Thinglink....Who would have thought it?

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Ever wonder if there was a simple tool to get your visual learners in the classroom to be able to share content with others in a creative and innovative way? 

If so, you may want to take a look at Thinglink. (https://www.thinglink.com)  Thanks to the information provided by Sue Gorman in her webinar presented by Illinois Computing Educators (ICE, for short), you can do just that. 

 

How are others using this tech?

Ms. Gorman’s presentation was an excellent mix of guidelines for selecting technology tools for the classroom (choose your learning goals, make practical pedagogical decisions about the nature of the learning experience and selecting and sequencing appropriate activity types to combine to form the learning experience), why we want student to create (to keep students thinking, communicating and invested) and examples of how current educators are using this particular technology tool in the classroom to get various types of learners engaged in the classroom.  Standouts from the presentation included blogs by Kathy Knutson (Technology is Loose in the Library at http://ohekidstech.blogspot.com/2014/03/kahoot-is-hoot-gamification-of-media.html) and Meghan Zigmond (Zig Zagging Through Education and Technology at http://zigzaggingedtech.blogspot.com/p/app-smashing.html) and Thinglink pages by Sue Oxnevad about SAMR models and Tim Nielson.  These examples were so great that I had to watch the webinar and then go back and find the blogs and pages so I could see what these tech savvy teachers were up to!

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Webinars: In general...

 What I like so much about webinars like these is that they give a brief look, not only at a technology that you may not know much about, but also a glimpse into how others in education are using it with students in innovative and creative ways.  Not only are the teachers in the examples that Ms. Gorman gives using this tool themselves as a fun and interactive way to teach, but they are modeling the behavior for students and providing them the opportunity to use the technology to share with their fellow students.  Thinglink is a great tool that can enable even the younger students (grades 2 and up) to take content and think outside the box.  They are taking information that they have found and making it their own.  What educator doesn’t love that?

How would I use it?

It’s easy, fun and sharable!  With that said….there is my first Thinglink!  I know it won’t be my last!
https://www.thinglink.com/scene/526407029573550081


Sources for Thinglink:
All book art from:  www.goodreads.com
Background Image:  http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=7685

Stages of Technology Integration

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Entry:  The Denial Stage…If I don’t acknowledge it, it is not happening. 

Adoption:  The Ok Stage…I will book my airline tickets, but that’s IT. 

Adaption:  The "My friend showed me this really cool presentation software.  I’ll give it a shot" Stage...  If I can’t get this to work, I can always go back to the overhead!

 

 

 

 

Ahhh....Those were the days!

It was back in 1982 when I remember seeing the neighbor’s Apple PC for the first time.   They were the first people I knew to have a computer in their house.  I remember thinking, “what are they going to do with that?”  I knew, from the school librarian, that you could play some games on them and that you could do word processing.  (In order to do anything, even run a game on a floppy, you had to be able to type some DOS.  If you messed anything up, it was a mess to fix!)  Computers back then were not nearly as intuitive as they are now and I think that stays with some people who did not grow up “digital natives”. 

The 21st Century

Thankfully, I believe that we are getting farther and farther away from the worries that came with those first PC’s and everyone (even my 79 year old mom) is getting more comfortable with technology.  It is really true that this is mostly due to technology getting more comfortable for us.  All you have to do is spend 5 minutes on an iPad and you have probably figured out how to play a game or look at pictures or find The Weather Channel.  Of course, there are some people, (like my dad who still has to call me when he presses the wrong button on the cable remote) for which, technology will remain a mystery, but those people are becoming few and far between.  

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Paving the Way

In my role as a school librarian, I expect to meet some resistance with regards to my colleagues when it comes to technology.  It only makes sense.  Just because I think something is terrific and will make the math teachers job easier doesn’t eliminate that learning curve for them.  I have heard many of my peers and professors say that when it comes to advocating for technology with teachers, less is more and that you have to just keep at it till you get some collaboration.  Many times, they say, you find a new teacher who is on board with you and then others may follow.  I am looking forward to that first tech collaboration and being able to help out a colleague.

Be Brave

For a lot of people who want to embrace technology, like myself, I think the best thing is to just “be brave”.  Don’t worry about messing things up.  Sometimes it is best to just jump in there and play around with whatever you are interested in doing.  Long gone are the days of DOS and worrying that if you type the wrong command you will never get your computer back.  You really can’t “break” modern technology, so just sticking with it can get you where you want to go and can actually be fun if you are in the right mindset.  I think this is where I am.  I might add a stage after adaption, like, experimentation:  the stage where you actually are figuring it all out on your own and having some fun with it!

Parents....Tech Time or Waste of Time?

http://www.tomorrow.org/

Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Survey: The Parent Gap

It’s not surprising, just ask anyone who has spent any amount of time around adolescents, that kids spend a lot of time with their eyes glued to a variety of screens.  They are watching videos, tutorials, gaming, reading on Kindles, connecting with friends on Instagram or Facebook or, occasionally, looking up information for schoolwork.  I know that it is not uncommon to find my own kids all in one room on different gaming systems or various devices.  Every once in a while they will comment on what the other is doing or point out something interesting that they think is amusing.  Announcements that dinner is ready usually bring on at least one heavy sigh.

What the Parent Participation may mean

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Maybe this is why none of the numbers involving student usage of technology that I saw in Project Tomorrow’s Speak Up Survey (http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/SU13DigitalLearningPlaybook_StudentReport.html) were really surprising.  What was surprising to me was the part of the research that discussed if administrators, teachers, parents and students were all on the same page in terms of what is important for the benefits of digital learning and how parents seemed, in most cases, to be the ones who were not on the same page as everyone else.  Especially when it comes to things like school wide internet access or 1:1 technology.  It makes me wonder if, perhaps, parents see their children’s technology usage at home and feel that they are getting enough of the benefits of technology outside of the classroom and therefore technology wise they are all set.  To me, it seems this is more than just a gap in what parents feel is important, but possibly in how their students will benefit from in school usage of technology and how that differs from their at home usage.  I think it could be easy for a parent to feel like their kid is spending a ton of time on their smartphone texting friends and feel that there is no benefit to this behavior in a school setting.

   I feel that this may be were it is important to educate parents a little on why tech use at home does not necessarily mean that students are equipped to utilize technology for research or assessment in school or in a later work environment.  (ie. Just because you can find hair and makeup tutorials on Youtube, doesn’t mean that you can find primary sources on the civil rights movement.)  Let’s face it, when your boss says, “I need a cost effective analysis on initializing assembly line robotics.” You want to be able to bring the most accurate, up to date information to the table and you need to know how to do that.

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I also wonder if parents don’t see the possibilities for the kind of digital use that their kids are already engaged in at home.

The Bottom Line?

It seems from the research that kids get it.  They understand that these skills are necessary and they know that it will make them more marketable when they are job searching.  It will make their research easier and more accurate and it will make it easier for them to communicate their findings to the decision makers in their career paths.  As educators, maybe we need to be doing more with technology in the classroom in order to advocate for the educational benefits of social media and internet usage to stakeholders like parents.  By showing them the positives of screen time, maybe, they can see that tech time is time well spent.

What am I doing here?

JUST A LITTLE SOMETHING ABOUT ME!

Hello.  I am Dawn Scuderi and I am in the final semester of my School Library Media Program in the Master’s of Library Science Program at Dominican University.  I have been in school for the last two years and am looking forward to getting into a library classroom in the Fall when I student teach. 

WHY DO I WANT TO BE A SCHOOL LIBRARIAN?

I didn’t always love to read.  In fact when I was really young, I didn’t have the patience for it, but when I got into forth grade I discovered science fiction.  I just loved it and still do to this day.  It wasn’t long after, I spent the whole summer riding my 10 speed to the public library and reading the whole “Sweet Valley High” collection.  (Talk about divergent taste!)

This is the just what the
original 1977 copy that
I stole from my brother
looked like!
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I think I read almost 100 of these in the
 Summer of 1982!
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So, now I am planning to share a wonderful world of reading with all the “kiddo’s” that I will be teaching.

What about the tech? 

That said, I had always had a struggle with technology.  I am not a “digital native”, or even close, but after a few experiences with middle school kids saying “Hey, have you guys every seen this?”…and them saying back “Have YOU ever seen THIS?”  I have begun to really enjoy it.  It can be creative and informative and put learning in a whole new perspective.  I am glad that the days of the basic assessment “term paper” are heading out the door and new and inventive ways of seeing what students know are coming in.  It’s an exciting time to be a teacher and a librarian!

Personally Speaking...

On a personal note, I have a wonderful and supportive husband named Joe.  He has been my partner in crime for 16 years.  He is a Director of an IT / Systems group.  He doesn’t always get the librarian stuff, but it has been fun to say “Look at my really cool iMovie or Prezi” and feel like I get to be a “techie” like him.

Goofy kids with their hands in their pajamas!

I am also pretty busy being the Mom to three kids:  Joe is 13, Kate is 12 and Nick is 8.  They are almost as proud of their Mom being in school as I am of them in general.   They keep me hopping with dance classes, soccer games, Boy Scout meetings and band concerts! 

That’s about it.  Thanks for reading and see you next week!