ADDIE

Well to be honest this blog is frustrating me as this is my second attempt this week and the first one truly was lost. I don’t think I would use this site with students, it would be discouraging. I have moodle at school that I would use to do a blog, which does require me to read submissions much like e-pals. Anyhow, I have been working on teaching my son how to use my digital camera for the purposes of the ADDIE assignment. Prior to this week, the only thing he knew how to do was snap a picture, now he knows how to turn it on, zoom, delete bad pictures and I will be teaching him tonight how to download pictures. I think when I get a new camera, I will give him this one. In other technology news, I attended my first webinar this week. The company (Follet) that we use for our library circulation had a new version released in December and the webinar was to show librarians about the new features. I signed into Microsoft Live Meeting about 10 minutes before the webinar was to begin. There was a phone number to dial so we could hear the audio. I put the screen on the Smartboard so my library para could also watch, we put the phone on speaker and we were ready. I really liked this technology. It saved both time (no drive time) and money (no transportation cost) and allowed my para to watch along with me rather than have me explain it all to her second hand. I was able to ask questions during the session via chat. I did have one question and it was answered very quickly and thoroughly. A great experience! Thank you technology!

Moving on to the technology side of things…

So begins the journey of obtaining a certificate in “Online Teaching and Learning” after completing an MA in library science. Why as a school librarian is this my next step? As a school librarian, I see daily how technology is being used in education. How teacher’s are designing lessons using it, how administration uses it as a communications system and how it is such a motivating tool for students. Additionally, so many resources are available online for libraries. E-books, online encyclopedias, online dictionaries, online databases, audiobooks, newspapers via websites, etc. Libraries are changing with the times as well, so I feel I have to stay on top of the technology game so that not am I aware the newest changes myself, but also (and more importantly) to be able to it with my students and the staff at my school. I am excited to see what I will learn from this certificate program. On another topic, this past Tuesday, Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States. My school library was the place that many students and teachers watched the ceremony. But they didn’t watch it they way I had planned. I had ithe live stream set up on MSNBC ready to watch on the Smartboard. Apparently, so did about 200 other people in my district. Bandwidth was completely maxed out throughout the district, with not even the possibility of doing a Google search until nearly 2:00 p.m. What I didn’t understand was why they didn’t say that only 1-2 people per buildng could stream. How about each library and 1-2 classrooms? Instead it was “good luck with that”. We ened up watching it on the trusty old TV. With rabbit ears. But we did get to watch and that was what was important!