Blog - 12-2-14

Fail, OpenQwaq. Giant fail.

Tonight is it! It's supposed to be the last night of class. We are supposed to have our ALAR expo tonight. Everyone has put so much time and effort into their presentations and, yep, you guessed it, OpenQwaq is broken.

ALAR Expo - Break the Internet
^^yes, that is a Kim Kardashian reference. God help me.

What a semester. Looking back, I can't believe we all accomplished what we did. It flew by, honestly. I feel like I was just having mini-meltdowns because I couldn't figure out what to do my project on. I had no idea what to research.

Then, with a little help and love from Dr. Moe - BAM! I had a project idea. A great idea at that.

From there, it's been a whirlwind of research, planning, and experimenting.

Phew.

As far as the parent night is concerned, flyers have been posted, Alert Nows have been sent out via telephone, letters have been sent home with the kiddos. I'm just waiting to see who shows up on the 11th.

Is it wrong that I'm nervous. Talking in front of 7th grades = easy. Talking in front of their parents = terrifying.

Prayers please :)

Blog - 11-25-14

Happy Thanksgiving week!

Wow, this semester has flown by. I have one week left, that's it! Class is over in one week.

Last week, I posted that I had to create flyers for my parent night. Welllllll, fail. I made them, hung them up, and then the parent night had to be moved, again.

Go figure, right?

It has been pushed until December 11th at 5:30 pm.

We are sending home permission slips and everything that night so that students will be able to use the NOOKs after Christmas.

I found a really neat video that I want to show the parents when they come. It'll serve to educate them on how to use OverDrive. I wonder how many parents will use this themselves.

Something I've been thinking about a lot is: Why didn't the public library really advertise when they acquired this service? It's still relatively new for the system, but no one told anyone. I found out from my media specialist that our county now had access to OverDrive. Had I known that, I would've been using it from the beginning. I think listening to Audra talk about how she's advertising the things her middle school media center is doing makes me wish that the public library had something like that to keep us all informed.

Audra's project has given me some really great ideas for when I have my own library as well. I'm definitely going to be utilizing social media to get things out there for parents and the community to see how fantastic the media center really is. I love that this project has inspired me to do more!

Blog - 11-18-14

Oh, planning parent nights is always so much fun.

So. Much. Work.

It doesn't look like parent night will work until December. I was hoping to have this project completed by then, but I guess I will have to wait.

Planning a meeting is a lot more complicated than I had anticipated. First of all, it has to be after a certain time because of work schedules, after school activities, etc.

Sporting events have blocked out some dates. We wouldn't be able to get into the media center other dates. December 3rd is the earliest we can have this meeting.

The night after class. Of course.

I wanted to have pictures to show what I was doing.

Guess I better start making flyers. Sigh.

Blog - 11-11-14

Remember the incentive I blogged about last week? Ram Cash?

BIG SUCCESS. I was hoping we'd have 20 kids show up with a public library card. We just had student number 53 show us the card today. 53! I know in school of 500+, 50 doesn't seem like a lot. It is. In my area, these students will barely do anything if it counts for a grade, let alone just because we ask them to.

We've given out a ton of Ram Cash this week and we are going to continue giving it out for the rest of the semester. We aren't going to announce the prize any more after this week, but students will be able to show us their card all year and we will give them Ram Cash.

We also found ourselves needing to get homeroom lists from every homeroom teacher so that we could cross off students when they show us their card. Sneaky rascals tried to come back and get a second Ram Cash. I didn't even think of that. They're smart.

We've decided that the next step would be to have a parent night. This will benefit our school in general, because Title I requires so many parent meetings, but also because it's always great to have parent involvement.

I'll blog more about that next week!

Blog - 11-4-14

This week has been much better.

It's nice to say that and really mean it.

After sitting down with the media specialist, we've decided to do something really awesome for the students - RAM CASH!!!!!

Ram cash is a red slip that students receive that allows them to get a free concession at school events - dances, sporting events, after school activities, Ram Fest (which is coming up in a few weeks), etc.

Now, how will they receive this Ram Cash you ask!?

Simple.

SHOW US THE LIBRARY CARDS!

Students are going to have to have public library cards in order to use OverDrive. We knew that, without incentive, students were not very likely to go out and get a library card. However, with an incentive, we figured that a lot more students would go to the library and get a card. The more students we have with library cards, the more students we can reach with this program.

I'm excited! Maybe I'll show my library card so I can get Ram Cash too ;)

Blog - 10-28-14

Just a few days before Halloween! My favorite holiday! Just had to put that out there! ;)

That feeling of discouragement? The one I talked about last week? Yeah, still here.

Still a very unproductive week. After I surveyed my students, I decided to play around with OverDrive. You can use OverDrive with just about ANY device. If it doesn't download the app, you use Adobe Digital Editions (ADE). If it uses apps, it's even easier. The NOOKs that our school has doesn't have apps, so I will have to use ADE to get it working with our devices.

The librarian and I are working on a system to check the e-readers in and out right now. We don't feel like we will be checking any of them out until after Christmas, but it's nice to plan early.

Next week:
1. Sit down and plan with librarian again. Need to come up with next steps.
2. Contact Jesse Gibson again. Ask for permission to link OverDrive to school website.
3. Continue to work on check out system for e-readers.

Blog - 10-21-14

I am feeling very discouraged. There is so much that I want to do with this project, but I don't feel like I'm going to accomplish it. I wish I had chosen something a little easier. My Learning Set meetings help me to feel like I'm doing something worthwhile, but I think promoting the media center on social media is such a good project! I wish I had thought of that.

Not a whole lot happened this week. Next week, I plan to play around with OverDrive some more on my own personal devices so I'm well-versed when anyone asks questions.

Goals for this project:
1. Increase student reading
2. Integrate literacy and technology
3. Parent involvement.
4. Collaboration between the public library and school media center.

Seeing my goals on the page helps me to stay focused and motivated, but right now, I just feel...lost. Hopefully, it'll get better. Just a busy time of year.

Blog - 10-14-14

Last week, I surveyed my students to find out what kind of readers they are and how much technology they use. I am a little shocked at the responses. I learned that a lot of my kids like to read, but not all of them consider themselves to be good readers. I also learned that a lot of my students use technology. I had a feeling that they did, but to see how many students use it on paper - WOW!

I'm glad I'm working on this project. To be able to tie in reading with technology is really exciting for me and for the students. I hope that it will push them to read more in their spare time since they will be able to use their personal technological devices to read. Plus, students will be able to use the NOOKs from the media center to read anything from the public library.

Still waiting to hear from Jesse Gibson, director of the Sandhills Regional Library System. Once we have his approval, we will be able to move forward with the project.

Blog - 10-10-14

I did the survey in class today! I'm so excited to sit down and analyze the results.

Other than this survey, I feel a little lost. I haven't had a chance to download the OverDrive app or Adobe Digital Editions to work with the devices yet. I realize I don't need to make a guide because OverDrive has already done that for users. They have a really intense help guide.

I feel like I need to go back into the explore phase of the project. I'm in need of some inspiration. Hopefully, that'll come in the form of some really good articles on using e-readers in the middle school classroom. I hope I find something great!

Blog - 10/7/14

This week, we have moved into the planning phase for the ALAR project. Here's what I plan to do this week:

1. Survey students to find out their personal reading habits, use of technology, and willingness to read more if it was available to them via technology.
2. Coordinate a meeting between Jesse Gibson, the Director of SRLS, myself and Karen Brewer, media specialist at Hamlet Middle School. Phone conference, e-mail communication, something. Open the lines of communication to determine how best to work with Overdrive.

It doesn't seem like much, but it's exactly what I need to get done this week to move forward in the project. It will be part of my data collection for the project.

After this, I will move into next week's goals:

1. Download the Overdrive app onto all of my devices to learn how they work.
2. Work on a guide to teach students how to operate Overdrive from their devices.
3. Look into a time when students can get their own library card.

This will put me right on my way to creating something useful for my students who are interested in reading. Plus, this will hopefully make reading more appealing to my boys, since middle school boys are more likely to read if they are reading on some sort of technological device.

Blog - 10-3-14

Literature Review post!

I found the coolest article this week. Did you know that middle school boys are more likely to read on e-readers than using a book? I didn't.

I do now!

There is a study being conducted that shows that boys are much more engaged in reading when they do so on a tablet of some kind.  I wonder why that is.

I also have found another article that shows that students are just as, if not more, interactive with a text when they utilize the features on an e-reader than they are with a book. You can't highlight in a library book. You can't take notes on a library book. BUT you can with an e-reader. They come with those functionalities that allow for much personal interaction.

I hadn't even thought about that before. I should have. Every time I read something from Amazon on my Kindle, it will have passages underlined with a dashed line. If you click on it, it says ### people have highlighted this passage. Neat, huh? Also, kind of creepy that Amazon keeps track of data like that.

Hmmmm.

Basically, e-readers are the bomb.com. Glad I'm doing my project with them!

Reflection - 9/30/14

This week is the last week that we have to "explore" our topics for the ALAR project.

I'm definitely going to be working to collaborate with the public library and school media center to link up Overdrive and student devices.

I'm more out of the explore phase and working on planning out what I have left to do.

Here's where I am:

1. Need to talk to my school media specialist about what she has already planned.
2. E-mail Jesse Gibson, Director of the Sandhills Public Library System, about his plans for Overdrive.
3. Inventory student devices.
4. Student survey on reading and technology
5. Links on school website
6. Find out about getting every student a public library card???
7. Downloading the app onto my personal e-reader and begin playing with the technology
8. How much would it cost to get Overdrive as part of the school media center? Worth it budget wise?

I think that's a pretty solid list. I'm getting a little nervous again. I wonder if I could really impact students with this idea. I think that more boys would read if it wasn't out of a paper book. They enjoy reading in my class, even if it is Shakespeare.

Thoughts?

Blog - LIB 5050 - Due 9/23/14

We had our Learning Set meeting tonight. I felt like it was a struggle to really start talking about the project. I eventually started asking questions of my group members and was quickly reminded that that's not what we stated as the "norm" for our group. We decided to let each person explain how their week had gone - 10-15 minutes worth of talking. We quickly realized that 10-15 minutes is a lot of time for someone to talk about their exploration so far, so we decided to explain our project and then get feedback.

There were several times during the process that I had to get clarification from a group member about what they were planning to do for their project. It looks like we have a lot of technological issues at one of the schools and it's hard to figure out what to do when you have so many things to choose from. Another group member had the complete opposite problem: Her school has very little technology, especially in the media center. I feel very blessed to be at a school with a good amount of technology and an IMPACT team that constantly searches for the next appropriate amount of technology we need to acquire each year.

I really am thinking that I'm going to focus the project on the collaboration between the public and school library + Overdrive + Nooks + smartphones and tablets. I think it has the potential to be a really neat, very real project for my school. Audra even suggested that if it goes well, it could be something I present at the NCSMLC conference next year. How awesome would that be? I love that everyone loved the project. I do wish for some ideas on how to get started though. That's my biggest concern at the moment. Where in the world do I start? I think I need to sit down with my media coordinator and ask her for her input. Maybe it would be smart to set up a meeting with the director of our library too and see what Mr. Gibson thinks about the whole process.

I'm excited!!!

Blog - Due 9/16/14

We are supposed to be reflecting on the exploration phase of the Action Service/Action Learning project.

Up until tonight, I've mostly spent my time freaking out over the fact that I couldn't think of anything to do. Finally, I got in to see Dr. Moe at our scheduled appointment in her office. I thought I was going to have to have her go back through the whole project from start to finish. Once she got started, I realized that I understood the project itself. It was just my anxiety was preventing me from narrowing down topics. Basically, my head was going "technology....now what...."

We started by talking about my interview with my school librarian. What were the technology issues that were mentioned? I came up with three biggies: Nooks that are underutilized, technology only being used as a method of display in some classrooms, and "stuff" not working correctly. After talking about these issues, we were able to come up with several neat ideas that I could use for my project.

1. Write a grant that would "fix" the technological issues my school is dealing with.
2. Restructure the organization of technology to have computer carts that are more adequate for the uses - i.e. figure out a way to get 30 laptops on a cart or figure out how to fully stock a computer lab.
3. Collaborate with the public library, which has just become an Overdrive library, to somehow infuse technology (Nooks and devices that students already have) in their reading habits.
4. Develop a technology relationship with another teacher. Use them as a "guinea pig" of sorts. Have them branch out and use more technology while "advertising" to other staff what we are doing...how the students are reacting, etc.

I love that I have ideas now. I was drawing a blank, seriously. Sometimes, it's nice to just sit and bounce ideas off of someone. I'm honestly leaning more toward the idea with Overdrive because I am familiar with the technology and the companies involved. I also really believe in the idea that bringing in more technology and pairing it with literacy is good for middle schoolers, specifically. I hope this is something that could really happen. All of the libraries in the Sandhills district already have Overdrive. All the kids need is a library card and a device with the app downloaded, which is really neat. This would be a good way to utilize the Nooks that just sit there, gathering dust.

I have so many good ideas bouncing around in my head now. Thank God for Dr. Moeller's office hours. I highly advise everyone in class to go sit and talk to her. It helps!!! A LOT!

Reflecting on the Action Learning Project (What has happened thus far)...

This week, we were asked to blog about what we might want to explore for our action learning process. I know we are supposed to get our topics approved by Dr. Moe, but I have no idea where to begin. Projects like this freak me out in that they are so wide open. Really messes with my anxiety.

My initial response to the project was to figure out what I might want to explore. Immediately, I began to think about using social media to promote the school library. Social media, technology, etc. The idea of using technology to make students and parents more aware of the media center. I also was thinking about using technology to create some kind of center of resources for students and parents alike to use to improve reading, math, social studies, and science skills. 

The idea of technology and the library fascinates me. I don't know if I'm thinking like a media specialist or like a twenty-four year old kid, but the idea of using more technology is exciting in general. There are several things that a library could do with technology: promotion, publicity, technology based competitions, research, online tutoring, etc. 

I think...well, I think I'm stuck. I honestly think I need to come to office hours and talk more about the project because I'm at a loss as to where to start. I need help in narrowing my focus. From what I understand, this has to be something that I'm actually doing as well as learning from.

Yikes!

Interview: Technology and the Library

Interview: Technology and the Library

            Technology is becoming more and more useful, especially for librarians and library patrons. In order to fully understand the role of technology in the library, specifically a school, I interviewed the media specialist at Hamlet Middle School, Karen Brewer. She has been working at Hamlet Middle School for four years and has been a media specialist for much longer than that. Before becoming a media specialist, she was a teacher. She taught before technology was common in schools and is now a media specialist that has seen technology come in, be upgraded and enhanced, and be used by kids of all learning abilities.

            First, I wanted to know about the budget for purchasing new technology. I asked Mrs. Brewer how much money is allotted each year to purchase technology and equipment for the library. She explained that the budget comes from the state instructional/state library fund. For the 2014-15 school year, she has been given a budget of $9000. All technology, subscriptions, books, management, or other purchases have to come out of that $9000. This led me to ask about the process for choosing what types of technology to purchase or use for that particular library. She said that the technology that is purchased all depends on what the specific need is at the time. I asked how it is determined that a specific piece of technology will meet a need. She replied, “We try to research prior to purchasing. There have been some goofs like when items were fond to not be ready for testing or not allowed on testing.” An example of a need might be to purchase a MacBook Pro to manage all of the iPads for the school. Computers are currently out of her specific budget and will have to be acquired elsewhere. There is a group of computers that suggest items for the school, as far as technology is concerned. There is also a committee that meets regularly about technology. The final decision ultimately rests with the school administration and the staff at the county Central Office.

            This information led me to my next question. I asked Mrs. Brewer what technology she currently has in the media center. She said that the Hamlet Middle School media center has twenty student computers, two teacher computers, a SMARTboard, video cameras, nine Nooks, projectors, a poster maker, and a printer. The poster maker is for staff but the librarian uses it. Video cameras and spare projectors may be checked out. Computers are used to research, locate books with the Alexandria system, print student and teacher work, and general internet-based assignments. Mrs. Brewer said that, of all of that technology, the computers are the most used and the cameras are the least used. “All technology is used to incorporate the standards that are being taught in all classes,” she explained. This means that she tries to make all of the technology available that she possibly can. I wanted to know how often the media center’s technology is used. Brewer sighed and explained that the computer lab in the media center is on a flexible schedule, which means “the first to sign up, gets it.” There is another open computer lab in the school, but it’s only partially working, so the eighth grade teachers closest to it generally use it.

            Naturally, I then had questions about the support and management of all of this technology. I asked Mrs. Brewer who handles problems regarding technology. She said that teachers try to troubleshoot problems first, then the computer teachers or librarian tries to fix it. If neither teacher nor computer teacher nor librarian is successful, they have to submit a work order and get county personnel to come out to the school. “On site, we do the best we can, but we really have limited rights to fix any network issue. The technology staff – four members – does a good job, but they service the entire county,” she explained. I also wanted to know how she manages all of the technology in the library. She said that most equipment is inventoried, so it is managed through the library system. Teachers are allowed to check out equipment, and she keeps track of that through the system as well. My next question was about the process to remove obsolete technology. Brewer said, “If it’s not a fixed asset item [that’s worth over $500 at the time of purchase], the item can be thrown out. If it’s a fixed asset item, it must be retired and then is removed from inventory and auctioned.”

            My last few questions were all about the use of technology. I first asked whether technology is used effectively or is just for show. I wanted to know if it really enhanced lessons or if it was being used just because it is “supposed to be” used. She replied very courteously to her teachers at her school and simply said that it depends on the teacher as to whether or not it is used for show. She explained that technology is being used as one of the major methods of communicating information to students and she can’t imagine not using technology throughout most of the school day. My next question was whether or not technology has ever proved to be a hindrance or if she has ever seen technology go unused. She said that the Nooks that are in the library are rarely used. This is because “students want complete access to accounts to buy the books they want and we do not have that kind of funds.” There is another complaint with the Nooks: they do not allow internet access. “We were only allowed to order the simple touch Nooks. Our Nook Colors cannot be monitored, so we do not allow them to be checked out by students.” She went on to express that she feels like this is one of the situations mentioned earlier in the interview where they ordered something before really looking into how it would or could be used. They ended up being a waste of funding.

            To end the interview, I asked two more questions. The first was how the digitizing of material was affecting the future of the library as an institute. She laughed and said, “oh, I get this question all the time!” Brewer believes that there are people who will never give up their books. They are attached to the “touch, smell, and security of books.” The cost of digital material is quite high when compared to having a physical copy. There are other people who are ready to jump in and completely convert to all technology and no paper. “I still see the library as a brick and mortar building but transitioning to a more social meeting place to acquire and share information.” I loved this answer. Finally, I asked her to name three things that her library would have in a perfect world. She laughed, again, and said “mobile and flexible furniture, enough technology for every person in the school, and an unlimited budget.”

Analysis of Technology and the School Media Center

For class this week, we were required to interview a librarian about the role of technology in the media center or library. I decided to interview the media specialist at my home school - Hamlet Middle School.

There was a lot that I didn't know. I thought I was more knowledgable about the processes for using, managing, and removing technology than I really was. For example, I learned that technology can be thrown out. Yes, you read that right, thrown out. If it was worth less than $500 when it was purchased, it can just be "gotten rid of." However, if it's a fixed asset, it will be auctioned later. I had no idea that the school did technology auctions. Who buys old, obsolete technology??? Maybe that is just coming from a youngster who only wants new and usable stuff. 

I knew about all of the technology that we had in the media center - computers, Nooks, SMARTboard, projectors, cameras - but I didn't know how often it was being used. From what we discussed, it sounds like there is rarely someone in the library using the computers. This made me wonder how often I can push and get my class in there. If it's sitting there, not being used, I WANT IN! I fight over laptops upstairs, so if I can just travel to the media center, I'm game. I would be about three computers short for my biggest class, but I always have students who want to do their assignments on paper. It works out.

Something that bothers me about this interview was how to handle broken or malfunctioning technology. For the entire county, there are only four people who are equipped to do repairs.  Four. FOUR! This helps me understand the long wait when we submit a technological work order. For example, there are currently four laptops on the cart assigned to my team that do not work. I have tried to fix them as has the media specialist. Nothing can be done until they are reimaged, at the very least. The only people with those capabilities are required to do other orders for the whole county. If we are moving into a more technological age, shouldn't we have more people who have the ability to repair computer issues?

Budget is an issue, again. The school media center always gets the short end of the stick with the budget, I feel like. I remember from another class I've taken (one from the summer with Dr. Veltze) that the school library budget is supposed to be very large, but never is. $9000 for everything may sound like a lot of money, but it goes fast. Between weeding out old material and replacing it with something better, subscriptions to magazines and online services/databases, upkeep on technology and other equipment needed, etc. the budget is gone. Imagine the amazing things that the school media center could do if it was given budget that it could really work with.

I think that this interview really just served to frustrate me a little. I'm inspired as well, because I can see the potential for beautiful things to be done in the media center with technology, but I'm frustrated because the media center is so separate from everything else. I wish I knew how to explain it...