Will Richardson (1)

If you're thinking that perhaps a better title might have been "Blogs, Wikis, and Podcasts, Oh My!" this book will be of benefit. While the book can be very beneficial to those already comfortable with social media and tech tools in the classroom, this book is really written for the beginner. Some aspects - like Facebook and Twitter - may not be for you - however if you'd like to explore it, this book will help you figure out best practices. If you don't know what an RSS feed is or how that show more might assist your students with research, the chapter on RSS feeds will be enlightening. You may find you set up RSS feeds for each area of interest in your personal research agenda. show less

Will Richardson is a visionary who blogs about technology and learning regularly and so the third edition of his book is very welcome. He has updated the uses of many many Web 2.0 tools giving many examples of their uses that boost teaching and learning. If I were conducting professional development on various tech tools, I would ask novice folks to read the Richardson chapter on blogs or wikis or whatever was to be covered. That would allow them an introduction to the technology and then show more the practical hands on workshop could get folks up to speed faster so that the focus could be on using the particular technology in the learning commons and in classrooms. For teacher librarians, Richardson is a good read just to compare what you know with what Richardson is recommending about each technology. As we all know, we know some tools vaguely, others are quite familiar and a there are those few we are expert at. The goal is to know each class of tools well enough so we can use them to their best advantage. Another advantage of Richardson’s book is that we can pidgonhole particular tools in groups with similar characteristics and that helps us all keep track of many individual tools with their unique characteristics. This book is a must read for all teacher librarians and teacher technologists. show less

great examples of how others have used these tools in teaching and also some succinct and well written explanations about what it takes to create a blog, wiki, podcast, ect. I imagine that this book will become outdated in a couple of years, but it is very useful right now. The explanations do not get too deep, but they give a perfect overview to beginners.

A personal learning network is a method of linking kids and adults to major sources of information on the Internet. It is like choosing your closest friends that you want to listen to because they keep you up to day, you trust what they have to say, and it is your method of keeping current on what is going on. Richardson has created a very very important book here that every teacher librarian should read and implement both in their own lives and in the lives of their students. Will provides show more a number of tools that help all of us link to our favorites and even provides directions for getting started with each toll he recommends. More importantly, he describes and promotes the idea of the classroom (and we can say Learning Commons) where PLNs are as natural as plugging in and turning on. We see a bit larger picture than Will describes here: The creation of a portal by learners into the world of information and technology under their control, the development of the personal learning network by every learner, and finally, the creation of a personal portfolio with both private works and the creation of a public face. Richardson is trying to raise our consciousness as a profession that we have a responsibility beyond the teaching of the research process if we are to help kids, teachers, and ourselves build a personal learning environment that will carry on beyond formal schooling. Our recommendation is for every teacher librarian to purchase this book, read it carefully, implement the skills in your own life not already mastered, and then begin to exhibit what you know to others. It is the new information literacy – an extension of what we have been doing for decades, and an essential life skill for the foreseeable future. Couple this book with chapter seven in the reviewers new book on personal learning environments titled The New Learning Commons Where Learners Win, 2nd ed., and you will see how Richardson and others see as a dynamic toold in every learner’s success in the juggernaut world of the Internet. show less