Blog 6- Technology Training

In talking with Media Specialists, technology is always the topic of conversation. Many Media Specialists tell me the demand from administration is for them to be technology experts. In Fulton County, I've been told Media Specialists have been renamed Technology Instruction Specialists. Often times, not only are Media Specialist expected to know about technology but also how to troubleshoot and actually fix technology issues. Now, Jurkowski reminds us that Information Power requires us to be "Instructional Consultants." However, in this sense, we are deemed to be more of technology teachers for professional development.

I personally find technology intriguing and love to find out about the latest new gadget. However, I also like the opportunity to take my time and try things out with it, to see how it works and discover how it will benefit me. In saying this, what actual time do we have as Media Specialists to be able to fully prepare and equip staff with these wonderful new teaching aids. Clearly, time is needed for staff to be able to learn about and feel comfortable in using new technology.

I am currently a counselor in a middle school and it is definitely hard to get in the time to do professional development. There have often been times, we, the counselors, have been asked to provide professional development, to only be pushed back due to common core or mandates from the county that must be addressed immediately. Our Media Specialist does not currently facilitate any technology training. Our instructional AP has however, implemented mini technology trainings before school on a volunteer basis. At this time, this is all we have as it relates to technology trainings. An important point to note, Jurkowski also reminds us that Media Specialists already teach students about the library and must do the same for teachers. I guess it just boils down to taking a stand in ensuring administration knows and values your worth as the Media Specialist and provides you the support and opportunity to be able fully and effectively do your job, to include time for technology trainings through professional development.

Now Hear This... GPB Education!!

Georgia Public broadcasting was once a powerful resource in Atlanta public schools. Unfortunately this is not the case anymore. In the past three years we have discontinued our closed-circuit television. In 2010 our schools closed circuit news broadcast WMMB was in full operation. Students were able to show their speaking and reading skills by presenting the morning news. The media center still shows the remnants of a fully functional news desk. Each school also had a subscription to cable television with limited channels (of course). Because many links to videos based on instructional content are available free of charge Atlanta public schools decided to discontinue their partnership with Georgia Public broadcasting. Instead opted to elect external broadcast resources. Cable channel 22 is now Atlanta official education station. During school hours programs are targeted for students in grades K-12. They contain curriculum-based programming. The Georgia Public broadcasting website is chock-full of educational resources.  Lesson plans go all the way to grade four. They can be downloaded because they are in PDF format which is awesome;  they include Georgia performance standards and follow through with a full lesson cycle.  An assessment is even provided.  Interactive games correlate with some of the posted lessons and standards taught. The site has even taken the time to provide rubrics for each grade level from kindergarten through four. They are titled "sample" rubrics but they may very well be used in the classroom setting to assess students mastery of a content area. Georgia read more is provided by the Georgia Department of Education. This is a great tool to use in a busy media center. It shows adults reading selected titled to children. It's also an effective resource for Spanish-speaking students because they may either have the book read in Spanish or have English subtitles. I hate to admit that we have not use Georgia Public broadcasting as a resource. Yes I'll such a wealth of information including the Georgia studies book available for purchase online Amazon. Under the educational resources tab there are ways stay informed by contributing to blogs like the GPB family blog. I constantly use Discovery Education because of its breadth. Before I even post this blog, GPB Education is being added to my favorites bar as one of my top educational resources. 

Blog 4 Social Networking

 Growing up a military brat, I’ve been able to keep in contact with all of my former classmates from Japan and reach out to long lost family members through Facebook. Certainly, social networking is not only used by students, but also many adults for personal and professional use. I facilitated a guidance lesson last year and located data that revealed 50 percent of students between the ages of twelve to fifteen check their social networking sites at least seven to ten times a day.

Keeping up with this new trend and at the same time producing 21^st century learners, the use of technology through social networking seems to be a great way to do so. At the time AASL’s longitudinal survey was conducted, it was revealed that schools were more accepting of social networking tools as instructional aides. However, chatting and texting were the least used. Today in schools, we have Edmodo similar to Facebook, class wikis for blogging, and remind101 for texting. In reading Feihn’s social networking article written in 2008, it was stated that Media Specialists were a little skeptical as to using social networking sites in schools. This was due to lack of knowledge on how these sites work and how we will monitor it. I say, we are still in that mindset today. Even though schools heavily use social networking now as an integral part of the curriculum, it seems as though every week there’s something new. Here you go having to learn all about the latest technology as well as learn the best way to monitor students. It’s a constant process. But, it’s a necessity; research shows students do learn more when we utilize technology.

The media center is the hub of the school, or at least it should be. Media Specialists are responsible for producing lifelong learners. It is our duty to stay abreast of what’s current and our creativity will allow us to create lessons that will incorporate the latest technology and make it relevant for all students.

Media Center Webpages

Wow! What a visually appealing webpage! That's what initially attracts me to the
library media center website. A user may look at the graphics or even the font and
layout of the webpage. This creates initial attraction, but a media specialist must
consider the ultimate goal of the webpage and media program as well. In his article,
David Warlick notes that the ultimate goal is for students to become successful
learners and supporting teachers in their efforts to create meaningful learning
experiences for students (Warlick, 2005). Students, teachers, and parents and
community stakeholders are the target audience for the webpage, therefore they
should be kept in mind when designing. The content determines the quality of the site.

Links to reading programs or research tools should be made readily available. It's an
added bonus if those links include icons so that students with limited English
proficiency he's can identify them visually. Bullet points are also an added plus
because they draw readers eyes to special sections. A combination of graphics, text
and animation will also be ideal. North elementary school's media center webpage
was awesome because it included a virtual library. Grade level resources were
segmented so that teachers don't have to spend much time looking for appropriate
resources. Links were attached in an east to use format and layout courtesy of
Symbaloo. The site is interactive; users can request to have new books added to the
site using a Google form.

I found the Unquiet Library's website to be full of useful information. Even the name
is cool. They prominently display links to social media sites on the homepage.
Once the site is designed, media specialists be mindful of promoting the webpage.
Places sites URL on correspondences, emails, in other print publications from the
media center. Displaying the media center's program goals for two consecutive
years is a great way to have by-in from users. If they understand the mission of the
media center they are more likely to use it for the stated purposes. The databases
tab had such an abundance of resources for research. There are no icons for any
link but they are categorized according to subject area or purpose. I noticed that the
school district and/or media program makes optimal use of research-based
websites.Because one of the main goals of the media program is for students to be proficient
researchers, links for instructions on referencing material and how to cite sources
should definitely be available. Lakeview middle school gave a perfect example of
how to conduct research. They detailed the Big 6 model in very specific, easy to
understand steps.

The media specialist's time is so valuable especially if on a fixed schedule. The media
center's webpage should serve as a "liaison" between the patrons and the media
specialist. By containing the appropriate information, patrons can use it to access
needed items without constantly contacting the media specialist.

Blog 2: Wikis

Before beginning this program, my knowledge was extremely limited in the use of wikis. However, as assignments are now required in using them, I now have a pretty clear knowledge of them. Wikis are web pages that can be viewed by everyone and even contributed to by all or only select users. There is no challenging set up or expensive software needed to be able to utilize it. You only need a web browser and you can easily manipulate the site to edit. Because this is an online program, I have seen firsthand how beneficial the wikis have been. For group assignments, group members can add, delete, upload, and change content on the site and never have to speak. Steps to do each are easy to follow and anyone will be able to do it.

As a new Media Specialist, I would be most interested in a wiki designed for Media Specialist’s best practices, such as the Media Specialists in Cobb County. Because members could constantly update, comment, add, and change information, the site would remain current and eventually, I could do the same and post information to help others.

In collaboration with teachers, pathfinders come to mind. Media Specialists are normally responsible for initiating them however why not have teachers add to them? There can never be too many useful resources for a particular topic. With the wealth of information that could be entered on a wiki, students and teachers could use the information for future references and from year to year.

 With students, interactive activities could be done using wikis. Students could even author their own wikis, making it as creative as they wanted to and Media Specialists could create pages for book clubs and grade level novel discussions/resources. Of course, to get the most value out of wikis, students and teachers should be well informed of how to accurately contribute to them and wiki creators have to maintain strict and continuous monitoring.

 

Blog 1: Podcasting

Although podcasting has been in existence for many years, I am slightly embarrassed to say that I'm relatively new to its use in the educational environment. Podcasting can be an effective communication tool for the media center. It can be used in several ways. The media specialist can create book talks. Brief book talks can be posted to the media center's website via a podcast. They can be used as a great tool for providing a brief synopsis of a book or an upcoming title in a series. For younger students podcasts would be a great way to listen to certain characters or short scenes in a story and make predictions about what will happen in a story for coming to the media center for reading time. On her podcast Booktalks Quick and Simple, Nancy Keane posts daily booktalks she categorizes them in order of author; this makes them easy to locate for users to locate. Many of her booktalk podcasts are short averaging 1-2 minutes; she excites the readers' interest in a story prior to them being exposed to it. On many of her Booktalks she uses good instructional strategies by asking questions of the future reader. A media specialist planning to use this daily book talk idea could extend it by allowing the reader to respond by typing in an open blog space or on a wiki page.

Media specialist could also use podcasts and also vodcasts to advertise for the media center. If users had a brief video available or a brief recording available on how to use the media center and its resources that will be invaluable toward the media center's goal. How cool would it be to get a brief tour of the media center without the Librarians physical assistance?  This type of podcast would be especially useful for students who struggle with finding books according to Dewey classification.

Willowdale elementary's podcast Radio WillowWeb was simply amazing! They included the input of several students. Each student had a  stake in producing the podcast successfully. This will be a great alternative to a written research project. i'm sure students went to great lengths to conduct research most likely with the support of their teacher and the.... media specialist! Students were allowed to express their creativity by interacting with each other in a natural manner; they did not just read from a sheet of paper. Music and other special features were included within the podcast which made it more enjoyable for listeners. The audio podcast is so safe for students especially when posting the podcast to public websites. The teacher or facilitator gave credit to all contributors by using first names only. Safety is something to be especially vigilant of when creating podcasts for students.

I checked out the blog of Wesley A. Fryer. He gets several links to resources on effective podcasting in schools. He's created a very practical podcasting flowchart which can be used by beginners. It includes tips on how to make a quick note edit podcasts for musical choose a multipart podcasts. Some media specialist and teachers are posting their podcasts on iTunes. What a true definition of teaching students to be 21st-century learners.

Welcome to the blog for Team 3, MEDT 7477, Fall 2013.
To get started, team members will need to discuss the layout you want to use.  Then you will check the course website for the schedule -- topics, as well as when each of you will do original posts and when you will be responsible for response posts to classmates.
OPC