Posts Tagged ‘digital literacy for EDAD’

publish metrics ranking and citation info

EdTech Research – Where to Publish, How to Share (Part 2): Journal Metrics, Rankings and Citation Information

EdTech Research – Where to Publish, How to Share (Part 1): Journal Overview

electronic journals

International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning (IRRODL)

Publisher / Organization: Athabasca University Press

Year founded: 2000

Description: The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning disseminates original research, theory, and best practice in open and distributed learning worldwide.

First Monday

Publisher / Organization: The University of Illinois at Chicago- University Library

Year founded: 1996

Description: First Monday is among the very first open access journals in the EdTech field. The journal’s subject matter encompasses the full range of Internet issues, including educational technologies, social media and web search. Contributors are urged via author guidelines to use simple explanations and less complex sentences and to be mindful that a large proportion of their readers are not part of academia and do not have English as a first language.

URL: http://firstmonday.org/

International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education(ETHE)

Publisher / Organization: Springer (from 2013)

Academic Management: University of Catalonia (UOC)

Year founded: 2004

Description: This journal aims to: provide a vehicle for scholarly presentation and exchange of information between professionals, researchers and practitioners in the technology-enhanced education field; contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge regarding the use of technology and computers in higher education; and inform readers about the latest developments in the application of information technologies (ITs) in higher education learning, training, research and management.

URL: https://educationaltechnologyjournal.springeropen.com/

Online Learning (formerly JOLT / JALN)

Publisher / Organization: Online Learning Consortium

Year founded: 1997

Description: Online Learning promotes the development and dissemination of new knowledge at the intersection of pedagogy, emerging technology, policy, and practice in online environments. The journal has been published for over 20 years as the Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks (JALN) and recently merged with the Journal of Online Learning and Teaching (JOLT).

URL: https://olj.onlinelearningconsortium.org/

Journal of Educational Technology & Society

Publisher / Organization: International Forum of Educational Technology & Society

Year founded:1998

Description: Educational Technology & Society seeks academic articles on the issues affecting the developers of educational systems and educators who implement and manage these systems. Articles should discuss the perspectives of both communities – the programmers and the instructors. The journal is currently still accepting submissions for ongoing special issues, but will cease publication in the future as the editors feel that the field of EdTech is saturated with high quality publications.

URL: http://www.ds.unipi.gr/et&s/index.php

Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

Publisher / Organization: Ascilite (Organization) & PKP Publishing Services Network

Year founded: 1985

Description: The Australasian Journal of Educational Technology aims to promote research and scholarship on the integration of technology in tertiary education, promote effective practice, and inform policy. The goal is to advance understanding of educational technology in post-school education settings, including higher and further education, lifelong learning, and training.

URL: https://ajet.org.au/index.php/AJET

Print Journals

The Internet and Higher Education

Publisher / Organization: Elsevier Ltd.

YEAR FOUNDED: 1998

DESCRIPTION: The Internet and Higher Education is devoted to addressing contemporary issues and future developments related to online learning, teaching, and administration on the Internet in post-secondary settings. Articles should significantly address innovative deployments of Internet technology in instruction and report on research to demonstrate the effects of information technology on instruction in various contexts in higher education.

URL: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/the-internet-and-higher-education

British Journal of Educational Technology

Publisher / Organization: British Educational Research Association (BERA)

YEAR FOUNDED: 1970

DESCRIPTION: The journal publishes theoretical perspectives, methodological developments and empirical research that demonstrate whether and how applications of instructional/educational technology systems, networks, tools and resources lead to improvements in formal and non-formal education at all levels, from early years through to higher, technical and vocational education, professional development and corporate training.

LINK: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-8535

Computers & Education

Publisher / Organization: Elsevier Ltd.

Year founded: 1976

Description: Computers & Education aims to increase knowledge and understanding of ways in which digital technology can enhance education, through the publication of high quality research, which extends theory and practice.

URL: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/computers-and-education/

Tech Trends

Publisher / Organization: Springer US

Year founded: 1985

Description: TechTrends targets professionals in the educational communication and technology field. It provides a vehicle that fosters the exchange of important and current information among professional practitioners. Among the topics addressed are the management of media and programs, the application of educational technology principles and techniques to instructional programs, and corporate and military training.

URL: https://link.springer.com/journal/11528

International Journal on E-Learning (IJEL)

Year founded: 2002

Description: Advances in technology and the growth of e-learning to provide educators and trainers with unique opportunities to enhance learning and teaching in corporate, government, healthcare, and higher education. IJEL serves as a forum to facilitate the international exchange of information on the current research, development, and practice of e-learning in these sectors.

Led by an Editorial Review Board of leaders in the field of e-Learning, the Journal is designed for the following audiences: researchers, developers, and practitioners in corporate, government, healthcare, and higher education. IJEL is a peer-reviewed journal.

URL: http://www.aace.org/pubs/ijel/

Journal of Computers in Mathematics and Science Teaching (JCMST)

Year founded: 1981

Description: JCMST is a highly respected scholarly journal which offers an in-depth forum for the interchange of information in the fields of science, mathematics, and computer science. JCMST is the only periodical devoted specifically to using information technology in the teaching of mathematics and science.

URL: https://www.aace.org/pubs/jcmst/

Just as researchers build reputation over time that can be depicted (in part) through quantitative measures such as h-index and i10-index, journals are also compared based on the number of citations they receive..

Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR)

Year founded: 1997

Description: The Journal of Interactive Learning Research (JILR) publishes papers related to the underlying theory, design, implementation, effectiveness, and impact on education and training of the following interactive learning environments: authoring systems, cognitive tools for learning computer-assisted language learning computer-based assessment systems, computer-based training computer-mediated communications, computer-supported collaborative learning distributed learning environments, electronic performance support systems interactive learning environments, interactive multimedia systems interactive simulations and games, intelligent agents on the Internet intelligent tutoring systems, microworlds, virtual reality based learning systems.

URL: http://learntechlib.org/j/JILR/

Journal of Educational Multimedia and Hypermedia (JEMH)

Year founded: 1996

Description: JEMH is designed to provide a multi-disciplinary forum to present and discuss research, development and applications of multimedia and hypermedia in education. It contributes to the advancement of the theory and practice of learning and teaching in environments that integrate images, sound, text, and data.

URL: https://www.aace.org/pubs/jemh/

Journal of Technology and Teacher Education (JTATE)

Publisher / Organization: Society for Information Technology and Teacher Education (SITE)

Year founded: 1997

Description: JTATE serves as a forum for the exchange of knowledge about the use of information technology in teacher education. Journal content covers preservice and inservice teacher education, graduate programs in areas such as curriculum and instruction, educational administration, staff development instructional technology, and educational computing.

URL: https://www.aace.org/pubs/jtate/

Journal on Online Learning Research (JOLR)

Publisher / Organization: Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE)

YEAR FOUNDED: 2015

DESCRIPTION: The Journal of Online Learning Research (JOLR) is a peer-reviewed, international journal devoted to the theoretical, empirical, and pragmatic understanding of technologies and their impact on primary and secondary pedagogy and policy in primary and secondary (K-12) online and blended environments. JOLR is focused on publishing manuscripts that address online learning, catering particularly to the educators who research, practice, design, and/or administer in primary and secondary schooling in online settings. However, the journal also serves those educators who have chosen to blend online learning tools and strategies in their face-to-face classroom.

URL: https://www.aace.org/pubs/jolr/

 

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part 2

The most commonly used index to measure the relative importance of journals is the annual Journal Citation Reports (JCR). This report is published by Clarivate Analytics (previously Thomson Reuters).

SCImago

SCImago Journal Rank (SJR indicator) measures the influence of journals based on the number of citations the articles in the journal receive and the importance or prestige of the journals where such citations come from. The SJR indicator is a free journal metric which uses an algorithm similar to PageRank and provides an open access alternative to the journal impact factor in the Web of Science Journal Citation Report. The portal draws from the information contained in the Scopus database (Elsevier B.V.).

Google Scholar Journal Rank

Introduced by Google in 2004, Scholar is a freely accessible search engine that indexes the full text or metadata of scholarly publications across an array of publishing formats and disciplines.

Scopus Journal Metrics

Introduced by Elsevier in 2004, Scopus is an abstract and citation database that covers nearly 18,000 titles from more than 5,000 publishers. It offers journal metrics that go beyond just journals to include most serial titles, including supplements, special issues and conference proceedings. Scopus offers useful information such as the total number of citations, the total number of articles published, and the percent of articles cited.

Anne-Wil Harzing:

Citations are not just a reflection of the impact that a particular piece of academic work has generated. Citations can be used to tell stories about academics, journals and fields of research, but they can also be used to distort stories”.

Harzing, A.-W. (2013). The publish or perish book: Your guide to effective and responsible citation analysis. http://harzing.com/popbook/index.htm

ResearchGate

ResearchGate is a social networking site for scientists and researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. The community was founded in May 2008. Today it has over 14 million members.

Google Scholar

Google Scholar allows users to search for digital or physical copies of articles, whether online or in libraries. It indexes “full-text journal articles, technical reports, preprints, theses, books, and other documents, including selected Web pages that are deemed to be ‘scholarly. It comprises an estimated 160 million documents.

Academia.edu

Academia.edu is a social-networking platform for academics to share research papers. You can upload your own work, and follow the updates of your peers. Founded in 2008, the network currently has 59 million users, and adding 20 million documents.

ORCID

The ORCHID (Open Researcher and Contributor ID) is a nonproprietary alphanumeric code to uniquely identify scientific and other academic authors and contributors. It provides a persistent identity for humans, similar to content-related entities on digital networks that utilize digital object identifiers (DOIs). The organization offers an open and independent registry intended to be the de facto standard for contributor identification in research and academic publishing.

SCOPUS

The Scopus Author Identifier assigns a unique number to groups of documents written by the same author via an algorithm that matches authorship based on a certain criteria. If a document cannot be confidently matched with an author identifier, it is grouped separately. In this case, you may see more than one entry for the same author.

 

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more on metrics in this iMS blog

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=metrics

doctoral literature review

How to do a literature review: Citation tracing, concept saturation and results’ mind-mapping

http://www.raulpacheco.org/2016/06/how-to-do-a-literature-review-citation-tracing-concept-saturation-and-results-mind-mapping/

  1.  engage in citation tracing: you will need to find the key references across the literature for your particular project
  2. map whether your literature review has reached concept saturation: have you exhausted the field for the specific topic you are working on
  3. need to lay out how different citations, bodies of work and key concepts relate to each other

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more on digital literacy for EDAD in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digital+literacy+edad

more on proofreading and writing in this IMS lbog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=proofreading+writing

Selecting LMS

A Guide to Picking a Learning Management System: The Right Questions to Ask

By Mary Jo Madda (Columnist)     Feb 14, 2017

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-02-14-a-guide-to-learning-management-systems-the-right-questions-to-ask

Over the past 10 years, new learning management systems (LMSs) have sprung on the scene to rival the Blackboards and Moodles of old. On the EdSurge Product Index alone, 56 products self-identify and fall into the LMS category. And with certain established companies like Pearson pulling out of the LMS ranks, where do you start?

As University of Central Florida’s Associate Vice President of Distributed Learning, Tom Cavanagh, wrote in an article for EDUCAUSE, “every institute has a unique set of instructional and infrastructure circumstances to consider when deciding on an LMS,” but at the same time, “all institutions face certain common requirements”—whether a small charter school, a private university or a large public school district.

The LMS Checklist

#1: Is the platform straightforward and user-friendly?

#2: Who do we want to have access to this platform, and can we adjust what they can see?

#3: Can the instructor and student(s) talk to and communicate with each other easily?

“Students and faculty live a significant portion of their daily lives online in social media spaces,” writes University of Central Florida’s Tom Cavanagh in his article on the LMS selection process. “Are your students and faculty interested in these sorts of interplatform connections?”

#5: Does this platform plug in with all of the other platforms we have?

“Given the pace of change and the plethora of options with educational technology, it’s very difficult for any LMS vendor to keep up with stand-alone tools that will always outperform built-in tools,” explains Michael Truong, executive director of innovative teaching and technology at Azusa Pacific University. According to Truong, “no LMS will be able to compete directly with tools like Piazza (discussion forum), Socrative (quizzing), EdPuzzle (video annotation), etc.” 

As a result, Truong says, “The best way to ‘prepare’ for future technological changes is to go with an LMS that plays well with external tools.

#6: Is the price worth the product?

A reality check: There is no perfect LMS.

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more on LMS in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=learning+management+systems

challenges ed leaders technology

The Greatest Challenge Facing School Leaders in a Digital World

By Scott McLeod     Oct 29, 2017

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-10-29-the-greatest-challenge-facing-school-leaders-in-a-digital-world

the Center for the Advanced Study of Tech­nology Leadership in Education – CASTLE

Vision

If a school’s reputation and pride are built on decades or centuries of “this is how we’ve always done things here,” resistance from staff, parents, and alumni to significant changes may be fierce. In such institutions, heads of school may have to steer carefully between deeply ingrained habits and the need to modernize the information tools with which students and faculty work

Too often, when navigating faculty or parental resistance, school leaders and technology staff make reassurances that things will not have to change much in the classroom or that slow baby steps are OK. Unfortunately, this results in a different problem, which is that schools have now invested significant money, time, and energy into digital technologies but are using them sparingly and seeing little impact. In such schools, replicative uses of technology are quite common, but transformative uses that leverage the unique affordances of technology are quite rare.

many schools fail to proceed further because they don’t have a collective vision of what more transformative uses of technology might look like, nor do they have a shared understanding of and commitment to what it will take to get to such a place. As a result, faculty instruction and the learning experiences of students change little or not at all.

These schools have taken the time to involve all stakeholders—including students—in substantive conversations about what digital tools will allow them to do differently compared with previous analog practices. Their visions promote the potential of computing devices to facilitate all of those elements we now think of as essential 21st-century capacities: confidence, curiosity, enthusiasm, passion, critical thinking, problem-solving, and self-direction. Technology doesn’t simply support traditional teaching—it transforms it for deeper thinking and gives students more agency over their own learning.

Fear

Another prevalent issue preventing technology change in schools is fear—fear of change, of the unknown, of letting go of what we know best, of being learners again. But it’s also a fear of letting kids have wide access to the Internet with the possibility of cyberbullying, access to inappropriate material, and exposure to online predators or even excessive advertising. Fears, of course, need to be surfaced and addressed.

The fear drives some schools to ban cellphones, disallow students and faculty from using Facebook, and lock down Internet filters so tightly that useful websites are inaccessible. They prohibit the use of Twitter and YouTube, and they block blogs. Some educators see these types of responses as principled stands against the shortcomings and hassles of digital technologies. Others see them as rejections of the dehumanization of the education process by soulless machines. Often, however, it’s just schools clinging to the past and elevating what is comfortable or familiar over the potential of technology to help them better deliver on their school missions.

Heads of school don’t have to be skilled users themselves to be effective technology leaders, but they do have to exercise appropriate oversight and convey the message—repeatedly—that frequent, meaningful technology use in school is both important and expected. Nostalgia aside, there is no foreseeable future in which the primacy of printed text is not superseded by electronic text and multimedia. When nearly all information is digital or online, multi-modal and multi­media, accessed by mobile devices that fit in our pockets, the question should not be whether schools prepare students for a digital learning landscape, but rather how.

Control

Many educators aren’t necessarily afraid of technology, but they are so accustomed to heavily teacher-directed classrooms that they are leery about giving up control—and can’t see the value in doing so.

Although most of us recognize that mobile computers connected to the Internet may be the most powerful learning devices yet invented—and that youth are learning in powerful ways at home with these technologies—allowing students to have greater autonomy and ownership of the learning process can still seem daunting and questionable.

The “beyond” is particularly important. When we give students some voice in and choice about what and how they learn, we honor basic human needs for autonomy, we enhance students’ interest and engagement, and we truly actualize our missions of preparing lifelong learners.

The goal of instructional transformation is to empower students, not to disempower teachers. While instructor unfamiliarity with digital technologies, inquiry- or problem-based teaching techniques, or deeper learning strategies may result in some initial discomfort, these challenges can be overcome with robust support.

Support

A few workshops here and there rarely result in large-scale changes in implementation.

teacher-driven “unconferences” or “edcamps,” at which educators propose and facilitate discussion topics, can be powerful mechanisms for fostering professional dialogue and learning. Similarly, some schools offer voluntary “Tech Tuesdays” or “appy hours” to foster digital learning among interested faculty.

In addition to existing IT support, technology integration staff, or librarians/media specialists, some schools have student technology teams that are on call for assistance when needed.

A few middle schools and high schools go even further and assign teachers their own individual student technology mentors. These student-teacher pairings last all school year and comprise the first line of support for educators’ technology questions.

As teachers, heads of school, counselors, coaches, and librarians, we all now have the ability to participate in ongoing, virtual, global communities of practice.

Whether formal or informal, the focus of technology-related professional learning should be on student learning, not on the tools or devices. Independent school educators should always ask, “Technology for the purpose of what?” when considering the inclusion of digital technologies into learning activities. Technology never should be implemented just for technology’s sake.

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more on digital literacy for EDAD in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=digital+literacy+edad

Teach like a pirate

Burgess, D. (2012). Teach like a pirate: Increase student engagement, boost your creativity, and transform your life as an educator. San Diego, Calif.: Dave Burgess Consulting, Inc..

Riddell, R. (2018, February 1). FETC: How can administrators ensure digital-age classrooms are best serving learners? Retrieved February 2, 2018, from https://www.educationdive.com/news/fetc-how-can-administrators-ensure-digital-age-classrooms-are-best-serving/516059/
his switch flipped when he learned more about why students like to play games. Games, he said, provide an environment where we get to try without penalty because failure is part of the journey. Everyone can be a hero, and games are goal-oriented and provide, in some ways, a representation of the world students want to be a part of. They’re social and provide positive stress.

K12 trends 2018

4 K-12 Ed Tech Trends to Watch in 2018

Analytics, virtual reality, makerspaces and digital citizenship top the minds of education experts for the year.

Principalship EDAD

Link to this blog entry: http://bit.ly/principaledad

Fri, Feb. 2, 2018, Principalship class, 22 people, Plymouth room 103

Instructor Jim Johnson  EDAD principalship class

The many different roles of the principals:

Communication

Effective communication is one critical characteristics of effective and successful school principal. Research on effective schools and instructional leadership emphasizes the impact of principal leadership on creating safe and secure learning environment and positive nurturing school climate (Halawah, 2005, p. 334)

Halawah, I. (2005). The Relationship between Effective Communication of High School Principal and School Climate. Education, 126(2), 334-345.

http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3deric%26AN%3dEJ765683%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite

Selection of school principals in Hong Kong. The findings confirm a four-factor set of expectations sought from applicants; these are Generic Managerial Skills; Communication and Presentation Skills; Knowledge and Experience; and Religious Value Orientation.

Kwan, P. (2012). Assessing school principal candidates: perspectives of the hiring superintendents. International Journal Of Leadership In Education, 15(3), 331-349. doi:10.1080/13603124.2011.617838

http://login.libproxy.stcloudstate.edu/login?qurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ebscohost.com%2flogin.aspx%3fdirect%3dtrue%26db%3dkeh%26AN%3d77658138%26site%3dehost-live%26scope%3dsite

Yee, D. L. (2000). Images of school principals’ information and communications technology leadership. Journal of Information Technology for Teacher Education, 9(3), 287–302. https://doi.org/10.1080/14759390000200097

Catano, N., & Stronge, J. H. (2007). What do we expect of school principals? Congruence between principal evaluation and performance standards. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 10(4), 379–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603120701381782

Communication can consist of two large areas:

  • broadcasting information: PR, promotions, notifications etc.
  • two-way communication: collecting feedback, “office hours” type of communication, backchanneling, etc.

Further communication initiated by/from principals can have different audiences

  • staff: teachers, maintenance etc.

Ärlestig, H. (2008). Communication between principals and teachers in successful schools. DIVA. Retrieved from http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-1927

Reyes, P., & Hoyle, D. (1992). Teachers’ Satisfaction With Principals’ Communication. The Journal of Educational Research, 85(3), 163–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1992.9944433

  • parents: involvement, feeling of empowerment, support, volunteering
  • students
  • board members
  • community

Epstein, J. L. (1995). School/family/community partnerships – ProQuest. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(9), 701.

  • Others

Communication and Visualization

The ever-growing necessity to be able to communicate data to different audiences in digestible format.

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2017/07/15/large-scale-visualization/

So, how do we organize and exercise communication with these audiences and considering the different content to be communicated?

  • How do you use to do it at your school, when you were students 20-30 years ago?
  • How is it different now?
  • How do you think it must be changed?

Communication tools:

physical

  • paper-based memos, physical boards

Electronic

  • phone, Intercom, email, electronic boards (listservs)

21st century electronic tools

  • Electronic boards
    • Pinterest
  • Internet telephony and desktopsharing
    • Adobe Connect, Webex, Zoom, GoToMeeting, Teamviewer etc.
    • Skype, Google Hangouts, Facebook Messenger
  • Electronic calendars
    • Doodle, MS Offce365, Google Calendar
  • Social media / The Cloud
    • Visuals: Flickr, YouTube, TeacherTube, MediaSpace
    • Podasts
    • Direct two-way communication
      • Asynchronous
        • Snapchat
        • Facebook
        • Twitter
        • LinkedIn
        • Instagram
      • Synchronous
        • Chat
        • Audio/video/desktopsharing
      • Management tools

 

Tools:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2016/07/16/communication-tool-for-teachers-and-parents/

Top 10 Social Media Management Tools: beyond Hootsuite and TweetDeck

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/11/17/top-10-social-media-management-tools-beyond-hootsuite-and-tweetdeck/

Manage control of your passwords and logons (Password Managers)

  • 1Password.
  • Okta.
  • Keeper.
  • KeePass.
  • Centrify Application Services.
  • RoboForm.
  • Zoho Vault.
  • Passpack.
  • LastPass

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class discussion Feb 2.

PeachJar : https://www.peachjar.com/

Seesaw: https://web.seesaw.me/

Schoology: https://www.schoology.com/

 

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Group Assignment

considering the information discussed in class, split in groups of 4 and develop your institution strategy for effective and modern communication across and out of your school.

>>>>>>>>>>> Word of the day: blockchain credentialing <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

>>>>>>>>>>> K12 Trends 4 2018 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

 

 

blockchain for libraries

Blockchain technology has the potential to enhance the role played by libraries within their communities, however, there are many questions yet to be answered about how specifically blockchain technology might be used and how much value it would add to library services and the communities they serve.  Ideas from within the information profession are needed as we formulate recommendations for the profession.

The San José State University School of Information (iSchool) received an IMLS grant to investigate ways that blockchain technology can be used by libraries as a community anchor to partner with other organizations and to support city/community goals.  Some suggestions for blockchain applications in libraries include building an enhanced metadata center, protecting Digital First Sale rights, supporting community-based collections, facilitating partnerships across organizations, and more.

The year-long project will provide three opportunities for a national dialog among technical experts in libraries, blockchain technology, and urban planning and members of the information professions to discuss ways that blockchain technology can advance library services to support city/community goals.

  1. The project website and blog includes information and resources about blockchain technology, potential uses of blockchain technology by libraries, and project updates along with a blog to foster open dialog. Seehttps://ischoolblogs.sjsu.edu/blockchains/
  2. The National Forum scheduled for August 6, 2018 in San Jose, CA will be comprised of 20-30 technical experts in libraries, blockchain technology, and urban planning to identify and discuss key opportunities for libraries to serve as community anchors using blockchain technology.
  3. The Library 2.018 conference, Blockchain Applied: Impact on the Information Profession, is designed for presentations and discussion on the uses of blockchain technology in libraries. Registration in this open online conference is free to the profession and public. Scheduled on June 7, 2018 from 12:00 – 3:00 pm PDT. The call for proposals is located on the conference website.

We are seeking nominations of individuals to represent the professional associations (e.g. LITA, PLA, ULC, CLIR, ARL) and information organizations by participating in the National Forum in San Jose, CA (August 6, 2018).  Funding provided by IMLS is available to support most of the expenses (travel, lodging, meals) for the National Forum for invited participants.

Nominations (including self-nominations) are due by February 15, 2018.  Nominees should be knowledgeable about blockchain technology and libraries in order to have an impact on the recommendations that will be made and discussed during the Library 2.018 conference and National Forum.

Nominations to participate in the Blockchain National Forum should be submitted by February 15 using this Google Form.

more for blockchain in education in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=blockchain

cybersecurity threats for schools

The top 5 cybersecurity threats for schools

BY EARL D. LAING November 29th, 2017
https://www.eschoolnews.com/2017/11/29/cybersecurity-threats-schools/

1. Link Security

From ransomware to phishing and other types of security breaches, direct contact is the number one way that you can create a vulnerability in your system. Those who commit these online crimes are finding smarter and sneakier ways to infiltrate your data every day. Sometimes the attack can even come as an email from a legitimate sender, or appear to be a perfectly normal message on social media. The goal is usually to get you to click on a link.

Solution: Make sure the security preferences for your email account(s) are set up to filter spamming, phishing and executable files that aren’t recognized.

2. Unknown Devices

Solution: Your IT system should include a solution that tracks all devices, including those not owned by your school, that enter the network.

3. Out of Date Technology

Contrary to popular misconception, user interaction isn’t always required for a cyber attack to be launched. The WannaCry attack targeted hundreds of computers all with the same security vulnerability on their Windows operating systems.

Solution: Again, an IT solution that tracks all devices is important, but one that can also check on software upgrades and block access to certain apps is ideal.

4. User Error

A data breach in Florida is just one example of the chaos user error can provoke. This issue didn’t begin with hackers at all. It began with carelessness that caused sensitive information to become public.

User error occurs regularly, and a common root of this is failing to restrict access to files or certain sites that may be compromised.

Solution: Restrict user access to sensitive documents only to those who absolutely need them, and make sure that your site architecture is set up to require a secure login for access. You may also want to create a white list of safe sites and applications and block the rest.

5. No Backup

As disheartening as it sounds, even when you take all the necessary precautions to protect your vital information, data breaches can still occur. When an attack happens, it’s often a major blow to productivity to try and get all the information back into a secure place. Worse, vital work can be lost for good.

Solution: Install a backup system on each school device that sends data to a remote server throughout the day (not just at night) to help make sure nothing is lost.

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more on cybersecurrity in this IMS blog
https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims?s=cybersecurity

Twitter and ed leadership

Twitter chats can boost student voice, enhance digital citizenship

  Dec. 19, 2017

https://www.educationdive.com/news/twitter-chats-can-boost-student-voice-enhance-digital-citizenship/513340/

My note:
This is another example of blanket statements aimed to bank on buzzwords and fashionable tendencies. Indeed, use of social media is an imperative skill for any educational leader, since it provides a modern venue to communicate with the rest of the stakeholders in the educational process: parents, students etc.
However, the process of social media use in education is rather more complex as presented in this article. e.g.:

  • why Twitter? why is Twitter chosen by the author as the social media platform, considering that Snapchat is the social media app by choice of teenagers?
    https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2018/01/06/snapchat-leading-social-media-app/
  • why the hashtag use is the one and only altmetric consideration for deep data analysis? The author suggests taking “advantage of an analytic tool to measure effectiveness and participation,” but there is no specific recommendation and the choice of the analytical tool as well as the process of analysis is a science on its own
  • how educators, as suggested by the author, “want to guide students on comment intensity and type while keeping them on topic”? Indeed, an educator abiding by constructivism will facilitate and guide, yet there is a fine boundary between facilitating and dominating the conversation with “guidance.”

The most useless suggestion in the article:
“For administrators, Twitter chats also provide an opportunity to gain student and parent perspectives while giving them more voice in what’s going on within a school or district.”

Are administrators willing to yield that power to their constituency? What does the current research on educational leaders’s attitude reveal regarding their willingness to engage in such open (and difficult to control) discourse? How is such attitude to be changed: this is missing in this article.

What is your approach to the institutional use of social media at your school? 

 

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