Blog 3: MC web pages - Erin Carr

In today’s society, you would be hard pressed to find a school media center that did not have some type of webpage.  Though all sites are not created equal, there is a lot of good information to be found. 

When creating a media center web page, the first thing to consider is your goals.  What do you want to convey to those who will view your page?

..we must challenge ourselves to step back and examine the overreaching goals of our job— assisting students to become successful learners as well as supporting teachers in their efforts to create and craft meaningful learning experiences for their students—and to do this within the context of a contemporary information environment. Keep your program goals front and center when planning your Web site” (Warlick, 2005).

Next, identify your target audience. Your webpage needs to be tailored to this age group.  “A library Web page for a third grader will be much different than that for a high school student” (Jurkowski, 2010).  I have always worked in the elementary setting, so that is how my brain works.  I know my students like bright colors and catchy themes.  They also like to be able to click familiar icons to redirect them to a new webpage.  I have noted that even students who are non-readers can navigate through a familiar webpage.  For me, it will be very important to keep my pages simply and to the point, yet give enough information.  Even in an elementary school, I could see a need for a special place for PreK-2 students and another from 3-5 as the needs of primary and elementary students are very different.  If you audience include visually impaired or hearing impaired students, this also needs to be taking into consideration when creating the page. 

The final think that take a great deal of consideration is your layout and content.  Before you start designing your page, create a plan.  Think about the most important things for your students and how you want those things presented to them.  I have a business degree and some acronym we often used was K.I.S.S. (keep it simple (stupid)).  I think as we become media specialists (or continue to work on our media pages), we need to keep this in mind.  If a student looks at your page and is overwhelmed, are they really going to keep looking? Probably not.

So, let’s talk about some Do’s and Don’ts of creating your webpage:

DO:

1.      Keep your audience in mind

2.      Preplan

3.      Pick an attractive color scheme and make you the text is readable with those colors. Remember that you may have colorblind students who need to navigate the page.

4.      Use bullet points

5.      Include your mission and vision as well as policies and procedures

6.      Use photographs. Kids love seeing themselves and their friends (make sure you have permission to photograph the children).

7.      Include the pictures and names of all people working in the media center so students will know who they are looking for

8.      Add book reviews/recommendations

9.      Let students know what is going on/upcoming (maybe a calendar)

10.  Let student know when new books/materials arrive

DON’T

1.      Don’t overwhelm your students

2.      Don’t write text in paragraph form; your students would rather read a book, not your website

3.      Don’t use a color scheme that is hard to see

4.      Don’t’ use files that are so big it takes your page forever to load

5.      Don’t use red text to call attention to important items, use bold text

6.      Don’t use plug-ins and widgets that may cause the page not to run.

These do’s and don’ts are solely my opinion.  I know I cannot stand when I get onto a website I cannot navigate.  Before making your site public, use it yourself, have a few students test it out and give you feedback. Put yourself in your student’s shoes and make it work.  Have fun with it, but remember its purpose.

As far as the content you are adding to your page, again remember your audience.  If you school has never had a functioning media web page or your students are unfamiliar with navigating a page, start small.  Get students familiar with the content and then add to it.  Here are some of the top things I think a media web page should have:

o   LMS contact information

o   Media center vision/mission

o   Media center policies and procedures

o   Media center hours

o   Photos

o   Links to:

ü  OPAC

ü  Age appropriate search engines

ü  Book reviews

ü  Dictionary/thesaurus

o   A special section for teachers that includes additional links:

ü  Information on research models and links

ü  Links to free Web 2.0 tools

o   A special section for parents

ü  Information on how to help a struggling reader

ü  Research tips

ü  Links to virtual teaching sites (Khan academy)

Though these are just a few suggestions, I think it is a good start. I think it is super important to frequently evaluate you page as well. It may be a good idea to include a hit counter that way you will know if your page is being used and how often.

            Aside from your standard Web pages, the media center could choose to use a Wiki or blog.  It appears that tons of schools are doing it, just do a google search and you can find many examples. It seems as though the Web 2.0 tools are not replacing the traditional web site, but serving as a supplement. I think these tools are great because they offer students a chance to interact where a web site tends to be very one sided. Wikis and blogs have many positives. They are free, you can post text and images just like you can in a regular webpage, and content is dated (which makes you accountable for keeping it up to date).  There are many positive benefits to Wikis and blogs, but you also have to feel comfortable using them.

Here are a couple of examples of media center webpages that I like:

-          Creekview HS: Canton, GA

o   This school has a website through the school that is very simple: http://www.cherokee.k12.ga.us/Schools/creekview-hs/media_center/default.aspx

And it also has its own google site: https://sites.google.com/site/theunquietlibrary/

-          Barrow Elementary: Athens, GA

o   Nice clean layout. May have too much info for some students, but it is very clean and nice: http://www.clarke.k12.ga.us/webpages/aplemmons/

o   They also have a blog: http://barrowmediacenter.wordpress.com/

References

Baumbach, D, Brewer, S, Renfroe, M. (2004, Septe

mber). What should be on a school library web page? Learning and Leading with Technology. Volume 32: Number 1. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.motherofgeeks.com/SLMC%20website%20article.pdf

Jurkowski, O. (2010). Technology and the school library: A comprehensive guide for media specialists and other educators (revised ed.). Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.

Walbert, D. (n.d.).   Best practices in school library website design. K-12 Teaching and Learning: From the UNC School of Education. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/969

Warlick, D. (2005). Building web sites that work for your media center.  Knowledge Quest. Volume 33: Number 3. Retrieved February 27, 2013 from http://medt7477spring2013.weebly.com/uploads/7/5/8/9/7589068/warlick_lmc_websites.pdf

           

Blog 2:  Wikis - Christy Falls

            Before attending UWG, I had never used or even heard of a wiki.  I was introduced to wikis in my courses here at UWG and have been really impressed at how well they work!  After having used wikis for the past couple of years, I don’t know how anyone in college ever got by without them!  

            Okay, so before this assignment, I had used wikis on several different occasions but I have to admit that I really didn’t know exactly how they worked.  So, I’ll do my best to explain them.  First, I’ll give you the basics.  Wiki is a Hawaiian word for quick…..Ooo – that makes me want to go quickly to Hawaii.  Okay, back to what I was saying…Wikis first appeared in the mid 1990s and were used by scientists and engineers to create knowledge bases.  They have been used by professionals such as artists and writers to promote community involvement in their interests.  Wikis are a great way to share information and collaborate.  They can be used by those of us who are not computer programmers and also those who have had no formal software training.  Does that make you feel a little better about using a wiki?  I hope so!  I know it made me feel better!             

            Wikis are, in essence, web pages that can be modified using a web browser.  They allow for easy links to other resources and the opportunity to display colorful pictures and even sounds and movies.  If you are really technically savvy, you can create multimedia presentations and digital stories.  One person can create a wiki and then anyone can go in and use the edit button to make changes.  This gives everyone author and editor privileges.  Didn’t know you could be an instant editor huh?  The nice thing is, they allow you to work on an assignment at any time or place that offers an Internet connection. 

Wikis are now used by many teachers to create a syllabus, write a journal article, or edit a textbook.  They allow students to collaborate with other students and to create impressive portfolios.  The opportunities are endless!

            The most well-known and used wiki is Wikipedia.  Although it is continually edited, it is said to be almost as accurate as a printed encyclopedia.  I guess when you have a bunch of professionals working on something, they are able to go in and change any information that may not be accurate.  Pretty impressive huh?

            Do wikis have their downfalls?  Of course!  Didn’t you know that all technology has its own set of problems? The biggest downfall is that it can be easy for you to delete information if you’re not careful.  This happened to me once on a group project.  Some information that I had added to the wiki was accidentally erased by another group member.  Luckily, I had my information stored in another location so it was an easy fix.  I would highly recommend saving your information somewhere else if you are going to contribute to a wiki.  In fact, I would suggest that you tell other group members to do the same just in case you accidentally erase theirs.  You also have to be careful to watch for those that might add inappropriate content to a wiki.  But don’t worry as you can – the benefits far outweigh the downfalls.  Well, I’d love to continue to chat about wikis, but now that I know just how powerful they are, I think I’ll go create my own……  

Blog 2: Wikis - Sally Marable

Wiki.  For years, my mind has automatically associated this term with the widely known “free encyclopedia” that anyone can edit – Wikipedia.  I am sure many people have a similar association…maybe even placing the concept of a wiki into the “believe at your own risk” category of internet information like I had done.  

However a few years ago while pursuing my Master’s degree, I had my first real experience with what a wiki is really meant to be.  My educational technology professor had an idea to create a class wiki, with members of our class creating pages to define all of the educational jargon and concepts we were having a hard time remembering.  We then started editing each other’s pages, adding pictures and additional information when needed.  We started linking pages together when they referenced each other, and got ideas for new pages that needed to be added.  From this assignment, I was able to understand the potential of a wiki.  

So, what exactly is a wiki?  It is defined as “a website in which the content can be created and edited by a community of users” (Courtney, 2007).  The community may be defined, like Wikispaces that UWG uses, or it may be open to the general population, like Wikipedia.  The more members contributing information, the stronger the wiki becomes, resulting in a shared space of collective knowledge.  With that being said, using wikis in classrooms and in school library media centers seem like a natural connection.  Wikis provide a platform for collaboration, communication, and active engagement for students and teachers – who doesn’t seek out opportunities like that?  Wikis can be used to share information about library and school events, for teachers to share and collaborate on lesson plans, for students to collaborate on class assignments, for book and author studies…the possibilities are endless!

An essential part of establishing a successful wiki should begin with a basic code of conduct.  The Apalachee High School Media Center wiki has a Wiki Charter that provides expectations and guidelines for using the wiki. It provides explanations of how collaboration works and examples of how to stay appropriate.  It is also a good idea to have the media specialist serve as a moderator for a media center wiki.  As moderator they could accept and decline members of the wiki, monitor submissions, and update content. The moderator should also encourage and promote use of the wiki through library and classroom activities so that it remains a collaborative tool rather than a passive storage place of information.

For ideas on how to incorporate wikis into the classroom, please check out this link.  It provides great wiki ideas for various subjects and age groups!

References

Apalachee High School Media Center Wiki. (2009). Wiki Charter. Retrieved 

            February 17, 2013, from http://ahsmedia.barrow.wikispaces.net/

            Wiki+Charter

 

Courtney, N., ed. (2007). Library 2.0 and beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited.

Blog 1: Podcasting (Andrée Dávila)

When we hear the word,  podcast, as educators there are so many possibilities to explore.  As an auditory tool, it can be heard by anyone with access to a computer or a MP-3 device.   Programs such as Audacity have made the creation of a podcast very simple and quite inexpensive.  This semester is my first experience using Audacity and creating a video podcast.  As I continue to create podcasts, I'll be quite apt to be able to instruct students in the library on podcasting.

         In my promotion of the School Library Media Center, I would create monthly podcasts with library news for students, parents, and administrators.  The excitement of my own voice (compared with a written newsletter) would allow the listener to get a bit more out of the information than a written format as sound and music add to any presentation.  Students would have opportunities to create their own podcasts in K-5.  From a Common Core standard to a personal hobby, students who invest interest in their subject tend to research more and retain more knowledge from what they learned.

          Using Book Talks and Story Time via podcasting is also imperative to the busy lifestyle of today's youth.  Librarians could keep their podcasts on the school's website to be retrieved when necessary.   Similarly, teachers or SLMS could save student podcasts and post them to the school's website.  However, copyright laws require the author, illustrator, and artist (music) to agree to using the royalty-free products.

          Professional development podcasts could be created for themes that the School Improvement Committee has named as urgent.  Nevertheless,  if music is added to the podcast, it must be credited as well.  This is something of which I need to be more careful in handling! 

-ASD

Blog 1: Podcasting - Erin Carr

By now, we are most likely all familiar with a Podcast.  It is a technology that has been around for a while now (at least since 2005), but have you ever investigated the official definition of a podcast? To me, a podcast is nothing more than an audio recording that can be easily saved; however, “The New Oxford American Dictionary defines podcast as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.” In other words, it’s a digital audio file that’s created, shared, and heard” (Courtney, 2007).  Maybe it would be helpful for us to think of a podcast as a radio show, but a radio show that is recorded, not live.  A podcast, like a radio show engages auditory sensory and can reach many people.

Knowing that we are teaching 21^st century learners who are more interested in technology than most anything else, it is incredibly important to infuse technology into education in meaningful ways. So, how can podcasting change the way we educate our students? First, podcasting is a great input and output tool.  Educators can input knowledge by recording podcasts for students to listen to, or they can find podcasts that have already been created on a subject for students to listen to. Students can create and share podcasts to show what they have learned on a subject (to output their knowledge) and this is a great assessment tool.

 “For schools, it (podcasting) offers the chance to provide lessons and learning opportunities in a way more likely to engage students than more traditional methods and can help reach children outside the classroom” (Leach, nd). According to the Directory Journal, “To learn something totally new, the average person has to hear the information more than six or seven times – some people need to hear it upwards of twenty times before it makes it past the barrier between short term and long term memory” (Garland, 2010).  With the intensity and rigor our performance standards in schools, I do not know a single educator who has the time to repeat and reteach more than two or three times.  Creating simple podcasts on skills could help solve that problem.  Students with internet at home could also benefit from the reteaching of skills after school hours and when students miss school, they do not have to miss the entire days lessons if pieces of instruction have been turned into podcasts.

One huge push in my school district this year is differentiated instruction.  This is always been an initiative; however, as students come to us as more and more diverse learners, the need for differentiation is growing rapidly. The need for differentiation spans past the classroom and affects all areas of a school that work to meet the needs of the student body.  Eash explains how podcasting can support differentiation in the following statement:

Podcasting supports efforts to differentiate instruction in the library in accordance with No Child Left Behind requirements. The podcast is a viable alternative for delivering research content or lessons to students who need re­medial or extended support. While auditory learners particularly benefit when podcasts are incorporated into the teaching model, librarians can help all students and staff find ways to creatively use podcasting. Sometimes new formats are the key to igniting interest. While creating podcasts, students learn to research, write, develop vocabulary, speak effectively, manage time, solve problems, and grab attention (Eash, 2006).

Podcasting could be a very effective tool for promoting your media center.  Book talks could be incorporated into podcasts that catch the attention of students.  These book talks could have the potential to reach students who are frequent flyers in the media center as well as those who rarely visit.  Those who avoid the media center may hear a book talk podcast that sparks their interest and you may find yourself with a new blooming reader.  A quick podcast could also be a great way to let students know what is going on in the media center and about new materials/resources that are available to them.  Tutorials for using media center equipment could be created using a podcast and these could be readily assessable to all students.

The great thing about a podcast is its ease of use and reasonable cost to create.  All schools have computers and most of those computers have built-in recording devices. If you have these things, you have the minimal requirements to create a podcast and your school has invested no money.  After modeling the creation of a podcast several times, I think early elementary students could start to create their own podcasts to support learning. 

I admit, Podcasting is not something I have personally ventured into.  After reading the Courtney text, doing so research, and listening to sample podcasts, I do feel confident that I could create a meaningful podcast for library patrons.  I also feel like to could effectively and frequently reach my patrons through podcasts to create connections.  I would also really enjoy teaching students how to podcast and giving them the opportunity to express themselves through this technological medium.

References

Courtney, Nancy. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond. Libraries Unlimited: Westpoint, CT.

Eash, E. K. (2006, April). Podcasting 101 for K–12 librarians. Computers in Libraries: Volume 26 Number 4. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://www.infotoday.com/cilmag/apr06/Eash.shtml

Garland, Rebecca. (2010, October 13). Learning By Doing: Is This the Best Way for  Your Child to Learn? Directory Journal.  Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://www.dirjournal.com/guides/learning-by-doing-is-this-the-best-way-for-your-child-to-learn/

Leach, Jimmy. (n.d.). Podcasting for schools – the basics. Education.Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://education.guardian.co.uk/appleeducation/story/0,,1682639,00.html