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A week in the life of a ‘new media’ Teacher Librarian
Judy O’ConnellHead of Library and Information ServicesSt Joseph’s College
Learning is no longer an individual activity. The digital ground rules have shifted.In fact, 21st century classrooms can be recognized by their "pedagogy of participation". In these classrooms, learning comes before the software tools andthe learning environment is more influential than the hardware used. Studentsare actively engaged in using technology as a tool rather than passively receivinginformation from technology - collaborating with others rather than workingindividually at all times in this way building understanding rather than simplyreceiving information. Students use technology tools to solve problemsmeaningful to them rather than working on artificial assignments. Students usetechnology tools to set goals, monitor progress and evaluate their learningreflectively
.
 In 21
st
c
 
entury classrooms, students and teachers can harness the capabilities of Web 2.0 to access the power of worldwide communities at any time, in any place,for inspiration, ideas, mentoring - drawing on the knowledge of peers, friends,professional colleagues and external experts as needed. Our ability to not onlyread information, but to create, discuss, share and collaborate using simpleonline tools has transformed the way people connect, organize and shareinformation at almost no cost.
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Our capacity to 'connect' will strengthen or weaken depending on our socialnetwork awareness and our capacity to use Web 2.0 tools to harness andorganize information and add value to the collective. Educators who understandthis know that to be good mentors in the 21st century learning landscape is touse the power of personal learning networks and Web 2.0 tools to empower information seeking and knowledge creation.
The Paradigm Flip
The adoption of Web 2.0 tools for innovative and continuous evolution of learningtaps our students hunger for technology integration. Their passion for collaborative, creative deep learning with Web 2.0 will emerge and adapt as their academic, technology and social activitiesintermingle. We want our students to beinvolved in co-construction of their knowledge development. Whenonce we start, we soon discover thatWeb 2.0 becomes a mediating tool thatmakes visible the organization of the social, collaborative, academic aspects of what, where and how they learn.By 2006, Michael Stephens was urging libraries to adopt best practices in Web2.0 to in order to put libraries 'out there' delivering services via the evolving webopportunities. In
Information Literacy meets Library 2.0 
(2008), all facets of libraryservices were examined with a critical eye for the future, including
School Library 2.0: new skills and knowledge for the future
(O'Connell, 2008). Better still, DavidLoertscher (2008) encourages us to completely flip our thinking about schoollibraries in the digitally driven knowledge era. More than ever he urges us to beat the very centre of teaching and learning, being a collaborative hub - a learningcommons - a place that everyone owns and contributes to - one giant
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conversation that's both a social and a learning network. Teachers and teacher librarians will then actively work alongside students, sometimes leading,sometimes following, crafting an environment where our students can alwaysknow what, know where, know how to be the best learners they can possibly be.
Where to from now?
To ensure that this can happen, Teacher Librarians need to lead by example –adopt new media Web 2.0 tools and a 21
st
century mindset, and embrace a Web2.0 way of working
every single day 
.Don’t believe that it can be done? Here is my week – 2
nd
week of the academicyear in 2009 ….and I can assure you this is more or less typical!!
New media professional activities each day … part of my daily work routine.
Monday
•
Read my RSS feeds in Feedly http://www.feedly.com/home – and sharethe best reads on Twitter 
•
Establish Glogster accounts for all Year 7 students, and get my class going!http://www.glogster.com/edu/
•
Finish working on the K12 HorizonProject assessment and ranking of emerging technologieshttp://horizon.nmc.org/k12/Main_Page
•
Trial nine.Hub free Moodle site for singleclassroomhttp://ninehub.com/
•
Test Leap Fish Search enginehttp://leapfish.com/
•
Check gMail, Facebook, Twitter, andHeyjude
Tuesday
•
Jump onto MeBeam video chathttp://mebeam.com/and CoveritLitehttp://www.coveritlive.com/as arranged by Karl Fisch for students
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