Selecting format: hardcopy or ebook

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Myrberg and Wiberg (2015) suggest that ebooks and print books both have advantages and disadvantages depending on the task, the preferences of the user and the technology used to access them. They suggest that readers who prefer print books, once they get used to ebooks, use them just as efficiently, but also suggest that ebooks that are born digital – ie were designed for electronic use and take advantage of the various tools such as integrated dictionaries, placing questions next to the relevant parts of the text etc, are superior to ebooks that have been converted from print to digital media with minimal changes or utilisation of the ereader’s facilities. Meanwhile, Du Temple (2020) suggests that some of the key advantages of ebooks are the anonymity of the reader – they can be accessed privately without peers or teachers knowing what has been selected – and their accessibility – they can be accessed at any time of the day or night and in almost any location. This, she argues means that teens, particularly, are more likely to explore and seek help for social-emotional or mental health issues they may be dealing with. Gray (2017) raises issues around equity of access – ebooks are only available to students whose families can afford to buy them an ereader or tablet/phone. He also discusses the problem of cross-platform access – some resources are only available on certain devices. This problem has largely been solved by apps such as Libby which allow readers to access materials from subscribed libraries regardless of the platform they use.  There are also issues around whether the library is spending its limited budget acquiring titles permanently in the collection, or just providing access for a time. What happens if that access is no longer able to be included in the annual budget?

What, then, are the implications for my primary school library? Currently my library does not provide access to any ebooks or audiobooks at all. Should they be added to the collection and in what form? I believe that both hard and softcopies are useful to different people in different ways and the ideal scenario would see all titles available in both formats. Of course, budgets do not allow for this. Perhaps this is an opportunity for student-led selection. I don’t believe that there will ever be an excuse to do away entirely with the print collection, however, I do think that ebooks could play an important part in areas of the collection that are quickly outdated such as technology, international politics and scientific advancements. Many reference materials might be included in the electronic collection, some, such as encyclopedias, in place of print copies and some, such as dictionaries and thesauruses, in addition to it. This is always assuming that the teacher librarian has included in the selection criteria for the digital materials the frequency of update available for the ebook and the pattern this takes. If a digital book automatically provides access to the most recent update when accessed by a student, this is ideal. If on the otherhand, a digital file must be checked regularly for updates and these downloaded individually, this needs to be factored in to the library staff workflow and is, from a practical perspective, unlikely to be possible.

One must consider whether it is necessary or desirable for fiction and non-fiction, and indeed junior fiction titles to be included in the digital collection. Many junior students at our school do not have the technology skills to access ebooks readily, but many older students seem much happier to read fiction than non-fiction in electronic format. I suspect that this is because linear reading styles typical of fiction books are more easily navigated on an ereader than the dip in and out style of non-fiction texts.

Another spanner in the works is the recent extraordinary times we find ourselves in. During lockdown for the Covid-19 pandemic, students are not able to access any of our library titles. If they were available in a digital collection, at least they could get some use out of them. As it is, though, the print collection sits on shelves in a deserted building, gathering dust.

 

Du Temple, T, (2020). The positive potential of ebooks within school libraries. SCIS Connections, (113). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-113/the-positive-potential-of-ebooks-within-school-libraries
Gray, M. (2017). Ebooks: To subscribe, or not to subscribe? SCIS Connections (101). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-101/ebooks-to-subscribe-or-not-to-subscribe
Myrberg, C., & Wiberg, N. (2015). Screen vs. paper: what is the difference for reading and learning?. Insights, 28(2), 49–54. DOI: http://doi.org/10.1629/uksg.236

Website evaluation tools

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Tonight I read a number of articles in Module 2.3 about teaching students and teachers the importance of and the skills of website evaluation. A number of models were presented, including Shrock’s (2009) 5Ws, Duke’s (2016) WWWDOT test, and the CRAP test, presented by Pru Mitchell (2017). I found the 5Ws to be a comprehensive guide that covers all the necessary elements, but I fear that the mnemonic may not be as memorable as one might wish in this context, after all who, what, where, when, how and why are used in other contexts too, possibly leading to confusion for younger students. The CRAP test I have found is quite memorable for my students. The WWWDOT method I had not read about before. I do not find this an easy model to use or mnemonic to remember. Duke (2016) relates that only a small percentage of students in her study were able to independently implement this test and I can see why.

The models presented above all cover roughly the same ground, just using slightly different language. It is up to the teacher librarian to select which model is most memorable and impactful for their particular cohort of students. Oddone (2016), on the other hand, presents some online tools that were completely new to me. These are tools I do not think are usually necessary for primary aged students, but would be very useful to high school and university students and the population at large. They are tools that I want to remember and return to at another time for further investigation and I highly recommend this article for other teacher librarians.

 

Duke, N. K. (2016). Evaluating websites as information sources. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/evaluating-websites-as-information-sources-nell-k-duke
Mitchell, P. (2017, January 15). Critical thinking tool – the CRAP test. Teacher. https://www.teachermagazine.com.au/articles/critical-thinking-tools-the-crap-test
Oddone, K. (2016).  Information and critical literacy on the web. SCIS Connections, (96). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-96/information-and-critical-literacy-on-the-web
Schrock. K. (2009). The 5W’s of website evaluation. http://www.schrockguide.net/uploads/3/9/2/2/392267/5ws.pdf

Website Evaluation Criteria

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Evaluating the quality of information presented on a website is a skill targeted by teacher librarians in their information literacy programs, starting from the early years. As students develop the ability to distinguish between fact and fiction, begin to be able to identify the purpose of an article and learn to find and use information, it becomes increasingly important that they learn to evaluate the content they encounter. In a primary school setting, teacher librarians need a model for evaluation of content that is simple enough for students to remember and implement, but also effective. Below are some thoughts on what such a model could look like.

 

C Current/complete Is the date of publication shown? (not just today’s date)
Is the date recent?
Have big changes happened since the article was written?
Does the article show the whole picture?
L Language Is there emotive language?
Is there exaggeration or sweeping statements?
Is technical language used to help or hinder?
A Author Is the author identified?
Is the publisher identified?
Is the sponsor identified?
Can you contact the author for clarification?
P Proof Are facts backed up with trusted sources?
Are claims supported by evidence?
Are other perspectives acknowledged?
Do other articles agree or disagree?
Are further readings linked?
Do other trusted sources link to this article?
Do links work?

 

Technical criteria

In addition to criteria considered by students in evaluating online content, there are technical considerations for teacher librarians looking to recommend online resources to the school community. Teacher librarians should consider accessibility requirements as well as layout, usability, relevance to the curriculum, reading and cognitive level, balance between text and images and appropriateness to the context.

However, some technical aspects such as downloading speed, avoidance of Flash, responsiveness, adaptability to different browsers, whether information is held behind paywalls or require user accounts to view, should be considered. Cumbrowski (2018) suggests many other issues for consideration, however, many of these aspects are beyond the needs of most teacher librarians and are more relevant for web developers looking to have their sites indexed more readily by search engines.

Cumbrowski, C. (2018, March 22). 50 questions to evaluate the quality of your website. Search Engine Journal. https://www.searchenginejournal.com/evaluate-website-quality/233555/#close

ETL501 – Module 2.1 – print vs digital reference materials

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In her article Why libraries should retain a core print reference collection (Lederer, 2016), Lederer makes several points regarding the value of print reference materials. Many of her points relate to convenience and the longevity of print reference resources. How to these points relate to the primary school context? In the usual course of events, there are very few primary students learning only online and needing access to online only resources (though during the current pandemic, this is different) and so they usually have access to the print collection as easily or more easily than the online collection. Primary students, especially in the junior years may have difficulty being able to log in to the computer at all, let alone navigate to and through an online environment.

The level of detail and currency required for curriculum activities is less demanding than in Lederer’s academic library context. Many primary students who are still developing literacy and computer skills may have a good deal of difficulty accessing digital reference materials independently. Often they cannot read the results they find, if they manage to find the articles, though if the source uses assistive technology such as immersive readers, audio and video content, they can access the information more readily. Primary students require more generalised resources with much lower reading levels and more reliance on visual content, yet they are still learning to interpret that visual content. Having the teacher librarian available to conduct regular lessons on how to access and use reference materials is vital.  Also, seeing the print resources on the shelf during lunchtime or independent reading times means many students choose to explore these texts by flipping through, not looking for specific information but becoming familiar with the form and composition of the text.

Digital resources are much more difficult to navigate and explore when the user doesn’t have a specific question in mind. Primary students may not have any basic understandings of topics they are asked to investigate, whereas students in a high school or academic library usually have at least some context or background knowledge around what they are investigating. Reference materials are perfect for users who need to gain a general understanding of the their topic.

Lederer, N. (2016). Why libraries should retain a core print reference collection. The Reference Librarian, 57(4), 307-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/02763877.2016.1145093

WTL501 – Module 2.1 – Reference Materials

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Farmer (2014) provides a guide to the development of the reference collection in American schools. It is clear that the information is specifically targeted towards American schools, however it is still relevant to Australian school librarians. Farmer suggests that librarians should be careful to select materials that contain American spellings and measurements, which is also true of Australian librarians, though, of course, including English spellings and decimal measurements.
Farmer points out the necessity of keeping the collection current and the fact that many reference titles are quickly out-of-date. Many school libraries do not have the funds to be updating these volumes every year, if, in fact a print update is available. While it is important to provide current reference materials, this is not an indication that older versions are not useful in a school for purposes other than locating factual information. Primary school libraries provide materials used to teach students about textual features such as indexes, contents pages, bibliographies, directories etc and this does not always require up-to-the-minute accuracy and currency, though it would be an added bonus if this was also the case. This has to be balanced against the competing needs of other curriculum areas the budget must cover. Recently in my school library we attempted to purchase class sets of updated atlases of the world. The most up-to-date edition we could buy in print form was from 2009 and contains suggestions to readers that they consult the online version for updates. We decided to purchase them anyway as it is deemed important to provide class sets of print copies for the purpose of teaching map-reading skills as well as textual features of atlases and reference books more generally.
Farmer suggests that it is important to consider hardware and software requirements when selecting digital reference materials. While this is certainly a concern, it is one that needs to be addressed not only from the point of view of the library computers, but also the universal usage by library users at home who may be using any number of different operating systems, old or new hardware with varying amounts of processing oe display power. In recent times, many reference material publishers have made their products available on a number of platforms and in a variety of formats such as websites, mobile or responsive websites, apps, cloud-based streaming services etc, that do not necessarily rely on the user having the most up-to-date technology available. This is important for patrons accessing content remotely, but also means that these services are in direct competition for student attention with sites such as Wikipedia, meaning that the educational programs offered by the library need to be on point in this regard.
In addition to the resources listed by Farmer and Alderman (2014), Australian school libraries might consider providing syllabus documents and professional readings collections in the teachers’ reference collection and conversion charts of common measurements and spelling differences between traditional English and American English. They might consider language references for First Nations languages and cultural materials.
A thought occurs that, as print-based materials are out-dated so quickly, digital resources should have an advantage. Perhaps signage and advertisements for these digital materials should be displayed in the reference area of the library. Perhaps teacher librarians should be including specific lessons about how these materials can and should be used in the library program, especially in primary schools where more students are likely to experience regular contact with the library through the RFF program.
Farmer, L. S. J. (2014). Introduction to reference and information services in today’s school library. Rowman & Littlefield.
Alderman, J. (2014). What is a reference collection? LIS1001 Beginning Library Information Systems & Strategies. http://digitalcommons.unf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1021&context=bliss

ETL501 Module 1.1 Bloom’s Tools

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Module 1.1 invites thought about how the use of Blooms Taxonomy can encourage students to think and learn more deeply about curricular topics. Using a variety of web apps and resources to help students structure and create products of learning can help them to explore issues and topics more deeply and also assist students to learn transferable thinking and technology skills. Using these resources in a team teaching environment, or linking to them in a resource for staff can assist the teacher librarian to act as an instructional leader in technology for staff who may find this area difficult or intimidating. I found it useful to think about the scaffold I would use to assist students to achieve the type of thinking required for each level of Bloom’s Taxonomy, and then search for a web app that could do this digitally, rather than the common approach of having a recommendation for a particular app and trying to fit it into my teaching program. I suspect that one of the considerations I will learn about in this subject is the structuring of pathfinders and such resources in such a way as to include not only resources for locating information, but also for processing and presenting their thinking about that information.

Objective Question  Product of Learning
 Resources/Web 2.0 tool
Knowledge What is an ecosystem? Definition Dictionary – print or online or basic textbook, eg. Wordnik, Visuword, …
Comprehension List the different parts of the ecosystem and explain what they do. Simple One way table Microsoft Word, Google Docs
Application Using a diagram, show how the water cycle operates in an ecosystem. Flowchart Diagrams.net
Analysis Contrast the natural water cycle with that used by our community. Venn Diagram https://gitmind.com/
Synthesis Identify an unspoilt ecosystem and design a way of preserving it. Hotspot Image Inabrains.com
Evaluation Is it reasonable that people pollute our waterways? Defend your answer. Podcast/video

Persuasive presentation

 Audacity, GarageBand

Filmora

Explain Everything Digital Whiteboard

ETL504 Assignment 2 Part B

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Part B – Reflection

Before beginning ETL504, my thoughts about educational leadership were limited. My view of leadership as a top-down, formal and hierarchical structure dictated by the organisational chart of the school was, I have come to see, overly simplistic. This is evidenced in Assignment 1 wherein I was just beginning to see the importance of less authoritarian leadership styles, and formed an appreciation for changing staff engagement in different leadership groups. I wrote about teacher librarians supporting teachers through collaboration, which itself represented a change in thinking. Not so much that I did not appreciate the need for collaboration previously, but that this constituted a form of leadership.

I was always aware that some teachers had the capacity to be more enlightening and guiding than others. The difference between the “experienced teachers” and the “dinosaurs” was quite obvious, but I had not attempted to describe or name the phenomena. One way in which my thinking has changed is by developing an ability to articulate thoughts on leadership. This has led me to develop the idea that if one learns to name and describe a phenomena in language, one develops a more detailed schema that then supports other thinking. The importance of nominalisation and articulation through language is well documented in the field of psychology, it turns out, and is a concept I would like to read more about.

Through this subject I have learned the importance of creating staff engagement in order for change management processes to be successful (Pennington, n.d.). Staff need not only to be enthused about the change, but also be involved in professional development around the implications, opportunities and considerations involved in change. In her 15th March post (Styles, 2021, March 15), Yvette discussed her experience with creating flexible and collaborative spaces. The result was less successful than it might be due to a number of factors, such as autocratic leadership style and lack. A mix of transformational and instructional leadership was needed. The transformational leader could engage all staff in the process, developing a shared vision and encouraging engagement. An instructional leader could facilitate staff learning around pedagogical changes made possible in the new environment. Targeting identified teacher leaders first could ensure their skills and influence are fully mobilised.

Throughout the subjects I have undertaken so far, advocacy has been an important concept, but I had not considered how other stakeholders might be mobilised in support of this goal. In my post “Leadership and Advocacy” (Hahn, 2021, May 5), I discussed a moment of discovery from module 6. I have decided that I need to focus more on activating the advocacy of others in support of the library program, as described by Kachel et al (2012) and to do that, I need to help them develop the language to recognise and articulate the ways in which the library program can support and add value to what they are already doing.

Digital technologies has been a focus area recently. I wrote about plans for development in my discussion posts on 25th April and 8th May. Using a combination of instructional leadership and teacher leadership, I plan to help my colleagues focus their attention on what they want their students to learn by using the technology, rather than focusing on how much fun they are having. To return to the syllabus to remember what it is that students need to learn and understanding why that learning is important is my goal for the professional development sessions I have now been given approval by the principal to run. ETL504 has helped me to consider the options available in terms of how this project should be approached. Giving a name to the various strategies available means I can learn more about how each works and be more deliberate in my choices. I have been influenced particularly by Farrell (2014), Weisburg & Walter (2010) and the practical advice offered by ASLA (2013) and AOSL (2013).

References

American Association of School Librarians (AASL). (2013). Empowering learners: Guidelines for school library programs. American Library Association. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/csuau/reader.action?docID=1342650&ppg=57

Australian School Library Association. (2013). Future learning in school libraries. ASLA. https://asla.org.au/future-Learning-paper

Kachel, D. e., DelGuidice, M. & Luna R. (2012). Building champions in the school community. In D. Levitov (Ed.), Activism and the school librarian: Tools for advocacy and survival. (pp. 85-98). ABC_CLIO, LLC.

Pennington, R. (n.d.). How to make change work [Vimeo]. https://vimeo.com/145795736

Styles, Y. (2021, March 15) RE: School direction [Online discussion comment]. Interact 2. https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/discussionboard/do/message?action=list_messages&course_id=_55151_1&nav=discussion_board_entry&conf_id=_110083_1&forum_id=_227669_1&message_id=_3421739_1

Weisburg, H. K. & Walter, V.A. (2010). Being indispensable: A school librarian’s guide to becoming an invaluable leader. American Library Association.

Leadership to build productive partnerships

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A noisy, disruptive class waiting outside the library for their teacher to speak to a colleague is not an unusual circumstance. Sometimes teachers need to bend the ear of their colleagues and with time pressures the way they are, sometimes it is necessary to grab the opportunity while it exists. Yet, the noise and jostling can be unsettling for both the waiting class and the class that is in the library at the time. The way I would deal with this circumstance depends largely on the nature of the teacher’s discussion. It is often possible to discern from a distance whether the interaction is of a social nature or concerning an important issue.

My first step would be to quickly get the students already in the library engaged in an activity such as browsing or recreational reading. I would then determine the nature of the need outside. If it is a social interaction that could wait, I simply walk over to the doorway, wave a friendly greeting to the teachers involved and close the door. This will often be enough of a hint to move it on. If, however, the interaction is of a more serious nature, I would gather the students’ attention using whatever recall strategy I use for that group in the library and remind them briefly of the etiquette involved in their situation. There should be enough settling, if only briefly, for me to ask the teachers if it would be helpful for the classes to come in and join the recreational reading happening in the library while the teachers use my office for their discussion. I can enlist another member of library staff to assist in supervision if required. This lets them know that I am aware they may need assistance and am prepared help. If the interaction can wait, this will prompt them to take the discussion elsewhere, feeling supported at the same time, and if it can’t wait, they have an opportunity to deal with whatever the situation is while I support them by supervising their students for a few minutes. Either way, the staff members feel that the library staff are there to help them and the students are supervised or moved on as needed. Providing an opportunity for the teachers and I to work collaboratively to solve an immediate problem while respecting and hopefully enhancing the interpersonal relationship between them and me accomplishes the objective needed (the class is no longer disruptive) and builds a collegial spirit simultaneously.

What attributes makes a good leader?

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I have been fortunate in my professional life to have worked with some amazing and inspiring leaders. They each have their unique abilities and characteristics and have been effective in different areas and roles within the school and with different types of tasks.

I worked with Margaret in my first years of teaching. As AP, She provided a positive model of how to run a class to me as a very new teacher. She offered feedback that was timely, useful and within my zone of proximal development. She encouraged teamwork and facilitated collaborative planning and preparation, encouraging each member of the team to rely on the others, ultimately showing that each member was reliable, capable and trusted to do their job well. Her special skill lay in servant leadership and team dynamics.

A few years later I worked for AP and later DP, Rae. She had a way of keeping the workload and expectations manageable. In her everyday, get the job done, arrive at the end of the week, task oriented leadership, she kept the team on track by setting realistic goals, providing plenty of notice about work that needed doing and taking care to keep student learning at the forefront of all discussions and decision making. She developed positive relationships with all members of the school community and was proactive in dealing with issues as they arose. This meant that students, parents, teachers and the school leadership all felt a sense of shared direction and support and that she had their best interests at heart.

Currently I am working with a teacher leader who, although relatively new to teaching, brings a wealth of experience in other industries with her as well as experience bringing her own two boys through the special education sector. Jo has a way of listening and getting to the heart of a problem quickly and succinctly. She is intelligent as well as intensely practical and identifies problems before they begin, allowing her to be proactive and avoid potential pitfalls. Jo asks questions and really considers the answers. She identifies those people who know about topics she is investigating and asks for help as needed. Similarly, she offers advice and counsel to others as needed and people listen. She is a reflective practitioner and skilled communicator.

In thinking about the leadership qualities demonstrated by these leaders, I see that the attributes that make a good leader are:

great communicator
reflective practitioner
excellent listener
proactive
considered, thoughtful and measured
collaborative
a model of best practice

Leadership and Advocacy

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This evening I read two readings for module 6.1:Kachel, DelGuidice & Luna (2012) and Bonanno & Moore (2009). In considering how my perceptions of the leadership role of teacher librarians has changed, it struck me that I had only been considering ways in which the teacher librarian could lead programs that influence teaching and learning activities, programs that serve and assist the faculty, leadership and community. I had not considered the importance of recruiting and leading members of the school community: students, teachers, leaders, parents and others, in support of the library program itself. I had missed the seemingly subtle but actually vital difference between promotion and advocacy. Of course, if the school library program is not successful, lacks the resources to be effective or is invisible in the school, it can not possibly have any influence at all on student learning regardless of leadership style. Advocacy for the school library program must, therefore, be seen as essential in the role of the teacher librarian, not for the self-serving reason of keeping our jobs, but because of the advantages the skilled execution of that job provides student learning (the central business of schools).

In assignment 1 I wrote about teacher librarians using both servant leadership and instructional leadership to influence student learning. I had an inkling that there was more to the idea of teachers and teacher librarians being leaders from the middle and this module has solidified that view, fleshed it out and given it a name: teacher leadership. A subject to which I hope to return.

Bonanno, K. & Moore, R. (2009).  Advocacy: Reason, responsibility and rhetoric.  https://kb.com.au/content/uploads/2014/08/Keynote-Advocacy.pdf

Kachel, D. e., DelGuidice, M. & Luna R. (2012). Building champions in the school community. In D. Levitov (Ed.), Activism and the school librarian: Tools for advocacy and survival. (pp. 85-98). ABC_CLIO, LLC.