Category Archives: ETL501

Reflecting on the use of technology in learning environments

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I had previously considered the various ways information presented itself (Piper, 2022b) but this subject has encouraged me to consider the benefits of accessing, experiencing and utilising digital information for many purposes. Critical information literacy is at the forefront of learning for the 21st century learner, and TLs are best placed to support change and growth in digital literacy (Neely-Sardon & Tignor, 2018).

I find myself uniquely positioned in the school community for: curriculum needs; information literacy skills; knowledge; and expertise in the use of digital tools. As information experts in a growing digital world, TLs increasingly create resources such as learning objects (LOs) to guide users in the digital environment. Digital LOs add value to learning outcomes when critical thinking strategies are explained in interactive learning experiences (Goodset, 2020).

The opportunity to create a digital research guide, prompted me to consider factors such as web page layout, content accessibility, and content relevance (Cousins, 2014). The creation of a research guide for a group of Stage 2 students highlighted some challenges such as the variety of resources available and readability evaluations. Resources available online were often repetitive and presented in similar formats such as videos. Critical selection criteria were applied to ensure the resources were inclusive of the needs of my students. Students use and learn from research guides in different ways, so these resources needed to provide equitable access through imagery, text, audio, and opportunity for extension (Alverson et al., 2015).

In discussion forum 2.2, it was observed that some resources recommended for certain age groups were identified as being of a much higher readability level when  analysed by readability tools (Piper, 2022, August 1). Whilst the readability tool is helpful in recommending reading levels, our professional judgement as TLs is equally important when selecting resources for learning experiences.

Search engines are often utilised in information literacy programs. A comparison of search engines identified advantages and disadvantages in layout for the 21st century learner. I highlighted the benefits of having less ads presented when researching for specific content and discussed the reliability of some search engines over others (Piper, 2022d). Similar thoughts were shared with fellow students having identified a lack of consistency amongst many search engines and the need to promote one over the other when it came to teaching our younger students Piper, 2022, October 2).

Identifying these differences in search engines made me reflect on the digital tools I use in teaching. The use of specific digital learning tools during the pandemic made me realise that I hadn’t been critically applying selection criteria for using diverse tools (Piper, 2022c). Carrington’s Padagogy Wheel presents a selection of tools available for critical information learning and how they can support different domains of pedagogical thinking (Carrington, 2016). This model spurs me to consider how I can change and diversify the digital tools I use in my teaching practice to best support my 21st century learners.

My current library space demonstrates many limitations, not least because of the lack of digital resources and tools physically available (Piper, 2022a). As the TL within my school, I know that I must maintain current knowledge of digital tools and resources. Embedding future-focused pedagogy and tools in my dynamic library environment will ensure that my students remain critical users and creators of information.

 

References

Alverson, J., Schwartz, J., Brunskill, A., & Lefager, J. (2015). Creating audience and environment-friendly research guides: Findings from a user study (pp. 125–133). https://alair.ala.org/bitstream/handle/11213/17841/CreatingAudienceEnvironmentFriendlyResearchGuide.pdf?sequence=1

Carrington, A. (2016, June 20). The Padagogy Wheel. Education Technology Solutions; Interactive Media Group PTY LTD. https://educationtechnologysolutions.com/2016/06/padagogy-wheel/

Cousins, C. (2014, November 24). Website design for kids: Tips and advice. Design Shack. https://designshack.net/articles/graphics/website-design-for-kids-tips-and-advice/#

Goodsett, M. (2020). Best practices for teaching and assessing critical thinking in information literacy online learning objects. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 46(5), 102163. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102163

Neely-Sardon, A., & Tignor, M. (2018). Focus on the facts: A news and information literacy instructional program. The Reference Librarian, 59(3), 108–121. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2018.1468849

Piper, J. (2022a, August 1). Making the most of my school library space. Lines of Thought: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2022/08/01/making-the-most-of-my-school-library-space/

Piper, J. (2022b, August 1). The dynamic information environment. Lines of Thoughts: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2022/08/01/the-dynamic-information-environment/

Piper, J. (2022c, October 2). Exploring the use of digital tools in the learning environment. Lines of Thoughts: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2022/10/02/exploring-the-use-of-digital-tools-in-the-learning-environment/

Piper, J. (2022d, October 2). Using search engines well. Lines of Thoughts: Reflections of a Teacher Librarian. https://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/jennyp/2022/10/02/using-search-engines-well/

Utilising learning objects

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Prior to this course, I hadn’t really considered the TL as a publisher of resources. As TLs providing support for students and teachers, particularly in the information field, it is no surprise to learn that TLs are indeed publishers of resources such as Learning Objects (LO).

LOs offer unique opportunities to inform and guide both students and teachers, in the learning of a specific task (Memorial University, 2016). Providing digital LOs allow users to access these resources outside of school, or without the presence of a TL. For teachers, the flexibility of digital LOs means they can edit copies of LOs to suit their specific teaching task and to meet the needs of identified students.

As a TL, the creation and publication of LOs for my school clientele, opens up the opportunity to utilise specific resources within my school’s library collection that will support the school’s teaching and learning programs. The creation of templates allow the flexibility of creating multiple online resources addressing specific topic requirements in a very short space of time. As we all know, time is valuable and precious.

When I have taught my Stage 3 (yrs 5 and 6) students content that has required notetaking, I have often struggled with providing a user friendly tool that can be accessed repeatedly as their need arises. The idea of creating an LO for this specific task, is inspirational. Reading Dr Claire Brown’s article on effective note-taking has prompted me to reflect and think about how I can improve my services as TL for my students.

Becoming confident creators of LOs for the benefit of our library clientele, ensures that library users will value the creation of digital resources that can be applied to various aspects of teaching and learning.

 

References

Brown, Dr. C. (2015, May 21). What’s the best, most effective way to take notes? The Conversation.
https://theconversation.com/whats-the-best-most-effective-way-to-take-notes-41961

Memorial University. (2016, April 18). What are Learning Objects? Instruct­ional Resources: Resources
for Instructors to Use When Planning, Creating, Teaching, and Assessing.
https://blog.citl.mun.ca/instructionalresources/what-are-learning-objects/#

Exploring the use of digital tools in the learning environment

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When I reflect on the changing digital environments I am seeing in my school and beyond, I am challenged by the three questions mentioned in my reading modules:

  • Why am I using the tool?
  • What are the students learning when using the tool?
  • How will I know what they have learnt (assessment)?

To date, this course has really challenged my preconceptions of the role of TLs and how we certainly are the information experts and should be at the forefront of digital knowledge and change that we then share with and teach to our school communities.

The recent years of COVID-19 and its subsequent lockdowns, meant that teachers and students alike had to embrace learning through digital means. It was my first foray into really using Google products such as forms, docs and Google Classroom as teaching tools. At the time, I didn’t have much of a choice in using these tools. It was what the school was currently using, other teachers were somewhat familiar with these products, and so we teamed together to create resources and learning means for our students.

The Pedagogy wheel prompts me to critically reflect and consider the usefullness and potential limitations of the few digital tools I do use in teaching. It is clear that digital tools are becoming the norm in the learning environment. It is part of our everyday environment, and increasingly being a requirement of career skills. On this note, I feel it is my role to ensure I am equipped with knowledge and expertise to expose and guide my students to useful and diverse technological tools for diverse learning. The challenge here is: how do I keep up to date with changes in the use of future-focused learning tools? By participating in forums, and reading material distributed by educational authorities, such as Technology 4 Learning, I can ensure that I am exposed to new material, new tools, and new thoughts in teaching. By actively participating in these future-focused discussions, and practising the use of these teaching tools, I can only hope that my skills and knowledge as a technology user and teacher will improve. Advocating for diversity in the use of technological learning tools, and sharing my expertise to support school staff and students, will no doubt strengthen digital citizenship and information literacy.

Using search engines well

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My role as TL supports the teaching of information literacy. Certainly for my mid and upper primary students, the use of search engines for researching is going to be a common practice. Google has been the go to for most of these researches, but Module 3 on ‘Search Engines’, has reminded me of other search engines which I have used in the past. It made me question why I don’t use these any more.

Previous search engines I have been familiar with are Dogpile and Yahooligans. Sadly, Yahooligans no longer exists however I do have fond memories of it being an accessible site to young students. Instead we are left with Yahoo, a search engine not too disimilar to Google in appearance. An activity in Module 3 encouraged me to compare two search engines and reflect on key differences. A quick comparison of Dogpile and Yahoo demonstrated some the differences that I consider to be important in my potential recommendation and use of search engines in classroom scenarios.

Using the same key search terms for both practices, I found that Dogpile provided a list of ad related coverage, followed by alternate search terms to try, then finally, the required list of potentially useful resources for research purposes. Contrastingly, Yahoo provided the list of search results straight away. It was interesting to note that the results were ultimately the same, but the key difference was in the layout and presentation of results. As a TL, I am drawn to using Yahoo as a suitable and student friendly search engine to avoid unnecessary distractions in learning. When teaching time is limited and precious, it is important that TLs make the most of the best and most relevant resources for our student engagement, understanding and learning.

Evaluating the usefullness of digital resources

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When I consider the resources I use in my school library for teaching purposes, at the forefront of my mind is the usefullness and accessibility of the resource to my students. In my current TL role, I am teaching students from K-6. The main aim of my program has been information literacy that supports other KLA’s such as history and geography. My focus then has been teaching the beginnings of researching and resource analysis from years 3 and up. As such, when I plan to share a resource, in particular a digital resource, I critically analyse the resource to determine its usefullness and applicability to the task at hand. But what about students? How do they analyse resources with a level of understanding that is needed to assess resources? Using CRAAP as an analytical tool, has been helpful but it seems to have its drawbacks.

Teaching CRAAP has had mixed results. Students get stuck using the analysis well and often forget to use this tool the following year in subsequent research activities. It has made me question, is my teaching lacking clarity? is it a lack of retention on the students behalf? or is it simply that the tool is too complex for their level of understanding to apply successfully? More than likely it is a combination of all. And I am willing to embrace different modes of analysis to improve my teaching and student learning.

Too often fantastic books are left on the shelves in the library, in favour of easily accessible online resources. After all, give a child a laptop or an ipad and away they go, right? Wrong. Students need to be given the tactile opportunity to explore texts, especially non-fiction texts. My observation of my students shows me that unless they are strongly encouraged to use and understand the layout of non-fictional texts, navigating a website or digital resource well,  will be challenging, regardless of their age. Using CRAAP has made my students more aware of the currency, reliability, accuracy and authority of resources, rather than a resource for the sake of giving/ providing information. However, there are still challenges with teaching the concept of bias when we look at the P element being Purpose.

Kay Oddone’s video on CRAAP versus SIFT shows a great example of how a website can pass the CRAAP test fairly well, but have the reliability of information challenged in another resource, such as a video. As a TL, it has made me question whether teaching critical analysis of resources can be better performed by encouraging the use of SIFT. I really like the idea of students stopping before clicking on any hyperlinks on any web source, to really think critically about the resource. Perhaps this is the tool missing from my teaching program. By implementing a tool such as SIFT, I hope that the idea of bias will be better understood and critically applied and evaluated in student learning.

Making the most of my school library space

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My previous post discussed aspects of creating a dynamic information environment. I mostly referred to digital tools and digitised information. I mentioned that information comes in all forms and modes. Making the most of a library space, whether it be a school or public library, considers: the physical space; budget constraints; diverse needs of the library’s clients; and the management skills and expertise of the TL and public librarian.

My small school library is located in an older style building where two classrooms have been combined to make one larger space. It is restrictive with old fashioned window placements, two standard sized external doors, one internal door and two nib walls and a huge router in one corner, and an interactive board at one end, but there are positives! I absolutely love my long wooden deck/ verandah that receives northern sunshine on these winter days. When the sun shines, reading moves outside much to the joy of my students!

I am lucky enough to be currently making some significant changes within my library in terms of furniture placements, creating spaces for students to retreat or group work and the use of flexible furnishings. It’s not perfect, but changing my fiction and non fiction shelves means that my students can now reach books on the top shelf more easily. These shelves are also on wheels allowing me to change things around if I need/ want to. We are on a tight budget so some of these items were purchased like new but second hand saving some precious dollars. We are still working on improving acoustics and display opportunities by getting quotes for pin boards and also custom sized white boards in different areas of the library for flexible working/ learning opportunities.

I’d love more wall space for displays or interactive stations, such as Lego walls or a makerspace of sorts, to increase student engagement in problem solving activities. I don’t have any technology for students to use aside from a kiosk, but students do have access to ipads and/ or laptops for researching and the like. This, however, requires planning and reminders to students and class teachers to bring these devices from classrooms when they have their library session. We have a seperate technology room which can be used provided I book it in for library time. But in short, ready access to technology within the library would be a bonus. Another change that I am slowly working through, is culling old and severely outdated books. By ensuring my resources are current, relevant and accessible to my students, I am creating much needed valuable space on shelves and also creating a sense of light and space.

There are so many things that could be done in my library space with an limitless budget, but I am finding any changes I make are made with my students in mind. I am ever conscious of the fact that despite saying it is ‘my library’, it is very much my students’ library. Changes made in any library must consider the needs of its clients. So far, the small changes I have made in my library have been welcomed and praised by my students. I can only hope that further changes result in improvements for the benefit of my school community.

The dynamic information environment

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When I think of the dynamic information environment, I immediately think of information and how people access different types of information. As a TL, I reflect on the ways my students access information for learning and investigative purposes and how I guide their learning to help them build research skills.

My library space is limited when it comes to digital access and so my programming requires forward planning and liasing with fellow staff to book and secure access to laptops and ipads. My students thus spend the infant years understanding, learning and practising how non-fictional books are used and accessed. These skills are used and further refined from year 3 onwards, combining with digital research. It would be great to imagine my library space as one that creatively caters to the diverse learning needs of my students at the click of my fingers, however, this is not a reality and I know this scenario is repeated in many other schools. My school is fortunate to have a tech teacher who guides and supports tech and science utilising the tech room. Here, students use a range of digital tools applicable to their learning. Tools such as Book Creator, Word Clouds, Minecraft, Google Earth, and more, are all used to engage our diverse students to demonstrate learning success for a variety of outcomes and across KLA’s.

So, can I consider my library space a dynamic information environment? In a way, yes. At first glance it may not seem as such, considering the lack of obvious digital tools available for student use. But, we must remind ourselves that information is found in all sorts of places. Books, online, posters, magazines, signs, toys, and other tactile materials. I encourage my students to seek information from environmental print, provide opportunities to tell and retell stories using lego story boxes, rotate displays and always promote books about particular topics, authors or the latest trends. It is all too easy, in this digital age, to forget there was a time before ‘the internet’. Increasingly TLs and educators are striving to self educate on the latest digital tool or online information access point. While this is all well, I think there is still value in teaching students information access via books. Our diverse society means there is still inequitable access to digital tools by families, and we need to ensure these members of our communities  have the opportunity to develop the skills required to access information. As TLs, it is thus imperative that we maintain a diverse information environment, ensuring that we capture the curiosity of all of our students, staff and school community.