Useful links (Weekly)

  by  shareski 

• Beta! | Services to Schools Timeframes was a great site for finding digitised heritage content from the largest public collection of photographs in New Zealand, the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. Although it is still developing and changing the site, Beta (National Library online channel) will be replacing Timeframes as the premium channel for finding and browsing the digitised, born-digital and physical collections of the National Library and the Alexander Turnbull Library. Here you can dive into nearly half a million digital photographs, paintings, drawings and many other different types of images alongside all of the published collections of the Alexander Turnbull Library and National Library.

• HelloSlide – Bring your slides to life HelloSlide is a pdf-only tool that allows you to add computer-generated voice to your documents. Upload your presentation, type the speech for each slide, and the programs automatically generates audio. Presentations are searchable, editable, and available in 20 different languages. An edit feature allows you to tweak the speech without re-recording the audio. Translations are available as a paid feature. This may be useful for ESL learners. (Note: it is super easy to export PowerPoint and Keynote files as pdfs.)

• Online Presentations | Mobile Video Presentations | eLearning | Brainshark This promising tool allows you to add voice to PowerPoint, documents, images, spreadsheets, or videos. (MyBrainshark supports nearly 100 video formats.) Polls may be inserted. Users may add narration with their phones or computer microphones or by uploading a pre-recorded MP3. Speaker notes may be displayed as a support. And visual dashboards allow creators to track viewing results.

• How Adobe DRM Requires People to Pirate Library Books | TorrentFreak Interesting discussion posted just after March 28th (Document Freedom day). “The goal of the day was to spread awareness about the increasing need to adopt an open standard for public as well and privately held documents. The e-book industry is one which is in dire need of such a standard. Currently, ebooks are often protected with DRM, which has become famous for causing problems for the customers who pay for those ebooks.”

• How DRM weakens publishers’ negotiating leverage with retailers – Boing Boing

• Use Google Docs to Facilitate a Digital Writer’s Workshop ~ Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners A post about using Google Docs to facilitate the writing process. The author identifies some of the useful features available in Google Docs to support writers. Ideas about how to take advantage of document sharing and comments for feedback and collaborative writing.

• Comparison of Citation Software at MIT – Overview of Citation Software at MIT: Managing Your References – Research Guides at MIT Libraries Research Guides. Overview of Citation Software at MIT: Managing Your References. “Citation software (also called “bibliographic software,” “citation managers,” or “reference managers”) helps you to: import citations from your favourite databases and websites. Build and organize bibliographies. Format citations for papers. Take notes on articles and save them in your collection of citations. Save and organize PDFs, screenshots, graphs, images, and other files for your research.”

• Digital Differentiation ~ Cool Tools for 21st Century Learners A good site for supporting lesson and unit planning. “The goal is to design student-driven learning experiences that are fueled by standards-based Essential Questions and facilitated by digital tools to provide students with flexible learning paths.”

• A Head Teacher’s Thoughts on Leadership and School Libraries – Pedagog Malmö Thoughts on Leadership and School Libraries from one Swedish example.

• Research and an infographic about research « NeverEndingSearch As with all information it behoves all of us to carefully examine the logic of what is presented to us. Joyce Valenza looks carefully at research and an infographic about research. “As I looked more carefully at the infographic, as I really read it, I began to see some distorted truths and some opportunities for information literacy explorations.”

• Transforming Information Literacy for Today’s K-12 Learners Through the Lenses of Transliteracy, Inquiry, and Participatory Learning | The Unquiet Librarian Slides from Buffy J. Hamilton.

• schoollibraries2011 – checklist for parents There are no facts and figures about the school library on the My Schools website, yet the library and the teacher librarian play a vital role in your child’s education. So are Australian children and young people getting the best deal? ASLA research shows that a strong library program that is adequately staffed, resourced and funded can lead to higher student achievement regardless of the socioeconomic or educational levels of the adults in the community. This is a 10-point checklist designed for parents to investigate if their school is investing where it counts.

• Do I Really Have to Leave the Role of School Librarian To Do the Work of a School Librarian? | The Unquiet Librarian Great piece by Buffy Hamilton rebutting a piece by Linda Braun in an issue of School Library Journal. It was a cover feature story called, “Next Year’s Model: Sarah Ludwig left the library, became a tech coordinator, and forged a path to the future.” Buffy: “Unless I have misinterpreted the article, author Linda Braun wonders if school librarians have to leave the library and take on a completely different job title to do the work of a modern school librarian.The thesis seems to be that school librarians taking on job titles other than school librarian, like “technology coordinator”, might be the future of the profession. While I’ve had my own misgivings about the future of the profession, I respectfully disagree with Linda Braun and would argue that such a path will only lead to the demise, not the flowering, of our profession’s future.”

• When Authors Take Risks, That’s Not Kid Stuff – Room for Debate – NYTimes.com Article by Patricia McCormick.Young adult authors are doing some of the most daring work out there, taking creative risks — with narrative structure, voice and social commentary.

• Content Curation: Truths, Threats, Motivations and Opportunities

• http://www.eyeoneducation.com/bookstore/client/client_pages/pdfs/5ThingsCCSS_Davis.pdf 5 Things Every Teacher Should be Doing to Meet the (US) Common Core Standards. It highlights the need for research skills and the skills of a T/Ls. It is clear that teachers should be able to collaborate with their T/L to get these “multiple sources of information”

• Helping Students Create Positive Digital Footprints – ASCD Annual Conference 2012 A presentation from the ASCD (formerly the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) discussing how educators can help to make sure students create a positive digital footprint. Offers a link to presentation in Prezi format: “Digital Footprints – Your Students’ New First Impression”

• 10 Innovative Schools Allowing Smartphones in the Classroom | Online College Tips – Online Colleges A look at the approach of 10 US schools to smartphones. They are interested to discover if they will help students become more engaged and interested in lessons.

• ThinkBinder Think Binder is a website that gives students a place to create online study groups. In each group students can share files, share links, chat, and draw on a collaborative whiteboard. Students can create and join multiple groups. It is very easy to get started and it is free.

• Teacher guides Microsoft has some great Teacher Guides available. The guides have teaching tips and step-by-step instructions on a variety of topics and tools and technologies. The guides are all free and downloadable in PDF form. Topics include: Critical Thinking in web searches, Windows Movie Maker, Free tools from Microsoft, Digital Storytelling, Microsoft Office, web apps, OneNote, Bing and Mathematics, and Accessibility in the Classroom. The guides are easy to use and read and a great resource

• How do I cite a tweet? Information about how to properly cite a tweet from Twitter in MLA format.

• GraphWords.com – Visualize words! An interesting site that provides webs of related words. To use type any word into Graph Words to see a web of alternative word choices. Click on any word in the web to generate a new web of more related words.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.