Reading Review Part C - LIBE 477

I think the most meaningful learning outcome that I have taken away from my research is that I am not the only teacher/teacher librarian who is facing challenges and barriers when it comes to implementing technology at my school.  I tend to set pretty high expectations for myself as a TL (plan engaging, meaningful lessons, collaborate with staff, find good resources, flip to a learning commons, do amazing inquiry projects, respond to all your emails right away, organize library clubs, weed out old books, etc. – to name just a few of my weekly tasks) but the reality is (and I’m slow to learn this) is that I can’t do it all as a part time TL.  Coming to realize this has been a bit of a tough pill to shallow.  After looking through my research I’ve had a sort of “ah ha!” moment in that I have learned many of our schools here in BC face very real issues when it comes to implementing technology and that it is not just my own lack of expertise – although this is certainly an issue too.

It would seem that I have just looked at the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my research.  Clearly there is an abundance of information when it comes to 21rst century learning. My understanding of 21rst century learning is that it teaches students how to learn, how to think critically, how to ask meaningful questions and how to be problem solvers.  Well, if those are the skills we are supposed to be teaching students, certainly we can use those same skill ourselves to help the situation in our schools. There seems to be quite a bit of research acknowledging that there is a problem with the way in which school are adapting (read: not adapting quickly enough) to meet the needs of 21rst century learners. But I would like to do more research on what schools and teachers need to do in order to be more successful with technology.  How can we overcome these barriers? What can be done at the library/classroom level? The school level? The district level? I want any further research to focus a more solid understanding of barriers to digital technology in schools but also, at possible solutions. At rimes the research was frustrating as a lot of information was out of date (I didn't want to look at information prior to 2010) or is was from other places in the world where the situation with technology in school is vastly different.  As I already said, I think I cn still do a lot of research and work on my issue.

Below I have included my works cited.

Works Cited

 

BCCSL - Does Your School Have a Good School Library?" BCCSL - Does Your School Have a Good School Library?”. Web. 03 Oct. 2015

            http://bccsl.ca/does_n.htm

 

"Digital Literacy." Framework. The Government of British Columbia. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/digital-literacy.htm

 

"Digital Learners: A Vision for the Future - BC Education." YouTube. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8pqLv1K72Q0&feature=youtu.be

 

Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium. Background Information. Web. 4 Oct. 2015.

 http://bcerac.ca/about/background-info.aspx
 

Jones, Gwyneth. The Daring Librarian. Personal Blog. Web. 04 Oct. 2015.

            www.thedarlinglibrarian.com

Learning and Leading with Technology: Should there be Limits on Students' Screen Time? Although most Agree that Digital Media have a Place in Education, the Majority of Respondents Believe Limits Help Students Achieve Balance. 38 Vol. International Society for Technology in Education, 09/01/2010. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.

Ng, Wan. New Digital Technology in Education: Conceptualizing Professional Learning for

Educators. 2015. eBook.  Accessed September 24, 2015.

 

 

 

Reading Review Part B - LIBE 477

It was interesting to search for information around my key words and ideas. I found a wealth of information and it was overwhelming to try and limit what I wanted to include.  I learned there is a TON of information on 21rst century learning and its obvious connection to technology.  I started by looking at the BCTLA’s website which I haven’t spent a lot of time on. I then moved on and looked at some government documents as well as some articles and books from the UBC library.  Finally, I google some of the other TLs I follow on Twitter and found some interesting blogs.

·         The BC Coalition for School Libraries was an interesting starting point. Despite being a bit out of date, I found some really useful information advocating for school libraries and librarians. I thought that this might be a good place to take some information when I speak to my school’s PAC this week.

·         The Ministry of Education’s 2010 Report on 21rst Century Learning is a good overview of 21rst century learning and how the nature of education in changing. 

·         I learned that ERAC (Educational Resource Acquisition Consortium) exists. One of their roles, apparently, is to provide “leadership in the areas of new technology and new media and their potential roles in education. We provide educators with research-based trends and also encourage sharing of knowledge and experience within the membership.” (ERAC).  I also learned that my school district has people who are designated as ERAC representatives but I have no idea what this looks like, what the costs are or if our district does by and large, use this service.  Something to look further into I suppose.  Despite my complete unfamiliarly with ERAC I did enjoy this video on their website which shows some great example of what a teacher could potentially do when supported with technology.  I also found this report which discusses a schools readiness (or lack thereof) to implement new technology.

·         I’ve been following Gwyneth Jones on Twitter for a few years now but I recently took a good look at her blog which is both humours and informative to many of the issues I have already discussed.  A Pinterest search also turned up some suggestions of other TLs to follow which I would further like to explore in the future. I’m not sure how much Canadian content this contains however and I do like to remain contentious of the differences in American and Canadian Education systems.

·         I was able to find both a book and journal article through the UBC library which were very interesting:

 

Ng, Wan. New Digital Technology in Education: Conceptualizing Professional

Learning for Educators. 2015. eBook.  Accessed September 24, 2015.

Learning and Leading with Technology: Should there be Limits on Students' Screen Time?

Although most Agree that Digital Media have a Place in Education, the Majority of Respondents Believe Limits Help Students Achieve Balance. 38 Vol. International Society for Technology in Education, 09/01/2010. Web. 26 Sep. 2015.

·         I was happy to find this book and see that is was published just this year! One of the chapters includes some useful information about the barriers to technology (Ng 18) which I could absolutely relate to. This journal article also presented some useful information about digital balanced and started that in many schools ““computers tend to be quite underused, especially in constructive, creative way” (Learning and Leading). Yes,  sounds like my school!

After doing this research and seeing how much is out there on education and technology I’m hoping to focus my topic on barriers to technology and how an individual/school/district might look at overcoming them.  I don’t see an easy solution to this but certainly it is an issue worth exploring. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Reading Review Part A - LIBE 477

I believe that the nature of education, schools and teaching is rapidly changing. In the near future, I anticipate that I will be challenged when it comes to successfully and purposefully integrating digital technology into the curriculum due to a lack of time, lack of TL FTE, funding and knowledge/education about such technologies in my job.  I anticipate that the scope of my job as a teacher librarian is going to continue to radically change and I worry that schools may not be able to keep up with these changes. 

The use (or under use) of digital technologies is my main issue – I don’t feel that my school (or myself) is using digital technologies to the best of its ability. Partly this is a funding issue, partly a lack of time issue, but also I think we lack technology leaders in our school district to educate other teachers.  This isn’t to say technology education isn’t happening – just last week at a TL meeting we had a list of great iPad apps circulated – but this is only so helpful.  I am a kinesthetic learner, so unless I am shown and then practice using a digital technology myself, it is somewhat useless. I have been to several Pro D workshops where I have walked in with one main question “how is this going to help me in my job right now?”  I want relevancy! I want meaning!  Sadly, all too often I do not get this. I feel that perhaps we need more technology advocacy at the district level to have schools/TLs/teachers educated as to what they can do with these technologies.

 I think digital technologies could theoretically be used in many areas of the curriculum, but especially literacy (which is rapidly changing in itself).  I have an English degree and thus Language Arts is my strength – I run a library program that quite heavily focuses on books, authors and reading – I do wonder how I could incorporate technology into this - given my schools limited resources?? When I consider that I only see students for 20-30 minutes a week it is quite hard to accomplish relevant goals with technology.  Because our student population is from a quite low social-economic area we have several students that are very low when it comes to 21rst century literacies and general knowledge of computers/tablets/programs/apps, etc.

I think digital technologies have the potential to guide formative assessment, assessment as learning etc.  I really don’t think educational pedagogy should change when looking at digital technologies, as they are after all, a tool to help us meet the need to today’s learner. I would think that a lot of Web 2.0 tools would be useful especially for global learning.  Anything where students can create and share seems to be very invaluable.  I also think film project made through programs like iMovie.  Students love novelty and I think could really benefit from learning a variety of digital technology tools from blogs to wikis to social media. Of course with this must come internet safety and education. 

Some keywords and (which I would like to research more about) I think are important to this issue include:

·         Implementing digital technology – For my situation in particular, I would love to see more funding for technology in our school district to “even out” what certain schools do and do not have as far as the technology itself, as well as the amount of time given for TLs to learn about this technology.  In the Teacher Librarian diploma here at UBC, I have again and again heard about TL as technology leaders in school – I am far from this, and it’s concerning to me.  As an example, at my school I have been assigned to be “in charge of” the 15 iPads our school owns and I honestly am not sure where to begin (yes, I can use an iPad, but personal use if different them using them in a school)– particularly when I barely have enough time to plan my weekly lessons and maintain the library collection.

·          21rst century literacies/learners – as we saw in our “Why Schools” reading and discussion this past week, the definition of what it means to be literate has changed dramatically in recent years. We need to keep up (this I think is hugely tied to Teacher Librarian advocacy which I will discuss below).

·         Digital balance and relevancy – we’ve all heard that we shouldn’t use “technology just for technology’s sake” and I think this is very true.  I feel it’s important for our students to be thinking critically, asking meaningful questions and explore curriculum, look at “big ideas”  - with technology as a tool through which they can do this.  I would also like to explore the idea of digital balance which to me includes using technology meaningful, but also being mindful of the important of limited screen time, physically activity, connecting with people face to face and spending time in nature.  

·          Teacher librarian advocacy – I think this is huge! We have a very string Teacher Librarian association in our school district, and we often speak at school board meetings, organize special Pro D days amongst ourselves, share TL media with our staffs, etc.  I think it’s the responsibility of every TL to educate people about how our jobs have changed and why and what a teacher librarian is and does and how they can play a critical role in the future of education.

·          Mentoring - I would love to see a stronger mentoring program in my district – I have some colleagues who are very knowledgeable when it comes to digital technologies and I wish I were able to learn more from them.