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!
