Although your students probably like searching on their own, you should remind them that there are people out there-librarians-who are overflowing with knowledge about finding reliable information. Unlike and other search engines, they can direct your students to the best information available for their schoolwork.  There are also a number of online libraries, like the Internet Public Library, that may work better for your students than a search.

Perhaps a field trip to your local public library would be a good idea. Older students might moan about it considering it a waste of time, but at the library a reference librarian can introduce them to the library's collection of online and offline sources. Public and school libraries are usually connected to resources not only in their community, but also in the state, nation, and world. You want to get your students thinking that asking for help is okay, and that it's exactly what they should do in a library.

You should also introduce your students to public libraries online.  Many of the libraries have connections through sources like iTunes, Blogs, Twitter, and Facebook, which students will appreciate. To use many of these libraries, they'll need to get a free membership. Some libraries allow students to browse resources and get help without a membership, but most require a membership especially when it comes to free tutoring, homework help, and eBooks.

Let's look at a few examples of what public libraries offer:

At the online New York Public Library, students can email, text questions, or contact the 24/7 chat line. They can even "Book a Librarian" to find more information about topics such as the Performing Arts, Black Culture, and science. Before they begin using the NYPL, direct them to Resources for Teens, which includes summer reading ideas, cookbooks and DVDs, eBooks, YouTube, recorded and Braille books by mail, homework apps, and TeenLive programs.

The New Jersey State Library offers free online tutoring from Tutor.com. There, from 2:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., your students will find tutors to help them with math, science, social studies and English.  

From the Brooklyn online library, students can get help writing a book report, making use of the library's databases and calculators, and they can take part in social networking.

At the Internet Public Library, they'll find School & Homework help, research paper guides, and answers to frequently asked questions. The Homework area includes 232 links to resources.

If they go to the site "Top 10 Best Free Online Libraries", they'll see a list of libraries such as Project Gutenberg, Bartleby, Bibliomania, Internet Archive, and others highly rated reference sources.

Younger students will want to zoom off to the Camden County Kids' World, New Jersey where they'll discover a Kids' Catalog, Suggested Reading, Kids' Program, Fun and Games, and Homework Help. The Homework Help section lets them find information on topics for reports and projects. There's also a place where they can ask a librarian for help by email, phone, or Q & A New Jersey, a chat service that's available all the time.

The best advice is to find out what's available for your students from your school and community libraries, for there's probably a treasure trove of resources and help waiting online and offline for your students.

An eBook is a publication in digital form, a computer file, that contains the text (and perhaps also illustrations) of a book, article, or other piece of work. The magic of the eBook is that it can be read on a computer, an iPod, an iPad, even on a smartphone such as a Blackberry or iPhone. The rapid rise in eBook readers has made this format very popular over the last year. We hear that for many titles eBook sales outstrip paper copies; we see eBook readers on the train or the plane or at the beach staring silently at their strange little digital devices as they absorb the plot.

But what about your own book? Or your own lecture notes? Or your instructions to students? Or the article you've just written? Might these find a larger readership in the eBook format? Might this common format be the best way to distribute your work?

eBooks have come of age in part because of the development and acceptance of the EPUB format, a free and open standard developed by the International Digital Publishing Forum in 2007. Just about everyone in the digital publishing business -- except Amazon -- has adopted the EPUB format. Authors publish their works in this format, and device-makers ensure that their little machines can display EPUB.

Why should I publish in EPUB format?

EPUB is the easiest and most reliable way for your works to be widely distributed and widely readable, with full copyright protection if you want it. The files are efficiently tiny and easy to send over the Internet, post on a web site, or attach to an email. Your readers can choose how to read them: on their computer, on their iPad, on their Nook or Sony Reader or even on their Blackberry or iPhone. The Luddites among them can print them to paper if they need to. One format, many devices. You need not worry about fonts, formatting, layout, or any of the glitches that arise with proprietary file formats such as Microsoft Word or PDF. Your reader chooses the font, page layout, text size, and style that best fits the device he's using or the setting she's in.

With advanced devices like the iPad, the EPUB format allows your work to take advantage of certain educational features that can enhance the reading experience. Imagine your students being able to click on a word, any word in your text, to see its definition, or hear it pronounced, or look it up in the encyclopedia. Imagine your visually-impaired readers being able to listen to your book, all without doing any extra work. All you need to do is publish your work in the EPUB format; the device applies the extra features as the reader wishes.

How do I create eBooks?

First, write something worth publishing. Write it in any word-processor you want, but don't do any formatting -- use only plain text. Avoid repeated spaces, tabs, fonts, centering, tables, headers, footers, page numbers, and special effects. Keep it simple. On Windows, use Notepad; on Macintosh, use TextEdit or Pages. If you need images, insert them as inline images. Save your writing in plain text format. Next, convert your work to the EPUB format:

• If you are using a Macintosh, the easiest way is to use Pages, part of Apple's iWork suite. Open your work in Pages. Then from the menubar choose File --> Export --> ePub.

or,

• From Windows or Macintosh or Linux use Calibre. This program can be downloaded free from the Calibre web site. Insert your work into Calibre by clicking the + icon at the upper left. After it's loaded. Select its name in the list, then click the convert books icon (with double arrows).

or,

• You may send your work to one of the online sites that does the conversion for you, such as 2EPUB or WebBooks.com.

No matter which method you use, the result is a file with an .epub extension. These are compact, cross-platform files, easy to email to your correspondents, to post on your own web site or on Moodle or Blackboard, or to hand off on a USB disk.

How do I read eBooks?

• On your computer, you can read the eBooks you just created in Calibre, Stanza, or Adobe Digital Editions. These programs are available for free online download.
• If you have an iPad, you must first move the file from your computer to the iPad using iTunes. Use iTunes to set your iPad for manual synching. Then just drag the eBook EPUB file from your computer to the iPad icon in iTunes. It will show up automatically in the iBooks library on the iPad.
• If you have an iPod or iPhone, you must first move the file from your computer to the iPod or iPhone using iTunes. Use iTunes to set your iPod or iPhone for manual synching. Then just drag the eBook EPUB file from your computer to the iPod or iPhone icon in iTunes. It will show up automatically in the iBooks library on the iPod or iPhone.
• For other mobile devices, the methods for moving eBook files from your computer to the reader varies; follow the directions in the user manual for the device.

But we still have factories, and they employ millions of workers. We don't make many refrigerators or computers or televisions any more; these are manufactured for the most part overseas. But we still make such high-tech articles as aircraft and automobiles. And low-tech items such as boats. And cheese. Last week I visited two plants that manufacture the last two items, to see the kinds of jobs and the kinds of technologies at work and to consider the implications for how we use technology in school.

Boats

The factory in Warren, Rhode Island has been making boats for more than 50 years. In the middle of the sprawling factory floor are hulls in various stages of assembly, some empty shells, others ready to roll out the door to the launch ramp. From a small sailboat that Stuart Little would find familiar, to larger cruisers being built for the US Navy, the array represented the range of current boat production.

A boat is assembled from hundreds of parts, each manufactured in one of the shops that surround the main factory floor. One shop makes the hull, another the deck, others construct the floors, walls, and teak trim pieces. All are highly automated. What struck me was the lack of people, and the lack of noise. No banging, no yelling, no muscle work. The few workers in the plant wore blue button-down shirts and ID tags. Their hands rested on computer keyboards more than on wrenches or screwdrivers. The soft hum of machinery and exhaust fans seemed to quiet the place down.

Today's boat is a precision instrument, crafted for speed, strength, durability, and lightweight. Its parts are created not by people at lathes but by computer-controlled robots. Here's how the robots work.

Where's the worker? He's standing several feet away, safely monitoring the action. His hands are folded, his shirt spotless, his mind focused on how he might speed up or improve the manufacturing process.

What skills does he need to succeed at this work? Will he learn them at your school?

Cheese