Monday, August 27, 2012

Recording - Learning 2.0 Keynote Panel on Technologies & Librarians

Part of the Learning 2.0 Conference, this keynote panel recorded on August 22, 2012 focused on technology and libraries. Panelists included Gwyneth Jones, David Loertscher, Michelle Luhtala, Shannon Miller, and Joyce Valenza.

The panelists addressed the following questions:













View the archive



Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Use hashtags for professional development

Are you a passionate school librarian looking for new ways to stay up on the latest library and education news?

Do you tweet?

If not, you are missing out!

Come on over to Twitter and join in on the conversation. You can learn from and share with your virtual teacher-librarian colleagues from around the globe, and all in 140 characters or less. Twitter makes this experience even easier with hashtags.

A hashtag is # symbol. When placed in front of a word or phrase, the hashtag categorizes that word or phrase into a searchable and easy to follow topic. You can even save that search in your twitter account for ease of use in the future. Below are some widely used library and education related hashtags.

#edchat
#librarians
#libraries
#strugglingreaders
#teacher-librarian
#titletalk
#TLChat

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Online training for school librarians from ALA

Want to get professional development in the comfort of your own home (or library)? The American Library Association (ALA) has a site that will connect you with a variety of online courses and webinars specifically for school librarians.There are live and archived webinars.

For example, you can watch "Battle Bullying with Books: Celebrate No Name-Calling Week Booklist Webcast from 01/25/2011)" any time for free.

Another option is "Navigating the Divide between Teens and Tweens" offered for a fee from YALSA.


The American Association of School Librarians e-Academy

The American Association of School Librarians (AASL) provides online training for school library professionals via the AASL e-Academy. The e-Academy offers a variety of four-week courses that are asynchronous and Moodle-based. Participants will receive 12 hours of learning and collaboration from experts on a particular subject. After completing the course’s culminating project, all participants will receive a certificate which can be used to apply for continuing education credits through their school district.

Check out the the AASL e-Academy web site for a calendar of upcoming courses.

Online Professional Development through WebJunction

Interested in professional development opportunities available right from your personal computer? The following website, WebJunction, offers free webinars, many of which may be useful for school librarians. They also offer online courses to library staff, students, and teachers. Click the following link to find a calendar of upcoming webinar events hosted through WebJunction. At the bottom of the page you will find a list of archived webinars that can be streamed at your leisure.

The online courses offered through WebJunction are available to library, staff, students, and faculty in certain states, including Illinois. To see if you qualify for entry into these courses visit this website. If you know that you are qualified for entry into WebJunction's online courses follow this link to sign in and get started.

Happy professional development, everyone!

Tara

Attend free webinars at TL Virtual Cafe!

Have you heard of TL Virtual Cafe? This wiki offers FREE monthly webinars during the academic year on a variety of topics related to teacher librarians, technology and collaboration. No need to register for these webinars - all you have to do is (virtually) show up! All events are hosted via Blackboard. If you’re new to Blackboard, check out the tutorial here.

If you are not able to make it to the live event, you can check out past webinars archived on the wiki. Text chat archives and other materials from the webinars are also available.

The complete line-up for the 2012-2013 school year has yet to be posted, but we can look forward to hearing from Joyce Valenza this fall. Check out the wiki for more updates as the school year begins.

Upcoming Fall Events 2012:

Joyce Valenza & our PL in a Learning Smackdown

Continuing and Professional Education from Dominican

http://a0.twimg.com/profile_images/282037996/DomSeal_72.jpg 
 The Graduate School of Library and Information Science at Dominican University (River Forest) offers a variety of professional and continuing education courses at the University. Some are a part of a series, some are individual workshops, but all look to be interesting and fufilling. 

First is a three part series about library management: Practical Tools for Challenging Times. Held at the Matteson Public Library the topics and dates/times are as follows.

Tapping into the Positive Side of Conflict
September 12, 9 am-1 pm

Managing Stress and Change
October 17, 9 am-1 pm 

Creative Problem Solving
November 14, 9 am-1 pm

Sign up for all three or the one that best suits you.

The next series is targeted at all library employees: Workplace Survival Skills. Held at Dominican University, the topics and dates/times are as follows.

Positive Responses to Challenging Situations
September 13, 9 am-1 pm

Bouncing Back During Times of Change
October 18, 9 am-1 pm 

Another series which may be of interest to school librarians is the three session 'crash course' on readers' advisory.

Readers’ Advisory: Zero-to-Sixty in 3 Steps
Presented by Joyce Saricks and held October 17, November 7, and November 28 from 1 pm – 4 pm, this series is aimed at those new to readers' advisory or who are looking to brush up their skills and learn what's out there.

Finally, on November 1 from 9:30-4:30, Dr. Peggy Sharp will be at Dominican to discuss:

What’s New: The Best of Children’s Literature 2012 

This event will be held at Dominican's Priory campus, approximately 1/2 mile east of the main campus.

For more information, prices, and how to register, visit Dominican University GSLIS Continuing and Professional Education site. 

Three Great (and free) conferences you can attend without leaving your home!

We lead busy lives and face it, as much as we'd like to attend conferences money, time, and distance can be an issue. Virtual conferences make it easy to partake in some professional development in the comfort of your living room!

Coming up first on the docket is the Learning 2.0 Conference, being held August 20-24th, on-line, across timezones, and free. It's quickly coming up, yes, and may be at a tough time because of school starting up, but the agenda sounds really interesting. From the website: "The Learning 2.0 Conference is a unique chance to participate in a global conversation on rethinking teaching and learning in the age of the Internet."

Topics for the conference include:

Classroom 2.0 --The Changing Nature of the Classroom
Student 2.0-- Changes to Student Learning
Teacher 2.0-- Personal and Professional Development
School 2.0--The Where, When, and How of Formal Learning
Pedagogy-- Re-evaluating Teaching and Learning Methods

Proposals for presentations are being accepted from July 25th - August 15, 2012.

Following in the same format as the Learning 2.0 Conference is the Library 2.012 Conference, taking place from October 3-5th. In this free conference, the current and future state of libraries will be discussed with participants all around the globe.

Topics include:
Libraries – Physical and Virtual Learning Spaces
Librarians & Information Professionals - Evolving Professional Roles in Today’s World
Content & Creation - Organizing and Creating Information
Changing Delivery Methods
User Centered Access
Mobile and Geo-Social Information Environments

Proposals for presentations are being accepted from June 15th - September 15th, 2012.

And finally, the Global Education Conference will take place on November 12th-November 16th. This free (see the trend?) conference is all about making global connections, "while supporting cultural awareness and recognition of diversity."

There doesn't seem to be a set agenda, but the accepted sessions look really interesting. Proposals are being accepted from May 15th-October 15th, 2012.


You probably need to be a little techno-savvy to listen in on the conferences and/or present, but the directions and needed software are all included on the websites!



Happy conferencing!


--Erin

Monday, August 13, 2012

The Blog's Beginnings

Hello School Library World!

Members of LIS773 - Summer 2012
We are graduate students in the GSLIS at Dominican University in River Forest, Illinois. This blog started as a project in our School Libraries Management class during Summer 2012. We are working with the Illinois School Library Media Association (ISLMA) to create a centralized repository of professional development opportunities for you - our fellow school librarians.

This blog will be provide information about upcoming opportunities that will help us maintain professional certification and improve our school libraries. This resource will include a calendar with training opportunities, links to other professional organizations and updates of new classes or training as they become available.

Subscribe or bookmark now so you can be in the loop!