5391 Final Reflections

 When I began this journey to become a school librarian I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of being in a position to be relied upon for technology resources. This is not something that is naturally in my wheelhouse. I am an old school kind of gal and don't seek out new technology often. In fact I can think of two instances when I saw a new piece of technology (hardware) advertised and immediately thought "I really want that!", otherwise I usually just come around when I am exposed through the people close to me. Worth noting, even though I recall those two instances when I reacted immediately I did not actually end up getting either - well the second time was more recently so there is still a chance I will purchase that one.

When I saw the name of this course "Digital Technology for School Librarians" I commented to my husband that this was going to be a doozy of a semester. I fully expected to struggle my way through and barely come out with any hair left on my head. I am happy to report that I still have a full head of hair, although there may be a few extra glitter strands in there they are not likely to have sprouted on account of LSSL 5391.

My greatest challenge with this course has probably been all of the writing, specifically in the form of a blog post. Being mostly an introvert I worry way too much about others finding little value in my musings. I have experienced a few episodes of writer's block when I struggled to formulate the written product in an interesting way but fortunately having a deadline has not yet failed to knock some ideas loose when it was coming down to the wire.

Within my classroom, I believe that student products will be most impacted by the cartoons and comics resources FotoJet, Pixton, and Make Beliefs Comix. Prior to learning about these I had assigned my students a storyboard project and I had several students ask to complete their online instead of on paper. I told them I was not familiar with any websites that were free but they did. I had a few students submit products from other sites and I was not impressed. I am confident that a future similar assignment will be much better received with these new tools.

Regarding resources that will most impact my lessons and teaching there are many. The Horizon Report, the readings over Bloom's Digital Taxonomy, and Information Ethics. All of these topics I had been introduced to but I now have a deeper understanding and have better internalized the strategies and information to draw upon when creating lessons and teaching. Kathy Schrock's resources on her webpage Bloomin' Apps compile digital resources in one place to support the levels of Bloom's Taxonomy. Not only does she provide many options for each level, she compiled resources for multiple platforms - iPad, Android, online, and G Suite.

Probably my favorite resources that can impact all the things (honestly I can see myself using this in my personal life - report on the family dynamics at the holiday gathering anyone?) were the infographics sites. I have seen infographics that really make information come alive but never felt that I was talented enough to actually create one. Using the sites Piktochart, Easel.ly, and Infogram made these a breeze to create.  I look forward to honing my skills with these whether I use them with students, teachers, administration, or the community.

The technology I currently see the least benefit from would be podcasts. I can not think of a use for podcasts that can not be fulfilled with another format that I prefer and that I think students would be more likely to connect with. I also do not spend a lot of time listening to much other than music, I find that listening to a book or podcast causes me to miss more than I care to and without the visual I find it difficult to locate those gray areas. Having said this, I know that podcasts are popular with many people and I have listened to some from time to time.

My final challenge was to share my reflections through digital storytelling. I chose Book Creator. This was a little more difficult for me to figure out but still not really difficult. I think this would also be a great tool to use with students on a larger group project. Find my reflections book at this link: https://read.bookcreator.com/library/-Mq6_j9_Fk6PJanL8oih

Overall there was no resource that I thought was simply pointless or too difficult. All of the resources were fairly easy to master the basics of and, with time and practice would prove even more beneficial.