In Some Ways, Teacher-Librarians are Like Veterinarians, Doctors, and Salespeople

     I stumbled across an amusing Youtube clip that reminded me of LIBE 467, a teacher-librarian course I am currently taking, which, right now has been about research strategies and referencing/research resources. In the clip, a man takes his cat to the vet.

     Vets, doctors, salespeople, and librarians all aim to help the customer find the information they seek. Like the vet in the clip, to be most effective, they’ll need to know which questions to ask to determine how best to help and they’ll need to know how to help them. For a teacher-librarian, this includes knowing research strategies to really get to the heart of what the customer (student, teacher, parent, admin) wants to find out and which reference resources to use to find the information they’re looking for, as well as potentially teach both things to the customer so they can learn to do this themselves. Simple, right? Well, not exactly…

https://bctla.ca/resources/point-of-inquiry/

     For one, there are many steps to researching and many different models on what those steps are. Not only that, but some are friendlier for younger customers being introduced to research methods, others work well with creative teenage or adult customers (with an emphasis on inquiry and discovery), and others work well with technical, detailed, research (such as for math, science, or business). The model used reflects the individual’s preference, their goal, and their audience. For a teacher-librarian to know multiple methods could then be more helpful than just one (for some examples, you can check out three different models below). 

https://thebig6.org/

http://www.sd43.bc.ca/school/heritagewoods/ProgramsServices/Library/Documents/The%20Research%20Quest%20Model.ppt

     Teacher-librarians also need to know which reference resource to use to best guide their customer to useful resources. Should they use an encyclopedia, a factbook (such as Guinness World Records), an almanac, a dictionary, a search engine (Google, Yahoo), a web 2.0 tool (Wikipedia), a periodical database, a digital library, etcetera… Each resource reference has its advantages and disadvantages based on what it is the customer is searching for. Wikipedia is great to find information fast if it doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s accurate, as anyone can modify the entries, so be sure to verify the information afterwards! I find search engines, like Google, are useful to find lists (such as top products of a specific technology), but it can be a chore to find exactly what you’re looking for with them (especially unbiased and authoritative sources) as they have high recall, low precision, and I assume they prioritize popularity (visits) and monetary influence (I’ve noticed that some website-creation companies offer paid packages that will prioritize your created website in certain search engines). So, use search engines at your own risk and don’t be surprised or annoyed if nothing useful becomes of it.

     Teacher-librarians need to also know how to use the reference resource, such as using search engine features like quotations marks, question marks, plus and minus signs, pound/star symbol, etc. as they can help narrow their focus. Also, knowing which keyword to use is tremendously useful. In my last few posts I described my experience looking up online courses and virtual reality in the classroom. When I found, and was guided to, certain keywords, my search results improved, and I was able to find the information I sought.

     A teacher-librarian should also present their reference resources in an accessible and clearly marked section, and “into a 21^st-century learning space [that has] easy access to technology, inviting, spaces for social interaction, and spaces for individual inquiry” (Riedling, 119). They should also evaluate whether to weed out reference resources every 5-10 years depending on the resource type (Riedling, 24).

https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo-high-school-library-reading-room-26825966.html

     As you can see, when a teacher-librarian helps a customer, more expertise is required than what anybody could do themselves just by using Google or Wikipedia alone. Veterinarians, doctors, and salespeople are valued for the help they give their customers, and so should teacher-librarians.

References

Holmes, Pete. “Realistic Garfield.” YouTube, YouTube, 18 June 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=tOPXRq-HgPw&t=1s.

Riedling, Ann Marlow, et al. Reference Skills for the School Librarian Tools and Tips. Linworth, 2013.

“TheBig6.Org.” TheBig6, thebig6.org/.

“The Research Quest Model: A Student Guide to Effective Research.” 26 Feb. 2009.

Researching E-Learning and Virtual Reality as a Teaching Aid, Part 2

https://www.khanacademy.org/

         Initially, I didn’t have as much luck finding websites for complete online courses grade schoolers could take, but once blogger D.McNee reminded me of the keyword MOOC (massive online open courses), which I had previously encountered in my readings, I had better luck with search engine results, finding more articles analyzing the topic and one more website, called edX, with many high school courses included, though, no elementary school ones (yet). There were three reasons (that I can recall) I was interested in finding online courses for grade school students:

1. As a teacher-librarian, online courses are a learning resource, and we collect and share learning resources!
2. Some students have difficulty learning at school or can’t always consistently attend school, so online courses could potentially help them.
3. Are there online courses available to help teachers setup flipped classrooms where students learn online and the teacher becomes more of a facilitator and learning aid?

     I found answers to reason 3’s question with Cargile’s article on pairing instruction with the online courses from Khan Academy: “With the proper use of KA, the teacher’s role changes from a deliverer of knowledge to a facilitator or an organizer of learning experiences” (p35). The article then lists four components to effectively set this pairing up when teaching math: 

1. Formative assessment data: use students’ progress reports to individualize their learning needs, including mini-lessons as needed. Knowledgeable students could help as tutors, or group work could be incorporated with the mini-lessons (p36).
2. Goal setting: Students “set weekly, biweekly, or monthly goals and plan checkups to routinely review their individual progress” (p36). Teachers and parents can also view their progress reports.
3. Playlists: Specific weekly tasks and homework (p37).
4. Active and collaborative learning: Teachers are urged to blend Khan Academy with related projects (links to projects KA recommends to pair with lessons are included in the references below).

     Cargile writes that “KA should be used for about 20 percent of total class time […] about once or twice a week for about forty-five minutes each session”, and that “teachers who use KA more than once a week typically serve students with higher remediation needs.” Naturally, as a teacher-librarian, having these MOOC resources amongst a teacher-librarian's documents and in their Flyer for New Teachers and having an idea as to how teachers could implement them in the classroom could be quite helpful.     

https://www.amazon.ca/Google-87002823-01-Official-Cardboard-Brown/dp/B01MQ5J5J4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1548618253&sr=8-3&keywords=google+cardboard

          A year ago, a teacher co-worker friend of mine introduced me to Google Cardboard, and we briefly discussed the feasibility of introducing it into our classrooms at some point. He suggested that, as people update their phones for newer models, that their older models could be donated to classrooms. In my previous post, I wrote about my personal journey to find a VR capable phone, landing on the cheapest I could find in my area: a $168 phone; fortunately, I recently, and accidentally, came across a website that lists all VR capable phones, and the list is much larger than I ever imagined (the link’s in the references heading below). One of my trepidations about having VR as a learning tool for a whole classroom was the cost. Even with my friend’s suggestion of people donating their phones, I thought that idea might not work as I believed that only a small number of phones, and expensive ones at that, could do VR. Finding that exhaustive list of VR capable phones (affordable ones included) proved me wrong – his idea is viable. By pairing donated phones with Google Cardboard VR glasses ($17-20 each - less if one follows Google's 'build it yourself' guide) or cheaper alternatives ($6-10), the technology becomes affordable for a class-set (which a school-librarian could loan out). Ananda Bibek Ray et al. (in an article about smartphone-based VR in classrooms) also suggests, if they have one, that students could bring their own VR capable cellphone to pair with VR glasses.

     My next wondering about VR was whether it was even worth it. Ray suggests that VR can be used to better engage Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives – that students can interact and experience things in VR they can’t in a classroom. For instance, with Google Earth, they can virtually visit any place in the world and they can zoom out and see the planet from ‘space’. In other apps, they can zoom in on objects more than our eyes are even capable of (without a telescope). They can go on museum and site tours, travel underwater, and experience rollercoasters, to name but a fraction of the potential virtual experiences. Also, I noticed a fair number of articles on integrating VR into math lessons. Those are just a small amount of uses VR can provide. I wanted to be sold on the idea of including VR as a library resource, and I was. I'll be wanting a class-set available to loan out for my library. At a minimum, school librarians could at least have some cheap VR glasses to be paired with students' own devices (or, preferably, donated devices). An expense of $60 for 9 pairs, or $168 for a class-set, is an expense all libraries should be able to afford.

References:

Ananda B. Ray et al. (2016). Smartphone Based Virtual Reality Systems in Classroom Teaching — A Study on the Effects of Learning Outcome. Eighth International Conference on Technology for Education, (T4E), 68-71. 

edX. (2016, June 13). Get College Ready. Get Ahead. Get Learning! Retrieved from https://www.edx.org/high-school

Conti, Jessica. List of VR Supported Phones. Retrieved from https://www.vrinsite.com/gear-vr/list-vr-supported-phones/

Lori A. Cargile. (2015). Blending Instruction with Khan Academy. The Mathematics Teacher, 109(1), 34-39.

Researching E-Learning and Virtual Reality as a Teaching Aid, Part 1

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/oculus-go/

In my previous blog post, I posed questions I had based on my reading of Will Richardson’s e-book, “Why School.” I have now done a bit of digging into each question. As the questions were quite broad, my research only partly dabbled into each question.

For my first question, in which I was interested in discovering which online course-based sites were available for students of all grades, Khan Academy was the only one I could find to offer a breadth of fleshed-out grade-school courses. The other sites I found had either a more limited focus, such as Starfall which teaches reading for grades K-2, or a limited depth of content per subject, such as BrainPop which typically has a short video, online quiz, and sometimes worksheet per topic. The interesting-looking articles/e-books I came across about the Khan Academy include:

1. “Blending Instruction with Khan Academy” by Lori A. Cargile
2. “ALAS-KA: A learning analytics extension for better understanding the learning process in the Khan Academy platform” by José A. Ruipérez-Valiente

Here’s a link to other online sites like Khan Academy (mostly geared for adults): https://www.lifehack.org/articles/money/25-killer-sites-for-free-online-education.html

On the related topic of e-learning (teaching and learning through electronic means), which also connects to my second question as to what online student resources are available, I came across these prospective e-books:

1. “The State of 21^st Century Learning in the K-12 World of the United States: Online and Blended Learning Opportunities for American Elementary and Secondary Students” by Kimberly Greene et al.
2. “E-Learning in K-12 Schools” by Paul W. Bennett
3. https://www.intechopen.com/books/e-learning

And, these two lists of e-learning sites for students to use: https://www.parenting.com/child/education/10-best-educational-websites-kids

https://www.kiwifamilies.co.nz/articles/top-educational-websites-kids/

I also came across a few new online resource sites for teachers through Susan Nichols et al. case-study of four sites in their article, “Teacher Resources Online”:

https://www.teachertube.com/documents/

https://www.tes.com/en-ca/

http://twrctank.com/

https://teacher-toolbox.com/

Finally, some interesting-looking e-books and articles I came across on using Virtual Reality in the classroom include:

1. “A Virtual Reality Application for Primary School Mathematics Class” by Ruixue Liu et al.
2. “Video Games and Virtual Reality as Classroom Literature: Thoughts, Experiences, and Learning with 8^th Grade Middle School Students” by Miles Madison Harvey
3. “On the usability and likeability of virtual reality games for education: The case of VR-ENGAGE” by Maria Virvou et al.

I own the Virtual Reality head-set, Oculus Rift. It cost $500, needed a high-end $1500+ computer attached to run it, recommends against being used for ages under 12 on the box, and when I use it I get motion-sickness within minutes. I also have a dirt rally game I played with the head-set. The first time I played it, I rolled my car and literally screamed. On the other hand, I have cheaper head-sets for my cell phone ($6 and $15) which don't give me motion-sickness, but VR requires certain phone specs in order to fully function; the cheapest phone with those specs cost me $170. The Oculus Go works without a cell-phone or computer, but costs $250. Ultimately, my question is whether a class could afford the technology and whether it would even be worth it if a class could afford it. Perhaps there are other VR devices which schools could, or do, use which are cheaper that I don't know about.

"Why School?" Some Points of Interest from Will Richardson's E-book

https://www.amazon.com/Why-School-Education-Information-Everywhere-ebook/dp/B00998J5YQ

     I have just read Will Richardson's e-book, "Why School?" In it, he discusses the importance of equipping students with the ability to self-direct their learning as, more and more, this is an important quality to have in our tech-savvy century. In my adult experience, with YouTube and Wikipedia (to name a few), learning something on one's own hasn't only become common, but expected. How many people do you know who teach themselves a home renovation, a craft, a cooking recipe, or how to beat a tricky video game level through YouTube or some other website? In Richardson's book, he describes how his son taught himself how to build an elaborate and detailed house through his first, independent, trying of the game, Minecraft. Sure, he did go on online chats for help, but that's part of self-directed learning. Richardson doesn't propose replacing school with learning on one's own, but that school provide the help and tools for students to be able to self-direct their learning and enjoy it. Quoting Richardson, “These days, the only such tutorial we really need to be giving is a ‘how-to-learn-any-tool-online-on-your-own’ workshop."

     While reading his book, I was reminded of some areas I've dabbled at in my classrooms, some areas I've wondered about, and some newly developed wonderings (yes, I know this isn't a word), such as:

1) What current courses are freely available online to students of all grades?

Some students find it difficult to focus in class. Maybe they are more interested in socializing with their friends, are quickly distracted by the movement around them (or outside) or the hubbub/conversations, are distracted by their need to play with their phones, fidget-spinners, putty, erasers, pencils, paper, and so forth, that concentrating on the school work at hand becomes difficult. Having an option to learn, or practice, a subject online can then become quite helpful. But, what's available? "Why School" mentions Coursera for Post-Secondary courses, but are there courses for Elementary, Middle, and High School students? I've heard of Khan Academy, so that site I will explore further, but what else is out there? Anything in French?

2) What are some of the most useful online resources I can provide students as a Teacher Librarian?

I use online resources such as Duolingo for language acquisition, Prodigy for supporting Math content, BrainPop for introducing Socials or Science topics, but I am curious as to what else is out there, particularly for doing research as using Google provides too much data, with sites with inaccurate information, at a reading level that doesn't match the student, content that may be inappropriate (even with filters on), or with other distractions linked around their research, such as Ads, amusing YouTube videos, etcetera. Having a research aid specialized to the student's grade level and research topic would be very helpful.

3) Could it be arranged that students knowledgeable about a subject volunteer to become coaches of that subject to other students?

The best way to learn something is through teaching it. It's a common saying, and I've also personally found it to be true - to the extent that if I want to learn something new, I research how to teach it. Students who coach other students would be engaging in the 3 Core Competencies of: thinking, communicating, and personal and social competency. When I introduce a topic or important information, my "lectures" to students always involves opportunities for their input and/or guesses as I have found that students more readily absorb the wisdom of their peers than of their teacher. Lastly, students can be more leery of adults or their teacher, either from fear of judgement/negative evaluation, past bad experiences with adults or teachers, or for a reason unique to that teacher/student relationship. So, having the option to learn something from another student (even if they're in a grade above or below them) might be more inviting. The question is: are there articles on this? How can it best be implemented? Should the librarian co-ordinate this?

4) What new technologies can be provided, and taught how to use, in the library?

I believe having at least a few computers in a school library is a must, and I would also want a few digital photo cameras and video cameras available to loan out (even in Elementary Schools), but how useful have 3D printers been? I know some teachers have had success using them for certain projects, but how far reaching are their benefit? Virtual Reality is another new technology - including the cameras that record in that format (360 degree video and 180 degree 3D video). I would love an excuse to pick them up for my future library, but I'd need to research their usefulness as an education tool more in order to make a case for having them in the library.

I was also left ruminating on such quotes from "Why School" as: 
"We have to stop delivering the curriculum to kids. We have to start discovering it with them."
“The world doesn’t care what you know. What the world cares about is what you can do with what you know.”
And, finally, to sum up the experience reading this e-book has been, “How can we begin to move schools to become places of more relevant, connected, creative learning? Even with a plan, it won’t be easy.” All of these quotes could be developed into further questions and areas of exploration. For later, though.