Beware of the Word ‘Flexible’

Thompson, Ayana

Z-Discussions

Madda, M.J. (Apr 11, 2017). Beware of the Word ‘Flexible’: Architect Danish Kurani on Designing 21st Century Schools. Retrieved from

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2017-04-11-beware-of-the-word-flexible-architect-danish-kurani-on-designing-21st-century-schools

Summary: Architect shows how educational theory and practice are not the only things that are outdated, but also the structures in which we house our students.  He argues architecture needs to adapt to trends in education as well. He warns against using the word FLEXIBLE as it too loosely defines as any design aspect, and supporting student learning outcomes should define the design of a space.

Rating: This was an informative article about how the worlds of design and education intersect.    

Value of Video Games

Thompson, Ayana

Z-Discussions

Carr-Chellman, A. (2016, May 17). Why video games shouldn’t freak parents out. Retrieved from

http://ideas.ted.com/why-video-games-shouldnt-freak-parents-out/

Summary: Opinion article on why we should embrace what kids like to do-play video games as opposed to educational games, and interact with students at their level instead of trying to impose curriculum or gamify curriculum for them.  

Rating: This was an interesting take on the idea of violent or video games we deem as inappropriate my contribute to learning more about our students and may not do as much harm as we think.  

Personalized Learning

Thompson, Ayana

Z-Discussions

Montgomery, B. & Madda, M.J. (Feb 14, 2016). Personalized Learning: A Waste of Time, or the Answer to America's Education Issues? Retrieved from

https://www.edsurge.com/news/2016-02-14-personalized-learning-a-waste-of-time-or-the-answer-to-america-s-education-issues

Summary: Two opposing viewpoints are highlighted in this podcast.  One argues that growth mindset is key framework in which to build student success, and the personalized learning model can be used to leverage it.  The other view cautions using Personalized Learning as he believed it is a buzz word in education, as is growth mindset.  He asserts that both ideas have not yet proven themselves as measurable for effectiveness or student growth, and will lead to less accountability if adopted too quickly.   

Rating: I really enjoyed the opposing viewpoints shared.  The discussion prompted many thoughts and question about edtech.

Five Librarian Bloggers to Follow

Iansito, Karah
Z

Scardilli, B. (2015, February 3).  Five librarian bloggers to follow.  Retrieved from

http://newsbreaks.infotoday.com/NewsBreaks/Five-Librarian-Bloggers-to-Follow-101614.asp

Jewel Cheng, a classmate in my INFO 210 class, posted this link to librarian bloggers to follow, and although they are not specific to school libraries, I think following them is a great way to connect to the broader community of librarians and be in touch with professional development in all realms of librarianship.  I added a bunch to my twitter feed, and am feeling inspired to start my own blog after sifting through just six or seven of the profiles.  Great fun!  

Among other things, each profile highlights the librarian’s blogging beginnings, areas of interest, expert advice, and includes a link to a sample post.  Scardilli's profiles themselves are really excellent and exemplary.  

Genius Hour in the Library

Frey, Jennifer

CO

RUSH, E. B. (2015). Genius Hour in the Library. Teacher Librarian, 43(2), 26-30.

Summary:

This article is about how a librarian went about implementing a librarian led genius hour for students in grades 3-5. The article takes you through the planning to the approval and implementation phase then addresses what worked and what's next. The librarian worked with teachers to lead this project so there is a lot of collaboration going on.

Evaluation:

I really enjoyed this article since I was interested in genius hours and wanted to know more. I thought this article was especially helpful since the focus was on librarians leading it. I liked how she shared her plan and what worked and the students reactions.

A Strategy Session With Some of Education’s Top Thinkers

Williams, Susan

ET

Ryan, J. E., Selingo, J., Christakis, N., Gasman, M., Levy, H., Krislov, M., ... Weingarten, R. (2016, June 22). A strategy session with some of education’s top thinkers. Retrieved from http://nyti.ms/28PovcP

This is an article of big ideas, featuring 15 perspectives from top education thinkers.  Topics include:

The importance of social emotional learning; balancing diversity and freedom of expression; the status of a liberal arts and vocational education programs in light of the intense STEM push; income and opportunity inequalities and balancing technology use. Offers useful names to attach to ideas for further research and highlights trends.

Everyday Best Practices

Monteiro, Sarah

Anderson, M. A. (2011). EVERYDAY BEST PRACTICES. Library Media Connection, 30(3), 48-50.

Summary:

Mary Alice Anderson’s goal in writing this article was to encourage librarians to create a place that is welcoming to both students and teachers. She goes on to describe best practices that can be attained daily.

Anderson’s first practice is to “roll out the welcome mat.” By making your space a welcoming place, people will want to bring students in to work. She recommends keeping shades up, office doors open, and even complete your own work in a more accessible position in the library, if possible. If you are entering after an “unwelcoming predecessor…make lemonade our of lemons.” Use your predecessors lack of best practices as an opportunity to show the school how a library should feel, inviting.

Anderson goes on to explain that you need to “walk the walk and talk the talk.” To do that, you need to worry only about the things that truly impact the students and not sweat the small stuff like missing books. Your time needs to be spent with teachers and students collaborating and demonstrating the best practices. If teachers are reluctant to collaborate because of other reasons, see if you can make it easier for them to find that time and constantly be looking for ways to work together. Along with working to find collaboration time and build relationships, you need to fight to have as much technology in the library as possible. Acquire all of the technology you can and teach your students how to use them. You should also be collecting an e-library that students can access books though technology wherever they are. Try and be the “go to” person for technology.

Andersons believes that a best practice is by being a leader in the school and holding professional developments for the teachers on technology. You also need to be an advocate for the library, why it is important, and why you are important not just during budget time. Spread the word of what you do and keep a log.

Anderson ends by making a call to reach out to the families and community. Hold special programs for the families and extend these programs to the community. Last but not least, be the change you want to see. Come in every day with a positive attitude and continue to make connections with everyone, including others in your field.

Review:

I really enjoyed Anderson’s article. I agreed with everything she had to say feel that all of these practices are essential if you want to enter a school librarian position. The environment we create will dictate our importance. If the library becomes a place that is unwelcoming and off-putting, who will patronize and bring purpose to the space? The library is only a library when it has patrons, and our patrons will only come if they see a reason and feel welcome. We need to give them that reason. As librarians we have to be positive influences in our students lives, the lives of our teachers, and advocates for these better practices.

Z-Discussions

Can Academic Librarians Push for Collaboration?

Johnson, Meghan

Z

I was really pleased with the lengthy debate we had in our last workshop. It’s clear that there are some very strong opinions on how best to encourage collaborative instruction between teachers and librarians at all levels of education. We had discussed the strategy of forcing collaboration in order to use the librarian’s services or even bringing in the higher-up’s. Of these 2, I favor bringing in the higher-ups. Not only could this be viewed as another level of collaboration, but it also shows that you have the support of your system.

I work in an academic library at a university that is on the quarter system. One thing that I have found (including when I was looking for faculty willing to collaborate with me for module 3) is that many are unwilling to sacrifice any of their spare time in the fast-paced quarter system to collaborate with others.

In a system as large and diverse as a research institution, would our 2 strategies we discussed in our workshop hold true? I have found many articles that encourage collaboration between faculty, but none that include library instructors in their discussions. Most academic librarians still seem to think the best strategy is to tip-toe around our all-important faculty and follow their plan. Because most academic systems will support their faculty in almost all things, how do you think academic librarians can encourage more collaboration at their universities? Maybe a more appropriate question, should academic librarians push for more collaborative lesson planning in the same way that elementary and high school librarians may want to? 

  

Labels: Z-Discussions

World Economic Forum Identifies Ed-Tech Needs for 21st Century Skills

Chansamone O’Meara

IL

Molnar, M. “World Economic Forum Identifies Ed-Tech Needs for 21st Century Skills.” Education Week. (March 19, 2015). Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://mobile.edweek.org/c.jsp?DISPATCHED=true&cid=25983841&item=http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/marketplacek12/2015/03/world_economic_forum_identifies_ed-tech_needs_for_21st_century_skills.html

Digital content providers today can take advantage of the lack of available education technology, according to the World Economic Forum report.  The forum is an international organization whose goal is to improve the world through public and private cooperation.  It selected 91 countries and evaluated how they each measured up in nine out of 16 skill areas that are essential for 21st century skills. The lack of consistency in the definition and measurement of the skills make it difficult to measure all 16 skills.  which resulted in only being able to measure nine of them. Traditional subjects like “literacy, math, and science are well represented, but ed-tech for higher-order competencies like critical thinking and problem solving, and character qualities like grit and initiative, are not adequately covered by existing education technology, the researchers found.”  Higher order skills such as critical thinking, problem solving, creativity, communication, and collaboration are too complex and challenging to measure and test. The report identifies goals for lawmakers to work and collaborate with other countries to standardize definitions and assessment for 21st century skills.  The standardization process such include “creating learning objectives, developing curricula and instructional strategies, delivering instruction, embedding ongoing assessments, providing appropriate interventions, and tracking outcomes and learning.”

The report makes the following recommendations for policymakers, educators, education technology providers, and funders:

• Assess and realign education systems and standards for the development of 21st century skills
• Develop and promote technology expertise among teachers
• Develop products to fill gaps in 21st century skills measurement and instruction
• Provide funding for piloting, transferring, and scaling up technology-enabled models

Evaluation

If we live in an interconnect and global society then it is essential that there is a standardization of 21st century skills that every modern country can measure itself against.  There are standardize tests that measure how well each school performs across states and the country.  It would make a lot of sense to create a similar type of assessment so the desired skills an employer or educational institution wants in a candidate can be easily assessed.  It can also provide critical information that schools may need to to reevaluate instruction, practices, and lessons being taught.

BYOD Is Shaping Education in the 21st Century

Chansamone O’Meara

ET

References

Miller, B. BYOD Is Shaping Education in the 21st Century. (2015, April 19). Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://tech.co/byod-education-21st-century-2015-04

It is important to integrate technology into the classroom and schools must accept that is is the new expectation.  Schools must provide the hardware and software tools to properly build 21st century skills.  Bring your own device (BYOD) is being adopted across schools.  There are several benefits of BYOD in education.  1) It increases access to technology for students.  Some schools do not have the budget to provide every student with their own device to use.  And devices that students or their family own are usually newer and powerful devices as well. Students that have better devices can use their own and those that don’t own a device, can use the school’s. 2) Schools can save money because students are responsible for their device.  If it breaks or is lost or stolen, students are responsible for replacing it. 3) BYOD allows for different communication between the teacher and the student.  It focuses on a student-centered approach.  Teachers and students can share information with each other. 4) Assignments presented or completed online do not require teachers to repeat information presented on a powerpoint.  Students can access the information on their own and type out their own notes at their own pace. “Technology now enables students to listen to the teacher and absorb the information, rather than tuning out the teacher and hurredly scribbling down the notes without proper analytical thinking and contemplation.” 5) BYOD gives students the opportunity to collaborate with each other on assignments and projects.  They can access the assignments at home and work in their own setting. 6) Students can access their textbooks without having to carry around their heavy books.  Students also don’t have to worry about forgetting their books. 7) Assessments can be completed online. Grading for teachers can speed up the process as well.  It saves time and is more efficient.

Evaluation

I think that schools that do not have the budget for 1:1 program should consider adopting the BYOD policy.  The school that I am working at currently will budget for and rollout the 1:1 initiative in the next 2-3 years.  While that is happening, there are some students that bring their own devices and work on their assignment.  Students are not currently able to access the internet with their own device.  The school district forbids personal devices on their network.  I think it should be something to reconsider.  While BYOD is a great idea, there are a lot of logistical problems that need to considered and planned out.  Schools need to consider their wifi access points and network capabilities. I completely agree with the author of the article however that all schools must integrate technology into their curriculum.  If BYOD is the only viable solution, then school districts should examine whether they can safely allow personal devices onto their internet network.

Preparing for the 21st Century: Soft Skills Matter

Chansamone O’Meara

ET

References

Graham, S. (February 24, 2015). Preparing for the 21st Century: Soft Skills Matter. Retrieved April 27, 2015, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stedman-graham/preparing-for-the-21st-ce_b_6738538.html

This article written by Stedman Graham talks about how many people are still operating under the “20th century paradigm”  and how every employee and potential employees must be armed with 21st century skills.  The Association of American Colleges and Universities conducted a study that showed a gap in the perceptions in desirable skills, education, and training from students and their potential employer.  21st century skills include hard and soft skills.  Most people operate under the impression that they only need hard skills to advance in their careers. . “Hard skills are easily defined and obviously measurable. They include technical mastery and vocational qualifications.” They are skills that are taught and mastered by people in a formal education setting.  “Soft skills are intangible and difficult to measure; while they greatly impact an individual's chances for success, they are not normally taught through traditional education.”  Soft skills can be taught but generally not included in a formal education setting.  Examples of soft skills are “team building, eye contact, analysis of body language, and conflict resolution.”  Soft skills are an essential and critical part of most business operations.  “In business we can negotiate contracts and form relationships through email and texting, with no person-to-person interactions.”  Soft skills are about relationship and building relationships.  Graham points out that many people are not getting enough experience practicing and honing these soft skills.  People are constantly being challenged with the every evolving methods of communication.  How a person can communicate effectively through the various methods of communication such as email and texts are critical to a company’s success.

Hard skills are important and they are what people will build a resume around. They will be what employers will look at when hiring an employee. Hard skills will get employees hired but not advance within the company. “As careers develop, hard skills, which can be delegated, matter less and less, while soft skills continue to play the biggest role in determining your chances of achieving success.” The blending of both hard and soft skills will be essential in people’s employment achievements and opportunities.

Evaluation:

I like this article a lot because Graham makes some very valid points about the importance of soft skills. Most people would not think that soft skills are something to be cultivated and developed in the digital age.  I believe that is even more important today than in the past.  In the digital age, more and more people are having to collaborate, communicate, and work in some virtual environment.  Being able to clearly and effectively communicate thoughts and ideas online can be very challenging.  It is very easy to encounter miscommunication problems when tone and intent in an email and message can be difficult to convey.  It makes it more essential to develop those skills so someone doesn’t misconstrue the message.  Web 2.0 tools has made meetings and collaboration online a very common and expected part of school and work.  If people do not develop the ability to work and communicate effectively in the digital age, they may get left behind.

New State of America's Libraries Report find shift in role of U.S. Libraries

Chansamone O'Meara
ET
New State of America's Libraries Report finds shift in role of U.S. libraries. (April 13, 2015). Retrieved April 20, 2015, from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-state-of-americas-libraries-report-finds-shift-in-role-of-us-libraries-300064343.html

The article sums up the State of America's Libraries Report released by the American Library Association (ALA) that all current libraries are perceived as "community anchors, centers for academic life and research and cherished spaces." This is a shift away from the old view of just a place for books. The libraries today are trying to meet the needs of library patrons based on how people access and search for information. "From offering free technology workshops, small business centers and 24/7 virtual access to e-Books and digital materials, libraries are transforming communities, schools and campuses."  Librarians are an important part of identifying and addressing the trends, changes, and needs of the community. Librarians are an essential part in creating today's 21-st century learner. "From collaborating with classroom teachers to design inquiry-based learning, school librarians are teaching students critical thinking, technology and information literacy skills."

Evaluation: This article perfectly sums up our class this semester.  Libraries are a place for learning that is accessible 24/7 for virtual learning.  The library is a leader and the catalyst for transforming schools and communities.  Libraries can no longer afford to continue to be the traditional place for borrowing books.  The libraries that will survive and thrive are the libraries that continue to transform itself and offer services and products that will meet the changing needs of the consumer.  It continues to be critical that libraries play a large role in education.  Creating a learning commons and supporting personal learning is an important part of libraries and the librarians that run them.