online (9)

Information Investigator 3.1

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A limited time preview of the 21st Century Information Fluency Project's online self-paced training and assessment course is now available to all educators.


We use a game based scenario that puts the student into the process of working their way into medical school as they complete real time search challenges. This is our newest approach to information fluency assessment and training.

 

This work aligns directly to ISTE NETS for Students 3. Research and Information Fluency.  It also promotes informational reading as called for in the Common Core Standards.

 

This package starts with a 10-level interactive tutorial that diagnoses and strengthens eight key search and evaluation competencies.

 

Research and Information Fluency Assessment: Online Self-Paced Class

Live search challenges are coupled with "first aid kits" that address the knowledge and skills needed to succeed.

 

A Certification Exam is provided after the tutorials to assess information fluencies in finding and evaluating information.

 

The entire experience can be completed in about 3 hours.


If you are interested in previewing the entire package for your students, please contact Carl at carl@21cif.com.

 

The course and your personal performance assessment is completely free.


The 21st Century Information Project was originally funded by a Federal Department of Education grant. This course and assessment package is part of a 3 year project and was developed with feedback from teachers and library media specialists across the country. 


Over 900 students in middle school and high school took the course this summer and improved their information fluency scores by over 50%.


Take the first step!  Contact Carl at carl@21cif.com

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Checking Out Whichbook.net

According to the website:

Whichbook gives readers an enjoyable and intuitive way to find books to match their mood.

Instead of starting from the overwhelming choice of books available, whichbook starts from the reader and enables each individual to build theelements of that elusive 'good read' we are all looking for but don't quiteknow how to define.

The standard way of organizing books for choice, on shelves in a library or a bookshop, or on the web, starts from the products available - the authors,titles, publishers or genres. Whichbook enables, for the first time, the choiceof book to start from the individual reader and what they are looking for.


This site looks like fun. I am going to try it with my students.

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The 21st Century Information Fluency Project is offering a new self-paced online class devoted to Website Evaluation using investigative search methods.This is the first time we've offered a self-paced course designed to meet your on demand learning needs. In this course you work at your own pace in a media rich interactive environment hosted at our Moodle based online learning site.This self-paced class challenges you to evaluate websites using an extensive toolkit of investigative methods. Each interactive tutorial includes a mastery test to help you lock in valuable skills.* Start with a performance based pre-test.* Progress at your own pace learning using 9 different interactive multimedia tutorials.* Check your understanding with skills specific mastery tests.* Conclude with a performance based post test.* Earn a certificate for 8 CDPUs.* 8 hours of instructionEach investigative method includes interactive tutorials, flash based training games and a mastery test. Successful completion of this course earns you a certificate for 8 CDPU's.Interested in the Class? Open for Guest Viewing! Login as Guest!Video Overview: Investigative Search 20/10Investigative Search: Prezi Flyover (the un-slide show)Sincerely,DennisDennis O'ConnorE-Learning Specialist :Information Fluency Partners
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Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (from the University of Alberta Learning Services) has published another issue. This issue features "school libraries and their connection to evidence based practice." The articles are: 1. Weaving Evidence, Reflection, and Action into the Fabric of School Librarianship 2. Creation of a Research Community in a K-12 School System Using Action Research and Evidence Based Practice 3. School Library Media Specialist Collaboration with Special Education Personnel in Support of Student Learning 4. An Emerging Theory for Evidence Based Information Literacy Instruction in School Libraries, Part 1: Building a Foundation 5. School Librarianship and Evidence Based Practice: Progress, Perspectives, and Challenges 6. Librarian-Teacher Partnerships for Inquiry Learning: Measures of Effectiveness for a Practice-Based Model of Professional Development The Link: http://ejournals.library.ualberta.ca/index.php/EBLIP
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New Online Grad Course

I just thought I would pass this along. I've taken other URI online courses and they have been great. If you are using this Ning and other Web 2.0 tools you probably don't need the pre-requisite courses. They need a few more participants to run this course, so if you are interested please register ASAP. Below are the detailsThanks,DonnaNEW internet online course: EDC 923: Workshop for Teachers, TOPIC: Online Collaboration Exploration.Registration deadline, July 3 2009Registration cost: $500.00*(If you have never taken a course at URI before, the course cost is $535.00 which includes a onetime transcript fee charge of $35.00)This course is an opportunity for technologically adept educators to become educational visionaries committed to professional development through strictly online planning, collaboration and reflection.Course Instructor: Dave Fontaine, NBCTClass Meeting dates: July 13-24, 2009**Students will need to participate in every session’s online synchronous collaboration discussion which will meet online UNINTERRUPTED on Tuesday and Thursday mornings from 9 until noon on (Tuesdays) July 14, 21 and (Thursdays) July 16 and 23.Participants must have high-speed internet access, a technologically inquisitive mind, openness to explore emerging technology and willingness to share.Logistical Requirements:· STRONGLY RECOMMENDED--(2) of the following courses successfully completed: EDC920, EDC921, EDC922 (This isn't mandatory if you feel that you are already 'well-versed' in using online applications.)· Windows 98 compatible computer access (or better)· High-Speed Internet Access· Headset and microphone (already integrated into computer system) This means that you know how to use it to speak and hear.· Access to webcam, scanner, digital camera, VPU and other technologies may be very handy depending on tasks at hand, but not mandatory.Course Description:This course will utilize online collaborative programs to identify obstacles and opportunities to educational progress in online collaboration addressing 3 areas of collaboration: student-to-student, lesson planning among peers, and professional development. Participants will gain hands-on experience with, evaluate potentials of, and propose plans for use of online collaborative lesson/meetings in their own school settings.Extended Description: This course will use both asynchronous posting (blog) and synchronous discussion (online meetings). It is strongly recommended that interested participants have already taken (2) of the following URI EDC 900 level Workshops for Teachers: EDC 586 (formerly EDC 920) TOPIC: Using the Internet for Teaching, Learning, & Practical Applications, EDC 586 (formerly EDC 921) TOPIC: Using Blogs and Wikis to Foster Literacy, or EDC 922 TOPIC: Online texts in the 21st Century Classroom.This graduate level course is designed to be highly interactive and investigative. As technology evolves, the use of online collaboration offers the possibilities of ongoing, dynamic educational content creation in any number of mediums (i.e. Word, Excel) and accessed from remote locations. Technology has evolved to a degree that no longer do student projects, lesson plans or professional development initiatives have to be confined to a single location. Teachers (as well as teaching practices) need to undergo the same evolution to meet the needs of the workplace in the 21st Century.As noted in all the previous EDC920-922 “online courses”, the Internet (via such tools as search engines, blogs, wikis, digital textbooks...) attempts to keep pace with a rapidly changing, dynamic and ever-growing collection of information and content. Collaborative cataloging, collaborative discussion, collaborative content, and collaborative authoring tools abound. Everywhere professionals and students alike are working together on ever increasing quantities and qualities of materials without ever having to travel.The course will address 3 areas of collaboration: student-to-student, lesson planning among peers, and professional development. As this is a collaborative experience designed to meet the needs of the participants enrolled, all participants will be required to fully participate in all 3 areas during the course.Participants of this course will:· Understand basic concepts of online collaboration.· Meet and network with like-minded, technologically eager, educational professionals.· Identify potential areas of educational use of online collaboration.· Formulate teams of common interest on targeted topics.· Share and heighten common depth of knowledge regarding online collaborative endeavors.· Create opportunities to bring these technologies to the larger school community.· Prepare to incorporate these tools into professional practice.· Develop a supportive, reflective virtual professional community around online collaboration· Use Vyew (or better) platform as a foundation for future online collaborative endeavors.Registration Contact: Christine P. Dolan at [ mailto:Christine@uri.edu ]Christine@uri.eduChristine P. DolanEducation SpecialistURI/CCE Providence CampusSpecial Programs Room 20880 Washington StreetProvidence, RI 02903Office: 401.277.5388Fax: 401-277-5060
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Care to Moodle your Google (GDocs that is)?

Care to Moodle your Google (GDocs that is)?

moodle your google

Learn the basics of GDocs collaboration in ths week long fully facilitated online class. Learn a bit about G-Docs, get introduced to Moodle based online learning, and have some fun!

It's a simple search puzzle to find us: Use Google to search with these keywords:

information fluency

Follow the first link and you'll be on the path to an interesting and inexpensive online learning experience!

Questions, as always, will be cheerfully answered!

~ Dennis

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Carl and I concluded our first run of (WSI) Website Investigation: An Introduction to Information Forensics. This is a fully facilitated Moodle based online class. We had a lot of fun and the participants were great. We also radically underestimated the amount of time the course would take. We figured 5 hours in one week. When we polled the class everyone reported taking far more time with each case study.It doesn't surprise me. As I worked through each case I became fascinated with chasing down the evidence. It's like peeling an onion, layer after layer reveals new information. In the end we decided to double the length of the class. So WSI is now a two week course.I'd like to invite you all to the next session of WSI. You can check things out here: WSIThe next class opens on August 11, 2008 and is open for registration right now. Drop in and give it a look?Dennis & CarlQuestions?E-Mail wiredinstructor@gmail.comInformation Fluency Partners!
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I was surprised a few months ago by an email from the editor from Ed Tech Magazine inviting me to write a column on the role of school librarians in today's schools. It illustrated for me excatly how inter-connected we have all become. How did he come to ask me for this? A mention in David Warlick's blog following an opportunity to talk with him at dinner, prior to an all-day workshop with teachers in my school district caught his eye. Also present at dinner was the new administrator for our distirct's soon-to-be-launched online high school, and I was attempting to engage him in conversation about the need for a teacher-librarian to be a part of his staff. I am not sure I made much progress in convincing this young adminstrator to add a "cybrarian" to his staff, but perhaps my words can have an impact somewhere! Here is a link to the article. What do you think? Do school librarians have a place in an online school?
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register now for Teaching and assessing writing with the 6-traitsPlease forward this announcement to teachers in your district.This summer teachers from around the nation and the world will join online to exchange ideas and share best practices. The conversations are rich. The community is real. If you've never taken an online class before... this is the one to start with!Teaching and Assessing Writing with the 6 TraitsEDUC 744 920 Elementary (Gr. K-4) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008 EDUC 744 909 Middle/High School (Gr. 5-12) - 3 gr. cr. begins June 16, 2008Learn to teach and assess writing with the 6-Traits of writing (voice, ideas, word choice, organization, sentence fluency and conventions). Learn to use the 6-Traits with the writing process to teach revision strategies. Help learners meet higher standards and improve testscores.Earn graduate credits via online courses that support your professional development goals for licensure renewal, salary advancement and advanced certification.Sign up soon to reserve your spot! Classes are TOTALLY ONLINE. You may participate from your home or school computer. Registration is limited to 20 participants per section.Syllabus and other details: http://www.uwstout.edu/soe/profdev/traits.shtml REGISTER ONLINE or REGISTER BY FAX Fax: (715) 232-3385For more details e-mail Dennis O'Connor: oconnord@uwstout.edu
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