IMSA Information Literacy News (12.17.03)

Information Literacy News from the 21st Century Information Fluency Project 
(21CIF) at the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy

http://wizard.imsa.edu

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Infoliteracy News for December 17, 2003

1.  Spring on-line courses, information, and free registration
2.  Workshop information
3.  New portal content: additional lesson plans
4.  Library media programs boost test scores
5.  Conference appearances

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1.  Spring on-line courses, information, and free registration

The dates have been set for the Spring 2004 12 week information fluency lab 
course and the 6 week information fluency survey course.  Both courses are 
offered for free to Illinois school library professionals.

The 12 week lab course will begin February 3 and finish May 4.  Students 
enrolled in this course may optionally enroll for 3 graduate credit hours 
from Aurora University.

The 6 week, 36 CPDU survey course will begin February 17 and end March 30.

Information and syllabi for the two courses are available on-line at 
http://wizard.imsa.edu/learn.  Both classes are now open for on-line 
registration.  You can register at 
http://wizard.imsa.edu/learn/Offrdate.html.  These courses are funded by 
the US department of Education and are made available at no cost to 
Illinois library media educators.  Note that students who elect to receive 
graduate credit are responsible for the $225 registration fee charged by 
Aurora University.

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2.  Workshop information

The 21CIF team currently has six workshops on its calendar and more are in 
the planning stages.  These learning opportunities are offered at no cost 
at various locations around the state.  Dates and directions for online 
enrollment are available at 
http://wizard.imsa.edu/learn/Offrdate.html.  Participants in our workshops 
earn 7 CPDU credits.  As new workshops are scheduled they will be added to 
the web site.

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3.  New portal content: additional lesson plans

We are happy to announce the publication of another 11 standards-aligned 
lesson plans authored by the students in our Fall courses.  These lessons 
cover a variety of subject matter at the elementary, middle, and high 
school level.  You can learn more about the new online lesson plans at 
http://wizard.imsa.edu/Members/ckolar/News_Item.2003-12-10.1853

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4.  Library media programs boost test scores

A spring 2002 survey of Florida K-12 public school library media 
specialists indicates that library media programs have a significant impact 
on student achievement as reflected by state test scores. In high schools 
where library media programs are staffed more than 60 hours per week, there 
is a 22.2% improvement in test scores over those staffed less than 60 hours.

Read more and access the full report online by visiting: 
http://wizard.imsa.edu/Members/dennis/News_Item.2003-11-25.5521

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5.  Conference appearances

If you are planning to attend the Illinois Computing Educators (ICE) 
conference in February (ITCE), think about signing up for our 
pre-conference 
workshop. 
(http://www.il-tce.org/schedule/session_detail.asp?session_id=133&schedule_ID=3&source_id=3) 
The 21CIF team will also be making presentations and manning a booth in the 
exhibit area, we hope to see you there.

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The 21st Century Information Fluency Project is funded by the US Department 
of Education and the State of Illinois.  Information is available at 
http://wizard.imsa.edu.  You can subscribe to this newsletter by sending an 
empty message to [email protected].



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Christopher G. Kolar
    Coordinator of Information and Technology Integration
    Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy
  [email protected]  --  staff.imsa.edu/~ckolar --  PGP Public Key ID: 0xC6492C72
         Information literacy news, tools, and programs: 
[email protected]