60 Minutes & Popular Reading

Great news! We’ve added the Alexander Street Press 60 Minutes collection to our streaming video services.  Almost 2 decades of episodes of 60 Minutes are available online in one huge streaming video resource. This collection grants access to the CBS News archives from 1997-2014, including many episodes not widely seen since their original broadcast.

Access the collection here: 

http://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://search.alexanderstreet.com/cbsv

I’m happy to inform you that due to high demand, we’re bringing back our Popular Reading shelves. On December 16th, the Popular Reading section on the first floor of the Atkins Library will be open for browsing -- just in time for break! Stop into the library and find a few good books to read during the long vacation. I know I will.

See you next year!

eBooks for Classes and Personal Enjoyment

As you are fanatically trying to draw the Fall semester to a close and gearing for the Spring semester (there is no rest for a weary professor), I wanted to remind you that you may be able to save your students and yourself some time, energy and money. You can do this by checking if Atkins Library has your textbook and/or further readings in an electronic form. If we don't, we can try and get a copy for you and your students. Below is a video reminding you how to find and/or order eTextbooks.

If you happen to have some spare time for personal reading over the holiday break, try searching our catalog for your favorite title. Here's how...

What ever you are doing over the break, I hope you take some time to relax and enjoy!

The Top Ten & Test Prep

For most of us, lists are a part of our daily lives: to-do lists, shopping lists, favorites lists, must-read lists. This list of lists could go on and on!  I’m going to throw one more list your way, but don’t be alarmed! I bet you’ll enjoy reading this list of the Top Ten Apps of 2015.  Writers at School Library Journal review books and tools for their annual “Best of” lists. By all means, take a look at the SLJ’s Best picture books, middle grade books, young adult books (my favorite of these lists), and non-fiction books, too, but the Top Ten Apps of 2015 is not to be missed.

The apps included on the list this year inform, challenge, encourage discovery, and engage students in all types of activities. The focus of the list are story apps and curriculum-related content that have been reviewed this year in SLJ.

In September the faculty in the REEL department asked Judy & I if we would order the North Carolina general curriculum test prep and flashcard set. Those items are finally available for check out. They’re shelved in the CIMC and can only be checked out for 3 days.  Let your students know they’re here!

EdShelf: A discovery engine for teaching and learning.

Well, I haven't figured out how this site has eluded me for so long. I have been trying to create a similar tool to help me organize all the apps and websites I have accumulated over the years not knowing this one already existed!

Basically edshelf is a discovery engine of websites, mobile apps, desktop programs, and electronic products for teaching and learning. But it doesn't search the web itself. Instead it is socially curated by educators. They recommend and review the resources.

The search tools are impressive. You can search for the perfect tool using the following filters: price, platform, subject, age (not grade level),  category (type of tool), date and popularity. You can also browse each of these filter individually. Once you find a resource you can click on it for more information. The record includes a wealth of information - descriptions, reviews, pricing, related tools, etc. 

What is unique about the site is you can organize your findings by creating topic 'shelves', if you create a free account. Once a shelf is created you can share it in a variety of ways including code for webpage widget. The shelf can be a collaborative effort, if you designate additional curators.

Here's a quick overview of how the site works:

Hope you find the site useful. I have already created several shelves and included their widgets on a couple of my research guides.

Resources: New & Not So New

The New York Times in the First Year site is going to be closed in January, and replaced with The New York Times in Education. You’ll need to set up a new account for this site.  Here is a link to a libguide with very basic information about our New York Times subscription. Look for the Special Features for Education box, then find the link to sign up for access to the New York Times in Education.  

I had the opportunity to work with a teacher from the Charlotte Engineering Early College today -- she brought her students over to the library to do research. When I was planning the class, I conducted several database searches on the topic she gave me (nuclear energy) and found tons and tons of resources through the library website, but I was concerned that the students would have a difficult time reading the academic articles I found. Instead of relying on our resources alone, I looked to NCLive.org for articles that are more geared towards high school students. After the class, one of the teachers came up to talk to me about NCLive -- he had never heard of it! 

For those of you who don’t know, NCLive is a free resource provided to North Carolinians of all ages by the state of North Carolina. There are several databases on NCLive.org that are geared towards K12 students. InfoTrac Newsstand and SIRS Researcher are just two of the databases high school students can (and should) master.  

Take a moment to look at the resources available on NCLive.org. Don’t forget to encourage your pre-service and in-service teachers to use this free and excellent resource.  

Keeping up with the Institute of Education Sciences

Most of you are familiar with and probably use on a regular basis the information from the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), which is part of the US Department of Education's Institute of Education Sciences (IES). You may not be as familiar with the other centers associated with IES - National Center for Education Research (NCER), National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), and National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER). Even if you are aware of these centers it can be difficult to keep up with their activities.


To help you stay abreast of what is being published by these centers IES has developed IES Newsflash. This is an e-mail-based alert service designed to inform you about all new content posted to the IES website including news from its four Centers and programs within Centers such as the Regional Educational Laboratory Program. Simply enter your e-mail address to receive alerts in the areas of interest you select.

Alerts from NCEE include updates from the What Works Clearinghouse, Regional Education Laboratory Program and ERIC. Recent evaluation postings included reports on intervention practices for elementary reading, the striving readers program for struggling adolescent readers, and implementation of recovery act reforms. You can even drill down to and only receive alerts from specific data products within NCES such as early childhood surveys or international comparisons. 

I realize this means more incoming mail to be sorted through, but you can set up a fold to receive these alerts and peruse them at your leisure. The alerts themselves are brief, providing only a quick summary and a link to the complete report. 

Sage Research Methods Videos & Tutorials

Yesterday, Judy sent an email to COE-L that detailed information about our trial of Sage Research Methods.  If you missed that email, I’ll repost it:

Here are the links:

Research Methods:  http://srmo.sagepub.com.

Cases: You will find access to the content at http://srmo.sagepub.com/cases  

Datasets: http://srmo.sagepub.com/datasets

The trial ends 12/4/15

Benefits and Features of SAGE Research Methods

• Over 200,000 pages of book, journal and reference content from leading SAGE authors are easily accessible online.
• The Methods Map visualizes relationships between methods terms.
• Your patrons can create Methods Lists that include selected book chapters and journal articles to share through the site with their students, co-authors, and colleagues.
• Over 800 books, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and  major works containing journal articles
• Complete Quantitative Applications in the Social Sciences (the “Little Green Books”)
• Specially commissioned videos about research methods with some of SAGE’s top authors

Since I don’t know exactly what Sage Research Methods is or what it does, I looked for some video tutorials online.  

For an introduction to the database, click here.

For the Datasets overview, click here.

For a brief intro to Cases, click here.

As always, if you have any questions or concerns, email me at amoor164@uncc.edu or Judy at jwalker@uncc.edu.

Plickers: Assessment without Clickers

Some of you have probably used the clicker technology available on campus. It can be very helpful in getting instant feedback and doing formative assessment. But what happens when not all your students have a clicker, or you are in an environment that doesn't have a reliable connection to the internet? There is of course Poll Everywhere but still it's dependent on students having a device of some kind and an internet connection. 

Wouldn't it be great to have a system that relied on only one device and could be use a wifi or cellular connection? That's exactly what Plickers is. It's a app available for iOS and Android devices that allows you to take clicker technology anywhere. All you need is a mobile device that can connect to wifi or has cellular capability and some old fashion flashcards. Actually the flashcards are a type of QR code the device reads with its camera. Here's how it works:

Here's what it looks like in action:

I love using this in workshops to get feedback about participants and peak their interest on a topic. It's really easy to use and very portable. Just remember that you use your mobile device to control what is seen on the screen if you are using one.

Try it, I think you will really like it.

The Learning Network

Now that you all have access to the New York Times, you also have access to The Learning Network: Teaching and Learning with the New York Times.  This blog is a tool for teachers that includes lesson plans, vocabulary, streaming videos, and up-to-date news articles to integrate into your classes in real time.  Check out this Skills & Strategies lesson on evaluating what is real and what is fake in the news.  Access to The Learning Network comes with access to the New York Times.  To find the blog, go to newyorktimes.com, scroll to the bottom of the page and click on Education.  There is a link to the Learning Network blog from the Education page.  

ERIC Update

Sorry about the delay in posting this week. It's been pretty chaotic in the library with the recarpeting and painting.

Most of you use the ERIC database via the EBSCO interface on a regular basis, which provides direct access to all of our journals. But are you aware of some of the major changes to the database content that have occurred in the past two years? The last reauthorization of ERIC updated its mission to concentrate on research related documents, which has lead to an updating of the list of journals. Some titles such are the Chronicle of Higher Education, Education Digest and Instructor are no longer being indexed because they do not include research based articles. 

ERIC has also raised the bar for ERIC documents with a new, more rigorous selection policy. They are currently asking for feedback on proposed changes to how they indicate peer reviewed for these documents. They are also working on how to incorporate grey literature such as Pew Reports and other 'think tank' reports into the database since they often include significant data. The submission process for those who have documents they wish to be included in the database has also been simplified. 

These changes do have an impact on the results you now receive when searching. ERIC is still the go to database for high quality, research based resources. However, if you or your students are looking for more practical, hands-on and/or news related articles, I suggest you go to Education Research Complete. 

Money Talks

Grants, Grants, and more Grants

Just last week I was doing some research on finding ways to fund a project I'm planning.  As we all know, funding, or the lack of funding, can be problematic for all teachers.  In this day & age, budgets are tight and focus is directed at training for technology integration and incorporating the Common Core State Standards into school curriculum.  It's common knowledge that teachers are encouraged to be creative in their classrooms, but unfortunately, creativity costs money.

Have you ever heard of Edutopia? It's a great resource for all things education -- the tag line reads, What Works in Education. Another interesting fact about Edutopia is that it is a George Lucas Educational Foundation. Yeah, that guy.  Anyway, I receive regular emails from Edutopia and last week they sent out a great article entitled The Big List of Educational Grants and Resources.  Some of the grant submission deadlines have passed, but some are still live and some have rolling submission which means you or your students have lots of time to submit a proposal.  Take a look at the list.  Sign up to receive emails from Edutopia.  It's win/win for you and for your students. 

UNC Charlotte Streaming Video

Some of you are aware that Atkins Libraries subscribes to Films on Demand, but that is not the only collection of streaming video to which the library subscribe. All of our streaming video titles are included in the online catalog. However, that can be a bit of a challenge if you don't have a specific title in mind. To help folks discover these resources, we have created a specific web page, which is now available for perusal and searching - https://library.uncc.edu/streamingvideo

Here's what it looks like:

If you don't have a specific title or keyword to search, I recommend you peruse the Education link in the right menu bar. 

Many of the videos can be embedded directly into your Moodle so look for an embed code on the screen. If you have any specific titles you like to have available for streaming let Abby or Judy know. We can't guarantee we will be able to deliver it through streaming (licensing & copyright issues) but we will see what we can do.

Timelines & More Streaming Video

Does anyone remember the search tool, Google Timeline? I used to love sharing it with my high school students, but sometime around 2011 it disappeared.  I’ve used timelines in my English classroom to discuss book plots, front load historical information, and to discuss changes to society over a period of time.  When used well, timelines can be a wealth of information and if you have the right tool, timelines can be fun and interactive.  

I’ve found a really great open source tool for you to use to create interactive timelines!  Check out Timeline JS.  Technology beginners and experts can use this resource to create custom timelines by pulling source from Google Spreadsheets, Flickr, Google Maps, Youtube, Soundcloud, and many more.  Use the timeline on your Moodle site, or on your blog, or as a presentation in your classroom, or any other way you see fit.  

 

In other news, we’ve started a trial for Sage Video, which includes a fabulous Education collection.  We’re trialing all three collections: Communications & Mass Media, Counseling & Psychotherapy, and Education.  Check out the Sage streaming video collection by clicking this link: http://sk.sagepub.com/video.  

Free Technology for Teachers

Last week Abby introduced you to a short list of Best Websites for Teaching and Learning complied by the American Association of School Librarians. A great site but there is soooo much more out there and it's really hard to keep up. One of the ways I attempt to keep up with ed tech trends and new tools is by scanning blogs. And my 'go to' blog is Free Technology for Teachers by Richard Byrne. 

There are several reasons I love this blog, first and foremost he understands teachers and the challenges they encounter in the classroom. Hence his emphasis on FREE TECHNOLOGY. Secondly, he's succinct, one post a day and that's it. He doesn't wax eloquently for screens about a tool. Posts include a brief paragraph about the tool and then a brief paragraph (maybe two) about how the tool could be used in the classroom. Thirdly, he discusses a wide variety of subject areas and ed tech topics including skill tips for teachers and students. Below is a snapshot of the most recent posts to give you an idea of the content of the blog. 

To say the least I have discovered a host of tools and learned a lot of new tricks (especially Google tricks) from this blog that I use on a daily basis and with students in the classroom. Take a look, share it with your students. I guarantee you will find something useful. And like me, you will begin to wonder when this guy sleeps!!!

Best Websites for Teaching and Learning

If you’re like Judy and me, you are intrigued by all of the free educational tools out there on the internet.  A lot of you are probably using one or more website, tool, or app in your classes this semester.  How did you decide which website, tool, or app or use?  Where did you hear about it?  Who recommended it to you? I’m betting you learned about the tools you use in your classroom from another professor or instructor or teacher.  Teachers know stuff!

I’m going to tell you something you probably already know: librarians know stuff too.  Every year the American Library Association and the American Association of School Librarians publish a list of Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.  The title of this list is a bit misleading because in addition to websites the list includes apps and tools and streaming video and other cool resources to use in your classrooms (face-to-face and online). This year tools like TouchCast, Booktrack Classroom, Gooru, and Code grabbed coveted spots on the list.  Kahoot and Powtoon made the list in 2014.  Odds are, at least one of the online tools you use for work or for play has made this list!

Take a look at the Best Websites for Teaching and Learning.  If you have time, play around with one or two of the resources. You might find a new tool to use in your classroom that will engage your students and maximize learning. It’s worth a look, right?

Carry your favorite journals in your pocket

BrowZine delivers academic journals to your iPad, iPhone or Android tablet. It includes thousands of journals, from both Open Access journals from publishers like BioMed Central plus supported publishers such as Wiley, Taylor & Francis and Sage that Atkins Library subscribes to.  BrowZine works by aggregating articles from UNC Charlotte  library databases into complete journals, then arranging them by subject on to a newsstand for your perusal. The result is an easy, alternative way to browse, read and monitor your favorite scholarly journals.  With the app you can -

• Browse individual journal issues
• Read new articles online on your tablet or phone
• Email them to yourself in one easy step
• Download and save them to your tablet for offline reading
• Send them to Refworks , Zotero , or Mendeley
• Open most of them in many other tablet apps, including Box, DropBox and iAnnotate
• Share ciations and your comments on Twitter or Facebook

The result is an easy and familiar way to browse, read and monitor scholarly journals across disciplines. It will help you keep up easily with the newest article research in your field!

Just 3 easy steps to get started...

1. Download the free BrowZine app.
2. When you open BrowZine for the first time, you’ll see a list of schools – select University of North Carolina Charlotte, then enter your NinerNet ID and password.
3. Select subject areas, and start browsing journals.  That’s it!  You can save your favorites to your personal bookshelf.