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Transmedia storytelling: narratives like real life
By Martin Gray
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
What is Transmedia Storytelling? Prof. Henry Jenkins, M.I.T. 2003. 'a process where integral elements of a fiction get dispersed systematically across multiple delivery channels for the purpose of creating a unified and coordinated entertainment experience.' http://www.pil-network.ie/blog/tra
Computational thinking as the 'new literacy': professional development opportunities
By Associate Professor Katrina Falkner
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
Children not only need to learn about how digital technology works and how to use it, but also how to create it by understanding the language of computers. Here, we describe our experiences in providing the Computer Science Education Research (CSER) Digital Technologies MOOC – an open, online cours
From the desk of a SCIS cataloguer
By Mavis Heffernan
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
The SCIS cataloguing team regularly source, receive, and catalogue a range of print and electronic resources suitable for use in school libraries. Electronic resources include websites, apps, and ebooks, and are available for SCIS subscribers as easily downloadable files using the Special Order Fil
Let's talk about literacy
By John Parsons
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
Search for 'literacy standards' on the web, and your first ten pages will be articles about plunging standards, woeful skills and a slippery slide towards becoming a nation of illiterates. Plough onwards for a bewildering array of cutting-edge initiatives, ambitious policies, and funding demands, a
The relationship between SCIS Subject Headings and ScOT
By Les Kneebone
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
SCIS cataloguers use a combination of SCIS Subject Headings (SCISSHL)(1) and Schools Online Thesaurus (ScOT)(2) when adding resources to the SCIS database. ScOT is a relatively later addition to the SCIS arsenal of cataloguing tools, introduced and explained in Connections Issue 60(3). This art
SCIS is more
By Dr Ben Chadwick
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
Has the second half of 2015 been as busy for you as it has for us? We spoke at the SLAV and SLANZA conferences in August and September, and attended ASLA; we've run workshops in Melbourne, Adelaide, and Christchurch, and as usual, have thoroughly enjoyed meeting and catching up with our subscribers
Website and app reviews
By Nigel Paull
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
52 of the best apps for your classroom in 2015 list.ly/~1u3fy Teachers introducing tablets and associated apps into their classrooms will find a range of valuable apps to explore here. Both iOS and Android apps are represented, but remember to link to the app store for your own country. SCIS
Save time and effort with Scootle learning paths
By Daniel Hughes
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
Scootle plays host to more than 20,000 digital learning resources, all of which target Australian teachers and students, and many of which are aligned to the Australian Curriculum. The good news is that you can save your favourites and organise sequences of resources into learning paths. Learning
Supporting Australian book creators
By Laura Armstrong, Toni Jordan
Issue 95, Term 4 2015
ELR's cornerstone Australian school libraries are the cornerstone of the Educational Lending Rights (ELR), and in the coming weeks 600 schools will receive invitations, either by mail or email, requesting their participation in this year's survey. School library staff play a critical part in the
The new librarian: leaders in the digital age
By Digital Promise staff
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
As school districts confront budget constraints and cuts, one of the first places administrators often look to for savings is the school library. Numerous districts, large and small, have cut librarian staffing to part-time or eliminated positions entirely. These cuts can impact both students and
The importance of multicultural literature
By Marianne Grasso
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
Australian primary schools are more culturally diverse now than ever before. By including multicultural literature in the school library fiction collection, teacher librarians ensure they provide their students with texts that represent the culturally diverse classrooms and home environments in thi
Information and critical literacy on the web
By Kay Oddone
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
The democratisation of content creation is a wonderful thing. Thanks to thousands of content creation and distribution platforms available, including WordPress, Scribd, Weebly, Storify, and YouTube, millions of voices which might have never been heard now have a channel to communicate their message
The value of social history
By Sandra Watkins
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
Who is your hero? Mine is Andy Thomas, an Australian astronaut. How did a boy from Adelaide talk his way into the US Space Program? I would have to say that I am less interested in where or when he did his training, or what degrees he has, as to how he managed to teach himself enough Russian in o
Architecture of genre
By Les Kneebone
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
If you have participated in any kind of professional learning event in the last couple of years, there is a good chance you would have encountered the ‘genre’ presentation. Genre is a hot topic in school libraries, and who doesn’t like to hear the good news stories we often hear in these presentati
Demystifying barcodes
By Julie Styles
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
As cataloguers, we understand that it can sometimes be difficult to match the exact resource you have in your hand to one of the 1.4 million records available in the SCIS catalogue. This article will look at the identifying numbers many resources are assigned, what they mean, and how each number ca
Supporting Australian book creators
By Nicole Richardson, Simmone Howell
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
We often celebrate libraries for providing free access to information, but rarely think about what this means for the authors, illustrators, editors, and publishers responsible for the books currently sitting on library shelves. If we are interested in reading a particular book, whether for leisu
SCIS is more
By Ben Chadwick
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
‘I have been here all the time,’ said he, ‘but you have just made me visible.’ ‘Aslan!’ said Lucy almost a little reproachfully. ‘Don’t make fun of me. As if anything I could do would make you visible!’ ‘It did,’ said Aslan. ‘Do you think I wouldn’t obey my own rules?’ – C.S. Lewis, The Voyage of th
Filters in Scootle
By Daniel Hughes
Issue 96, Term 1 2016
In the last edition of Connections , we investigated learning paths and how they work. At the end of the article I promised to explore collaborative activities and filters in this edition; however, as Scootle’s collaborative activities will soon be revamped, this article will instead focus on S
Lending an ear for literacy
By Leah Sheldon, Janine Sigley
Issue 94, Term 3 2015
The mission of Story Dogs is 'To make reading fun for children, so they become confident lifelong readers. No child should be left behind in literacy.' Earlier this year Connections approached Janine and Leah to share how their organisation is helping to address the issue of literacy in Australi
Addressing reconciliation in a school setting
By Jan Poona
Issue 94, Term 3 2015
I have been a teacher librarian in a government primary school for many years. In this time, not only have I taught students but I have made decisions regarding cataloguing and shelving books in the school library as well. I also have a close friend, Christine, who is an Aboriginal Elder and social