If you're seeking quality, online graduate courses taught by experienced distance educators, consider our course offerings for Fall 2006.
L551: Information Inquiry for Teachers
L553: The School Library Media Specialist
L595: Multimedia Flash
L595: High Tech Learning
L595: Grant Methods for Educators and Librarians
Our courses are designed to address the interests and needs of a wide range of professionals in both education and librarianship including school library media specialists, as well as public, special, and academic librarians. Classroom teachers (pre-service and in-service) and technology coordinators will also find courses of interest.
Whether you're exploring ideas for your next vacation, pondering choices for political office, or examining history or science topics, information inquiry plays an important role in lifelong learning, personal growth, and many aspects of the K12 curriculum
This three-credit hour graduate course is an introduction to the inquiry process and the methods, techniques, and concepts useful in teaching students and other educators the skills associated with information literacy, media literacy, creative thinking, and critical thinking.
Instructor: Annette Lamb, Ph.D.
From blogs to wikis, today's learners have access to a wide range of technology tools and learning spaces. This course explores these technologies and examines how librarians and educators can facilitate high tech learning.
High tech learning refers to the constantly evolving hardware, software, and networking tools and resources available to those wishing to acquire knowledge, skills, attitudes, or values through formal instruction or free inquiry. Because of the virtual nature of these digital tools and resources, high tech learning can occur anywhere, anytime. Libraries, educational institutions, museums, and community organizations all play a role in faciliating this type of learning.
This three-credit course explores high tech learning tools and spaces. Participants explore how technology tools can be used to produce texts, illustrations, photographs, sounds, videos, and animations for use in teaching and learning. Next, participants examine the role of librarians and educators in facilitating learning spaces through the use of technologies such as email, forums, blogs, virtual conferencing, collaborative web/wikis, social networks, course management systems, desktop spaces, and interactives. Along the way, participants examine evidence of the effectiveness of each technology as well as issues associated with their use.
Instructor: Annette Lamb, Ph.D.
A school is a learning community. Each teacher and child comes with a unique set of experiences that contribute to the community of learning. The school library media center offers a wide variety of resources and opportunities. However, the enthusiastic leadership of a teacher librarian is essential to bring the potential of information and learning resources alive for both teachers and students.
This three credit hour course focuses on the role of the school library media specialist as an educational leader and center administrator. Emphasis is placed on the evolving role of the teacher librarian as a critical player in the learning community including manager, collaborator, collection and curriculum developer, facilities designer, fiscal agent, planner, advocate, promoter, and evaluator. In addition to building professional knowledge and skills in traditional areas, this course explores accountability, administration, and advocacy aspects of the media specialist's critical leadership role in the learning community.
Instructor: Larry Johnson, Ph.D.
In an era of shrinking budgets and expanding needs, grant writing is an essential skill for librarians and other non-profit leaders who want to continue to offer essential and innovative programs and services.
This 1.5 credit hour workshop will help you develop the skills necessary to identify potential and relevant grant funders, develop grant projects to address demonstrable areas of need, and write high quality grant proposals.
Instructor: Carol Tilley, M.L.S.
Whether you'd like to build effective information tutorials or attention-getting animation sequences, the Macromedia Flash environment is for you. Gain experience with this cutting-edge multimedia technology tool.
This 1.5 credit hour course is ideal for beginners with little or no prior experience using Flash software, a web animation authoring tool. The class provides experience developing web-based multimedia materials that contain sound, graphic, animation, and interactive components. Students will be involved in examining and evaluating existing Flash projects, gaining hands-on experience through a series of practical skills-building tasks, and planning and creating a meaningful, authentic final project such as an informational or instructional tutorial, a dynamic simulation, or an engaging multimedia activity. Regardless of whether you're interested in animation applications in library and information science, teaching and learning, or other fields, you'll find lots of practical ideas and develop marketable skills.
Instructor: Larry Johnson, Ph.D.