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!

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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!

Is this tech 2 legit 2 quit?*

Can I admit something? I'm still kind of skeptical of a lot of these websites for use in school. It's not that they don't do a lot of really cool stuff. I just worry that they might take up more of the students' time than necessary in order to convey a concept.

I did think of some fun projects, though, that I thought would be worthwhile:

1. BigHugeLabs - There are lots of easy ways for students to create graphics for presentations or creative assignments here. (eg. biographies presented as magazine covers, cube to create math games, etc.) It's very basic, so it can be used by young students. I could see this being a good introduction to using computers to manipulate images.
2. Glogster can have many uses, but it must be used wisely so it's not just a bunch of text. Some of the examples on the website were so wordy, I thought I was looking at a conference poster presentation (which it turned out some of them may be). If a student wants to include a multimedia element, this is a great tool. I could see wanting to show a video of a red panda in the wild or what it's like to be in an avalanche. A student may also want to include a recording they took at the zoo of a lion roaring or an audio clip of a warbler from a birding website. Glogster would make it easy to incorporate this into a visually interesting presentation.
3. I've loved Doodle for years. It makes scheduling events so much easier than sending a million emails back and forth. A couple years ago I had a "playground club" for my son's Pre-K class over the summer, and I used a Doodle to find the day and time that worked for the majority of kids. I've also used it for scheduling meetings for people coming together from all over New England (and remotely from other parts of the country). There's no way I could have easily accomplished organizing that many people without the assistance of a tool like Doodle.
4. I love the look of Animoto. I can see a teacher of an advanced history class having the students do a project on doing research with non-text sources and having them put audiovisual resources into a longer video like those featured on Animoto. (Of course the featured video I really took as inspiration was a tribute to a deceased relative, but most of the topics being researched would probably feature dead people, so the point still stands...) There are so many great photos from archives and libraries online now (see Flickr!) that this would be both an interesting and fun project.

I have to admit that I don't think I would ever use Voki. This is probably just my personal preference because when Apple came out with the animoji, I was convinced it was the dumbest thing ever. Why would I want a text that's my friend pretending to be a unicorn? If I wanted to hear her voice, I'd call. Like, why??

... I digress. I can see some practical applications of Voki, especially after reading through this week's discussion board, but unless it was really necessary for a student to have an alternative way of presenting, I don't think I'd incorporate it into my planning.

Overall, I like the idea behind a lot of these resources, but I think you need to be very careful that you are using them for valid reasons, not just because it's ~fun~. Not that there's anything wrong with having fun, obviously, but learning a new tool or spending extra time crafting a video needs to be justified.

*Yes, now I also have 2 Legit 2 Quit stuck in my head.

The Internet Consumes Me

How much time can you spend exploring websites you may never use before it becomes overwhelming? It's not that long, quite frankly. If you asked me to tell you what websites I was on this week, I'd just refer you to my browser history because I can't keep up.

This week, I wanted to see how many new websites I could find that I really felt like I might use in a school library setting. I have to say, overall I was kind of disappointed. Maybe I just don't have the practical experience to see how many of these websites could be useful. Here's what I did find and like, though:

1. Edmodo - After spending a few weeks using Canvas, I can see how students, especially older students, would benefit from online discussion. One of the students in my class mentioned how as a teenager, she found that blogging helped her to develop her voice and confidence. A class discussion board could do the same for someone who is uncomfortable raising her hand in class. Edmodo seemed like a good resource for that if your school does not already have an app for online discussion. There is also a way for teachers to communicate with parents if the teacher would like to use this platform rather than email.

2. TEDed - I love the videos on TEDed! "A Day in the Life of an Ancient Celtic Druid," "The Secret Student Resistance to Hitler," "The Dust Bunnies that Built Our Planet..." It seems like you could find something here for almost any lesson. Sometimes showing a quick five minute video is just what you need to break up your class and keep your students engaged. There are also lesson plans if you need something to spark your own creativity. (The lesson plans themselves seem pretty basic.)

3. WeVideo - If you are looking for a way for your students to create professional looking videos easily, setting up an account at a website like WeVideo may be worth the money. Creating videos is a nice change of pace for students, even if it may be more of a time commitment than most other assignments. If students feel that they are making something they can be truly proud of because of how professional it appears, they will probably be more excited about the project.

4. Poll Everywhere - Having your students engage with your class through polls and quizzes is not something you'd do every day, most likely, but it might be nice to do occasionally, especially right before vacations when you know they're getting distracted really easily. Poll Everywhere is a popular option for companies and schools to do this. It's not free if you want all the features, but if this is something you think you and your coworkers would use regularly, a premium account may be worth advocating for.

5. Canva - For my other class this week, I needed to create two infographs. I'd never made one before and certainly don't have any graphic design software on my $199 Chromebook. So, I googled "infographic free" and found Canva. I quickly made two rather professional (if I do say so myself) infographics. It was easy and would be a nice way for students to present information to their peers. I could see an assignment where students had to propose a business venture or science project in a simple way, using Canva. It would be a nice break from PowerPoint and would force them to elaborate on an idea, rather than just reading from a slide. There are premium accounts on Canva, but I found I didn't need it. If you really want to zhuzh up your infographic, there are many elements you can buy on a per item basis. Another site to consider is Piktochart, which seems better for collaborating, but this, again, comes at a price.

That last point about considering two sites that do virtually the same thing raises a point that I struggled with while exploring. There are so many websites and apps that claim to do the same (or very similar) thing. How do you decide which to use? We all have limited time, and the thought of spending hours exploring these resources and reading reviews while also trying to run a school library sounds exhausting. Maybe if they are similar, you just go with whatever you get a good feel from? And ask your friends if they've used any of the sites; they may be able to give you pointers. There are innumerable tools for schools online, though, and knowing even some of them will give you an advantage when working with teachers and students alike.

Time to admit I am not as current with tech as I thought

Technology sure does move fast! This week I've spent a lot of time thinking about how technology has changed in the past 10 years. And then I got thinking about how it was ten years before that. And then I realized that is going to be a challenge to keep up with this stuff when I'm working full-time. It's hard enough to do when I'm just a student (and mom and volunteer and general person trying to live her life). That's why I'm so happy for people like Joyce Valenza who are able to be exposed to so many kinds of technology and do some initial analysis for librarians and educators. I'm including her list of tech trends from 2015 and my reaction to them behind THE JUMP! at the end of this post.

I really enjoyed the experience of using Flipgrid, not so much because of Flipgrid itself but because of how it forced me to think of integrating technology into lessons. Initially I just thought, "Oh, this would be cool to use as an alternative to a traditional speaking assignment." Then I went further. "What if there is a journalism class at the school?" You could use Flipgrid or another video app as a way to simulate television reporting where you may only have a short time to convey a message. What if you have a student who is home for an extended illness but is trying to stay involved as much as possible? You could use a video to have them record their speech and present it to the class that way. (Then take a video of the class's reaction and send it back.) I know none of these concepts are groundbreaking, but this was a good reminder that new technology can make these sorts of things more accessible. No longer do you need to set up a huge camcorder in the back of the room to make simple and short presentations. I'm glad that I've had the opportunity to play with Flipgrid because it got me thinking about ways to engage with the faculty and the library's resources.

Social media is another topic this week that I feel strongly about. I know that I'm old by students' standards, but I'm a millennial, goshdarnit, and I'm going to use social media to the best of my ability.

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I hesitate to do too much with social media before 8th grade due to these sites' age restrictions, but I know that older students could benefit from using social media as a way to engage with experts in areas they're studying and to stay abreast of current events that affect certain subjects. For example, when I was a senior in high school, I took an environmental studies class. If I was to take that class now, I know that I could have used Twitter and Instagram to follow experts in environmental science, which would have allowed me access to the most current thinking in the field.

I also realize that I have let my tech skills fall behind while staying home with my kids. I knew they were getting bad, but I didn't realize how bad until I tried to center that gif and found out that the <center> tag is now obsolete. While I am excited to create a library website at some point in the future, it is slowly dawning on me how much of a learning curve that's going to be if basic languages like html have changed that much. Again, I can see why as a library media specialist, you need to stay on top of technology.

I really enjoyed this week. The conversations on the discussion board are really interesting, and I'm learning so much from my peers.