GIS / Social Work Paper Submitted

If anyone is interested in a nice long read, we just submitted the paper draft that I co-authored, enitled Ecological Patterns of Kinship Care, by Rebecca Hegar, Maria Scannapieco, Randall Basham, and Joshua Been.

It is currently under peer-review for a special issue of Children and Youth Services Review focusing on the environment and child well-being.

The draft can be found here:

Q:\Program Area Folders\Information Literacy\GIS\Hegar et al., Kinship Care Ecology Paper.CYSR.doc

Just an update of goings-on.

• Lea and I will be presenting at TSHA in March about K12 Connections. We will also be presenting with the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History.
• I'm going to give a workshop to AISD librarians in September--what new students need to know when they come to college--information literacy skills.
• I'm going to change my at-home day to Tuesday. Not sure about a start date--working on it.

I think that's it for now!

GIS & Kite Runner

I reckon I should read the book, but in the meanwhile I want some suggestions from those of you more familiar with Kite Runner than I.

I have agreed to a request by Tommie that I do a GIS workshop/demo to coincide with the Kite Runner events. Tommie suggested something on world religions. This is possible due to the data provided by adherents.com.

Can anyone suggest a particular exercise using world religions (such as comparing religion to other demographic variables) or a topic wholly different from religion?

Thanks!

ENGL 1301 Kite Runner Session

I am in the process of developing a Kite Runner Library Instruction module for ENGL 1301. Does anyone have any ideas? Next week I will be doing a couple of sessions for Milissa Riggs which focuses on power and literacy, which is a possibility for the ENGL 1301 students, but I think it might be too involved. This is the outline for the sessions on the 6th and 10th:

Day 1:
Students will be in groups based on their literacy (language literacy, technological literacy, health literacy, financial literacy)

I will demonstrate how to use the catalog, Academic Search Premier, and ERIC databases

Discuss MLA citation

Students will work in groups to select one article about their literacy this will include use of the databases and evaluation (I would like students to select articles that are 5 – 10 pages in length)

Students will present to the class how they found their article and why they chose it

Homework:
Read each article and create an annotated bibliography

Prepare to facilitate a discussion about their article/literacy (you and I will also read the articles and prepare some prompts for discussion)

Day 2:
Student facilitated discussion of literacies

Plagiarism session

GIS Discussion Board

I know everyone knows I am eagerly awaiting the library's discussion board (which is now posponed again) that I anticipate seeing widespread GIS use here on campus. To see what I have in mind, here is a link to an existing GIS discussion board from Austin Peay University: http://gisweb.apsu.edu/apsubb/index.php.

ICT Literacy Test

I've been drafted to help write a proposal for the spring Undergraduate Assembly meeting to require all students take the ICT Literary test. This will replace the current computer proficiency exam. Exciting, but I am expecting a lot of obstacles and issues that we may need to address. I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please share your thoughts and ideas on the university using this exam.

Department name ideas

First Year Integration
FY Outreach

Dallas History Conference

Just a piece of good news--I've been accepted to give a paper at the annual Dallas History conference. I'll be speaking on Polly Smith.