A&AT, not AT&T

Disclaimer: This is my second time writing this post because it apparently didn’t save the first time and the whole thing got deleted. I’m going to try to replicate my pretty good blog post, but we’ll see what happens!

I came into this week knowing next to nothing about accessibility and adaptive/assistive technology, so I have really struggled with the discussion board because everything is so new to me. I don’t have a lot to interpret. Everything I could think to post seemed to just regurgitate what I was reading. However, I do feel like I have learned a lot that can be applied to future professional settings.

Let’s look at the Janet Hopkins article from 2004, “School Library Accessibility: The Role of Assistive Technology.”

I found Hopkins’s implication that special education teachers may not know the technology they can use with their students kind of insulting and unlikely. These teachers have gotten specialized degrees to best serve their students, and I am sure that they at least enter the profession knowing the technology that will best serve their students.

Having said that, school librarians have a role to play in helping students with disabilities foster a love of reading and give them the ability to do research and learn throughout their life. Finding AT for their students is part of fulfilling that role because it allows their students more independence and ability to reach goals. This also helps you become a specialist in different, less traditional way, which could help with job security. The AT you find can help students outside of the library by boosting their self-confidence and helping them learn how technology can assist them in other aspects of their life. It allows them to interact with their peers more, limiting social isolation. By being with other kids without disabilities more, acceptance and awareness among the general student population will develop. This can be really rewarding for a school librarian.

Hopkins presents 10 ideas that can help the school librarian learn about and use AT:

1. Find out whether special education students use the library. If not, how can you get them to? When I was doing some observation this semester, I watched a boy with a full-time aide use the library. It was at first unclear whether the student was with the class that was using the library or if he was there on a free period. He was loving exploring the books and picking some to take home. At one point, he started to get upset that a book he loves had been moved over the summer and he couldn’t find it. It was eventually found - phew! It did turn out he was with the class but didn’t sit with them for the read-aloud. Did he need that time to just explore and have some alone time? Or is there some way that he could have been included?

2. Reaching out to faculty who may have experience with AT makes sense. By combining your knowledge with theirs, you might hit on the right tool for a specific student. According to Robyn, a lot of technology is less expensive than it used to be and is probably being used more. It’s good to know what is already in use so that you can make your library more welcoming.

3. It's sensible to tour your library and see if you can think of ways to get rid of barriers. You may have to wait to see how people use the space, though, because you can’t predict how people with various disabilities will need to use it.

4. For professional development, it helps to even just keep an eye on presentations at conferences you plan to attend anyway to see if there will be anything about accessibility.

5. I’m not sure about the idea of having a focus group on AT. When do people have time to go to a focus group? If it meets, say, once a year for people to present their findings from the past year and discuss shortcomings, that seems plausible. But something that meets, say, every month might be too much.

6. I have nothing to add to the idea that school librarians should play around with AT built into their computers other than duh, please do that.

7. I wonder if grants for AT generally get given primarily to schools where special education is the focus? If so, you may need to find nontraditional grant sources. Hopkins suggests tapping into the special education parent advisory committee in her 2006 article. If you are lucky enough to work in a district with a robust PAC, they are fantastic allies. Parents are often the student’s best advocate, and if they know that you have tech, they can help direct students your way. Or if they know you are looking for funding, they may be able to help you with that.

8. I’m unsure about the specifics of ADA laws, but if things, physical or digital, aren't accessible, your district could get into hot water. It is a good idea to raise your concerns to administrators so they can be addressed as soon as possible.

9. Free trials of potential tools are very important. Most sales reps are more than happy to let you play with things before you buy them. They want good publicity, and if you buy something without trying it, don't like it, and badmouth it, they're not going to be happy.

10. Information on new technology should be shared widely. It should definitely be shared with the special ed parent group for the reasons given in item #7. You want as many people as possible to know about what you are doing in the library. For that reason, you should offer introductory classes to the technology when you've acquired it. This will allow faculty to use the technology outside of the library, if allowed, or within the library if you are unable to assist a student when they are there. Also, logging daily information on how many people use the AT can be crucial when it comes to future funding or justification for why you need the technology. It also gives you the opportunity to think about if no one is using the technology, why not? Is there really no use for it or are you not publicizing it enough?

It’s also worth noting that by including AT in your library, you are helping to normalize it, which will help destigmatize disabilities and the need for AT. Jones’s interview with Harvard’s Rappolt-Schlichtmann deftly touches on this. If you make AT available or visible to all students, you will make the students who really do need to use it feel less awkward.

This post is definitely shorter than the original, but I’m not sure what I missed!

via GIPHY

Reality Bites

I had so many thoughts while reading Reality Is Broken that didn't fit into my paper. Hopefully this doesn't get too long and stream-of-consciousness-y:

1. The idea of being "in the flow" is so real. My husband likes role playing video games because they allow him to develop a character and his own world. He played Skyrim for months before eventually burning out on it. When he was playing, though, he was often in the flow of finding side quests and exploring to keep the game play continuing. Part of the reason he did stop playing regularly, though, is that he eventually got so good at the game, it lost its challenge. It becomes boring then. McGonigal also recognizes this as a reason why games need to be well-designed to encourage gamers to play for as long as possible (68).

2. When McGonigal suggested the "gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression,” I began to wonder if this is why so many people with depression turn to video games (28). This may be a matter of the chicken versus the egg. However, if the claim that video games evoke a high that is the opposite of depression, it would make sense that people with depression would want to spend hours gaming.

3. On page 30 McGonigal claims that busy work when chosen makes us happy. It keeps “hands and minds occupied with focused activity that produces a clear result.” Definitely true! When I was in grad school in my mid-20s and didn't have kids, I had way more free time (wahhhhh...). On an interminable train trip between Buffalo and Boston, a fellow passenger introduced me to Penguin Diner, a game where you play a penguin waitress who has to serve all these tables of penguin guests. There was no way to save the game, so you had to play the whole thing in one go. There was really no great aim of the game other than to keep your penguin guests happy. It was complete busywork. However, I enjoyed the game and ended up spending probably an entire day playing the game from start to finish. I am sure I had other things to do, but I was having such a good time serving fish to those penguins that I wasn't about to stop. I don't see a huge difference between this and the nonstop games of solitaire my grandmother used to play. Different medium, same time occupying busywork that we enjoyed.

4. I appreciate McGonigal's take on what we think should be fun v. what actually is fun. She claims that what we think is fun is actually a little depressing - and, really, who hasn't had that thought on a night out? Or after spending a couple hours watching TV? It sounded like fun at the time but then we go from wanting something to relax to just being bored. Playing games is a much better way of dealing with stress and anxiety than just watching TV. That has been my experience with anxiety, at least. If I'm just watching YouTube, I can still focus on my anxiety in the background. If I'm playing a game that actively uses my brain, I am more able to tune out my anxiety.

5. McGonigal did seem a little too into video games, if you ask me. When on page 41 she suggested that flow can now be achieved without all the practice that more traditional forms like rock climbing would require, I thought to myself, "But is that a good thing?" It's nice to be able to have that instant euphoria, I suppose, but there is something to be said for working hard for hours and hours to achieve that high. Similarly, the idea that world building games are so satisfying because you see the immediate effect of your work on the world around you seems short-sighted (McGonigal 59). If you get used to immediate satisfaction, you might get so frustrated with the real world that you are unable to finish projects. After college I worked as a community organizer, which can be incredibly frustrating because you don't always see the fruit of your labor. You often work, hoping that someday what you have worked for is realized. If I was used to playing video games with immediate results, would I have stuck with social justice work?

6. I like the idea that gaming is working with your hands, even if it's just a controller. Most people in cities don't have access to a workshop or any other practical way of using our hands. Being able to build in a video game is a way to address that need. I have a friend who decided she wanted to learn to sew, but because she didn't know anyone who could teach her, she had to find a fabric shop with a workshop that offered classes, where she did eventually find a community of other people also interested in learning how to sew. There are ways to join communities of like-minded individuals, but for those who don't want to go out and find them, video games might be an easier way to achieve that.

7. I know the feeling McGonigal feels of playing a game and wanting to return to it even when you're not playing (61). Generally I get that feeling from a good book, but I can imagine that it is the same for gaming. When I think of it in a gaming sense, I wonder, "Is that a sign of addiction?" But when I think of it in terms of reading, I don't. That could be a sign of that anti-gaming bias that McGonigal says exists.

8. I thought McGognigal's idea of giving +1s in real life was very cute (148). I immediately wondered if there is a way to do that in schools. I mean, they do it at Hogwarts, so why not at Muggle schools? It sounded complicated, though, as it would take real investment to come up with a fast system to record those unlocked achievements.

Overall I enjoyed Reality Is Broken. I did think it went a little off the rails in the third section, but maybe I'm just not ~thinking big enough~. I would be interested to read SuperBetter. I've heard good things about the related app.

Social Media Lets Me Down

As an avid user of social media, I was convinced that this week would be a breeze. I'd find a few social media accounts I liked and boom, I'd be done.

I was very wrong.

Finding quality school library accounts that I felt would actually assist me in professional development was much more difficult than I had anticipated. A lot of Pinterest posts, for example, seemed great at first, but then I realized most seemed to be teachers trying to monetize their work on Teachers Pay Teachers. I don't know why, but this feels really skeezy to me. It shouldn't! People should get paid for their hard work! But as someone just trying to get ideas, it made me pause because I don't want to be duped into thinking an idea is original, only to find out that it's sponsored or a ~partnership~. Again, nothing wrong with that, but I was really looking for more organic-feeling posts, nothing super sleek. I feel kind of crazy even saying that, but I want to see the real world, not just a fantasy school.

I do think I found some great resources. I really like The School Librarian's Workshop Facebook group. A woman posted this week about what she should leave behind when she retires, and it was interesting to see what people found useful or frustrating when they took over a job from a retired librarian. It seems to have given people a lot to think about. That's the kind of material I wanted to find - accounts or groups that make you think and consider whether you are performing to the best of your ability.

I expected to find more on Twitter. I am sure that as the years go on, I'll come across more hashtags that will lead me to accounts I find inspiring. Same for Instagram. I am excited to check out the #diversepicturebooks tag that was shared in this week's discussion board. I've started following that, since I'm always looking for new books to read with my own children. It very well could come in handy in a future work environment, too.

Creating my own social media plan was much easier. I've been following how my kids' schools use social media and how my friends' workplaces (various archives) use it, so I was able to use what they do with what I want to do to create my plan. I've also been an active user of Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat from their early years, so I feel fairly confident in using them at work, as well. I think I understand the dos and don'ts of professional social media, which you won't see reflected on my personal accounts necessarily, and will be able to carry that to my future school.

Honestly, I'm kind of excited about using social media to promote my future library. Here's hoping I get a job in a school where this is encouraged!

Ernest Hemingway: Family Man?

In a former life (okay, it was only like eight to ten years ago) I studied archives management and history. While pursuing those degrees, I had a multi-year internship with the Ernest Hemingway Collection at the JFK Library. So, when I had to create a video for my Emerging Technologies class, I figured I'd rely on a subject I know well. Here is a short and shallow video I created on Ernest Hemingway and his sons:

To get started making this video, I used the audiovisual portion of the Ernest Hemingway Collection on the JFK Library website. (Little known fact - the JFK Library has the largest Hemingway collection in the world. Find out why here.) I found the collection of photos featuring Hemingway's sons, downloaded my favorites, and ordered them chronologically.

In Animoto, I used a template to arrange the photos, record voiceover, and choose music. It was a very simple process. I do wish, though, that the music wasn't mixed so loudly. I thought I had turned it down enough, but I now realize that it swells toward the end of the video, almost making my voice unintelligible. This is something to remember for future uses.

You may notice some odd noises in the background of my video like my daughter rustling newspaper as she sets up to paint, my smoke detector letting me know it needs new batteries, and my daughter whispering "I love my mommy" (which is only a little creepy). Enjoy!