For years now there has been discussion and debate centered around whether or not to use technology in the classroom, and even when bringing technology into the classroom how much to use it. Is the technology that we are using in our classrooms really helping our students? Are we providing the best means for our students learning? Questions like these, and more, have been on the minds of teachers and administrators around the world, and still are.
Some such educators were involved in a debate about using different media in the classroom, the two debators were Richard Clark and Robert Kozma. Clark argued that while using different media, or technology, in the classroom may be a way to get information across, that is all it is. Kozma on the other hand argued that technology could influence learning and, at times, help certain students and situations in the classroom.
I fall on the Kozma side of the debate. I believe that there are appropriate times and places to use technology and that if technology is used correctly then we can help our students become more successful.
I come from a special education background, this is where I started my career in education. In this area of education there are many uses of technology that are not usually thought of. There are students using technology that helps give them a voice, or helps them think through social situations. In these respects, having the technology available is helping make the students more successful.
Now, lets take a step back for a moment. In this discussion, I am not talking about only electronic technology, in special education technology can be as simple as a file folder that students have a means to think through their feelings, or express themselves. This is partly what Kozma refers to as Symbol Systems. Many times, in education, people think that technology and media refer to electronic technology, things like iPads, computers, interactive whiteboards, and more, which is not always the case.
In a study completed by D'Angelo and Wooley, different college courses were evaluated regarding the amount of technology they were using in correlation to the effectiveness of the course. What these two researchers found was that there was a noticeable difference in the effectiveness of more traditional classrooms and those who used more technology, leaning towards those who used more technology. This did not mean that the class was solely taught through technological means, or that all activities dealt with technology, just that where applicable technology was used to supplement learning and help students be more successful.
This debate is one that will be continuing for years to come, especially as more and more advanced technology comes into play. What we have to ask ourselves as educators is: Are we doing what is best for our students? Are we bringing in technology that will make our students more successful? Is this new technology going to bring them up or bog them down? After taking a good long look at our reasoning for wanting to bring in the newest technology, through a serious and unbiased eye, we can truly see if we should use the tool or not.
Is technology the most important thing in our classrooms? No. Not at all. The most important thing in our classrooms is our students, and we need to keep them at the forefront of our minds when having these debates and discussions, as well as when making these decisions, not our ego or our reluctance to change. Students are why we are here, and we need to make sure that we are keeping them in mind, sometimes technology can be helpful to them, and we need to be willing to try new things to guide our students toward success.
Citation
D'Angelo, J. M., & Wooley, S. A. (2007). TECHNOLOGY IN THE CLASSROOM: FRIEND OR FOE. Education, 127(4), 462-471.
Podcasts have been around for a very long time. However, this is something that many people in education have only just been taking advantage of. Podcasts have many uses in the library and the school. They can be used on the teacher end to get information across to students, parents, and other faculty. Students can use podcasts to present information that they have learned, as projects, or to create book trailers.
There are many different platforms that can be used for creating and sharing podcasts, however, for the purposes of this blog I will discuss three different platforms.
I have used this service in the past for classes in my masters program. This service requires account creation in order for users to have the ability to create podcasts, however, the account is free and easy to create. After you have created your account you can choose the "Upload" button and you have two choices, you can either upload a podcast you have already created or use this website to record your own. After you have either recorded or uploaded your podcast you can access it from your account profile. This service also has an app for iOS. This could be very helpful if you are having students create podcasts for their projects. They would have the ability to carry their devices around the classroom or school.
This site was also easy to create an account, and like Sound Cloud it has an iOS app. However, creating a podcast with this site was not so easy. Users have to fill out an application describing the podcast they would like to create, in the online version. This can be very inconvenient. Especially if users want to create podcasts for their students to use, or for student creation of podcasts for projects. I would not recommend using this service for podcast creations, using the online version. In the app it is a great deal easier to create a post, all you have to do is choose the record button and you are creating a podcast. Users even have the option to edit their podcast. The app is very much easier to use than the online platform. Even though the app is a great deal easier to use, I do not think that I would choose this service for my library or my students.
This service is very similar to Sound Cloud in ease of use, and account creation. However, unlike Sound Cloud, with Podomatic you do not have the option to use this service to create a podcast, you can only upload. This can be aggravating if you do not have other options for creating your podcast. This service seems to be a platform for storing and sharing your podcasts only. Also, unlike the other two platforms, this one does not have an iOS app. This is not the site that I would choose for creating podcasts myself, or for student creation.
Here is an example of a podcast I created using Sound Cloud, which is the platform that is easiest to use in my opinion.
After looking into these services, as well as reviewing podcasts created by other educators, I think that it would be a good idea to create podcasts that students can access on the library website. This could be something that is used for updates about what is happening in the library and I could even invite other faculty members to create podcasts as guests. I think that students would enjoy that.
For many years I have enjoyed reading comic books and graphic novels, many of my students do as well. Graphic novels and comic books are both things that are seen more and more in the library. These stories are extremely creative and are able to condense their message to short sentences and communicate more through pictures, which is why many of our reluctant readers enjoy reading them.
Now there are many different online services where students can create their own comics. These are great ideas for teachers to use for student projects where students can demonstrate their understanding of a topic, create a book trailer, or many other projects.
Here are a couple of different online sites and apps that you can use for your students to create their own comics in your library or classroom, I have arranged the three options in order from the easiest to hardest, as well as the one that I like the most to the one I like the least.
Pixton
This site was easy to use once I got an account set up. This creation site offered more options than any of the other three as far as backgrounds and characters.
For student use, this site is a little bit complicated. In order for students to use this site they will need some basic computer skills and knowledge, as well as some time to play around before being expected to create their own comics with this service.
When editing, I would recommend choosing the full editing capabilities, instead of the basic editing. You have more to work with and you will get better looking comics.
ToonDoo
This site was a little difficult, but once you get the hang of it is a great site for creating your own comics.
There is a decent range of characters, talk/thought bubbles, and backgrounds. Users also have the ability to manipulate the characters and other objects in a variety of ways.
This site was a little confusing at first. When using the commands on the left hand side you have to select the command first, then click the character or item you would like to manipulate.
This site does not allow you to create an account and you are only able to save your comic to your computer, not to the site for future editing or access.
Over all, if I were to use this site it would be for a quick demonstration, or for a simple project. For student use I do not like that you are unable to save the work for future access, and it is too complicated for student use.
All in all I like Pixton the most and I am considering purchasing an educator account to use this service in the future. In my library I have a couple of TV screens set up around the library that are used for different things. I would like to create a slide show of different student created comics to put up on these screens for book promotions/recommendations. I think that students would respond to these and would enjoy seeing their comics on display. Also, I would like to create comics as reminders and for announcing things for the library.
Comics are fun for everyone and I think that these services are great resources for creating comics for the classroom and for students to create comics as well.
YouTube is something that has increasingly gained popularity in the past few years. This online video platform has become something that people use to learn a new skill, waste time, post a video diary (vlog), and much more. Others who are benefiting from this service are teachers and librarians. YouTube not only provides a place to go to find videos to watch, but provides an easy way to share screencasts and other videos, also their video editor has greatly improved, to even rival Apple's iMovie.
For my library I would like to use YouTube to share videos with families, showing them what is going on in our library. It is my goal to blog at least once a week about what is going on the library. I could embed a video about the post and families could get to see what the library is doing for the school.
I also would like to post student projects and tutorial videos for staff and students about things in the library. Having videos like these will be helpful because when students or teachers have a question they can look at the video to have help from home, from the classroom, or wherever they are.
Four libraries have YouTube channels where they are sharing information about their libraries. Information about the videos posted on these sites follows.
This high school has posted videos showing patrons how to use various resources provided by the library, such as EBSCOHost and the library's website, as well as some of the events happening in the library.
The video that I believe would be most helpful is the video about EBSCOHost. This resource is something that could be very helpful for the age group of students that this library serves. Students need to have the knowledge of how to use these resources, not only in high school but in college as well, so having this video can serve multiple purposes.
The video that I believe the students would enjoy the most is the video that was made for Celebrate the Freedom to Read Week. I even enjoyed this video. Banned books is something that is very interesting and I think that many students would be surprised to find out how many widely enjoyed books have been banned at one point or another. I loved how this video highlighted different banned books with an excerpt being read aloud.
This library does not specify the level of school that they serve, but looking at the videos they have posted I would guess that this is a high school library. This channel shows tutorial videos about how to use services and resources provided by the library, lesson videos, student project videos, and more. However, one thing that I noticed was that this library has not posted videos in three years.
The videos that I believe would be the most helpful is he videos about finding images appropriately. Instead of just choosing one video for this I chose a few for two reasons. First, these videos could be viewed/shown in series, being that there are three videos on the same topic. Second, in an age where everything is Google-able, and people can just copy-paste anything, students need to understand how to appropriately gather information for their projects. Having videos showing students how to find images that they can use is very important.
The video that I think that students would enjoy most is a video featuring a student who is discussing how she was responsible for getting a Skype visit from an important architectural firm for her class. I think that students will be interested in this video because they can see another student explaining something instead of a teacher, and they can see that they can make a change. Students like to see the things that other students are doing and by seeing these videos students can see how they can make a change as well.
This school also has videos that show student work as well as the things that are going on in the library. I think that it is interesting that this school library has videos created by students on, what looks like, personal devices. I think that having this availability is something that would increase student interest in the library and the library's channel.
The video that I believe is the most useful is the video that discusses financial aid for college. This video is quite long, over an hour, but it has a great deal of good information. In high school it can be confusing and scary thinking about paying for college and having this information available can be very helpful. Also, this video is from a workshop held in the school library, having it posted on YouTube is a great idea, especially for those who were not able to be there. With the video on YouTube people can also watch the video again to see if there was anything that they may have missed.
Of the videos on this channel the one that I think that students would like the most is the video of the AVID Senior party in the library. I think that students would love to see this video to remember fun times they had in the school, as well as see how much fun the library can be. Making the library a fun place for all is very important.
BB Middle School This middle school has a great deal of both fun and helpful videos. It also includes some videos created by students. Something that I found interesting about this school library is the amount of parodies it creates, more information on this further down in the post. The videos that I believe would be the most helpful are the series of videos that are about citing sources. These videos show how to cite sources in a variety of different ways, using a variety of different sources. We, as adults and librarians, understand the importance of citing your sources and we understand, mostly, how to go about this. But students are still learning this process and they will struggle a little at first. I think that having videos like this to accompany your lessons and that students can refer back to is very important and can be very helpful to your students as well as teachers.
I had a very hard time choosing a video, or a couple of videos, that I believed that students would find the most interesting. This library did a wonderful job of creating quite a few parody videos, using popular songs, that the subject matter deals with things in the library. One of the parody videos is to the tune of "Call Me Maybe" and asks the students to turn in their library books. Creating parody videos like this one is a fun way to get information to students in a creative way that they will remember and enjoy.
Another great parody video from this channel is Overdue Games, featuring scenes from the Hunger Games. This video, also about overdue books, is very entertaining and is something that the students will remember.
Creating and Sharing Videos
Creating book trailers is a fun way for students to share books that they have read and enjoyed. Student book trailer videos can be posted on YouTube and then shared with families and other students. Book trailers are great ways to give book recommendations in a way that the creator and watchers of the trailer will enjoy.
For an example, I created a book trailer for one of this year's Bluebonnet Award Nominees, Hamster Princess: Harriet the Invincible. This is a very cute book that is like a graphic novel mixed with a regular novel. The style of this book is very unique and will pull in readers of all ages. Below is the video that I created using Animoto, a free online service. Next to the video is a QR code that links to the video. QR codes are easy to use and create. More on QR codes after the video.
Synopsis (Found on Amazon):
Sleeping Beauty gets a feisty, furry twist in this hilarious new comic series from the creator of Dragonbreath
Harriet Hamsterbone is not your typical princess. She may be quite stunning in the rodent realm (you'll have to trust her on this one), but she is not so great at trailing around the palace looking ethereal or sighing a lot. She finds the royal life rather . . . dull. One day, though, Harriet's parents tell her of the curse that a rat placed on her at birth, dooming her to prick her finger on a hamster wheel when she's twelve and fall into a deep sleep. For Harriet, this is most wonderful news: It means she's invincible until she's twelve! After all, no good curse goes to waste. And so begins a grand life of adventure with her trusty riding quail, Mumfrey...until her twelfth birthday arrives and the curse manifests in a most unexpected way.
Perfect for fans of Babymouse and Chris Colfer's Land of Stories, this laugh-out-loud new comic hybrid series will turn everything you thought you knew about princesses on its head.
QR Codes
QR codes are small squares of what looks like pixelated bits of color. Most of the time these are black, but some QR code creators allow you to choose the color of your code. This works in a similar way to a barcode on an item you are purchasing at the store, you scan the code and you get information embedded in the code. For groceries, this information gives the cash register the information about the product, including price. But with QR codes this takes you to a certain website, amount of text, or audio/video clip.
QR codes can be very useful in the library as well as in the classroom. Teachers can create these to share information with students in a faster and easier way than giving a long link, students can create QR codes to turn in their projects, and QR codes can be ways to give information to parents. The possibilities are endless.
One interesting idea that I have seen using QR codes is for interactive notebooks. The idea behind this is that teachers video their lesson, in the format where they feel most comfortable, then they post their video to YouTube, or another platform. Then they create a QR code for their video and hand it out to students. Students then glue the QR code in their notebooks where they took notes for this lesson and they now have a way to go back and review the lesson. This is a great idea for students that struggle in a subject, or just to review for a test. How will you use QR codes?
As educators there are times when we see something and think, "Hmm, I could use that in my library!" But when we get right down to it there are some logistical hiccups. Which tool is better? Which site will be the easiest for my students to use? How do I make sure that they understand what I am wanting them to do?
As far as ensuring that students understand what is being asked of them with a new tool, creating a screencast is a great way to show students how to use something new in a platform that they will understand. Also with a screencast students have the ability to go back and review the information when they need it, instead of trying to fumble through and remember instructions in the future.
I will be discussing three different modes of creating a screencast with three different technology tools that can be used in the library. I will discuss pros and cons of each of the tools for creating screencasts, as well as my personal opinion about using them.
Screencast-O-Matic:
The first screencasting tool I will discuss is Screencast-O-Matic. This is a free online service that allows you to create your own screencast using their recorder that you will have to download. Here is a screencast that I created using this tool regarding Popplet, a free online mind mapping tool that is also an iPad app.
Pros:
When you are about to record, this service gives you a count down to make sure that you know when you are to start talking and when your recording will begin.
As you are recording you have the ability to pause and pick up where you stopped recording.
When you are done recording you have the option to publish to YouTube, to the Screencast-O-Matic website, or to download the video as a file to your computer.
Free
Cons:
This site requires a download to use. If you are on a Chromebook or other laptop that has no hard drive you will not be able to use this service.
With the free service you have limited amount of storage on the site as well as a limited amount of recording time per video.
QuickTime:
On all Apple computers QuickTime is a application that comes pre-installed. This application not only allows users to watch videos but to create screencasts or use their webcams to record themselves. To demonstrate a screencast with this tool I will show students how to use a service online called ReciteThis, then I will upload my recording to my Screencast-O-Matic account.
Pros:
Pre-installed on Macs
Requires no downloads
Free
Cons:
Hard to use during recording. Very little options.
No progress or status bar while recording.
Not able to stop and restart while recording.
To share you have to upload to YouTube.
Adobe Spark:
Adobe Spark is a free online service where you can create videos or edit pictures. There are also free applications that work the same way. For this review I will be using the online service to create a tutorial of the website, ToonDoo.
Pros:
Free
Easy to use
Online and app
Drag and drop editing with text, icons, and image options
Variety of templates
Cons:
When creating this tutorial I had to take screenshots, convert them to .jpg then upload them to the tutorial.
No screencasting availability
Each slide of the video is set to 2 seconds, which is not very long. To change this you have to find the small button which will bring up a drag bar to lengthen each slide.
To share you have to download to your computer, then upload to YouTube.
Verdict:
If I were to choose just one of these services to use to create a tutorial for my students I would choose Screencast-O-Matic. This service was the easiest to use and it was the easiest to embed and share. The other two services were either too difficult to use or took too many steps to accomplish the same task. Adobe Spark would be a great service to create a BookTrailer or slideshow, but was unsuited for this specific task.
Social Media in the Library:
With students online and on social media more and more we as librarians need to get out there and get comfortable with these platforms. Two platforms that could be useful in the library that many students are using more and more and Vine and Instagram.
Vine allows users to create short videos and then plays them in a loop. Uses in the library could include having students explain something that they learned, explain how to do something in the library, or how to use a service the library provides. Teachers could use Vine in the classroom as a mini assessment by having students explain a concept they just learned, or provide a definition of a newly learned word. Librarians can use Vine to share what is happening in the library or to get students interested in upcoming events. Here is an example of a couple of Vines I created while in Mexico the past few days visiting family.
Instagram is another social media platform that students are frequently using. Librarians can use this platform to share with students and families what is going on the library as well as promoting upcoming events. During lessons teachers and librarians can have students post to Instagram a snapshot to summarize a lesson with a caption showing what they learned as an assessment or exit ticket. Also, teachers and librarians can use this as a tool to have students share as if they were a character from a book or from history to assess their knowledge of the book or historical period. To show student work librarians and/or teachers can embed the posts on the library website or share the account with families. Here are some examples of some of my recent posts, withe some using an app called PhotoGrid to overlay text on the pictures and to create a collage of a few pictures at a time.
Learning about different ways to help our students is something that we always need to keep up with so that we are doing our very best to meet all of our student's needs in the best possible way. I hope that these ideas are helpful to you and your students.
