Libraries Change Lives

William Kamkwamba built a windmill in his Malawi village from a picture he found in a library book. (The library was funded by the US Government.) He was interviewed recently by John Stewart on The Daily Show.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
William Kamkwamba
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Ron Paul Interview

William was invited to give a TED talk that you can watch here. His book The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind has been published recently.

YouTube Channel

LeAnn mentioned subscribing to YouTube channels as part of your online personal learning network. SMART Technologies, producers of SMART Boards, has started a channel that highlights ways to use the boards in classrooms, offers tips & tricks, and more all in thei YouTube channel. A good resource if you have a SMART Board. Subscribe here http://www.youtube.com/user/SMARTClassrooms#p/a

National Information Literacy Awareness Month

Official notice of the importance of information literacy! President Obama has declared October National Information Literacy Awareness Month. From the press release,

Rather than merely possessing data, we must also learn the skills necessary to acquire, collate, and evaluate information for any situation. This new type of literacy also requires competency with communicationtechnologies, including computers and mobile devices that can help in our day-to-day decisionmaking....Though we may know how to find the information we need, we must also know how to evaluate it.

You can read the entire press release here.

Reliable Web Reference Sites

The American Library Association MARS (Machine-Assisted Reference Section*) has just published the 11th Annual list of best free reference sites. The list recognizes outstanding reference sites on the World Wide Web. You can find the list here.

* I have always thought the MARS acronym particularly appropriate--sort of a space agey name--Machine-Assisted Reference.

LMS & Social Media

14 Ways K-12 Librarians Can Teach Social Media by Joyce Valenza is a great article in School Library Journal offering tips to school library media specialists on teaching and integrating social media into the curriculum and instruction. The tips range from copyright/fair use, documentation, Google tools, collaboration, and more. Everyone can find at least one thing, and likely many more, that will make teaching these tools easier.

Shift Happens Video

This wiki gives the background, history, sources, and links to the official versions of the video Shift Happens, including the most recent version Did You Know? 4.0 (September 2009). With so many versions out there, this is a great resource.

It's a Marauder's Map!

I have often thought a Marauder's Map would be quite useful. Just which mall entrance is closest to the Apple Store? Where is room 1145A in the meeting venue? Where is my family at Disneyland? Apparently, others think so too.

A new startup called micello.com just began mapping the inside of buildings like convention centers, malls, college campuses, theme parks, and more. Described as "Google Maps for the indoors," micello is starting to map locations in Silicon Valley, with plans to include other regions. It will be available as an iPhone app within a few weeks. And,

In addition to navigating the maps, aided by the iPhone's GPS to show you where you are, Micello users can also locate their Facebook, Twitter, and iPhone contacts within the map community.

Just like the Marauder's Map! ReadWriteWeb offers more info.

Now all Hogwarts students with an iPhone can have a Marauder's Map, not just Harry.

Teaching with New Media

Edutopia just published a 13-page guide called Ten Top Tips for Teaching with New Media (2009-2010) Past MILI participants will recognize many of the tools and the tips for using them. Here are the tips:

1. Break the Digital Ice
2. Find Your Classroom Experts
3. Get Off to a Good Start
4. Think Globally
5. Find What You Need
6. Make Meaning from Word Clouds
7. Work Better, Together
8. Open a Back Channel
9. Make It Visual
10. Use the Buddy System

You can download the PDF which has more information and resources here. Edutopia is a program of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. You can sign up to receive their newsletter which has ore tips and information on educational technology and other education issues.