Overnewton College Library – recognising the needs of students in the ‘Knowledge Age’

Overnewton College Library – recognising the needs of students in the ‘Knowledge Age’

What does excellence in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) look like? How do we build a curriculum that recognises the needs of students in the ‘Knowledge Age’? These questions shape our vision and direction for the Overnewton College library. The libraries are an engaging and vibrant physical space for our students, and importantly, they are also an emerging and dynamic online space. The virtual library, available via the Intranet wherever our students have online access enables us to make this vision of excellence in ICTs and meeting our student’s ‘Knowledge Age’ needs a reality.
Why does learning in the ‘Knowledge Age’ make a difference to the College library?
This presentation explores the nature of learning in the ‘Knowledge Age’ and the challenges that it presents for teachers and teacher librarians. Information and knowledge are no longer relatively static entities; rather, they are more dynamic and organic than ever. What are some of the pedagogical challenges teachers face as a result? How do teacher librarians best support the teaching and learning processes within a school? In a P-12 context, what does best practice look like? How do we evaluate a school’s capacity to provide for the information and knowledge needs of its learners?
The Virtual Library
The College virtual library is accessible 24/7. It includes catalogue access to print and digital resources, access to excellent reference resources, specialized School pages and resources for staff users.
The Senior School page includes research guides, details of new books and DVDs, genre lists, a book share blog, and library news. Research guides key the students in to using the College online resources and are written in collaboration with teachers. They guide students to systematically locate a variety of reliable resources for their task, providing scaffolding and supporting information literacy skills. Working collaboratively, assists students to achieve better learning outcomes.
The College library, virtual and physical, will continue to develop, and our students are encouraged to use the online College library resources as the resources of choice for all of their learning needs. This presentation will focus on learning in the 'Knowledge Age', the virtual library, the Senior School page of the library site, and the collaborative work that I do with Senior School teachers in my role as the Senior School Teacher Librarian. It will be presented in collaboration with English teacher and Head of Curriculum, Andrea Dart.
Joy Whiteside, Head of Library - Keilor Campus

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acec-ictev-conference-april-2010.pdf(2.56 MB)

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