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.