This is something I have thought about a lot this week. I think all librarians are a bit remiss to see digital formats favored over actual books, but in this case I think it makes sense. Textbooks are unecessarily expensive, the companies can charge outrageous amounts for the newest versions of textbooks and students have to pay what they ask because they need the text to pass their courses. They are heavy, they take up a ton of space, and they are not nearly as portable as a digital device.
All that said, and putting my personal feelings about actual books aside, I can actually get behind the use of textbooks in schools. The school I currently work in has two sets of textbooks for every student. The students take one book home every year and keep the other in school. It eliminates all the lugging the book back and forth and keeps them from getting too damaged in the constant transport, but it is twice as expensive for the school to keep this program. All of the students have google chrome books for a 1 to 1 program too. So I see digital texbooks as the next frontier for us. If doesn't single anyone out because they don't have access to a device at home (which I can see being an arguement in other school districts) and it provides access to the text in a much more convienient format.
Add to that sites like project gutenberg and local libraries with ebook libraries that provide free access (the school might even be able to put all the text book money toward a subscription of their own) and I think we have a great argument for going digital in schools.
I do think that there are certain limitations though and they are mainly for students with visual impairments. We would have to work around that by having the book in different formats like audio.
Friday, May 1, 2015
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
Ipads in the library--A blessing or a curse?
I really got thinking this week about if I would truly want the responsibility of being in charge of the ipad/chromebook/kindle carts at our school. Currently the high school (7-12) has a one to one program where each student is given a chromebook for the year. They do occasionally need to come to the library and charge them if they forget at night, or use it a lot in a given day so the library is responsible for extra chargers, but it is the responsibility of the tech department if they are any other issues. The students do not expect that the librarian will fix any technology issues but they do occasionally ask for help in accessing certain library website features using their own device.
The high school library is also not responsible for the ipads and kindles that are kept in carts and loaned to teachers who sign them out. The technology department in the high school is responsible for this as well. In the elementary school it is a different story. Much like the TV/DVD player carts, the Ipad carts are housed in the library and the teachers sign them out with the librarians. They used to be kept in the computer lab, but space in there is limited and responsibility for these devices was handed over to the library a few years ago when more computers were added to the lab. The current system seems to be working, as there is a full time library aide who handles the devices (making sure they are plugged in, not left on, and stored properly). But without that aide available to check the devices I can see how this system could easily fall apart.
If Ipads are not charged when teachers need to use them it causes undue issues in the classroom. If apps are deleted or unavailable because of a student messing around with the app layouts there could be blame placed on the librarians. I do see how this can be an issue, but I think that we need to create a community in the school regarding these devices. If we are going to require their use, then everyone needs to be on board with keeping them maintained. Teachers need to be sure they are all back in the cart and plugged in properly before returning them, students need to be taught how to use them properly, and parents need to be aware that their child is using the devices so that they can talk to their child about respecting the schools property. It needs to be a community effort and not be placed squarely on the shoulders of one person to care for the devices.
The high school library is also not responsible for the ipads and kindles that are kept in carts and loaned to teachers who sign them out. The technology department in the high school is responsible for this as well. In the elementary school it is a different story. Much like the TV/DVD player carts, the Ipad carts are housed in the library and the teachers sign them out with the librarians. They used to be kept in the computer lab, but space in there is limited and responsibility for these devices was handed over to the library a few years ago when more computers were added to the lab. The current system seems to be working, as there is a full time library aide who handles the devices (making sure they are plugged in, not left on, and stored properly). But without that aide available to check the devices I can see how this system could easily fall apart.
If Ipads are not charged when teachers need to use them it causes undue issues in the classroom. If apps are deleted or unavailable because of a student messing around with the app layouts there could be blame placed on the librarians. I do see how this can be an issue, but I think that we need to create a community in the school regarding these devices. If we are going to require their use, then everyone needs to be on board with keeping them maintained. Teachers need to be sure they are all back in the cart and plugged in properly before returning them, students need to be taught how to use them properly, and parents need to be aware that their child is using the devices so that they can talk to their child about respecting the schools property. It needs to be a community effort and not be placed squarely on the shoulders of one person to care for the devices.
Thursday, April 16, 2015
Copyright police?
I have very strong feelings on copyright law and protecting the rights of authors and the publishers that print their work. As a writer myself, I would be remiss if I said it doesn't matter to me if people make unauthorized copies of my work, even for classroom use. But something one of my classmates mentioned really struck a chord with me.
He said that he doesn't want to be copyright police at his school, and I agree with him. I do not want to be the copyright police. I don't want teachers and students afraid to come into the library because of what I might tell them they are not allowed to do. The best way I can think to do this is to be proactive instead of reactive. That is, give them the information they need and can refer to, before they need it.
I might do this by compiling a packet for the beginning of the school year that outlines what leeways teachers and libraries are given with regards to copyright. Rather than giving them a list DON'Ts, I'd much rather give them a list of DOs.
It isn't in my personality to be confrontational and authoritarian; I don't want to lecture people on the rights of authors, though I will do everything in my power to uphold them. It quite honestly shocks me how little information and education teachers and administrators have on copyright law. Even when they do have some knowledge of it, they often disregard it, as if it is more of a guideline than actual law. Most people would not disregard other laws, but they deem it okay to break copyright laws. In my opinion, a law is a law for a reason. Copyright law protect more than just the artist, author, or publisher. They protect everyone that worked on the peice that you are copying or using unlawfully, from the craft service person providing food on a photoshoot, to the sound mixing person who worked on the album. Those people do not make millions and buy breaking copyright laws you might be taking money out of their pockets.
Like I said, I don't want to be copyright police, but I do need to come up with creative ways to be proactive about teaching copyright law if I don't want to be seen as the copier Nazi (a nickname I found out I have now).
He said that he doesn't want to be copyright police at his school, and I agree with him. I do not want to be the copyright police. I don't want teachers and students afraid to come into the library because of what I might tell them they are not allowed to do. The best way I can think to do this is to be proactive instead of reactive. That is, give them the information they need and can refer to, before they need it.
I might do this by compiling a packet for the beginning of the school year that outlines what leeways teachers and libraries are given with regards to copyright. Rather than giving them a list DON'Ts, I'd much rather give them a list of DOs.
It isn't in my personality to be confrontational and authoritarian; I don't want to lecture people on the rights of authors, though I will do everything in my power to uphold them. It quite honestly shocks me how little information and education teachers and administrators have on copyright law. Even when they do have some knowledge of it, they often disregard it, as if it is more of a guideline than actual law. Most people would not disregard other laws, but they deem it okay to break copyright laws. In my opinion, a law is a law for a reason. Copyright law protect more than just the artist, author, or publisher. They protect everyone that worked on the peice that you are copying or using unlawfully, from the craft service person providing food on a photoshoot, to the sound mixing person who worked on the album. Those people do not make millions and buy breaking copyright laws you might be taking money out of their pockets.
Like I said, I don't want to be copyright police, but I do need to come up with creative ways to be proactive about teaching copyright law if I don't want to be seen as the copier Nazi (a nickname I found out I have now).
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
Open Source Software in the Library
While I am admittedly no computer genius, and the coding language still escapes my grasp despite many attempts at learning, I still believe that there are many ways that a librarian (even the most technologically challenged like myself) can use open source software to assist in student learning in the library setting. Below are a few examples of open source software that I have found to be useful for students in a SLMC.
WorldCat is an open source library catalog. It allows users to search for books, dvds, cds, articles in all the libraries near you. It is connected to over 10,000 libraries worldwide, and has over two billion items indexed. It does not require an account to search the index, but it does require user to create a free account if they would like to create lists, bibliographies, or reviews of any library items. It is a great tool that allows students to search other local libraries for materials that the school may not have access to, and an invaluable resource in my opinion.
WordPress is a free blogging/website creation tool that allows users to customize their webspace. It allows for students/users who are interested in coding to develop a site that is customized to their exact liking, but also allows a "plug and play" option for those of us who'd like to customize their site, but to not know much coding. It offers a great variety of options and is a great tool for use in a classroom as it allows student interaction with technology, teachers, peers, community, and experts in any field they might be researching. If used properly, wordpress can be an amazing tool for student interaction with knowledge and information.
Twitter is one of the fasted paced social networks that we have. For that reason we need to know how to use it appropriately for classrooms lest we loose all of the academic potential and allow it to become another distraction. The answer here is hashtags (#). Having a group discussion among students about an academic issue on twitter is as simple as creating unique hashtags or using existing ones to get involved in a discussion. For example, a history class studying the Israeli conflict might use #peaceinthemiddleeast to get involved in the discussion and share input. The class might be asked to add #mrcollins211 to all their tweets so that classmates can interact with each other and see how their peers respond.
Noodletools is another very powerful open source tool that is great for students. It helps students understand plagarism, create bibliographies, take notes on research sources, and cite sources appropriately. It takes some getting used to, so some classtime would need to be set aside to teach students to use it, but it is completely free to use and provides very valuable information and assistance to students creating research papers/projects.
Overall, open source programs can seem really scary, but that is really just a matter of finding the programs that fit yours and your students technological capabilities. There are dozens of programs available. Not all of them are right for every program. We need to evaluate our needs and the needs of our students and make decisions about which is right for our needs. They can certainly be of use when sticking to a small budget though....something I am sure all of us has had experience with in the past!
WorldCat is an open source library catalog. It allows users to search for books, dvds, cds, articles in all the libraries near you. It is connected to over 10,000 libraries worldwide, and has over two billion items indexed. It does not require an account to search the index, but it does require user to create a free account if they would like to create lists, bibliographies, or reviews of any library items. It is a great tool that allows students to search other local libraries for materials that the school may not have access to, and an invaluable resource in my opinion.
WordPress is a free blogging/website creation tool that allows users to customize their webspace. It allows for students/users who are interested in coding to develop a site that is customized to their exact liking, but also allows a "plug and play" option for those of us who'd like to customize their site, but to not know much coding. It offers a great variety of options and is a great tool for use in a classroom as it allows student interaction with technology, teachers, peers, community, and experts in any field they might be researching. If used properly, wordpress can be an amazing tool for student interaction with knowledge and information.
Twitter is one of the fasted paced social networks that we have. For that reason we need to know how to use it appropriately for classrooms lest we loose all of the academic potential and allow it to become another distraction. The answer here is hashtags (#). Having a group discussion among students about an academic issue on twitter is as simple as creating unique hashtags or using existing ones to get involved in a discussion. For example, a history class studying the Israeli conflict might use #peaceinthemiddleeast to get involved in the discussion and share input. The class might be asked to add #mrcollins211 to all their tweets so that classmates can interact with each other and see how their peers respond.
Noodletools is another very powerful open source tool that is great for students. It helps students understand plagarism, create bibliographies, take notes on research sources, and cite sources appropriately. It takes some getting used to, so some classtime would need to be set aside to teach students to use it, but it is completely free to use and provides very valuable information and assistance to students creating research papers/projects.
Overall, open source programs can seem really scary, but that is really just a matter of finding the programs that fit yours and your students technological capabilities. There are dozens of programs available. Not all of them are right for every program. We need to evaluate our needs and the needs of our students and make decisions about which is right for our needs. They can certainly be of use when sticking to a small budget though....something I am sure all of us has had experience with in the past!
Monday, March 30, 2015
Distance Learning: Past, Present, Future
Flashback to 2002.
I sat in a high school "distance learning" classroom where I took an SAT Prep class that was offered at a school 35 miles from my physical location. At the front of the classroom was a Large projection screen. On it we saw the teacher as he lectured. On another smaller screen we saw anything he had prepared to present (overhead projection/powerpoint presentations etc.) And on 3 other small screens we could see students in other classrooms around the county who were participating in the same class. There were many times when once of the virtual classrooms would be experiencing technology problems and could not hear, or we could not hear them. There were days when we had trouble with assignments and could not ask questions in real time or had to call the host site classroom to speak on the phone to the teacher. All of our assignments were mailed/emailed to the teacher too.
I took an online graduate program in 2007 and I distinctly remember thinking that I would have loved to have been able to see my professors lecture in real time. But most of our assignments were reading, discussion posts, and group projects. For me, as a visual and kinesthetic learner, this type of distance learning was minimally helpful for me. I learned much more in my real life expereince than I did in that program, but the options I was hoping for (real time interaction with professors) were just not available to students online.
Fast forward to 2015 when I started this LMS program at SUNY Buffalo. Many of my classes now allow for me to participate in real time just like I had hoped for in my first graduate program experience. I can watch the lecture in real time via blackboards collaborate function. I can even raise my hand and ask a question. The professor can hear me and answer in real time too. I have even been able to skype chat with professors during their office hours.
We have come a long way since the days of correspondence classes. There have been many steps a long the way and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for distance learning. It gives students around the world the opportunity to attend programs that their geographical location might otherwise limit. Technology is changing so quickly and thankfully, it is being put to good use to improve distance learning!
I sat in a high school "distance learning" classroom where I took an SAT Prep class that was offered at a school 35 miles from my physical location. At the front of the classroom was a Large projection screen. On it we saw the teacher as he lectured. On another smaller screen we saw anything he had prepared to present (overhead projection/powerpoint presentations etc.) And on 3 other small screens we could see students in other classrooms around the county who were participating in the same class. There were many times when once of the virtual classrooms would be experiencing technology problems and could not hear, or we could not hear them. There were days when we had trouble with assignments and could not ask questions in real time or had to call the host site classroom to speak on the phone to the teacher. All of our assignments were mailed/emailed to the teacher too.
I took an online graduate program in 2007 and I distinctly remember thinking that I would have loved to have been able to see my professors lecture in real time. But most of our assignments were reading, discussion posts, and group projects. For me, as a visual and kinesthetic learner, this type of distance learning was minimally helpful for me. I learned much more in my real life expereince than I did in that program, but the options I was hoping for (real time interaction with professors) were just not available to students online.
Fast forward to 2015 when I started this LMS program at SUNY Buffalo. Many of my classes now allow for me to participate in real time just like I had hoped for in my first graduate program experience. I can watch the lecture in real time via blackboards collaborate function. I can even raise my hand and ask a question. The professor can hear me and answer in real time too. I have even been able to skype chat with professors during their office hours.
We have come a long way since the days of correspondence classes. There have been many steps a long the way and I cannot wait to see what the future holds for distance learning. It gives students around the world the opportunity to attend programs that their geographical location might otherwise limit. Technology is changing so quickly and thankfully, it is being put to good use to improve distance learning!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Content & Collaboration in the Library Classroom
What is content? How do you define that within your classroom?
To me content is what my students make it. Information is what I present, but it does not become content until the make connections with the information. It becomes content when they can use it in a meaningful way, connect it to everyday life, share it with others, and use it to inform their interactions and decisions.
Then what is collaboration?
To me, collaboration can be defined as any interaction where a student must work together with another person or with technology to create something. A collaboration can occur when a student interacts with a peer, with a teacher, with a parent, or with a computer program.
What happens when we use collaboration in our classroom?
In short, we help create useful content! Collaboration is essential for our students. They need to learn how to use technology to aid their collaborative efforts because their future will depend on it. They future academic and career paths with, in all likelihood, require some sort of technological collaboration, be it just email interactions, creating presentations, displaying documents, etc. Students need to learn the skills to collaborate effectively using technolgy and as teachers, we hold the key to facilitating this.
We need to allow students the time and freedom to explore technology platforms effectively and learn to use them to their highest collaborative potential. We can talk until we are blue int he face about how wikis and blogs can help our students interact, research, write, and share ideas, but unless we allow them to really experiment with the platform we are not allowing them to truly collaborate and in essence, to create content.
To me content is what my students make it. Information is what I present, but it does not become content until the make connections with the information. It becomes content when they can use it in a meaningful way, connect it to everyday life, share it with others, and use it to inform their interactions and decisions.
Then what is collaboration?
To me, collaboration can be defined as any interaction where a student must work together with another person or with technology to create something. A collaboration can occur when a student interacts with a peer, with a teacher, with a parent, or with a computer program.
What happens when we use collaboration in our classroom?
In short, we help create useful content! Collaboration is essential for our students. They need to learn how to use technology to aid their collaborative efforts because their future will depend on it. They future academic and career paths with, in all likelihood, require some sort of technological collaboration, be it just email interactions, creating presentations, displaying documents, etc. Students need to learn the skills to collaborate effectively using technolgy and as teachers, we hold the key to facilitating this.
We need to allow students the time and freedom to explore technology platforms effectively and learn to use them to their highest collaborative potential. We can talk until we are blue int he face about how wikis and blogs can help our students interact, research, write, and share ideas, but unless we allow them to really experiment with the platform we are not allowing them to truly collaborate and in essence, to create content.
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
Teaching Digital Citizenship to a generation online
Most student are of the mentality that they are safe online--that nothing is going to happen to them--that they are too smart to get taken advantage of online. But no one is as safe as they might think they are. Even as and adult with all the safeguards you can still get your identity stolen. Children and young adults are not nearly as careful with their personal information and can easily get themselves into trouble on the internet. Some schools across the country have begun integrating online safety into their computer, library, or classroom curriculum but it is not mandated and this is a big problem.
Students are unknowingly exposing themselves to potential predators through their internet habits. ABC News reports that even online gaming, which is extremely popular with students, has now become a virtual playground for predators. The gamers believe that they are talking to other people their age and are lured into a false sense of trust where they give away small details which eventually can lead a predator right to them. Safety needs to be our #1 priority when our students use the internet, just as it is when they enter our classrooms each day. We have locks on our schools, on our classroom doors, we practice lock down, lock out, and stay put drills every month so that our students know what to do if there is an intruder in our school; we practice fire drills and weather drills to train them in what to do if there is another emergency. We need to employ the same sense of the proactive with regards to digital citizenship and it needs to be mandated that every school provide this type of education for students before even one more student goes missing.
Internet safety is only one aspect of digital citizenship though. Another important aspect is preventing piracy in our download-happy society. There are dozens of file sharing programs available and students are more adept at getting around web filters to use them everyday. File sharing programs can download viruses and other malware and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. Stealing music, movies, and artwork by downloading it has a very real effect on the artists and other people associated with the work. Students may lack the ability to see the effects that their online actions can have on others, but by mandating a comprehensive digital citizenship program we can ensure that students at least have all of the information to consider before making decisions about their online actions.
Students are unknowingly exposing themselves to potential predators through their internet habits. ABC News reports that even online gaming, which is extremely popular with students, has now become a virtual playground for predators. The gamers believe that they are talking to other people their age and are lured into a false sense of trust where they give away small details which eventually can lead a predator right to them. Safety needs to be our #1 priority when our students use the internet, just as it is when they enter our classrooms each day. We have locks on our schools, on our classroom doors, we practice lock down, lock out, and stay put drills every month so that our students know what to do if there is an intruder in our school; we practice fire drills and weather drills to train them in what to do if there is another emergency. We need to employ the same sense of the proactive with regards to digital citizenship and it needs to be mandated that every school provide this type of education for students before even one more student goes missing.
Internet safety is only one aspect of digital citizenship though. Another important aspect is preventing piracy in our download-happy society. There are dozens of file sharing programs available and students are more adept at getting around web filters to use them everyday. File sharing programs can download viruses and other malware and cause thousands of dollars worth of damage. Stealing music, movies, and artwork by downloading it has a very real effect on the artists and other people associated with the work. Students may lack the ability to see the effects that their online actions can have on others, but by mandating a comprehensive digital citizenship program we can ensure that students at least have all of the information to consider before making decisions about their online actions.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Evidence Based Practice: Finding the Educational Sweet Spot
I read a lot this week about evidence based practice with respect to the school library. Yes, evidence based practice is a hot buzzword lately with all of our state tests and student learning objectives, (SLOs) but it has remained oddly absent from the library curriculum. That made me wonder why? Is it because no one could conceive of a way to test students on the things they learn in the library? Or maybe because they didn't really understand the skills taught in the library to begin with? Or maybe it is just because anecdotal evidence is just better suited for this type of environment.
In any case, each of the articles I read this week (6 total on evidence based practice--I couldn't stop reading once I started) seemed to have their own idea of how "Evidence" should be used in our practice as librarians. One of the most comprehensive models of it's use comes from article written by Jennifer Richey and Maria Cahill. In their article they outline a cycle of evidence based practice that loops around in a circle, each step leading to the next, a circular flow chart. It starts by determining the needs of the students using evidence then proceeds to developing goals based on those needs. From there we are to develop a plan, implement the plan, communicate with parents, teachers, students, and administrators, then reflect on the lessons, and repeat with the intent to do even better next time.
I do like this model. It is simple and is a adequate representation of the process. However, I think it may be a bit oversimplified and too linear for real world use. In our real classrooms, things rarely go as planned and we need to make sure all teacher librarians understand that "not going as planned" is normal and okay! Any teacher will tell you that some of the best lessons they have ever done are the ones that they hadn't planned out fully, the ones where they let the students lead. We are constantly course correcting too, which this model does not show. If we get to the 'implement plan' step and the students do not respond well to the 'plan' or show they have already mastered a skill they seemed weak in during the evaluation on which the plan is based, then the process has to start again. The plan needs to be adjusted. So, in this model, instead of the arrows pointing us through one process and on to the next, they would go back and then forward again. The same might happen as we 'communicate.' Teachers might have suggestions, or anecdotal evidence that we did not take into account when making and implementing our plan, administrators might have input into the design of the plan, parents might have input that could be useful--all of which might contribute to a need to change the initial plan. Again we would course correct.
I am not saying that this model is not useful. It certainly is. What I am saying is that the process is not as clear-cut as this model might have us believe. It is important to lay out these steps so that we know the process and where we are going with it, but it is also important to remember that it is okay to course correct. Education doesn't usually fit into a neat little flow chart. It takes a little finesse to find the educational 'sweet spot' and that spot might be different for each class, even for each student. What is important, is not that we follow the steps of EBP, but that we continually adjust until we are doing what is right for our students, building the best possible curriculum to meet their needs.
In any case, each of the articles I read this week (6 total on evidence based practice--I couldn't stop reading once I started) seemed to have their own idea of how "Evidence" should be used in our practice as librarians. One of the most comprehensive models of it's use comes from article written by Jennifer Richey and Maria Cahill. In their article they outline a cycle of evidence based practice that loops around in a circle, each step leading to the next, a circular flow chart. It starts by determining the needs of the students using evidence then proceeds to developing goals based on those needs. From there we are to develop a plan, implement the plan, communicate with parents, teachers, students, and administrators, then reflect on the lessons, and repeat with the intent to do even better next time.
I do like this model. It is simple and is a adequate representation of the process. However, I think it may be a bit oversimplified and too linear for real world use. In our real classrooms, things rarely go as planned and we need to make sure all teacher librarians understand that "not going as planned" is normal and okay! Any teacher will tell you that some of the best lessons they have ever done are the ones that they hadn't planned out fully, the ones where they let the students lead. We are constantly course correcting too, which this model does not show. If we get to the 'implement plan' step and the students do not respond well to the 'plan' or show they have already mastered a skill they seemed weak in during the evaluation on which the plan is based, then the process has to start again. The plan needs to be adjusted. So, in this model, instead of the arrows pointing us through one process and on to the next, they would go back and then forward again. The same might happen as we 'communicate.' Teachers might have suggestions, or anecdotal evidence that we did not take into account when making and implementing our plan, administrators might have input into the design of the plan, parents might have input that could be useful--all of which might contribute to a need to change the initial plan. Again we would course correct.
I am not saying that this model is not useful. It certainly is. What I am saying is that the process is not as clear-cut as this model might have us believe. It is important to lay out these steps so that we know the process and where we are going with it, but it is also important to remember that it is okay to course correct. Education doesn't usually fit into a neat little flow chart. It takes a little finesse to find the educational 'sweet spot' and that spot might be different for each class, even for each student. What is important, is not that we follow the steps of EBP, but that we continually adjust until we are doing what is right for our students, building the best possible curriculum to meet their needs.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Google: the beginning of the end of student curiosity?
"Teachers and students alike report that for today's students, "research" means "Googling." As a result, some teachers report that for their students "doing research" has shifted from a relatively slow process of intellectual curiosity and discovery to fast-paced, short-term exercise aimed at locating just enough information to complete and assignment." (PewInternet.org)
The Past
Think back. Do you remember sitting in your library sifting through books and encyclopedias looking for information on a particular topic you were researching? With each resource you went deeper into that topic, learning more about the many facets that you had never even considered. Sure, there was some wasted time as you weeded out articles and books that were of little use to you. But even those resources provided valuable learning experiences, as you learned why they were not useful (too advanced, wrong audience, different point of view, too biased, etc.) Research used to mean building a deep understanding of a complex topic, it seems that today, student understanding of research has changed.
The Present
Google has changed our lives in so many ways. I can look up the address of a restaurant where I am meeting friends in 4 seconds flats. I can even decide what I am ordering before I get there by looking up their menu online. I can suggest we see a movie, American Sniper, afterward and look up the movie showtimes. I can get thousands of reviews for the movie and directions to the theater. But what happens when I try to Google the conflict in the middle east that is central to the plot of the movie. This is not something I would normally research, so Google "assumes" that I am looking for information about Middle Eastern countries. I get results like travel blogs, weather reports, photo blogs, along with a few news stories about recent events. Even when I add "Chris Kyle" the movie's character, I get movie reviews, book reviews, and People magazine articles about his wife and the Oscar buzz surround the movie and its director Clint Eastwood. This doesn't just happen to me, this happens with our students too. Suppose they are researching the holocaust and our school search filters are set so as to remove any "offensive material," or google "assumes," based on their past searches, they are not looking for factual information about the events of WWII, but cartoon representations, or video games based on WWII. The student could easily end up with a very shallow research pool to choose from. Students are now used to the fast-paced research process that Google allows them, and seeing those results, will likely take what they can from the results, answer the question quickly and hand it in; not even thinking to look deeper, or to go beyond Google. So what can we do to encourage them to go beyond the "google hits."
The Future
We need to educate students to this phenomena. We need to show them other ways to search. We need to model using other search engines like clusty.com which allows them to quickly change direction and narrow searches by keywords from a word cloud. Or for the more visually motivated, we can use search engines like Quintura.com or search-cube.com. If they are still attached to Google we can teach them to use Google Scholar to expand their searches into the realm of authoritative, high-quality works that are useful for research purposes. There are so many more tools available, when students stop after a simple Google search, sure they may have answered the question posed by the teacher but they likely did not expand their understanding of the topic.
Education and research is about so much more than doing, exactly what the teacher asks and nothing more. It is about exploring and developing our own unique viewpoints. If you stop your research efforts with Google (which bases its results on your usual searches) then you will in all likelihood not be discovering alternate points of view. You will not be expanding your understanding of a topic and in short, you will always think how you've always thought. If the point of research is to go beyond our current understanding of a topic, we need to give students search alternatives, we need to teach them to go outside of the Google bubble!
How To:
The Past
Think back. Do you remember sitting in your library sifting through books and encyclopedias looking for information on a particular topic you were researching? With each resource you went deeper into that topic, learning more about the many facets that you had never even considered. Sure, there was some wasted time as you weeded out articles and books that were of little use to you. But even those resources provided valuable learning experiences, as you learned why they were not useful (too advanced, wrong audience, different point of view, too biased, etc.) Research used to mean building a deep understanding of a complex topic, it seems that today, student understanding of research has changed.
The Present
Google has changed our lives in so many ways. I can look up the address of a restaurant where I am meeting friends in 4 seconds flats. I can even decide what I am ordering before I get there by looking up their menu online. I can suggest we see a movie, American Sniper, afterward and look up the movie showtimes. I can get thousands of reviews for the movie and directions to the theater. But what happens when I try to Google the conflict in the middle east that is central to the plot of the movie. This is not something I would normally research, so Google "assumes" that I am looking for information about Middle Eastern countries. I get results like travel blogs, weather reports, photo blogs, along with a few news stories about recent events. Even when I add "Chris Kyle" the movie's character, I get movie reviews, book reviews, and People magazine articles about his wife and the Oscar buzz surround the movie and its director Clint Eastwood. This doesn't just happen to me, this happens with our students too. Suppose they are researching the holocaust and our school search filters are set so as to remove any "offensive material," or google "assumes," based on their past searches, they are not looking for factual information about the events of WWII, but cartoon representations, or video games based on WWII. The student could easily end up with a very shallow research pool to choose from. Students are now used to the fast-paced research process that Google allows them, and seeing those results, will likely take what they can from the results, answer the question quickly and hand it in; not even thinking to look deeper, or to go beyond Google. So what can we do to encourage them to go beyond the "google hits."
The Future
We need to educate students to this phenomena. We need to show them other ways to search. We need to model using other search engines like clusty.com which allows them to quickly change direction and narrow searches by keywords from a word cloud. Or for the more visually motivated, we can use search engines like Quintura.com or search-cube.com. If they are still attached to Google we can teach them to use Google Scholar to expand their searches into the realm of authoritative, high-quality works that are useful for research purposes. There are so many more tools available, when students stop after a simple Google search, sure they may have answered the question posed by the teacher but they likely did not expand their understanding of the topic.
Education and research is about so much more than doing, exactly what the teacher asks and nothing more. It is about exploring and developing our own unique viewpoints. If you stop your research efforts with Google (which bases its results on your usual searches) then you will in all likelihood not be discovering alternate points of view. You will not be expanding your understanding of a topic and in short, you will always think how you've always thought. If the point of research is to go beyond our current understanding of a topic, we need to give students search alternatives, we need to teach them to go outside of the Google bubble!
How To:
- Homepage Links to alternate search sites
- Model searching through different sites
- Explain filter bubbles
- Show how different people get different results with identical keywords
Thursday, February 19, 2015
Creating a culture of transfer in our schools
This week I have been thinking a lot about the concept of knowledge and skills transfer in school students, and how we, as librarians can help to facilitate a "culture of transfer" in our libraries, moreover, in our entire school.
I read an article this week by James Herring called Assumptions, Information Literacy and Transfer in High Schools. One line, in particular really caught my attention. He explains, and from my experience this seems exactly right, that "students...regard the school as a place where they do what teachers ask them to do, and more importantly, only do what teachers ask of them." I see this quite often. Student do not want go beyond the scope of the assignment instructions, they do not want to search for an answer in a text that isn't on a pre-provided list and they do not easily transfer information between one subject and the next without being told to do so.
Transfer is not an innate skill. In fact, as children our brains are pre-programmed to compartmentalize things. We build schemas for how to act in different situations. IE:quiet at the library but loud at a birthday party, raise my hand in school but not at home. It is only natural that this process continues as we grow. Students develop the mindset that the information they learn from the teacher during Social Studies class is only useful for them in Social Studies. Science is only useful for a science test, or paper, and wouldn't be helpful in a Language Arts or Math Class.
Transfer is a learned skill. It is something that needs to be facilitated in all classrooms, but we can start in the library. If we build our library curriculum around projects and subjects that the students are doing in their regular classrooms we can encourage the transfer of subject specific information to the library setting. If we involve their teachers in the lessons on information literacy we can, hopefully, encourage that skill beyond the library setting too.
Reinforcement is key. Just as with any skill, reinforcement is a huge part of fluency. If you don't practice, the skill becomes weaker and weaker until it is lost. Students need to have information literacy skills reinforced across their curriculum. We can help facilitate that by collaborating with teachers and helping them to understand what exactly information literacy means and why it is beneficial for them to incorporate...in short, why it needs to be part of their job too, and not just the librarians'. We can work with teachers across the grade level curriculum to create research projects that will encompass a variety of subject areas in order to facilitate transfer on multiple levels.
Transfer is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced and information literacy is a a skill that is worthless without the ability to transfer it to all situations. Through careful selection of projects and reinforcement of the skill cross-curriculum we can ensure that students develop the information literacy skill that they will need to be successful in all of their future academic endeavors.
I read an article this week by James Herring called Assumptions, Information Literacy and Transfer in High Schools. One line, in particular really caught my attention. He explains, and from my experience this seems exactly right, that "students...regard the school as a place where they do what teachers ask them to do, and more importantly, only do what teachers ask of them." I see this quite often. Student do not want go beyond the scope of the assignment instructions, they do not want to search for an answer in a text that isn't on a pre-provided list and they do not easily transfer information between one subject and the next without being told to do so.
Transfer is not an innate skill. In fact, as children our brains are pre-programmed to compartmentalize things. We build schemas for how to act in different situations. IE:quiet at the library but loud at a birthday party, raise my hand in school but not at home. It is only natural that this process continues as we grow. Students develop the mindset that the information they learn from the teacher during Social Studies class is only useful for them in Social Studies. Science is only useful for a science test, or paper, and wouldn't be helpful in a Language Arts or Math Class.
Transfer is a learned skill. It is something that needs to be facilitated in all classrooms, but we can start in the library. If we build our library curriculum around projects and subjects that the students are doing in their regular classrooms we can encourage the transfer of subject specific information to the library setting. If we involve their teachers in the lessons on information literacy we can, hopefully, encourage that skill beyond the library setting too.
Reinforcement is key. Just as with any skill, reinforcement is a huge part of fluency. If you don't practice, the skill becomes weaker and weaker until it is lost. Students need to have information literacy skills reinforced across their curriculum. We can help facilitate that by collaborating with teachers and helping them to understand what exactly information literacy means and why it is beneficial for them to incorporate...in short, why it needs to be part of their job too, and not just the librarians'. We can work with teachers across the grade level curriculum to create research projects that will encompass a variety of subject areas in order to facilitate transfer on multiple levels.
Transfer is a skill that needs to be taught and practiced and information literacy is a a skill that is worthless without the ability to transfer it to all situations. Through careful selection of projects and reinforcement of the skill cross-curriculum we can ensure that students develop the information literacy skill that they will need to be successful in all of their future academic endeavors.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
Weblogs, Comments, & Wikis...Oh My!
I know that the use of blogging and wikis is becoming more commonplace in classrooms, but that doesn't help quell my apprehension about the new-to-me technologies. There are so many benefits to exposing students to these web tools, but even after all the research and reading I have done on it this week, I am left with more questions than answers.
Technology Access
I live in a very rural area, and believe it or not, there are still people who do not have internet access in their homes, either because of their location, or because of a poverty situation. If we incorporate something like blogging/wikis into our curriculum we need to set aside class time for students to contribute, otherwise, those without access to computers or internet at home would not benefit from the activity. We cannot just allow certain students to do the work in class because then we risk singling them out, and drawing attention to their home life, and we know how cruel children can be.
Chaos in an Organized World
I will be the first to admit it. I have a problem. I am hyper-organized. Yes, this might be an asset to a librarian, but it also means that wikis stress me out. To me, they seem like complete chaos. When I first started researching them it was through the lens of basic linear thought. I was thinking, how can the information stay organized if anyone can change it at will? How will I know where my words end and the students' begin? How will I keep track of who makes which changes? Will it take a ton of my already limited time to sort all of this out? I needed to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. I am used to blogs and message boards which are organized so that each comment follows the one before in a very organized manner; all new posts and comments are dated and ordered and my Type A brain loves this. Wikis are different and I realize now that I cannot change them to suit my way of thinking, I need to change my way of thinking to understand wikis. There are ways to keep the wiki more organized, like assigning each student a color to write in, or having them "sign" their name after each change, but it will never be like a blog. However, that doesn't mean that my students will not benefit from it. Wikis encourages collaboration, and a sense of community ownership and responsibility that blogs, while great in their own ways, simply cannot do. Providing students opportunity with both will help them to develop multiple skill areas and parts of the brain....just like I am doing by learning about them.
Vandalism on Class Blogs and Wikis
We all know that one student who just can't be trusted not to make mean, or "funny" comments during a class discussion. Usually its the same student who is opening up windows on the computer what they shouldn't be, or attempting to access blocked pages with inappropriate URLs. I don't have just one of these students. I've had dozens of them and they are a huge concern for me with a project like this. They are unpredictable. I simply do not know how they would respond to a project like a blog or wiki. It is possible they would feel a sense of control and choice because it belongs to them, or to the collective class. But it is equally probable that they will make inappropriate comments, or rude/hurtful comments about another students ideas and contributions. My main goal is to keep my the learning environment in my classroom as positive and invitational as possible, and without monitoring blogs/wikis 24/7. I am left uncertain how I can keep that positive environment, especially when the wiki is open to the whole internet. Yes, I understand that I can always remove the offending comment or revert to a previous version of the wiki, but in order to keep the wiki environment the way I'd like, I would have to do that before students see any offensive material, and I don't know how to do that easily.
Examples of How Teachers are Using Wikis
Mrs. Cassidy's students wanted to know what 1000 looks like, so they collected 1000 names by posting a wiki.
Mrs. Anderson uses her wiki to keep student portfolios, communicate with parents, and post media content for students.
Mr. Driscoll used his wiki to host a student led debate about climate change for 10th, 11th & 12th graders.
These are just a few of the many wikis I looked at that helped me to decide that wikis are definitely worth learning and incorporating into our classroom, even though I still have a lot to learn about them.
Do you use a wiki in your classroom or library? I would love to see how you use them! Feel free to link in the comments.
Technology Access
I live in a very rural area, and believe it or not, there are still people who do not have internet access in their homes, either because of their location, or because of a poverty situation. If we incorporate something like blogging/wikis into our curriculum we need to set aside class time for students to contribute, otherwise, those without access to computers or internet at home would not benefit from the activity. We cannot just allow certain students to do the work in class because then we risk singling them out, and drawing attention to their home life, and we know how cruel children can be.
Chaos in an Organized World
I will be the first to admit it. I have a problem. I am hyper-organized. Yes, this might be an asset to a librarian, but it also means that wikis stress me out. To me, they seem like complete chaos. When I first started researching them it was through the lens of basic linear thought. I was thinking, how can the information stay organized if anyone can change it at will? How will I know where my words end and the students' begin? How will I keep track of who makes which changes? Will it take a ton of my already limited time to sort all of this out? I needed to take a step back and look at it from a different perspective. I am used to blogs and message boards which are organized so that each comment follows the one before in a very organized manner; all new posts and comments are dated and ordered and my Type A brain loves this. Wikis are different and I realize now that I cannot change them to suit my way of thinking, I need to change my way of thinking to understand wikis. There are ways to keep the wiki more organized, like assigning each student a color to write in, or having them "sign" their name after each change, but it will never be like a blog. However, that doesn't mean that my students will not benefit from it. Wikis encourages collaboration, and a sense of community ownership and responsibility that blogs, while great in their own ways, simply cannot do. Providing students opportunity with both will help them to develop multiple skill areas and parts of the brain....just like I am doing by learning about them.
Vandalism on Class Blogs and Wikis
We all know that one student who just can't be trusted not to make mean, or "funny" comments during a class discussion. Usually its the same student who is opening up windows on the computer what they shouldn't be, or attempting to access blocked pages with inappropriate URLs. I don't have just one of these students. I've had dozens of them and they are a huge concern for me with a project like this. They are unpredictable. I simply do not know how they would respond to a project like a blog or wiki. It is possible they would feel a sense of control and choice because it belongs to them, or to the collective class. But it is equally probable that they will make inappropriate comments, or rude/hurtful comments about another students ideas and contributions. My main goal is to keep my the learning environment in my classroom as positive and invitational as possible, and without monitoring blogs/wikis 24/7. I am left uncertain how I can keep that positive environment, especially when the wiki is open to the whole internet. Yes, I understand that I can always remove the offending comment or revert to a previous version of the wiki, but in order to keep the wiki environment the way I'd like, I would have to do that before students see any offensive material, and I don't know how to do that easily.
Examples of How Teachers are Using Wikis
Mrs. Cassidy's students wanted to know what 1000 looks like, so they collected 1000 names by posting a wiki.
Mrs. Anderson uses her wiki to keep student portfolios, communicate with parents, and post media content for students.
Mr. Driscoll used his wiki to host a student led debate about climate change for 10th, 11th & 12th graders.
These are just a few of the many wikis I looked at that helped me to decide that wikis are definitely worth learning and incorporating into our classroom, even though I still have a lot to learn about them.
Do you use a wiki in your classroom or library? I would love to see how you use them! Feel free to link in the comments.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Assistive Technology in the Library: An Idealist Point of View
Teaching students with disabilities. I will be the first to admit that I am under-informed on this topic. I have worked with students with disabilities in a number of different capacities and I consider myself very knowledgeable about different conditions and the modifications that students might need, however, when it comes to assistive technology, I am admittedly a novice.
The district where I currently work is very small. There are between 50-80 students in each grade and very few with serious disabilities. We do have a number of students with learning disabilities. But off hand I can only think of maybe 3 with mobility impairments and 1 with a hearing impairment. It seems were are not very diverse when it comes to students with disabilities. That said, I do not plan to be in this district forever, and I enjoy learning and experimenting with the many new assistive technologies that exist.
I would love to someday look around in my library and see students using a variety of assistive technologies. There are many that could be useful to the normally functioning students as well as the students with disabilities. For example, spellcheckers and brainstorming/mindmapping software which are recommended for students with learning disabilities are actually useful for all students, and especially in helping students with special needs interact and work cooperatively with regular education students. Take bubbl.us as an example. This is a tool that would be very useful for students of all abilities for help in mapping out their ideas for research, pre-writing and group projects. Below is their brief explanatory video of the service bubbl.us provides.
But assistive technologies encompass more than just helpful web tools. I would love someday look around this imaginary library and see students taking advantage of headsets and screen readers, screen magnifying software, word prediction software, speech to text software, and even braille output devices. I would love to see all of my students able to navigate the library technology and stacks independently, without needing to ask for help reaching a book from their wheelchair, or reading a sign that isn't labeled in large print or braille. Being able to do things independently creates a feeling of success in the classroom library, and the most important thing at the end of the day, is that our students feel successful no matter what their ability level.
The district where I currently work is very small. There are between 50-80 students in each grade and very few with serious disabilities. We do have a number of students with learning disabilities. But off hand I can only think of maybe 3 with mobility impairments and 1 with a hearing impairment. It seems were are not very diverse when it comes to students with disabilities. That said, I do not plan to be in this district forever, and I enjoy learning and experimenting with the many new assistive technologies that exist.
I would love to someday look around in my library and see students using a variety of assistive technologies. There are many that could be useful to the normally functioning students as well as the students with disabilities. For example, spellcheckers and brainstorming/mindmapping software which are recommended for students with learning disabilities are actually useful for all students, and especially in helping students with special needs interact and work cooperatively with regular education students. Take bubbl.us as an example. This is a tool that would be very useful for students of all abilities for help in mapping out their ideas for research, pre-writing and group projects. Below is their brief explanatory video of the service bubbl.us provides.
But assistive technologies encompass more than just helpful web tools. I would love someday look around this imaginary library and see students taking advantage of headsets and screen readers, screen magnifying software, word prediction software, speech to text software, and even braille output devices. I would love to see all of my students able to navigate the library technology and stacks independently, without needing to ask for help reaching a book from their wheelchair, or reading a sign that isn't labeled in large print or braille. Being able to do things independently creates a feeling of success in the classroom library, and the most important thing at the end of the day, is that our students feel successful no matter what their ability level.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Web 2.0--What is it good for?
While I was previously unaware that there was a name for the "new internet," I have used quite a few of the sites and resources mentioned in this weeks reading, and a few that weren't mentioned. I am currently working as a substitute teacher in a relatively small school district and I tend to bounce between classrooms pretty regularly and one thing I have noticed is that many teachers do not make use of the wealth of web resources available to them. I work mainly in the elementary school grades and, in contrast to a few teachers at my school, I feel that young students should be exposed to as much media as we can feasibly incorporate in an educational manner.
This generation of students is growing up in a world where any answer they need is, quite literally, in the palm of their hand. Instead of teaching them to memorize facts and dates we need to follow their lead and instead, instruct them in how to access reliable information--in essence, how to use all the "power" they possess to their best advantage. I have taught in high school classrooms where students want me to tell them the pages of the textbook that a given chapter is on. This concerns me for many reasons, but mainly because they need to learn to find information independently. Yes, many of them can punch a question into google and get an answer, but do not know how to evaluate a webpage to see if it is an accurate and reliable source? Do they know how to cite that source? Do they know how to find that source again if need be? Do they know how to use that information to find other sources? From my experience the answer is no. They know how to play video games, use snapchat, and google but when it comes to using the internet for educational purposes, their skills are sorely lacking.
So the question about web 2.0 becomes: if all students are using it for is social networking and gaming, what is it really good for? I think many of our teachers are frustrated by this and not sure how to take technology in their classroom out of the purely social context to which students have become accustomed and plunge it back into the world of education. This is where Library Media Specialists can help.
We begin by being models of Web 2.0 in the classroom. It might seem like a lofty goal right now, but whether I end up in a public library, or a school library I plan to be working with children. One of my biggest goals is to introduce them to new technology on a regular basis. I would like to use a new type of technology every week. I already know and use things like Prezi, Youtube, Storybird and Animoto, but there are so many others I would love to try out.
Technology has so many uses, there are games and sites for every possible discipline and many ways to incorporate each into a classroom. There are even sites like class DoJo which takes classroom management into the digital arena and allows teachers to communicate with parents about student behavior through an interactive app. Student can even interact with the app on the smart board helping to give them ownership and accountability over their "grade" for the day.
Now, to answer my own question: What is web 2.0 good for? My answer: EVERYTHING. One website may not meet every teachers needs, but with a well curated arsenal of websites, teachers can take the classroom into the new millennium and in doing so, create students who will be able to make use of the technology that surrounds them in ways that actually contribute to their education.
This generation of students is growing up in a world where any answer they need is, quite literally, in the palm of their hand. Instead of teaching them to memorize facts and dates we need to follow their lead and instead, instruct them in how to access reliable information--in essence, how to use all the "power" they possess to their best advantage. I have taught in high school classrooms where students want me to tell them the pages of the textbook that a given chapter is on. This concerns me for many reasons, but mainly because they need to learn to find information independently. Yes, many of them can punch a question into google and get an answer, but do not know how to evaluate a webpage to see if it is an accurate and reliable source? Do they know how to cite that source? Do they know how to find that source again if need be? Do they know how to use that information to find other sources? From my experience the answer is no. They know how to play video games, use snapchat, and google but when it comes to using the internet for educational purposes, their skills are sorely lacking.
So the question about web 2.0 becomes: if all students are using it for is social networking and gaming, what is it really good for? I think many of our teachers are frustrated by this and not sure how to take technology in their classroom out of the purely social context to which students have become accustomed and plunge it back into the world of education. This is where Library Media Specialists can help.
We begin by being models of Web 2.0 in the classroom. It might seem like a lofty goal right now, but whether I end up in a public library, or a school library I plan to be working with children. One of my biggest goals is to introduce them to new technology on a regular basis. I would like to use a new type of technology every week. I already know and use things like Prezi, Youtube, Storybird and Animoto, but there are so many others I would love to try out.
Technology has so many uses, there are games and sites for every possible discipline and many ways to incorporate each into a classroom. There are even sites like class DoJo which takes classroom management into the digital arena and allows teachers to communicate with parents about student behavior through an interactive app. Student can even interact with the app on the smart board helping to give them ownership and accountability over their "grade" for the day.
Now, to answer my own question: What is web 2.0 good for? My answer: EVERYTHING. One website may not meet every teachers needs, but with a well curated arsenal of websites, teachers can take the classroom into the new millennium and in doing so, create students who will be able to make use of the technology that surrounds them in ways that actually contribute to their education.
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