... IDEAS & RESOURCES FOR THE PROFESSION. ISSUES, IDEAS & R

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• SCHOOLROOMS
• PORTALS AND CONTENT
• FOR
• BLENDED LEARNING
• MARCH 23, 2006
• 145-230 PM

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Presenters Stephen Abram, VP Innovation, SirsiD
ynix and President-elect of Special Library Asso
ciation (SLA) Theresa M. Fredericka, Executive
Director, INFOhio Patrick Fleming, Director of
Portal Interfaces and Rooms, SirsiDynix

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Before we take a look
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The Scary re-wiring of the Millennials and
post-Millennials
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Millennial Characteristics
Credit Richard Sweeney, NJIT
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Usability
The A frame adopted from newspaper layout is
not what works.
Eyetools
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Reminder 150,00-250,000 A DAY!
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In Summary

• Align initiatives with the learner and learning
  styles
  
• Focus on the users view and needs - interest,
  engagement, ownership.
  
• Teachers, librarians, and parents need to work
  with the student as a team to help him/her.
  
• The teacher and librarian must collaborate in
  developing content, which results with a win win
  win situation (113).
  
• Provide resources and content that are
  integrated with the curriculum and that engage
  the student.
  

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• What does the research tell us?
• OCLC Environmental Scan Pattern Recognition
• Pew Internet and American Life Project
• The Digital Disconnect The widening gap between
  Internet-savvy students and their schools
  
• The Internet at School
• The Internet and Education Findings of the Pew
  Internet American Life Project
  
• Student Learning Through School Libraries
• The Ohio Research Study

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INFOhio and School LibrariesThree Core Beliefs

• Information makes a difference to people.
• Making a difference does not happen by chance a
  school library must be a dynamic agent of
  learning and the librarian is an information
  learning specialist curriculum partner-leader.
• Student achievement matters a belief that all
  students can learn, and develop new
  understandings through the school library and its
  resources.

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What is INFOhio?
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How did we get to this point?

• INFOhios components include electronic resources
  for schools, instructional development for
  teachers, standardized software
  
• for library automation and media booking, and a
  statewide curriculum resource catalog.
  
• INFOhio 2010
• INFOhio transforms teaching and learning by
  connecting educational resources with the power
  of information
  
• technology.

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What is SchoolRooms?

• SchoolRooms is a comprehensive and integrated
  multimedia online discovery portal for K-12
  schools.
  
• Through an initial pilot, virtual Rooms were
  created by teachers, librarians, and parents for
  Earth Science, US History, and Parents for
  elementary, middle, and high school use.

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SchoolRooms Provide

• One-stop-shopping for all of your information
  needs -- content-in-context federated searching
  which simultaneously searches across all
  sources
• Standards-based taxonomy with educator selected
  web sites
  
• Best of the Web (educator-selected)
• Online subscription databases (i.e. Encyclopedia
  Britannica, SIRS Discoverer, EBSCO, etc.)
  
• Local school library catalog (OPAC)
• Other library catalogs (public library OPAC and
  INFOhio Curriculum Resource Catalog)
  
• Includes integrated multi-media components

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SchoolRooms contd?

• SchoolRooms combines teacher-selected,
  standards-based content with student-friendly
  software to promote exploration and learning and
  to supplement the curriculum.
• Content is accessed through virtual Rooms that
  help
  
• students discover information,
• provide educators with access to quality
  materials, and
  
• enable parents to find appropriate resources for
  improving their childrens education.

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How did we get to this point?

• INFOhio and SirsiDynix collaborate to create
  SchoolRooms together.
  
• LNOCA assists with project management.
• Shaker Heights City School District pilots the
  use of SchoolRooms in actual classroom lessons
  and assignments.
  
• Kent State University conducts usability study to
  ensure a user-friendly design. Insights gained
  from this testing into the information-seeking
  patterns of school-age children will be
  incorporated into SchoolRooms.
• School of Library and Information Science (SLIS)
• Information Architecture Knowledge Management
  (IAKM)

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How did we get to this point?

• Partnership is formalized between INFOhio and
  SirsiDynix (agreement)
  
• Pilot of 3 SchoolRooms takes place from
  July-September 2005 to develop SchoolRooms for
  three grade levels (ES, MS, and HS)
  
• Earth Science
• US History
• Parent Guide
• A technical review by INFOhio staff occurs
  November-December to assess needs/concerns with
  the software.
  
• Pilot occurs to test software functionality and
  usability (January 30-February 17, 2006)
  
• Evaluate pilot results to determine a plan for
  continued development (March 2006).

See INFOhio Project Targets handout
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Usability Study at Shaker Heights

• Student Subjects
• Two elementary schools, one 5th 6th school, one
  middle school, and one high school
  
• Grades 2, 4, 5 6, 8, 9, and 10
• 20 teachers
• 40 different classes
• 1,000 potential student subjects
• Parent Subjects
• Second grade parent child
• Other parents individually
• Teacher Librarian Subjects

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Lets Take a Look
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Usability - Comments

• Student - This is better than Google because in
  Google you get lots of stuff you dont need.
  
• Teacher SchoolRooms is a great tool for
  new(er) teachers because it provides resources
  that are aligned to the curriculum.
  
• Librarian SirsiDynix is offering us the
  opportunity to serve our patrons with accurate
  information that meets their immediate needs. The
  information world is rapidly changing.
  SchoolRooms is the first step in the direction of
  seamless 24x7 service to patrons."

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Our Observations So Far

• Need a spell-checker (volcanoes volcanues both
  yields results).
  
• Students and teachers need good images/pictures,
  games, activities, etc. that are easily
  accessible within SchoolRooms.
  
• Many individuals observed defaulted to the search
  box (used to it with Google) while others didnt
  even notice it?!
  
• Anything hyperlinked may be considered a website
  (because it is hyperlinked) this may be
  confusing and an issue to consider for assisting
  in developing critical thinking skills.
• Students are efficient, spending minimal time
  evaluating what they are finding. Again, an issue
  for information literacy skills.
  
• Students express confidence when they use the
  Internet. We need to help teachers develop better
  assignments using Internet resources, requiring
  information literacy skills.
• The SchoolRooms concept is accepted as a useful
  tool however, the interface is a little too much
  needs to be simplified.

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Whats next?

• Product Review and Usability Results
• Summer Development at Kent State University
• Fall rollout
• Q and A?

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New Rooms Development

• June 12-16th
• Training Workshop begins at Kent State
  University
  
• approximately 60 teams
• between 120-150 people building the additional
  rooms
  
• one set of the teams will do the taxonomy and
  site selection
  
• another team (previous contributors will be used
  as facilitators during this entire process) made
  up of previous contributors, will do the "teaser
  content."
• June 19-30th and July
• Teams will work on building content. 
• August
• August will be set aside as a prep month for
  tweaking on the SirsiDynix side.

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Goal (by 1st week of September)

• 65 Rooms (this includes the different levels)  
• Core Curriculum
• Fine Arts (dance, music, art, drama, etc.)
• Language Arts (reading, writing, vocabulary,
  communication, speech, literature, etc.)
  
• Mathematics (all types of math)
• Sciences (physical, life, earth, scientific
  technology and inquiry)
  
• Social Studies (geography, government, world
  history, us history, etc.)
  
• Additional Areas
• Literacy Research (info, tech, and media
  literacy, research skills)
  
• Technology
• College Prep Career Exploration
• Children Young Adult Literature
• Librarian Guide
• Educator Guide
• Parent Guide (completed)

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Fall Rollout Goals

• Start customizing local instances 
• Work towards delivering at least 1-3 Information
  Technology Center sites (ITCs include several
  districts) 
  
• In June INFOhio will work with the SirsiDynix
  project and product management orgs to determine
  a roll-out schedule for the upgrade and rollout
  plan for the entire state.

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• Questions?

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Thanks

• Stephen Abram
• stephen.abram_at_sirsidynix.com
• Terri Fredericka
• fredericka_at_infohio.org
• Patrick Fleming
• patrick.fleming_at_sirsidynix.com

Special thanks to Joanna McNally, LNOCA, for
assistance
in creation of this powerpoint.
http//www.schoolrooms.net
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Resources

• OCLC Environmental Scan
• Pew Internet and American Life Project
• Ohio Research Study
• INFOhio
• SchoolRooms
• SirsiDynix

Special thanks to Joanna McNally, LNOCA, for
assistance
in creation of this powerpoint.