Final Reflection

I have been looking forward to taking this class for sometime.  In college, I majored in Information Technology and I worked as an IT consultant for five year.  I consider myself to be an early adopter of technology and I'll try anything techie!  I had very high hopes for this class that it would show me new technologies that I could use in my library and I feel I accomplished that goal.  Throughout the semester, there were technologies that I really loved, ones that caused me some frustration, and other I felt I could immediately implement into my curriculum. 

Which ones excite me most?

I have been an avid user of Animoto for almost a year now.  I actually discovered it last year when I was trying to find trailers on YouTube that showed characteristics of the Fantasy genre.  I couldn't really find what I was looking for so I decided to create my own.  At first I tried iMovie, but I got really frustrated and found it difficult to use. One of the other librarians I work with suggested Animoto because she used it for book talks.  Once I started using it, the free version wasn't going to cut it for me and I ended up buying a professional license. What I created actually surprised me.  Animoto helped inspire a creativity in me I didn't know I had.  Not only did I create a Fantasy Animoto, but I also created a Science Fiction and Mystery Animoto that was very well received by my students.  I've also used Animoto to promote my library and different events we've had going on.  Some of my videos have been featured on our student announcement video.  It's a winner in my book.

I loved the comic strips.  I wasn't aware that there were free site online that could create these.  This is a great way to pull kids into a unit and let them display their knowledge in a different way.  I am definitely going to play around with this technology more.  I think my students will love that their librarian can make cartoon strips!

Which ones were most difficult?

I feel the Infographics was the hardest for me.  It was very difficult to take a large amount of information and narrow it down to a series of pictures.  However, it is such an important skill to be able to synthesize a large amount of information.  However, I am already seeing an immediate benefit of this assignment because my Science teacher came to me asking for another way for our 3rd graders to disseminate their research information on the solar system.  I suggested an Infographic, and she thought that was a great idea.  So, in January, I will be introducing Infographics to the 3rd graders and showing them how to create them. That way when they start their project in Science, they will already know how to create the end product of their research project.

I really do like online book communities.  However, I feel a few platforms were difficult to use and were not intuitive.  I will continue to be a user of Goodreads, but not the other sites.  I did really like BiblioNasium for students and will propose this a potential add on to my teachers for their in class reading programs.



Which one would benefit students?

Podcasts have the wonderful ability to reach students anytime day or night.  I would of loved having the ability to go back and hear an instructor's lecture again.  I am hoping to incorporate podcasts into my curriculum.  I'm thinking in April using podcasts to celebrate Poetry Month.

I have already used the screencast I created for this class for my 4th graders.  Like a podcast, screencasts are available to students anytime day or night and appeal to both the visual and auditory learner.  I will be looking forward to using this technology more.  



Overall, I am very pleased with the different technologies I have learned throughout the semester.  I feel all of them lend themselves very well to a library environment and I look forward to using all of them.