Blog Post 4: Technology Leadership Role of School Librarians

     The AASL have recommended a new set of school library standards in response to the ever-shifting landscape of information technology in the new century.  One of the most striking features of these standards is the emphasis to engage learners in as many new technologies as possible to prepare them for careers and intellectual challenges that will likely be in unexplored territory.  The AASL surmises that it will be the role of librarians to foster the ability of students to discover information on their own, especially in cases where there is no simple solution.  It will difficult to predict the course of the future, but with the proper training, it will not take a skilled student by surprise.  In addition, the standards still recommend a devotion to instilling a love of reading and promoting the library as a place to encourage collaborative learning experiences.

     To this end, many researchers are proposing a shift in the way that libraries perform their functions in order to meet the demands of these new standards.  Lawrence discovered a number of ways to use technology to enhance student participation within the library.  First, the library website contained much more to pique student interest than simply basic information.  In this case, Lawrence encouraged the use of a virtual book review program called DestinyQuest to help students learn how to review books and trade their recommendations with their friends.  In essence, this was the social media equivalent of a book club but it pervaded the entire school.  Lawrence also advocates the librarian as an instructor for technological services outside of the library.  In many cases, computers are available in classrooms and laptops may even be granted to every student, but the librarian can still teach classes about research.  It only takes the ability to do so in the teacher or student's space instead of insisting such classes be conducted in the library.

     Mashriqi focuses on how to engage students with technologies currently available.  The idea is to implement currently existing technologies in a way that makes them fresh and exciting.  In many cases, the tools to create games with which to engage students already exist, it is simply a matter of using what is available in an unusual manner.  In addition, many school libraries have technologies that students can experiment with such as video cameras.  Mashriqi argues that students ought to be given lessons in how to use these technologies in a formal setting rather than waiting for a student or teacher to express interest in a piece of equipment for a specific purpose.  By giving students experience with these items, they become much more likely to want to use them in the future.

     School librarians have a great deal of potential technologies to sift through to determine what is most useful to students.  Ultimately, the AASL encourages these information professionals to engage patrons through the use of newly minted technologies where appropriate.  In addition, it is a good idea to revisit current technologies and encourage students to become used to the devices and programs of today in order to create a foundation that will prepare them for what the future will hold.

References:

AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner. (2007). AASL Home Page. Retrieved April 17,

     2014, from http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandard

     /learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf

Lawrence, E. (2014). LIBRARIANS ON THE LOOSE. Knowledge Quest, 42(4), 63-70. 

Mashriqi, K. (2011). Implementing Technology and Gaming Lessons in a School Library. Knowledge
     Quest, 40(1), 24-28.

Blog Post 3: Technology Implementation Strategies

     For the most part, reference services remain centered around the desk despite the increasing abilities of communications software. Rourke and Lupien studied a program at the University of Guelph that was designed to enable students to contact reference librarians through the use of MSN messenger and Virtual Reference software. The university wanted to enable access to reference librarians from a distance and wanted students to be able to ask questions from a computer rather than having to trek to the librarian to ask a question.

     From this study, several conclusions were reached. The first was that students were much more formal over the virtual reference service which acted much like an email stream back and forth on a particular topic. Many students felt their queries weren't important enough to use the VR software and the IM service was much more popular. Despite this, students using virtual reference software were more likely to ask an interpretive or complex question than students using the IM software. Perhaps one of the more interesting conclusions was that students preferred the IM software, regardless of which technology was used to successfully answer their question. This meant that the results were in general less important to the students than the comfort level of the technology in question and most students probably felt more at home with IM software as it was similar to technologies they were already using with friends and relatives.

     IM software may be an important way to get students who may be shy about asking questions in front of a class to voice their concerns or opinions. It is not as public and some students feel more confidant sharing their ideas through text than through speech. Having such software available to "speak" with a teacher or librarian would possibly boost the number of questions students would ask without putting them in the spotlight. In addition, it would be possible to enable some sort of virtual session so a librarian could be available to students at home. While students don't require as many distance learning opportunities in primary or secondary school, there may still be a need to communicate with a librarian outside of normal school hours. While it may not always be feasible to have personnel on hand, the abilities for students to gain assistance outside of the library is not to be dismissed lightly.

Rourke, L. & Lupien, P. (2010). Learning from chatting: How our virtual reference questions are giving
   us answers. Evidence Based Library and Information Practice, 5(2), 63-74.

Government for Kids Search Engine

Blog Post 2: Handheld Devices

            Chang begins the article with an analysis of the impact of computing technology on the learning capabilities of students in K-12 education levels.  Despite this, the author continues by presenting evidence which suggests that the majority of students still have limited or, in some cases, no access to computers in most classroom settings.  The expense of the tools is often cited as the reason that children do not receive access to them but Chang then describes the growing power of portable devices at a more manageable price for school districts.  In addition, voice recognition software gets a particular mention due to the extensive upgrades to the capabilities of such programs in terms of speech recognition. 

            After establishing the ability of these portable devices, Chang then describes how the technology can assist with distance learning exercises and enable students to better organize information that can be presented to multiple people simultaneously.  With these devices, students are able to make a form of image map that can organize information much more succinctly than traditional computing technology in a visual form.  Furthermore, the devices enable learning through audio inputs as well as text and visual images.  The software exists that enable students to effectively speak and leave audio messages for other students much like they might write a forum post or type an email message.  This technology allows a wider range of input options which can assist students who may feel alienated by traditional distance learning options that are commonly available.

            Audio based messaging would be a boon for librarians wishing to field requests from many students.  Pupils who may have limited reading or writing skills would be better able to make requests from a distance if allowed to speak.  In addition, it would be easier for librarians to compose step by step instructions for students to follow, enabling the student to feel as if though the librarian is physically present in the room and assisting them with their query.  Enough students could have access to phones and other portable devices to enable a program of after-hours library assistance.  By having a limited number or cycling roster of librarians available for queries at certain hours, students may receive some degree of assistance even if they are not at the school.  In addition, audio based input would assist students that are blind or have other issues that may prevent them from fully utilizing traditional learning structures and programs.

Chih-Kai Chang1, c. (2010). Acceptability of an asynchronous learning forum on mobile

devices. Behaviour & Information Technology, 29(1), 23-33.

Class Projects

Blog Post 1: Technology Strengths and Weakness

     My greatest strength as a technological educator lies in my familiarity with a variety of real-world situations which warrant the creative use of technological tools.  Teachers and employers often only teach a single way to accomplish a task and while this may be the most efficient way, it may not always be the most accessible.  With the experiences I've had training coworkers on different programs, I am aware of many different methods to achieve a result and while some may take longer, they may be easier for a person to understand.  In addition, my undergraduate work focused on history which blurs many lines between plagiarism and scholarship.  My instructors spent much of their time insuring that we were aware of what constituted plagiarism and what was necessary to structure a successful argument without access to primary sources or the sites from which objects were found.  This level of expertise can be passed on to my students, regardless of age level and should help them use information responsibly.

     Despite the inundation of technology in my life, I still have a natural inclination to resist its use in all levels of society.  I understand the value of technology and I will need to become used to seeing computers and multimedia devices become increasingly common for education as well as entertainment.  Though I may be inclined to have a "powerless" lesson, I would do better for my students in engaging the use of technology as often as I can unless it is directly contrary to a lesson goal.  I will also need to work on always increasing my familiarity with software and the new hardware that continues to reshape personal computing as we know it.  I do not keep up with the latest developments anywhere near enough as I ought to.

     I would like to learn ways to incorporate devices the students are already using into their lessons.  Smartphones, MP3 players, and laptops are increasingly common to see in a classroom and I want to find a way to tap into the natural inclination to use said devices for directly educational purposes.  Using these technologies becomes easier if it is something the student is inclined to do and I want to find a way to encourage them to explore methods for storing and organizing data that will be useful to them.  More importantly, I want to prepare them for the data aggregation tools of the next generation and to do that, I need to become more familiar with such tools myself.  Media editing (such as Photoshop or a Movie Maker program) is another area that I could stand to improve on.  While I may not need advanced abilities in such programs, I would like to give an introductory lesson on their use instead of muddling through the options until something works.

NETS.T. (2008). Nets.T standards. ISTE. Retrieved from: http://www.iste.org/docs/pdfs/nets
     t-standards.pdf?sfvrsn=2