Final Reflection

 

I can't wait to use some of the tech I tried in this class in my library one day soon! I have so many ideas, and I'm excited to try them out!

All good things must come to an end, cliche, I know. But I really enjoyed Digital Technology for Librarians this semester. One thing this class made me realize is that I'm not as tech-savvy as I thought I was. Before this class, I was more of a tech consumer than a creator. I can happily say that this class has pushed me to create using tools that I consume regularly, but have been too afraid to create with. The first examples that come to mind are podcasts, blogs, and social media. Of course, I have my personal social media, but this class gave me the motivation to pursue a more professional Instagram account to review diverse books. I have always been interested in creating blogs, and I have created a few over the course of many years. But creating a blog related to library things, books, and my learning has been more fun than any other blog I've created. 

My Favorite Techy Creation

I would have to say creating a podcast was surprisingly one of my favorite assignments this semester. I was extremely anxious about recording myself and worried I wouldn't have enough to say, but turns out that wasn't the case! Truthfully, I wish I had started the assignment earlier, so I would have had more time to play around with the editing. I wanted to add some music to the podcast I created with my partner, but I had some trouble placing it in the correct spots. We also had a little blunder in the beginning when I hit record, but I wasn't quite ready to start. I tried editing it out, but it didn't work correctly, and I accidentally edited out a chunk of the podcast! Thankfully I had saved multiple versions of the recording, so I was able to salvage it. 

I would really love to have students use podcasts as a way to produce assignments. I think this would be a lot of fun for the kids who are more tech-inclined and prefer talking over writing. I imagine working on an inquiry-based project where kids produce a podcast throughout the process. 

Another way I'm hoping to utilize podcasts is to create a book club where we can create podcasts after reading books, and then create a QR code and attach it to the book that was discussed. I found this idea in an article by ALSC (https://journals.ala.org/index.php/cal/article/view/6335/8291) and think it's a great way to have kids share their love of a book with other kids. 

Some of My Techy Struggles

Of course, not every project was as exciting as creating a podcast. I struggled with creating comics and infographics. I'm not quite sure what went wrong with the comics assignment, but my brain really froze on that one. I couldn't think of what kind of comic to create and how to relate it to learning. It took me multiple tries to come up with an idea and execute it with pictures, and I was not very pleased with the final results. The same thing happened with creating an infographic. I couldn't figure out how to present the information from an article in a visual form. Upon some reflection, I realize that both projects were heavy on visuals, and I think I struggle with that in general. Although I'm a very visual learner, creating visually appealing and informative content is not my area of expertise! 

Of course, I've learned that my students can be way more talented than I am, and I know that many kids will thrive in creating amazing visual displays using comics and infographics. 

Having kids create infographics using content they learned in class is a great assessment, and creating comics to tell stories is a great alternative for students who may struggle with writing. I also saw a classmate suggest using comics in a library newsletter, and I love that idea. It would be an immediate attention grabber and a great way to pass along important information. 

Speaking of technology, I used a new tool called Animaker to create the presentation below. Click full screen to get the full effect! 

Universal Design in School Libraries

 Hello readers, today the topic is Universal Design, what it is, and how it can be seen in school libraries.

Universal Design is the idea of removing barriers that can stop or affect parts of the human population from access. This can be seen in applied in buildings where there are stairs, elevators, ramps, and escalators to help people get to where they need to go. Elevators having an automated voice that directs passengers to the floor they've arrived at is another example of that. 

Schools and specifically classrooms must also understand and apply Universal Design because they are teaching all kids. Teachers must keep Universal Design in mind when creating lesson plans to reach all kids and all learners regardless of any challenges for them to learn the information. 

While learning more about Universal Design, I realized that there is another term that kept coming back to me, "differentiation." Educators learn about the importance of differentiation and are expected to apply it every time they teach. Differentiation, as many of you already know, is changing how you present information so that it can reach all types of learners in your classroom. Learners can be visual, auditory, kinesthetic, reading/writing, or any combination of these. Presenting information, assignments, and assessments should accommodate all learning styles. 

Therefore as a teacher, there are some guidelines of Universal Design that I have already incorporated as part of my teaching. 

• Providing options for perception-Always trying to make sure that I have provided verbal instructions, digital instructions, and visual instructions on the projector. I've also included detailed instructions and straightforward instructions for students who need to know the whole picture versus students who need things a little at a time. 
• Providing options for language, mathematical expressions, and symbols-one of the checkpoints here specifics providing speech-to-text option, which I started to do quite recently, and providing dictionaries in their native language to help anyone who needed them. I've also used manipulatives when teaching grammar lessons to help learners form sentences. The manipulatives were simply words on squares of paper that students were able to put together. 

This is just a small sample of some items that I have done in my classroom to assist all learners. 

There are also things that I could immediately implement if I was teaching right now. 

• Bridge concepts using easy-to-understand analogies and metaphors
• Make cross-curricular connections
• Use graphic organizers to link prior knowledge
• incorporate the use of mnemonic devices 

UDL and UDI, the universal design in instruction should be second nature to all educators because our students should not have to ask or show a struggle before we attempt to make something more accessible to them. I'd like to learn how to use technology to make my lesson plans UDL and UDI-friendly. There are a lot of great resources out there that can help me do just that. The following is a list of resources including websites and books that can be helpful to me and possibly you in your quest for improving your lesson plans and courses through UDL. 

• Unlearning: Changing your Beliefs and Your Classroom with UDL by Allison Posey and Katie Novak.
• Universal Design Daily: 365 Ways to Teach, Support, & Challenge All Learners using UDL by Paula Kluth
• Creating Inclusive Libraries by Applying Universal Design: A Guide by Carli Spina
• Universal Design for Learning
  
• Although for higher education, primary and secondary educators can use this as well Creating Inclusive Courses with Universal Design

Enjoy your journey in UDL!

Podcasting in the classroom?!

 

Hello everyone and welcome to another blog post! Today I'm diving into the innovative waters of podcasting! You might be wondering what podcasts have to do with teaching in the classroom or library, so I'm here to tell you there's a whole wide world of technology you can tap into. 

In an article from the ASCD website, Mike Yakubovsky writes, "A recent LinkedIn study identified the top 10 skills employers are looking for in their interns and new hires (Hess, 2019). I looked through it all, and nowhere was there a reference to test-taking ability. What was at the top of the list were soft skills like collaboration, time management, and creativity and hard skills like analytical reasoning and people management." I think as educators, most of us would agree that these are important skills that we want to instill in our students. We would also agree that employers don't really care much for test scores as much as school districts do. The real question lies in reality. How do we teach our students collaboration, creativity, and time management skills? The article by Mike Yakubovsky actually talks about how having students create podcasts is one way to incorporate those skills within any curriculum content.

So what are some actual ways to use podcasts in your classroom? Here are some that I thought of:

-Inquiry based learning-students can get into groups based on topics they choose and as they work through the research steps, they can produce small podcast episodes, or the podcast episode can be the final product. This would be a long-term project that would require students to collaborate, research, manage their time, and get creative. 

-You can create a short-term project where students create a podcast individually or with a partner or group as an end product of a unit of study. Students can listen to podcasts (vetted by teachers!) and use them for a variety of exercises, such as research, comparisons, or analysis. In fact, a few years ago I did a unit in my ELAR class where students listened to a mystery podcast, did character analysis, wrote an essay, participated in a Socrative seminar, and worked collaboratively to create Flip Grid videos on solving the mystery. 

Unfortunately, you're going to run into some issues with podcasts if you haven't done your homework, literally. If students are ever going to listen to a podcast for you, it's always important to listen to it first to make sure it's okay to use in the classroom. Not all podcasts are for students of all ages; you have to find appropriate ones for the elementary level and so on. 
 
Now having students create podcasts, or even creating them yourself requires a little bit of research. You have to find a hosting site to upload your recording, and there are quite a few sites out there. I looked into a couple, and here is what I learned. 

Creating your own podcasts

Buzzsprout

Buzzsprout's biggest plus is that it's free. So for new podcasters, this is a positive.  But with the free account, you can post two hours of content a month. There are paid plans that allow you more content time. Unfortunately, Buzzsprout only keeps episodes for 90 days, so you can't really create an episode list and archive of past episodes. This might be helpful if your students on working on a long-term project where the podcast episode is a final product. They would only need one episode, and once it's graded, and people have had a chance to listen, it's okay if it's gone. 

Anchor

Anchor is part of the Spotify brand, and it's another free podcasting hosting site. This one does not have any paid plans. It's totally free. The cool thing about this one that was different from Buzzsprout is that it allows you to record on the site, whereas Buzzsprout required you to record elsewhere and upload the file. Because it's part of Spotify, Anchor is able to let you add songs from the music streaming app. Another cool feature is to add listener messages to your episode. You can share a link where listeners can record messages to you, and you can add those to an episode. The one negative is that you can only create one podcast. 

Podbean

Now, my partner and I chose Podbean to record and host our example podcast. At first, I was not going to use it because the website does not let you record on it, but I downloaded the app, which does have that option. There is a free account and upgrades if you pay. It's very simple to use, and it allows five hours of audio per month. 

Now before I let everyone listen to the podcast episode I recorded with my partner, Marlee. I have to recommend one school librarian podcast. I discovered this one during my research, and have already started listening to it. Check it out: School Librarians United.

One more thing. Here is the article that I quoted above:

http://www.ascd.org/el/articles/handing-students-the-mic-podcasting-to-increase-engagement?utm_campaign=1519-hs&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ascdexpress

Now without further ado, here is the rudimentary podcast I created with my partner. Excuse the mistake in the beginning. I tried cutting it out during editing and had some trouble. 

Comics and How You Can Use Them in Your Classroom!

Comics have been around forever, and they've gone through many different versions throughout the years. They've also gone through periods of popularity, wariness, and outright disdain. Here's the thing though, comics, more recently known as graphic novels, can be used as a teaching resource in the classroom. 

I browsed through three different websites to create comics, and this is what I've learned. 

Make Beliefs Comix (https://makebeliefscomix.com)  

This website is free to anyone and is very easy to use. Here is a silly little comic I created about myself, using one of their ready-made prompts.

You can create a free log-in, but you don't have to in order to create a comic and share or print it. This site provides templates to get the creative juices flowing. They are very accommodating of using comics in different languages, so this can easily be used in a language class to demonstrate proficiency. In fact, you can choose from multiple different languages for the website. There are backgrounds, characters, and a myriad of other fun things to add to your comics, but there's a limit and most of them are silly, cartoonish (aimed at younger children, maybe?) and cannot be edited other than changing the scale and flipping it in different directions. This is a great starter for comics, and definitely a good choice for the younger crowd.

Pixton (https://app.pixton.com/#/)

This app is definitely one for older students. It allows you to create an account, but unfortunately, beyond a free trial, there isn't much you can do unless you pay for a membership. Luckily, membership for educators has three options and is a reasonable amount if you're truly willing to spend the money on it. Pixton software allows you to do way more editing than the one above. Of course, it's all comics, but this one has a more mature and artistic look to it, rather than cartoonish. 

Here is my Pixton comic, using another template they provided!

I have to admit it was a lot of fun creating my avatar. 

Fotojet (https://www.fotojet.com/features/misc/photo-comic.html)

Now I will admit that Fotojet was a challenge. I tried to upload my own pictures, but for some reason, although it gave an option, my pictures didn't appear. I had to use what the provided, but their free pictures were limited, and they were photos, not cartoon images. This definitely limited what kind of comic I could create. I don't think Fotojet is student and classroom friendly, although you certainly can create a free account.

I'm not particularly happy with the comic I made with Fotojet. I was limited, and there weren't any suggestions or templates that made it easier.



Using comics in the classroom is a creative way to have students produce work that allows them to be creative, and collaborate (or not), and they have to write, too! In fact, Pixton even provides templates and prompts for fiction books such as Holes and others. This can also be done as a way to introduce yourself, explain something in a creative way, or teach a lesson.

Videos and QR Codes in the Library

 

Hi everyone! Today I'm delving into the big wide world of, you guessed it, videos, QR codes, and how they can be used in the school library!

To start off, I did some digging around YouTube to better understand what was already out there. There are some really creative librarians who have been using the platform to engage their students and teachers. Because YouTube has been around for so very long time (18 years to be exact!) teachers, librarians, and other professionals in the education world have utilized its ease, popularity, and novelty in a variety of ways. 

One of my favorite school library videos is this one by BBMSMedia, a school library account run by the librarian at a middle school. If you remember the slew of nonsensical Old Spice commercials a few years back, you'll appreciate this one. 

I'm sure the kids had a great time making it, and it got at least a smile and a reminder from the students who watched it. 

I've also created a chart that showcased the most helpful and most liked videos by three school library channels. 

Most Liked by Students	Most Helpful to Students
This video by @theunquietlibrary that explains why gaming is important and helpful in the library is probably a well-liked video because it may serve as a reminder or to convince their librarian or teacher to continue it.	This video by @theuniquietlibrary is probably helpful to students because it walks them step-by-step through how to find images using Creative Commons and Flickr, something they probably were already using in their assignments. Instead of constantly reminding them, they can just watch the video at their own pace.
@pikesvillehslibrary has a lot of videos of its students, and this one has quite a lot of views. I’m sure it’s fun for them to see this.	A video by @pikesvillehslibrary that is helpful to students is this one that goes into detail about course selection and graduation requirements for students.
@bbmsmedia has lots of funny videos to remind students to return library books. This parody of Rey and Luke Skywalker's meeting has over a thousand views.	This one by @bbmsmedia is the 6th-grade orientation, which is probably very helpful for incoming sixth graders who might’ve not been paying attention to the actual walk-through of their new school library.

Animoto in Schools and School Libraries

Animoto is a web 2.0 tool that I had heard about in the past, but never really took the time to experiment with it until now. It is one of many video editing tools that have gotten popular in recent years. I made a movie trailer for a book I read last year that has become one of my favorites, Amari and the Night Brothers, by B.B. Alston, the first in a trilogy. 

“Amari and the Night Brothers gives an electrifying jolt to middle-grade fantasy, that takes the ingredients we know and love--the strong-willed, relatable protagonist, a worthy quest, and a thrilling magical portal--and makes them fresh and new. From the first pages, Amari is at once self-possessed and an underdog, battling racism, bias, and poverty, all later mirrored in her efforts to find her brother inside the fantastical labyrinth of the Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. Funny, fast-paced, and ultimately moving, B.B. Alston's debut is a rousing success and kicks off a series that will truly stand out from the rest!” — Soman Chainani, author of the bestselling The School for Good and Evil series

QR Codes

Check out my Animoto book trailer for Amari and the Night Brothers here!

QR Codes have such great uses for the library! Some uses could be...

• Printing them on bookmarks to take readers to the OPAC, library website, or library social media
• Using them as a scavenger hunt at the beginning of the year for students to get to know the library better
• Providing teachers with a variety of QR Codes for helpful information relevant to them
• Providing teachers with QR Codes to schedule time in the library 
• Putting the codes near nonfiction topics to take students to databases for more information.

These are just some uses that I found doing a search. There are so many more!

Thanks to the following websites for the suggestions and ideas:

Eduscapes

10 Ways to Use QR Codes in School Libraries

Getting Creative with Infographics

 

I found this cute infographic about spring foods 

So you might have heard the term "infographic" at some point recently. Or maybe you haven't. But it is more than likely that you have seen an infographic without even knowing it. An infographic is simply information that is presented graphically usually through images, illustrations, pictures, charts, and graphs. 

I really don't think infographics are a super unique concept. The truth is we've always tried to organize information in an easy-to-understand format. Charts, graphs, diagrams, and flow charts are all visual elements that have been used to present information for a long time now. 

Infographics are an excellent tool for schools to utilize. With the abundance of websites that can help you create infographics, teachers can use infographics in the classroom, librarians can use them for creative projects, and they're helpful to send home to parents as well. 

To better understand how to create an infographic, I checked out a few popular websites that allow you to create free accounts to make the visuals. I'm going to give my opinion on each site I explored, and then tell you which one I liked best. 

Easelly 

So, I took a look at Easelly first. This website can log you in via Google, so sign-up was easy. The site is easy to maneuver. Once I was logged in, I was in the dashboard where I could create an infographic from a blank template, or go through their free templates and choose one to edit. I personally did not like the choices of free templates. The user can click on the categories to narrow down what they're looking for. But this leads to templates that are not available through the free version. However, paid plans are priced fairly and are as low as $2 a month.

One nice feature that stood out was the ability to create folders. I can see students using this in more than one class and creating folders for each class or maybe for each unit of study. Teachers or librarians can create folders for personal and professional use, or for different events in the school year. Overall I think this is a good site for students who are just learning to make an infographic. Students can quickly log in and pick a free template to create as a final product of a unit or chapter of study. 

Infogram

Infogram was also an easy sign-up, but with additional steps compared to Easelly. Google will log you in, and it, helpfully, displays what a free account will enable you to do, which is 10 projects, 13 maps, and animated graphics. I know I said Easelly would be great for students, and it would, but with only 10 projects on a free account, Infogram is also a good option for a student who might use it for class. 

The Infogram dashboard is more aesthetically pleasing, and it offers more options than Easelly. Unfortunately, a lot of the extra options require an upgrade. As you can see in the picture, this site offers the option of creating posters, social media posts, reports, and slides. You can certainly get creative!

Piktochart

When I reached Piktograph, I was expecting more of the same, and it mostly was. But Piktograph was very streamlined, visually appealing, and seemed to have more options. 

Just like Infogram, you can create more than just infographics. There's also a video option too! It connects to zoom, you can record your own, or you can upload a previously recorded one. The free account allows a 20-minute video to be recorded through the website. The free account also allows you to create teams of 4 people! This is a great option for collaborating at school. 

As I searched through the templates, I found them much more visually interesting than the other sites. Luckily there are a ton more free options for various formats.

The image above is just a small sampling of what's available in the templates section. I can see Piktograph being a great account for personal use as well because it has options for greeting cards, invitations, and resumes among others. 

Of course, if it isn't obvious yet, I think Piktograph is the best option to create infographics out of the three I looked at. Of course, don't take my word for it, and look for yourself! There might be things in Easelly or Infogram that you might like better. 

I had to attempt to create an infographic because what better way to better understand a tool than using it? This is what I came up with using information I found in an article on Pew Research. 

References

Gelles-Watnick, R. (2022, December 15). Explicit content, time-wasting are key social media worries for parents of U.S. teens. Pew Research Center. Retrieved March 1, 2023, from https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/12/15/explicit-content-time-wasting-are-key-social-media-worries-for-parents-of-u-s-teens/

The School Library Program and Social Media

Not too long ago there was an opinion that social media had no place in education. Many educators thought it was simply a distraction, parents were worried about potential dangers to their children, and no one really expected to see how it would take over our lives. But here we are in 2023, and there are a number of social media apps that we use for just about everything. In this post, I want to break down how the top three apps, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can be useful and important for a school library program. 

Let's start with the oldest, Facebook. Not to brag or anything, but I joined in college, back when it required you to have a college email address to sign in. At the time it was only for college students to connect, network, and well, be social! We used to create silly groups, post our questionable pictures, and write inside jokes on each other's "walls." 

Today, Facebook has evolved into an open social media app that does almost everything and is used by everyone, but mostly anyone past college age. I personally know a few younger people who have Facebook accounts but do not use them. Facebook's user base has aged quite a bit and it's not the place to reach out to students. It is mostly used for personal purposes, from what I
have seen. If I were to use Facebook for my school library program, I would create a page for the school library, and ensure that information gets out to the parents and community stakeholders. I would update it with information relevant to those particular groups. 

When I searched "school libraries" on Facebook, it was hard for me to find many pages for school libraries. There are great professional groups on Facebook, such as the Future Ready Librarians group I am a part of. This, along with other groups such as Learning Librarians offer a community where librarians can share, discuss, and ask about all things school library related. There were some pages for particular school libraries, made by the school librarian. These pages included relevant log-in information for library apps, pictures and flyers of activities and events at the library, along with book recommendations, and contact information for the librarian. 

Overall, I believe school librarians can use their personal Facebook as a great resource for learning and connecting to a larger community, and create a page for their school library for parents and community members as the primary audience. 

Moving on to an app that is relatively new to me, if you can believe it,  Twitter. Truth be told, I have yet to use Twitter in any way. But finally taking time to set up and explore some names in the education, technology, and library science world has been helpful to understand the attraction: it's quick. There isn't a lot of editing and curating involved like other social media sites. What you see is essentially what you get. There's a bit of professionalism and personal lives attached to our tweets. 

When I perused Jim Lerman's tweets @jimlerman I got the opportunity to delve into lots of tech ed articles that he tweets like this one about Artificial Intelligence in education, which is fascinating because I've been hearing about AI and ChatGPT a lot lately, and I have been completely clueless. 

Get to Know AI Before Your Students Turn In an Essay Made With It https://t.co/GPgFNREcFY pic.twitter.com/dzSqsyALqx

— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) January 20, 2023

Another account I recently started following is @kathyshrock who does some great promotion for herself and her colleagues in her tweets. Her last few tweets have been about her speaking engagement at FETC. Her account is private otherwise I would definitely share some of her tweets. 

Another feature of Twitter that can be educational is simply retweeting. You wouldn't think it's helpful, but sometimes others share something so great you simply have to retweet it to your followers. @lbraun2000 hasn't tweeted anything recently but retweeted a lot of goodies, such as this

 

Final case study from the Capturing Connected Learning in Libraries project released!
Partnering with Future Ready w/ the Library: Lessons Learned from Working with Rural and Small Public Library Staffhttps://t.co/oiFapt1n36 #ConnectedLearning #LibraryStaff

— #ConnectedLearning (@TheCLAlliance) March 31, 2021

I believe if I were to start tweeting regularly from my professional account, it would look similar to @GwynethJones who posts a mix of personal and professional tweets. I personally found this one really interesting because I've noticed this huge trend of finding dupes for high-end products.

The Dupe Mindset Has Turned Everything On TikTok Into A Replica - BuzzFeed News https://t.co/T2UgqeZQ5G

— Gwyneth Jones (@GwynethJones) February 2, 2023

Now if we can turn our attention to my personal favorite social media app and tool, Instagram. Sure, there is an aesthetic side to Instagram where people can curate an artistic and visually appealing grid, but the reality is that students use Instagram. You can create stories, reels, highlights, and of course pictures with captions. You can reach students to promote activities at the library, reminders for lessons and events, polls for kids to interact with, fun reels and stories that kids can browse through, and literally so many others. 

I used Instagram during the COVID lockdown to interact with students and post class announcements and reminders, and it was a big success. I've just created a professional librarian account where I hope to review diverse books specific to the South Asian continent. I hope you don't mind some self-promotion here (ahem, it's part of the school library program!) It is definitely a work in progress, so bear with me. 

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Here is a quick peek at my account

 

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The Unshelved Librarian (@theunshelvedlibrarian) • Instagram photos and videos

If you're in education and you are not an active participant in the social media world professionally, you are missing out on opportunities to connect with stakeholders, students, and your professional community. Get to it!

Find me:

Instagram: theunshelvedlibrarian

Twitter: @asmsiddi

Facebook: currently don't have a professional one; hope to make one when I'm a school librarian