Ellen Hoffman

Building Digital Libraries for Children: Reviewing Information Literacy of Students and Teachers

Research on student and teacher information literacy from the US is reviewed in relation to the issues needed to ensure that digital libraries will be able to adequately meet the needs of education. Student use of Internet for research while increasingly common is not efficient or critical. Teacher skills in information literacy instruction are critical for improving student capabilities. Recommendations are made for potential tools and services that will be a key for improving library functionality.

Building Policy, Building Community: An Example from the US National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Library (NSDL)

Developing a major national resource such as the US National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics education Digital Library (NSDL) requires policy and technical expertise. Policy issues are as much a challenge as infrastructure in the construction of such a major digital library. This paper focuses on the policy making structures that have developed since 2000 when the US National Science Foundation began its funding for NSDL. The authors are the Vice Chair and Chair of the NSDL Policy Committee and report here on issues of voice, authority, and central issues for policy construction as these have emerged in the NSDL context.

COATT: a state-wide initiative to evaluate and improve teacher technology education

Abstract Like many other states, Michigan has recently instituted minimum technology standards for pre-service teachers. A group of teacher education institutions decided that that standard needed to be a baseline rather than an end goal. Together they formed the Consortium for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching with Technology (COATT), whose purpose is to set in place a formal process to recognize pre-service, and eventually in-service, teachers for going beyond the mandated standard. Here we discuss both the process of bringing the consortium together and the progress of our students as they applied for the M-COATT certificate. This article discusses the origins of the consortium, the evaluation process, the results of the first rounds of evaluation, and the possible future of the consortium.

NSDL: from prototype to production to transformational national resource

This panel will discuss the first release of the National Science Digital Library and plans for growing it into a very large, comprehensive library of digital materials relevant to science education.