Through my library blog, I hope to facilitate conversations about how technology can be used in a school setting. I hope that through using my blog they can develop their own uses for ICT and learn through using. For example, their navigation of my blog might spark an interest for them to start a blog, give them some ideas about how they want to format their blog, or even bring them to a new site.
With regards to technology, here are some of the aspects that I considered while making my blog.
Blogging Platform
I have decided to host my site using WordPress. Before I settled down to using WordPress, I looked at some our blogging websites, like Weebly. There are obvious advantages and disadvantages to each website and it would be difficult to say at this point whether I have made the right choice. Being relatively new at blogging, I feel like at some point, you just have to dive in and start experimenting. It is easy to get bogged down by the fact that you have to create a perfect product before you publish anything. I feel that learning is always a process and you only get better through experimentation and constructive criticism. Having said that, I feel that I decided to choose WordPress because it was a platform I was familiar with from taking this course. It also supported static pages which would useful for basic information about the library and blog pages which would be useful for promoting ongoing events in the library. Lastly, I did not have to pay for some important features, like privacy settings, which is a bonus.
Theme
I decided to use this balloon theme from WordPress as my theme. I liked that balloons give the impression of discovery, joy, and are uplifting. These are essentially qualities that I would like those that visit my blog to feel. It is also the vision I have for my library. Moreover, I liked how this theme gave a more “cartoonish” feel, which most elementary school children can associate with. Parents might also feel more comfortable with a website that gave off a more welcoming atmosphere.
Inquiry-Based Learning
As I mentioned above, I wanted to create a blog that facilitated conversations about the use of ICT in learning. Therefore, I created several blog posts showing how I have used ICT to deliver the my vision for my library. I chose to use three different formats, including a straightforward written posts, visual, and a multimedia presentation. I thought this would give the users an overview of what they could use ICT for.
As ICT is changing how we are interacting with our world, I find it particularly hard to pinpoint exactly the role of a teacher-librarian. I think it is not dedicated by my own vision for the library, but by the users as well (i.e., there would be no need for my position if I had no users). Therefore, I decided to pose the question of “What is a Teacher-Librarian?” on my blog. I decided to create a visual with words using Tagxedo to illustrate my vision of a teacher-librarian. The visitors to my blog can then evaluate my choice of words and also add to my Tagxedo. Each month, I hope to create a new Tagxedo with the words I get in the comments. Hopefully, seeing that their comments contribute to a real-life example will motivate them to contribute to the blog as well.
You have put a lot of thought into selecting your blogging platform and theme. This is to be commended. Just because it is relatively easy to set up a blog does not make it an easy thing to do. I appreciate the consideration you have put into privacy, the look and feel of the theme, and accessability.