Reflecting on Digital Technology

Wow! What a semester to be enrolled in Digital Technology for the School Librarian. To have our semester end abruptly due to the shutdown of campuses and initiate remote learning for our students, this was certainly a class with benefits! Each module offered material and information that was immediately applicable to share with students and teachers. There were many things that our district already had in place but to be able to offer additional resources and opportunities to integrate with those platforms was extremely valuable.

THE Blog:

I actually created this blog years ago to show the work for my students when I was teaching ELA. However, I hadn't really updated it until I began the program at SHSU and it was required for a few of the courses. This is my statement of commitment to update once or twice per month as I move into my third year as a school librarian. There are so many technology platforms to review, books to encourage readers, and library information to send to staff, that I think the blog would be a great place to keep it. Blogger has been really easy to use and as I dig more into the settings, I know that I will find out better ways to use it and personalize the pages.

Blog Readers:

This was entirely new for me! Blog readers and subscribing to blogs with Feedly. Out of the reviewed blog readers, this is the one that I found most user friendly. I see it as a "Pinterest Board" of blogs. Once you find the blogs you want to read, you subscribe and only have to visit the blog reader instead of having multiple emails or tabs updating when a blog has been posted.

Facebook, Instagram & Twitter:

Not that I'm happy to say it, but this was the most comfortable area for me. I spend entirely too much time on social media!!! However, using these platforms to advocate for the school library made me feel like I was working instead of wasting time. I think I will always favor Twitter over all other social media platforms but it was good to create an Instagram and Facebook for the library to reach the diverse backgrounds of the learning community.

Infographics:

This is another application that I have some experience but certainly not an expert. I really enjoy making infographics and find them easy to read. I also think they are great visual tools for students. They take more time than some of the other applications but I think they have value to meet the needs of diverse learners. I think they look "easy" to read because of the variety of elements and design but they pack a big punch when it comes to delivering information. I personally like to use Canva but there are so many options out there that are user-friendly.

Screencasts:

I started creating screencasts last August when our campus started limiting staff meetings. I began creating short videos for PD that our teachers could refer to when needing help with our grading program, teacher website creation, and other technology platforms. I created a YouTube channel to house these videos so teachers could easily find them and use them when needed. When we didn't return to the campus after spring break, screencasts became the area that I spent the majority of my time. I created them for students to see how to check out ebooks and use the online databases and I made them for teachers to understand how to work with our online learning platform, Canvas. I recently listened to a podcast about how to make screencasts better, and will begin implementing those strategies for future videos.

YouTube, Animoto, and QR Codes:

I am familiar with YouTube and have a channel that I upload for BBJH Technology but I need to spend some time learning how to edit those videos. I LOVE Animoto for creating book trailers--I really want to make more for the summer to encourage my readers. And, QR codes are a great tool to get information into the hands of my teachers and students quickly. I like that you can scan the code and it is saved to your device so that you can return to review the material. Such an easy concept!

Cartoons & Comics:

I have to say that this was probably the MOST FUN! After looking through all of the sites and playing with the features, I immediately posted the websites and information to my Canvas page for my students to begin creating. What a great way to show creativity and share knowledge. I have always liked Storyboard but thought that the other sites were great. I ended up purchasing a yearly subscription to Fotojet because of the picture collages they make. I look forward to spending more time here and will definitely incorporate it with updating this blog!! 

Podcasts:

Podcasts have been great for me as a listener and I've only dabbled a couple of times on making them. They are still an area that is challenging but I am committed to keeping up with finding and creating interesting podcasts that will engage my learning community. I thought that Podbean was the most user-friendly for a beginner but would really like to learn more about Garage Band and all of the features available.

Storyboard Answers:

Using Storyboard, I answer some of the questions to sum up my experiences with Digital Technology! (I meant to supersize it so it can go off the page because the text was too small to read.)

And if you are a speed-reader...enjoy this fun download of the Storyboard story!😏

It has been quite the semester of new experiences and unknowns...but with those challenges I have acquired a new perspective and growth in digital technology. I still have a few more weeks with my students to implement these applications and learn from my community.