This month I have been reading about literature in the digital environment and it has got me rather motivated about some possibilities I have not explored before. I had some very excited “ah-ha” moments of a new direction our library can take in searching for and curating digital resources for our staff and students. Whilst our school campus is closed due to COVID-19 my team have been using it as an opportunity to promote many of the digital resources that we subscribe to including fiction (BorrowBox, Tumblebooks and EPIC!) and non-fiction (Pebble Go, Britannica and Press Reader, as well as a number of databases for the Senior school students). This has gone really well with statistics for all of our digital resources increasing. I wrote more about my findings with digital books in this post and the argument about print v’s digital rages on. We had Wheelers eBooks for two years and changed to BorrowBox one year ago because we wanted to have excellent audiobooks as well. The audiobooks have been popular and are a great resource for reluctant readers and students with additional learning needs. We need to do a lot of advocacy to ensure they are used but this results in increased use. However, it is the digital resources that go beyond just an eBook or audiobook which are my new discoveries and will research more in the months to come.
O’Connell, Bales & Mitchell (2015) describe enhanced eBooks which include;
- Interactive storybooks which have a linear story structure and have features such as oral reading, videos and possibly games and related activities.
- Hypertext and interactive eBooks which can be fiction or nonfiction and may include images, maps, audio and video elements and links to related websites. This eliterature collection includes some examples.
- Transmedia books which are non linear stories that encourage active participation through connected resources. One incredible book which uses augmented reality is Between Two Worlds.
Yokota &Teal (2014) discuss this recent trend of digital stories having the capability to be interactive story telling experiences that are film-like creations. All of these resources can use sound, images and animation to enhance a story and these elements bring an added atmospheric element than a traditional book format. I feel like I have just discovered the tip of the iceberg and know that weeding through to find the quality resources will take time. In my library our OPAC is Destiny and Destiny Discover has the capability to create collections of suggested resource lists. My goal now is to add some quality examples into our collections and then promote them to our patrons.
As well as the two examples I have linked above I will round up with a few good examples of resources that I have found and will add more as I discover them. Many of these resources are for older students.
References
Adam Savage’s Tested. (2016, October 26). Between worlds: Augmented reality in storytelling [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/YO1E7DBuqtc
O’Connell, J., Bales, J., & Mitchell, P. (2015). [R]Evolution in reading cultures: 2020 vision for school libraries. The Australian Library Journal, 64(3), 194-208. doi: 10.1080/00049670.2015.1048043
SBS Online. (2015, April 29). The Boat [Video file]. Retrieved from http://www.sbs.com.au/theboat/
Yokota, J, & Teal, W.H. (2014). Picture books and the digital world; educators making informed choices (67). Retrieved from The Inside Track website: https://ila-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/doi/full/10.1002/trtr.1262
Harris discusses how we live in an era of “information saturation” and that “the proliferation of low-quality content is the latest, possibly greatest threat to student researchers” (2011, p.31). This has implications for teachers and teacher librarians (TLs) when guiding students through the research process. Lederman (2016 ) discusses the importance of educating students about the three layers of the web and teaching them how to access the second layer, the deep web, which includes databases and subscriptions to online encyclopedias and reliable research information. I have seen many versions of this image below and like using it with staff and students.
Lederman (2016)
My practice has focussed on directing students to the deep web, with our school subscriptions, and I blogged about this in Physical and digital formats for reference material. I work with staff to try and embed the use of our online encyclopaedias Britannica and Pebble Go and we are currently trialling BrainPop.
Despite this direction, most students (and teachers!) will continue to default to Google when searching and therefore it is very important to teach them how to use google well. This includes teaching them how to use tools to modify the date content was published and to use advanced settings. They need to be taught how to use keywords, how to do advanced searches, how to skim and scan and how to identify bias. This will ensure they are not just using the web superficially. Many will also continue to use Wikipedia as a reference source. I wrote about my shift in thinking regarding this in To Wiki or to not Wiki?
It is also important to introduce staff and students to a web evaluation tool such as the ones I included in the blog, Reading V’s Understanding. Through this subject I also learnt that there is no such thing as the wrong search engine, it just may be that one search engine is better for a particular search.
In ETL501 I have found some interesting tools that I wanted to share here as a record of places to come back to.
Goog A Who is useful to compare results from two different search engines.
Duck Duck Go is a safer search engine without advertising.
Sweet Search is a search engine for students created by librarians.
Finding Dulcinea is a search which only searches and finds high quality and trustworthy websites.
And that is just the very tip of the iceberg!
References
Harris, F.J. (2011). The school librarian as information specialist: A vibrant species. Knowledge Quest, 39(5), 28-32. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=61819926&site=ehost-live
Lederman, A. (2016). Google just gets to the tip of the iceberg: How to get to the gems in the deep web. Refer, 32(2), 16-20. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/docview/1803449019?accountid=10344
Welcome to my brand new blog at Charles Sturt University Thinkspace. After all of these years why have I finally jumped into the Blogging World? Well, the simple answer is that it is my homework as part of a Masters Degree in Teacher Librarianship, but the good news is, that unlike homework that I had to do when I completed my first education degree, I am actually excited about this homework. So let’s go back a step, Masters Degree, teacher librarianship? What? Where? When? How? Why??????
My name is Sarah Mounsey and I am a mum, a primary school teacher and a children’s author. I have only just gone back to full time teaching a year ago after being a stay at home Mum for the past eight years. It was a wonderful eight years of spending precious time with my three boys and I also managed to do some part time teaching and published three children’s picture books in the Paw Prints series, which had been a dream of mine for as long as I could remember. My publishing journey led me to visit lots of schools for author talks in Singapore, Malaysia and Australia. During this time I met some truly wonderful teacher librarians, who I loved discussing favourite books and authors with, and they also opened my eyes to show we what a contemporary library should be, and how the role of a teacher librarian has changed. I have also closely followed the blog of Megan Daley, an amazing Teacher Librarian from Brisbane. It made me think that it was something I would like to explore at some point and I am delighted that I will become the Junior School Teacher Librarian (TL) at my current school in August. I believe this will be the beginning of an exciting new chapter for me. I have thoroughly enjoyed being back in the classroom again, but I am excited that as the TL I will be involved in teaching 30 classes every week. I think the management and curriculum roles that I had in my previous school in UK will also help.
I have had lots of amusing reactions when I have told people that I will become the TL at my school and especially when I have told them that I will be starting my Masters of Education in Teacher Librarianship to commence this role. I think many people are still stuck with the stereotype of what they think a librarian should look and behave like. Picture someone VERY old, with hair pulled back into a tight bun, specs on the end of their nose and being very busy stamping due dates in books and saying ‘shhhh’, as regularly and loudly as possible! Why would you need to go to University to learn this role?
The great news is that school libraries are not meant to be quiet places anymore. They should be busy places, at the heart and soul of the school where people should be researching, evaluating, collaborating, inquiring, using various forms of technology, playing chess and other games and reading typing or writing. The TL should be working with all of the teachers and children in the school to inspire and enhance their learning experiences, whether it be to help develop research skills, or sharing useful online information, or developing the reading collection to reflect the changing curriculum. AND of course it should still be a place where students and teachers like to come TO READ FOR PLEASURE and to be introduced to fabulous new authors and new books that will stay with them for life.
Can you tell that I am a little bit excited by this? Well I sure am! I LOVE teaching, I LOVE children’s literature and I LOVE writing for children. I am also a little nervous as I know there is so much I have to learn. Technology is constantly changing and children need to be taught how to use it effectively to develop their ideas and knowledge. I also will be learning a lot about how to do this because learning on-line through distance education is new to me. Will I write children’s books again? Absolutely! I could not stop if I tried! I have so many ideas swimming around in my head and drafts in notebooks and on my computer. It is just the simple matter of T-I-M-E. Three gorgeous little boys, a full time TL job and completing my Masters Degree means that I do not think there will be a great deal of free time for such fun. So for now I will be reading, reading and reading, which for those of you who know me well, know that it will be no hardship. I will be reading hundreds of children’s books (YIPPEE!), that I will be able to recommend to all of the children at school and I will be reading dozens of journal articles for this degree so that I can become a teacher librarian who does not sit at the circulation desk and just check out books but instead flies around the school and library sharing all that I learn about research skills, information literacy and, of course, reading for pleasure. Most of these blog posts will be reflecting on articles that I read and with more of an academic focus, but I have certainly enjoyed writing this one. I will finish this first blog on my post with one of my favourite quotes from a legend in the world of children’s literature.
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Image retrieved from http://www.librarygirl.net/2013/09/penny-for-your-thoughts-whats-really-on.html