LearningTimes Green Room

Susan and Dan discuss their explorations of the MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning project, a huge initiative to explore and create a field of study and practice around digital media.

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Show Notes:
Susan and Dan discuss their explorations on the MacArthur Foundation project, a huge initiative to explore the field of digital media (to create a field of study and practice). There is a group of authors who will be writing 6 volumes on the topic, and giving grants to institutions working on the practice side.

The foundation web site can be found here.

The open forum site can be found here. The forum is a place where the authors are able to post a synopsis of the chapter they’re writing and asking others to dialogue on the topic.

A few of the major themes are gaming, the use of digital media and school environments and colorblindness.

Dan first looked at the issue of gaming. “How do people get into gaming” is an example of a question they have explored. A gender difference (no surprise to Susan). Also looked at ethnic differences, which led to considerations of who has access to technology, leisure time, and so on. Gaming is good for learning but people don’t know how to design activities using games.

Good links to games in this site! Program ideas, also. This might be inspiring.

Susan read the forum related to Moral Panics. That topic dealt with whether our children are safe with technology. Do we tell children not to go on the Internet or do we teach them to do it safely? What do we know and how are we responding and reacting? Yes, they talk about DOPA.

Susan also read the forum on what educators would do with digital media (if they could). Opportunities for modeling safe practices. From that came a wonderful posting that Dan read to listeners related to how the author would teach by using certain freely available tools.

Get involved in seeing the frameworks and models! Pay attention.

Dan and Susan would like listeners to share what they’re doing with using digital media. You can respond to them at http://www.ltgreenroom.org or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada).

In this episode, Susan and Dan are joined by John Shank and Steven Bell, co-founders of http://www.blendedlibrarian.org, a community of librarians who blend instructional design, technology, and librarianship.

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Show Notes:
In this episode, Susan and Dan are joined by John Shank and Steven Bell, co-founders of http://www.blendedlibrarian.org, a community of librarians who blend instructional design, technology, and librarianship. John is Instruction Design Librarian and Head of Instructional Design Services at Penn State University - Berks Campus and Steven is Director of the Library at Philadelphia University. The interview was conducted with Skype.

The definition of the blended librarian is an academic librarian who combines the traditional skill set of librarianship with the information technologist’s hardware and software skills and adds to that the instructional or educational designer’s ability to apply technology appropriately in the teaching and learning process. Librarians integrating themselves into the teaching/learning process.

They do it all! Is it all about multi-tasking? It’s not just about wearing lots of hats but branching professionally into new areas.

Will multi-tasking make librarians relevant? John says no, but a librarian who has a deeper understanding and can apply these technologies to meet service needs will have lasting power. It’s all about partnerships.

Information literacy skills development is part of the blended librarian’s work. This led to a discussion of whose job it is and some about faculty resistance. John has solutions! Context specific information fluency building.

Goal for community is to develop tools and models. You can find them at http://www.blendedlibrarian.org and then join the blended librarians online learning community for interactive discussion, lists, resources, and webcasts.

We’d like to hear from librarians and faculty. How do you work together? Tell us by commenting at http://www.ltgreenroom.org or talk to us in LearningTimes. Or call us at 1-800-609-9006 x8055 (US and Canada) or 678-255-2174 x8055 (outside US and Canada).