Blog Post 4: Reflection

The use of technology in the classroom and library have great benefits for the education of students. Library standards specifically state that technology should be used by the librarian to further student understanding and success. Technology is such a large part of the modern world that it cannot be left out of the education system without consequences. The 21^st Century Learner is surrounded by technology and must use it every day to be succeed, therefore learning using technology is a natural and obvious decision in the classroom. Librarians as teachers must aide students in finding resources and tools that will help them succeed. By using technology in their library’s, librarians engage students in their learning and equip them for their futures.

The AASL’s Standards for the 21^st Century Learner (p. 2) specifically states that “Technology skills are crucial for future employment needs.” Without these skills students are unable to succeed and navigate their environment. This is why it is important that technology be addressed in the classroom. In order to equip future citizens with the tools that they need to survive and thrive in the world, understanding and using technology must be a part of the learning process. While many may understand that an ability to use technology is essential to a 21st Century Learner, finding ways to implement the use of technology in education, can be difficult and require creativity that the librarian or teacher may not believe they possess.

Implementing technology in education requires creativity and collaboration. While students may work on projects face to face in the library, using collaborative applications, such as Google Docs, or blogging tools, can facilitate shared learning and ease group projects. The teacher or librarian must be a lifelong learner and collaborate with others in order to make effective use of technology in their classroom (Hamilton 2011). Other ways to include technology include Project Based Learning and allowing students to create, using online tools (McGrath 2015).While using technology in the classroom requires collaboration and innovation, it is well worth the effort, simply because students are more engaged in their learning and are gaining skills that they need for the future.

By using technology in the classroom, students gain a better understanding of tools that they will use in the real world and their future workplaces. They are also often more engaged in their learning which helps them succeed in the long run. Librarians and teachers who use technology in the classroom in innovative ways, that allow students to interact with material in a hands on a creative way, show their students how to responsibly interact with technology and influence them to become lifelong learners as they adapt to technological challenges and changes. 

References:

AASL’s Standards for the 21 Century Learner found at http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/guidelinesandstandards/learningstandards/AASL_LearningStandards.pdf

Hamilton, B. J. (2011). The School Librarian as Teacher: What kind of teacher are you?. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 34-40.

McGrath, K. G. (2015). SCHOOL LIBRARIES & INNOVATION. Knowledge Quest, 43(3), 54-61.

Blog Post 3: Technology Implementation Strategies

In her article Implementing Technology and Gaming Lessons in a School Library, Khalida Mashriqi describes the use of technology and gaming in her school library. She espouses that the use of technology and gaming are essential to a “librarian’s main responsibility… to promote the love of reading and learning” in his or her students (Mashriqi 2011, p. 26). While Mashriqi uses a number of different technologies in her library, one of the most focused on in this article was her use of an interactive whiteboard to engage her students in lessons and games.

            Although it takes time to build up technology resources in a library the effort is worth the engagement of students. Giving students the opportunity to interact with information during a lesson helps reinforce learning and important technological skills. One of the ways that Mashriqi engages students is through the use of an interactive whiteboard. Younger students who are still learning to read can work and be engaged by a project or game at the same time and collaborate more effectively. With older students Mashriqi uses the interactive white board to give lectures on “cyber-safety, how to avoid plagiarism, and how to do Boolean searching so that students can take advantage of search engines’ advanced features to narrow or expand searches” (Mashriqi 2011, p. 26). Mashriqi also takes advantage of the interactive whiteboard’s features to create games that her students can play that not only engage them, because of the competitiveness of the game, but “indirectly strengthens their testing skills” by utilizing multiple choice questions (Mashriqi 2011, p.27). Mashriqi also described her use of other technologies in her library lessons, including the student use of cameras to create commercials and public service announcement type videos. While all of the technologies that Mashriqi mentions in her article are interesting and have the merit of engaging students, the use of the interactive white board to create games and engage students is interesting and definitely something I would consider doing if given the proper funding.
            One of the possible problems that a librarian could run into is the expense of an interactive whiteboard. Interactive whiteboards are amazing tools and should be utilized more in schools, but they may be considered costly by certain school districts. While school funding may be an issue when the use of an interactive whiteboard is in question, the instructional strategies that Mashriqi describes, such as collaborative learning and games can be utilized without the use of an interactive whiteboard. Although the interactive whiteboard would certainly be the best technological method to complete the games and collaborative efforts that Mashriqi describes, other technologies, such as computers and projectors, could be utilized to achieve the same effect. I think that the use of games to promote and solidify learning is a good idea, and it is definitely something that I will do in my future library, whether I have an interactive whiteboard or not.
Reference:

Mashriqi, K. (2011). Implementing Technology and Gaming Lessons in a School Library. Knowledge Quest, 40 (1), 24-28.