Technology Training... Who has the time????

This year as media specialist I have become much more aware of the staff and faculty at my school’s technology skills, or lack thereof. As we all know today’s world is technology driven and unfortunately some of our teachers are getting left behind.  Most of our teachers are comfortable using Microsoft Office programs but are not comfortable stepping outside of that box. For example Powerpoint is a great tool, but so is Prezi. Unfortunately most of our teachers have not even been exposed to any of the newer developments in programs, apps, and opportunities.

This past year the CSRA RESA has put together a number of meetings for media specialists to get together and discuss issues, concerns, things that are working etc… because we are so often on our own. Along with the open forum discussion there is also a technology component. It is awesome! We all bring different programs, apps, media that we are using in our media center and introduce it to the group. I have learned so many new ways that technology could be incorporated in the classroom. Unfortunately, it seems to stop with me. Our teachers are so busy that they have no time to come in and meet to learn another thing that they feel they will not have time to use. As I have seen in my school as media specialist (and teacher) required meetings are horrible for morale and often times teachers resent the “professional material” even more. So what is the solution???

I am planning on working with my principal to see if there may be a day where we can get coverage for small groups of teachers during the day. I am also going to send out a survey that gives choices about what they may want to more learn about. Hopefully since it will be during the day they will not resent the time, and since I will be helping them with something they chose they will see the value in the time spent.  Also, since we are getting so close to testing, I will wait until after the CRCT. This way teachers won’t be worrying about what needs to be covered in “such a short amount of time.”

Blog #5: Video Distribution Systems and Georgia Public Broadcasting Resources

In my current school, the Video Distribution System is working at about 75 percent. The media specialist used to use it to do the morning announcements, but now he streams it on Ustream.tv so that everyone can make sure to see it. There are four main hallways of my elementary school and three of the hallway’s closed circuit work. Sadly, my hallway does not. The media specialist, Mr. Ashley, used closed circuit a lot during February as we had many Black History Month presentations, including Ruby Bridges, a play called Minty, and a one man performance called The Long Walk. It was nice that everyone (well, almost everyone) could turn on their televisions, turn to Channel 3, and watch the same thing (those of us without working televisions went to another room to watch). The addition of Ustream.tv to watch the morning announcements has been great! In January, the Kindergarten, first, and second grade teachers got projectors (and we LOVE to use them), so this works out very well! Third, fourth, and fifth grade teachers have Active Boards (something I truly envy them for). Every teacher in the school has a television mounted to the wall and a VCR/DVD combo. The control panel for the closed circuit is in a closet in the media center.

The media specialist at my school loves to use Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) Resources. Every week, he reads a story to my class (either through digital story telling or the old fashioned way) and then he plays a show from the GPB resources. He particularly likes Word Girl, a short 30 minute cartoon where she used two or three new words and explains the new vocabulary. He also likes Cyberchase which is another short, 30 minute cartoon about students who complete missions with science, math, and technology. He does a great job of collaborating with us to show resources that correlate to what we’re learning in the classroom.

I love the fact that the media specialist in my school is leaning towards more digital streaming. In my experience, using something like Ustream.tv is much easier to use and the teachers can control it through their own laptop. I think there are less kinks involved. I definitely think schools will be doing away with televisions in classrooms altogether soon. With sites like UnitedStreaming.com, GPB, and YouTube.com, we can basically find anything we need at the convenience of a click!

Blog 5: Video Distribution Systems and Georgia Public Broadcasting Resources

Since I currently don’t work in a school library media center, I met with Julie Townley, the media specialist at Johnson High School, to get an overview of what video distribution system they use and gather her thoughts on its effectiveness. Johnson HS currently uses a closed-circuit cable system to distribute movies/media throughout the entire school. The head end unit is located in an office inside the media center. This unit contains a VHS/DVD combo and Julie uses the system to broadcast various movies or programs. Each classroom at Johnson has a mounted television, which also contains a VHS/DVD combo, so in most cases, Julie says that the closed-circuit system is rarely used because teachers can control the video or program themselves. Grade-wide programs/movies at the end of the school year or usually shown on the television and until recently, the morning school news was shown through the closed-circuit television (it is now digitally recorded and sent out through email, which teachers can display using their laptops/projectors or SmartBoards). Teachers also have access to certain TV channels, such as channels 2, 5, 11, etc.

One of the problems Julie notes with the closed-circuit system is that it’s just not as user-friendly as other, newer platforms are. For example, she notes that a lot of area schools have switched to a digital format such as the Safari Montage system. By allowing teachers/media specialists access to online programs, these digital systems are proving to be a lot more user-friendly and allow easy access to resources.

Organizations such as Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) offer online streaming resources for educators, which provide reliable and accurate programming or lesson supplements. For instance, say a social studies teacher wanted to screen a particular video on Kennedy, but the school didn’t have a physical copy, such as a DVD. GPB’s Education website contains digital content in a variety of different subjects that can be streamed from any computer. This eliminates the school having to purchase a physical copy.

Digitally streaming videos is also cost-effective for many schools. By purchasing a subscription to any particular educational organization, teachers have access to many videos and resources that would cost much more should the school have to purchase each one of those items. Another thought is copyright—in most cases, digital content which is provided through a subscription-based provider, such as Safari Montage, can be shown without having to worry about copyright issues.

Overall, I think the advancement in digital streaming content is a huge gain for school systems (and probably a lot less headache for media specialists!) and I think that more and more schools will be switching to this format in the near future.

Social networking and schools

I do believe that there is a place for social networking sites in our media centers and classrooms.  I teach gifted ELA/SS middle school students and part of my curriculum/standards involves technology.  My students are avid techies and can do just about anything on a social network site, a Smartphone, a tablet, etc. As an educator, we are supposed to engage our students and what better way to engage them then to relate to them.  I have several students that bring their Kindles to class to read and of course 90% of my kids have a Smartphone.  I have no problem with them reading in class on or even using their Smartphone’s for dictionaries and or a thesaurus.  Yet, my school district frowns upon social networking sites in the classroom/media center. I just asked my school technologist if our student computers would support wikis, blogs or LibraryThing. and he said as of right now no. This is crazy to me and of course, prevents me from teaching the technology standards to my students.  So AASL’s poll was off a little when it generalized that social networking is “widely accepted” in schools.

While I understand the filtering of FaceBook and Twitter, I wonder why we have to block all of the sites. However, our OPAC system is Follett’s Destiny and so we have Destiny Quest which is great tool for students to use. Yet, not many of our kids know about it and I only recently learned from Barbara Fiehn’s article that we have access to 65 e-books! This is something I can try to explore with my students once I have better idea of how to use it.

My school system simply does not support technology in the form of social networking sites and I think that is a shame. As we progress in  society with technology, so must our students. They love social networking and if we can find a way to link social networking to education and curriculum, then why can’t we explore those options that  are already out there ?  I’m still hoping that one day my district will truly understand the disadvantage our kids have from our filtering methods. Until then, I will just have to make one more PowerPoint instead of that cool wiki.   

Blog #4: Social Networking and School Library Media Centers

In today’s society you will rarely find anyone who is not on some sort of social network, including our students. Library 2.0 describes social networking as “websites offering additional opportunities for finding others with shared interests.” I think that this is one social benefit, but I also think that there are many educational benefits of social networking. Social networking can be used as a platform for group discussions and work on any needed topic and or idea. Social networking can also give our students an outlet to speak on. Often times we will have students who do not want to speak in class, but feel comfortable sharing in an online setting. I definitely think that there is a role for social networking in schools. With that being said though, we also have to think about the “dark sides of the social web” (Library 2.0). I think that it is important (especially at a young age) that any social networking sites that students are using be only within the schools community. According to Barbara Fiehn and the article we read Follett Destiny already has a platform in place so that students and teachers can communicate effectively with each other without the extra worry of online predators.  Unfortunately along with cyber discussions also comes cyber bullying. This is something that I feel should definitely be talked about and discussed with students and closely monitored.

Right now our school does not allow any social networking sites through the filter. It is very closely monitored. I am not sure if it is due to security or band width or both. I do hope that soon we can convince them to at least unblock some educational social sites that can be used in the classroom.  I think that these sites could be used for group discussions, to give critiques/ reviews of materials, and even to get help from other students in the classroom. I think that if we had a site where students could openly post books that they were reading and excited about along with reviews and even questions this could go a long way with getting our students motivated to read.  

Blog #3: Media Center Websites

While reading "Building Web Sites That Work for Your Media Center", David Warlick suggests that there are many, many things that the creator needs to consider before beginning a Media Center website. Warlick states that one needs to consider the goal, content, format, layout, and design of a website. One of the most important things for a website is that it is scannable and that the visitor can find what they want in a quick and easy way. 

North Elementary: Wow! I totally forgot about Symbaloo! I used it in Fulton County and have not used it since. What a great reminder. This website is a great example of how a Media Center website needs to be scannable and easy to use. Right away, I could find whatever I was looking for in any of the grades.

Milton Middle School: This site is really cute. I like how she made it look like a comic book. It is very inviting. Items were extremely easy to find. 

Creekside High School: Right off the bat, I was not crazy for this one. It is not scannable like Mr. Warlick stated was so important. It was not inviting or fun to look at. I did not want to take time exploring this site. One word--- boring. I don't doubt that this site has great information, but I didn't want to look at it anymore because it was so bland.

Deerwood Academy: I added my school's library website (http://deerwood.wix.com/ashley). I think Mr. Ashley did a great job of making a very inviting, very easy to use website. He has instructional videos, important links, assignments, e-books, and more! Whenever I am looking for something, I know I can find it quickly and easily here.  

A little Q and A... 

• What do you see as the top ten do's and don'ts for good web page design? What really ticks you off when you hit a web page -- and what makes you go "I really like this web page"?
• I think one of my main don'ts is boring backgrounds. We want kids to want to explore these pages. We can just a leave dark blue background and white page and expect kids to like it and use it. 

• What content should be on a media center's web page? I know what the book says (that the survey said) -- but what do you think? What's really useful and why do you think so?
• I think instructional videos are very important on Media Center websites. Six teachers could come and ask how to use Study Island but if you just put an instructional video on your website, you can answer all of them at once and save yourself some time to make some awesome lessons for other teachers.

• OK, so now we're into Web 2.0, and some consider plain old webpages to be outdated. What do you think? Should we dump the media center web page and make it a blog or a Wiki?
• No. I am not a huge fan of Wikis. In my experience, web pages are far easy to use and navigate than Wikis. I also feel that more personality and design can be put into a website. For instance, it is much easier for me to keep up my website (http://mrsbrittanybarnes.wix.com/1stgrade) than it is to keep up with a Wiki.

Blog 3: Media Center Webpages

As we continually use technology such as websites, social media, or even Instagram to share information, it becomes increasingly important to make sure that you are visual to the online world.  I think that this is also applicable to school media centers in that they should be promoting themselves to teachers, students, parents, and even the community through their websites, blogs, or social platforms. 

While researching a lot of different media center websites, I’ve added up a list of my favorites and my least favorites with my personal opinions and comments.

Favorites:

1.       Milton Middle School- Milton, Wisconsin

http://www.milton.k12.wi.us/schools/mms/website/library/MMS_LMC/Welcome.html

My immediate thought when pulling up this site is that it is very aesthetically pleasing. The layout and graphics are nice and pop, drawing the user to important links on the site. I enjoyed that the site included a link for media center policies, which is easily accessible for teachers and students. I also enjoyed the fact that the media specialist included a large bio on herself, because I think that is an important element for a parent/teacher connection.

2.       Lewis and Clark Elementary School – Liberty, Missouri

http://lc.liberty.k12.mo.us/lmc

When I came across this site, I was at first a bit overwhelmed with the amount of content, but soon came to enjoy and appreciate all of the detail that the media center team put into this site. Of particular interest is the twitter feed to the left side of the screen. I think this is a great way for students, parents, and teachers to keep up with library happenings!

Least Favorites:

1.       Knoch Senior High School- Saxonburg, PA

http://www.southbutler.net/lib/

While this site does have some useful information, it really lacks in esthetic appeal and doesn’t do much to promote the library. When trying to find information, I think that having a clear, concise format is ideal for students, teachers, and parents. This site seems to be lacking in a particular format and includes way too many “outside resource” links.

2.       Cass High School- Bartow, Ga

http://www.bartow.k12.ga.us/education/dept/dept.php?sectiondetailid=10305

This is another site that needs a lot of help. I did appreciate the fact that the media specialist included a book search; however, there is no other useful information to be found on the site. There are links to encyclopedias, weather, and databases, but it really gives no direction on how to use these resources.

Overall, while searching through various media center webpages, the ones that really stick out to me as “great” are the ones that have a clear and simple format, but also contain information that is actually useful for teachers and students. For example, the Cass High School website contained a BUNCH of links to various resources, but gave no other information as to what the site does or what information is available on that site. If I were a student or teacher, I wouldn’t want to sit and go through each site to determine which one(s) to use. I think as a media specialist, it is our responsibility to “weed” through these sites and lists the best possible ones.

As far as ways to make a website, I personally prefer using Weebly, now that I’ve been accustomed to it. In my search, I came across tons of different website platforms, such as a Google site, Blogger, and even pages created through the school’s webpage creator. The ones that were made with Weebly, or the ones that contained their own domain, stood out the most to me. They looked professional, creditable, and, in the most cases, contained very useful information.

Wiki! Wiki!

Wikis are websites that allow multiple users to edit and view. This means that although one person may have created the webpage anyone can change the information. This can be very useful, but also has its issues. For example in one of the articles it cautioned how careful you must be or you could accidentally erase someone else’s contribution by mistake. One reason that Wikis are so helpful in general is because information is constantly being updated by multiple people. It is not the sole responsibility of one person to try and keep track of everything and as new information is gathered it is added. This can be a problem for researchers. As we all know we have been cautioned throughout our life not to use one of the most well-known Wikis when doing research… Wikipedia. Although a lot of the information is true, it is not backed up by any research. Since it is a Wiki true to fashion it can be edited by anyone with a username and password. This brings up another point. In order to try and keep a Wiki from being corrupted by others you can require a password to edit. This could help with the deletion issues.

Library 2.0 mentions 3 main ways that Wikis are used: internal communication, institutional collaboration, and as a research guide.

Internal communication: this is a way to keep your departments communicating and working together in a constant flow. In the media center this could be useful between the media specialist and the staff. There could be a category in the Wiki where teachers could keep a list of materials they would like to see ordered, or materials that they use for units so that the media specialist would already know what materials are needed and could have them ready. Lessons could also be kept here in an extra effort to help with collaboration, since this is something that seems to be difficult to do in many situations.

Institutional collaboration: This is especially helpful for larger counties that have multiple schools and locations. This will help the media specialists and teachers communicate effectively and constantly.  Since I am from a very small community with only 2 schools (soon to be 1) this would help me mostly keep in communication with the public library about programs and even books that I may need (since our system does not allow for interlibrary loans with the public library)

A Research Guide: This is the use that I found the most fascinating. I have never thought of this before but the media specialist can create research categories and add websites and projects for students. Since it is a Wiki teachers can go on and add sites or take down sites that are no longer in use, add topics etc… This will keep the research guide up to date and useful for our students.

Lastly, I thought a wiki would be a great place for students to go and add book reviews and have ongoing conversations about books they are reading. We have stated constantly how for students to care about reading they need to feel invested. This would be a great platform to allow them to have an opinion that others will read and comment on.

Finally, as I also read about a site called Wiki Index in Library 2.0. It was suggested that if you were thinking about creating a Wiki to go and look here there are tons of wikis that are here for you to become a part of and practice with that have been created about just about any topic. www.wikiindex.com.

The Wonderful World of Wikis!

Wiki" is a Hawaiian phrase that means quick and it is simply a webpage that can be manipulated or edited by more than one user. This makes wikis ideal for educational settings, but with a few drawbacks. Because the information on a wiki can be edited, deleted, or changed by various users, it would need to be used for a specific purpose in the classroom/media center. For example, any good media specialist will open up their presentation on research with the warning to NOT use Wikipedia as a source because the information can be manipulated.  (Yet, I confess as teacher I have secretly used Wikipedia in the classroom because it is easy to use and is not blocked like every other website on my school computer!) A simple solution is when working on a project to have a back up of your information just in case it is accidently deleted.   Yet we should take wikis at their face value and see that a lot of them do have pertinent, correct information that can also be used in a research capacity as well as project based. 

Reading through the literature, I was looking at wikis in two different perspectives:  a teacher and a media specialist. As a teacher, wikis can be very useful if used in the proper way. For example, I do a lot of group projects in my classes. So having students set up a wiki to work on their projects would be ideal. Of course, my students would need specific guidelines but I think that it is great way to get them acclimated to different technology. As a whole, my county does not have the most updated or workable technology, and we have numerous software problems in the media center and our computer labs. Since all you need is internet access to use wikis, this would fit well for most technologically limited schools. Also, my students could work on the wiki at home since it is internet based.

 As a media specialist, wikis are an awesome tool. Using a wiki to have students contribute to media based projects such as poetry month or book reviews would be wonderful to put on the media center webpage. They can  be used internally like the Cobb County media specialist’s wiki, which I loved, but they can be used as an icebreaking collaboration tool. I think oftentimes media specialist go unnoticed as certified teachers and as teachers we neglect the powerful ally we have in media specialists. So using the wiki as a common denominator when collaborating would be key. It would also help validate the media specialist as an actual member of the teaching staff to the students and not just “that chick who checks out my books in the library”. For instance, I was thinking of how my media specialist and I could sit down and create a wiki based on research or even a book study. I would love for her to have assignments that they need to create and also for them to rely on the media center as their main source. Or even have her create  or find a wiki for my needs based improvement class so that they can work on map skills in the media center. There are endless ways that teachers and media specialists can utilize wikis for collaboration. They thing is they just have to actually do it and I think that begins with the knowledge of how simple, yet powerful wikis can be.  Wikis really are amazing tools for education and I cannot wait it start using them!

Blog 1: Podcasting

While reading Fontichiaro’s article, “Podcasting 101”, I was intrigued to find that podcasting equipment is rather reasonable. She states that a PC computer with an operating system of Windows 98 or newer can handle the task which was surprising to me. What was not surprising to me is the fact that podcast equipment for the MAC users is a little more expensive. (In my experience, anything to do with MAC equipment is more expensive.) I appreciated her research of the best (not to mention FREE) programs to use for those librarians on a tight budget.

I was drawn to her section about “Students with Special Needs”. When I was student teaching, my supervising teacher worked the afterschool program for a few of the special needs students so I got the opportunity to watch how these items really affect the lives of special needs students. It is really a great product for special needs classrooms to have.

Another one of her ideas that I thought was great was the Audio Tour. At our school, we always do a Black History Wax Museum where the students dream up like a Black History Hero and give information about them. It would be an awesome addition to have the students record podcasts about their person and have students walk around with the audio like a true wax museum.

I think all in all, this was a perfect first introduction article to podcasting. The author describe what it was, how to get it, and what to do with it. I really love all of the podcast ideas Fontichiaro gave and cannot wait to use them in the future.

Fontichiaro, Kristin. (Mar 2007). Podcasting 101. School Library Monthly.         Retrieved from http://medt7477spring2014.weebly.com/uploads/7/5/8/9/7589068/7477_podcasting101.pdf              

Blog 1: Podcasting

While reading about the in’s and out’s of podcasts, I became intrigued to find out more information about this new technology and how others are using it in their school libraries. I found a great overview article by Esther Kredier Eash titled “Podcasting 101 for K-12 Librarians” on Infotoday.com (http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr06/Eash.shtml) I’d like to discuss a little more about Eash’s thoughts on podcasting and ways in which it is beneficial to a school library program.

Eash believes that there are essentially two ways to use podcasts: retrieving information or disseminating information. While podcasts are a fairly new technology, there are schools out there that are beginning to use this platform to distribute or receive information. Eash notes that from her research, the problem with using podcasts in schools is that there isn’t a great deal of quality podcasts for K-12 instruction, so many times she has found that instead, media specialists are helping students and teachers create their own podcasts.

Further into the article, Eash discusses ways in which she believes podcasts can be integrated into school libraries: Promoting the library, Using student products to share learning, Sharing school news, and Providing professional development. I think that the examples Eash gives in her article are great ways to incorporate the usage of podcasts into a media center, but I also think that as schools become more involved with newer technology, the uses of podcasts in schools will greatly increase.

Source:

Eash, E. K. (2006, April). Podcasting 101 for K–12 Librarians. Retrieved from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr06/Eash.shtml