Technology is the Necessary Evil
There is a place for technology. It is cool. It is exciting. I look forward to hearing what will be the next advancement. Rahjou et al, 2024, stated that there are 6 key roles for School Libraries and their Librarians to make school a success: 1) accessibility of content and tools, 2) Information consultation and reference services, 3) Teaching information and media literacy, 4) Professional Development for Teachers, 5) Teacher collaboration and communication, and 6) Integration of new technologies. Technology creates more opportunities to deepen student engagement with the library through more and more contacts with the School Librarian (Rahjou et al, 2024). Technology, from my perspective, in education, is convenience. In my work space technology has been used to provide fun, educational games or group activities for students to collaborate together or have friendly competition in a Kahoot! quiz. In my library space, at the circulation desk, I have instituted a 'Question of the Day'. Students are allowed to come into the library before school, after school and in between periods as long as Library Lady does not have a class in session for that hour. The students ask for the 'Question of the Day' and if they answer correctly, they choose one piece of candy from the candy jar. If the kids do not know the answer off the top of their head, I do allow them to search it in their chrome books. If the question is difficult and I expect that they will be using their chrome book as a resource, I try to have them search for the answer using a different source other than Google. Although, anytime a student answers a question correctly without referring to their chrome book, I get very excited and always surprised at how smart these kids really are, especially if it is not a well known question and answer. There is a place for technology. Did anything change for me after this class?
The Glass Case of Emotion. Will Ferrell's acting out in frustration mirrors how every assignment has been for me throughout the course. I got through it, cried about it, whined about it, and finally took a big sigh after completed assignments were downloaded onto the assignment tracker. My issue with technology is that if I need to add an image or video or infographic or create a hyperlink, or if I wanted to add audio or use the camera, (once I tried to download a pod cast, I still cannot figure that one out), nothing seemed to upload or download as it is supposed to or as the instructions say that it should. Add in the amount of time wasted after trying to add failed images, etc., it became a nightmare with heart palpitations at about 180/sec. Why did I choose this class for my elective? Because I participate limitedly with technology in my personal and professional life, I figured it would be a great class to expose me to different mediums in technology, especially for the future in this increasingly techie world and as a School Librarian, I better be familiar with what technology can do for students, educators, parents, and staff as my view of Librarians is to be the hub of this knowledge for resources.
The above Giphy is where I will be after the last assignment submitted or until grades come out or both. Any reason for ice cream. There is an upside, I am more knowledgeable when it comes to copyrighting images, videos, documents within text and in annotated citations. Creating and wording hyperlinks within a document has become a part of what I try to always include for further information or explaining a perspective. Blogging, creating an infographic, listening to podcasts, creating content curation lists, creating a word cloud, building a website or starting a portfolio, were all new for me. It provided me a start, it was a complicated start, but a start with and without breakthroughs of triumph and success.
Tools that I found interesting...
I did like the Digital Mining assignment, it was interesting what pops up as public information, yes it could be found listed in a phone book, if those are around anywhere, but FastPeopleSearch provided a listing of names that you can trace back to a history of who lived in a particular residence. Or it can find last known addresses of persons you may be searching for. I also liked creating infographics with Canva and I wouldn't mind investigating further into what Canva can do for school libraries or the students. I see flyers on walls in the hallways at school, and at times, the print is small or it is hand drawn which is fabulous, but the fliers may be noticed more if students could add a touch of tech art to the invitation or event that is trying to be marketed. Wakelet and Padlet were time consuming, but a good potential to be another school library activity for students to complete or start within a 45 minute time period during library time. These two tools could be a group collaborative activity encouraging students to work together, connecting through use of technology, dynamic conversations as far as what to list together, and formulate a brief annotation about each graphic, which is encouraging both the formulation of writing and dialogue.
My Take-Aways...
Even though this course did not come easy to me, I am not a quitter. I always find a way to learn something from good and challenging events. I truly believe that some things do occur in your life to change you, enlighten you, confirm thoughts with you, or to challenge you, isn't that how we learn...by being challenged? It may not be pleasant, it may take you out of your comfort zone, but looking ahead, for me, it is the better choice than to simply quit and stay in that comfort zone and not grow as a grad student and aspiring School Librarian.
Works Cited:
Rahjou, A., Noruzi, A., Keramati, M. R., & Salehi, K. (2024). Engaging Students: The Power of School Libraries in the Digital Age. (English). Research on Information Science & Public Libraries, 30(1), 82–98.
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