Learning Log #4 Supporting Literacy with Learning Technology: Web tools

Teacher Librarians and Supporting Literacy with Web Tools 

Module 8

This module  allowed me to "play" with the numerous web tools within the lens of a teacher librarian while considering their useful and meaningful application towards the 21st century learning needs of students and unique needs of our Montessori school in Victoria.  Remembering that, "Understanding the conceptual ideas around a tool is just as important as the tool itself".(Valenza)

CURATION:

As noted in  by Valenza; Curation situations: let us count the ways. School Library Journal.  curation can mean many things from, "managing stuff","...quickly find, sort and re-organize information I want to share"  to "marketing services and resources creating entry points to collection and sharing news.". After reading her blog; I created a pearltrees.com/learningconstruct free account and tried it out as I noticed she had embedded it in her blog on OER sites. It was easy to begin and I plan on delving further in playing with it . I was able to embed this within my Symbaloo webmix under reference/search. The basic is free but premium costs a non disclosed amount.

I choose to curate using  the free version of symbaloo.com I have not used it before and it appeared as a straight forward one place bookmarking tool to access curated tools. I felt a little confused with the ads popping up but appreciate that I had time to utilize this tool with the goal of having some proficiency in its usage when approached by students and teachers .This tool is useful in supporting them in curating  around their specific interests/curriculum and collaborating with resources in inquiry based themes.

Symbaloo; I learned also has learning paths where students go to one page and follow  along the links embedded  with lessons and quizzes on a particular theme.  As well as tiles that are embedded within to other Symbaloos including pre made public ones. I appreciated that their were privacy and control over content options and that webmixes could be streamed to mobile phones which could be handy in the staffroom with colleagues when collaborating or adding a tile link.

BELOW ARE MY WEBMIXES:CURATED 

https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/ebooks-text

https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/creativeconstructions

www.symbaloo.com/mix/inquirybased

https://www.symbaloo.com/mix/reference-search

I categorized my tile choices under the curation categories as :

REFERENCE/SEARCH

INQUIRY BASED

CREATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS

E-BOOKS/TEXT

When making selections I considered my schools demographics and Montessori philosophy of student centered/led learning  embracing students holistically with authentic meaning making of discovery where peers often learn from their peers in a mixed aged classes and teachers are more facilitators/mentors in scaffolding learning/teaching. My school is in an urban place in Victoria near the ocean gorge area and we have 3 classes of preschool ages children  3-6 ,then mixed grades to grade 8. We have a variety of ethnicities and religions represented from across Victoria. I considered the cost factor as well as I know especially because of COVID precautions we have limited extra funds.

As I checked out these tools I began to consider how I would categorize them. I found that there was a lot of overlap within present/publish and creative design categories and I decided that I would go with more encompassing curation under CREATIVE CONSTRUCTIONS.  As Milton and Oakley noted in Engaging students in inclusive literacy learning with technology. "creating is expressive meaning making".  In particular I considered the multi modal tools such as Powtoon the digital cartoon storyboards and infographics such as Piktochart and Canva. with  text and visuals. In checking out these tools I thought about whether it had the potential to be open ended with evolving creativity that builds upon itself in many forms and continues to ask questions moving towards higher order problem solving/questions.  I also considered how the tool fits within our schools android Google classroom platform that is utilized. Our school doesn't support Apple and students cannot bring their own devices including their personal cell phones so app only tools would not be useful beyond the teacher utilizing it. I also thought about how it can be used in interaction/collaboration learning, formative assessment ways to enhance students learning. The tools were also evaluated based on creativity  meaning making/interaction with others  in relationships. For example, Padlet has multiple uses beyond curation to  construction of formative and summative  knowledge learned as well as collaboration uses. Click here for more by Iona,Padlet. School Librarian,   I agree with Iona that aligning digital with print based  resources provides greater scaffolding and meets differential learner preferences; Iona states "traditional print based and newer digital literacy skills and practices are best taught together in a parallel or integrated fashion".

  In the Inquiry workflow as a TL I would provide reference/fact based resources meeting the CRAP criteria and information literacy skills in recognizing fake/bias news. Then combined with prior understanding and gathering of authentic information(connect and wonder) to extend investigation asking higher order analysis, evaluative questions(Blooms taxonomy) and how to solve problems (construct/create)that is often not a singular answer(as opposed to closed learning  with low level thinking )but making inter connections with others and connecting topics to the big themes while learning/collaborating from and with students , teachers, TL's and our local as well as global community.(Reflection and express) Based on the 5 point BCTLA inquiry model As a TL I want to to be a champion for creativity , open mindedness and Inquiry based learning so this would drive my digital tool(and print)  curation choices.  I view this infographic on digital literacy as a  progressive framework for myself and my students continually being open to  evaluate tools for accessibility/distribution then having the opportunity to use it, understand it and create with in moving from opportunity to competence.(BCTLA)

 

Pedologically as a Montessori educator I believe in the inquiry based learning/teaching discovery way of learning  using students internal motivation so I decided on INQUIRY BASED for a curation category. Key is providing a variety of formats to meet differential learning needs as well as growing in digital literacy competence so I was excited to find visual literacy inquiry tools such as Pobble 365 with a thought provoking photograph  each day with writing prompts  and the New York Times "What's going on in this picture? " is an excellent visual hook.  For example I decided against Starfall tool based on these criteria.

 I was excited to add primary  sourced information such as the archives of the Royal BC  museum and the  visual History Pin with  real images comparing past to present with a map and write up. Looking into where students live and what it looked like is especially interesting to begin a local inquiry. howstuffworks.com I also appreciated because it was free and used  higher order questioning format(why,how etc) which is enticing to students to begin their inquiry. Another free site that used the questioning format is .wonderopolis.org/what-are-you-wondering where you can pose questions as well as have questions answered with highlighted vocabulary and hyperlinks for further inquiry.

 I found in a few cases such as VI -Wilds a UVIC  generated website on Vancouver Islands Historical communities ,island wildlife, FN communities, unique landscapes and vulnerable ecologies that it could be placed in the reference/search category with its  one page encyclopedia like write ups/facts and lists but also extended as a jumping off hook for further  deeper inquiry. For example choosing a historical community like Port Hardy then delving into why it has declined in population etc, For an audio visual tool I checked out Flipgrid  and joined which was free for  1GB. I appreciated the discovery topics with built in for starter/hook discussions as well as the collaborative option of starting a topic(I prefer theme to get to the bigger picture) and then students can use joiner code to add their short videos. I can see how you would have to pay for the upgrade if  this happened a lot and the cost is 65$ per class or $1000 per school, so we can use only the premade topics. 

. 

 I used REFERENCE/SEARCH then to separate the information gathering of credible, relevant facts/understanding  using the CRAP criteria and search engines that meet specific needs. Students and teachers need reliable and age appropriate websites at their reading level to begin their inquiries. I choose Duck Duck Go because it doesn't track your searches and child friendly sites such as KidRex and Kiddle pictorial  digital encyclopedia  because we have a large population of younger students as well as the more specific localized digital  BCEncyclopedia .Recognizing Indigenous people were here first I included the  Native map as well which includes where residential schools used to be.

I made a separate category for e books/text after understanding how important deep reading of literature and non fiction for empathy as well as pleasure  free choice reading is so providing quality sites to obtain audio, audiovisual and digital text provides multi modal options for students. I found that Tumblebooks now was very costly at $799/yr but free with a GVPL library card so that's the best way to access it.  I also checked Scholastic but it was a bundle database and would be too expensive.

Conclusion: 

Upon deeper consideration I realized that there could be an overlap of some tools depending on how their used such as Glogster $39 per year. Glogster provides an  interactive multi media poster  and content that can be a space for formative inquiry learning as well as a creative construction  as a summative poster of new knowledge constructed through the inquiry process. Another one was the Sports for Life playbuilder tool  and resources. The Playbuilder allows registered users to design and share lessons(creative constructions in physical literacy) and use  700 premade lessons/games. It also could be used as a site for further inquiry into PHE and physical literacy with its resources.

By taking some time to investigate and gather/organize resources with common purpose/usage into curated categories  so that when approached by a stake holder as a TL  I can be of assistance as well as asking then what has worked for them.  Valenza's stepping stones of  building collateral impacts gives TL's a  helpful framework progressing collecting ,connecting, curating and contributing. The goal being students scaffolding towards independent workflow.

I spoke to our IT specialist for digital story telling and he said he recommends Google slide and Screencastify which I then looked into because I had not thought of these. I would also say ask for and use your students as sounding boards  and for their  help using tools; students need to know we do not have all the answers and we are always learning and growing. Our role when curating digital tool is keeping the key criteria in mind continually evaluating and weeding tools that meet your schools goals as well as their usefulness in meeting your unique schools learning needs. Valenza summarized our purpose in Curation Situations that "When librarians model and guide curation, they build more independent, agile learners capable of building learning networks, telling powerful stories and carving out their own information niche".

References:

Milton, Marion (ed.)  & Oakley, G. (2017). Engaging students in inclusive literacy learning with technology.Links to an external site. Inclusive Principles and Practices in Literacy Education, Emerald Publishing Limited. (pp. 159-176).

PLAYBuilder - School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in BC. School Physical Activity and Physical Literacy in BC. (2020). Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://schoolpapl.ca/professional-development/playbuilder/.

Iona, J. (2018). Padlet. School Librarian, 66(1), 22. Retrieved from: https://courses.library.ubc.ca/i.KtbRFR

Valenza, Joyce.  (July 5, 2017). Curation situations: let us count the ways. School Library Journal.  Retrieved from: http://blogs.slj.com/neverendingsearch/2017/07/05/curation-situations-let-us-count-the-ways/ (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.)

Garden, H. (2020). HowStuffWorks - Learn How Everything Works!. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 1 November 2020, from https://www.howstuffworks.com/.

Miller, S.  shannon. miller@vmbulldogs. co. (2014). Library, ClassroLinks to an external site.om, Links to an external site.and Community Meet with SymbalooLinks to an external site.. School Library Monthly,30(5), 36–38

Schwartz, Katrina.  (2016, June 22).  Librarian approved: 30 ed-tech apps to inspire creativity and creation.  Retrieved from:  https://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2016/06/22/librarian-approved-30-ed-tech-apps-to-inspire-creativity-and-creation/