IASL Conference 3rd Day

Ok. First things first. Just some corrections.

I want to keep the record straight. In my last entry, I mentioned that The IASL Conference was my first international conference. Actually, I have been to the Asian Storytelling Congress in Singapore in 2002 as a workshop facilitator and to the IFLA/UNESCO Seminar Workshop in Bangkok in 2003 as paper presenter. Although these events were in Asia, it was attended by participants from the Americas, Europe and of course, Asia.

I get a lot of cultural and intellectual stimulation from these events. It is truly a learning experience. While I learn about things around me, I reflect and discover more of myself, my Filipino heritage and the dynamism of the human spirit. And the thing is, as different as we are may be in race, religion and culture, there is just SOMETHING that binds us all together. I see this in the librarians of the world. I get to meet and talk to them. ( See, I can also practice my English). So far, my general impression of all school librarians are friendly and lovable people. All willing to share and help out.

When I sit in the concurrent sessions, I wish that my colleagues were with me. There is a big difference between listening to an echo and actually being HERE. There is so much to learn, relearn, unlearn and discover!

Here are snippets of insights I have gleaned so far. They are not summaries, but constructs of my own knowledge as I weave my way through the conference.

Stephen Heppel's Keynote
* Libraries provide a learning environment filed with resources, learning materials and facilities. However, the challenge is for librarians to give learners the opportunity to make the experience interactive and meaningful.

* The design of a learning space contributes to the kind of learning environment it promotes.

CS 1 - Teacher Librarians as Connectors of Knowledge
* Teacher Librarians are capable of identifying teachers' knowledge be it created or acquired. This must be shared and articulated thereby, creating a culture of knowledge in the school community.

CS 2 - Scaffolding and Online Technology
* Scaffolding techniques help learners understand their learning. Through Action Learning, learners are in control of their constructs of knowledge.

* Elearning is anchored on good teaching and learning pedagogy. How do we, in Xavier School translate this? As a school librarian, how can I promote elearning that is grounded on effective teaching practices and productive pedagogy?

CS 3 - Leading Elearning to Critical Thinking
* For a viable use of technology in instruction, a concerted effort between librarians, school administrators, ICT people must first take place. Shared understanding is important to make elearning a success.

* Improve on the evaluation of elearning projects and initiatives.

CS 4 - Leveraging KM for Librarians
* Blogs were mentioned as enablers. There were still plenty to consider, but as far as my experience is concerned, I will focus on blogging to build an information literate commnity, likewise, one that can create and communicate knowledge.

Whew! That is all for today. I had an excellent morning sitting in at Diane McKenzie's workshop and Ross Todd's research presentation.

More tomorrow!