One area of concern was identified, however. In the Standards in Action book, there is a great 2-page spread on the self-assessment strand that speaks directly to the student. One librarian asked if she could make copies of the pages to share with students. That led me, as an ethical user of information, to check on the copyright and permissions for the book.

What I found was quite chilling. Though these two pages present a letter to students, there is no permission given in the book to allow copying of those pages to share with students. I thought maybe there would be something online, so I checked the standards website to see if there was a PDF or other permissions statements there. Indeed there is a new Permissions for Use page for the standards, but what I found there actually made things even worse.

Under the new permissions for use, I actually had to tell librarians that they can no longer quote the standards that they are using within their lesson plan documents! Given the push to spread the standards and the whole Learning4Life initiative, this is surely in unintended outcome of AASL’s attempts to secure the standards. And yet, an over zealous locking down of the standards is unfortunately preventing most use.

As stated on the permissions page: “Permission must be requested for publishing or posting a portion of the text or the original document in a print or online publication or on a Web site as well as linking to the PDF.” [AASL] A lesson plan is a print or electronic document, therefore permission must be requested for quoting the standards as is usually done in a standard lesson plan format. Additionally, a lesson plan could be considered a derivative work under the current wording: “The learning standards document is considered the core content if the publication cannot be written without the use of the content of the learning standards document. Such usage requires a license agreement and may include a fee.”[AASL]

A fee for including the standards in each lesson plan?

Most librarians in the workshop assumed that the permission for educational use granted in the standards document covered use in lesson plans. I did as well…until I read the new permissions page. The permissions page limits educational use to only the pdf document itself. “The PDF versions available on the AASL Web site are intended for personal and educational use. Printing or forwarding copies for your own private use or to share with others for purely informational or educational purposes is acceptable.”[AASL] Any quoting of the document (i.e. listing standards on a lesson plan) would fall under the “Publishing or Posting Excerpts” section and would therefore require permission (and maybe a fee) for each lesson plan.

I love the new standards. I think they represent a great new way of looking at how we need to change learning and teaching for the 21st century. And yet, as much as I love the standards, the current permissions for use make it nearly impossible for me to share them or use them.

AASL, won’t you please consider freeing the standards for a bit more use? Perhaps a Creative Commons non-commerical license? Or maybe members can be granted additional license to use the standards as part of their member benefits?

Twitter hash tag #FreeTheStandards

[UPDATE 11:46am] Allison Cline, Deputy Executive Director of AASL, noted in an e-mail response that this is indeed an unintended wording and that AASL does not wish to fetter non-commercial use in any way. While this is great news, the fact remains that the current permission page does restrict use…even non-commercial use. There is no educational exception made for quoting standards, creating derivative works using the standards, or even linking to the standards.

Being able to highlight and annotate pages is nothing new, but the ease with which this and other tasks is accomplished using the WebNotes extension for Firefox is quite refreshing. After a bit of playing around thanks to an invitation from ReadWriteWeb this morning, the most notable thing about WebNotes is their attention to small details. I must confess that my favorite feature so far - and the one that will probably lead to my leaving this installed for easy access on the occasions where it would be a very useful tool - is the ability to show or hide the extension/toolbar with a single click of the icon in the navigation toolbar area. Other sites (*cough* Diigo *cough*) just get to be so annoying with a toolbar that takes over after every update despite my constantly turning it off. I appreciate WebNotes giving me an easy way to access their toolbar during those times when it will be needed, and then easily hide it when I am not annotating.

So what else does the tool do? The standard mixture of sticky notes, highlighting, and organization are supplemented by a few ideas that make WebNotes especially nice for schools and libraries. After annotating an article or other content, a teacher could use WebNotes to create a permanent link to the marked-up page that could be shared with students. Or, students could use WebNotes accounts to annotate pages and share them with the teacher as an assessment of note taking skills (hint: highlighting the whole page is a fail).

Another way to share is the WebNotes daily report tool. Users can create PDF or HTML renditions of their sticky notes and highlights from around the web collected onto a single page. Since you can generate reports by folder, librarians could create a new folder for a reference session and then send a customer an annotated report at the end of the research help session.

So overall my first impression is very positive. This is a clean, simple application that does a small thing really well and offers some innovative new ways to interact with output for sharing. As noted above, I especially like the unobtrusive nature of the tool as it hangs out waiting for a time of need. I have to think that this is something that will be in my Firefox extension list for a while to come. If you would like to try it out, drop me a comment or send an e-mail. I have a number of invites to share for the currently restricted beta.

Part of embracing gaming in libraries is learning the lingo that accompanies online gaming and the less academic side of the Internet in general. Like LOLCats, pictures of cats with funny or snide annotations, the title to this post can be used as a measurement of your online credibility. So let us delve deeper…

• Pwn: This intentional misspelling of the word “own” probably grew from accidental typos in online games when players tried to tell others that they had been “owned” or beaten rather soundly. Now to pwn has come to be an insider way of claiming victory. Though one must be careful in verbalizing this too much (just like trying to say ROFL makes you look a bit daft), it can be pronounced as either “pone” so it rhymes with own, or sometimes as “pawn”. It is most often used as a verb - I pwned you - but can also refer to general actions as in “I brought the pwnage.” Getting pwned is not a good thing as it tends to make you look like a total noob.
• Fail: Not necessarily a gaming term, but rather the LOLCat derivation de’ jour on the Internets (see how I added an “s” to make this a sarcastic reference?). To fail is pretty self-descriptive, it is used as a rather obvious label to a picture or situation that represents a total breakdown of expectations. An example fail was identified here a few months back - note that not only does the sign presuppose that libraries must be quiet (FAIL!) it then proceeds to misspell quiet as quite (EPIC FAIL!). Please also note that fails are much funnier when not explained.
• FTW: FTW - For The Win - represents the opposite of fail. A win is a success, and often one realized in the face of hardship or overwhelming odds. Identifying that something is “for the win” is tantamount to saying that it is a good thing or a desirable outcome. At the conclusion of an especially successful reference interview, a student might proclaim “Librarians FTW” to acknowledge the high level of expertise that you brought to the search process. One must be careful int he use of the abbreviation for this in certain company, however, as it is also the accepted short form of f&%k the world for some subcultures.

You can learn more about the complex love-hate triangle that is pwn-fail-ftw by watching this very helpful documentary from Rocketboom. Until you are fully versed in the proper usage of these complex words, please be cautious in your attempts to represent. Nothing would be a bigger fail than to fail in using the word fail - talk about a self referential loop that would skyrocket to epic faildom almost instantly.

Once you are pwning fail for the win, however, you might consider showing off your newly discovered cred by labeling book displays with these terms. What books embody pwnage for instance? A great opportunity to highlight some books where the underdog comes out on top and wins in the end. Or, you could label Twilight as a SCARY VAMPIRE FAIL and offering a selection of more traditional horror books instead (though feel free to include a footnote on Twilight as Romance WIN). Have a bit of fun, acknowledge current Internet memes, and hopefully encourage a bit of reading as well. Just make sure that the usage is authentic!

Hi Colin,

While I loved the fleeting thought that CBS News might actually be interested in my little blog, that feeling quickly passed. If you actually read my blog before sending this out, then it might have occurred to you that I would more closely identify with the the real story behind the story you guys covered; The absolute mess of assessment in our educational system.

If students are cheating on tests, the easy answer is to blame the students for their lack of ethics. Given all the positive role models for ethical behavior children have these days (our government, wall street, etc.) then surely it is their fault that they are trying to find an easier way to endure the mind numbing regurgitation exercises we foist upon them on a regular basis.

Instead, it might be a bit more effective to talk about the real story here. Why are teachers using assessments on which students can cheat? Just like with The plagiarism on research papers, the problem is most often not in the copying, but in the failure of the initial assignment to present a rigorous and authentic assessment situation. Only the fault doesn’t lie entirely with the teachers. Though I came from being a classroom teacher, I am not sure I could still face the immense pressures teachers are under these days.

So are my questions When is CBS going to take a stand and look at the need for rigorous, authentic work in our classrooms? When is CBS going to stop focusing on cheating students and focus on cheating test companies and corrupt governmental departments that brought about the total failure of Reading First? When is CBS going to stop focusing on fear-mongering and instead join in the effort to bring about real change in the educational system?

My readers aren’t really in to re-postings of press releases without additional comments, but since I have taken the time to write you back in hopes that someone on your end is reading this I will also take the time to share the news about your story so my readers can construct their own conclusions regarding my interpretation of the story.

Thank you for taking the time to consider my questions.

Chris
__________________________________________________________________
On Fri, Nov 21, 2008 at 6:00 PM, Small, Colin wrote:
Hi Christopher,

My name is Colin Small and I work for the CBS Evening News. A story aired this week that I think your blog readers might be interested in. Our science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg examined videos made by kids, for kids, teaching each other just what teacher’s don’t want them to learn: how to cheat.

Check it out the story here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/11/20/eveningnews/eyeontech/main4622153.shtml?tag=topStory;topStoryHeadline

And this is a blog post on the same subject: http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/11/20/eveningnews/techtalk/entry4620394.shtml

Please let me know if there are any questions.

Thanks,

Colin

Objective 11: Introduce the learning standards and guidelines to the national educational and school administrator organizations that will have the most influence over their implementation.
As AASL works with the leadership of these national organizations, we can also work with local affiliates and members. Can you present at a local reading association meeting or a teachers’ association meeting about the new standards? The more local members we can touch, the better the larger discussions will go as the standards are introduced at state and national conferences.

Objective 12: Have 25 percent of each state’s school library media specialists attend a learning standards and guidelines session (national, regional, state, local) in the first two years that it is offered.
I hope AASL will consider creating presentation templates for official workshops that they will release freely for use by AASL members in local trainings. The challenge will be to reconcile the desire for control over the message with a need to spread knowledge about the new standards without a huge cost.

Objective 9: Review, revise, and develop AASL policy statements, position papers, and award applications based on the principles outlined in the learning standards and guidelines.
This is a big job, but really it is bigger. We all have to go back and revise our materials. This isn’t an expunging or Information Power in some attempt to make them un-standards, but rather it is refreshing our writing to stay current. Now is the time to start looking at your library’s board policies, mission statement, curriculum documents, descriptions, and much more. It never hurts (too much at least) to read through the board policies that dictate what happens in your library, but now we need to re-read them to make sure any references to standards indicate the Standards for the 21st-Century Learner. Additionally, if your district or region offers any library-related awards it would help to make sure those are updated for the new standards and guidelines. If there are special teacher observation instruments for librarians, those would need to be updated as well.

Objective 10: Devote a special issue of Knowledge Quest to the learning standards and guidelines; have a regular column on implementation in the journal.
They don’t just need writers for this, they also need readers. Library supervisors or department chairs could use the KQ articles for discussion starters. These might also be a great way to share a brief overview of the standards with colleagues or administrators.

Objective 7: Profile and target major education and library associations and current AASL partners and alliance organizations. This effort includes an action plan with specific, measurable, active, relevant, and timed objectives to enable productive collaboration.
Hopefully AASL will share those action plans with us since many of us are members of the target organizations as well. This would let us deliver the message of new standards at all levels; national, state, and local. In the end, it will be up to us inter-association members to make sure that the populations of the target groups really are aware of the new standards and what they mean for everyone involved. Even if you aren’t a member of some groups, there is a good chance someone in your school is. I think it would help to prep them about the collaborative efforts that might be taking place with AASL around the new standards.

Objective 8: Ensure that AASL members who attend conferences are aware of the new learning standards and guidelines by September 2010.
I think AASL is selling themselves a bit short with this objective. 2010? Seriously? Two more years to target your active members? I haven’t been at a conference in the past year where the new standards didn’t already come up through the AASL President’s remarks (Go, Sara!) or a giveaway of the standards booklet. Librarians who can make it to a conference should be all set (at least by the time they leave the conference) so I think we need to focus more on those who can’t attend conferences. That number will be rising over the coming few years.

Objective 5: Develop a basic implementation kit for building-level school library media specialists.
As this kit is prepared, make sure you are watching for requests for feedback. This implementation kit might just be one of the most important items to come out of AASL in the next few years. The new standards are great, but I know that many are waiting for help with the actual implementation. Don’t think, though, that we have to wait passively for this to be released. If you have ideas that have already proven effective in implementing the new standards make sure you share them with the Standards and Guidelines Implementation Task Force so they can be considered for inclusion. This is your chance to give back to the organization and profession by sharing ideas that work.

Objective 6: Provide opportunities for member and state affiliate input leading to development of initial training and support to state affiliate coordinators at a summit at the ALA 2009 Annual Conference, followed by a high-profile (re)launch of the learning standards and guidelines.
Again, we need to make sure we are responding to calls for input. And then…get ready for the launch party. AASL wants to go big with this, so any help we can all provide to draw positive attention to the standards and guidelines in our districts will help. AASL and the state affiliates will be covering large media outlets, but perhaps they can provide a template or guidance for those of us in rural areas for following up with local media. Small town newspapers review stories from the wire and get press releases, so we can tip them off to keep an eye out for the new library standards story. If you can provide a local angle - how this is impacting students in your school/district - then a small newspaper can flesh out the wire story for better coverage.

Objective 3: Ensure that preservice and continuing education school library media specialists are aware of the new learning standards and guidelines through school library certification programs.
There are more ways to give back to your alma mater than the cold, hard cash they always seem to be looking for. If you are near a library school that has a school library program, see if they are interested in a guest speaker for a class who can address the implementation of the new standards. Make sure those preservice school librarians are invited to any local workshops on the standards. It can also help to catch them even earlier; if you can get to an education school and talk to preservice classroom teachers about the new library standards you may be catching some future library students. If nothing else, you are letting your future colleagues in classrooms know about the importance of the library (and that we really are teachers too and have a curriculum).

Objective 4: Assist AASL members and others in implementing and advocating for the learning standards and guidelines, create a visual identity (recognizable graphic representation) and awareness/promotional items for sale and giveaway that utilize the L4L brand.
Hey AASL…one way to push the L4L brand online is to create a web badge that can easily be added to website sidebars. How about a widget that displays a random indicator from the standards? Or a widget that offers headlines and links to standards news from the sources mentioned in Objective 2? I actually like the Learning4Life logo and concept, though maybe I am just partial given my connections to Fish4Info. It will be interesting to see what develops here…