Social media isn't just for celebrities who insist on Instagramming every aspect of their lives. It can be a powerful professional development tool as well. Here are some of my current favorite resources:
Twitter - I confess I don't check it regularly, but it is a great tool for professional development. Check out #tlchat, #libchat, #yalit, #edtechchat, #edtech, and more that I linked on my resources site.
Shelf Awareness - A daily email with news on publishers, independent booksellers, new titles, author book tours & television appearances, and trivia.
Book Bub - A daily email that lists the free and discounted ebooks of the day from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and others.
Google+ - Similar to Facebook, but seems to have more of a professional slant. Some of my favorite communities are InfoLit & Tech (my own) and Instructional Technology Integrators.
Listservs: An oldie but a goodie, listservs are still going strong. Some of my favorites are LM_NET, too many from ALA related to all aspects of librarianship, and the PA Schools listserv.
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technology. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Destiny Quest App
The Destiny Quest app is awesome and I use it all the time when I am helping classes look for independent reading books. There is nothing like having a mobile card catalog while roaming the stacks and some of the students have begun downloading it, too. This is why I can't believe I forgot about it last week.
Our Internet connection was a little uncooperative over the last two weeks and would go up and down throughout the day. The freshman were starting Pro/Con research papers and this made it difficult to use our LibGuide and databases for research, as well as locating books in the card catalog. For some strange reason my first instinct was to grab the Sears subject headings book to help locate books on the various topics since the Dewey numbers are in there. This worked well enough and books were located for everyone, but it hit me later - the catalog app still worked! It wasn't our server that crashed, it was the Internet connection. I had been running my phone off of the 3G and not the wireless every time the network went down. I could have used that instead and had the students download it to their phones. I doubt I'll forget this next time!
Our Internet connection was a little uncooperative over the last two weeks and would go up and down throughout the day. The freshman were starting Pro/Con research papers and this made it difficult to use our LibGuide and databases for research, as well as locating books in the card catalog. For some strange reason my first instinct was to grab the Sears subject headings book to help locate books on the various topics since the Dewey numbers are in there. This worked well enough and books were located for everyone, but it hit me later - the catalog app still worked! It wasn't our server that crashed, it was the Internet connection. I had been running my phone off of the 3G and not the wireless every time the network went down. I could have used that instead and had the students download it to their phones. I doubt I'll forget this next time!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Curriculum you can't teach
I've been working on a new 9-12 curriculum for the last few months. It's hard. Really hard. Not the actual writing part, but the bit where I try to conceptualize a great curriculum I don't know that I'll even be able to teach. I feel like it is more of a wish list for my seniors than a guarantee of the information literacy skills I will teach them before they graduate. That is very frustrating to me. I don't like making promises I'm not sure I can keep. So I have decided to do the only thing I can think of - conceptualize a great curriculum and make a plan for implementation.
I know what skills my students should have before graduating. I have written curriculum before, read the articles, attended the workshops and see the skills my college students lack. The problem lies in the fact that I am writing a curriculum without a guarantee that I can teach it. At my former district I had a quarterly freshman class. We also had two librarians and never taught at the same time so it worked - introductory skills taught and other classes could be attended to. But I can't do that alone. It feels rewarding when my colleagues ask for help with research projects, but I want to scream when they don't tell me about other projects or assume the students know what to do because they are honors or seniors. Don't they understand that the information literacy skills are a constant work in progress with these young adults? In these moments I wonder why I'm wasting my time making curricular promises to the students that I can't keep.
I know what others will say - "you have to collaborate", "don't let the teachers do research without you", "attend department meetings", etc. I understand all that very well and say the same things to others in my situation. After all, it is easy to blame the others for not collaborating with me. How can I do my job if no one else will play nice?
But then I had to be honest with myself. The simple truth is that I have expected too much in the last two years. I can see the library program and role in my school that I want. And I wanted it from Day 1. Over the last year and a half I have alternated between proud at the impact I have made some areas and frustrated at the slow change that has come in others, as well as going through the process of being the "new kid". I've come to realize that the key is patience and understanding that it won't happen overnight.
Ugh, I'm not good at thinking like that. But I have to.
You see, when you have a curriculum you aren't guaranteed to be able to teach, you have to think positively and creatively. And have a plan.
I know what skills my students should have before graduating. I have written curriculum before, read the articles, attended the workshops and see the skills my college students lack. The problem lies in the fact that I am writing a curriculum without a guarantee that I can teach it. At my former district I had a quarterly freshman class. We also had two librarians and never taught at the same time so it worked - introductory skills taught and other classes could be attended to. But I can't do that alone. It feels rewarding when my colleagues ask for help with research projects, but I want to scream when they don't tell me about other projects or assume the students know what to do because they are honors or seniors. Don't they understand that the information literacy skills are a constant work in progress with these young adults? In these moments I wonder why I'm wasting my time making curricular promises to the students that I can't keep.
I know what others will say - "you have to collaborate", "don't let the teachers do research without you", "attend department meetings", etc. I understand all that very well and say the same things to others in my situation. After all, it is easy to blame the others for not collaborating with me. How can I do my job if no one else will play nice?
But then I had to be honest with myself. The simple truth is that I have expected too much in the last two years. I can see the library program and role in my school that I want. And I wanted it from Day 1. Over the last year and a half I have alternated between proud at the impact I have made some areas and frustrated at the slow change that has come in others, as well as going through the process of being the "new kid". I've come to realize that the key is patience and understanding that it won't happen overnight.
Ugh, I'm not good at thinking like that. But I have to.
You see, when you have a curriculum you aren't guaranteed to be able to teach, you have to think positively and creatively. And have a plan.
- Write the dream curriculum - include everything my students should know to prepare them for college and life in general beyond high school
- Hmmm...now I have to teach it. Zero in on those that have already been working with me for more collaboration in the planning stages of the lesson. (Hear that English and social studies? We need to talk...No, we aren't breaking up. We have been together for awhile now and it is time to take our relationship to another level.)
- Spread the word about information literacy and tech integration and meet more of the faculty. Host tech workshops regularly for flex hours. An hour here and there should draw them in. (Snacks will probably help, too...)
- Begin inquiring when other departments are rewriting their curriculum and attempt Phase One of Information Literacy Cross-Curricular Integration
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
(Almost) Tech-free Holidays
Over the holiday break my fiance and I attempted to go tech-free as much as possible, especially Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. We did pretty good, opting for quality time with a movie marathon, catching up on some TV series (can't wait for Downton Abbey season 3!), a little post-holiday sales shopping, and Les Miserables. It is so easy to get lost in laptops, smartphones, and other devices that it is important to make a conscious effort to put them aside once in a while.
But....technology does have some advantages. Today I was thinking about some of the ways I used various tech tools (despite attempts otherwise) in the last two weeks:
But....technology does have some advantages. Today I was thinking about some of the ways I used various tech tools (despite attempts otherwise) in the last two weeks:
- Using my Canon Rebel T3i camera to make copies of family photos at the future in-laws
- Using the Ancestry.com app on the iPad to share what I have found at family gatherings, instantly update the tree with more names and find more information from historical documents as we talked
- Edit family photos on my laptop to upload to Ancestry program and make copies for family on printer/scanner
- Search Pinterest for inspiration to make holiday wreaths
- Search online for instructions on how to make a bows for wreaths (found, but ended up not using them)
- Listen to audiobooks downloaded from public library while making the wreaths
- Download and read books onto Kindle
- Saved Christmas specials throughout December on DVR to watch on holidays (LOVE Prep & Landing!)
- Pretending we had a fireplace with the yule log on OnDemand (couldn't resist!) while opening presents
- Use shopping lists on Grocery IQ app on my phone
Friday, December 21, 2012
Unintentional Techie
It cracks me up whenever someone else or myself thinks of me as a "techie". It doesn't seem like that long ago when the elementary computer class seemed so intimidating, even if we were just playing Oregon Trail and doing basic skills. I learned to type on a typewriter (ok, it was electric) as a freshman and we got our first computer around that same time. I learned programs in Mac Applications senior year (1998) that I don't think even exist anymore. Coding seemed so intimidating, although now I wish I had taken the computer science classes. Email in college was basic and journal article research was a mix of new material available online and rolling apart shelves to get to the bound volumes. By the end of grad school (2003), IM was still all the rage, distance education courses were picking up and you still had to be in college to get on Facebook.
I realized one key thing that took me from "tech is ok" to "I can do this" - realizing I can't break it. Oh, you can very easily lose whatever you are working on, but unless you physically drop the computer or device it is very hard to break it. Understanding this simple notion can be quite liberating. I learned how to use computers because I had to. It was part of the curriculum and I just picked it up along the way.
People assume that certain age groups are genetically predisposed to using technology and others are too far over the hill to get it. That couldn't be further from the truth. I teach high schoolers and university students and have seen these lines blurred many times. Some teens are resistant to technology and some AARP members are some of the most creative technology users I know.
I constantly tell my university students, many of whom are distance ed, that I make them use technology to try something new. I grade on content, not the scary program they were forced to use. I'm constantly reminding them that it is great that their teen helped them import the pictures, but they must learn how to do it for themselves because junior won't be at work with them. It is a tough job market out there and being afraid of technology just isn't an option anymore. My ultimate goal with my courses is not to just impart wit and wisdom - it's to prepare them for their dream job. Social media is critical for outreach to patrons and e-readers are taking a large portion of the market. Web 2.0 tools can take a library program from good to fantastic - often for free.
Technology isn't replacing libraries - it is making them evolve. Yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but it isn't impossible. Dismissing technology as something for the young or computer geeks isn't cute, funny, or professional. It is now a mandatory part of our job. You don't have to be Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. You just have to remember you can't break it - so what's the worst that could happen?
I realized one key thing that took me from "tech is ok" to "I can do this" - realizing I can't break it. Oh, you can very easily lose whatever you are working on, but unless you physically drop the computer or device it is very hard to break it. Understanding this simple notion can be quite liberating. I learned how to use computers because I had to. It was part of the curriculum and I just picked it up along the way.
People assume that certain age groups are genetically predisposed to using technology and others are too far over the hill to get it. That couldn't be further from the truth. I teach high schoolers and university students and have seen these lines blurred many times. Some teens are resistant to technology and some AARP members are some of the most creative technology users I know.
I constantly tell my university students, many of whom are distance ed, that I make them use technology to try something new. I grade on content, not the scary program they were forced to use. I'm constantly reminding them that it is great that their teen helped them import the pictures, but they must learn how to do it for themselves because junior won't be at work with them. It is a tough job market out there and being afraid of technology just isn't an option anymore. My ultimate goal with my courses is not to just impart wit and wisdom - it's to prepare them for their dream job. Social media is critical for outreach to patrons and e-readers are taking a large portion of the market. Web 2.0 tools can take a library program from good to fantastic - often for free.
Technology isn't replacing libraries - it is making them evolve. Yes, it can be overwhelming at times, but it isn't impossible. Dismissing technology as something for the young or computer geeks isn't cute, funny, or professional. It is now a mandatory part of our job. You don't have to be Bill Gates, Steve Jobs or Mark Zuckerberg. You just have to remember you can't break it - so what's the worst that could happen?
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