Final Reflection

As I reflect on this fast and furious summer session of Digital Technology for the School Librarian, I can truly say the content lived up to the name. I learned, used, analyzed and reflected upon a vast amount of technology tools and resources. Throughout the course, I strengthened technology skills I already had and gained new experiences as well. So where do I begin?

Blogging- 

I had a blog on Blogger before signing up for this course and was familiar with how to use it. I did how ever learn all of the additional ways it could be used in my role as a teacher librarian. After learning about Instagram, Vine, screencasts, podcasts and comics, I realized emedding and sharing these digital tools and how to use them would be beneficial for students, parents, co-workers and other educational professionals. Another aspect of blogging I learned was the use of blog readers. After exploring a few, I decided to use Feedly. It is such a fantastic tool to keep all of the blogs I follow accessible in one location. Genius!

Infographics- 

I have seen many infographics, and they are continuing to grow in popularity. I had never attempted to create one of my own. They look very simple and straightforward, but a lot more thought and planning go into creating them than I originally thought. A successful inforgraphic clearly represents selected information and the intended message, but it is attractive and pleasing to the eye at the same time. I used Easel.ly to create my first infographic. It is a great program with a large selection of templates to choose from. It was simple to use, had a great variety of tools and gave multiple options to store and share finished products. I will be using it in the future to advocate for the library, share information with patrons and create yearly reports. I also plan on teaching students how to create them to process and share information they learn and/or as a presentation tool for special projects.

YouTube- 

I thoroughly enjoyed exploring school YouTube channels. On those channels, I discovered all of the possibilities of having my own library channel could offer. Some of the videos I watched that I will definitely be using in the future include parodies of popular songs rewritten to communicate library expectations, deadlines or upcoming events, screencasts, book trailers and presentations.

QR Codes-

While I had seen QR Codes before, this was my first time creating one of my own. I think they will be great for adding to bookmarks for promoting a book of the month, special events like book fairs, for access to the library’s YouTube Channel, blog, website……Oh my, the possibilities!

Comics & Cartoons

 Comic books, graphic novels and manga are hot, hot, hot right now. Pixton and ToonDoo are great tools to use to jump in and create your own. I had so much fun playing and brainstorming with these programs. I will be using them to create comics about library expectations as well as to reinforce reading and language arts skills. I look forward to teaching students how to create their own too.

Instagram & Vine-

I think Instagram and Vine were the biggest surprise for me. I have seen plenty of them posted in various social media before, but I had never pondered how I could use them for and/or with my students. Once I started thinking about it, playing around with them and seeing how my fellow classmates were using them, a light bulb went off! I had so much fun thinking about promoting books, showcasing students, promoting the library and challenging students to create their own images and videos. So many ideas began swirling around in my brain I overwhelmed myself.

So while I am a bit traditional in my love for printed books and browsing bookshelves, I do see great value in the use of digital tools in the library. The way in which patrons search for, use and share information today has become heavily technology driven. As youth become increasingly immersed in digital tools, educators need to be proactive in teaching how to use these tools effectively and responsibly. I plan to use all of these digital tools I have just shared with you to hopefully spark a lifelong love of reading and information in my future students.