Selecting a platform for creating the web guide and ensuring that it would meet the needs of my intended users was the initial challenge. Ultimately, Google Sites was selected as it was more user friendly than other platforms investigated. Through completing this project, I now have the capacity to engage students in online creation with a new tool. As an added consideration, given the limited number of apps and sites that primary school aged students can access, NSW Department of Education students have access to Google Sites. This means that the skills I have acquired can be directly transferred into the classroom/library environment.
Perhaps the steepest part of this project for me was understanding how I was going to develop my own professional digital footprint in relation to sharing my own digital content. Emailing units of work or collaborating on a shared document had been the extent of it prior to this project. I know have a Flikr and Vimeo account specifically created to share images and videos; and a live site espousing the requirements for a positive digital footprint. I am now in a position where I can more easily share my digital content with other Teacher Librarians and potentially develop my professional learning network (PLN) along the way.
All of my work for this project is covered by an attribution, non-commercial, no derivatives Creative Commons licence. Likewise, everything used within the web-guide has been correctly attributed (which wasn’t actually that hard). I now have a deeper understanding of how Creative Commons works and how it supports the sharing and building of information. I intend to use this new knowledge to enhance my teaching about the importance of correct attribution, plagiarism, and copyright. I will also be encouraging people within my PLN to use Creative Commons.
Lastly, I have created something that has gone into the digital world for all to see and (hopefully) benefit from. Making the site live felt more momentous than I had anticipated. It caused me to reflect on the importance of allowing students to share their work with others. How often do teachers focus on the process or the product, without giving students the opportunity to showcase their work? I’m guilty of this – but plan to be less so in the future.