January thaw = meltdown

The Governor's proposed budget is about to change the face of education in California once again. We are already at the bottom of the list in terms of the ratio of school librarians to students. Perhaps we will set a new low by becoming the first state to have no school librarians. Maybe we should offer fries with that order.

Winter 2.0 Fun is launched!

Greetings all!
Winter 2.0 Fun will run from December 1, 2007 - April 1, 2008. This
is a repeat of School Library Learning 2.0 that was offered this summer.
Join your colleagues to learn more about YouTube, podcasts, image
generators, wikis, mashups and other web 2.0 tools.
Now is your chance to learn, at your leisure -- in the comfort of your
own home, all about these exciting new tools. This on-line tutorial
will take you step by step through the use of many of the tools
listed above. There are already many ideas posted on CSLA's
California 2.0 Curriculum Connections wiki on how to develop library
lessons and useful classroom collaborations. Join in this discussion
and add to it, the many ideas you'll be getting as you work through
the 23 Things of this tutorial.
With over 60 CSLA "Summer 2.0 Fun" graduates, you have lots of learning
partners to call on and many of these grads will be your cheering
partners.
CSLA's Ed Tech Committee gives this special feature a new name: "Peer
Cheers."
School Library Learning 2.0 is a free, fun, and fabulous way to learn
together and strengthen our collective educational technology savvy.
For those who want academic credit, there is a
Continuing Education option.
Start today at http://schoollibrarylearning2.blogspot.com/

CSLA Conference is coming soon

I just returned from Reno where AASL held their conference. There were many Web 2.0 sessions, including one by team member Rob Darrow. While there were many fantastic speakers and sessions, I am looking forward to our own CSLA conference which promises to be just as fantastic. If you took part in our summer tutorial, you may want to attend "School Library Learning 2.0: California's Summer Fun" on Saturday at 10:45 AM. There will be prizes for the "graduates" and information about upcoming events. Don't miss it.

An invitation to improve the performance of your education team.
Classroom Learning 2.0
School districts and other educational groups are invited to offer a fun, new online professional development course for classroom teachers, administrators, and other educators. This 9-week course introduces educators to web 2.0 tools and curriculum connections. Classroom Learning 2.0 participants learn about and use social networking tools such as blogs, image generators, avatars, RSS feeds, wikis, nings, and much more. This course and its accompanying Management/Users Guide is brought to you by the California School Library Association 2.0 Team at no charge. It supports a number of legislative programs such as school technology plan requirements for ERate and Module III of AB430 administrator training. Continuing Education credits for the course are also available for a modest fee through Fresno Pacific University.
Designed for classroom teachers, administrators and other educators, this on-line course
introduces participants to the many exciting web 2.0 tools available to us to communicate more effectively and creatively in a wide variety of activities. This tutorial introduces educators to many new opportunities for developing dynamic lessons, and shows how to work with colleagues in the school library to create exciting standards-based lessons that will reach students with the tools that they use daily.
Classroom Learning 2.0 is a unique course in that each participant not only learns about the web 2.0 tools, but actively participates in a collegial conversation using the very applications that they are learning about. Web 2.0 is a phrase that was coined in 2004. It refers to the fact that the Internet is now an interactive medium rather than a ‘place’ to go to get information. Because students are flocking to these Web 2.0 sites, it is important that those of us who work in schools should be up-to-date with the latest trends in educational technology and learn how they can be utilized to support student learning.
The course is designed for a variety of presentation options:

• participants can do it on their own,


• you can lead a site group, a district group, or a group of interested teachers.

Your organization can offer incentives, create collegial work groups, and/or provide on-site workshops to support the course. We have found that forming groups allow for participants to ‘cheer’ one another along, problem solve together, and begin conversations that lead to exciting collaborations.
Your library personnel may already be graduates of our first professional development program, School Library Learning 2.0. If so, you already have a partner who can help you develop a 2.0 Partners group. Both online courses are available for free during the 2007-2008 school year. Our management guide explains how you can make this fun, free, do-it-at-home learning opportunity available to all your classroom teachers and administrators. To learn more about these courses and to get a copy of the Management/User’s Guide, please contact Connie Williams or Jackie Siminitus at CSLA2Team@yahoo.com.

Irma speaks

Gizmoz.com allows you to animate an avatar made from a head shot (I used dear old Irma) and record a message using your own voice or a text-to-voice application.

Express Yourself with Gizmoz Video Clips

iGeneration

The iGeneration that we teach is why we must learn to navigate Web2.0.

Mid Summer Update

Members of the CSLA 2.0 Team met f2f for the first time since putting this program together. Here are some of our team members gathered in the AT&T Executive Briefing Center in San Francisco (Front: Connie Williams, CSLA VP of Communications; Jackie Siminutus, Library Advocate from AT&T. Back: Jamie Boston, LMT from Davis Joint Union School District, Rob Darrow, Coordinator of Libraries, Clovis Unified School District.)
Our group learned that at this point in the summer, there are 125 participants in California and another 65 people from outside of California participating. Over the next months, the members of the CSLA 2.0 Team will be presenting the SLL2.0 concept at a variety of workshops. We will have a special awards ceremony at the CSLA conference in November.
There is still time for you to join!