Howard's ISCI 761 Blog

Virtual reality and augmented reality are great tools to use in schools to enhance education, but they are not always the most accessible or budget-friendly. With Lauren Young’s statement, “The technologies that live within the library can be an entry point for learning opportunities, boosting programming, and sparking collaborations” in mind, then choosing a tool for use in the library must be have a cost benefit analysis. Quiver is an app-based tool that brings students coloring pages to life through augmented reality. The subscription service is a reasonable ten dollars a month, but what is more valuable is the vast library of premade coloring pages across different subject levels that educators can print and use in their classrooms. Some of the most popular pages focus on science such as an exploding volcano or the circulation system. However, the site also contains pages for language arts, math, reading, and even social emotional learning! All of their resources are easy to loc...

  Since starting my librarian degree, I have been fascinated with makerspaces! I dived deep into learning about them, especially digital makerspaces, with my digital curation assignment and you can explore all the amazing resources I found here: Maker Space Curration One component of makerspaces that I have been particularly interested in is incorporating Legos. They are very versatile and well known to all ages of students with varying levels of building from Duplo Legos for little hands, regular Legos for older students, and even advances build sets for teenagers. An article in the School Library Journal by Karen Jensen titled “ MakerSpace:Legos! The one tool every makerspace needs! ” offers great insight into how Legos can be utilized in school spaces. The author also provides ideas on how to add to basic Legos to offer more creativity and challenges. Since Legos are so well known, they offer a safe and comfortable space for students to explore their creativity and then conn...

Cyberbullying, or bullying using technology, has become a prominent issue in today’s society due to large social media platforms that are at the finger tips of almost every person due to cellphones. This issue is especially prominent in children who use technology as a way to hide their identity and therefore say and do things they might not in person, especially when they see other people doing the same things online. I am always surprised how one instance of digital bullying spirals out of control due to mob mentality. WebMD describes mob mentality as occurring when “individuals are influenced by a larger group” (2021). Children are already susceptible to influence and peer pressure, so this idea of conforming to a group is easily caused by their desire to fit in or at least not draw unwanted attention to oneself. It is easier for a child to hide behind a screen and “bully” another child when they feel both anonymous and like they are doing the same thing all their friends are doin...

More and more it seems that people are only interested in quick visuals and fast information. This is especially true in the modern age of social media with popular applications such as TikTok and Snapchat that allow for short videos to be shared instantly. Students are especially prone to this mode of information sharing and one of my most popular social media platforms right now is Instagram. This application allows for sharing of information through visual means such as photographs and short videos called ‘reels’.  By using Instagram in the school library, especially at the middle and high school level, the librarian can engage with students in a way that is comfortable to them. Lucas John Jensen writes, “An important factor in quality instructional design is learning the characteristics of your learner group, and this principle holds true when integrating social media into online education.” His belief is echoed in through the vast number of instructional opportunities the libr...

Libraries and media centers are seen as the heart and soul of school and therefor need to be the most inclusive. The library should feel like a home to all students so that they are comfortable and have equal access to all the resources the library has to offer. Students of all abilities should be able to attend library classes and use the available resources. According to A Summary of the Evidence on Inclusive Education, “Placing students with disabilities within mainstream classes without accompanying structural changes to, for example, organization, curriculum and teaching and learning strategies, does not constitute inclusion” (2016, pg. 3). This demonstrates that inclusion is ideal for all students, but only when proper accessibility is put in place.  One such tool for including learning in the library setting is Natural Reader – an online program that converts text to spoken audio for students to listen to the information. This tool helps students who have vision disabilit...

With one-on-one technology integration occurring in public schools all across the nation, there are many devices on the market that cater to providing the best, and most cost-effective, devices for students. The Dell Latitude 3190 Windows laptop is marketed as a way to “enrich education and empower students.” It is a portable laptop for student use that runs on the window operating system and is designed to work best with Microsoft programs. Additionally, it has a 180-degree hinge to convert into a tablet, a supposed 14 plus hour battery life to last the average school day, and created to be “kid proof” in terms of durability. These attributes come straight from the Dell website with eleven positive consumer reviews. However, we all know that a device can look amazing on paper in order to get a district to purchase it for hundreds to thousands of students, and then not be so amazing in practical use. The Dell Latitude laptop was described as having a four-year life span before nee...