Libraries have existed for millennia. Their purpose has always been focussed on knowledge acquisition and sharing for the development of society. In the 21st century, school libraries are re-engineering themselves to focus on learning, curriculum and the skills needed for 21st century learning.

The evolution of school libraries into flexible, dynamic, high-tech learning centres designed to prepare students as responsible digital citizens to function effectively in a complex information landscape is dependent on visionary leadership and strategic planning to reach this level of functionality.

The concept of a knowledge commons or learning commons becomes the physical and virtual catalyst for inquiry, imagination, discovery, creativity and innovation.  The school library becomes the hub for networking, information access, digital literacy instruction, learning and knowledge creation – a shared space for all students and the school community.

The advantage of a ‘commons’ approach is it provides an opportunity to re-engineer the school library into a place/space that brings together the library, information technology and a qualified team of information, technology and learning staff whose combined knowledge, skills and expertise collectively support the integration of 21st century learning into the curriculum.

The new mission of teacher librarians is a return to the original purpose of libraries, that is “to improve society through facilitating knowledge creation in their communities” (Lankes, R. D.)

In The Atlas of New Librarianship, R. David Lankes offers a guide to this new landscape for practitioners. He describes a new librarianship based not on books and artifacts but on knowledge and learning.

Check out The atlas of new librarianship: companion website.

On January 18, a news article, Apple Is Said to Plan Digital-Textbook Push to Bolster IPad Use in Schools, heralded that Apple would be announcing a set of tools that make it easier to publish interactive textbooks and other digital educational content.

The announcement happened in New York on January 19. The following infographic helps to explain the announcement…..

Via: OnlineEducation.net

Can Apple really save education?

It looks like becoming a “flipper” will be the catch cry for 2012.

This short video provides a very practical overview for why you would flip your classroom.

Two teachers share how their flipped classroom was born.

Then there is The Flipped Classroom Network, which focuses on vodcasting in the classroom.

Wondering what a flipped classroom is all about…where would I be without an infographic

Created by Knewton and Column Five Media

Sir Ken Robinson expresses his thoughts on the role of policy in education. Follow this link to the interview.

• education is the most important gift we can give to people
• education is transformational
• create a climate in which innovation is possible & self-determination is encouraged
• politicians will not be doing this
• responsibility lies with principals, teachers, students and parents
• it has to be customised to suit the community
• IT is the game change….it is the means by which education can change.

A single Tweet rallied a community to save an independent bookstore from the economic downturn.

I find this all quite fascinating. The Book Industry Strategy Group (BISG) delivered its final report to Senator the Hon Kim Carr, Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research in September 2011. The report was publicly released on 9 November 2011 following a launch held at Parliament House in Canberra. The BISG’s report contains a series of recommendations to Government along with a proposed suite of actions for industry. Over coming months, Government will consider the BISG’s recommendations in the context of whole-of-Government priorities and provide a preliminary response in early 2012.

The BISG has set the following vision for the Australian book industry: “To ensure that the Australian book industry is innovative, prosperous and sustainable for the long term, develops Australian creators and creative works and encourages investment in new technologies.”

The book industry continues to contribute to the economy. In 2010, the total value of books sold in Australia (in both print and electronic formats) is estimated to have been 2.3 billion.

See also: The life cycle of a book.

And there is more…this one with an Australian focus.

The jury is out on whether it takes 21 days, 66 days or even 8 months to change a habit. I guess it depends on how complex the habit is that you want to change. As the New Year draws nigh some of us will set New Year resolutions, but I’d rather focus on forming new habits that will take me into the next year.

Matt Cutts says, “The idea is actually pretty simple. Think about something you’ve always wanted to add to your life and try it for the next 30 days. It turns out, 30 days is just about the right amount of time to add a new habit or subtract a habit – like watching the news – from your life.”

It’s also important to keep it simple and only change one habit at a time.

Here are 29 tips. To read the full article, go to The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

1. Do just one habit at a time.
2. Start small.
3. Do a 30-day Challenge.
4. Write it down.
5. Make a plan.
6. Know your motivations, and be sure they’re strong.
7. Don’t start right away. In your plan, write down a start date.
8. Write down all your obstacles.
9. Identify your triggers.
10. For every single trigger, identify a positive habit you’re going to do instead.
11. Plan a support system.
12. Ask for help. Get your family and friends and co-workers to support you.
13. Become aware of self-talk.
14. Stay positive.
15. Have strategies to defeat the urge.
16. Prepare for the sabotagers.
17. Talk to yourself.
18. Have a mantra.
19. Use visualization.
20. Have rewards.
21. Take it one urge at a time.
22. Not One Puff Ever (in other words, no exceptions). This seems harsh, but it’s a necessity: when you’re trying to break the bonds between an old habit and a trigger, and form a new bond between the trigger and a new habit, you need to be really consistent.
23. Get rest.
24. Drink lots of water.
25. Renew your commitment often.
26. Set up public accountability.
27. Engineer it so it’s hard to fail.
28. Avoid some situations where you normally do your old habit, at least for awhile, to make it a bit easier on yourself.
29. If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again.

Go on, give it a go, you might surprise yourself.  I’m day 24 and it’s addictive

A little over 12 months ago I was reading about the very early stages of schools trialing iPads. In an article published in September 2010 – Education departments go wild for the iPad – the opening paragraph stated, “Schools and universities right around Australia have jumped headfirst into trials of Apple’s hyped iPad tablet as they rush to discover exactly what the device’s use will be in the educational field — sometimes with the support of their overarching education departments, and sometimes without”. Kerrie Smith blogged about some of the trials – iPad trials in Australia.

There were also some counter punches saying “no iPad” – No place for iPad in education revolution.

Then, within a short space of time the iPad 2 hit the market.

In primary schools we are seeing the “class set” where the school has bought a batch of iPads and they become a shared resource. (Yes, the challenges of multiple licensing need to be addressed.) In secondary schools (and in some primary schools) the trend seems to be toward the iPad (or other mobile technology) being a personal device. Students can “personalise” their learning tool.

Regardless of the scenario, I was delighted to read the blog post 6 Apps for creating outlines on the iPad at Apps in Education.

“Capturing information quickly and efficiently in a classroom is an important skill. So much of what we do in the classroom needs to be documented either by you, the teacher or by the students. Apps that make this process quick and easy are therefore vital.” The site provides a short list of outline apps that could be useful in the classroom environment – ranging from free to quite expensive.

The Apps in Education site is well worth exploring as it does provide a great overview designed for the classroom scene.

The Publishing Trends site has a great section on the stages of publishing a book – Life cycle of a book.

There are great video clips from the point of view of the writer, editor, agent, production, design, marketing, publicity, sales, book buyer, distribution and publicity.

Life cycle of a book

For the gadget-crazy and environmentally conscious, this is a great little reminder to make sure you power down at the end of the day.

Enjoy…