"This is an unbranded Google site, where Google is trying out a new search engine interface. For starters, it sorts the results by web pages, images, blogs, videos, and Wikipedia entries, all on one screen. The first 20 web pages are displayed in a somewhat abbreviated format, but with a new way to drill down into any of the retrieved web sites. And Google finally has something close to MSN Live's "infinite scroll." When you click SearchMash's link for "More web results", the next 20 results are added at the end of the search results list; you can now scroll through 40 results at a time. Click "More web results" and another 20 are added at the end of the list, and so on." (Mary Ellen Bates)
http://www.searchmash.com
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Featured Podcast This Week
Civil Liberties in War Time (MP3)Two of our nation's constitutional law experts, Judge Richard Posner and Professor Geoffrey Stone, debate the tension between civil liberties and national security when America is at war. You can listen to it online or download to an MP3 device.
Source: National Constitution Center
Source: National Constitution Center
Research & Authority in an Online World
The English Journal article "Research and Authority in an Online World: Who Knows? Who Decides?" (G) is a must-read on the evolving role of Internet-based research (and the research paper) for teachers at all levels. Though the specific activities mentioned take place in a secondary classroom, the general discussion of Wikipedia and online research is significant for any classroom.
Source: English Journal
Source: English Journal
Critical Literacy: Teacher Learning
As we think about the Nation's Report Card (NAEP Results), we should worry that the scores of many high school students did not demonstrate the high critical literacy skills essential to their future success. What part do teachers play? We know teachers greatly impact student learning, so teachers' own learning is vital as well. The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Principles of Adolescent Literacy Reform and Principles of Professional Development describe how teacher learning can take place in schools to build the capacity to support students' 21st century learning.
Sources: NCTE
Sources: NCTE
Overhaul No Child Left Behind
Critics of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) ask Congress to overhaul it. The Forum for Educational Accountability has called on Congress to scrap the accountability system under the current No Child Left Behind Act in favor of an accountability system that holds schools responsible for teacher training and parental involvement.
Source: Education Week, February 23, 2007
Source: Education Week, February 23, 2007
Thursday, February 22, 2007
Political Interference in Science
A-Z Guide to Political Interference in Science
The Union of Concerned Scientists produced this guide to the ways in which the work of scientists at federal agencies has been suppressed or distorted for political purposes. Browse alphabetically, by agency, or by topic, or view the timeline. See also Scientists and Engineers for America <http://www.sefora.org/index.php>, an organization devoted to explaining to the public the importance of scientific integrity. It includes a "scientific bill of rights.”
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/a-to-z-guide-to-political.html.
Source: Marylaine
The Union of Concerned Scientists produced this guide to the ways in which the work of scientists at federal agencies has been suppressed or distorted for political purposes. Browse alphabetically, by agency, or by topic, or view the timeline. See also Scientists and Engineers for America <http://www.sefora.org/index.php>, an organization devoted to explaining to the public the importance of scientific integrity. It includes a "scientific bill of rights.”
http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/interference/a-to-z-guide-to-political.html.
Source: Marylaine
The Big Read
The Big Read is an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts, designed to restore reading to the center of American culture. The NEA presents The Big Read in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and in cooperation with Arts Midwest.
The Big Read answers a big need. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young.
The Big Read in the Hartford area is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, an African American classic. Read it or read it again.
The Big Read answers a big need. Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America, a 2004 report by the National Endowment for the Arts, found that not only is literary reading in America declining rapidly among all groups, but that the rate of decline has accelerated, especially among the young.
The Big Read in the Hartford area is Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston, an African American classic. Read it or read it again.
One Word Sets Off Uproar and Talk of Book Banning
You must have heard that The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron is this year's winner of the Newbery Medal.and that one word on the first page of the book is causing some school librarians to say they will pull the book from the shelves. This New York Times article explores the controversy. For advice, rationales and other help with challenges to literary works, films and videos, drama productions, or teaching methods, visit the NCTE Anti-Censorship Center.
The New York Times, February 18, 2007
The New York Times, February 18, 2007
More Students in Online Classrooms
According to the North American Council for Online Learning, one million students from kindergarten through 12th grade have enrolled in online classes. Nearly half of the states offer online learning for students. However, some educators are urging caution, saying teacher-student interaction in person is crucial in the learning process.
Source: The Boston Globe, February 18, 2007
Source: The Boston Globe, February 18, 2007
Thursday, February 15, 2007
Faculty Issues and the Law in Higher Education
Thursday, February 15, at 12 noon
Join Chronicle editors every Thursday at noon for the Brown Bag, a new online discussion. Each week you will be joined by an expert from the world of college finance, technology, management, or other fields for a free and freewheeling discussion on higher education's hot topics. Today's discussion is on faculty issues and the law in higher education.
One of the most vexing problems facing college administrators is hiring and managing faculty members and other college personnel. A leading expert on the law and faculty issues, Barbara A. Lee, will talk about negotiating some of the most common problems, such as how colleges can manage successfully through cutbacks and financial strains without disregarding anyone's rights. She will also talk about ever-evolving issues that colleges must watch, such as the increasing use of adjunct professors, threats to tenure, and rising legal risks for colleges prompted by blogging, file sharing, and other new technologies.
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Major Changes in Homeland Security
The Department of Homeland Security will merge three of its existing academic research centers and create four new centers, to study natural disasters, border security, explosives detection, and maritime security, Congressional Quarterly reported last week.
The merger, scheduled for 2010, is part of the department’s effort to eliminate overlap in its Centers of Excellence program, which finances homeland-security research by university consortia. The three centers that will be merged — the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, and the National Center for Food Protection and Defense — all conduct research on chemical and biological terrorism.
Major Changes Planned for Academic-Research Centers in Homeland Security
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
The merger, scheduled for 2010, is part of the department’s effort to eliminate overlap in its Centers of Excellence program, which finances homeland-security research by university consortia. The three centers that will be merged — the Center for Advancing Microbial Risk Assessment, the National Center for Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease Defense, and the National Center for Food Protection and Defense — all conduct research on chemical and biological terrorism.
Major Changes Planned for Academic-Research Centers in Homeland Security
Source: Chronicle of Higher Education
YouNiversity
Imagine what would happen if academic departments operated more like YouTube or Wikipedia, allowing for the rapid deployment of scattered expertise and the dynamic reconfiguration of fields. MIT instructor Henry Jenkins calls this new form of academic unit a "YouNiversity."
Jenkins ask that we "Consider these developments: At the end of last year, Time named "You" its Person of the Year "for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game." Earlier in the year, Newsweek described such sites as Flickr, MySpace, Craigslist, Digg, and YouTube as "putting the 'We' in the Web." The business "thought leader" Tim O'Reilly has termed these new social-network sites "Web 2.0," suggesting that they represent the next phase in the digital revolution — no longer about the technologies per se but about the communities that have grown up around them. Some are even describing immersive online game worlds such as Second Life as the beginnings of Web 3.0. All of this talk reflects changes that cut across culture and commerce, technology and social organization."
His article about dramatic changes in higher education is in the latest Chronicle of Higher education-very interesting.
Jenkins ask that we "Consider these developments: At the end of last year, Time named "You" its Person of the Year "for seizing the reins of the global media, for founding and framing the new digital democracy, for working for nothing and beating the pros at their own game." Earlier in the year, Newsweek described such sites as Flickr, MySpace, Craigslist, Digg, and YouTube as "putting the 'We' in the Web." The business "thought leader" Tim O'Reilly has termed these new social-network sites "Web 2.0," suggesting that they represent the next phase in the digital revolution — no longer about the technologies per se but about the communities that have grown up around them. Some are even describing immersive online game worlds such as Second Life as the beginnings of Web 3.0. All of this talk reflects changes that cut across culture and commerce, technology and social organization."
His article about dramatic changes in higher education is in the latest Chronicle of Higher education-very interesting.
Demonstration Today of Xreferplus
The free trial to the Online Reference Library, Xreferplus, is now set-up for Goodwin College. For trial access, go to http://www.xreferplus.com/ . This trial will be available until March 15th, 2007. The reference library will be demonstrated in the conference room at 11:30 today.
The Xreferplus trial guide - an introduction to Xreferplus with links to sample Xreferplus images, dynamic tables, voice pronunciations, our interactive atlas, and concept maps can also be accessed at www.xrefer.com/trialguide
Xreferplus is the world's largest online reference service featuring over 200 full-text reference titles with over 2 million entries from 50 highly-respected publishers integrated in a robust search engine with many unique interactive features.
Xrefer has also recently launched a new Specialist Reference (SR) service with subject-specific expertise and added many new unique interactive features such as dynamic table functionality for world state, and county statistics, an interactive world atlas, and our concept map. Xrefer also features over 66,000 images, over 180,000 audio pronunciations, and a citation formatter in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats.
Source: James Slattery, Account Executive for Xrefer
The Xreferplus trial guide - an introduction to Xreferplus with links to sample Xreferplus images, dynamic tables, voice pronunciations, our interactive atlas, and concept maps can also be accessed at www.xrefer.com/trialguide
Xreferplus is the world's largest online reference service featuring over 200 full-text reference titles with over 2 million entries from 50 highly-respected publishers integrated in a robust search engine with many unique interactive features.
Xrefer has also recently launched a new Specialist Reference (SR) service with subject-specific expertise and added many new unique interactive features such as dynamic table functionality for world state, and county statistics, an interactive world atlas, and our concept map. Xrefer also features over 66,000 images, over 180,000 audio pronunciations, and a citation formatter in APA, MLA, and Chicago formats.
Source: James Slattery, Account Executive for Xrefer
Journal of Nursing Education
February issue of the Journal of Nursing Education is here with major articles focusing on content and competency for the 21st century:
Curriculum Revisited
Statistics Used in Current Nursing Research
Emancipatory Teaching-Learning Philosophy and Practice Education in Acute Care
Rescuing Nursing Education from Content Saturation: The Case for a concept-Based Curriculum
Cultural Competence Revisited: Nursing Students with Disabiities
Patient Safety: Where is Nursing Education
A Survey of Physical Assessment Techniques: Lessons for Nusing Education
Curriculum Revisited
Statistics Used in Current Nursing Research
Emancipatory Teaching-Learning Philosophy and Practice Education in Acute Care
Rescuing Nursing Education from Content Saturation: The Case for a concept-Based Curriculum
Cultural Competence Revisited: Nursing Students with Disabiities
Patient Safety: Where is Nursing Education
A Survey of Physical Assessment Techniques: Lessons for Nusing Education
New Directions for Youth Development
The winter issue of New Directions for Youth Development has arrived! The whole issue is devoted to rethinking programs for youth in middle years. The everyday life of a nine to fifteen year old is in the middle. This in-between-ness challenges our ideas about the purpose and design of youth programs and the roles and responsibilities of young people in these activities. This issue explores young people's journey into community during their nonschool hours.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Table of Visualization Methods
Visual-literacy.org is an "online introductory tutorial about how data, abstract thoughts, and concepts can be graphically represented to more easily gain useful insights. One of their knowledge map examples is this excellent Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Rolling your mouse over each form of visualization brings up an example of the technique. It looks like it would very useful if you think a visualization is in order but you're not sure which specific kind to try." Very cool!
Link to Periodic Table
Link to PDF paper "Towards a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management"
Source: boingboing and Mike Love
Link to Periodic Table
Link to PDF paper "Towards a Periodic Table of Visualization Methods for Management"
Source: boingboing and Mike Love
Science Times on Tuesdays
This is just a reminder that every Tuesday The New York Times publishes a science section. This week it included articles about the nuisance of orbiting junk, climate change, how we see red, the brain region linked to smoking, the debate on the wolf's comeback, the danger of teenagers with cars, and the ecosystem of the skin, treatment of sleep apnea, --and more. The New York Times is available to you from the library page.
Baghdad Day to Day: Librarian's Journal
When the Saddam regime was toppled in 2003, the Iraq National Library and Archive in Baghdad was set alight and looted. Much damage was done, in particular to the library’s archive collections. For several months, the diary entries ofDr. Saad Eskander, the director of Iraq's National Library and Archives, have apeared on the Web site of the British Library and they detail the daily hurdles of keeping Iraq's central library open, preserving the surviving archives and books and just staying alive. An article about Eskander and the library appears in the Arts section of the New York Times today available on the library page. You can read the diary entries at http://www.bl.uk/iraqdiary.html.
Tuesday, February 06, 2007
New England Watershed: Best New Publication
Place is an important part of how we construct our identities and now we have a new regional magazine. Utne magazine nominatedd New England Watershed as the best new publication of 2006. You will find the Winter 2006-2007 issue in the library.
According to Utne editors, "New England Watershed casts an exceptionally wide lens on a variety of questions pertaining to regional identity. Each issue of the magazine focuses on one them--food and farming, mental health, interstate 91, and examines it through a variety of cultural and historical perspectives." Don't miss out!
According to Utne editors, "New England Watershed casts an exceptionally wide lens on a variety of questions pertaining to regional identity. Each issue of the magazine focuses on one them--food and farming, mental health, interstate 91, and examines it through a variety of cultural and historical perspectives." Don't miss out!
New Book: What's Toxic, What's Not
What's Toxic, What's Not by Gary Ginsberg and Brian Toal (published Dec., 2006)
The authors are toxicologists for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. This is a comprehensible bible of hazardous substances that impact every individual in the United States. While explaining the major toxins of lead, radon, mold, and asbestos, they also delve into pesticides and chemicals in consumer products, food, water, air, and soil. Chapters describe each toxin, address the myths and realities surrounding it, and discuss how people come into contact with the substance and how to avoid it. Charts illustrate the toxicity, exposure, and risk index for each contaminant. Suggestions for testing one’s own environment through local health department, water service, and so forth are concrete and achievable. Important points are boxed for emphasis. Tips are provided for diverse subjects such as how to microwave foods in plastic safely and how to make a homemade “green bubble” bath. This is a fascinating but frightening account that is well worth considering for class bibliographies.
Source: Library Journal December 2006
The authors are toxicologists for the Connecticut Department of Public Health. This is a comprehensible bible of hazardous substances that impact every individual in the United States. While explaining the major toxins of lead, radon, mold, and asbestos, they also delve into pesticides and chemicals in consumer products, food, water, air, and soil. Chapters describe each toxin, address the myths and realities surrounding it, and discuss how people come into contact with the substance and how to avoid it. Charts illustrate the toxicity, exposure, and risk index for each contaminant. Suggestions for testing one’s own environment through local health department, water service, and so forth are concrete and achievable. Important points are boxed for emphasis. Tips are provided for diverse subjects such as how to microwave foods in plastic safely and how to make a homemade “green bubble” bath. This is a fascinating but frightening account that is well worth considering for class bibliographies.
Source: Library Journal December 2006
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