I’m going to say this, at the risk of sounding like a total nerd, but I almost don’t want to write this last post, because it will mean this course is over. Although it has been an intense amount of reading, thinking, grappling, and writing, all packed into three weeks, I have truly enjoyed the process.
Where I Was
When I started this course I had finished 6 classes towards my diploma, now that this one and LLED 446 are finished I have 8 under my belt, and next week it will be 9. The end is in sight! I plan to be done my diploma at Christmas, which is very exciting. Because I had taken many of the foundation courses for teacher-librarianship I already had a good understanding of resource management, organizing and maintaining the collection, and planning collaboratively with teachers. In the process I have started and kept up a blog for my class, created a website, and started my personal learning network. I am very glad I took this course towards the end of my diploma, I know I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as much out of it if I had taken it first. I needed to get over my bibliophilia to recognize I could be technophilic too. I still love books, but technology needs to play a vital role in our schools and libraries.
Where I Am
Although my inquiry project is not really a polished product, I am proud of my work. I built the site using BuddyPress, which was a challenge, but I created a shell. I’m not going to invest more time in learning how to create a social network site, because the structure already exists within my district. On the resource section of my site I have uploaded my conglomeration of information from my research, a graphic organizer, and a powerpoint presentation I can use to give a workshop. (Don’t worry Kristine, the photos are from Morguefile and they don’t need attribution!) My powerpoint is more polished than my site, and I’m hoping it will be enough to convince primary teachers that they can and should integrate ICT in their classrooms. I found this great video on Edutopia that captured some of the feelings of inspiration and excitement from this course that I wanted to convey to other teachers, I will show it as part of my workshop.
Where I’m Going
I am excited about using my project to encourage primary teachers in my district. Initially I was thinking of just doing a workshop, but then Neelu spoke yesterday about the importance of ongoing professional development, so rather than a single workshop I think want to create a collaborative group. I have learned that I am much happier learning alongside my colleagues, rather than teaching them from the front of the room. I didn’t want to lose my momentum (or my nerve about giving a workshop!) so yesterday I emailed our district technology teacher, Janet Chow, asking for her help to implement my ideas in the fall. She already wrote me an email back and was very encouraging, so I know I already have one ally in my district, and another person who can support my PLN.
By nature, I am a duck– I just let things roll of my back, I go with the flow, and don’t usually get in a flap about anything. But now I see that if I always go with the flow, things will stay the same. Someone has to speak up for how we want education to be, and that needs to be teachers, otherwise it will be corporations trying to sell solutions that we don’t really need. So I think it’s time for me to be a terrier: “Hey! Look at me! We need better wifi in schools! We need small classes for personalized learning! Hey! Don’t ignore us! We need a learning commons with more space for collaborative teaching! Hey! Pay attention!”
This course hasn’t taught me a topic, it has taught me a mindset. I have learned to go out and research what is relevant to my own situation, to connect with others, to question what I hear and read, to not stop pushing and changing just because things have always been done a certain way. The attitudes I have now will carry me forward into this school year, and into the rest of the 21st century.
Today we talked about the issue of blind-spots, blindsight and implicit association bias. It’s a difficult topic, how can we compensate for beliefs and attitudes we hold, but aren’t aware of?
I was thinking about it in the context of my project. Primary teachers attending a workshop about technology integration will have a variety of perceptions about technology. At the end of last week I wondered about how to get teachers on board in my post. I think part of the solution is making visible the invisible. We need to talk about those implicit beliefs and make them explicit. If we are aware of our own biases, we can try to adjust for them, but if we never talk about our own struggles and stumbling blocks how can we get over them? I started working on my workshop plan, and I added a section for teachers to talk about their SCOD: strengths, challenges, opportunities, and difficulties (thanks, Jenny for the definition). I created a chart for them to fill out and reflect on:
I was going to put “positives” and “negatives” at the top of the columns, but I’m considering the linguistic cognitive domain and don’t want to call challenges and difficulties “negative”. I’ll try to come up with a better word. I think by talking about the things teachers struggle with and acknowledging them as something to have to consider, teachers will be more open to the suggestions I am offering in the workshop. By knowing the limitations specific to their situation I will also be better able to help them in their planning.
I have been thinking about self-efficacy too, and how to keep my momentum after this course. Following technology and and book review blogs on RSS this spring has kept these at the top of my mind, and I feel connected to what other educators are talking about. I think the next step for me is sharing what I know. I am starting to realize that I have ideas worth sharing, and that I need to find a platform for them. Twitter is kind of like listening to multiple conversations happening at a cocktail party, you can hear what everyone is saying, and jump in when you have a relevant comment. Although the ideas discussed can be deep, I feel the interactions are superficial, I struggle with the 140 character limit.
I’ve been thinking about what Jenny said about teachers having a voice and a vision for the future of education, and also to enable the public to see more about our job than just the negative headlines about bargaining. My classroom blog is a window into my classroom, a platform for me to show parents what we are doing, and share resources that can help their child’s learning. I don’t think it is the place to share my struggles and triumphs within the education system , or my vision for the future. I’m thinking I should start another blog, one where I could show the public what a complex profession teaching really is. I would have to consider privacy, because if I am talking about events with real students, I would not want parents to be upset reading it. But I’m not sure how I would talk about my experiences without talking about my students, since they make up such an integral part of my job. And I can’t talk about vision without talking about specific experiences, because those shape a vision. I don’t quite know how to tackle that, but I’m going to ponder it.
I feel like I have a fairly good grasp of my audience, and what I want to accomplish. I know I want to promote the use of ICT in primary classes and encourage those teachers who might be hesitant, to consider using ICT in an innovative way. I would like to create a space where teachers can collaborate and share ideas, and I have chosen a BuddyPress site to do this.
I chose BuddyPress because I discovered my district uses it. I know that teachers who set up blogs through the district are given WordPress sites, so I assume it is a similar set up to UBC: users can have their own blog, but also use their login to connect with groups. I decided to work within the existing infrastructure because it would be familiar to some teachers, and provide me with a structure. After going through the design process today, I am hopeful that our district technology support team will help with some of the more technological set up of users and forums.
Setting up BuddyPress has given me some challenges. I don’t really understand the network portion of it, although the theme I chose allowed me to install some things automatically like the member page. I am also seeing the limitations of WordPress themes. I finally found one that had lots of customizable options, but it still didn’t give me everything: I wanted static pages, combined with a blog on one page. This proved to be a challenge, but I learned how to create page templates with the help of a forum and some coaching from my husband. Now I can say I have created a php file! I am glad I have gotten to know the ins and outs of WordPress better, but if I were to make a website from scratch again I would use Weebly, it allows for a much more visual page designing experience.
I got quite caught up in the design aspect of my site today. I wanted it to look good, to be laid out well, to have pages ordered a certain way, with links that worked. I’m a bit worried that I haven’t put up any real content yet, but I know that design is an important aspect to consider. Primary teachers care about aesthetics, we like our classrooms to be warm, inviting spaces for our students. I wanted to create a friendly space online. I hope I have done that with the colourful straw painting header, soft gray menus, clean fonts and uncluttered layout.
My information conglomerate is complete, or at least as complete as it is going to be now. I have a list of articles that I still want to read, which I’m sure will give me more information to add, but I must cut off research now so I can focus on the project.
Today in class we discussed considering our audience. In my mind, my target audience is primary teachers in my district, who have used, or would like to use ICT in their class. I envision them as teachers who are open to using technology, but might be hesitant about where to start and are looking for ideas. I am also hoping they are willing (or can be persuaded by workshop) to integrate technology in innovative ways, not just using technology to do the same thing a different way. I know that not all teachers will fit this criteria, some will be the ones at schools who just got iPads and they want to know good apps. I am hopeful that I can convince them to think about the learning objectives before thinking about the apps. Some of the participants may be teachers who already have blogs in the district, in which case the BuddyPress platform, which looks very similar to WordPress, will be familiar to them. Also, because the collaboration space will be hosted by the district, I assume the login will be the same as the one for blogs, making it even easier for them.
I started looking at BuddyPress today, trying out a theme and some widgets. Wordpress has lots of options, but I haven’t spent much time customizing my class blog. The theme I have for it is quite limited, and once it was set up, I only thought about my posts. BuddyPress has even more options, since it is a social network platform. I started looking at changing options and making pages, but feel like I don’t really know what I am doing. I am feeling frustrated by my own limitations, instead of by the technology, which is a change for me. At least I got a few people to join my network (thanks Kristine, Michelle, and Charlotte!) so I have multiple contributors. Tomorrow I need to break this big project down into tasks, figure out what is most important and start there.
I was feeling a little overwhelmed at the beginning of class today, because I hadn’t done any of the things on my list from Friday, other than look for past district workshops and discover they were no longer on the calendar, so I have no way of knowing what was offered last year. Today’s work period, however, was very productive. I wanted to try to work within the framework of an existing organization (province or district) so that it gives some legitimacy to my project, and uses a system teachers may already be familiar with. On our district technology teacher’s blog I discovered a link to apply for an online collaboration group using BuddyPress. Although the link is inactive, I did some research about BuddyPress, and discovered it is a WordPress plugin that lets you create your own social network. My thinking is, that if I set up this final project with BuddyPress on my own site, I can transfer it to a district site in the fall.
When I came home this afternoon I spent some time finishing up reading all the articles I found last week. I have also started a conglomeration of information, taking the main points and organizing them into the basic headings of my MindMeister map: screen time digital citizenship, ways to use technology, social development and cognitive development (to correspond to the areas of development in the primary program), and tips and tricks. I think these headers will become talking points for my workshop. I am concurrently working on a plan for my workshop. I’m not sure how final that will be by the end of this week, but it is feeling good to organize my thoughts. I already have a quote from Hertzog and Klein (2005) which I think would make a great opener,
“[T]echnology is playing an important role in the lives of our children. How can we channel their curiosity and use technology to help them grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally? How do we integrate technology into our instruction to go beyond consumers and gaming to using technology as tools for creative production?”
I also turned to a strong member of my PLN (aka my husband) to help me get a new site set up for BuddyPress. My current class blog is hosted on his server, so he helped me set up primarycollaboration.mscollinslovesbooks.com. There’s nothing there yet, but I’m hoping to spend some time tomorrow exploring BuddyPress. I had to laugh when I saw the tagline, normally you see “Just another WordPress site”, but I like mine better!
This week I am feeling much more like I have a sense of direction. Starting the inquiry process helped me to focus, and not feel overwhelmed by the volume of information. I am feeling like I have a vision of where I am going next week, although I still have plenty to do before my final project is done.
My plan is to create something to help primary teachers integrate technology in their classrooms. From what I have seen at my school, ICT is used more in the intermediate classes than in primary. Since I have taught all grades from K-3, and have a fairly good understanding of technology, I feel like I have a foot in each world and can help teachers to bridge the gap. I am thinking of presenting a workshop at our district Pro-D day in November, but also having some sort of blog/wiki/idea board where teachers can get and share ideas of good ICT integration.
We have really focused on starting with the “why” this week. Like I mentioned last week I expected to come into this course and hear about a bunch of cool apps, web services, and programs that I could use. And we have been hearing about some great things during the 10 minutes of fame presentations. But, I have learned that the “why” (What goal do we have for our students?) informs, and is much more important than, the “what” (Which app should we use?).
So now my goal is to get primary teachers in my district thinking the same way I am thinking, but I don’t quite know how to do that. Considering the range of attitudes, abilities, and access to ICT of colleagues in this course, I know I will see a similar (if not even greater) range in primary teachers in my district. How do I get them all to understand in a two hour workshop what has taken us two weeks of discussion, research, and idea-wrestling? I don’t know, but I’m hoping next week will make it clearer.
I’m all about lists so here is my think-aloud of what I need to do:
- finish research (need to investigate screen time and digital citizenship a bit more)
- organize big ideas (read through highlighting)
- find examples of meaningful ICT integration (teachers love examples)
- see what tech workshops were offered in the district last year (don’t want to overlap, and may find possible collaborators)
- find/develop a framework for planning (check BCTLA points of inquiry for ideas)
- determine how to plan a workshop (never given one before – eek!!)
- decide on a digital platform for sharing ideas (easy for me to maintain and colleagues to contribute)
- figure out how to get teachers on board to start with “why” instead of “what” (maybe analogies to older technology)
This seems like a very ambitious list, but considering how I was feeling last week, and how far I’ve come, I am NOT going to feel overwhelmed.
Instead of “world libraries” I’d like to think of them as digital libraries, since the content is digital. The amazing thing about digital content is that it can be shared around the world much more easily than a physical book, photograph, or document.
My group for the discussions this afternoon was the elementary school librarians. We talked about the importance of local community libraries with physical books, how it gives people a place to connect and to have the sensory experience of holding and reading books. We also talked about how popular internet access is at many libraries we have seen, so there is the potential to blend physical libraries with digital libraries. We also talked about the importance of having online access in libraries for those students who don’t have online access at home. One advantage of digital content over physical books, is the ability to show information in a multitude of ways. Digital libraries could include text, images, scans of primary source documents, videos, audio recordings, etc. I also argued the point that a digital library could increase access for some people. Petra brought up the example of how popular the large print books are with seniors in the Qualicum Public Library. I pointed out that if they had e-readers (which I know many seniors do not) they could have access to more books, because they could increase the font of any e-book.
I found an article written by Connie Champlin and David Loertscher entitled “Creating a Digital Age School Library” which had several of the topics we touched on in our inquiry group discussion. The authors argue that a digital library needs to have access to electronic databases, because this information has been edited and verified, unlike so much of what is on the internet. We talked a bit about the struggles of finding articles at the appropriate reading level with databases, and how information books often have to help fill in the gaps. Champlin and Loertscher also say a digital library should have links to good sites on topics classes are learning about. We talked about the struggle of finding reliable information at an appropriate level for students, and how to organize that information when we do find it. The article also explained the role of library media specialist as information coach, and we talked quite a bit about how it is our job to teach students to evaluate the information they find online.
One point the authors made that I am still wondering about is “Access to the print and multimedia collection of the LMC catalog from the classroom or the home.” Does that mean all books should be scanned and a copy stored online? Does that mean the catalogue is accessible from anywhere so students can source what they want and come find it in the library later? If they mean the former, I’m thinking there would be a lot of cost involved in having both a physical copy of a book and the digital copy. Is it really the best use of our financial resources to duplicate what we have? Wouldn’t it be a better use of money to buy some things in hard copy, and others in digital?
Today I got to experience structural coupling (the process through which people connect) first hand. My structural coupling included all three forms Jenny spoke about, cognitive, cultural, and technological dimensions.
I was inspired by Janet’s 10 minutes of fame presentation today. I had no idea that her school has a fine arts focus just like mine (cultural connection). Their Global Learner projects are impressive, I especially like their structure for collaboration and willingness to integrate art and technology with the curriculum. I chatted with Janet after class to find out more about her school, and my mind started spinning with ideas (cognitive connection). The focused art workshops which children can choose to attend, the lunch-and-learn sessions offered by and for teachers on art topics, the use of technology alongside art and curricular projects all were very inspiring. I think the way their projects are structured allows teachers to play to their strengths about what they are teaching and gives students a sense of ownership about choosing what they would like to learn.
When I got home after class I read Janet’s previous blog post, watched the video created by the Environment club at her school, and visited the school website (technological connection). I also emailed my principal, with the hope that we can consider some of Mont Royal’s ideas for our school in the future. I know that I might run into sociocultural homeostasis (“We already have a fine arts program. This sounds like a lot of work!”) but I am going to advocate that we give it a try. We may not be able to do everything full throttle, but we can take those baby steps. Maybe monthly lunch-and-learns instead of bi-weekly, maybe we try the workshop approach for a few weeks instead of the whole year.
Regardless, I would like to visit Mont Royal in the fall to see their global learning in action. We get one professional growth day in Burnaby, and this is how I would like to use mine next year. I’ve also started a list of questions, so I might have to take Janet out for a coffee and pick her brain more. (Cultural, cognitive, and fun!)
These concepts stood out for me today, because I have seen the phenomena, but didn’t have terms for them. I would venture that doing something just because it’s always been done, and doing the same thing using a new technology has been done in every school in the province. The status quo and familiar are easier than the new and unknown– but that doesn’t mean they are better. As teacher-librarians we need to be advocates for change.
That said, it can be hard to affect change. You come up against things like “We’ve been doing it this way for x number of years and it’s worked, why should we change?” or “I don’t have time to learn something new.” or “I already let my students play on the computer when they’re done their work.” I know, that when you are in the classroom it is very hard to try new things. The day to day grind is so exhausting, we turn to what is familiar and easy, even if it is not the best way to do something. Sometimes “good enough” is all you can do. But that doesn’t mean we should settle for “good enough” all the time. We can’t change the face of education all at once, but we can make small steps. I’m reminded of my kaleidoscope project, it had challenges and I wouldn’t want to do all art projects using technology, but it also provided the students with experience retrieving files from a shared drive, editing the document to record their information, using Flickr to find photos with a Creative Commons license, and using an online paint tool to manipulate their chosen image. I want to share this story so other teachers see it is possible to use technology in new, meaningful ways.
I am worried about how the BC Education Plan will be implemented. While there is solid research to support many of the ideas, I think there will be push back from teachers and unions, because it is perceived as being imposed upon us. I think it’s going to take a lot of conversation and convincing for some teachers to “buy in” to it. Although blindly throwing money at any problem is never a good solution, I think the government needs to make a financial commitment to prove they are behind this plan. Here is my list of necessities:
- high-speed wifi in every school in the province, accessible anywhere in the school
- enough bandwidth for every student to have a device connected to the internet
- funding to purchase new technology and replace old technology, based on what the teachers in each school need
Maybe once those are in place teachers will be more willing to look at the Ed Plan as a positive change for our education system.
I just spent the last hour discussing Twitter clients (apps that you can use to access Twitter) and read-it-later services with my husband. Are we geeks or what? But honestly, I feel lucky to have a knowledgeable resource always accessible. When I get stuck I know Justin will be able to help me out, or keep persisting until he can figure it out too. I am still trying to decide how best to use Twitter, and was pleased to discover the feature of “lists”. You can create lists of people you follow on Twitter, and sort your feed by those lists. In case you couldn’t tell from my 10 minutes of fame, I like being organized! I want to follow more “experts”, but I didn’t want to overwhelm my feed with tweets so that I would miss important things from my personal colleagues. I created a list with people from this course, so now I can filter my feed to see just tweets from that group. Once this post is done I am going to download the “Twitterific” app. Justin uses “Tweetbot” and he wants me to be a guinea pig with this one so he can compare.
This morning’s class was very useful. I appreciated the chance to reflect (again) on where I am, and where I’d like to go. As we went around the circle sharing our ideas, I refined my own topic, and am quite excited about it. I am going to look at the topic of technology in primary classrooms. I taught Grade 1/2 this past year, and expect to teach Grade 2/3 next year. Most of the primary teachers at my school do not use technology very much, so I am hoping this research can bring about some change at my school.
Right now my thoughts exist mostly as a series of questions, which will hopefully guide my research. I have recorded most of them in my mind map in the previous post
- Is technology appropriate for primary students?
- What kind of technology is best for primary students?
- What are effective ways of using technology with primary students?
- What is an appropriate amount of screen time for students?
- Is screen time used for educational purposes different than screen time used playing games or watching videos?
- Which activities should we use technology for and which are better done the “traditional” way?
- What apps and web apps are developmentally appropriate for primary students to use?
- How much should students be connecting with others online?
- What does digital citizenship look like in primary?
I feel like this is a lot of questions, and I might need to focus in a bit, but I am looking forward to doing some research this week to find out more about these topics.
