When pondering what possible obstacles, barriers and resistance I will most certainly encounter in the near future, I can’t help but include myself in the mix. The moments of frustration I experience with technology are frequent and evident as one can note in many a post on this blog. Sometimes I do want to throw in the towel and just rely on what I know will work: a white board, markers, textbooks, pens, pencils, paper. You get the point. It’s comfortable, it’s what I know and it’s reliable. Using good old paper and pen is not a bad thing. It will happen and that is ok. Variety is the spice of life. I can’t imagine living in “The Brave New World” of the Steve Jobs schools. But what I also can’t imagine is not embracing what is and making the most sincere efforts to meet people where they are at.

The “people” I am referring to for my future vision project are my students. Although I occasionally envision myself as my own barrier to digital technology, I do know that I have an openness and willingness to learn and advance in digital territories. It is my students’ reality to turn to the online world to locate and access the information they need so it only makes sense to me that I include a digital platform in my teaching practice. Hence the birth of my class website/blog. It is a real thing that now exists, will be tended to, will evolve and will be well used (at least by me and my students). I am also looking forward to my website/blog taking lots and lots of baby steps during the school year and morph into something more collaborative and interactive.

I will not be the only obstacle I encounter along my travels. In my role as a teacher-librarian I am often reminded of the fact that the more than 100 classroom teachers in my school are all situated at varying levels of “embrace” when it comes to digital technology. There are many colleagues who still resist using BCESIS to input their marks. They prefer to remain with formats that are familiar to them whether that means using the old system, Integrade, or hard copy mark books and then entering final marks into BCESIS because they have no other choice. Suggesting to these teachers that they might want to consider using Padlet, Twitter or you name it for a project would be way beyond what they can imagine right now. So I again reiterate that I need to meet my colleagues where they are at. I don’t interpret their unwillingness to venture into new, digital territory as resistance. I see it as feeling very unprepared for it. Many a successful collaboration with the TL in my school has opened up the reluctant teacher’s eye to using digital technology simply because they have had a support system in place and some additional time to absorb the new knowledge. For these teachers, I can actually be that technological support and help them advance even if ever so slightly.

On the other end of the spectrum, I have colleagues who are far more advanced in their comfort level and daily usage of digital technology in both their professional and personal lives. Thankfully, they are more than willing to meet me where I am at and are therefore my support system probably more often than they would like!

All this to say that I recognize that I have my own blind spots and blindsight but I hope that I will be able to make conscious decisions to not be my own digital technology barrier and that I will be able to modify my behaviours as I uncover and remain aware of the hidden biases that I am holding onto.

I am not singing the praises of Google sites right now. It’s been a long and frustrating afternoon and evening. I have gone down two different Google site paths in the attempt to create a website that is supposed to enhance the participants’ learning and connectivity. Well, the “creator” can’t even seem to create, therefore the participants are going to have a bit of a tricky time doing that learning, collaborating, connecting thing. To top off my rather technologically challenging day, I decided to turn to this Teacher’s Guide to Google Sites for assistance. This particular line stung just a tiny bit, “A site can be created  for a class within a couple of minutes using templates for different pages and without the need for advanced technology knowledge.” Really? A couple of minutes?

Needless to say, I’m not feeling terribly inspired at this very moment. I truly believed I was going to take massive strides today in getting the website to a place where all I had left to do was fine tune a few things and then move on to looking at all the wonderful ways I can use this platform to augment the learning experience of those connected to the site (mine included).

I suppose I could end things on a brighter note and remember what stage I’m at here. I need to consider these aspects:

Why will students and/or parents be visiting the class website? There are obvious reasons such as accessing information on homework, assignments, and being able to download handouts. We will also be creating a community where we can share what happens in the class with each other, the school community and parents/family. Again, my main goal for creating this website/blog is to have access to information and to connect the participants to the classroom community.

I actually learned a bit more than I am giving myself credit for today. I figured out how to edit the header and move pages around. And I uncovered a gazillion different fonts whereas yesterday I had come to the conclusion that I only had access to five fonts. Progress, but oh so slow. No two minute learning curve here!

As I write this, I do realize that I am in the throes of experiencing what many a colleague experiences. And I am sure that our students go through similar hair-yanking moments when trying to master a new online resource. I get it. But sometimes it’s best to leave things be until tomorrow and I know that that is what I must do now for no more progress is about to be made tonight.

A tired and frustrated AM who is moving on to other homework now.

The decision has been made! I am building my website/blog with Google sites.  The decision to use a Google site was made primarily because my colleague with whom I will be collaborating extensively uses this platform and so it made sense to me to use the same one. Google sites are not entirely foreign land to me. I set up and used a Google site for a previous course but its purpose was limited to being a parking space for my assignments. I in no way collaborated or shared the site with anyone other than my instructor. The design considerations were of the most basic nature: colour(s), font and ease of access to assignments submitted pretty much sum it up .

Embarking on my “Future Vision Project” with Google sites is a whole different and exciting story. This is going to be a website that will serve many purposes and what follows is a bit of a brainstorm I did in class today with my inquiry group.

How can I use my classroom/website to enhance learning, sharing, collaborating?

• Google site will be my platform – highly collaborative and most students in my school already use Google docs which is so awesome for collaboration
• facilitates communication between the students and teacher (need to incorporate a blog widget)
• transparency of what is going on in the class (parents, colleagues, admin can check in any time they like)
• students can share their work with others in the class, the school, the world (authentic audience/authentic feedback)
• students can have their own blog/website that will be linked to class site (will serve as their digital portfolio)
• need to consider who has access to site, privacy issues, who can comment, edit etc.
• a list of resources has no life, people talking about a resource gives it a life
• OER = Open Educational Resources

Status update as of 8:18pm on Monday, July 15, 2013…the site has been created but am still trying to figure out the layout. I know how to add the blog feature, add posts etc. but still not sure how to get that blog scrolling on the home page of the website. Don’t really love the background I have chosen and feel like I only have five choices for the font. I’m feeling kind of restricted with this platform when I compare it with what I have seen on Weebly. There is no sense of defeat however! I am looking at tutorials and by doing I am learning. And frankly, this is what it is all about!

At the end of week 2 I’ve decided that my key word to describe the week is going to be “exposure.”

Where I was:

Like many of us have mentioned, I felt like I had a decent grasp on technology and even said in one of my postings that I wasn’t afraid of technology when I started this course. That still holds true today but I was frankly exhausted last week. I had fallen to over-exposure and that’s not a bad thing. It actually represents the reality in which we all live given the multitude of information available to us and thrown at us at every turn. We  looked at social media resources, Web 2.0 resources, we gathered, we searched, we created discussion forums and we tweeted loud and clear. It was kind of frantic and invigorating all at the same time. Bottom line is that I felt submerged in information overload. But, I was trusting the process.

Where I’m at:

Now my head is filled with lots of wordy terms I’ve been exposed to and they hold meaning to me although I probably won’t be rolling “sociocultural homeostasis” and “institutional isomorphism” off my tongue at any given time with ease. The lectures, the Mindmeisters we built together, the discussion forums we all contributed to, the 10 Minutes of Fame presentations and most importantly, the face to face collaborative work in our inquiry groups represent where I am at today. Everything we have discussed, built and mulled over this week has made me feel truly connected. Truly connected to an inspiring and forward thinking group of people who are not afraid. I am even starting to believe that “we are all leaders” and as I write this I see Jenny holding her arms up in the air. She is our biggest cheerleader.

Right now, I feel ok about having been exposed to so much in such a short period of time. Jorden said it today when she mentioned that there were certain social media or online resources shared in class that she knows she simply won’t use. We can’t possibly do it all. What is important is that we remain open to exploring and we embrace the resources we feel can work for us and we know why we are using what we are using.

Where I am going:

First of all, I am preparing to expose my classmates to yet another online resource which they may or may not find relevant to their particular context. The inner workings of setting up a class website/blog are definitely going to become a reality for me and I’m excited about that. The collaboration I will embark on with my inquiry group has me totally psyched to forge ahead and discover, learn and build. I am looking forward to creating and contributing!

(Thank you Naomi, for helping me figure out how to embed this infographic in my post.)

I didn’t really think of it today when we were in the throes of searching for websites that could be relevant to world libraries but then I realized that I am always the “searcher” and rarely the one contributing to those who are searching the world wide web. So today really opened my eyes up to these three things:

• access to technology (the internet ) should be a basic human right for without it we cannot fully participate in nor take advantage of the opportunities and knowledge provided by our global online world
• access to the internet is a privilege, as is contribution, and we should partake of both
• access and contribution to “world libraries” needs to be integrated into my class website/blog and our library website

There is a lot to sink one’s teeth into. The great thing about today’s search on world libraries is that it brought about a deep awareness, for me, of social injustice with regards to those “who have” and those “who don’t have” free access to the internet. Examples of organizations fighting to change that are the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, IREX and Beyond Access.

As a leader of cultural change, I can seek ways to get my school community to contribute to the fight and bring about change. We can contribute to the global voice by partnering with other schools and with public libraries to build initiatives that would create opportunities for “have not” communities to gain free access to computers and the internet. This sounds like the beginnings of a school club where we could look for ways to fundraise for a particular community to bring technology and training to them.

This course has forced me to be a daily contributor to an entity that lives forever, in a digital format, that the world could potentially have access to. It has taken me some time to get used to this daily online participation as face to face settings are more my comfort zone when it comes to interacting with people. I have definitely been more of a voyeur in the online world yet if I am to be a part of this global community and world library, I feel I should be able to freely access its offerings but should also provide worthy contributions. What those contributions could be are still unclear but things that come to mind are sharing lesson/unit/project plans that I/my colleagues/our students have created and developing partnerships with other schools and school libraries to create a buddy system where students and teachers mentor those who may just be entering the world of technology.

The class website/blog and our library website need to be interactive and collaborative. I want an abundance of information to be available for the accessing but want to ensure that opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way exist as well.

What stood out for me the most today was the examination of the linguistic cognitive domain. These are the notes I took today on that particular topic:

Linguistic cognitive domain

We link to each other and to ourselves through language. We explain things to ourselves through language. We use language to explain to somebody what we need them to understand. Recognize the impact our words have on others. Our words really matter. Even when we say nothing we are making a non-contribution.

We can be conscious of our language and how it influences things. When supporting teachers’ ICT – our language will make teachers feel comfortable and want to participate in the discussion or not. Go from what could be a confrontation to collaboration. We need the connection. Remember to meet their needs for safety and trust and bring your colleagues on the journey along with you.

How will my final project connect with the people I want to connect with?

My thoughts on my notes:

I recognize that I have a strong desire to be one of the leaders in my school when it comes to ICT development but I also realize that I sometimes feel intimidated to take on that role. We have over 100 teachers in our school so you can well imagine that there is great variation in where everyone is at when it comes to ICT. The one thing I do know is that we are super fortunate to have a very collaborative environment in our school (at least from my perspective and personal experience). As mentioned previously, we have teachers who embrace ICT whole heartedly and generously give of their time and expertise to those of us request their assistance. And like many other school environments, we have colleagues who hesitate to take the plunge into ICT.

Where do I situate myself amongst my colleagues? It reminds me of our first day in this class when I put myself right in the middle of the pack to show where I felt I stood when it came to technology. I believe I have accurately positioned myself. As a teacher-librarian and classroom teacher I find myself leading somewhat to those who feel even less confident about technology than I do but I also feel fortunate to be led by others. I am speaking honestly when I say that I am part of a very collaborative environment. People have been extraordinarily good to me and I hope that part of the reason for that is that I have been able to meet my colleagues where they are at and they have been able to do likewise with me. Here is where I feel that my attitude, the way I communicate or don’t communicate, and the words I choose are instrumental in the relationships I have developed and will contribute greatly to the ICT development journey that I and my colleagues are on.

Other class notes:

• leading cultural change in schools
• incorporating cultural change into inquiry design

Autopoesis – self creating

living organism – ecological beings – connected – we cannot disconnect

Structural coupling

How we connect to our environment. Goes on continuously. Environment constantly changing and we are constantly modifying our connections. In human beings this is always happening cognitively, culturally and technologically.

Our need, in order to exist, to initiate and sustain connections.

A lot of “orphan projects” created by teachers live out there.

Lots of food for thought after today’s analysis of a few wordy terms:

• Institutional Isomorphism
• Sociocultural Homeostasis
• Conservative Dynamicism

I wasn’t sure where it was all going at first but as Jenny brought these terms to life and then back to relatable, real life situations, certain statements had me thinking.

The institution within which we work is constantly shaping us. There is no doubt that we have to adapt to the environment we work in each and every day. But how much does this environment push us to move forward or hold us back? Perhaps we are surrounded by a lot of “Debbie Downers” who throw their hands up in frustration at the first sign of technological dysfunction. If we allow ourselves to be “shaped” by this socio cultural environment then, we too, have the potential to fall into a state of paralysis where we no longer seek change or fight for the basic minimum (I’m speaking in terms of technology here) to allow us to flourish in our professional lives.

So I left today’s class thinking about my school and how I might be influenced or influence the members of my school community when it comes to using technology. I was on the Technology Committee last year and that was really a great way to tap into what the challenges were, what resources students and teachers had access to, what resources were lacking and what plans the VSB had in store to attempt to meet the needs of our so-called 21st century schools and their learners.

As one of three teacher-librarians in my school, I deal with technology and with teachers’ successes and frustrations with technology on a daily basis. I always feel super motivated by the teachers who are on the leading edge of technology as they are seemingly unafraid to incorporate it at every possible turn and seem so comfortable (how do they do that?). I also encounter many teachers who are super resistant to relying on technology in any way shape or form. So one of the key things I walked away with today was to be aware of the influences within my institution. I think I have a natural tendency to lean towards my colleagues who embrace technology wholeheartedly because I know I can learn so much from them and embark on some pretty extraordinary collaboration. And when it comes to the “Negative Nancys”…I am going to think positive, display an upbeat attitude towards technology (even if I might be feeling super frustrated too) and be that person who is fiercely advocating for improvements in this area. So does that make me an Ambitious Anne-Marie? Nothing wrong with ambition, is there?