Educause Seeks Member Input: Next Gen Learning Challenges

Educause announced the following and requests input from its members:

"EDUCAUSE will lead a new effort funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation called the Next Gen Learning Challenges, an effort to identify and scale technology-enabled approaches that dramatically improve college readiness and completion, particularly for low-income young adults. The program will provide grants, build evidence, and develop an active community committed to addressing these persistent educational challenges.

In preparation for the formal grant program we ask you to share your knowledge and to comment on key questions before the program is finalized. EDUCAUSE members are experienced in leveraging all facets of IT to help students achieve the academic success that is crucial to their future. We hope you will share your expertise and perspectives.

The first four challenges NGLC will solicit grant proposals for are:
• Deploying open core courseware
• Deepening learner engagement through interactive, online technologies
• Scaling blended learning
• Mobilizing learning analytics"

ESEA Reauthorization

From Keith Fiels' 6/18/10 Report to ALA Council and Executive Board:

“Elementary and Secondary Education Act

Since Congress failed to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 2009, they have the opportunity for reauthorization in 2010. Both the Senate and House have been holding hearings and meetings on what should be in a reauthorized ESEA bill. During this time, the Washington Office has been meeting with key members and staff on what needs to be in ESEA for libraries.

Jamie Greene, a school librarian at Hugh Cole Elementary School in Warren, RI, and President of the Rhode Island Educational Media Association (RIEMA), testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) in a hearing titled, “ESEA Reauthorization: Meeting the Needs of the Whole Student.”

Greene’s testimony highlighted the critical role of school libraries in our nation’s educational system and the need for Congress to include them in the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA).

ALA is requesting that Congress include school libraries in ESEA by including the following three requests: 1) Having every public school have a school library staffed by a state-certified school librarian, 2) allowing for state and local professional development funds to be used for recruiting and training school librarians, and 3) maintaining dedicated funding for the Improving Literacy Through School Libraries. It is unlikely that the Congress will reauthorize ESEA this year. However, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee Chairman Tom Harkin (D-IA) wanted to mark up a bill in the Senate by early June. No date yet has been set for such a mark-up.”

"Savvy Web 2.0 Teens Forge Critical Thinking Skills"

Fascinating reading (from a Google Alert for "information literacy"): Savvy Web 2.0 Teens Forge Critical Thinking Skills.

Prezi presentation

LILi'ers,

Our new web librarian, Stewart Baker, would like to do a presentation on Prezi for us. When would be a good time for this? Please suggest a few meeting dates and I'll make sure he's free.

Thanks!

-- Caroline B.
CSU Dominguez Hills

"A Librarian in Every School, Books in Every Home"

Joyce Valenza tweeted about this excellent and moving editorial by Bob Peterson regarding the loss of the sole librarian at the elementary school in Milwaukee where he works: "A Librarian in Every School, Books in Every Home: A Modest Proposal." This was the 2d of two things that made Peterson angry. The 1st was "...the release of scores from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) that showed African American 4th graders in Wisconsin (most of whom live in Milwaukee) had the lowest reading scores in the nation." He goes on to say, "Research shows school libraries are related to better reading achievement. The reason for this is obvious: Children become better readers by reading more, and for many children, the library is the only place they have access to books."

Sadly, there have been no librarians in public elementary schools in California for a very long time. We may still be 50th out of the 50 states in terms of the number of librarians in public schools. Perhaps Bob Peterson's call-to-arms article will help draw attention to this issue throughout the country.

"E-Book Readers Bomb on College Campuses"

From a Linked-In post: Bloomberg Businessweek article, "E-Book Readers Bomb on College Campuses," indicates that students at 7 universities around the country who participated in a pilot, using Kindles instead of textbooks, were not satisfied: "...students reported that the Kindle was a poor replacement for a textbook, hard to use in the classroom, and difficult to navigate."

ALA 2011 class of Emerging Leaders.

The American Library Association (ALA) is now accepting applications for the 2011 class of Emerging Leaders. Applications can be found at http://www.ala.org/cfapps/emergingleaders/index.cfm. The deadline to apply is July 30.

The program is designed to enable a group of library workers to get on the fast track to ALA and professional leadership. Participants are given the opportunity to work on a variety of projects, network with peers and get an inside look into the ALA structure and activities.

An ALA division, round table, ethnic affiliate, state chapter or school library media affiliate will sponsor many of the selected applicants. Each sponsor will contribute $1,000 toward expenses ($500 for each conference). Sponsorship is not required for participation in the program.

Applicants can indicate on the application which groups they want to consider them for sponsorship. A list of sponsoring units is included as part of the online application. You can also check with your state association and/or state chapter to find out if they are participating and how to apply for their sponsorship.

Library support staff are encouraged to apply to the program and will have an opportunity to be considered for sponsorship through the ALA Library Support Staff Interests Round Table.

No more than one person from any institution will be selected for participation in the program. Preference will be given to those who do not have experience working on ALA committees, task forces, etc. In order to be eligible for participation in the program, those selected must meet the following criteria:

1. Be under 35 years of age or be a library worker of any age with fewer than five years experience working in a library, and

2. Be able to attend both ALA conferences and work virtually in between each,

3. Be prepared to commit to serve on either an ALA, division, chapter or round table committee, taskforce or workgroup, or in your state or local professional library organization upon completion of program and

4. Be an ALA member or join upon selection if not already a member.

For questions or more information regarding the program, contact Beatrice Calvin at bcalvin@ala.org.

"Dear Mr. President: Misinformation is the Real Distraction"

The Unquiet Librarian offers a passionate pro-information-literacy and "transliteracy" blog post (5/9/10), in response to a portion of President Obama's May 9th Hampton University Commencement Address.