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Final Reflection

As I reflect on this semester, I am amazed by all of the digital technology tools I have learned. Some of the tools, like Facebook, Twitter, and screencasting I was already familiar with, while other tools were completely new to me. I have enjoyed expanding my technological knowledge and getting to explore new tech tools. There were several tech tools that excited me the most. Flipagram was completely new to me and it was exciting to see how easily videos could be made using video clips, pictures, and text. Animoto was also exciting for the same reasons. Students will easily be able to make book trailers/recommendations using both of these programs. Making cartoons and comics with ToonDoo and Pixton was also very exciting to me and something that I think would be exciting to students and teachers as well. Graphic novels and comics are all the rage with students right now and what a great way to connect learning to student interests with creating a cartoon/comic. Both websites were ea...
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Podcasts

Everyone likes to learn in their own way and has their own learning style. As educators, we have known this for years and often do inventories with our students to see what learning style they are so we can best teach them. Are they a visual learner? Audio? Kinesthetic? Podcasts have exploded in popularity, along with audiobooks, as a way for audio learners to listen to get information. In an interview with School Library Journal, librarian Marcie Atkins explains that, "it gives students an opportunity to learn information in other ways besides just reading." In today's blog we will explore three different sites for podcasts: Soundcloud, Podomatic, and Podbean. Soundcloud: Soundcloud was very easy to use. To sign up, you can either put in your email address, use Facebook, or my favorite Google. I like the ease of signing up for websites with Google and then I never have to worry about remembering passwords on my home computer. After sign up, creating my first podcast w...
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Cartoons & Comics

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Another quick and easy way to grab your students' attention in the library or classroom is with a cartoon or comic! While cartoons and comics have always been popular, they have started to become more accepted as literature by librarians everywhere with the rise of graphic novels. Students enjoy reading cartoons and comics and with the three sites featured below, they can easily make one as well. This is a great outlet for student self expression and a way for teachers to assess learning in a way that students will enjoy! Toon Doo Toon Doo is the first comic creating website I tried. It is easy to create an account, simply needing a username, password, and email address. Creating my first comic was very simple. I was able to choose the layout I wanted and from there I could choose all the additional features. I was able to search for backgrounds and props for my comic. I will say that the results were limited and I found that I struggled at times finding exactly what I was look...
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Videos & QR Codes in the Library

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Videos and QR codes are more tools that are beneficial for students and teachers in the library. YouTube provides endless videos that students and teachers can search for to learn about a specific topic and get directions how to do a task. Animoto allows users to easily create videos from photos and video clips. QR codes give students access to content with a quick scan. YouTube YouTube is a great tool for any educator, including librarians. The videos on YouTube can be helpful to librarians in many ways. There are videos that librarians can use to show students about topics they are learning about in the classroom. There are procedural, how-to videos that students can be shown to learn how to do a task. YouTube is also beneficial for librarians to access other library channels to learn how to do things in the libraries as well as inspiration for ideas. Here are some great videos for students from library channels on YouTube. Calypso Gilstrap Channel 1. Most helpful video for...
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Screencasts, Instragram, and Flipagram

Screencasts, Instagram, and Flipagram are three more technological tools that can be utilized in the classroom and library setting. While screencasts have been used by educators for some time, Instagram and Flipagram are typically thought of social media tools for teens and young adults. I will admit, before this blog I would have never thought to use either of these tools in my library or classroom and I'm glad to have had a change of heart. Screencasts are a great tool for giving audio directions while your audience can see the computer screen and can see exactly what you are clicking and doing on that screen. Screencasts allow you to be "live" with the audience, as if you were giving a presentation in front of them that they were following. Screencast-o-matic is one of many screencast tools that can be used. There is a free version, which limits the amount of recording time, but even with that limit there is plenty of time to record a long enough video to keep your s...
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Infographics

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Infographics are a way to visually represent data from research or surveys electronically. We have been asking our students to create charts, graphs, and diagrams for years. With an infographic, we are asking our students to create the same visual representation, just using technology instead of paper and pencil. Infographics make it easier for readers to view and understand data. The visuals give readers a better understanding of what they have read and give their eyes a break from a large expanse of text. Infographics are great for our students to view as well. Diana Laufenberg, in her interview with Katherine Schulten, explains that "infographics work in the classroom because they grab students and allow an entry point to learning. They sum up pages and pages, even chapters, of information that would take a reader hours to process," (Schulten, 2010). There are many websites and applications that can be used to create infographics. Easel.ly, Infogr.am, and Piktochart are ...
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Facebook and Twitter

Social media is a large constant in all of our lives, as adults and especially as teens. We spend countless hours of our week posting information about of lives and our interests, as well as interacting with our friends and families through social media. According to Adelstein and Barbour, 2015, "95% of all teens between the ages of 12 and 17 are online". We've always known as educators, and Adelstein and Barbour reinforce, that in order to really get students to understand their learning, we must tie it to their interests. Two of the biggest players in the social media outfield are Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has been around for a while now and has gradually changed from a site for college students to connect on to being open to anyone around the world. Artists, actors, athletes, and every day people of all ages connect and post on Facebook daily. But what about using Facebook with a school library? I began looking for school libraries with a Facebook page and found...
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