Copyright & Plagiarism - Thing #10

The staff members at our school are very concerned about plagiarism; therefore, my second year as an LMS at Como, the English Department and I collaborated and came up with a list of possible consequences for plagiarism. I created a webpage that discusses plagiarism and points out how to avoid it. I noticed that Purdue's Owl was referenced under Thing #10. I, too, included it on an MLA citation page I created so that students can have a guide in citing correctly. I think it's one of the best sites around for looking up how to cite. (By the way,thank you to Leslie E. for having her intern create the original guide sheets several years ago. My former EA retyped them and now anyone can access them, even at home.) Also, because staff members care about the legalities of using various media, I added a Copyright and Fair Use webpage. Until recently it was relatively easy and free to type a segment from a student's paper into the Google search bar, put quotes around it, and voila, up came the source. It's not possible to do that anymore, and my guess is it's because the online paper writing warehouses have put some kind of block up that makes it impossible to track papers to them. Schools need to decide if they want to spend huge bucks to buy online plagiarism-detection tools such as Turnitin.com, CopyCatch and the Essay Verification Engine. Using the plagiarism proof assignment ideas listed under Thing #10 might be a cheaper, and in the end, more fruitful way to go.

Infinite Thinking Machine - More Googling - Thing #11

My wonderful colleague, Gail, just told me about a great Google workshop she attended and shared with me the wealth of Google knowledge she learned, all contained on one little handout titled "The Google Universe." It has so many good tips and quips I felt compelled to add several of the points to my Teacher Tools and Smart Search webpages, and to add the presenter's blog to my Helpful Blogs Urban Planet webpage. It's a website & blog called the Infinite Thinking Machine and can be found at http://www.infinitethinking.org/. From the "About" section of the ITM site: "ITM is designed to help teachers and students thrive in the 21st century. Through an active blog, an Internet TV show, and other media resources, the ITM shares a 'bazillion practical ideas' for turning the infinite universe of information into knowledge. We showcase examples of innovative instructional methods, talk with leading experts, and share real stories from the classroom to improve how we think, learn, teach, and live. And we try to have a little fun along the way."

College Kids Today on You Tube - Thing #21

Thanks to Leslie Y., who spent two hours Urban Planeting (why can't it be a verb just like "googling?") with some Como folks today, I took the time to add a new section to my webpage called "Helpful Blogs." I included Dr. Scott McLeod's blog, "Dangerously Irrelevant," to the section (thank you Ruth W. for reminding me of the name), along with several consumer-related blogs. While I was poking around DI, I noticed a video Dr. McLeod recommended which was produced by a Cultural Anthropology professor and his students using "digital ethnography." I was very intrigued by its subject matter: How do today's college kids spend their time, and how do their choices impact their future? I was also very entertained by the technique used to present the info. It turns out the students who collaborated on the video used Google docs to compile and edit the info: 200 students made 367 edits to one document. I was so impressed with the video I decided to post it here. It's around 4 minutes long, but is well worth the view time.

The following description of the video was taken from You Tube: "A short video summarizing some of the most important characteristics of students today - how they learn, what they need to learn, their goals, hopes, dreams, what their lives will be like, and what kinds of changes they will experience in their lifetime. Created by Michael Wesch in collaboration with 200 students at Kansas State University."

Databases - Thing #13 Part Deux

Our November 14 MILI meeting was very informative and practical. I found the format to be productive and realized that there were facets of Gale Student Edition I hadn't yet explored. For example, I didn't realize it included a Multimedia category. It was fun to team with two other librarians and bounce answers and ideas off one another. I vote for the session on the Research Calculator to be similar.

Google Analytics - Revisiting Oct. 20 Thing #17

I ended up unsubscribing to sitemeter because it wasn't picking up any of the visits to my webpages. In retrospect, I think it's because I missed a step. However, I'm now using Google Analytics to track how many visits my ROR pages and library homepage get. George Adams, an SPPS technical support person, lined me up with GA because it turns out the district uses it to keep track of traffic. So anyone with an SPPS webpage can contact him and set up an account with GA. What I've learned is that since the last week in August my library homepage has had 3,178 visits, my ROR page has had 3,141 visits and our school's homepage has had 21,674 visits. You can even select a map overlay option, and as you move the mouse across the world map, little bubbles pop up that tell you the number of visits from each country. So far, I've only been able to use this facet with the school's homepage, not mine, so I'm not sure if that tool is usable beyond the main page. GA is a marketing godsend, I'm sure, for businesses. There is so much measurable data in soooo many categories, it would take weeks to explore it. If you'd like to tour Google Analytics, you can.

Streaming Video - Thing #9

I saw this last spring and thought it would appeal to kids, but as it turns out, more adults than kids get a kick out of it! It's a You Tube video created by some high school students from North Little Rock High School. Actors/Singers: Holly H., Caitlin S., Aaron H., Quinn G., Wyndham W. Editor and Videographer: Joe C. Its purpose is to promote reading so the kids at NLRHS can become proficient and graduate. It's a parody of a Black Eyed Peas song. This one is called "My Books" and it was originally posted in December of 2006. I showed it to some kids last year. They were amused, but thought it was pretty lame. Not so with the adults who have seen it. Take 3 minutes to watch it and see what you think. Click the arrow in the middle of the video box to play it:

Reliable Free Websites - Thing #14

While the databases the school district and state purchase for our use are fantastic, it's not realistic to think that researchers will find everything they need in them. For example, current local information is not available there. So, the first place I start when I hit a dead end in the purchased databases is at Google's Advanced Search page, a fantastic tool. You can fine tune your search and even limit the domain. I always start by searching college/university websites first by putting .edu in the domain line. That way the only hits I get will be .edu links. While nothing is ever 100% on the internet, I feel 99% confident that colleges post reliable information. This technique is how I found most of the non-subscription links I posted on teachers' webpages for specific projects. Also, on my ROR page, I've included several that I've run across through the years like the CIA World Factbook, and the following, to name just a few:

Librarians’ Internet Index: A good site if you need to get topic ideas. It provides pathways (clustering) for broad topics. Includes a broad range of websites that can be trusted.

Clusty.com: Another pathways search engine that clusters search results into categories for easier reference.

Statistical Abstract.com: Provides statistics for states and U.S. departments.

Fedstats.gov: Provides statistics for states and U.S. government agencies.

Citizendium.org : Provides information written by experts in their fields.

When I list these and other free reliable websites on my ROR page, I tag each one with*(Not a purchased database.)
That way the kids know they have to figure out the citations and there won't be a convenient little icon to click that will generate the citation for them. I do include answers.com in the list but attach a disclaimer about Wikipedia, a useful but controversial resource, upon which answers.com heavily depends. I guess I agree with a U of M prof who said that she's perfectly ok with her students using Wikipedia as a starting point to generate ideas, but not as an authoritative source. I think of it as a springboard to other sources and ideas. Also, for the most part, information about long-dead people or historical events that happened years ago is usually ok. It's the info about current stars or politicians, political movements, etc., that we have to be really leery of:

Answers.com: Search by asking a question. Using a variety of reference sources it generates an organized page of relevant information about your search query without requiring you to click on any further Web links. Caution: Answers.com uses Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia which accepts information from anyone, so search results must be carefully evaluated. *(Not a purchased database.)

I love finding great links for staff and students. It's one of my favorite library media specialist responsibilities! The ultimate goal is to equip each student with the knowledge to effectively search the internet for reliable sources, to realize when they have found one, and to use it responsibly. To help them with this, I've created a "Smart Search" webpage.

Some Other Thing - Thing #33

I'm using the meditation exercises I learned yesterday at one of our Staff Development sessions to exhale all of the frustration and agitation I just experienced trying for the third time to convert my home printer to wireless by using a Netgear server I bought last week. This is what happens when you don't purchase expensive Mac gadgets to do what you want. I installed the software on my wired PC just fine, but when I wanted to add the Macbook, of course the nifty little installation directions didn't appear on the screen because Mac doesn't read .exe. Soooo I called Netgear support who said they don't support Mac products (even though on the Netgear box it says the server is compatible with OS X.) So I called AppleCare (incidentally, did you know our laptops come with AppleCare through 2010? Cool!) Anyway, Apple folks said they don't support 3rd party equipment. My last ditch effort was this a.m. when I put the Macbook on the PC side and tried. Yeah! The computer read the disk. BUT it hit a roadblock and after troubleshooting for a bit, I gave up. I uninstalled the server and it's in the box ready to go back to Office Depot. By the way, when I hear "server" I think of at least a computer-sized device. This one fits in my hand. I'm not sure how I'll print from my Macbook at home at this point. I'll have to do some more investigating. I may just wait until my daughter comes home from college this summer with her wireless printer.

Subscription Databases - Thing #13

The students are getting so used to using the citation link in the databases that when they can't find the "cite" link they get upset. Ninth graders are all introduced to Como's Reliable Online Resources webpage during library orientation. I've taken the district's ROR links and categorized them in student-friendly groups. I've also added to my ROR webpage several reliable websites that are not purchased databases. To reinforce the database introduction, four times a year during homeroom every ninth grader visits a computer lab and completes exercise sheets that explore four different databases. Additionally, when teachers ask me to put together links for a specific project, I always include the databases on that teacher's webpage. Our students are getting used to going to the ROR webpage or the teacher's webpage first before they try Google. The databases are great for many reasons, but the main one is that all of the information is reliable. Students and teachers can be sure that if a database is cited, it's ok. I only wish we had access to a literary criticism database. Maybe in the future.....

Teacher Guide to Research Calculator - Thing #6

It is clearly evident that a huge amount of work went into creating the Teacher Guide to the Research Project Calculator. I like that there's detailed explanations if you want them, or concise bullet-type info as well. The blue/green side-by-side layout of students' view and teachers' view made it easy to follow. The graphic organizers are very helpful, as are the guide sheets and the rubric. Regarding the research process and targeting a topic that will motivate students, I recall a student, who after many questions, finally realized he was worried about going bald because his father and brothers were. That's what he did his project on. There was no problem motivating him after he settled on a topic that was meaningful to him, just as Doug Johnson points out. Unfortunately, it's not always possible to easily find the personal "hook" for each student in the process of questioning, but when they do, it makes the paper writing much easier for them. As with everything at school, time is the issue. How much time can one realistically take per student to effectively probe and cull out an excellent research topic with provocative questions? How will the classroom teacher manage time so that the RPC can effectively be used? I can see parts of it being used at a time. Teachers' curriculum is often so jam-packed trying to meet state standards, it's hard for them to envision an open spot for something new, even though it might be very helpful.