A Final Reflection

As the end of this session closes many thoughts flowed through my mind about all that I have learned and what impact it has had on my current studies. There are so many of my classmates that are working towards a Master’s degree in library information science (MLIS). I wondered why this area of study?  It set me on a quick research study and reflection of my own personal relationship with librarians.  Twenty years ago, when I earned my Master’s Degree the role of the librarians was to help you filter through the many card catalogs and research journals. (Raju, 2014) Today, I deal with librarians that are technological powerhouses, who know how to maneuver through all types of internet resources and produce astonishing presentations of information that is gathered. They can walk you through the maze of global information and help you survive the journey. They help you through the vast world of “digital and virtual libraries” that are used to house vast collections of information which today we can gain access remotely.

Years ago, I spent long hours at the library doing academic research because I had to travel to the source to gather the information. Today, all I need do is turn on my computer. But, I still need the librarian to help me find my way through this digital library or I can easily get lost.  I still spend hours at the library but, the information I gather is not necessarily from the buildings resources.  They can be gained from anywhere in the world through the library’s computer network.

The digital library makes that possible. Per Ogunsola and Okusaga (Ogunsola & Okusaga, 2008) “libraries are now extending their traditional roles of facilitating self-education and individual enrichment by providing low-cost or free computer access to online resources.” This change is why we are still frequenting the library to gather our information. Still needing the librarian to assist in moving through the global information system.  Everyone cannot easily afford the cost of a personal computer even though the cost has dropped considerably in the last twenty-five years. School librarians help young minds learn how to gather information that they need for that self-directed learning.

Then there is the virtual library which is cost effective to institutions and a means for many to share resources without the cost of a physical plant.  Again, we still need that librarian to assist remotely for us to do this as well.  That is why I have deemed them “powerhouses of technical knowledge.” After reflecting on these little things, I can understand why my classmates choose this area of study.

 

References

Ogunsola, L. A., & Okusaga, T. O. (2008). Establishing virtual libraries in Africian universities. Ozean Journal of Social Sciences, 43-52.

Raju, J. (2014). Knowledge and skills for the digital era academic library. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 163-170.

 

 

Tech Play 4- Content Objects

 

Option 1: Information Literacy

My beginning hurdle when approaching this Tech Play was understanding what was being asked of me. Even reading the explanation of the assignment I still was not clear.  My first step was to go to Google to get more insight on the NFIL's Information Literacy and review my infographic chart. After going through each of these I decided to search activities that I can engage students in to help them have a better understanding about how to use the library resources in this technology driven age.

First, I decided not to use the Content subject format.  No matter what the content there are specific skills that any researcher should become familiar with.   So I choose to study Option 1, Information Literacy Tutorials and Activities:

·         Choose Your Own Library Adventure -- Snowden Library

·          Information Literacy Games LibGuide

·         Gaming & Academic Libraries

·          Citation Relay

·          Sharpen Your (Google) Search Skills

·            Googling for Answers

·          Web Page Evaluation- Subdomain vs Domain

Of this list, I have chosen the four that I felt would help me most with areas I have difficulty. Also, they would be helpful when teaching any class, but would be most beneficial for the subject I teach which is science.

1.      Subdomain vs Domain – When students are searching for information for their science fair projects the confusion of subdomain vs domain can leave them often confused. Having a clear understanding of domains will help the student comprehend if the main name which can vary from these listed below:

a.      .com which stands for commercial (retail)

b.      .net which stands for network

c.       .org which stands for organization (non-profit)

d.      .gov which stands for government

 The domain, which is found at the end of the web address, is the top-level domain name. The words just before the .com is the second-level domain name. In the tech play activity, you can clearly see how they fit and work together.  The first part of a web address where we see http: is called the protocol. This activity would clear up many misconceptions about web addresses. The amusing part about this is that I just learned this fact last week.  If I had this activity to play with I would have learned it sooner and saved myself much grief.

2.      The second choice was Gaming & Academic Libraries.  This site dealt with different types of games designed to be fun but are interactive to help exercise your thinking skills. These games where designed to foster one’s abilities in using digital media.  They review historical eras, lead organizations in virtual worlds and offer young people a chance to interact with individuals globally. They are designed to train your thinking and sharpen your wits.

I enjoyed this series of activities because I think it would appeal to the student who loves gaming and the gaming atmosphere of these activities would appeal to a younger audience. It’s all about making learning fun.

3.      Choose Your Own Library Adventure was my third choice.  This one was cute and full of cartoon like drawing that might appeal to every age group.  When I did my earlier study on forms of technology apps that could be used in the classroom there was one called Comicbook which this program reminded me of.  The figures where cartoon-like and they were on an adventure through the library. It was cute and would appeal to many ages. This activity takes you on a virtual experience finding books in a library based on keyword search items.

This activity has many parts and would help the student who is not sure of where to find information in the library. It discussed visiting the Reference Librarian and how they can help you in your search. There were many part of the NFIL that this activity touched upon that will fit right into the listed literacy principles. You get to define, access, evaluate, manage, integrate, create and communicate just following through these series of activities. Plus, you get to know the Reference Librarian for support and help.

4.      Sharpen Your (Google)Search Skills was the last one I chose because I personally find Google a ready source for information.  I have tried Bing, Chrome, Netscape, and Firefox and Google is still my go-to search engine.  This is a tool students should be familiar with and understand how to best use it. This activity first introduced its use on  how to download Google to your device and how to maneuver through the program when making a search. Again, it was in a nice cartoon-like format that I think would appeal to any user because it was non-threatening.

These resources would be extremely helpful for students who think they know how to use many of the functions of technology to help them find information.  What I discovered that I didn’t know a lot of things and I’m sure students would find there was a lot to learn here as well.  We use certain devices with the belief that we have learned how to use them from friends and relatives but most of time we have not even taken the tutorial that comes with its initial use.  Assigning these resources as a means of helping students to be able to use them more efficiently and effectively would help them tremendously in using the resources properly. After reviewing the resources, it has changed my pedagogical stance and the value that familiarity and proper use of these sources can help you in completing assignments and doing effective research.  My view now is that each teacher should spend the beginning days of each term addressing one or more of these important features to help students become more familiar with the tools that are available to them. The most unusual aspect of this is that most people feel that already know how to use them and that they don’t need additional help. Now that I have reviewed these resources I’m going to take the time to use the ones that I have identified that will help me the most.  I don’t fool myself as to what I think I know, there is much for me to learn.  Being able to use these tools effectively will help me in future study. The more I learn the more I need to learn.  Onward with the adventure!


Resources:


Elementary

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/teaching-information-literacy-skills

 Higher Education

http://www.ala.org/acrl/standards/informationliteracycompetency

http://sites.umuc.edu/library/libhow/informationliteracy_tutorial_samples.cfm

https://literacyandschoollibraries.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+Information+Literacy

The Sites I reviewed for my blog comments

https://halfelf.org/2012/subdomain-vs-domain/

http://mville.libguides.com/c.php?g=370033&p=2500965

http://www.lycoming.edu/library/instruction/tutorials/adventure/adventure4.html

 

 

 

 

 

Tech Play 3

 

There were so many different Creativity tools to choose from to explore I had a hard time deciding on the ones I felt would best suit the subject area that I taught.  I narrowed it down to three that I really felt would be best adaptable for my subject.  The first app that I reviewed was called iMovie. This app has a small cost associated with its use but, I found it would be usable for students to make mini-movies depicting events that occur in nature or chemical reactions and even watching microbes grow.  They can hypothesize what will be the outcome of each and how to alter the end products.

This app can help students to produce very detailed movies with titles and production information.  Students can work in teams to produce their own unique productions. The recent discovery of seven new exoplanets (earthlike planets) in the Trappist-1 dwarf star system would be a perfect example of a type of study they might pursue. It would make a powerful statement when incorporated into the e-portfolio to show how events happen in science. They would even be able to produce time-lapsed videos, which show many reaction simulations in the lab. In science one of the goals is to have students manipulate different parts of the experiment to see how it will perform in other circumstances.  This will give the student creative license to observe how the changes can be made using varying components.

This type of experimentation fits well into the TPACK model by augmenting the teacher’s content, pedagogy and the student’s general knowledge. The saying by Sir William Henry Bragg “The important thing in science is not so much to obtain new facts as to discover new ways of thinking about them” fits well into today’s technology driven classroom. This tool will further allow students to explore and create, which is what science is all about. Our new frontier is the many new technological tools that are being invented and created today.

More and more schools have adopted the use of iPads in the class because they are cost effective compared to laptops. With the focus of BYOT (Bring Your Own Technology) many families can afford an iPhone or android phone for each student to have their own devices.

The second creative tool is the reel/director.  This app does not have a fee associated with its use. But, it has a few draw backs that might be a problem for youngsters. It would work well for those who are interested in creating a movie of their scientific exploits. They can create the movie, edit, join with other video clips made by classmates and create something different and distinctive. It’s an excellent video editing app, but I think this will only be of interest for those students who are really into movie making as a future endeavor. Though it captured my imagination for enjoyment I could not readily see how I would be able to incorporate this app easily into the science classroom. It has a lot of nice features, but I think it would best be served as a tool for the teacher to document events of the class. Or just maybe have a group develop a movie of the class’ research or science projects during the school year.

I will admit that this app does not seem to be something I would easily want to incorporate in the class probably because of my lack of vision.  But who knows, I might allow students to see how they would best use this tool. Besides, it still fits into the TPACK model because it allows for so much freedom of creativity and depending on what the pedagogical focus it might serve well.

The third app that was reviewed is a comicbook app.  It has a 4.5-star rating for ease of use. It offers excellent graphic effects and for the student who wants to create on the level of a comic book it will be an outstanding tool. It has a small cost but early adopters got it for free during the Beta trail introductory tests. That’s how my daughter got a copy and says she loves it. The reviews listed on the internet support her comments. Many apps can be added to your arsenal of new apps in their trail periods and then you are grandfathered in at no cost. This is a good idea since so many applications are being added to the market daily. Comibook is available for use with the IPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. You can create a cartoon-like comic book format to relate to any aspect of your learning life.  It’s fun and easy.

You can create motivational posters, Comic Chats and add all kinds of comic book type features.; like Booms, Bams, Kabooms, Puff, Sproing, Crash, Ziosh, Zzip, Splack and Spat packs that give you all kinds of creative looks. You can tell a whole comedic story. You can make what you are learning fun and exciting for yourself and others.  You can show expressions in word features that remind you of old Batman comics. This app can fit into the TPACK model for content, pedagogy and technology. I really enjoyed this appl because of the many graphic tools that it offers. This is the app I can see using on and off throughout my tech journey.  It’s fun and has great potential for student use and freedom of individuality. They can create a whole story to tell about their learning exploits and what they have learned along with the processes they followed to learn them.  Then they can share that knowledge with other students.  This will make learning fun in a new imaginative way. There are many resourceful ways to use this tool in teaching science. Currently there are more than 1.6 million users of this app.

Tech Play 2

 

This was my most intense endeavor for this Ed Tech course.  Exploring the different e-portfolio formats and deciding on which one would work best for me. Three years ago, I had the opportunity to learn how to do this through my job but felt that I would not have a need for it even though I was interested in learning how to put one together.  At the time, I created a Weebly page and that was as far as I got. Then came this right back in my life more intense and an academic requirement.

I went to the Auburn University’s site and they had approximately ten different models produced through different source providers that I could review. After playing with some of the others I decided upon Weebly. It was so much easier to use and that had a high rating out of the top ten providers for creating e-portfolio and blog sites recommended by ISTE (International Society for Technology in Education). Their list of recommended sites where:

1.      Digication – free with a subscription through Google Apps for Education.

2.      Epsilen – offers a standard e-portfolio template for life at no cost.

3.      Googlio – good site for students who already have Google and gmail accounts

4.      Prezi – which allows viewers to see how an e-portfolio content connects

5.      Wix.com – free portfolio development system; no coding easy drag n’ drop feature

6.      WordPress- this system can be customizing into a full-fledged CMS

7.      iWebfolio- archive and organize work materials

8.      Chalk and Wire- students can feature completed assignments and their reflections

9.      Moofolio- teachers and students can collect and reflect on portfolio artifacts

10.  RCampus – students can build a lifelong ePortfolio

• www.wix.com
• www.iste.org 
• auburn university eportfolio-examples

The tools where easy to use and for a novice like myself they made the process of moving pictures from my photo gallery and from the internet easily accessible.

The Weebly site offers my novice knowledge base many affordances to help me maneuver through the program. I can make mistakes and easily correct them without feeling overwhelmed. If I were to recommend a site that is user friendly for someone who has limited to no site knowledge than Weebly is highly recommended.  I have already told several students about how easy it was for me to use.  When I was trying to decide on a site the college students quickly recommended Weebly to me. It was also the site that the university recommended when I took the training on creating an e-portfolio those years ago, that I decided to delay.

When I started to review sites, I noticed that no matter what the subject matter the Weebly site worked well. I read information from students who were in medicine, music, culinary arts, design and more.  All of them could create a useful and beautiful web presence.

Their where many obstacles that I faced simply because of my lack of knowledge.  I spent a lot more time getting familiar with the program and having many hit and miss and redo mistakes.  Eventually over several days along with computer technical problems that had nothing to do with the site.  I could come up with something I am proud of. 

With my new-found skills, I decided to start two other blogs along with the one I had to maintain for class.  One deals with my love of gardening and woodworking the other with an adult class that I assist a teacher with for senior citizens at a retirement home.  It’s amazing, here is a person who just three weeks ago, had no idea what exactly a blog was and whether it would have meaning in my life. What a difference a few weeks make?

Creating a Web Presence!! Increasing my digital footprint.

Hello Guys, I just wanted to add my Weebly site address.  It's not finished but boy did I have a time loading up pictures and making comments.  This has been a very large learning curve for me.

http://skoolmarm27.weebly.com/

Starting the Journey

My blog journey has been interesting and exciting.  The more I read about being a blogger the more drawn in I have become.  Even one of my other classes has a blog site for us to use pertaining to the class. As I was Tech Playing with the features of the blog I realized it offered many differing hyperlink technics that I can add on as I go along.

The new class assignment is to create an e-portfolio.  The amusing thing about this is that just two years ago the university where I work offered all students and faculty/staff the opportunity to develop their own web-portfolio. I went to two workshops and even set up a site through Weebly but felt I was not ready to embark on that journey.  It made me feel overwhelmed even though I was very curious about the prospect for doing one.  Always I let myself talk me out of doing it right now.  What could I possibly need it for was my initial thought. Oh foolish scholar! Just since I began reading the articles and the sample e-portfolios I’ve come up with two ideas of how I could use this excellent tool.  At that time I had a chance to check out five or six different sites.  Today they have even more; I discovered the pros and cons of each along with sampling them out. Strange, I was still too frightened to actually start one of my own. Since I have started this doctoral journey many of my views have changed. This is what I have discovered:

First, it is the kind of tool that can give you a basis for showcasing your accomplishments and those things you plan for the future.

Second, it is a ready description of your life’s path that you can reflect upon as you continue to update and improve your site.

Third, never put yourself in a box and say “I’ll never need or use this or that” As long as there is life there is possibility for change and the desire to improve one’s self.

The sites that I have reviewed and their pros and cons are:

 

Weebly & Yola

http://www.weebly.com

https://www.yola.com

 

Pros

·         Both of these sites give you drag and drop templates

·         Free with ability to upgrade service

·         Ability to export site

·         Ability to edit CSS & HTML

·         Fastest and cheapest tool

Cons

·         Designed by the manufacturer

·         Limited design options

·         Words “Weebly” or “Yola” appears in the web address unless you purchase the upgrade (when you upgrade you create your own brand)

WordPress

https://wordpress.com/com-vs-org/

Pros 

·         WordPress is viewed as a more sophisticated tool

·         Free with ability to upgrade

Cons

·         Difficult to format

·         Limited to preset template unless you upgrade

Muse

https://www.muse-themes.com/

Pros

·         More Flexible

·         Similar in features to the other

Cons

·         It is design driven and not best for large sites

DW (Dream Weavers)

http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html

Pros

·         Most design flexibility

·         No need to know code

·         Ability to host under own name

Cons

·         Cost is expensive

GoDaddy

https://www.godaddy.com

Pros

·         Inexpensive

·         Integrates products well

·         Has good security features

·         Good support and little down-time

·         Hosting is current on the latest technology

Cons

·         Uses a custom hosting panel which some may not like

Squarespace

https://www.squarespace.com

Pros

·         Large selection of templates that are heavy on photography

·         You can put in your own photographs

·         You can truly make it yours easily

·         Excellent security and data export

Cons

·         Can be difficult to edit and publish homepage

·         Can also be difficult to figure out design edits and setting up analytics

 

There are ten top sites listed through google and I did not go through all ten sites, I limited my reviews to the one I had heard the most about; but here are their names. Several of these listed I have never heard of being used by limited proficient users.

·         WiX.com - Comments: real-time site dashboard

·         Web.com – Comment: Enhanced build-it-for-me options

·         eHost.com – Comment: Simple all-in-one solution

·         Weebly – Comment:  Intuitive drag-and – drop builder

·         Bigcommerce -Comment: Best online store solution

·         Site123 – Comment: Build a custom, responsive website as easy as 1,2,3

·         Duda -Comment: Built for professionals

·         Register.com – Comment: Expansive domain search engine

·         Sitebuilder.com – Comment: Great starter website builder

·         Imcreator -Comment: Ready-made, responsive templates

All-in-all this process of building an eportfolio seems as if it’s going to be an amazing adventure of learning and discovery. Let’s hold on for the ride!

Tech Play 1 – Blogging

Definition-

A Blog (also called a weblog or web log) as defined in a lifewire site by Susan Gunelius is a “website consisting of entries (also called posts) appearing in reverse chronological order with the most recent entry appearing first (similar in format to a daily journal). Blogs typically include features such as comments and links to increase user interactivity.  Blogs are created using specific publishing software.” The person that writes a blog is called a "blogger"


https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=define+blog


 I had no idea exactly what a blog was and I thought that I had never read one.  But after several conversations with my children I discovered that I was more familiar with a blog then I knew.  I enjoy Quora and Pinterest, much to my surprise these are all blogs.  Next, I thought that they had to be filled with antidotal comments; again, much to my surprise they can be both funny or very serious.  They can contain pictures, videos, and links to other things.  It is just an online journal.  That seemed easy since I keep written journals of my day to day life.  They are a good source of stress relieve that help me cope.


Comparisons-
How do other forms of computer websites differ? Each of the following tools offer the user differing ways to interact through the social media.


Glog - Short for graphics (or graphical) blog, glog is the name used to describe a publicly accessible graphical blog. A person or organization's glog is actually an interactive multimedia image that looks similar to a poster, but readers of a glog are able to interact with the content. The individual that glogs is called a "glogger."


http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/G/glog.html




Vlog- a blog in which the postings are primarily in video form. The individual that creates and maintains a vlog is called a "vlogger"


http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/vlog-video-blog

Discussion Boards-A discussion board (known also by various other names such as discussion group, discussion forum, message board, and online forum) is a general term for any online "bulletin board" where you can leave and expect to see responses to messages you have left. Or you can just read the board.


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/discussion--board


Web pages-a single, usually hypertext document on the World Wide Web that can incorporate text, graphics, sounds, etc.


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/web--page


Website - is a collection of related web pages, including multimedia content, typically identified with a common domain name, and published on at least one web server. A website may be accessible via a public Internet Protocol (IP) network, such as the Internet, or a private local area network (LAN), by referencing a uniform resource locator (URL) that identifies the site.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Website

Finding a Blog Site-

There were many sites to review and since I knew nothing everything seemed to be exactly what I wanted until I looked further and found that many had a cost associated to them. I asked around after that for recommendations and quite a few friends and college students where I work suggested to use WordPress.  It too had some limitations and came with a cost that I was not sure I wanted to invest in. What I wanted was a free site that was user friendly and easy for a novice to navigate. Blogging does not seem like something I will want to continue except to complete my course study.  I have reservations about putting all my thoughts out there in the World Wide Web.  Especially knowing that they will never go away, they are just sitting there waiting.

How would I use it? -

I am a retired teacher and have very little contact with students in a daily classroom setting.  I’m sure if I were in a classroom there would be many opportunities and possibilities to develop this skill.  I have noticed that a lot of young middle school children are encouraged to start and maintain blogs. As active educators I can see this being a tool to help young people to express their feelings and to share their thoughts with others on many subject areas.  The more I find out about blogging along with the articles I have read I can definitely see it being a worth while educational forum for young minds.  Reading from my fellow classmates’ comments, who have regular classes, they seem to have many ideas that would work  in a classroom.

I work in a museum and I have been trying to figure out uses for blogs in my current position.  We have a Facebook  page that we maintain information about openings and closings of the gallery along with notes and pictures of different meteorites. We spotlight a different type of meteorite in our collection once a week.  But that is done through the Geology department interns. Maybe I can blog about my visitations to schools and special events where I show the meteorites. I can see this giving me many affordances there that will offer me an opportunity to maintain and keep a blog. Maybe there are some  other affordances that I would want to address dealing with this forum. This could open a whole new world of interactions with the schools I visit and corresponding with the classrooms as to what I am currently doing.

TPACK Model–

Content - When using this technique and following the TPACK  model I want to make sure that my blog content keep students involved by asking questions through the blog that would make them think more about meteorites, their origins and value to research. Meteoriticst are constantly studying meteorites to give them insight about our universe. There are so many facets to this area of study that can't help exciting students to  wanting to learning more about it. The more the blog can give them more creative ideas and reasons to evaluate and analyze their thoughts on a higher level who knows where it might lead them. I might be able to give them simple activities to do at home similar to 'Bubble Life."


Pedagogical - In J.J. Gibson's theory about affordances  it showed how these things can add to a person's perception of the "visual world." In his definition of affordances he stated that "action possibilities" are latent in the environment, independent of individual's ability to recognize them. This venue can offer many ways to assist a teacher in enhancing him/her ability to transfer knowledge and information in a very informal and relaxed setting.  This learning can be fun; but fun work!


Technology -is an innovative tool that is only growing by leaps and bounds.  Probably faster than most can keep up, but it is an excellent tool to keep young minds involved in the learning process without even feeling like they are learning in the traditional old ways. Research has shown that the use of technology is an excellent motivator of minds.  The curiosity of this type of learning is stimulating and exciting. Through the research of Hereford and Winn (1999) and Jackson, et al (1999) this interaction with technology gives the student the "ability to act on the environment experimentally" and not just read or observe it from afar.

Obstacles related to this –

To embark on this would require more familiarity and comfort with blogging.  But we learn by doing.  So, the obstacles that I might encounter will be worth the skills that I will be able to add and share.  Just maybe, I’ll be able to pass this knowledge on to others in many different learning/teaching opportunities. I have not identified any obstacles just yet and I feel that I will have to start this journey and find out my obstacles along the way.