Future Vision Project Blog Post 2

“So, if your doctor is working from a 2007 knowledge base, you’ve got a one-in-two shot ay getting the right treatment. Not good odds. Why should this be any different for educators? Even if we increase the spread and say that half our knowledge about brains, learning, children, technology, and pedagogy changes every 10 years (and this, I’m certain, is conservative), wouldn’t we want teachers (and students, for that matter) to just get “better” at what they’ve been doing all along?” (Richardson, 2012)

Before going into the details of my project, it seems important to remind you that last year, I created a website for school teachers with the aim of facilitating the accessibility to many resources and digital tools. Here are below some of the website title pages I originally presented:  

My choice of selected resources was originally based on what I wanted to promote such as collaboration and web tools plus what I assumed to be useful information and links for different teaching and learning purposes. I also wanted to ease the access of school resources to newcomers, teachers and/or students. 

So, at the first staff meeting in September 2018, I introduced the new school library website with its digital resources and suggested web tools hoping to set the pace and really motivate teachers to explore them and slowly integrate them in their teachings. 

What I quickly understood is that it is too overwhelming to introduce a lot of references and digital tools to explore and expect teachers to just walk away and start using them. Just like students, we cannot "bombard" teachers with too much information at once because it is hard to process it all. 

With that in mind, it became clear to me that I needed to reduce the number of resources, select only a few digital tools to present at a time and choose a different and better way to introduce them to teachers.

I would also like to create a few references to students not only teachers. Since I see them more often and that I always take a few minutes to talk about one resource or another, I know that students are curious and eager to explore and use the tech novelties presented. I have been able to make this observation many times during their visits to the library and also during the periods of collaborative work where different technologies were introduced as an integral part of class projects.

That being said, I will create video tutorials with step by step instructions to first introduce the VSB Library Website, the Microsoft office 365 applications, and a few web tools that I think will be useful additions to any teachings and learnings.

I will also keep the library blog on the website as it is a great way to attract students and teachers online and share news and novelties from the library. It also encourages digital reading, the sharing of personal projects, and the communication among members of the school community.

Here are some ways that I intend to use to continue sharing information and new technologies with teachers         

• Send reminder emails with website link when a new web tool video tutorial is added
• Organize tech lunches once a month where teachers and teacher-librarian can share resources or discuss what works and what don’t. Adjustments are essential.
• Be part of an established Pro-D-Day program where technology integration is emphasized. Maybe present an informative and multi-modal presentation to introduce new web tools and digital resources. On that note, I came across an interesting blog post written by Chiquita Toure, the Teacher-Librarian from Eastmoor High School. She talks about media and digital literacy as better ways to engage students in reading at the intermediate level. She presented her workshop by using the modeling approach. She integrated various technologies to communicate what she wanted to say. We all know that modeling is a fantastic instructional strategy for learning.  Something for me to remember!                                                                                            

By promoting technology integration, we are also reinforcing some of the aspects mentioned in Valenza's Manifesto for 21st-century teacher librarians: 

• Learning can be multi-modal, media-rich, customized to the needs of individual learners
• New technologies offer for interaction-learners as both information consumers and producers, the power to create and share knowledge

Challenges? They will continue to come. However, I think the best way to get around them is to maintain communication with teachers and students. Regular gatherings and surveys to reflect on the website and always adjust to better suit the school community learners.  Persistence is the key and always model ways!

Video ISTE

To end this post, I would like to share with you an article that recently appeared in the Marshall Islands Journal. I have a special interest in these Pacific islands since I lived there for more than 2 years. A friend of mine who just came back from the islands’ capital, brought me the local newspaper to keep me in the loop with the recent news of the place. As I read through it, I came across the following article that talks about Education Week that just happened. The week was mostly about essay writing and debate competition between different high schools’ students on the theme of Shaping our Future through Education. What I found inspiring in this article is the desire of young learners felt through their writings, to learn, create, and communicate with the rest of the world to increase their life opportunities and help them solve real-world problems.  Isn’t that one of the International Society for Technology in Education’s goals?

If students all around the world ask for modern education and technologies, let’s give them and help them to become global citizens, to build skills in collaboration and creativity, prepare them for the future, and much more.  

We know the potential new technologies offer for interaction–learners as both information consumers and producers. We understand that in this world learners have the power to create and share knowledge. (Valenza, 2011)

Sources:

Valenza, J. K. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://teacherlibrarian.com/2011/05/01/manifesto-for-21st-century-teacher-librarians/

Toure, C. (2019, March 13). Visual and Media Literacy for Deeper Learning. Retrieved from https://knowledgequest.aasl.org/visual-and-media-literacy-for-deeper-learning/

Richardson, Will. (2012). Why School?. How Education Must Change When Learning and Information Are Everywhere [Kindle Single]. TED Conferences.

Emoji picture credited to Laura Freeman, The Spectator.

The Marshall Islands Journal, March, 2019, p. 12-13. (local print copy)