Internet for School Librarians

Looking back at this semester I can honestly say that I have gain a wealth of knowledge from this course. Before this course I was familiar with some of the components included in the modules, yet I was introduced to many things that I had never used or felt comfortable using in my library before. Being able to see the blogs of my classmates allowed me to see different perspectives and ways of implementing this new technology in my library. Which new technologies excited me the most?  Although I really enjoyed and learned from all the assignments my favorite was creating cartoons and comics. There are just so many different ways that you can use them. Graphic novels are extremely popular at my library right now, and this could be a great way to have students create their own and share with others. I also really liked Flipagram. This was my first time hearing about this app and I liked the ease of use. I plan to use it in my library newsletters. I found QR codes to be really neat...

Media (is) the message? Is the medium truly the message? No, in my opinion we can use different mediums to deliver our instruction or message. So much emphasis has been placed in incorporating technology into our lessons without a true understanding of why we are doing it. As mentioned by Eric Sheninger, "schools are going all in with 1:1 or BYOD initiatives with no real plan for implementation and evaluation of effectiveness" (Sheninger 2015). Just because we provide each student with an iPad does not guarantee student success. Direct instruction and meeting individual needs for each of our students is the key component for student success. Don't get me wrong, I do feel that technology can have an impact on how students learn when used intentionally. Having done some research as to why we are using certain apps and website is a good place to start. Assuming that all students are tech savvy is another misconception many educator make. We must also teach...

Podcasts What are some of the benefits of using podcasts in the library? Encourages librarians and students to work together. Podcasts allow you to use multiple learning styles in a single format. Podcasting also helps to engage our students in active learning. Using podcasting allows students to enhance their creative skills. Everybody seems to learn more when they are having fun! Personal Reviews For this assignment I was going to use Podbean to create my podcast since I was already familiar with it. However, I decided to try out Soundcloud and Podomatic to see which would be the easiest to use with my students. I was quite surprised to find that all three are very similar. They are easy to use and free. If I had to chose one out of the three I would have to say that Soundcloud was my favorite. I recorded the conversation on my iPhone with the voice memos and then I email it to myself. From my email I downloaded to my laptop and then to Soundcloud. It was ...