Learning through Books, Media and Technology

ARTICLES THIS ISSUE:

Chico High School: Uning the library media center and its tools to push out the walls of the classroom

What do you do with 4,000 students? A Great library media center helps!

Library as learning laboratory — for students and teachers

From local access systems to global dialog

Helping students and staff connect

Restructuring: getting to the heart of the learning process

Making the most of learning resources, from human to technological

Winning combinations — kids, technologies, teaching partnership

A "logical place" for applications of information technology

The "Dream Team" at work: changing ideas of how we prepare students for the future

From library to "Discovery Center" — a marriage of tradition and technology

Good Ideas! Briefs

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Library as learning laboratory --- for students and teachers

Mesa Verde High School
Citrus Heights

Foreground, from left: Roxanne Crurrier and Bob Allen, history-social science teacher. Background: Bill Sears, library media teacher and Jason Young.

Two years ago, a Mesa Verde High School teacher group formed an Educational Technology Committee. Under the leadership of Bill Sears, library media teacher, this group developed a vision for the school's future. A well-equipped and well-staffed school library media center, they concluded, would be a valuable extension of the classroom.

With the encouragement of Dr. Jeffers, district superintendent, Mesa Verde decided to establish a model of this concept. In the spring of 1990, 31 work stations were set up by cooperating vendors in the library. Hundreds of parents, teachers, and administrators came to see how school libraries can be transformed Into electronic information centers.

A project called Partnerships in Information Literacy was then formed to seek funding. The plan was to persuade business to join with educators to support the vision of the committee. Support has come in the form of donated equipment, outright funding, even personnel assistance. This effort is ongoing.

In small groups of six, all staff members, including clerical personnel, have received hands-on inservice on the various technologies and resources in the library. This has led to increased expectations for students. In fact, usage is so intense that an in-house work-experience program now exists to train tutors to help students.

What kind of usage? An English teacher is using an interactive multimedia approach to focus on the Civil War period, emphasizing primary source materials. Research assignments for history-social science classes include assignments using computer software or CD-ROM resources. Students are being asked to evaluate and compare the two electronic encyclopedias available. Online bulletin boards and databases are being tapped. The library media center, with its multiple resources in a variety of formats, using diverse technologies, Is becoming an integrated classroom laboratory where students, teachers, librarians, and the community are partners in the learning process.

• Mesa Verde-High School (Grades 9-12, enrollment 1,100)
  7600 Lauppe Lane, Citrus Heights 95621; (916) 971-5281
  Linda Ferrick, Principal
  William T. Sears, Library Media Teacher
  San Juan Unified School District