Monthly Archives: September 2018

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Technology-Enabled Learning: iPOD

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A Common Technology Tool

with Unique Uses

 

An Apple iPod is a common technology tool that my elementary age students are familiar with utilizing when outside of the classroom.  Due to its size and mobility, this particular tool would be extremely useful in the library and in a regular classroom.

 

First, I love the notion of using the iPod as creating a virtual field trip for my students.  Discovery Education provides virtual field trips to John Deere and Madden NFL which help bring some practical elements (sports and farming are surrounding the students in our area) that bring to life careers and perspectives on those careers that aren’t open initially when you think of working at such places.

A second site to use for curated virtual field trip links is from Common Sense Media these are annotated websites that also state whether the field trip is free or paid for.  I loved this site, and thought it a great way to utilize the iPod as a tool for our students.  This is a versatile service that would enable us to help create unique experiences for our classroom students based on the content the teacher needs covered.  So, a nice, collaborative educational experience that would enable our students to travel without having the hassle of finding funding to leave their area.

 

 

Second, WeVideo is a tool where my students can make great use of our green screen kit, and create their own book trailers, book talks, readers theater dramatizations, and morning news show with an easy to use, interactive format.  It does cost money, but at $93 a year for a subscription, it is manageable.

Although the iPod is a common technology tool, there are uses that can be performed in the classroom in a familiar format for our students so there is little adjustment, and it is open to intuitive use.  This tool adheres to the pedagogical perspective listed in Kearney’s (2012) article for creating mobile learning that emphasizes authenticity, collaboration, and personalization.  Discovery Education would provide authentic field trip experiences for my students, while WeVideo would enable the students to create collaborative and personalized technology to share with their peers.

Thankfully, the technology has been around long enough that there are a vast amount of applications available to help our students in a variety of ways.  The iPod can be used to help with the Pixar in a Box storytelling features, too, so it’s a versatile tool that can be handled by our smallest users.  Definitely an item that I would love to incorporate in my library as a station for my users.

What I appreciated in this week’s readings, though, was mentioned in the Green (2014) article is that the technology leadership role was to help classroom teachers create authentic and unique technology-enabled learning experiences (42).

Sources

Discovery Education Virtual Field Trips.  Discovery Education.  (2018).  Retrieved from http://www.discoveryeducation.com/Events/virtual-field-trips/explore/index.cfm?campaign=flyout_parents_virtual_field_trips

Green, L. S. (2014).  Through the looking glass:  examining technology in school librarianship.  Knowledge Quest.  43(1).  pp. 37-43.

Kearney, M. and Schuck, S., Burden, K., and Aubusson, P.   (2012).  Viewing mobile learning from a pedagogical perspective.  Research in Learning Technology. 20.  14406 – doi:  10.3402/rlt.v20i0.14406.

Pixar in a Box | Partner content |Khan Academy. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar

 

Virtual Field Trip Apps and Websites.  Common Sense Media for Educators.  (2018).  Retrieved from  https://www.commonsense.org/education/top-picks/virtual-field-trip-apps-and-websites

Online video editor for web, mobile, windows, & mac.  WeVideo. (2018)  Retrieved from  https://www.wevideo.com/

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Unboxing Technology Fun with Cathy Knutson

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Introducing Today’s Special Guest:

Cathy Knutson, Digital Literacy Specialist

Meet Cathy Knutson, a Teacher-Librarian/ “newly” minted Digital Literacy Specialist from Lakeville, MN who runs a rather fun (and quirky) blog called, “Technology Loose in the Library…and around the school!”

The blog is an interesting mix of classroom teacher collaborations with technology in classroom projects along with a teacher newsletter of new technology that can be useful to help students create their own classroom content.

An Elementary Technology Literacy Blog

http://ohekidstech.blogspot.com/

The Fun Tech Tool:

Available through Khan Academy

This website is a wonderful tool especially with their “The Art of Storytelling” section that guides students through the methods used by Pixar when creating and pitching stories they want to bring to life.  Considering I like to use the Pixar vignettes to help teach my students story structure, I am eager to see what I can utilize for my primary grade students in helping bring their own stories to life.

 

What is a Digital Literacy Specialist?

A growing trend across the nation has begun by re-vamping what it means to be a school library media specialist, and along with that is coming a new job title:  Digital Literacy Specialist.

Cathy Knutson’s school district is one of many nationwide that is taking what media specialists used to do, and giving it a new dimension with a greater focus on effective technology use and classroom collaboration.  An article in School Administrator, an AASA publication, states:

Recognizing the importance of school media centers and school-based library media specialists to the success of students today, the Mobile County, Ala., Public Schools launched a project last fall to transform the school system’s library media specialists into digital leaders, coaches and collaborative partners who work with students, teachers and school leaders to ensure appropriate technology is woven throughout the curriculum. (Turner & White, 2015)

Our articles this week focused on the importance of the teacher-librarian being a technology leader.  The shift of Cathy Knutson from a Teacher-Librarian to a Digital Literacy Specialist highlights how the definition at the district/ administration level has changed for what has been an ambiguously defined role for the teacher-librarian (Johnston, 2012).  As teacher-librarians, it has been our role to collaborate with other professionals:  teachers, administrators, and technology instructors to help educate and implement new materials (Smith, 2010).  The shift has not been an easy one to make, but it seems to be making inroads thanks to districts like those in Mobile County, Ala and across our nation.

How does this apply to me?

I love storytelling in its wide variety of forms:  comic books, graphic novels, radio theater, plays, films, and most importantly, as performance art.  I grew up listening to Ed Stivender, Syd Liberman, Barbara McBride Smith, David Novak, Aunt Pearly Sue, Joseph Bruchac, Carmen Agra Deedy, Donald Davis, and a host of others too numerous for my mind to count through the years.

I want to engage with my students so that they can bring their own stories (personal and imaginative) to life.  Nurturing their creative sparks helps our students engage in unique problem solving and critical thinking skills they wouldn’t normally employ except that they have gotten used to thinking outside of the box of a “typical” education through the gifts brought about by storytelling.  We should be gifting our students with the stories, and grounding them in their lives because this will help them to understand themselves and their communities.  Technology is simply another vehicle to use to bring about this understanding and engagement.

 

 

 

Sources

Johnston, M. P. (2012).  Connecting teacher librarians for technology integration leadership.  School Libraries Worldwide.  18(1).  pp. 18-33.

Johnston, M.P. (2012).  School librarians as technology integration leaders: enables and barriers to leadership enactment.  American Association of School Librarians. Retrieved from http://www.ala.org/aasl/slr/volume15/johnston.

Pixar in a Box | Partner content |Khan Academy. (2017). Retrieved from https://www.khanacademy.org/partner-content/pixar

Smith, D. (2010).  Making the case for the leadership role of school librarians in technology integration.  Library Hi Tech.  28(4).  pp. 617-631.  Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1108/07378831011096277

Turner, D., & White, M. (2015). From Media Specialists to Digital        Literacy Leaders: Mobile County, Ala., begins a districtwide transformation to support classrooms in effective technology use.  AASA:  The School Superintendent Association:  School Administrator.  Retrieved from http://www.aasa.org/content.aspx?id=37168

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SLIS 761: 21st Century Information Literacy

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According to the standards created by the Association of College & Research Libraries in the article, Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education, information literacy is informed by technology and digital/media.  This is illustrated in an expanded definition of information literacy (p.3)

 Information literacy is the set of integrated abilities                                      encompassing the reflective discovery of information, the                        understanding of how information is produced and valued,  and the use of information in creating new knowledge and participating ethically in communities of learning.

The learner’s understanding of how information is produced and valued is informed by the methods with which the information is created along with where it is shared.  The ACRL standards  explicitly state that the where and how of information will have an impact on who sees the information, and how the viewer will judge the authority of the information gathered.  The P21 Framework Definitions helped to define the intersection between technology, digital/media, and information literacy when they stated as part of the framework how a learner should, “understand both how and why media messages are constructed, and for what purposes” (p. 5).  This highlights, again, how vital understanding the vehicle information is conveyed in can alter the nature of the information and how it is shared.  The following are resources and readings included with this week’s assignment that are very helpful in teaching information literacy.

The game, Factitious, is a very entertaining, and enlightening method used to illustrate how articles found on the internet can be either real or fake news.  It trains the observer to become more discerning in checking sources, facts, and website (origin of information) to make sure the information given is legitimate.  When speaking in their podcast on Fake News & Media Literacy, The Liturgists’, had a wonderful 2-bit rap that came on in the middle and at the end of the show highlighting how gullible we can be when consuming information that we believe is factual, but is actually opinion-based.  I’m actually rather interested in reading the book featured on the blog, The Information Diet by Clay A. Johnson.

As a school media specialist, it is important that we know and understand a wide range of information resources and that we strive to incorporate kernels of information literacy into our interactions with students each day whether that be by formal presentations, casual interactions with students, or providing quality links on our school website.  Our information diet should consist of professional journals such as School Library Journal, Educational Leadership, and select variety (world wide) of news information outlets such as the BBC, Washington Post, and our local news information outlets besides popular culture news information so that we can understand student trends and concerns.

I will admit that one of my favorite sources that can be used to illustrate information literacy for our students is on the http://scdiscus.org website on the database entitled, Opposing Viewpoints in Context.  This is a site that offers links to vetted information sources on a wide-variety of topics and will allow for our learners to look at a range of opinions and material on a given topic without knowing exactly who is for or against the topic until the article has been read.  It is important that we, as professionals, help to guide ourselves and our students along information avenues that provide quality sources and materials for our consumption.

 

Sources

Association of College and Research Libraries. (February 9, 2015). Framework for information literacy for higher education. American Library Association. 3-11.                                                                                        doi: b910a6c4-6c8a-0d44-7dbc-a5dcbd509e3f

JoLT and AU Game Lab.  Facitious:  a game that tests your news sense.  Retrieved from http://factitious.augamestudio.com/#/.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning.  (May 2015).  P21 framework definitions.  Retrieved from http://www.P21.org/Framework.

The Liturgists.  (March 7, 2017).  Fake news and media literacy. Retrievedfrom  http://www.theliturgists.com/podcast/2017/3/7/fake-news-media-literacy.