I used Disney clip art-so sue me!

The Copyright Act is taped over our copy machine at school right at eye level. Teachers see it multiple times per day as they make copies or walk through the work room. It is the media specialist’s responsibility to try to enforce it. I believe that most people at the school are not aware of what the Copyright Act entails and are not aware of Fair Use, either, but have no interest in learning about it. Most teachers believe that they will never be tracked down for copying images off web sites and using them for newsletters or lessons or for making a zillion copies from a textbook, or even keeping videos recorded from TV longer than 10 days. Before I started the media program, I remember a school event where the media specialist developed and played a slide show to a Sarah MacLachlan song. THE WHOLE SONG. I bet she didn’t even ask Sarah’s permission, and yet she was never sued or thrown in jail. It was the end of the school year, and the slide show was of fifth grade students at various times throughout the year. The song was “I will remember you”. Parents of fifth grade students were invited to the event as well. After beginning this program, I remember a professor tell us that instead of using licensed popular songs for events like these, we should use music that was specifically created for these events and was available on the internet for free. She gave us a couple web sites to check out. I went to the site and listened to the music, and let me tell you, no fifth grader I know would be moved to tears by listening to that music while watching pictures of themselves with all their buddies since Kindergarten. I think the point is that we should be respectful of other people’s property, but not to the point where we deny our students the education and emotion that popular media can evoke.

Video Distribution Systems at McCleskey Middle School

McCleskey Middle School in Cobb County has a video distribution system, however, it has been malfunctioning for the last two weeks due to a lightning strike. When operable, there are two components of the video distribution “headend” unit. One side connects to the school’s Comcast cable receiver and displays cable television up to channel 13, while the other side plays DVDs or videos. Because the school does not currently offer school news or subscribe to ChannelOne, the video distribution system is mainly used for cable as well as PeachStar and GPB Digital Education programs. The teachers at McCleskey Middle School do not have much input into the video distribution system other than submitting requests to the media specialist to have certain DVDs, videos, or programming played through the closed circuit cable system.

Cobb County is technologically advanced compared to some other school districts in Georgia, and as a result, the Video Distribution System is not currently utilized as much as it was in the past. For instance, each room is equipped with a DVD/VCR player so teachers can play DVDs and videos whenever they desire. Each room also has an LCD projector that can connect to the teacher’s laptop, so teachers use on-demand Discovery, PBS and other GPB United Streaming educational videos via the internet rather than contact the media specialist for assistance. When Comcast moved from analog cable signals to a computer-based digital video system in 2009, McCleskey lost many of its channels and decided not to pay to receive more channels. Currently, the signals only go up to channel 13, therefore, denying access to important channels like The Weather Channel and PBS. According to the media specialist, the video distribution system is only used when videos and programming needs to be broadcasted to multiple classrooms at one time.

I believe on-demand streaming is going to quickly become mainstream in all schools. This new technology allows so much more customization for each classroom and allows the teacher to play educational videos on his/her own schedule. If the teacher wants to play 10 minutes of one GPB program and then immediately follow it with 30 minutes of another, he/she can do so with digital streaming because it offers so much more flexibility.

Social Networking...too cool for school.

Social networking is no doubt a hit with the kids. Many of the teenagers I know spend the majority of their spare time frequenting social networking sites like Facebook and Foursquare. With such popularity, it seems like a no-brainer to incorporate social networking tools into instruction in order to adapt to the needs of today’s students. Many schools have already tried. Per the American Association of School Librarian’s 2008 longitudinal study on social networking tools in education, 53% of k-12 schools have already implemented collaborative tools to enhance instruction. In fact, the two schools where I conduct most of my field experience both use Destiny Quest, an OPAC with social networking capabilities. With Destiny Quest, students can rate and write reviews on books they have read. At Kell High School, many of the teachers also use blogs to keep their students updated about assignments, events, and recent lectures. McCleskey Middle School teachers have tried to use the social bookmarking site, Delicious.com, to share useful Websites with students, while other teachers at the school have attempted to use Goodreads.com or LibraryThing.com to create discussions about books.

However, all of these attempts have been rather unsuccessful. While many of the teachers’ blogs at Kell allow for group discussions through the comment function, almost all of the blogs I reviewed lacked any student comments. The same holds true for Destiny Quest in that students do not take the time or effort to login to Destiny Quest to rank a book or write a review. Most of the books are unrated and the only book reviews that are posted, are ones submitted by teachers or the media specialists. At McCleskey, teachers experienced good success with students logging into social bookmarking sites, but only for viewing purposes and to obtain information needed for an assignment. Students neglected to share their own bookmarked sites or post their own information unless the teacher made it a requirement for a grade. When students don’t take advantage of educational social networking sites for group collaboration and discussion, these tools join the ranks all other non-interactive tools used prior to the invention Web 2.0.

According to my mentor, many teachers are also less than thrilled with the idea of using social networking because it instills more work on their part. Some teachers that have classroom blogs, have disabled the comment function in order to prevent students from using obscene wording. The teachers that do allow for commenting often times have to review all comments prior to posting, therefore spending time that could otherwise be used for planning, grading, etc. Then of course, there are teachers who are just intimidated by Web 2.0 tools and do not have the technological expertise or desire to incorporate social networking into their classrooms.

I think students utilize social networking sites only in areas that truly interest them, like keeping in touch with friends and staying up to date about local events. For instance, the Kell High School soccer team has a Facebook group page that has been widely accepted by the soccer players, however, students not involved in soccer are less than interested in using the Facebook group page. Unfortunately, the majority of students are not interested enough in Shakespeare, for example, to want to join a social networking site to discuss Shakespeare during their free time. So, unless students are participating in distance learning or the teacher finds a topic that generates an enthusiastic response, my opinion is that the tried and true way of group discussion via face-to-face interaction during class time is still the way to go.

Media Center Web Pages

Developing and maintaining a media center web page is a wonderful opportunity for a media specialist to show off her resources and capabilities when it comes to technology! Many parents may not get to visit the media center in person, but can access the web page either from home or work. It is also convenient for teachers and students to be able to access the information outside of school hours.

I think there is some basic information that needs to be on every media center web page. Contact information for the media specialist, including hours of operation of the center and a link to e-mail the media specialist should be included at the very minimum. I think it is wonderful to post pictures and/or video of the media center as well. Pictures and video of recent events (author visits) and school events (Spring Carnival) should be posted as well. This will help drive people to the site. I can picture students going home and asking their parents to log on to the site to see what happened at school that week or even to see a picture or video of themselves!

The media center web page should include links to teacher web pages, kid friendly search engines and research sites. The information for research sites and “fun” site should be divided by grade level. For parents, I think it would be helpful to have information listed such as the number of resources allowed to be checked out by grade level and the amount of time for a resource allowed to be checked out. Links to reading program sites, such as Accelerated Reader, are also helpful for parents trying to check their child’s progress and those keeping tabs on their child’s AR goal for the quarter. There should ALWAYS be a link to the OPAC!! I have seen media center web sites without a link to the OPAC, and I don’t understand why anyone would not want that resource available to their students from home!

When I look at web pages, I like the ones that don’t have too much text and don’t have a cluttered page. I really like the use of color and graphics to denote subject. I believe teachers should be able to visit the web page and view the media center calendar so they can sign up for a visit, story time, or lesson. An idea that was mentioned in our Jurkowski text that I liked was to list community information such as local attractions (zoo, museums, etc.) in order to interest parents in going to the site.

Media specialists should take care to keep their web page updated. There is nothing worse than going to a site and reading incredibly out dated information (I’ve seen some with information from a year ago) or to click on a link that no longer works. I understand that will happen sometimes, but the site should be checked for accuracy on a regular basis.

One elementary level media web page I really like is Findley Oaks Elementary: http://www.findleyoaksmediacenter.com/. Check it out!

My Two Cents on Media Web Pages

When learning about all the new sophisticated Web 2.0 tools that have popped up in recent years, one has to ask herself if a “plain old Web page” is still the best choice for hosting the media program information that needs to be available to stakeholders. My answer is both yes and no.

Static Web pages that are rarely updated and appear as though they were developed as part of an elementary school project should be a thing of the past. These sites are likely created by the media specialist who lacks the resources and sufficient knowledge to properly develop a Webpage. And why should they have that knowledge? Media specialists have many roles and responsibilities, and last I checked, Web programming wasn’t one of them. So, media centers with outdated, low-functioning Web sites should definitely consider changing them over to user-friendly blogs or wikis. However, in my opinion media specialists that have the proper resources to build an easy-to-use, eye-appealing Website with good functionality should continue to maintain Web pages and here’s why…

Unlike journal-like blogs, Websites allow the user to find information and access links much quicker. Ideally, the Website includes menus that provide direct links to specialized information, whereas blogs typically do not have extensive menus other than an archive of the last few dates or topics scrolled along the side. There have been countless times where I tried to locate a specific piece of information and had to scroll through (what feels like) hundreds of posts before I finally find the information I need. For instance, if I wanted information on how to find an Accelerated Reading book from Eastvalley Elementary School (http://eastvalley.typepad.com/media_center/) I would have to click through 15 posts until I get to the September 2010 post about Accelerated Reading. If it had been posted on a Website, Accelerated Reading could have its own menu link.

My alma mater, Wheeler High School, has a great Website at www.wheelerlibrary.com that demonstrates my point. It has quick links to sources and school projects that I think would be difficult to include in a blog. Coral Gables High School’s Media Center Webpage at http://cghs.dadeschools.net/library/ and Cyprus High School’s Media Center Webpage at http://www.cyprusmediacenter.org/ are also good examples of a well done Websites. Now, I definitely think blogs should be a component of the media Website since blogs are interactive and allow for quick posting of information, but if the central office of a school district has developed an easy-to-use Web template that allows for quick editing of the Website content, then I think a Website is still the way to go.

For media centers that have the capabilities to maintain appealing, user-friendly non-static Web sites, I think the media specialists should ensure they can answer “yes” to the following questions when evaluating their Websites to ensure they are providing the best possible Website:

1) Is the layout and design of the Website attractive and appealing to all targeted users?

2) Will your students be able to navigate the Website easily?

3) Did you run a spell check on the content? Is it free of spelling/grammatical errors?

4) Is the material objective and void of bias?

5) Will the Website be reviewed regularly and updated as needed?

6) Does the Website have multimedia capabilities, such as the ability to host videos and podcasts? If you wanted to highlight student work on the site, will you have the ability to do so?

7) Is the content relevant to student interest and learning standards? In my opinion, good media program Websites would include:

a. Link to the OPAC

b. Links to sources such as databases, search engines and other reference tools

c. Links to educational Websites

d. Contact information for the media center staff

e. Hours of operation

f. The media program’s Policies and Procedures

g. A media center orientation (either PowerPoint to upload or a video)

h. Tutorials for applications commonly used by students

i. Links relevant to student projects

j. Book reviews and book talks (either print or via pod casts)

k. A blog with the latest media center news

l. A section dedicated to teachers

m. The media center calendar

n. Links to student work

What are your feelings about media Websites? Is it worth the time and effort to maintain a traditional Website, or are newer Web 2.0 tools more beneficial? Do you have a different opinion as to what constitutes a good Website?