Creative Design and Technology
How does thoughtfully designed technology support a Learning Commons model?
The Learning Commons model for school libraries relies heavily on technology to support and engage learners and educators. While teacher librarians are not solely responsible for the technologies used within the Learning Commons framework, they play a critical role in determining the types of technologies used, how they are used and frequently are responsible for designing many of the technological elements used by staff and students. Today, more than ever before, teacher librarians must be flexible and well educated in theories of learning with technology, design of educational technologies and implementation protocols, as well as being able to work with district or school technology staff who are responsible for systems and maintenance. As part of my course work in EDES 501 (Exploration of Web 2.0), I created a blog, called Library Webspinning in which I reflected on both technologies used in school libraries and ongoing policy and education reforms which impact school libraries. I have continued to write (sporadically) in the blog, but growth has been limited due to time pressures of UBC MET course work. Blog writing is actually one of my favourite things to do. It allows me to express my opinion with substantiation and draw others into conversation. It also allows me to vent when I might not have teacher librarian colleagues around to sympathize. Writing satisfies my deep creative need and I find myself losing track of time as I search for just the right phrasing to express an idea. I have used my own blog writing as an example for students in collaborative projects and students who have taken W2CR.
For a teacher librarian, there are two main considerations in technology related to the Learning Commons to ensure that the school community is well served. The first consideration will be the actual operating systems and hardware available to the Commons. The second consideration will be the software and applications which will best meet the on-going learning and teaching needs of the community. It is essential that, as an administrator, the teacher librarian is constantly evaluating how these systems work independently and together, and whether newer technologies may need to be considered. (Bates and Poole, 2003.) Because cost consideration is essential when hoping to sustain a Learning Commons, an open source operating system, such as Linux decreases technology costs. A drawback, however, is that it is essential to have dedicated staff who are very knowledgeable about programming to maintain and integrate all of the various components of a Linux open source system. Considering that one of the goals of a Learning Commons is to have teams of experts working together to serve the community, (Loertscher, Koechlin and Zwaan, 2011.) an open source system encourages this type of partnership and by being open source reflects a more open philosophy of learning and technology, versus the Apple and Microsoft systems which are proprietary and designed for profit. Despite the desire for open source, it is important for teacher librarians to explore new technologies and be comfortable working in and designing materials for various systems. To that end, I was able to convince my principal and the district technology administrator that having a Macbook, iPad and Apple TV for our school library would enable us to host presenters more easily and would also allow us to experiment with these tools so we would be in a better position to assist students and teachers.
For my final course, ETEC 510 (Design of Education Technologies) my group chose to create an e-textbook for the iPad using iBook Author software for the Macintosh. While ebooks designed through iBook Author are meant to work specifically with the graphic user interface of iPads, they can be downloaded as PDF's. They would still have all the content and could be read on other e-reader devices or on computers. Our goal was to enable adult and student learners alike with the affordances of an interactive textbook and to attempt this with the relatively new software that had been created by Apple. (Anderson, 2008) It was an interesting experience and surprisingly easy to embed interactive widgets into course materials, thereby making courses more personalized and even open to student input and redesign, depending on the course. To ensure that our e-textbook on how to create e-textbooks would have a community of practice as a professional development experience, we added a supplemental wiki where teachers and designers could assist each other and find further resources to help design course materials specific to subject areas taught at the secondary level. As I had the most experience in working with wikis, I volunteered to work on this piece of the project, as well as the key concepts and research rationale.
For my final course, ETEC 510 (Design of Education Technologies) my group chose to create an e-textbook for the iPad using iBook Author software for the Macintosh. While ebooks designed through iBook Author are meant to work specifically with the graphic user interface of iPads, they can be downloaded as PDF's. They would still have all the content and could be read on other e-reader devices or on computers. Our goal was to enable adult and student learners alike with the affordances of an interactive textbook and to attempt this with the relatively new software that had been created by Apple. (Anderson, 2008) It was an interesting experience and surprisingly easy to embed interactive widgets into course materials, thereby making courses more personalized and even open to student input and redesign, depending on the course. To ensure that our e-textbook on how to create e-textbooks would have a community of practice as a professional development experience, we added a supplemental wiki where teachers and designers could assist each other and find further resources to help design course materials specific to subject areas taught at the secondary level. As I had the most experience in working with wikis, I volunteered to work on this piece of the project, as well as the key concepts and research rationale.
Equally important for teacher librarians are the new multimedia tools which can draw patrons into the reading experience or the story-telling experience. Learning Commons continue to serve a vital role in building literacy at all levels and a major part of drawing patrons into new literacy experiences is reader advisory. EDES 501 (Resources for Children and Young Adults) encouraged us to evaluate a wide variety of materials for school libraries and utilize new means of both evaluating (publicly) and promoting materials to patrons. These practical skills are demonstrated through the Voicethread in which I analyzed the illustrations of prolific children's author, Patricia Polacco, and in the Animoto video Book Trailer promoting the young adult's book, The Droughtlanders. Both of these projects took significant time to complete, as both web-based programs were new to me, but have proved incredibly beneficial, as I have continued to use both of these tools to share my own learning in the MET program and as tools to be shared with students and colleagues for use in their own projects.
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References:
Anderson, T. (2008). Towards a theory of online learning. In Theory and practice of online learning (2nd ed.). Retrieved February 25, 2013, from http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008
Bates, A. W. (2003). A framework for selecting and using technology. In G. Poole (Ed.), Effective teaching with technology in higher eduction: Foundations for success (pp. 75-105). New York, NY: Wiley, John, & Sons.
Loertscher, D. V., Koechlin, C., & Zwaan, S. (2011). The new learning commons where learners win!: Reinventing school libraries and computer labs (2nd ed.). Salt Lake City, UT: Hi Willow Research & Publishing.
Mac, C. (2007). The droughtlanders. Toronto, ON: Puffin Canada.