21st Century Learning workshop

Recently I attended a workshop for school librarians. The presenter Pam Berger discussed the role of the library, the librarian and the student in the 21st century. The session started by examining the composition of today’s learner. She listed the characteristics of the 21st century learner as follows:
· Collaborative
· Independent learner
· Online and onsite
· Multitasks
They learn and communicate using:
· Instant messaging
· Blogging
· Podcasts
· Google’s My Reader
· News Alerts
· RSS
· Wiki
· Email
· Spreadsheets
· Search Engines
· Online Catalog
· Chat
· Map Quest
Today’s students have greater access to online resources.
§ 89% of online teens have online access at home
§ 75% have internet access at school
§ 70% go to online from a friend or relative’s house
§ 50% have gone online from a library
§ 9% go online from a community center or house of worship

Pew Internet and Family Life Project http://www.pewinternet.org

The students of today are not going to respond to the traditional methods teaching and learning. They are more interactive and independent. We as librarians are in the perfect position to help students on their quest for knowledge.

Mrs. Berger goes on to explain the connection between Web 2.0 and what she describes ad Library 2.0. Mrs. Berger feels that the library must adapt and align itself to meet the needs of today’s learners. If the library and librarian can learn to use the tools for inquiry that match the students interest then Inquiry 2.0 will be the result.

A model of the School library as a Dynamic Agent of Learning is presented where the purpose of the library and the librarian is redefined. The graphic is great unfortunately I cannot reproduce it but I will explain the components. The school librarian acts as a Information-Learning Specialist and Curriculum Partner – Leader. The School Library acts as an Information Place and Knowledge Space. The informational function of the library would provide information resources, reading resources and technology infrastructure. The transformation would occur through reading engagement, Information literacy and technological literacy. The students would then reach the formational stage where student expectations and achievement lead to knowledge creation, use, production, dissemination, value and reading literacy. These new roles would create a learning environment best suited for our student populations.

Additional information about the Student Learning Through School libraries research study may be found at www.celma.org/StudentLearning/default.esp

In this new learning environment collaboration is the key. The points below define ways all stake holders can collaborate :

Teachers
Offer knowledge of
§ Students
§ Curriculum
§ Pedagogy
§ Assessment

School librarians
Offer knowledge of
§ Resources
§ Information literacy
§ Pedagogy
§ Assessment

Principals
Offer knowledge of
§ Consensus building
§ Scheduling
§ Budgeting
§ Resource allocation

Students
Offer knowledge of
§ Personal interest
§ Information needs
§ Learning styles

If all the members of this learning community commit to working together each participant will benefit from the experience. The current learning environment requires us to work together to create knowledge and facilitate the learners journey to the acquisition of that knowledge.

Pam Berger’s website is www.infosearcher.com This website offers hyperlinks to various articles that may be of interest. On the home page is an invitation to subscribe to the newsletter.

Ms. Berger offered these resources in her workshop that I will share with you.
The American Memory Project
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html
Learning page
http://memory.loc.gov/learn/
Voicethread
http://ed.voicethread.com
Pathfinders
http://home.wsd,wednet.edu/pathfinders/htm
She gives several reasons to incorporate pathfinders in your instruction they are:
§ Teaches information fluency
§ Customize it for groups/classes
§ Promotes school librarians as information professionals
§ Collaborate with teachers
§ Alleviates students confusion and supports student learning
· Includes a wide and balanced range of relevant information choices which students might have missed
· Moves students from reliance on free Web or their favorite search engine
· Implicitly metacognitive
· Reflects on the process
· Reflects on searching strategies
· Eliminates student frustration: helps hem be successful
· Maximizes student use of time for higher level tasks
· Fits students’ need for independence

Mrs. Berger gives a website to create wiki spaces for free.
http://www.wikispaces.com

Lastly she offered a few fun sites for us to explore.
Sketchcast www.sketchcast.com
Lifelong Kindergarten www.llk.media.mit.edu
Blackboard Generator http://www.customsigngenerator.com
Newspaper Generator http://www.fodey.com/generators/newspaper/snippet.asp

I hope this information will prove helpful in tailoring your instruction program. It gave me plenty of food for thought.