I am interested in...

“What topics, ideas or “keywords” are you interested in exploring through some literature searches? What is in your professional practice or environment that you would like to explore further about digital technologies, web 2.0, or 21st century learning and why?”

-Assignment 1, LIBE 477B, UBC 

I am interested in how to create an effective elementary school library website. This doesn’t exist yet at my workplace and I can see it being extremely useful. Questions I wonder about: What should I include? What parts of a library website are most helpful for primary students? Intermediate students? Teachers? Parents? What programs am I allowed to use to create the website? 

I am interested in personal learning networks. I joined a Facebook group in July 2020. That group was called “The Science of Reading – What I Should have Learned in College”. I joined it because I had a son in kindergarten who wasn’t picking up reading as quickly I wanted him to, so I’d been researching how to best teach reading. The knowledge I gained from the posts on that group was incredibly useful. It benefited my son as well as all the students I have worked with as a resource teacher since then. I wasn’t expecting to gain so much professional knowledge through social media, but it happened organically and I enjoyed the process. How can I replicate that for others? How do I create a community of engaged online learners among my students or in my school among my colleagues?

I am interested in ChatGPT. I’m not sure what I want to do with ChatGPT, but it’s interesting and everywhere and I am sure I can find ways for it to help me. I’ve heard of teachers using it to create resources, write lesson plans and mark papers. What could I use it for? Are my current students using it? Probably not, since they are 8. What are the ‘rules’ for using it ethically?

I am interested in online research with younger grades. Is there a best way to carry out ‘inquiry’? How old do students need to be before they can research online independently? What are some ways to make internet research more successful for young learners? 

Image from pixabay.com

This is a lot of different topics – too many for one course! Both Chat GPT and personal learning networks are interesting, but they aren’t immediately applicable to my work situation so I’m less inclined to focus on them.

I’m teaching a grade 3/4 class this year, and I know we’re going to be doing some online research. Having more knowledge about teaching young students how to independently find the information they are looking for would be helpful right away. Doing a research project with my class will give me more experience in teaching students how to do online research and improve my future teacher-librarian skill set. Possible keywords for this topic: inquiry learning, primary students, online research

Building an effective school library website would also be immediately helpful. I can see this project fitting in well with the ISTE Leader Standard discussed in our reading: “Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support student empowerment and success and improve teaching and learning” (Miller and Bass, 2019). Building a online framework that allows students and teachers to access the library catalog and digital resources available would be beneficial in many ways. It would support students being able to locate books of interest independently and give teachers access to digital resources that they do not know exist. Better resources will improve teaching and learning. Possible keywords for this topic: elementary school library websites, website design

I will do some initial reading on both topics and see which interests me more.

Miller, S., & Bass, W. (2019).  Leading from the Library: Help your School Community Thrive in the Digital Age. International Society for Technology in Education.