My Vision for Learning in the 21st Century

Developing a Digital Resource for 21st Century Learning

(Academic Styles, 2015)

When I was a first year university student I did not feel as though high school prepared me for the rigours of academic writing, especially when it came to researching and citing sources. I actually failed my first English paper because I hadn't learned how to properly cite sources in MLA style while I was in high school. I spent the first few months of university in the library with the style manuals spending hours teaching myself how to cite sources in MLA, APA, and Chicago styles for all of the different courses I was in. Now that the BC curriculum is going to include prescribed learning outcomes for digital literacy, it is my hope that all students leaving high school for post secondary education or to start their career will have the requisite skills necessary to be successful in the 21st century.




Since I am not currently teaching in my own classroom or in a Teacher-Librarian position, I would like to develop a resource that can be used by both classroom teachers and Teacher-Librarians. After conducting a reading review on the topic of ethical online behaviour pertaining to citing sources, I decided that I would like to create a digital resource that the staff and students can access from work/school, at home, or even once they are attending university, that will guide them through proper research techniques. By creating this digital resource, it is my hope that this will help students understand proper research techniques and how to use digital tools that will assist them in writing a research paper. The BC Ministry of Education Digital Literacy Standards that my digital resource would primarily focus on are Research and Information Fluency, Digital Citizenship, and Technology Operations and Concepts.

(Burnaby South Admin Blog, 2010)

Key Elements

I'm still in the process of deciding how much information I want to include in my resource because I do not want it to be overwhelming for other teachers who plan on using it with their students. I many need to start small and gradually grow the resource one teachers have started using it. The University of Alberta's Guide to Developing Student Research Skills includes many of the key elements required for conducting proper research. I would like to focus on including several of these key components in my digital resource. A diagram of the research model is below:

Another source of information I came across was Scholastic's 6 Online Research Skills Your Students Need which narrows down some of the key skills from above into the basic skills needed including: 1) Checking Sources, 2) Asking Good Questions, 3) Digging Deeper, 4) Being Patient, 5) Respecting Ownership, and 6) Using Networks. While these skills are pretty basic, I think this would be a good starting point for a digital resource that covers the main research skills needed for students. Another resource I consulted was Edudemic's Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers. One of the skills that I would like to include in my resource that was mentioned in this article is consulting an expert. The expert, of course, being the Teacher-Librarian. While I am hoping the students and staff would access this digital resource I'm creating from home, I think it is important that the students also have time in the library as a starting point for developing and/or increasing their research skills.

Format

I am planning on using a digital curation tool to compile the necessary resources for this project. I am hoping that the digital curation tool I choose (I can't decide between Symbaloo and PearlTrees) will be user friendly enough that even the staff members and students at my school who are not tech-savvy will still be able to access and use this resource with minimal problems. If I find that it is necessary to create a low-tech version of this assignment in order for more staff members to utilize this resource with their students, then I can do that at some point down the road. As for choosing a digital curation tool, I am leaning towards using Symbaloo because it is more widely know than PearlTrees and it has so many different options for embedding websites and tools. PearlTrees is another great option and I like that Word documents can be embedded directly, unlike Symbaloo which uses GoogleDocs. I haven't had too much time yet to explore all of the features both tools have to offer, so I will need to experiment with both tools in order to determine which one will work best for my audience. The following video explains the different features of both Symbaloo and PearlTrees:

(Bradley, 2015)

Audience

I would like to share this digital resource with my colleagues to begin with in order to ensure that this resource can be used throughout the school for a variety of subject areas. Once I have had a few colleagues try out the resource, I would like to share it with a broader audience. One of my goals is to start giving back to the online teaching community since I have "borrowed" so much from other teachers who post their resources online.

References

Academic Styles and Their Significance: Meet MLA, APA, Chicago, and EEE. (2015). Retrieved 12 November 2015, from https://studentshare.net/content/articles/academic-styles-and-their-significance-meet-mla-apa-chicago-and-ieee/

A Guide to Developing Student Research Skills. (n.d.). University of Alberta. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.library.ualberta.ca/documents/focusonresearch.pdf

BC Ministry of Education. (2010). Profile of Digitally Literate Students. Retrieved 11 November 2015, from http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/dist_learning/1012profile.htm

Bradley, P. (2015). A Guide to Creating Pages in Symbaloo and Pearltrees - Social Media for Creative Libraries. Facet Publishing. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqVolGKuUcs

Hudson, H. (2015). The 6 Online Research Skills Your Students Need. Scholastic Teach with Technology. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/6-online-research-skills-your-students-need

Muthler, S. (2015). Helping Students Become Better Online Researchers. Edudemic. Retrieved 12 November 2015, from http://www.edudemic.com/students-better-online-researchers/

The 21st Century Learner. (2010). Burnaby South Admin Blog. Retrieved 10 November 2015, from https://burnabysouthadmin.wordpress.com/tag/21st-century-learning/

Teacher Librarians as Promoters and Implementors of ICT Professional Development

Winning the Technology Battle

Teachers around the world are being asked to implement technology in the classrooms, but aren't always given the time, the tools, or the training necessary to do so effectively. Teachers' views of technology can be quite negative because they feel as though it is being imposed upon them and they see it as an uphill battle. Once they finally learn how to use one device or tool, a new one has already been developed.

Walker, D. (2007). You vs. Technology. Retrieved from www.weblogcartoons.com.

With the shift from the traditional library, to a Library Learning Commons, the Teacher-Librarian is in a position where he/she can offer support by not only locating resources, but also by sharing their expertise in digital learning and teaching. According to Project Tomorrow (2011), "With the increased variety and depth of the digital resources available for classroom use, the librarian is emerging as a critical player in enabling the use of these tools in the classroom, taking on the twin roles of cheerleader and exploration sherpa" (p. 13). It is important that the Teacher-Librarian helps teachers navigate the mountain of digital tools available and encourages and supports teachers in using them. In a study conducted by Project Tomorrow (2011), as shown in Figure 1 below, the Teacher-Librarian has several roles they need to play.

Figure 1: Project Tomorrow. (2011). The New 3 E's of Education: Enables, Engaged, Empowered. Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU10_3EofEducation_Educators.pdf.

How can Teacher-Librarians SHARE their Expertise in Digital Learning and Teaching with the Educational Community?

Start a Digital Curation

Creighton, P. (2013). Digital Curation.
Retrieved from http://creightonblog.typepad.com/
addison-media-center/2013/11/digital-resource-curation.html

Through the school library website, Teacher-Librarians can collect and share digital tools and resources to the educational community including educators, students, parents, and fellow Teacher-Librarians. While the process of collecting and sorting digital tools might be time consuming, a digital tool curation will be a valuable resource for the entire educational community. One tool for digital curation I would like to try is Symbaloo, which can be easily published and shared with others.

Host an EdCamp

By hosting an EdCamp or EdCafe, a Teacher-Librarian is able to discover what topics the educational community is interested in discussing or learning about. This is also a good way for Teacher-Librarians who feel as though they may not be an expert in digital learning and teaching to learn from others in the community. At my school we hosted an EdCafe for one of our Professional Development days and invited members from the educational community including students, parents, educators, support staff, administration, and school district employees. We focused the sessions around 21st Century learning and skills and much of the conversations were focused around digital resources and tools. Here is a video that explains what an EdCamp or EdCafe is:

Lee, S. (2014). EdCamp 101. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7DwCI7j0Bg.

Attend department meetings

By attending department meetings, Teacher-Librarians can focus on sharing tools that are subject specific with a smaller group of people. At our school we have six Collaboration sessions throughout the school year. During these sessions, the Teacher-Librarian can rotate between the departments and give them some practical digital tools they can start using in their teaching.

Request time at staff meetings to introduce a new tool

Ripp, P. (2013). Staff Meeting. Retrieved from www.someecards.com.

While staff meetings are never fun, teachers will appreciate taking away something practical from the meeting. Request time at a staff meeting to share one digital tool that you think is user-friendly and would be most useful to the staff as a whole.Of course, make sure to keep the presentation short and sweet. Offer to help any teachers interested in using the digital tool in their classroom.

Enlist as the Professional Development Rep. for your staff

The Keep Calm-O-Matic. (2009). Keep Calm I'm Your
Professional Development Council Representative.
Retrieved from http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/

As the Professional Development Representative for a school, a Teacher-Librarian would be able to plan and facilitate professional development sessions for the school and/or district in regards to digital teaching and learning. This is a good way for the Teacher-Librarian to correspond with other Teacher-Librarians in the district and create Personal Learning Networks. As well, it would give the Teacher-Librarian the opportunity to discuss with their colleagues any ideas they would be interested in learning about at the next professional development day so that the Teacher-Librarian can organize sessions that will be practical for the staff. Hopefully the mug comes with the position since it is completely voluntary!

References

Creighton, P. (2013). Digital Curation. Retrieved from http://creightonblog.typepad.com/.

The Keep Calm-O-Matic. (2009). Keep Calm I'm Your Professional Development Council Representative. Retrieved from http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/

Lee, S. (2014). EdCamp 101. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7DwCI7j0Bg.

Project Tomorrow. (2011). The New 3 E's of Education: Enables, Engaged, Empowered. Retrieved from http://www.tomorrow.org/speakup/pdfs/SU10_3EofEducation_Educators.pdf.

Ripp, P. (2013). Staff Meeting. Retrieved from www.someecards.com.

Walker, D. (2007). You vs. Technology. Retrieved from www.weblogcartoons.com.