Hello,
This is my last article on virtual reference, and I found a very interesting one on how schools are using the tool. Schools are expanding web based resources for grades k-12 in the school library. They report 99% of schools in the United States have school computers in the library and 85% have them in the classrooms.
The same questions we have been bringing up for the last couple of weeks, are the teaachers concerns in the school too,"home access". Do the students have home access to these excellent resources, and what can be done about it if they don't.
The article also stated, more high school students are taking online classes therefore, more online services should be available too, which I find very interested.
Here is my thought,how can all these companies and radio stations get involve with providiing computers to students who don't have instead of free music on itunes?
Students need computers not music!
Check out this article. Northwest Educational Magazine Virtual Reference Services by Sally Bewer at:
www.nwrel.org/nwedu/09-01/notebook.asp
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Making Waves,
Thanks for another informative and resourceful web site. I agree as the author of the article posits that the virtual library has become an extension of the high school library. However, with so many students now accessing the world wide web to complete homework assignments, I think we as librarians have the responsibility to provide students with the tools they need to evaluate the information they are exposed to. Noodletools that Ahenryst presented is an excellent start in this area. Indeed there are links to sites at the web site you posted which can be used to create a database of web sites for students to access so that they do not have to spend so much time "surfing" for information. These and other reliable sites can be posted on the school library's web page or listed in a pamphlet/booklet and classified according to subject area for distribution to both students and teachers.
I have certainly bookmarked this website.
Hi Lena! Thanks for all the great information and resources. I have bookmarked so much information and I have so many things I want to share with the teachers at my own school. Providing our students with the right tools and resources is a problem. We need to keep writing grants and trying to get as much technology as we can and make it available to all of our students. Thanks again, and try to enjoy what is left of our summer.
Lena,
Thanks for the information. I agree that it is very important to provide suitable resources for students to access both in and out of school. However, it is also just as important to encourage students to use those resources and in order to get them to do so, the teachers must also be on board.
I say this because when I took over the library at my high school, the librarian had paid for 3 or 4 databases and had given the teachers the information about passwords to access these resources from their homes, but the students never really used them. When I questioned the students about this, they said the teachers never shared this information with them. When I asked the teachers about this many of them simply shrugged their shoulders.
Virtual reference will work but we have to sell it to the students ourselves. A good library website is a must too!
Post a Comment