In my work with teachers and librarians around Texas and other states, they complain that they cannot use wikis, blogs, Nings, and a host of other tools due to blocking. When I posed this problem to our Texas librarians list, One librarian wrote me… “Blocking does indeed make me crazy. After TLA, I came back fired up and ready to try some of the new ideas I had heard, such as your presentation, Collaboration 2.0, only to find my path blocked at so many points. I have sometimes been able to get things unblocked, but that often takes time and certainly dampens my enthusiasm for trying new ideas.”

Another said “Amen sister!” Ours is so closed we can’t do anything even close to web2.0 or advanced collaboration.” And then another one reads… “You go girl! Thank you for saying what I have been thinking for months. They are probably monitoring this email even as we speak!”
Also, as we introduce these new tools, many teachers are still not too knowledgeable about the read/write web and are not accustomed to their students participating with unknown collaborators or publishing to an unidentified audience. Librarians know that it raises students’ level of concern to have a real, even if unknown, audience. Students have a reason, besides just a grade, to show their best work. But, some teachers are still reluctant to use these new tools.

I believe that we can come up with a positive rationale to use these tools in the curriculum and list of ways these tools can be configured for maximum security for students and the school networks? Too many wonderful chances for collaboration are being wasted because curriculum decisions are often being made by those who are not educators and are scared of losing control. I think if we present a united front with a positively worded rationale, superintendents or other central administrators who have education backgrounds can direct the IT staff to relax the blocking restrictions for those tools we are trying to use. AASL could do us a great service if it would craft a position statement that we could use to give us some words to rationalize the use of web 2.0 tools to our administrators and IT staff. I don’t know what I’d do without my wikis.

What are some ways you have convinced IT staff and your administrators to give access to Web 2.0 tools? Will showing examples alone prove that these tools have positive implications on teaching and learning?

Dr. Marla W. McGhee should be named as the “Century’s Best Friend and Advocate of School Libraries.” Since 1989 she has learned more about and done more to promote school libraries than probably any other individual. On Thursday night, Elizabeth Polk, Director of Library Services for Austin I.S.D.; Carlyn Gray, Director of Library Services for Round Rock I.S.D., Jill Stimson, Librarian, Hill Elementary, Austin I.S.D.; and Barbara Jansen, Librarian, St. Andrew’s School, Austin, TX, honored Dr. McGhee for her unwaivering support and advocacy of school libraries by submitting her name for the Texas Association of School Librarian’s Administrator of the Year Award. Unfortunately, the Association did not choose her this year. Actually, I nominated her in 1992 and 1993 also. But the four of us know how incredibly deserving she is. Here are a few of the marvelous ways she supports and talks about school libraries:

• She served as the principal for Live Oak Elementary (I was her librarian), C.D. Fulkes Middle School (Carlyn), and Hill Elementary (Jill) and increased our budgets, help us to acquire new technology and materials, promoted the library media program in the curriculum, and fought for and won a new library for Hill.
• As a professor at Texas State University, San Marcos, she included the library media program when working with school administrative interns. Over 800 prospective principals and assistant principals learned how a well-supported library media program will engage students in learning and increase scores.
• As a co-author of The Principal’s Guide to a Powerful Library Media Program (2005, Linworth Books), Marla is frequently requested by state library associations (Texas–5 years, Indiana, Missouri) and school districts to help administrators and librarians collaborate effectively. She and I are working on the second edition of the book to be published Fall 2010. She has also written several articles about effective library media programs.
• In her position as professor at Lewis and Clark College in Portland, OR, she offered a session to student teachers on how the school library media program can assist them in their teaching and learning.
• As Interim Director of Staff Development for Staff Development for Austin I.S.D, Marla speaks at librarian meetings, offering strategies for good communication with their principals. She also promotes the library every chance she gets in administrative meetings.

Should she have won the TASL award? You decide.

While I missed some of Mike’s address due to SL crashing and having to shut down and start up again, these are some additional thinking points we can take away:

1. Collaboration is not a means, but an end.
2. The library program or library media program should be called library & information program (I think I’ll shorten it to library information program–or LIP–I kinda like it!)
3. Databases should be called article search engines.

So, what can we do? Start with articulating our information literacy skills. The State of Texas has new ELA standards/skills that specifically address the steps (exept evaluation) of the information literacy process. This is a good way to start. Choose a process such as the Big6 and plug the standards into their respective steps. Do this with all of the standards–not just ELA. See which steps are lacking in skills and fill those in as appropriate.

I have been wanting to change the Database button on my library web page to Find Aticles and I will not waste any more time doing this. Easy!

Right now, teaching information communications technology (ICT) skills is hit or miss at my school. We are in the process of creating a 1-12 grade curriculum that works for our students. I need to articulate those skills and systematically teach them. Assessment is a strong point in my program but I need to track individual student mastery of skills. That is not happening. I am in the best place to determine mastery of  ICT skills as I see the same students across the curriculum. For example, I teach freshmen in biology, English/art history, and history. If they do not get a skill in biology, I can reteach, review, or extend the next time I see them in history. I have the perfect situation.

I do agree with Mike that pathfinders do not allow students the opportunity to identify and locate sources on their own. However, the range of subjects across databases, er, I mean article search engines (ASE), is vast. I want the students to get used to which ASEs contain certain subjects. So, I help them identify those ASEs that will best deliver the info. And, by helping them, they will more readily use the resources. I will continue to make my assignment wikis, suggesting ASEs, as I collaborate with teachers in planning and teaching.

Finally, Mike Eisenberg is radical. He is an innovator and an agitator. While you may not agree with all of his ideas, we need him to keep us thinking about the things we do and changing the way we do them, therefore remaining viable to our schools. We know that we are still important. We need to market ourselves so that our teachers, principals and central administrators know that, too. What better way than by teaching. Let’s get started!

1. How receptive is your school to the way you approach technology and learning?
It has been slow to catch on. Many faculty are reluctant to move into a true technology environment (meaning that they are using the tools for more than simply electronic pencil and paper activities). We have mostly teachers who went through college using the card catalog in their libraries and taking notes on index cards. I believe the thought may be that it worked for them then and must work for their students now. I do not believe that teachers deliberately want their students to continue doing things the “traditional” way, but just do not think about what is “traditional” to students in the 21st century who grew up with technology. It is still a new and confusing tool to teachers who graduated in the mid 90s and before. Of course there are those who are early adopters and have embraced how the tools make their work and their students’ work, easier. However, other than with researching information topics, I am still seeing true integration of meaningful technology use elusive in our curriculum. By “true technology integration,” I mean using the tools to obtain and show results in a way that cannot be accomplished without the technology, including broadening the curriculum to embrace theglobal society. We do not see much of that. I speak all over the country to groups of librarians and teachers, and see that my school is not alone in the struggle with truly integrating technology in the curriculum. For a variety of reasons, many schools still lag in true technology integration. Also, we need to revisit and rewrite curriculum to this effect. With that said, we also know when teaching and learning are best done the “old” way, such as reading from a book. There is a time and place for pencil and paper, too!

2. How receptive are the students?Oh, very receptive. Technology is a matter of course with kids. It is the way they do business. There are those students who are used to our traditional way of work, as that is how they learned in elementary and middle school and are comfortable with it. When asked last year to compare a technology based biology assignment with lecture/reading/test, 95% of the freshman class overwhelmingly and insightfully preferred it, stating that they would remember the material better, as they learned it collaboratively and through a variety of sources, instead of their teacher delivering it in a lecture that they would soon forget.

3. What are the advantages to building “integrated assignments” online?  Is it working?
Oh, yes, the integrated assignments are extremely successful. We now use wiki technology to plan and deliver the assignment to the students, as the teachers and I can collaborate online and build our own parts of the assignment (see http://library.sasaustin.org/integratedAssignments.php). Students have “one stop shopping” for all aspects of the assignment. I introduce the assignment alongside the teachers and teach the information and communications technology skills portion to the students. The students have the online assignment to revisit and review, as well as get the specifics of the assignment. We can attache rubrics and other evaluation documents so that to demystify the expectations of the assignment. Nothing is left to chance, even if a kid was overwhelmed in class or just spaced out.

In many cases, I host virtual office hours during evenings and weekends so that kids can IM or email me with information needs. I also grade my part (usually the notes, resources, and bibliography) so that I can see where I need to continue teaching the next time I have the students. I may see them in biology, then history and English. I have a broad picture of their ICT skills need, where as the classroom teacher cannot possibly keep up with what their students have had in other classes. So the integration and collaboration work to bring the best minds together for the benefit of the students.

1. “The most important part of my job is my instructional and collaborative role.”
2. “I am knowledgeable about curriculum and the 21st century learner.”
3. “An effective LMP impacts every student and faculty member.”
4. “The library program is critical to literacy.”

We discussed each point in detail. I think he was somewhat surprised with the amount of teaching I do. His own experiences with library media specialists seem to be in a supportive role–one of providing a variety of resources. Yes, that is one of our important roles, but it didn’t make the short list (unless you include it under number 3 above). My request of him was not for money and additional space, but to advocate for teachers to work with me as often as possible. Of course, I want to work with all teachers, which is not happening. I also encouraged him to help me get teachers to realize that 21st century skills belong in all areas of the curriculum and are not a “technology” thing. He is a great listener and promises to do whatever he can. The year looks good!

Oh, by the way… he will find out on his own, the 5th item on our list, “Some aspects of my job may be done behind the scenes.” I didn’t think that was something I wanted to say the first time I met him. I am not sure why–it just didn’t seem to fit at the time.