Technology, Diversity and the Media Center

When one thinks about the definition of the term diversity, we are immediately drawn to the word different. We think about different genders, different races, different cultures, different languages, etc. When I think about the term diversity with regard to technology and the media center I am also drawn to the term different, specifically different learning styles. I feel that the greatest challenge that the media specialist faces in every aspect of their position boils down to meeting the learning style needs of the entire school, staff and students alike. Every decision the media specialist makes has to pass the different learning styles litmus test. Does this resource accommodate the three basic learning styles (auditory, visual and kinesthetic) as well as students with learning disabilities?

I know that this seems like a tall order, or even an impossible request, for the media specialist to fulfill. On a certain level I might agree with you, however I do not believe media specialists have a choice in this matter anymore. The big push within the Cobb County School District right now is instructional differentiation. In other words, how can teachers within the school district meet the individual needs and learning styles of all of their students? If the teachers are expected to provide differentiating instruction, then the media specialist will be expected to provide individualized resources and support that will assist with the differentiation movement. That said I believe that using different learning styles as the primary concern that permeates all decisions made by the media specialist will do nothing more than make the media center stronger as a result.

In addition to assisting the student population, I feel that the media specialist’s focus on differentiating instruction will do wonders to benefit the faculty as well. I think that this is especially true with regard to administering technology training in-services to the faculty. Within the field of education I often feel that the focus on different learning styles stops at the student level. Just because we became education professional does not mean that we stopped having a specific learning style through which we acquire information best. Technology training in-services should be administered to the faculty in the same manner as a lesson is administered to the student, with everyone’s individual needs and level of technology experience considered.

Diversity

The term "diversity" typically refers to differences in culture and race, but really includes anything that can make us different from one another, such as intelligence, learning style, socio-economic status. As media specialists, we are in a unique position to bring diversity into a school through our collections. Materials should appeal to all students, no matter what learning level, race, language, or gender, for example. A variety of materials should always be available and abundant to serve our school's population, depending on its particular structure. Not only can we build collections to appeal tot he students population, but also professional collections to help our teachers serve students the best way possible. This can include technology materials to assist any impairments that exist in our children - visual, hearing, learning disabilities, etc.

Unfortunately, I have not had the opportunity to serve any disabled students where I am. Our population is an interesting mix of a male majority (we are a STEM-magnet elementary school, grades 3-5) and majority African-Americans and sub-continental Indians. Our media center, where I am the parapro, has a number of biographies on famous African-Americans, more than the school where my mentor is. Unfortunately, we don't have any books, fiction or biographies, that are stories about Indian culture. I understand there isn't much available, but more fiction is being written for the upper grades about Indian families and culture. We also have a wide-variety of AR reading levels represented in the collection because some children are classic left-brained strong math students, but somewhat weak readers. We have something for everyone, strong readers included. Finally, our media center is quite small. I am sad to say that if we had students who were in wheel chairs, they would not find our library so easy to navigate.

We are a STEM-magnet school, so technology plays a strong role in our curriculum. However, because we don't have any special needs students, I don't believe wee have any assistive-technologies on campus. I have never seen support in action, although the school my mentor is in just began housing an autism program. I am not sure how often these students visit the media center, though - I'll have to ask Lynn after our Thanksgiving break...

Digital Stories and Ebooks

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most about the information I’m learning in our media classes is how much we are being taught about technology. This week’s reading and exploration on digital storytelling and ebooks has been very interesting. I have always love to see sideshows of pictures put together with music; it evokes more emotion and “understanding” than just looking at pictures in a textbook. Fortunately, there are several ways to incorporate this activity in the classroom.

According to Bernard Robin of the University of Houston, “Topics used in digital story telling range from personal takes to the recounting of historical events, from explaining life in one’s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything in between.” There are benefits for both teachers and students from the use of digital story telling. For teachers, it can be used as a lesson hook, used to integrate multimedia into curriculum, make difficult content more understandable because it allows coverage of multiple learning styles, and facilitates classroom discussion. For students, it helps improve multiple skills: research, writing, organization, technology, presentation, interview, problem solving, and assessment skills.

I am currently teaching about the Holocaust in my World Literature class. We’ve had background discussions and read different short stories; Throughout, the students had a lot of questions: “you mean, they really did this to them?” or “Were they really that starved, etc.” I needed a way to get them to see the reality of this horrible event, so I went to the Internet and started searching Teacher Tube. I was able to find several examples of digital storytelling and actually decided on one that was created by a 9^th grade student. My students were in awe of the images they were seeing on the screen, and their questions and discussion from that point on demonstrated that, finally, a light bulb had been flipped on. Not only did they finally “get” it, but they also had images that would remain with them throughout our unit. This is a great use for digital stories in the classroom; for the teacher, it can be used to enhance instruction while students can create their own stories to show their understanding.”

Ebooks seem to be the wave of the future. There are actually schools that are considering using ebooks instead of text books. I am not completely sure how I feel about the use of ebooks as a replacement for the traditional book. I am English teacher; I love to read, and to me books are a precious thing. I love the feeling of getting a new book, dog-earing the pages, and getting a sense of accomplishment when I finish something that looked so daunting in the beginning. With Kindles, computers, and other ebook readers, all of that is lost. It will always just be words on a screen, and to me, that loses some of the lure and attraction of books. However, I can see their benefit. For a lot of students, books are a turn-off, but give them a piece of technology and have them read, in their minds, it’s different and it is intriguing. A lot of our students need that. At our school, the only thing that could possibly be considered as an ebook would be an online version of Newsweek and Education Leadership. Unfortunately, neither of these is ever accessed. Our media specialist doesn’t even know how to do so. When I asked her opinion on the use of Ebooks in the media center, she said that “it would be a great thing, but I don’t ever see it happening. We have very limited funds and moving in that direction would suck up all the money, not only in purchases, but in repairs, etc.”

Fortunately, there are ways to access free ebooks. Project Gutenberg is a site that had over 30,000 free ebooks. Most of the books available are books whose copyright has expired in the United States. One thing I found interesting is the difference between books that are “free of charge” and book “freedom”. Free of charge means that there is no charge for the book, but you are bound by very strict copyright laws. Book freedom means that the user can do however he or she pleases with the book. A lot of people don’t realize there is a difference.

I think ebooks will definitely find their place in media centers and in the classroom. With the new use of SmartBoards, ebooks can be used in whole class discussion and interactive lessons. One example I really like was to use books from International Children’s Digital Library to work with learning languages. Students can look at children’s books and work at translating, finishing, or illustrating these selected books.

Digital Storytelling and eBooks

I had not heard of a digital story until I took this class. I am currently working on my story right now. As a teacher I can see where these would be very beneficial in the classroom. However, I am overwhelmed as to how much time goes into creating just one story. I know as with everything else that a person would become more familiar with the process and it would have to get easier. I teach in a primary school, and I think that it would be very difficult for these to be student driven. I do feel that they would provide good instruction for students if they were built by the teachers around the standards.
Digital storytelling can also be used to post short movies on school websites or teacher websites. I could see using one to showcase some of our classroom activities. That is only with the students who have permission for their pictures and videos to be posted.
Now on the the other subject, the schools where I have worked are not doing much with eBooks. I think that the media specialist at my current school knew she was close to retiring and did not want to create anything new that she had to deal with. We do not even have a subscription to the Gale Virtual Reference Library. Keep in mind that we are only a K-2 school. I am not really sure how much use we would get out of it. Should we have a subscription? Would this be good for K-2 students? I don't know. Maybe I should check into that next year. So, I don't really know much about eBooks. I look forward to reading the posts of someone that does understand them.

Technology Training in Schools

The current state of the faculty’s technology skills at Wheeler High School skills runs the gamut between inexperienced and apathetic to tech savvy and overzealous. Recently, as part of the 21st Century Classroom initiative, Wheeler High School classrooms received a DVD/VCR combo, laptop/computer connections, LCD projector, pull down screen, and many classrooms were also equipped with Smartboards. Unfortunately many of these new classroom technologies have been greatly underutilized because many teachers have not been trained to use them because they were either to busy or apathetic to attend the training in-service that the media specialists held. In my opinion this is a shame. Many of the veteran teachers at my school are reluctant to learn about new technologies because they fear that the county will change it on them the next year. The newer teachers who are technology savvy and would love to learn more are often overwhelmed with other responsibilities such as athletics and clubs that consume all of their “free” time.

In conversations I have had with the media specialists and other teachers at Wheeler High School in the past, I discovered that the Cobb County School District is in dire need of technology training for teachers and students alike. Due to recent budget setbacks, the Cobb County School District eliminated all of their ILT (Instructional Lead Teacher) positions at the end of last school year. As a result, technology training for the entire county has landed in the lap of the media specialists at each individual school. The media specialists at Wheeler High School are always willing to help with technology questions and training, but even they had to admit that it is very difficult for them to do much with this new job responsibility considering everything that they already had on their plate. When I asked how they handled requests for technology training and assistance when they themselves could not assist, they pointed me towards Atomic Learning. Since the Cobb County School District was forced to eliminate the ILT positions, they purchased a subscription to Atomic Learning. Atomic Learning is remarkably easy to use online resource that contains thousands of technology training videos and instructional resources. Actually, I decided to do my second in-service module on it because of the current state of technology skills at Wheeler High School.

When I think about how I as a media specialist would provide technology staff development, I often find myself leaning toward asynchronous technology education as opposed to school wide in-services. I know that sounds like a scandalous suggestion, but let me explain. At Wheeler High School, the majority of the teachers that would be interested in pursuing technology training often complain that they do not have time to attend lengthy in-services that consume their entire planning period. Many of them inquire with the media specialists in advance to see if there are any resources that they can take home with them to use or if our video production class plans on recording the training for viewing at a later date. However, the teachers that are apathetic about learning new technology always seem to begrudgingly attend the mandatory in-service training if for no other reason than to complain that they are wasting their planning. In other words, the teachers that want to be at the in-service are not there and the teachers that don’t want to be there are. Overall, this gives technology in-services a bad rap. I would like to empower the teachers that want to go to in-services by letting them learn the material whenever they want, wherever they want. How does this help the entire school you might ask? Well, the teachers that are turned on by the new technology will help to sell it to the reluctant ones. Additionally, the more teachers that get on board with a new technology the greater likelihood that the technology being used sticks around.

Technology Staff Development

I spoke with my mentor who is a media specialist in a Cobb county elementary school. We discussed technology staff development somewhat in general terms, but more specifically in terms of the tech refresh this school received two weeks before school started this August. Keheley Elementary has been a MAC school for years, but with the refresh, all computers were changed over to PCs. Many of the teachers knew nothing but MACs because they have taught there for so long, so there has been quite an adjustment period that is still going on. Generally, Lynn provides one, possibly two, in-services once a school year. However, with the refresh issues, she developed a year-long technology staff development workshop that she holds once a month after school for an hour. Eighteen of the staff members signed up for this class. She is teaching things such as basic PC skills, OPAC (Destiny in Cobb), and basic PowerPoint.

The strategies she uses for technology staff development include developing and writing lessons, determining times when staff can attend, and allowing additional time for other topics to be covered because there are always questions. Because she is in an elementary school, staff development can only be held after school and therefore has to be voluntary. I asked about professional learning days; Lynn told me those are predetermined by the county as to what will be taught those days, so there is no flexibility for professional learning days. She did say that she has those trainings approved by the county so that her staff can earn PLUs.

The most common problem is time. Again, locally-driven elementary staff development for technology has to held after school whereas middle and high school staff have built in planning periods during which these classes can be held. This leads to another problem: lack of funds, for if the staff developments were held during the school day, substitutes would have to be hired.

As an SLMS, I would love to provide staff development on a number of topics such as Destiny, PowerPoint, and use of online tools for teachers that they may not realize exist, such as simulation sites for concepts of science. On-site and live staff developments would be ideal, but the option of in-services via tutorials I design is a fabulous one. These are lessons that can be stored online or on CD to be taken whenever it is convenient for teachers. Dos and Don’ts: DON’T assume all learners are at the same starting point. DO start from the beginning, but find something for those more advanced students to do while you are teaching others. Lynn provides head-phones for those teachers so they can go on Atomic Learning.com to view video tutorials on the same subject matter. DO explain all lingo and vocabulary because you DON’T want to assume everyone knows what you are saying or talking about. Finally, per Lynn, she suggested not creating too many hand-outs first because of tighter budget constraints, especially on paper, and secondly, because she finds that many teachers don’t use them, so they tend to get thrown away often. Great tips, and I am excited about being able to help my staff as much as possible.

Broadcasting

The school I teach at does have a broadcasting system that we use for several different things. Every morning, the announcements are broadcast for the entire school and Channel 1 is shown immediately after that. The majority of the televisions in the classrooms are considered Channel 1 televisions...they were provided by Channel 1 as long as we show it each day. Our announcements are very simple with usually two-three anchors and one camera. I think our broadcast has a lot of potential, but doesn't have the opportunity to reach it because it is not associated with a class. These are simply volunteers and the media specialist oversees the broadcast each morning. There are several teachers who utilize Georgia Public Broadcasting, also. There is an opportunity to have shows recorded and broadcast at given times, or the most popular use for teachers is to access Discovery/United Streaming on the Internet. I actually used it today to show a video of Donna Washington as she told African Trickster Tales. The students really seemed to enjoy the mixture of storytelling with humor and graphic elements instead of simply reading the tales from the book.

Video Distribution

I did talk with our media specialist just to make sure, but I knew that we did not have any subscriptions to anything extra. We have a closed circuit video system but it is only used to show VHS or DVD’s throughout the classrooms. We only use it to play teacher selected DVD’s because there is not any DVD players in the classrooms. During “special” times of the year such as “Red Ribbon Week” our media specialist will show special videos at certain times of the day and the teachers can choose to watch them at the specified times. With the tough economic times, I don’t think that they would even have the money to pay for cable or broadcast programs. The SES morning news broadcast goes out to the whole school each morning.
Chattooga teachers do use the resources available from GPB. However there are many teachers that do not use the resources or even know that there is such thing a GPB. Many teachers know of the resources, but do not want to take the time to preview or download the videos or resources. There is so much great “free” stuff out there for teachers and I don’t understand why more teachers do not take advantage of the resources. We “as media specialist” need to help teachers with locating and using these resources in their classrooms. I am planning on doing my module 3 in-service in 7461 on using http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ in the classroom. It is a great supplement to many lessons and I feel that if more of the teachers at my school were fully aware of all of the resources that the site offered, they would more likely use the site.

School News: Wildcat TV ROCKS!!

In conversations I have had with the media specialists at my high school in the past, I already knew that they have very little to so with Joseph Wheeler High School’s TV news show, Wildcat TV. Wildcat TV is a student created and produced school TV news program that is overseen and managed by the teacher of the video production class, Ms. Leigh Ann Kuhn. Since the program is attached to a class, the students that host the show as well as the students that produce and edit the material change every semester. Wildcat TV is broadcast throughout the school every Wednesday starting in homeroom and looping the rest of the day. Additionally, in an effort to reach out to parents at home as well as the students in school, episodes of the weekly program can now be viewed from home using the internet to access SchoolTube.com. Online access to the program is a recent expansion that was started this semester.

Despite not being managed by our media specialists, Wildcat TV still operates on a model of collaboration. The students within the class collaborate with other students as well the teacher. In turn, the teacher collaborates with other teachers, the media specialists, as well as the administration. This model of collaboration makes Wildcat TV a program that is informative, instructional, and entertaining. When the administration and teachers wanted to make an effort to improve school culture, they started a program called Random Acts of Kindness or RAK. This program rewards students that do good deeds without any prompting by mailing home gift certificates to grocery stores, restaurants, etc. as a form of recognition. When presented with an opportunity to interview teachers about the RAK program, the students of Wildcat TV instead decided to conduct a video survey of how kind our school really is and broadcast it to the student body as an introduction to the RAK program. Here is the link to the episode: http://www.schooltube.com/video/50846/wctv-Oct-28-2009. You can watch the entire episode (only 8:30 minutes long) or scan immediately to the Random Acts of Kindness clip at minute 4:40. Additionally, Wildcat TV also created a video in-service of sorts to inform students about how to set up their Pinnacle account so that they can view their grades at anytime online. Here is the link to the video in-service: http://www.schooltube.com/video/45212/Pinnacle-SAT-account.

I have to say that I am a huge fan of Wildcat TV. I look forward to watching as much if not more than my homeroom students. I find that it is informative, instructional, and most of all very entertaining. I often embarrass myself with hysterical laughter...

A Picture of Elementary News Broadcast

At my school, Marietta Center for Advanced Academics (3-5 elementary), the news production is pretty serious business. There are 8 5th-grade members of the crew who broadcast on school TV daily. The members do not have to audition though: news crew is considered a club. Each spring, the first 8 rising 5th graders who sign up for the following fall will take the first quarter's shift for the next school year. In the fall, the next 24 current 5th graders who sign up for news crew are divided up for the remaining 3 quarters.

The 8 members share jobs, rotating through each position daily. The positions are as follows: 2 anchors, 2 cameras, 1 person to type the scroll, 1 sound person, 1 person to say pledge and moment of silence, and 1 director. There are also 2 4th-grade weather reporters chosen to give the weather daily by the 4th-grade teachers. The crew broadcasts from the media center, and the media specialist produces the broadcast and writes the script. The broadcasts are short, lasting only about 5 minutes. All the preparation starts about 45 minutes before the broadcast is aired at 9:00am, start of day.

The scroll moves across the bottom of every school TV screen during the day with the current time showing. The content of the broadcast itself includes club announcements, lunch menu, special events and happenings, pledge and moment of silence, question of the week, joke of the day, and daily weather. Every Monday, the principal or the media specialist announces the top AR readers per grade and top class per grade for the prior week. There have been no interviews or special guests that I have seen this year. I would like to see more involvement or special features occur as would the media specialist. However, this is her first year and has not yet added her own special twists! Can't wait to see what she does!

Social Networking

Social Networking honestly seems to be “taking over the world”, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. Every time you turn around, someone is talking about being “friended” on Facebook or tweeting their latest activities. Students are consumed by the vast connection social networks create across countries, generations, and groups. Why not incorporate that interest into the schools? Our goal as educators is to get students involved in active learning, and what better way to do that than use what kids love most. According to the ALA’s website, “The common beliefs within the AASL’s Standards for the 21st century learner state that technology and social skills are essential to the development of 21st century students in order for them to be viable members of the working community”. Essentially, to meet the 21st century learner standards, we have got to get involved with and incorporate technology as often as possible. Web 2.0, one of the main focuses in reaching these standards, is the use of internet technologies to enhance information sharing and the creative and collaborative development of projects. This can include social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter; bookmarking sites such as Delicious and Library Thing; blogs, podcasts, wikis, etc.
Unfortunately, a lot of school systems block all social networking sites because of the “extra” communication it allows between teachers and students. After the courses I’ve already completed in this program, I have seen the benefits and the possibilities that blogs, discussion boards, and podcasts can have, and I’ve tried to incorporate them into my classroom, but the board of education says absolutely not. I haven’t been able to even get them to listen to justifications and reasons. Because of my personal experience with this, I was very interested in the ways other school systems have incorporated these into the classroom and media center. According to ALA, 41% of schools use podcast, and 29% use blogs. One good idea I found is to have 2 different accounts. For example on Facebook, a teacher can set up an account as a school employee- use school email, keep public, etc. and then have a personal account that students don’t have access to, etc. Also, there were several media specialists who run contests on the sites in order to get the students involved.
I really think social networking is a great avenue to reach students whether it be in the classroom or through the media center, but we’ve got to get our school board systems to agree and allow for a change that will create a better, more modern educational system.

Social Networking

My thinking on social networking is that it is appealing to students and the majority of our population. Who doesn't have a facebook account now??? I get friend requests from people that I would have never thought would even have a computer.

Through this class I have learned that there are more to social networking other than Facebook and Myspace. This week the building of the media center webpage blog has opened my eyes more to the benefits of such social networking tools. Library 2.0 states that social networking is designed to encourage individual expressions, self discovery, and social interaction. Social networking sites could be very beneficial in promoting the media center, as they already have the popularity among the majority of the student population.

Library 2.0 gave several good ideas for using social networking site. They are as follows:

-Social networking sites provide a new way for patrons to interact with the library.
-Social networking sites are forcing libraries to reexamine their roles and identities, and to rethink strategies toward remaining visible and valuable to users.
-Social networking sites enable libraries to "speak the language" of their patrons and to find out what they are intersted in.
-Social networking sites are a great way to "show the patrons the library".
-Social networking sites are a good way to "assess the patrons" through the use of surveys and focus groups.
-Social networking sites can be used by media specialist to interact with their patrons that are unfamiliar with the traditional research process.
-Social networking sites can be used for event promotion.
-Social networking sites can be used for outreach, educating patrons, and word of mouth.

I feel that social networking sites are the way to go to gain followers. Most schools may still be required to have a media center webpage, but they could have links from their site to the other social networking sites that they would like to use. This would then fall into the discussion of the use of filters. I know that many districts have social networking sites blocked. Social networking sites can open our options as to what is available to gain the attention of the students.

media center webpages

In today's society, when people need information they usually head for the Internet. Instead of spending hours looking through encyclopedias or phone books for numbers to call, people can jump on the Internet and find what they need in a matter of minutes. Therefore, if a media center wants to get out information and help give students access to a variety of resources, they should create a web page. The majority of media centers have a web page, but it may not necessarily be usable and/or effective. There is no point in having a web page if it doesn't have a purpose or if it can't be navigated.
Through looking at several examples of webpages and through experience with our own media center page, I have created a list of what I think makes a great webpage and what things should be avoided. As I mentioned earlier, the page must have a purpose so all information should be meaningful and useful. It should consist of basic information such as contact information, hours of operation, etc. while also including things such as the media center handbook, resources for teachers, links to helpful sites, etc. The important thing to remember is to keep all of the information updated and present it in an easy-to-use, and easy-to-read format. One of the things I hate most about a webpage is when the links aren't up-to-date or don't work. I become interested in something a link has to offer and then have no way of accessing the information. People will quit visiting the media center webpage if links are always down or inactive.
From what I've read, I do believe that wikis could serve as a great alternative to the normal webpage. I know in our school system, blogs wouldn't work because all types of blogs are blocked, but so far, we are able to access wikis. I like the idea because it will give media specialists the ability to work on it from any location, but more importantly it will be a page that can have multiple contributors. Teachers can help keep links updated, or added to as they find helpful websites, etc. It is a whole lot easier for new information to be found when its not just one person looking for it. I also think the wiki would give a media specialist more freedom in how the page can look. Our county uses NetChalk for all web pages and to me its just boring and somewhat difficult to do. I would love to see what would happen if we started creating these wikis and using them throughout the school.

My Thoughts on the Media Center Webpage

I feel as if the media center webpage should cater to the audience members: students, staff, and community, including, of course, the parents. Almost all of my experience with media centers has been at the elementary level, so I am comfortable considering content for this area.

For the students, there should be links to any online databases for research, such as World Book or Net Trekker, with access to login names and passwords (our SLMS sends it home on paper every semester). Links to websites listing award winning titles and nominees are important, as well as lists of books for summer reading. The parents and students would benefit from seeing a list of AR books and quizzes available at the school's media center. Naturally, if possible, there should also be a link to the library's online catalog so students, parents, and staff members can access the collection from anywhere. Are there magazines available in the media center? Which ones? A listing for these types of items that may not be present in the OPAC would be great, too.

I think that a little personal bio for each media center staff is nice to have, primarily because it makes the media specialist(s) and clerks seem more like real people! I found it interesting that on the Mabry Media Center webpage, I could not find any information on the library staff, not even their names! I feel it should be visible without a patron having to go find the school's staff directory.

For the teachers, I like the idea of lists of professional journals or links to interesting articles being made available. If the teachers would give permission, the media specialist could provide links to individual classroom blogs or webpages.

Finally, in the area of content, the webpage for the media center should have information, updated regularly, on current media center events and programs, including clubs run by the media specialist.

I hate it when I click on a link from a school's home page for the media center, and it's dead! I hate it even more when I can't find a link to the media center from the school's home page. As for aesthetics, the MC webpage should be visually appealing, but not too busy. Of course, the layout should be designed with the audience in mind: big, colorful graphics for elementary school; fewer, more mature, graphics for high school. Think of it like a presentation, and use good visual design tips similar to those given to us by Dr. Bennett. I can't stand going to a webpage with menus and links all over the place: across the top, down each side, etc. I like simplicity, personally. This media center website for an elementary school near me has a great design:
http://mediacenter.cobbk12.org/common/welcome.jsp;jsessionid=CF4DAE7B10E976E41F288819A1F9B8A1?site=162

As for websites going Web 2.0? I like the idea of blogs, but entries ought to be approved by MC staff before published. I'm still not too sure about wikis, so I'll say no to that for now. However, I think it is important to have students feel as if they are part of the school, and the SLMS allowing for comments on books or other relevant topics through blog entries are a fantastic way to include everyone.

Wikis

Through my classes at UWG, I have learned that Wikis can be a great educational resource. I love the fact that it can be a great organizational tool for teachers as well as students. They can also be used for a place for students to submit assignments, as well as for project spaces. I can also envision a wiki as a way to promote collaborative writing. This would allow students to receive comments and feedback from their instructors and peers. Also, wikis can be used as a place for ongoing discussions. Wikis would be a great way to organize sources all in one place. If students were working on a project they could "store" all of their resources on this wiki for easy access.

Wikis can change the focus from individual instruction to a focus on collaboration. Collaboration could also be used with students from different schools, states, or even coutries to work together on a common project. If a teacher is requiring collaboration with the students, he or she must monitor and bring up issues of authorship to make sure that the information is accurate and meaningful to the student.


After reviewing some of the wikis from the course notes, I found that some of the examples can be very hard to follow, or very busy. I am saying that there was so much information on the pages that it could be overwhelming. Maybe the information needs to me monitored and removed when it is not needed anymore or becomes out of date. Also, another drawback to wikis is that they can be updated or change by the users. Is the content ever valid? That is the question that users must ask.

Wikis

After completing the readings and exploring the websites this week, I can see many different ways that wikis can be used in the media center. First of all, a wiki seems to be a great idea for a media center webpage. Basic information can be put there, but also links to helpful websites, class wikis etc. The benefit of having a wiki as a web page is that teachers can also help keep it updated. It can be a source for teachers to display student work, post new assignments with links to different documents of websites, form groups for discussion/collaboration, etc. It can also be used as a digital form of a Professional Collection. One of the struggles of the media center is keeping an updated professional collection and getting teachers to use it. I think a wiki would be a great solution. Teachers could access the wiki from any computer (home or school), and it can be easily and collaboratively updated. As a media specialist comes across new articles, they can be linked to the wiki, and as individual teachers come across new articles, great websites, etc. they can add them to the wiki.
Wikis can also be used in the classroom. One idea that I really liked is to use wikis as student portfolios. As our county is focusing on Standards-Based Education, there is focus on displaying student work and providing feedback. Students can upload certain work to the wiki and it is on display for a much larger group of people. The work can also be used as examples for future projects.
As great as wikis sound, there is a drawback- the fact that it can be edited by pretty much anyone. One of the most famous examples of a wiki is Wikipedia. When students do research they are automatically drawn to the Wikipedia site because it seems to have information on every subject. Unfortunately, because it is a wiki, how accurate is the information? Our high school and many colleges prohibit the use of Wikipedia as a source in papers and projects because of the lack of validity of the site. Wikipedia is a large source of information but there isn’t a guarantee as to how accurate it is. The same can be true with any wiki. There is always a chance that information can be changed or deleted, even if done accidentally.

Podcasting_Case

Although I have personally done very little with a podcasting, I would be more than willing to assist a teacher that approached me to start a podcast. The first thing I would do would be to relate to the teacher the amount of exposure I have had to podcasting. I would explain that I have been following music podcasts for years, but I have only just recently created a podcast of my own while pursing my media specialist certification. The first step I would take would be to discuss with the teacher what the intended use of the podcast is in order to get an idea about format. For example, does the teacher want their podcast to be audio only, pictures with audio, or audio with video? Additionally, how does the teacher plan on linking their podcast to a personal blog, class webpage, school website, or does the teacher want to burn it to a CD for distribution? The answer to all of these questions would help to guide my research for resources.

In an effort to get this teacher started immediately, I would introduce them to Camtasia, the software that I use for my podcast, and provide them with a copy of the powerpoint tutorial that my professor had created. Although Camtasia is a relatively expensive fee based software, it will allow the teacher to sign up for a free 30-day trial. This trial period will give the teacher immediate access to Camtasia and the powerpoint should provide enough training to assist with their learning curve. Furthermore, because I have used Camtasia before, I should be able to lend support and answer any questions the teacher may have. I would then explain to the teacher that I would use the next 30 days to research various options and software that could be utilized for podcasting that would not require such a costly financial investment as Camtasia, such as Audacity.

As a media specialist, I would be more than willing to help out any teacher that came to me with a question. Even if the question involves material that I am unfamiliar with, I would still try to assist the teacher by researching the topic or directing them to a more experienced individual. By taking the time to research any given technology topic or sitting in while the technology support persons trains the teacher I am not increasing my own personal technology knowledge, but I am also increasing the amount of technology support I am able to lend the students and staff of my school. With the recent budget cuts in education the technological role of the media specialist has increased greatly. As a result, many schools consider the media specialist the first line of defense when dealing with instructional technology questions. Since technology should be introduced into a lesson whenever possible, the media specialist can provide instruction to all teachers by designing and implementing an in-service that demonstrates how to thoroughly use an instructional technology.

The uses for podcasts within my school are nearly infinite. Media specialist at all grade levels could utilize podcasts. If the media specialist is servicing an elementary school, they can link podcasts of them reading popular or themed books to the media center blog for viewing both within the classroom and at home. At the middle to high school level, the school library media specialist can assist teachers in creating a “real-life” project involving technology by engaging students in creating their own podcasts as an alternative to the standard PowerPoint. Additionally, the media specialist can create a podcast as a method of implementing an in-service that could be accessed through the media center webpage at all hours. Teachers at all grade levels could utilize podcasts linked to their classroom blog as a way of introducing a new unit to both the students and parents alike. In my opinion, this is a recent technology that has not yet been completely tapped of it’s instructional capabilities.

Podcasting

If a teacher were to approach me about developing a podcast for his class, I would readily admit that I don’t have any experience in the development of podcasting, but that I do have experience with using tools to create audio files, which is a great starting point. I would be willing to help the teacher start a podcast by finding out what I can about the process and steps involved. Additionally, he and I should meet to decide what format he wants the podcast; in other words, does he want a blog set up on the class webpage or school website, does he want the files simply to be attachments on these pages, or does he only want to record the files for download to a CD?

As the media specialist, I feel I should be the primary person staff and students come to for help with technology needs, and if I am unfamiliar with the request, I should definitely offer to find out so I can not only learn, but also take the burden from the teacher. Teachers don’t always have time to learn more about technology that can enhance the classroom experience. By educating my self about podcasting, I not only help myself, but also the staff and students at my school. Once this particular project has been designed, implemented, and completed to the satisfaction of this teacher and his students, I want to develop an in-service to teach other staff members how to utilize podcasting for their classroom needs.

For the media center, I think podcasting could be a fun tool for promoting books and the media program. Podcasts could be available on the media center blog or webpage that discuss new books, popular series or other series with similar themes to popular titles, award nominees, and teacher and administrator favorites. The media staff at my current school is instrumental in the success of the school’s tech and science fairs – podcasts could be used to introduce projects to judges and visitors, and recordings of winners and runners-up could be posted to the school’s website after the events. In the classroom, podcasts could be developed around assignments and projects, and students could design podcasts of themselves reading a book for students in younger grades to help demonstrate good fluency. The possibilities are endless for classroom use.