Making Connections at the Beginning of the School Year

This month the BACC cobloggers will share ideas about the various types of professional development opportunities school librarians can offer for  faculty, staff, and community members.

Unshelved_Quiet_LibraryFor librarians who are new to a school and for librarians reaching out to new faculty members or administrators, first impressions count! As this Unshelved cartoon so accurately (and yet so unfortunately) shows our profession continues to struggle with long-outdated stereotypes. (I began my career as a school librarian twenty-five years ago. We NEVER had a “quiet” sign or “shushing” in our library!)

The wise school librarian presents herself, her work as an instructional partner, and the resources of the library in an open, friendly, and upbeat manner. He will want to show his commitment to students’ and teachers’ success and follow through with actions that reinforce his words. She will want to show she is smart, flexible, and ever-ready with a bag of chocolates in her office drawer…

Len Bryan, School Program Coordinator, Library Development and Networking Division of the Texas State Library and Archives Commission, recently posted this information to the Texas Library Connection distribution list: “Instead of reviewing rules, policies, and procedures with teachers and staff, why not present how the library can make their lives easier? This is a great opportunity to reach out and form friendly, collaborative relationships – the foundation of excellent library programs on every campus.” When he served as a school librarian, Len put a letter in every teacher’s mailbox. (He gives credit to retired librarian Lori Loranger, from whom he “stole” it.) This is the Google Drive doc link to Len’s “What Can the Library Do for You?

Experienced school librarian Becky McKee is now the District Librarian for Mabank Independent School District in Texas; she is new in this position. After reading Len’s post, Becky created the handout below to share with teachers at the intermediate, junior high, and high school campuses she will be serving this school year:

You might need a librarian when…

…you have a seed of an idea.
…you need curriculum resources as you develop a unit.
…you need an instructional design partner.
…you need library time for your class to do research.
… you need someone to assist small groups in research.
…you have a recommendation for our library.
…you need a new/different twist for a lesson.
… you need technology in your lesson.
… you need a read-aloud in your classroom.
… you need clarification on copyright laws.
… you need stories or book talks related to your lesson.
… you need personal or professional reading materials.
… you need someone to revel in your enthusiasm for your subject!

Becky gave her “you might need a librarian if” document to her colleagues along with some additional face-to-face outreach. Read about it on Thursday.

Thank you to Len Bryan and Becky McKee for giving me permission to share their work. You can reach Len at: lbryan@tsl.texas.gov and Becky at: rsmckee@mabankisd.net

Unshelved cartoon used with permission

DIY Surveys-Tools for Inquiry

surevy imageAs teacher librarians we eat, live, breathe inquiry.  Inquiry is our bread and butter, and accessing, evaluating, and producing information has been at the core of our teaching and learning. We teach strategies and skills for lifelong inquiry, not just to answer questions on a test. So, how do we use what we know about research and inquiry to solve the issues/dilemmas that we encounter in our professional library lives? How can we enhance our pedagogy and educational goals using inquiry skills?  How can we crowd source our collective knowledge to identify and find solutions to challenges in the field, either locally or globally?  How can we adapt action research and design thinking to solve problems?

How can we incorporate surveys into this process?

Surveys are excellent tools to gather evidence for inquiry and professional practice in educational communities. They are also prevalent in our everyday lives, too.   You probably are asked to participate in many marketing and interest surveys, but find them bothersome and annoying. A teacher librarian can develop and use surveys in multiple ways-with students, colleagues, administrators, parents, community members, and so on.  So, when we develop surveys for students or colleagues,  it is important to design and target the survey to a specific topic, and to make it succinct and relevant to avoid the annoyance factor!

Surveys are instruments that can be used with many audiences, and a well designed survey can provide information that can be mined for factual and anecdotal data. It takes time and practice to develop a tool that will be both simple and complex that can tease out responses that will reveal insights into a topic of inquiry. Surveys are easy to create online and when the participants respond,  the results are displayed instantly in several visual formats.   Surveys can be informal or formal, detailed, or open ended for engagement and commentary.  They can be incorporated into academic research, or used as sounding boards for ideas within action research and design thinking. They can be used for pre-assessment for instruction, so that the instruction can be tailored and targeted to individuals. They can be used as part of an evaluation and reflection process, too, or as an end assessment. Altogether, feedback from surveys can help guide your practice as an instructional leader, co-teacher, administrator, and collaborator.

Tips for designing surveys for newbies:

Try out a free online survey service. Look for features that are available that you might want to have as results. Look at the format for developing the survey. There may be templates and sample questions to follow. An important feature is to have a visual representation of the data-usually in a chart or breakdown of percentages, or spreadsheet displays.  Some platforms charge a fee for bells and whistles. Stick with a free one, until you perfect your techniques, and then decide if you want to upgrade, or find a new venue.

Suggested programs:


Keep it simple:

  • Decide on a focus and audience for your survey. What is the purpose? You will want to share this with your participants, so that they will see that it matters, and will want to respond!
  • Brainstorm the key essential ideas for feedback. What outcomes are you looking for?  How will you word your questions so that they are clear and concise?
  • Keep your survey to under ten questions!  That is a challenge for many who want lots of detail.
  • Your first question should give you demographic information about the participants, and contact information so that you can follow up with them, if needed.
  • Draft your remaining questions using several different choices that will present the key ideas you want to ask about. You could use a multiple choice questions with “one” preference, or multiple choices with “more than one” preference.  You can allow for comments for those who want to add additional information.
  • The last question should be open ended to allow for other ideas that you did not anticipate.

Here are a few ideas for effective use of surveys:

In the past few years, I have come to depend on surveys to inform my teaching and professional practice. Some of the surveys have been internal, while others have been an integral part of research and the basis for reports or publication. I really want to know what my students and colleagues are thinking, and I appreciate the time and effort that a person puts into my inquiry.

Blended Learning and Online Instruction;

At the beginning of the semester, I send out a pre-course survey to students to ask about their comfort with technology and to evaluate their skill levels with certain platforms and applications that will be used during the course. I also ask about their familiarity with topics that are covered in the syllabus. I can then see who might need extra assistance and who else might be an “expert” to assist others. I can adjust some assignments and projects.  A final reflection asks them to identify key learning events or challenges, and suggestions for course improvement.

Program Evaluation:

Periodically, a survey is conducted to get feedback on the delivery model and content for the school library media sequence of courses at the University of Vermont.  The feedback is instrumental at looking at changes that will improve the delivery of the program, as we move forward and provide theoretical and practical practice for the 21st Century.

The most recent surveys were analyzed by Linda Brew and Judith Kaplan (2012) in “ A Program-based Approach to Developing and Implementing Blended Instruction: The University of Vermont School Library Media Studies Sequence.”

A new survey will be completed in 2016.

Professional organizations:

The Vermont School Library Association has been focused on advocacy within the state. As a research challenge, the professional concerns committee has been conducting surveys within the membership to determine the “state of school libraries” in 2014 and 2015. Last year the committee conducted a survey that targeted job descriptions and evaluations of teacher librarians (library media specialists), and this year the survey addressed staffing and budgeting issues. In 2015, we added a new incentive to participants-a lottery for a $100 gift certificate for library books. Over 57% of our members participated!  We have reported out the results and implications of the surveys  at our annual conference in May. We are using the survey results as an organization, to look at trends and at establish goals for advocacy statewide.

Do you use surveys in your practice?  Let us know what you recommend!

References:

Brew, Linda and Judith Kaplan. (2012) “A Program-based Approach to Developing and Implementing Blended Instruction: The University of Vermont School Library Media Studies Sequence.” Chapter 9 in Blended Learning Environments for Adults: Evaluations and Frameworks, by Panagiotes Anastasiades, Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, 2012. N. pag. Print

Image:

Collection of Judith Kaplan

 

Color in the Library – Do they see what I think they see?

I am a relatively new researcher, and I tend to base my research interests on topics with a personal connection to me and my experiences. Two of my three boys and both of my older brothers have color vision deficiencies (aka – colorblindness). They are not alone. In fact, 8-10% of the male population has some form of color vision deficiency (CVD). Statistically speaking, there could be at least one child in every classroom who does not differentiate between colors like someone with normal color vision. To add to the confusion, it is not common for children with CVD to know they see things differently and CVD is not considered a disability for which students would receive accommodations.

Why is this important to school librarians?

Think about how color is used in your library. Color might provide information.

  • Do you use a color-coding system to label the reading levels or genres of your books?  If so, you are using color as a symbol for the reading level, providing information for the library user through the color alone. However, if a number of your students cannot differentiate between the colors, they are missing the information. The simple solution is to provide the information in an additional way, such as writing the reading level number on the label.
  • Do you organize things in your library based on color? As an elementary school librarian, I dismissed students to check out books by colors they were wearing – “If you are wearing green, you may check out books.” I wonder how many students did not know they were wearing green?
  • Do you use color-coded maps in your library instruction? Students with CVD may not be able to determine the color codes on the maps. Add another indicator, such as a pattern, to the map sections. Suddenly, the color does not limit these students from joining in the activity.

Color might be used aesthetically.

  • Do you use color in your library to make the environment more attractive and welcoming? Great! For most of the library users, the color matters and helps to create the environment you intend. Aesthetic use of color does not provide information, and therefore does not serve as a stumbling block for those with CVD.
  • Be sure you use high contrast on your signage. For example, choose a light background with dark letters (or vice-versa). Avoid color combinations that are difficult to differentiate, such as red/green, blue/purple, brown/orange. Here is a great blog post about the use of color in advertising that gives you a good idea of colors that might be difficult or confusing: http://www.sitepoint.com/10-troublesome-colors-to-avoid-in-your-advertising/
  • Allow students to choose colors that look good to them. Does it matter what color the student uses to draw or highlight? If the color does matter, provide markers or crayons that are clearly labeled with the color name. My boys refused to use any crayons that did not say “blue” or “red.” They wanted to be sure they were using the right color. Creative color names on some crayons were lost on my children.

If children are not aware they have CVD, how are educators to prepare?

  • Design your library space and library instruction to be accessible to all learners. Anticipate that there will be some students with CVD or other vision issues and create a your space and instruction to be usable by all. Universal Design for Learning is a way to prepare for all learners: http://www.udlcenter.org/aboutudl
  • Talk to the school nurse, the classroom teacher, and special educators to find out about the needs of students. Go to them if you suspect a child might be having difficulties and keep the lines of communication open.

To read more about my research related to what elementary school librarians know and believe about color vision deficiencies: http://works.bepress.com/karla_collins/subject_areas.html

For more information about color vision deficiencies, check out some of these websites:

http://www.colourblindawareness.org/ – A foundation in the UK dedicated to raising awareness of color vision deficiencies. The video clip above is from this website.

http://nosuchthingascolor.com/ – A short interview with an adult with color vision deficiencies. This is a brilliantly done look into what it is like to see colors differently.

http://colorvisiontesting.com/color4.htm – Helpful tips for teachers, parents, and school nurses.

http://www.neitzvision.com/content/home.html – Done by leading researchers into color vision. “The Basics” link has two presentations with great visual examples.

Do you have any experiences with color vision deficiencies? Share them in the comments section.

Online School Librarian Education: Increasing Interactivity

ApprenNet_logoAs more and more preservice school librarians (SLs) engage in library and information science (LIS) course work online, it is important for LIS educators to consider how the online environment affects pedagogy. While educators may focus on what is lost when moving learning from the face-to-face classroom to exclusively virtual settings, the fact is online learning is here to stay. Graduate students, in particular, who may be employed full-time and have a variety of personal commitments demand the freedom to access their education from the comfort of their own homes and at the most convenient hours or days of the week for their busy schedules.

There are other benefits to online SL graduate students. They will enter the school library having had the experience of learning online. They will be prepared to collaboratively plan with classroom teachers using a wide variety of information and communication technology tools (ICTs). They will also bring their online learning experience to their understanding of how to teach students online—when they are asked to do so. (Yes! That day is coming if it hasn’t already arrived at your pre-K-12 school.)

As a preservice SL educator, I am committed to providing graduate students with opportunities to use and experiment with many different types of ICTs. These are some of questions I ask when selecting a menu of tools for LIS students’ use: Does the tool help me meet the learning objectives I have set for a particular assignment? How can the tool be used collaboratively? Does the tool increase students’ opportunities to learn with and from each other? Does the tech tool help learners experience some of the benefits of the face-to-face classroom, such as voice, facial expression, and body language? How interactive is the tool?

ApprenNet.com is one tool that meets all of these criteria. Developed specifically for Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), students in the courses I teach (maximum enrollment of twenty-five) have benefited greatly from using this tool. (We have been using this tool each semester since the spring of 2014.) ApprenNet exercises are comprised of four parts: a video challenge and student video response, peer review (including a rubric and a narrative assessment), an expert response, and feedback from the expert and classmates, including a ranking of the top five rated video responses to the challenge.

This coming fall in a course called “Librarians as Instructional Partners,” preservice SLs will engage in three different ApprenNet exercises. After conducting research regarding coteaching, they will use research-based evidence to convince a non-collaborative classroom teacher of the benefits of this teaching method. The second exercise will be a job interview with a principal. The third exercise will involve a requirement from a district-level supervisor that the SL share a lesson/unit plan in which she will make a measurable positive impact on student learning outcomes.

Last spring, I published an article in TechTrends focused on my effort to increase interactivity in my courses. “Developing ‘hands-on’ experiences in the online learning environment may help more learners enjoy learning, learn more, and remain committed to engaging in course content and completing their degrees… It seems that new tools that can be used to enhance learning and support teaching are developed daily. As we experiment with these tools, I believe that keeping our focus on interactivity that motivates and engages students in learning with and from each other in the online classroom is a worthwhile pursuit” (Moreillon 46).

Since authoring that article, I have continued to integrate this tool into my teaching and to collect survey data from LIS students who have used this tool for learning. I will be presenting a lighting round talk, “Using A Video-enhanced Tool to Increase Interactivity in the Online Learning Environment” as part of the Innovative Pedagogies Special Interest Group panel at the Association for Library and Information Science Education conference in Boston in January, 2016.

To learn more, check out the ApprenNet tool by reviewing the videos on their “How It Works” Web page.

Note: Flipgrid is a less sophisticated tool geared to preK-12 education.

References

Moreillon, Judi. “Increasing Interactivity In The Online Learning Environment: Using Digital Tools To Support Students In Socially Constructed Meaning-Making.” TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice To Improve Learning 59.3 (2015): 41-47.

ApprenNet logo used with permission

Seeking Online Professional Development: #txlchat

This month the BACC co-bloggers will share snippets of our research in school librarianship and preservice school librarian education. One of our goals is to provide practicing school librarians (SLs) with research-based evidence for how they prioritize their teaching and other professional activities. Another is to spotlight how the co-bloggers prepare preservice SLs for their future leadership roles in their school libraries.

logoSLs must make a commitment to lifelong learning. The changing educational environments in which we work require it. Whether we lead by integrating new resources, tools, or instructional strategies into our teaching or respond proactively to new required curriculum initiatives, effective SLs are called to be leaders in change and to model continuous learning for students and faculty alike.

In order to stay at the forefront, many SLs are making a regular practice of engaging in online professional development (PD). Webinars and social media groups for networking and learning are growing resources, particularly for librarians who serve in districts without district-level supervisors who organize PD for their cadre of professionals. Twitter chat groups are one such venue for self-regulated PD.

In the last academic year, I had the opportunity and pleasure of studying a Texas-focused school librarian Twitter group. The #txlchat meets on Tuesday evenings from 8:00 to 8:30 p.m. CT during the school year. The chat founders, @sharongullett, @_MichelleCooper, and @EdneyLib, and selected core group members actively supported my research by participating in virtual interviews regarding the importance of this PD and networking venue in their professional lives. Twenty-five #txlchat participants completed an online survey and shared their experiences of learning and connecting with this group of job-alike colleagues.

Thanks to the founders’ commitment to archiving the weekly #txlchats on a Weebly site, I had access to data from forty-five chats—from the very first chat in April 2013 through February 24th, 2015 (the last chat included in my study).

This is just a glimpse of what I learned. During the period of my study, 111 Texas librarians and 121 librarians, authors, and others from out of state participated in the chats. It was not surprising that the most frequent chat topic during the period of my study was technology. Thirteen of the 45 chats I reviewed (29%) focused on using technology tools in the library program. Connecting on Skype, being a “connected” librarian, and social media marketing were among the chat topics with the greatest number of participants, tweets, and retweets.

I learned that #txlchat members have a strong sense of belonging. The founders and core group members who rotate moderator responsibilities are committed to making sure all participants’ voices are heard and valued. Everyone involved expressed pride in their participation–both in learning from others and from sharing their knowledge and expertise with the group. My complete study report will appear in the next issue of School Libraries Worldwide. See citation below.

As you consider how you will access PD opportunities in the coming school year, I hope you will consider Twitter as a possible venue. Everyone is invited to participate on Tuesday, September 1st in the first #txlchat of the 2015-2016 school year. Check it out on Twitter at #txlchat.

Coming soon: Moreillon, Judi. “#schoollibrarians Tweet for Professional Development: A Netnographic Case Study of #txlchat.” School Libraries Worldwide 34.3 (2015).

#txlchat logo used with permission