NoodleTools's Knowledge Base

Have you ever invested in a teaching resource and can't find enough information to help with even the smallest of problems? Well, NoodleTools's creators have thought of that possibility and have created what they call a Knowledge Base to deal with those problems when using their resources.

Knowledge Base is a "database of how-to articles and expert answers to your trickiest MLA and APA citation questions." In this database, there are articles/information on dealing with problems with software as well as specific features of NoodleBib. In a special section for teachers and librarians, there is information on every aspect of managing your NoodleTools subscription, from taking good notes to viewing usage statistics. In this database, there seems to be enough support for teachers and librarians, and other users, to ensure that once you subscribe to NoodleTools you can comfortably use what you pay for.

Check all of this out at www.noodletools.com/kb.

Response to Cyber Security Article

After reading the article, "Teaching Children Cyber Security and Ethics" by the Cyber Security Industry Alliance, I am left with questions and a sense of frustration. The Alliance accurately identifies the problems we face in our efforts, or lack thereof, to educate children about cyber safety. The one that causes the most frustration in me is, of course, the one that questions whose responsibility it is to teach children about cyber safety. I know that many teachers do the best they can, with the limited resources they have, to teach kids about Internet safety. However, the parents fall short! We need the parents to get on board and support our efforts to educate their children. Many, many of them are in denial and feel that their kids (especially the teenagers) know how to handle themselves on the Web. Or, they think that the schools should educate their children about this and that absolves them of any responsibility. That's wrong; many of them need a serious wake up call!

Another thing that bothers me, even though I know that there is no way around it, is the idea that we have to entertain children in order to get their full attention and educate them about this very serious issue. As pointed out in the article, we are competing with the video games, and I will add, social networking sites for their attention. It's a shame that they will not listen to our cries for them to be careful until we make the message attractive.

In the article, the Alliance identifies numerous resources for teachers, parents, and students. Several questions came to mind as I read these. Why it is so hard to get this information out to schools? Why don't we see flyers, phamplets, and brochures on this issue in the schools? Why doesn't the DOE make this available to us now? What are we waiting on to spread the word? If the resources are out there, why are they not getting to us? I didn't know that many of these resources existed and so I know that other teachers and parents do not know about them either. Why don't we have a national television campaign to get the word out? Are we ever really going to get the message out?

How much can one media specialist in a school with over 1300 children do? I guess it will have to be a lot!

A Great Digital Resource!

Since we were discussing the International Children's Digital Library on the WebCt discussion board this week, I wanted to see what other reputable digital library collections were available. I was really looking for resources for my high school students. I went to the ALA site and found an interesting link to a magazine called the D-Lib Magazine. This magazine which can be accessed at http://www.dlib.org/ is an "electronic publication with a primary focus on digital library research and development, including but not limited to new technologies, applications, and contextual social and economic issues. The primary goal of the magazine is timely and efficient information exchange for the digital library community." The magazine is funded by, among others, Syracuse University Libraries, University Libraries of Notre Dame University, Australian National University, and University of California San Diego Libraries.

The magazine is only published six times a year, but you can access back issues from the website. There are some very interesting articles in this magazine. One particularly interesting display at the site is the " Featured Collection" section. Here a digital collection is made available for free access. This July/August issue features a digital collection called "The Encyclopedia of the Earth." I explored this encyclopedia and was thrilled with the amount of information that I, and my students, can use. The URL for the encyclopedia is http://www.eoearth.org/. Check it out! It is great for high school students!

This magazine was truly a great find!! Hence, the very happy librarian above!