Final Reflection

As the semester comes to a close, and I reflect on all the things that I have learned in this course, I am excited to bring everything I've learned back to my school and staff. I learned about a multitude of new tech tools that can be utilized in the library or classroom. Although I was already familiar with some of the tools, I still learned new ways to use and work with them. I have created a short film listing my top 5 takeaways from the semester. You can view it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5aTWjxizR0

Podcasts

Podcasts have been around for a while, but I personally don't have a lot of experience with them. I have listened to a few for different assignments over the years, but that's about it. There are many educational podcasts that would be great to use in the classroom or library. For this assignment, I explored a few popular options for creating podcasts. 

Soundcloud

SoundCloud was easy to sign up for. I did have to verify my email account to get started with uploading. There was the option to sign in with Google, which may have been quicker. It gave me the option to upload up to 180 minutes on the free plan.  There are paid options that give you an ad-free experience and the ability to save tracks offline. 

Audioboom

Audioboom doesn't seem to have a free option for podcasters. I started out by downloading the app and recorded my podcast on there. When I tried to publish it, I was told that you can't publish without upgrading. I was a little worried, but when I visited the site, I saw that I could share my podcast on Facebook or Twitter and embed it on my blog. Using it through the app was super simple. 

Podomatic

This was my least favorite of the podcast sites. It didn't seem to be as user-friendly when it came to recording. It does have an app available which simplifies the uploading process if you record using your phone. 

Here is the podcast that I created using Audioboom. One of the elementary libraries in my district recorded a different person reading a bedtime story each night for National Young Reader's Week. I decided to jump on board and read Pig the Pug. 

Cartoons & Comics

Comics are a great way to enhance learning in the classroom or library. You can use them for instructional purposes, to create fun reminders, or even tell jokes. Students can also use them as a creative way to express what they have learned. 

Toondoo

In all honesty, I struggled with this one. There were so many options, that it was a bit overwhelming. I would get an idea of what I wanted to create but couldn't find all the clip art needed, or manipulate the characters in the way I needed. I did find that you can change the expressions of some characters, but there weren't many possibilities. Once I finally finished my comic, I couldn't find a way to save it to my computer. It only allows you to save your comic on the site. I used a snipping tool to capture and crop the screenshot of the comic. 

Pixton

I found Pixton to be much more user-friendly. There are numerous content-related templates that would be a wonderful tool for teachers to create comics for the classroom. I chose to start a comic from scratch. I felt like this was much easier to use than ToonDoo. I liked that I could change the facial expressions and manipulate the characters' body. There were a lot of options to choose from. I also liked that I could delete objects from the backgrounds. It did allow me to email the comic, but I couldn't print or download it without upgrading to a paid subscription.

MakeBeliefsComics

I like that you don't have to register for an account to create comics on this site. This site was the most simplified of the three that I explored. It had the least amount of backgrounds, characters, and props to choose from. It was difficult finding backgrounds and characters that made sense together. I think this site would be most appropriate for younger students. This was the only site that allowed me to save and print my comic. 

Overall, I think these sites would be great resources for teachers and students. These would be a great tool to use for students to creatively write. They can create a comic to summarize a scene from a book or identify key points. They could also create a comic to explain a math operation or steps in a scientific process. I would love to share these sites with my teachers during their planning meeting next six weeks so that they can start using them and allow their students to unleash their creativity. 

YouTube, Animoto, & QR Codes

YouTube

Channel 1: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheNHSLibrary/videos

• Video that is most helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BezObVKkqOo
• Research can be difficult and frustrating if you don't know how to use the resources. This video is helpful because it teaches students how to use EBSCOHost. 

• Video that students will like the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NeUhXLvFAi4
• Who doesn't love their school mascot?!?! This fun video shows the school mascot exploring the library. 

Channel 2: https://www.youtube.com/user/theunquietlibrary/videos

• Video that is most helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJGWJsuSRRk
• This video teaches students how to use multiple resources including Destiny and Britannica. While it is geared towards a particular project, students can still apply this knowledge to other research and projects. 
• Video that students will like the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Q7RjsFNFRs
• Students will enjoy seeing new books available in the library. The music is catchy and upbeat, and the video is short enough to keep their attention. 

Channel 3: https://www.youtube.com/user/pikesvillehslibrary/videos

• Video that is most helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esKCAk_t6v0
• Financial aid is important to all students nearing graduation. This video will help students understand the various ways that they can get money for college. 
• Video that students will like the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJGWJsuSRRk
• Students always enjoy seeing themselves and their classmates acting silly. 

Channel 4: https://www.youtube.com/user/bbmsmedia/videos?disable_polymer=1

• Video that is most helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T-QyQMS8H4
• This is a great video, because it introduces students to the media center and teaches them how to use it. 
• Video that students will like the best: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivht6CPe1Ek
• This channel has a lot of great parodies that I'm sure students will love. I picked this as my favorite because Star Wars is so popular right now. 
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIpc4Hnj_HU This is a great musical parody by the same channel.

If your school blocks YouTube, don't fret. Here are some great alternatives: https://www.freetech4teachers.com/p/alternatives-to-youtube.html

YouTube videos are a great way to promote the library through book trailers, parodies, and videos of student activities. It is also a great teaching tool to help students understand how to use the online catalog, research databases, and more. 

Animoto

Animoto is a great site/app that allows teachers and students to create videos with photos, text, and music. There is a free subscription, but you can also pay to upgrade your account and access more features. Teachers can sign up for a free Educator's Account, which will allow you to create longer videos. 

Here is an example of a book trailer I created: https://animoto.com/play/UoxFRi8z6P48BmXbEU3Xmw

Synopsis: Rose Howard has OCD, Asperger's syndrome, and an obsession with homonyms (even her name is a homonym). She gave her dog Rain a name with two homonyms (Reign, Rein), which, according to Rose's rules of homonyms, is very special. Rain was a lost dog Rose's father brought home. Rose and Rain are practically inseparable. And they are often home alone, as Rose's father spends most evenings at a bar, and doesn't have much patience for his special-needs daughter.

Just as a storm hits town, Rain goes missing. Rose's father shouldn't have let Rain out. Now Rose has to find her dog, even if it means leaving her routines and safe places to search. Rose will find Rain, but so will Rain's original owners.

Hearts will break and spirits will soar for this powerful story, brilliantly told from Rose's point of view.

Use your QR reader to quickly access the book trailer for Rain Reign. 

QR Codes

QR codes can be used in a variety of ways both in and out of the classroom. 

• It is an easy way to direct students to a website without having to type in a long URL. 
• You can also create self checking task cards for student centers or enrichment. 
• You can print posters with QR codes to direct students to book trailers.
• QR codes can be used with Breakout EDU games to direct students to necessary information. 
• QR codes can be used to create classroom scavenger hunts. 

Screencasts & Instagram

As a librarian, I am always looking for new ways to share information with students, parents, and staff. One of my favorite tools is screencasting. It is a digital recording of your computer screen and is a great way to demonstrate how to use databases, navigate sites, or search the catalog. 

I have used Screencastify several times and find it really easy to use. I like that it is a Chrome extension, so it is easy to access without having to download software onto the school Chromebooks. It is free with limited options. Of course, you can always upgrade for more features. 


We recently switched our Chromebook reservation process, so I created a screencast using Screencastify to help my teachers learn how to use the new system. 

This was my first time using Screencast-o-matic. It was easy to use and I really liked that you can easily adjust the part of the screen that you want to record. It did require me to download software. 

My 5th graders are seriously into AR this year and constantly asking how many points their books are worth, so I used Screencast-o-matic to create a video teaching them how to look it up on their own. 

Instagram is another great tool for sharing information with students. You can share photos and videos of exciting things going on in your library such as new books, book trailers, makerspace activities, and details about upcoming events. I have had a personal account for awhile, but just created an account for my library. 

One great way to use Instagram in the library is to share information about upcoming events, such as Book Fairs.

View this post on Instagram

VMS Book Fair November 6th-13th in the Vidor High School library 📚

A post shared by Vidor Middle School Library (@vidorms_library) on Oct 20, 2018 at 8:30pm PDT

My teachers and students have been requesting more picture books, so I used Instagram to upload a video of some of the new books that I am adding to our collection. 

View this post on Instagram

Sneak peak of some of the new picture books coming to our library collection soon!

A post shared by Vidor Middle School Library (@vidorms_library) on Oct 20, 2018 at 8:45pm PDT

Overall, I think Instagram is a great way to keep everyone updated on the awesome things going on in the library. My only problem is remembering to use it on a regular basis. 

I see screencasts as being more of a teaching tool, but I can see myself using it frequently, especially for staff. It is easy to upload the videos to Google drive for easy access. 

Infographics

Infographics are a visual way to share information. The colorful arrangements grab the readers' attention better than a page full of text. There are several webapps that can help anyone create professional looking, visual projects with little experience. 

For this assignment, I experimented with Easel.ly, Piktochart, and Infogr.am. All of them offer upgraded versions, but I only worked with the free version. This was my first attempt at creating an infographic, but I found it to be fairly simple with the tools provided by each site. All three sites offer a variety of pre-made templates to start your project or you can create your infographic from scratch. They also allow you to adjust your colors and fonts and add images, charts, and maps. 

Easel.ly

I didn't really get to experiment with Easel.ly too much. The site kept crashing and honestly, it just didn't appeal to me as much as the other two. It didn't seem to have many choices when it came to creating charts 

Infogr.am

I really liked Infogr.am. I felt it was the easiest to navigate. It was simple to move my information boxes around, and it had a large variety of text templates. It also had the best variety of tables to choose from, however, I could not figure out how to get the full text to appear in my tables. This frustrated me, so I ended up abandoning my project and switching to Piktochart. 

Piktochart

This one was very frustrating to me at first. I gave it a second chance after having trouble with the text on my charts with Infogr.am. I was pleased to discover that Piktochart did not cut off my text, which made my charts easier to read. It doesn't give you much freedom as Infogr.am to change your background and text colors, so you're pretty much stuck with the basic themes. 

Overall, I preferred working with Infogr.am. I felt like it had the most options available and was the easiest to navigate. However, if you need to add a lot of text to your charts, Piktochart is a better option. 

Link to my infographic created using information from The Pew Research Center:

https://infogram.com/cyberbullying-among-teens-1h7j4dnxwqrx6nr?live

Facebook & Twitter

Facebook

Facebook is one of the largest social media sites with 1.8 billion active users worldwide. Facebook allows people to keep in contact with family and friends through status updates, photos, and videos. You can reconnect with old friends from school and meet new friends with common interests in groups. Over the last several years, Facebook has evolved to be used by many business owners, organizations, and schools. 

I did a search for "school library" to get a better idea of how school libraries are using Facebook. I found many local school library pages to explore. I noticed that many of them use their page to promote events such as book fair, share makerspace activities, highlight student club activities, and post library hours and important information. Even though the pages had many followers, I noticed that very few people comment, or even like the posts. It makes me wonder how many parents and students are really paying attention to the information shared. Exploring the library pages made me realize that like anything, there are advantages and disadvantages to libraries using Facebook pages. 

Advantages:

• Free platform to communicate with families
• Many people are already using Facebook
• Promote school and library events
• Share photos of what the students are doing in the library
• Share new books, makerspace tools, or technology
• Post library hours and schedule

Disadvantages:

• Not every family uses Facebook
• Time consuming to keep information up to date
• Followers often don't engage with the page through likes or comments

Twitter

Another popular social media network is Twitter. Unlike Facebook, tweets are limited to 280 characters. Twitter is used by many people to keep up with breaking news, entertainment, and politics. I have never been very comfortable with Twitter, but it is my goal to start using it more this year and become more familiar with this platform. For my assignment, I was given a list of people to follow and explore on Twitter. I hope that you'll find some new faces to follow as well. 

Kathy Schrock: @kathyschrock

Kathy Schrock is frequently posts about technology. She is definitely one for librarians to follow as we shift into a more tech driven school environment. However, her posts aren't solely directed at librarians. Much of the information she shares is relevant to the general public. I was excited to see this tweet about Microsoft Office. 

Linda Braun: @lbraun2000

Linda Braun is an educator, librarian, learning consultant, and a previous YALSA president. She frequently retweets YALSA and tweets about youth services. You can tell she is passionate about being a teen advocate. I personally liked this article that she shared about how libraries have transformed in this digital age to stay relevant. 

https://t.co/5pp2PeY3NN

David Warlick: @dwarlick

David Warlick's Twitter bio says that he's mostly retired. That makes sense, because most of his tweets are about nature, music, and politics, with a few tech tweets sprinkled in. 

The Daring Librarian: @GwynethJones

The Daring Librarian, Gwyneth Jones, is Future Ready Librarian and public speaker. She has a huge following, not just on Twitter, but also on other social media and her blog. She is extremely active, posting multiple times a day. She is a must follow for any librarian! I love that she uses her social media presence to get people involved through challenges like this post. 

Jim Lerman: @jimlerman

Jim Lerman is an educator, author, and speaker. He posts tips for using various forms of technology, tutorials, and many educational helps. He is very active, posting a couple times a day. He would be a great person for any educator to follow. I really enjoyed reading the article he shared about collaboration with librarians. 

https://t.co/UO9zgxILeX