Through the looking glass: Examining technology integration in school librarianship

Deligencia, Nick

IL

Green, L. S. (2014). Through the looking glass: Examining technology integration in school librarianship. Knowledge Quest, 43(1), 36-43.

Summary:

Beginning with a description of the SAMR model and a review of its popularity and widespread use, the article then questions the validity of the model.  An open letter to the SAMR model’s founder is described, which critically evaluates SAMR in a manner that many teacher librarians are (or should be) teaching to their students.  The author delineates findings about the SAMR model’s creator, what it contributes to the thinking on the subject (how is it different), whether it is research-based and whether its methodology can be vetted, and whether it is a sponsored product.

A comparative evaluation of the TPCK model follows.  This section cites ways in which the model is often shared and used among educators that is, in fact, not consistent with the model’s intention and design.  The article concludes with a recommendation to “visit the Technology Integration Matrix maintained by Northern Arizona University <www.azk12.org/tim>.”

Evaluation:

Worth reading; thought-provoking.  I’m a little nervous about posting this here, given the professor’s implicit (and my own, previously explicit) endorsement of the SAMR model.  And yet, this article gets at the core of teacher librarians’ roles in information literacy.  How effective are we if we’re not applying the information credibility checks that we’re teaching our students?

This is not an indictment of the SAMR model, per se.  The article is more critical of the application of TPCK than SAMR, but it is most critical of any unquestioned and unexamined propagation of any model.

IL-Analysis and Synthesis, IL-Critical Thinking, IL-Technology Instruction