Another new and cool tool from Google. Keep track of books in your library, write reviews, rate books, find related resources, and track others' libraries via RSS
From search games to presentations on how to use Docs & Spreadsheets with your students, here you can find real-world examples of innovative ways that teachers and librarians are using Google tools to help students learn.
"From search games to presentations on how to use Docs & Spreadsheets with your students, here you can find real-world examples of innovative ways that teachers and librarians are using Google tools to help students learn"
Day one of introducing Google Docs to a class is always an exciting one, I have been fortunate to be able to see three cohorts experience the fun ways to use it. Today we made a start with our Year 5s and had a great afternoon.
A series of studies that have had a great deal of influence on the research and decision-making discussions concerning school library media programs have grown from the work of a team in Colorado—Keith Curry Lance, Marcia J. Rodney, and Christine Hamilton-Pennell (2000).
Recent school library impact studies have also identified, and generated some evidence about, potential "interventions" that could be studied. The questions might at first appear rather familiar: How much, and how, are achievement and learning improved when . . .
librarians collaborate more fully with other educators?
libraries are more flexibly scheduled?
administrators choose to support stronger library programs (in a specific way)?
library spending (for something specific) increases?
high priority should be given to reaching teachers, administrators, and public officials as well as school librarians and school library advocates.
Perhaps the most strategic option, albeit a long-term one, is to infiltrate schools and colleges of education. Most school administrators and teachers never had to take a course, or even part of a course, that introduced them to what constitutes a high-quality school library program.
Three factors are working against successful advocacy for school libraries: (1) the age demographic of librarians, (2) the lack of institutionalization of librarianship in K–12 schools, and (3) the lack of support from educators due to their lack of education or training about libraries and good experiences with libraries and librarians.
These vacant positions are highly vulnerable to being downgraded or eliminated in these times of tight budgets, not merely because there is less money to go around, but because superintendents, principals, teachers, and other education decision-makers do not understand the role a school librarian can and should play.
If we want the school library to be regarded as a central player in fostering academic success, we must do whatever we can to ensure that school library research is not marginalized by other interests.
A great overview of Lance's research into the effectiveness of libraries. He answers the question: Do school libraries or librarians make a difference? His answer (A HUGE YES!) is back by 14 years of remarkable research. The point is proved. But this information remains unknown to many principals and superintendents.
Anyone interested in 21st century teaching and learning will find this interview fascinating.
Woo Hoo! At last we can now control page level permissions in Google sites. This could be a game changer for schools who have been using Google Ed Apps.
Collection of 20 webcam activities described as being for EFL/ESL students, but also very applicable to other students. Would work well with Google's video chat!
Superintendents on Twitter-While still relatively rare, there's a growing number of state and school district superintendents coming out of the closet on Twitter. We need their voice and "out-loud leadership" in the school reform and funding debates.
Here's a list that hopefully keeps growing:
it's also about sharing with the right people. Circles will allow what educational consultant Tom Barnett calls "targeted sharing," something that will be great for specific classes and topics
Skype has become an incredibly popular tool to bring in guests to a classroom via video chat -
teachers are already talking about the possibility of not just face-to-face video conversation but the potential for integration of whiteboards, screen-sharing, Google Docs, and other collaborative tools
Google + seems like the solution for someone like me who wants to use the web to have conversations about school topics with students and parents and yet not have students and parents have access to my personal posts.
Google Shared Spaces offers several mindmapping applications. The one I like best is simply called Mind Map Gadget and can be found on:http://googlesharedspaces.appspot.com/gallery/app?app_id=16636
Mind Map Gadget allows you to create a shared space, i.e. students can collaborate on the mindmap, which you can embed into Moodle or any other website plus it lets you work directly in that website. The gadget might not be as impressive as Bubbl.us or Mindmeister, however it does offer some advantages in addition to remaining editable after embedding.
get creative and make your cover image something to talk about.
generate Circles for in-store customers; online customers; partners; industry leaders; business friends; coworkers; etc.
Make sure you use them. And then, make sure you use them well.
Write targeted updates to send out to targeted groups
Using Circles can extend the life of your updates (and blog posts), and can your them to resonate better with each of your segmented connections.
Don’t post your update to them AND send them an email to notify those in your Circle about your recent post:
The email option lets you make sure an important post will reach the Circles you need it to (like to customers, if you’re posting about a social contest marketing campaign, for example).
But don’t overuse this function! It’s particularly annoying if your Circles have not asked you for continual updates! It’s spam.
People do not like to hangout with people who only talk about themselves.
80% of your posts should be about lifestyle, customers and stuff other than you; 20% should be about you and your products.
Another big no-no is not addressing negative comments on your posts. Bad comments will happen. It’s an open forum, and not everyone is going to agree with you, or even like what you do.
judge how to respond to comments on your updates.
If it’s an inappropriate comment - delete it, but I’d try to tell the commenter first - not doing so can lead to even more PR problems for you...)
Find communities that suit your business niche, and join them.
join a few business-related ones - start to network, and you never really know where those connections will lead you.
Engage, share others’ posts, comment. Treat Communities like a networking breakfast, or trade show. These can be your customers! Give them respect and interest, and they will likely reciprocate!
Do not post a link - and not include at least a brief comment!
Make sure your product pages, blog post pages, website and other other relevant landing pages have an easy to click G +1 button!