The two most important things for me to achieve with this website were embedding the pedagogy of inquiry learning including the associated information literacy skills and; ensuring that the website would be accessible to the students in my current school setting. However, being efficient with limited time while ensuring students have access to the best resources and technologies to enhance their learning continue to be the prevailing issues for a teacher librarian (TL) (Gill, Redman & Wilson 2021, September 23).
Putting pedagogy before technology is important (Falloon, 2015). Thus, the homepage menu mimics the Information Search Process (ISP) while creating the first layer of scaffolding in my DLO. I also successfully integrated appropriate learning resources into the “Locating” step of the ISP process. Students in my current school setting are predominantly from language backgrounds other than English (LBOTE) and have below average literacy skills. Therefore, I took the time to create simple but visual buttons for students to navigate the website as this is the most important aspect of access (Chow & Morris, 2016). I also tried to be consistent with labelling and fonts and keep text chunks brief at all times (Pun, 2016). Overall, conforming to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 (WCAG 2.0) was not difficult thanks to accessibility plugins that identify accessibility issues but I am yet to learn how to fix all of them. It would also be important to seek feedback from students on the website’s accessibility through observation and surveys and then modify the website accordingly (Chow & Morris, 2016).
In the primary setting this topic would be completed in the classroom. As such, this type of DLO assists the classroom teacher, providing a scaffold that they can use to create their program and plan explicit teaching lessons as needed (Stevens, 2019). For this reason, the website is currently incomplete as it requires the input of the classroom teacher. In fact, many inclusions in this website should have been the result of collaborative planning or even the sole responsibility of the classroom teacher, an important consideration when time is limited (Gill, Redman & Wilson 2021, September 23). Finding appropriate resources also continues to be time consuming with well known repositories such as Scootle and ABC Education not kept up to date. TLs must resort to using search engines or consider subscribing to commercial library guides such as Learnpath (Redman, 2021, September 22, Wilson, 2021, September 23 & Bennett, 2021, September 20).
This, then, is the role of the TL in the 21st century. To evaluate resources including technology tools, have some experience and knowledge of them and most importantly, be given the time to show both students and teachers how they can be used to enhance their learning. O’Connell (2011) agrees with this notion but assigned it to all educators. I think this is an area for TLs to take the lead. I especially want to create better opportunities for stage 3 students to experience social media type technologies in a safe space that demonstrates how social media can be used to enhance learning and collaboration (Pangrazio & Lourdes, 2020). I do need to brand my work better for the purpose of advocating for more time and educating both students and staff on how TLs support and enhance learning (Gilbert, 2019 and Bonnano, 2011).
Reference
Bonanno , K. (2015). A profession at the tipping point (revisited). Access, 29(1), 14-21. http://kb.com.au/content/uploads/2015/03/profession-at-tipping-point2.pdf
Costello, C. (n.d.). Using ICT and web tool in the classroom. Virtual Library. https://www.virtuallibrary.info/using-ict-and-web-tools.html
Chow, A. S. & Morris, R. J. (2016, June 10). How usable are school library websites? A random sample from all fifty states. The Journal of Research on Libraries and Young Adults. http://www.yalsa.ala.org/jrlya/2016/06/how-usable-are-school-library-websites-a-random-sample-from-all-fifty-states/
Falloon, (2015). Digital learning objects and the development of students’ thinking skills. In Wright, N. & Forbes, D. (Eds.). Digital smarts, (pp41-65). Wilf Malcolm Instute of Educational Research.https://research-management.mq.edu.au/ws/portalfiles/portal/22400739/20706583.pdf
Pangrazio, L. & Lourdes, C. (2020). Beyond cybersafety: The need to develop social media literacies in pre-teens, Digital Education Review, Number 37. https://doi.org/10.1344/der.2020.37.49-63
Pun, K. (2016, September 2). Dos and don’ts on designing for accessibility. Gov UK. https://accessibility.blog.gov.uk/2016/09/02/dos-and-donts-on-designing-for-accessibility/
Stevens, R. (2019). In defence of inquiry-based pedagogies. Scan, 38(3). https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/professional-learning/scan/past-issues/vol-38–2019/in-defence-of-inquiry-based-pedagogies
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