Brentwood School, an independent K12 school in California, just released a new LibGuides for NoodleTools. Check out how the librarian, Elisabeth Abarbanel, promotes research basics and NoodleTools to students and teachers. Ms. Abarbanel maintains a blog, InfoEagles, and she is using a RSS feed to display in LibGuides the research tips that are featured in her blog (lower right hand column).

For more great ideas how to use LibGuides to promote NoodleTools, take a look at what others have done at their schools via the LibGuides community.

TIP: To embed our tutorial videos on your web pages, as opposed to linking to them, use the videos at our YouTube NoodleTools Channel where embed code is provided for each video.

1. Click on video you want to use
2. Click the “Share” and then the “Embed” button

Note: these YouTube videos are not closed captioned. We will address this in the future. For now, captioned versions of tutorials are at our Tutorial page on our website.

Amy Rogers is happy to answer questions about using LibGuides for NoodleTools. She can be reached at amy [at] noodletools.com.

A new series of four tutorials for teachers and administrators on how to set up a drop box for students to share their projects, how to view the projects, and leave feedback about their projects. Links will take you directly to the screencasts.

• Sharing (1/4): Creating an Assignment Drop Box   (4:34 minutes)
• Sharing (2/4): Viewing shared projects (2:48 minutes)
• Sharing (3/4): Viewing students’ citations, notecards and outline (1:29 minutes)
• Sharing (4/4): Providing feedback to students (1:28 minutes)

All above tutorials are narrated and close captioned.

See also a tutorial created for students (1:42 minutes) on how to share their projects with their teacher.

Check out other screencasts in the Tutorials area.

UPDATED (Dec 3): The downtime time has been moved to 9PM PST, 11PM CST tonight.

We will be doing another server maintenance duty this Saturday, December 3rd at 8PM PST, 10PM CST. We expect the downtime to last approximately 20 minutes. Please plan accordingly. Thank you!

12/3/11 9:20PM PST Update: Server maintenance is complete!

Join a live and interactive FutureofEducation.com webinar as Tasha Bergson-Michelson brings Debbie Abilock and Jole Seroff, and Steve Hargadon together for a conversation on “search literacy” in education: what sources should students be using, how do we help them evaluate what they find, and what is the school’s role in teaching search literacy and skills? Come with your ideas and questions. Details at http://www.stevehargadon.com/2011/11/live-interview-thursday-panel-on-search.html

New online tutorials are available in our Tutorials area.

• Google Docs integration – For students: How to set up Google Docs for your paper.
• Guide for administrators: Google Apps for Education setup - How to use your school’s Google accounts in NoodleTools.
• Guide for administrators: User authentication – Explains how three different user authentication options work in NoodleTools.
• Sharing projects with your teacher – For students: How to share a project with a teacher.

All above tutorials are narrated and close captioned.

We are working on a new series of online tutorials for teachers on how to create a drop box, view shared projects, viewing students’ citataions, notecards, and outline; and providing feedback on students’ citations and notecards. Stay tuned!

We are doing server maintenance on Saturday, November 5th at 9 pm PST. It will require downtime of 10-15 minutes. If you are logged in at the time, you will be automatically logged out. Please plan accordingly. Thank you!

11/5/11 9:40 PM PST Update: Server maintenance is complete!

Here’s another note from a librarian who is using a web service to promote NoodleTools to K-12 students. Margaret Mary Ryan, a librarian at Saint Ephrem School in Bensalem, PA, wrote: 

I enjoy hearing how other teachers are using Noodle Tools…Over the summer I attended a workshop on Symbaloo and I have “Webmix” or group of web sites that I want the students to use for a particular project. It displays them as a group of tiles, almost like a Scrabble board. One tile provides a link to the google doc where I give them their instructions for the project. This webmix can be accessed from any computer once the student is given a link to it. I always include a NoodleTools tile so that the students have easy access to their accounts. This has proved to be working well for my sixth through eighth grade students. All that they need to complete a project is in one place and they can get to it easily.

Note: Symbaloo has a NoodleTools tile. Use their search function to locate the tile. 

Debbie’s presentation at AASL 2011, “Power Searching: Demystifying Popular Search Engines and Getting Quality Research from Everyday Tools,” was a big hit. Read an overview about the session in School Library Journal:

…librarians packed into the workshop with their laptops in hand to hear Debbie Abilock, co-founder of Palo Alto, CA-based bibliography software company Noodle Tools, Natasha Bergson-Michelson, an instructional librarian at Google, and Jole Seroff, the director of library and information services at the Castilleja School in Palo Alto, give essential tips and answer questions about ways librarians—and their students—can refine their skills to get the most out of online searches.

What are the most popular search engines? Google, Bing, Blekko,DuckDuckGo, and Wolfram Alpha, but many of us—including librarians—lack the savvy to teach and use them to their full potential. But learning about a handful of commands can transform a strong searcher into a masterful one.

“Creative thinking makes good searching,” says Abilock, who told librarians to go back to the basics by thinking about how a successful reference interview is conducted. The fundamental questions that librarians ask patrons to help them define their informational needs also holds true for online searches, whether they’re fact-based ones, such as “What’s the population of Chicago?,” or inquiry-based questions, like “Why did the population there increase between a certain period of time?…”

Read more at…”AASL Conference 2011: Unlocking the Art of Search Engines“

Recordings of our webinar, NoodleTools: Overview for Teachers, Librarians, and Administrators, are now at http://www.noodletools.com/learn/webinars.php

Debbie will be speaking at AASL (American Association of School Librarians) 2011 National Conference, October 27-30. Following are the sessions she will be presenting.

Power Searching: Demystifying Popular Search Engines and Getting Quality Research from Everyday Tools (BYOL*)

Preconference session – Thurs., Oct. 27th, 8:30am – 12:00pm
Presenters: Debbie Abilock, Natasha Bergson-Michelson, Jole Seroff

Search engines we love them or hate them, but how many of us have the savvy to teach and use their full potential? Popular search engines have a handful of commands that transform a strong searcher into a masterful one. But only when combined with refined research methods focused on identification, visualization, iteration, and pursuit do students (and teachers) truly transform their confidence, competence, and engagement in undertaking research, both online and off.

Not in My Library! Self-Censorship Alive and Well

Concurrent session – Friday, Oct. 28, 8:00AM-9:15AM, Room M100 F/G

Who hasn’t struggled with what resources we should provide and what we dare not select? School librarians are champions of intellectual freedom. Easy to say, not so easy to do. We strive to select a balanced collection that reflects the needs and values of our communities. What about our own strongly-held beliefs versus the Code of Ethics? Where does informed selection end and censorship begin? Share an honest discussion about the sensitive topic of self-censorship.

• Debbie Abilock, Consultant, Author
• Helen Adams, Retired Public School Librarian
• Catherine Beyers, Library Media Specialist, Southern Bluffs Elementary School
• Alice Bryant, Instructional Librarian, Harpeth Hall School Library
• Carrie Gardner, assistant professor, Clarion University

Target Audience: School Librarians, Library Supervisors, Higher Education, Students, Public Librarians Working with Children and Youth

Tricky but Not Impossible – Smart Inclusion Strategies for School Librarians

Grade Level: K-3, 4-6, Middle/Junior, High
Saturday, Oct. 29th, 1:00PM-2:15PM, Room 200A

You bet it’s a challenge to give exceptional students the attention and resources they require. You’ve a room full of students, no aide – and the homeroom teacher is on a prep period. This session will provide an overview of helpful information on exceptionalities, plus real-life examples of inclusive learning in schools just like yours. In roundtable discussions, attendees will share their concerns about effectively differentiating to meet the needs of all students.

• Debbie Abilock, Educator
• Patti Foerster, Librarian, Vaughn Occupational High School

Target Audience: School Librarians, Classroom Teachers, Library Supervisors, Curriculum Specialists, Students, Public Librarians Working with Children and Youth