12 Leadership 801 Final Paper

Implementing Web 2.0 Running head: Implementing Web 2.0

Implementing Web 2.0 in YA Libraries Elaine Olsen Shelburne Emporia State University

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Abstract Teens have access to a large number of Web 2.0 programs today. Some of these programs can be available in the libraries, both public and academic, to promote online literacy. Action steps for the librarian are described, along with some useful applications of Web 2.0 for teens. If policies are in place and if students and parents are educated to know the safety guidelines, more teens will be computer literate while safe using the Web 2.0 components. Safety education guidelines for students, parents, and librarians are a crucial component, and examples are given in a variety of educational formats.

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Implementing Web 2.0 in YA Libraries Web 2.0 reflects the accumulated wisdom of the masses; everything on the pages is supplied by anyone who chooses to communicate with others. The use of the applications can be facilitated or utilized in both school and public libraries, providing that some education for students, parents and librarians on the safe use of social networking sites is conducted. Social networking among teenagers seems to emerge naturally, but there are appropriate uses and applications. An overview of a few of the applications that are appropriate particularly in education, how teachers and librarians can take the lead, and some safety structures as guidelines are examined as follows. Shuler (2006) creates a metaphor that compares today’s wired library to a harbor instead of a self-contained body of water like a lake. He means that although information used to be contained and fixed in a place called a library, it is now able to flow out to the moving water of the vast ocean and the library can offer access to this fluid information. The fluidity of information on the web, and in particular social networking, has created “a new kind of literacy [that] is evolving not around texts and the ability to read and understand (though that is still a critical element), but around a complex of bartering, buying, selling, access, and exchange of knowledge. Information literacy and critical thinking are no longer determined by inanimate objects (printed materials). The information and knowledge are embedded in the interchange among people, and one’s ability to succeed depends on how well one deals with a complex situation, and how well one tells other people about how that complex situation was dealt with” (Shuler, 2006, p. 542).

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This interchange among people is manifest via new applications on the web that are most interesting and readily available for librarians and YA students or patrons. Applications for Teens What are some of the appropriate Web 2.0 applications for students? There are many available and IGoogle has a number of resources for teens. Students would simply need to get a gmail account in iGoogle, and then would be able to create presentations using g-docs and other applications along with gmail. They would also be eligible to use RSS feeds, add photos and create groups. An advance search for power point, videos, and graphics enriches their resources for presentations. There’s also a digital sandbox and edublogs. GradeFix is a website that will help students balance homework schedules. Scheduling schoolwork and work times can get quickly out of hand for teens. GradeFix will organize study time and work time into a schedule, in order to be organized and get good grades. Students can also organize photos via Flickr, which is an online photo management and sharing application. These can be accessed for future reports and documents, saving time for future projects. Groups could share their photos with each other. MyNoteIt is a way to take, edit and share notes online. Students can edit and revise notes with peers, share notes with friends and groups, manage tasks with a to-do list. Assignments can be managed with a calendar; questions can be posted on a message board. The social networking main sites, MySpace and Facebook, which are used extensively by teens outside of school, may not be available to use in many school libraries. Personal research portals for gathering information can, however, be created through Facebook. College students of this generation are giving three distinct messages regarding information—they want open and free access, schools should not restrain social networking, the

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concept of a campus and the look of education are changing. (McLester, 2007). With this knowledge, libraries and schools may need to make some changes to how information is accessed. Will they choose to be harbors or lakes? Applications for Teachers/Librarians There are benefits new means of access of information, because YA students or patrons are not the only beneficiaries of Web 2.0 applications. Google’s suite of on-line collaborative tools can be used in the library and classroom, and can be customized by the teacher or librarian for teaching/learning, communicating or organizing. It’s one place for librarians of teens to begin, if it’s overwhelming to choose. For example, begin by using iGoogle as a homepage for library news, a calendar, tools for groups, and projects for groups. A librarian blog can be linked via RSS fee syndicate to the teen’s iGoogle page. Google’s spreadsheet in iGoogle can be used to improve social learning. Students could work in small groups and locate quality information that they could type in the appropriate cells and columns on classroom spread sheet in iGoogle. Teachers and librarians could collaborate on group projects in the library, and rather than individual papers; group spreadsheets can be created for responses within the groups. Teens could even vote on issues using the spreadsheets. For librarians, the calendar feature on iGoogle can be used in a variety of ways. The personal calendar feature can be turned off or can be shared. A calendar could be created to reflect current programs for faculty and students to view. Although these mentioned applications are organized and readily available as a convenient place to start, there are a number of other Web 2.0 applications, however, other than Google’s. For example, there are various sites to create a wiki; librarians and library teachers could create an interactive wiki for teens by searching for an application in a browser. Students

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could respond to a specific reading or topic by typing a number of salient points, add tags or subject headings and state who submitted the response and when. Safety Education for Parents, Students, Teachers “Teach kids to be careful about what they post on the net as it will be part of their proverbial permanent record…But after discussing what’s right, wrong, and appropriate, and arming students with that knowledge, back off with the rules and the filtering and let them take responsibility” (McLester, 2007, p.20). Parents, teachers and teens could attend mini workshops or classes within the library to learn safety guidelines. School or public libraries can create two schedules: one for the facility schedule and one for the librarian/library teacher’s education program. The latter schedule would even enable board members, PTA members, and the community to come and learn Library 2.0 applications along with students or in separate sessions just for adults. Google.docs can also be used for sharing information on the online safety education program, such as announcements, text documents, a spread sheet, real time collaboration or discussions. Everyone one with an invited group could see the documents, add information or upload applications for the group. Safety concerns have been a driving force for much of the content filtering systems to block access to certain sites. Web access can be blocked for violence/profanity, sexual acts, full nudity or partial/artistic nudity, along with other content options. One of the greatest concerns to librarians, teacher and parents is that of sexual solicitations or predators approaching young people. Studies have been done on solicitations and inappropriate contacts, but there are conflicting results as to whether or not social networking sites were actually included and evaluated (Johnson, 2008).

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Another safety concern is cyber bullying incidents which have quadrupled in the past five years. Students, parents and teachers need to be aware of the social and psychological wounds of victims and need to give them tools to cope in an appropriate manner. Many young people don’t realize that what they post online may possibly always be there, available for potential employers, teachers, relatives, parents, coaches and college admission officers to view. (Johnson, 2008) Young people especially need to be aware of the longevity or shelf life of posted communication and photos, online. Johnson has given some guidelines that could help libraries, and particularly school libraries, keep libraries safe while producing educational work. The steps are as follows: 1) Examine the AUP for the district, paying particular attention to electronic and physical bullying. 2) Educate students about the real risks associated with social networking and teach the appropriate use instead. After all, if all the interactive sites are blocked at school, students could still harm themselves unknowingly if they share inappropriate information from a computer at home or in the public library. Johnson includes in his article a student contract for “Act Now: Kid’s contract for online safety” which he posts in his school’s computer labs and libraries. Specific Utilizations of Web 2.0 in School Library Media Centers Joyce Kasman Valenza (2008) has written a blog post that encourages the use of the following applications by school library media specialists: 1. Create a wiki pathfinder 2. Create a wiki booklist 3. Create a template for blogging the research process

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4. Move your literature circles to blogging form 5. Rethink PowerPoint and other presentation strategies 6. Podcast your booktalks or book reviews 7. Tell a digital story or inspire student storytelling projects 8. Begin your own Ning for social networking 9. Do a survey 10. Attend a workshop or a conference online 11. Set up a personal information space using iGoogle 12. Use an image portal like flickr to celebrate student art and archive student activities 13. Use image generators to promote library materials or to enhance curriculum 14. Learn more about fair use and alternative licensing 15. Learn about Open source and Web-based applications and the equity they offer schools and individual learners. Details of these recommendations laid out in Library Media Connection, April/May 2008. What Policies are in Effect in Libraries to Encourage/Discourage Web 2.0? Many school libraries have policies that ban cell phones, mp3 players, personal laptops and games. Blocks are placed on sites such as YouTube, or blogs and chats, games, Google Images, and joke sites. Practices such as these are “suggestions for crippling the school library program” (Johnson, 2008). Where to Start with Web 2.0 Examining the Acceptable Use Permit for the institution is a first stop, to see if anything needs to be updated or revised. Guidelines for the safe use of the Web 2.0 applications needs to be developed, along with information and websites for parents and teachers to access. The

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library could then model the use of a blog in place of a monthly newsletter, giving teachers and students the opportunity to respond. The library teacher could use a wiki for the book club, enabling members to share thoughts and suggestions about books that are well-liked; book club members could also collaborate on book reviews. Bibliographies and reading lists could be created on social book marking sites. Some action steps for school librarians are recommended by Hughes-Hassell and Harada (2007), and they begin with sharing opinions and discussing learning in this century. Perhaps if librarians choose one application to start with to learn well, and then move on to learn and implement another one. Creating a wiki or a blog for students, faculty, administrators and parents, to share these ideas can be a first step. They also recommend that the librarian learn the new technologies and utilize them. Results of this might include creating a library blog to share books, using a wiki with groups of student researchers, holding a podcast forum on an issue pertinent to the high school student body, setting up an RSS feed on the library Web site emphasizing digital literacy issues, using email and instant messaging with students and faculty, and purchasing audio books, MP3 and DVD players for both faculty and student checkout. All students, including those who don’t have access to computers at home, would benefit from the educational social networking applications that they could access through school computers or the public library. To ignore the positive capabilities of Web.2 applications is to leave a group of students behind—the students who can’t access the Web at home. It also overlooks the social networking that students who have online connections at home, are implementing. To educate all students and their parents on the benefits and dangers of social

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networking will create a moving flow of information that will not stagnate but will ebb and flow with the tide as needed.

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References Hughes-Hassell, S. and Harada, V. (2007). School reform and the school library media specialist. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Johnson, D. (2008). Technology connection: Staying safe on the read-write web. Library Media Connection, 26, 6. 48-50. McLester, S. (2007, March). Technology literacy and the Myspace generation : they’re not asking permission. Technology & Learning, 17-22. Shuler, J. (2006, September). The revolution will not be cataloged: Gutenberg’s librarians and the 21st century. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 32, 5, 540-542. Wilson Web. The H. W. Wilson Company, c1982-2006. Valenza, J. (2008). A few new things. Library Media Connection, 26, 7. 10-13