is really quite important to do.  I hope that my explorations through this blog lead to my use of technology in my library, and that this use of technology makes a positive impact on the lives of my students.

Learning 2.0 has two meanings for me:

*  that we are learning new technologies to understand and participate in Web 2.0 

*  that using Web 2.0 tools effectively in education can enhance student learning, transforming their regular learning into “learning 2.0″. 

Funny really… would that make me Teacher-Librarian 2.0, and my students would be Students 2.0?   Do we become Society 2.0?   Maybe we already have…

Fly to your house. Just type in an address, press Search, and you’ll zoom right in.  

Search for schools, parks, restaurants, and hotels. Get driving directions.

Tilt and rotate the view to see 3D terrain and buildings.

Save and share your searches and favorites.

Google Labs:  This is a very interesting part of the Google website… it provides links to the technology aspect of Google.  There are many technology tools to explore here, including Google Page Creator, which is a great tool for creating webpages.  The only glitch is you need to have a Gmail (the Google email program) account to access this tool.

Picassa:  This tool is similar to Flickr, in that you can upload and share photos.  One fabulous difference is that Picassa allows you to modify your photos (make colour adjustments, size adjustments etc. )   It is like having Flickr and Photoshop rolled into one program.  A great Web 2.0 tool.

Blogger:   One of the easiest blogging programs to use is now owned by Google.  It walks you through step-by-step as you set-up your blog.  Before you start, give some thought as to what name you’d like for your blog… Blogger has been around for a while, and most obvious names are gone.

All students know how to use Google to do a random search for information, but as educators we could be teaching them to be more effective in their research.  Google offers tips on how to search:

Basic Search Tips for Google

Advanced Search Tips for Google

•  
  • ** Not Everything is on the Internet
  • ** The Needle (your search) in the Haystack (the Web)
  • ** Quality Control Doesn’t Exist

The list goes on, but I have singled out these 3 points because they also add to the definition of our changing role as teacher-librarians.   Admittedly, students from this generation feel most at home when searching for information on the Internet.    With this in mind, our roles in Library 2.0 need to include:

•  
  • ** Continuing to teach basic research and literacy skills (how to use a catalogue, how to find information in a resource, how to find the main points and supporting evidence, how to take notes and organize your thoughts, how to properly cite information)
  • ** Teach tools and strategies for effectively searching on the Web
  • ** Teach how to critically evaluate websites

In Library 2.0, you need to have a 2.0 Librarian, and it turns out this may be one of the greatest careers in 2007!  In an article on Kiplinger, I found a description of our changing role:

Librarian.   Forget about the image of librarian as mousy bookworm. Today’s librarian is a high-tech information sleuth, a master of mining cool databases (well beyond Google) to unearth the desired nuggets.

Someone once asked me if I see a future without books.   Personally, I don’t.   Although the Internet is a valuable tool, the benefits of books should not be understated.

Will people abandon books for the Internet?  Certainly not for personal reading – I don’t know anyone that wants to curl up on the couch with their monitor for some reading.  In schools, I still can’t imagine a library without books.   In any given day, I see students around the atlas, looking through World Book, curled up with a magazine or book, some reading together, some reading alone.  Personally, I experience a fatigue from staring at a computer screen for prolonged periods that I don’t experience when working with books.  

But never say never (unfortunately)… the “School of the Future” which is conveniently sponsored by Microsoft, has no books, papers, or pencils.  Everything is on the computer.   It makes you wonder – what would happen if there was an energy crisis in the future, and we found ourselves without electricity to meet the needs of our overwhelming population?  Society would be scrambling madly (try to think of everything you use in a day and what needs electricity) and where would I be?

Curled up with a book.

There are so many new tools that make Web 2.0 possible.  So many, infact, that I am only skimming the surface by discussing a few here.   I will discuss more as time goes on, but today I will suggest a few that may be of some use in the classroom or library program.  Even if you can’t imagine how to use it right away, it is worth investigating so that you might use it in the future. 

Some more obvious Web 2.0 tools include:

YouTube  a popular free video sharing website which allows users to upload, view, and share video clips online.  There is a group within YouTube that is designated for schools (YouTube K-12) where students and classes can upload their video creations to share.

Flickr a website where you can store, search, sort and share your photos.  You could search for curriculum-related photos to share, or upload class photos – when photos are uploaded, you can designate the security level (who will see your photos).  You can have settings so that only ‘friends’ can see photos, where only contacts that are approved as friends have access to your photos.

MySpace  /  Facebook   Both of these sites are social networking sites, and there is still controversy around the use of these in schools.  Many school districts have their filters set to block these websites based on the possibility of innapropriate content, and safety concerns.  My view?  These are websites that students use outside of schools, and they need to be taught Internet safety, and how to use social networking sites safely.  I am not sure there is a tie-in with the curriculum, so other than teaching Internet safety, these sites may not have a use in the classroom. 

Some new tools you may not have heard of include: 

Splashr  a tool that can be used in conjunction with Flickr.  Splashr takes Flickr photos and presents them in any format you select (i.e. slideshow, mosaic, etc.)  You can search for whatever subject (tag) you want, and can specify if you want to search all of Flickr, or a specific person’s photos on Flickr. 

Del.icio.us   A Social bookmarking site where users can save bookmarks and organize them with tags.  It keeps all your bookmarks in one place, you can bookmark sites for yourself and your friends, and see what other people are bookmarking.

Scrapblog  This is a very cool site, which allows users to combine photos, videos, audio and text into a multimedia scrapbook!  You could use this for class field trips, projects, and special events at your school.

Ning  This is a social networking site, but you can create groups within which to network.  You might choose to have a group for your class!  Teacher-Librarians that are wondering about Library 2.0 might want to join the Library 2.0 group where they can share questions and ideas about Web 2.0 and Libraries.

The article  Back to School with the Class of Web 2.0: Part 1  (written by Brian Benzinger)  offers a huge list of Web 2.0 tools geared towards teachers and students, organizing them into categories: organizers, gradebooks, management, mathematics, resume building, to do’s and notetaking, learning and research, and media sharing. 

Part 2 of this series expands on the Web 2.0 tools,  with categories including word processing, presentations, diagrams and mind mapping, spreadsheets, and calendars.

I really like Part 3, as it addresses some things I have already been thinking about, namely educational blogging, photo sharing with Flickr, educational podcasting, Wikipedia and Wikis, and video sharing. 

There are far more Web 2.0 tools than time you have in the day to learn all these.  My suggestion: take time to quickly peruse the lists, pick a few that find interesting, and start by learning those. 

If I have missed any good tools, please feel free to leave a comment with your suggestion.

• *  Teachers need training
• *  How do different Web 2.0 tools work? 
• *  How do these tools fit into the curriculum?
• *  We need to find meaningful ways to include these tools into projects

As a Teacher-Librarian, I think my role should be to include this discussion in my collaboration with other teachers.  I should be (and I am) trying to keep up-to-date with changes in technology, but I need to be realistic with what I can learn and implement in my teaching.  Finally, I would like to be able to ‘train’ or familariaze my peers with the tools I learn, so that they too can include it in their teaching.  I would like for my library to become LIBRARY 2.0.

Ambitious, perhaps.  I fear that I will just start to understand and apply Web 2.0 in my teaching, and we will already be onto Web 3.0!

Thoughts?