First of all, let me say that the video “A Vision of Students Today” really has me worried. Here you have a teacher who thinks he is using today’s technology and he has the class’s total attention only to find out, they are being quiet because they are listening to their iPod or commenting on Facebook. My first thought was Oh My! Those students will be teaching at my school in the next 3+ years. Now I know throughout all the years there have always been students who are goofing off in class but honestly….Could any of them tell him anything he said in class? I really want to know that. Surely he was imparting some wisdom of importance or he wouldn’t have been there, right? I know we have entered a new age… one I most definitely want to be a part of and I want my students to be the beneficiary of my desire to know more. I just think that the internet, web 2.0, isn’t everything. Oh my! Did I just say that in this class? You know a good book, under a nice cool shade tree sure would be nice right about now.
Rick Anderson’s “Away from the Icebergs” suggests that “we need to focus our efforts not on teaching research skills but on eliminating the barrier that exists between patrons and the information they need…” Okay, he’s in at a University level and that may be true. However, if as an elementary librarian, I take that approach, he won’t be able to meet the patron at their level because they won’t understand it at all. At this level is where we do the teaching. We have to work hard for students to understand the connections between the information they can get and how to relate what they have learned. Somewhere there has to be some teaching or they won’t have enough understanding to know the difference between valid and invalid resources. Blogging is great and there are a lot of truly intelligent people out there who are reliable but there are those that aren’t. Just look at the fans for Boing Boing where one of the most recent post was “Jesus Christ We are on the *!?#” Moon” Hmmm… not real…not funny… How do they know when things aren’t true? I agree that the more user-friendly we become, the more likely it is to be used. Wasn’t I just the one that said, I want to teach research skills not typing skills? I want to teach the skills students will need to be able to access information but I want to help them learn how to decode what they see.
I liked David Warlick’s post 2 Cents Worth. The survey showed that most believe you can have a good teacher who is not using technology…but truly he/she is not doing his/her job.
It’s a little scary to consider not having that “Just in Case” collection as suggested by Rick Anderson. There’s nothing I like better than the smell of new books in the morning and I hope we never get out of the bound and printed collection. I agree we need to look at other avenues as well… but please don’t tell me they will all be gone in the future. I like having a catalog that my students can see from home. I like providing them with lots of ways to make book lists and book reviews and notes to me and I think that is very important. I agree the library of the future will have to do even more to meet students where they are but nothing beats a trip to the school library.
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