This class is intended to be a practical approach to the skills needed by today's information technologies, media specialists, librarians, and educators. Whether you're interested in the role of the school media specialist, public librarian, or another type of information technologist, this course is designed to be flexible enough to address the varied needs of students.

 

Keep in mind that this class contains students with a wide variety of educational, work, life, and technology experience. Try not to compare yourself to other students. Instead, focus on your own strengths and weaknesses. Be sure to email your instructor if you have questions or concerns about the specific projects and how they can better fit your professional needs.

Oncourse Overview: Since this is primarily and online course, much of the sharing and discussion will happen using the Oncourse online learning environment. Below you'll find some links to webpages and other helpful documents to get you started using Oncourse.

• Using Oncourse ( in a MS Word version, best for printing)
• Using the Drop Box (in a MS Word version, best for printing)
• Using the Forum for Discussion (in a MS Word version, best for printing)

To get started using Oncourse, log into Oncourse and complete your profile if you haven't done so already. This includes adding a picture of yourself and contact information.

Entering Oncourse: You must be registered for L595 in order to enter the course on Oncourse. Use your IUPUI NetworkID and Password to enter the system. If you have an IUPUI email account, Oncourse uses the very same NetworkID and Password. If you don't have one, visit in order to activate your IUPUI NetworkID and email account. You need to have this completed as soon as possible! Once you have your IUPUI account set up, follow these directions to get into the system:

• Go to the Oncourse website at http://oncourse.iu.edu
• Enter your NetworkID (the userid from your IU or IUPUI email)
• Enter your Password (same as your IU or IUPUI email password)
• Click the Login button and you will be shown a personal page showing the courses you are currently enrolled in as well as other tools.
• To enter contact information, click on Edit Contact Information on the right side of the screen.
• Click in each area and enter information. If there is already a photo of you somewhere on the internet, you simply need to enter the web address of that photo. Click OK to update the page and return to the profile page.
• You can use the class drop box or your File Manager to store your photo or share documents with classmates. I'd recommend your File Manager because the drop box disappears at the end of the semester. When you first open Oncourse, a list of your courses appears on the left. The File Manager is in a list on the right. You simply choose the File Manager, browse your hard drive for the name of the file (i.e., photo, Word document, web page). Click Add to List. Click Upload Now. In a few minutes you'll be able to find it on the web. The address will be something like (use your own username and filename) http://portfolio.iu.edu/anlamb/photo.jpg
  Click Filemanager Directions to read more about how to use the File Manager.
• To enter your course, click on the number and title of your course. If announcements are available they will appear. Read the announcements and click - Click to Continue

Oncourse contains features similar to Blackboard, nicenet, and other online course management programs.

• Welcome Tab Provides general course information, help, and information about navigating Oncourse.
• Syllabus Tab Provides links to the course syllabus (course description, learning objectives, grading policies, due dates), assignments, and web-based materials for the course.
• Schedule Tab Provides the course calendar, due dates, and schedule of events.
• Class Tab Provides the class roster including a listing of all registered students and the instructor. Each member is provided with a link to his/her portfolio where more information can be made available.
• InTouch Tab Provides collaborative tools including threaded discussion forums, chat and announcements. This area has a spot of groupwork. There is also a drop box where documents can be uploaded and shared.
• Tools Tab Provides the tools page. We won't be using this much in class.

Important Note: Although Oncourse provides an internal email system, I prefer to use standard email for regular communication.

Enter the Oncourse materials. Click on Profile. Enter your information. I'd like to have everyone's photo posted. If you don't have a picture of yourself already online somewhere, you can upload one to the class drop box. Or if you don't have a digital photo, ask a friend to take your picture. I like to see your smiling face. You can see everyone's smiling face at the class roster. I like to print them out and post them on my wall so I can see my classes every day! Some people prefer not to post their photo. This is not a problem if it's a personal preference.

"Big Picture" Requirements

The biggest drawback to an online class is the lack of face-to-face communication with your instructor and your peers. I'll be sending out weekly course updates that will hopefully help you feel connected to me. I'll be reading your assignments which will help me feel connected to you. We can email personally whenever you have something you'd like to share or discuss. I LIVE on email... in the motorhome our living room, dining room, bathroom, and bedroom are all within 38 feet, so I'm always available. When I'm "on-the-road" I'll usually provide information in the weekly update. In this case, it should still take less than 24 hours for a reply.

In addition to your instructor, a course is more valuable when you can bounce ideas off your peers. Rather than making formal requirements, I prefer a more informal cohort group organization. You'll be asked to join one of our class cohort groups. These groups will be based on professional interests. These aren't meant to be "top secret" meeting areas, instead they're intended to provide an area where you can discuss class issues, share ideas for projects, and review the ideas of others.

There are four "Big Picture" requirements that will be shared in Cohort Group areas. Cohort groups are required, ungraded activities that will involve sharing throughout the semester. However, one point is associated with this activity. These activities will also determine whether I "round up" or "round down" when doing my final grading. In other words, if you have 97.4 points and have completed all activities, you will "round up" to 98 points and an A. This may not seem like much, but it can easily make the difference between an A and an A-.

Enter the group that most closely relates to your interest area. Feel free to jump between group if you wish.

Important Note - These informal groups are designed for you. Other than checking for participation, I will not monitor the conversations. The intention is to provide an area for you to get to know each other, share interests, discuss concerns and make contacts without my interference.

Big Picture Requirement 1 - Introduce Yourself

With as many as 45 people in the class, introductions can become overwhelming. As such, I've divided the class into four interest areas:

• Cohort Group1 - Elementary School
• Cohort Group2 - Middle School
• Cohort Group3 - High School
• Cohort Group4 - Academic and Other

Although you're encouraged to explore all four areas, you only need to post your assignment in one area. These introductions will help you get to know your classmates. It's up to you to decide whether you'd like to get to know everyone or just your own group. Feel free to browse and even post ideas or comments in any group. You're not obligated to stick to one group.

Introduce Yourself
Your first assignment involves posting some information about yourself and getting to know your classmates. Some people like to share photographs, personal websites, favorite movies or books, family information, or other tidbits that will help the class get to know you. This is important because you'll be involved in lots of online discussions. This is all done in oncourse so "outsiders" won't be able to see the information.

Enter the Oncourse materials, choose the class page. Click on the In Touch option. Click on a cohort group of interest. On the left side of the screen you'll see a folder. Click on the + next to the folder and you'll see the Introduce Yourself Assignment and messages from anyone who has already entered information. Click on the folder icon to post a new message.

Introduce yourself to the class. Put your name in the subject of the message. Include your name, a little personal and professional information about yourself, as well as the reason you chose this course and how you feel about online courses in general. This will be a good chance to share a little about your interests and expertise with libraries, information inquiry, and technology. Tell us whether you consider yourself a life-long learner and why. Provide an example. Also, tell us what makes you laugh and how you like to spend your spare time (like you have spare time). If you know how to use HTML, you may wish to insert a photo or favorite website. If you need help, check the "Help" discussion for the directions.

If you have a digitized photo of yourself, you can upload it to oncourse as an attachment. Some people have had trouble with this in the past, so a photo isn't required.

When you're done entering the information, click SEND to post your message.

 

Reply to an Introduction
During the first week of class, read the messages posted by classmates. If you want to share something you have in common or ask a question, enter information below the message in the area that says REPLY TO MESSAGE. You should post at least one response or observation. This area is also a place to go if you have questions. Find someone you think shares your interests, email them and introduce yourself personally. This contact may be helpful later in the semester as you have questions about the course. Always feel free to contact Annette too!

Be sure to reply to at least one message posted by a classmate.

Big Picture Requirement 2 - Technology Rich Learning

Before jumping into graded assignments, let's have an information discussion about the course title and course topics.

Technology Rich Learning
Your first mission is to discuss your vision of a "technology rich learning environment." What does this type of environment "look like"? How are libraries, literacy, literature, learning, and technology connected? Use this activity as an opportunity to discuss ideas, share experiences, and get to know your cohort members.

You've probably noticed that this course contains no required textbook. Instead, you'll find all the materials at the eduscapes website. It's important that you feel comfortable navigating this website.
 
Go to eduscapes.com. Systematically explore the following sections: 42explore, Literature Ladders, Naturescapes, Teacher Tap, and Activate. You don't need to "go deep", simply explore the links at the first level to see what's available. If you'd like to learn a little more about Annette Lamb, check out The Lamb & Johnson page, Mobile Mavericks, Lamb Learning Group, and the Special Projects page.

Select a particular page you've discovered within one of the sections of eduscapes and share a personal or professional connection with the material you found. Be sure to provide the specific web address along with your discussion. This will be a good chance to practice inserting a web link in Oncourse.

Share your discussion within your Cohort Group area.

Big Picture Requirement 3 - Peer Support and Project Review

Once the semester gets rolling, you'll want to think about your final projects. Three projects are required. Two are selected from the list of "technology-rich learning" projects. The third is an implementation project where you will try out an idea with a group of people. First, you'll want to share your project ideas and ask for feedback. Once you've developed your project, you need at least one member of your group to review it before it is submitted for a grade. This should eliminate little things like typos and also give you a chance to incorporate the ideas of your peers.

Share project ideas with your group and provide feedback and suggestions. You can use the threaded discussion area for your discussion or keep it more personal through email.

You are also required to submit at least one of your projects for peer review of your group. This should take place at least one week before the due date. You can share through email, traditional mail, or use the drop box in oncourse.

You are required to provide feedback for at least one of your classmates. This might include a short list of specific strengths and weaknesses along with any suggestions you think might be helpful. You may provide this information when you submit your projects, but it is not required.

Big Picture Requirement 4 - Sharing

Many students enjoy seeing the work of others to gather materials for future projects. All students are required to submit a short paragraph reviewing the topic of their two technology projects and their implementation project. These will be emailed to the entire class the last week of the semester. Then if you're interested, you can contact this student for more information.
 
At least one of these projects must be shared with the class. This can be done by sharing it on the web or placing an electronic version in the drop box. If neither of these is possible, then contact your instructor.

Email your instructor the following information during the last couple weeks of the semester:

Your Name
Email Address
Project 1 Title. A short paragraph description of the project.
The URL (if possible)
Project 2 Title. A short paragraph description of the project.
The URL (if possible)
Project 3 Title. A short paragraph description of the project.
The URL (if possible)

Personal Website

You should share your projects and get feedback from classmates before submitting to your instructor. Classmates can help identify typos and missing elements that can impact your grade. By reading the projects of others you can often find ideas that might enhance your own project. Remember this is not a competition, all projects are graded with the same checklist.

When you're ready to submit a project, be sure to email your instructor and provide the web address (URL) where your project can be located.

Use the following resources to get started. You have five choices.

1. Personal Space. Use your own personal or work web space.
2. Oncourse Space. Go to Oncourse File Manager (or directions in Word) to learn about using your Oncourse storage space. Put it in the public area! If you place your project here, it will have a URL such as http://portfolio.iu.edu/anlamb/filename
3. IUPUI Space. Go to Set Up Your Steel Account to learn about setting up your own university web space. If you place your project here, it will have a URL such as http://mypage.iu.edu/~anlamb/filename
4. Geocities Space. Go to Geocities class space. Learn to upload to your own or a shared class space in just a couple of minutes. If you place your project here, it will have a URL such as http://www.geocities.com/iupuislis/filename
5. Free Web Space. Go to Web Site Hosting to find out about free services you could use to create your own personal site. Geocities is VERY easy and requires no special software to upload files. Look for the link to FREE space.

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L595 Resources and Readings

You will spend much of your of your course time exploring the materials provided in the Resources sections of the website. Unlike a book that contains a clear beginning, middle and end, the course materials are much more flexible.

All of the course materials are accessed from an area called Technology Rich Learning. I suggest you move systematically through the materials using the site map on the main page. You could easily spend endless hours of content exploration. Below are some guidelines that will direct your attention. Please read the guidelines carefully.

Read In many instances, the materials will direct you to READ. This means that you should literally read the article itself. You aren't required to read the links associated with the article, but you should read the article itself. The details are probably not as important as the overall issues presented. In many cases, reflective questions or activities have been provided to guide your reading. Then, ask yourself: Why were we asked to read this article? What are the key ideas that I should add to my "professional bag of tricks"?

Essential Readings An eye graphic in front of the word READ means that this is an essential, required article. At times, you may become overwhelmed by all of the course readings. If you get behind, focus on the "eye - essential" readings and skim the other READ articles.

Skim Sometimes you'll be directed to skim an article. In this case, the details of the article aren't important. Instead concentrate on identifying the main ideas. In many cases, these are alternative sources or other views on issues already presented in other articles.

Explore In many instances, websites are provided on a single topic. Many of these websites contain multiple pages and links. Rather than examining all the items in-depth, spend a few minutes with each resource and determine it's personal and professional value.

Yellow Boxes Most pages on the Technology Rich Learning site contain yellow activity boxes. These are intended to help you analyze and apply the content provided on the page. Many times you'll be asked to read an article or explore a link. Then, do some brainstorming, writing, or thinking. It is suggested that you spend a few minutes with each activity; however, you will NOT turn in these activities for a grade. Think of them as reflective questions or activities in a textbook. They may give you ideas for discussions or projects. These "yellow box" activities often overlap with course assignments that are required.

On-site versus Off-site As you explore the Technology Rich Learning site, you'll notice that some readings refer to on-site versus off-site materials. On-site materials are those housed on both the eduscapes website and the Steel server. The off-site materials are linked to the work of others. If you can't get to an off-site article that says READ, notify me so I can update or remove the link.

In most cases, off-site links are not marked. For example, you might be reading a sentence and notice a hot link. This hot link is probably an off-site article that expands on the idea presented in the sentence. You may or may not use the link depending on your interests. Lists of off-site links with supplemental materials are also not indicated as on or off-site If you're not sure, just look at the URL and you can see whether it's an IU or eduscapes address or not.

Videos You'll find short (1-6 minute) videos throughout the course. These are intended to provide short introductions to specific elements of the course. It's also hoped that they will help you feel more connected to the instructor and the course. The video clips may be content overviews, specific examples, or step-by-step instructions. Most of the videos run one to two minutes in length. If you have difficulty downloading or viewing these clips, please notify the instructor so she can help.

In traditional courses you sit in a class, face-to-face with your instructor and other students.

One of the potential drawbacks to a web-based course is the lack of one-on-one interaction with the professor. I've found that video is the next best thing to being there. Hopefully, these short videos will help you get to know me and feel more comfortable with the course content. Then, we can interact through email and discussion forums. Some students even find that they have more interaction than a regular, lecture-based course!

The video clips are all QuickTime (.mov) files. You'll download them onto your hard drive and watch them using a QuickTime viewer. Your browser may be set up to play them automatically. If you can't get the clips to play, download a QuickTime player.

I've made all the video clips small, so they are faster to download. Most clips are between 1 and 2 minutes in length.

Try a QuickTime movie of Annette Lamb for practice. Go to QuickTime at Apple. It's available for both Windows and Macs.

Try a Real Player movie Short Video. Go to the Real website to download a free player. Scroll to the bottom of the page (or in the upper right hand corner) and download the FREE player, NOT the 14 day trial player. It's available for both Windows and Macs.

For more information about media players, go to Multimedia Seeds.

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After reading all of the requirements, proceed to Technology Rich Learning.