Extreme Makeover: Media Center Web Page Edition!

by Tamara Creech

Is your school library media center’s web page gathering dust?  If so, it is time to bring your Media Center's Web Page to the 21st century with an Extreme Makeover!  First, you have to abandon your drab, carbon-copy web page and construct a blog or Wiki in order to get your audience's attention.  You can use Google’s Blogger to create a free blog at http://www.blogger.com/home.  All you need to do is create your Google account, choose your blog name and then your template.  If blogging is not your thing, you can create a special Wikispace for your media center with Wikispaces’ K-12 Plan http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers.

Once you have decided on the platform, you can then worry about the content.  Students like flashy and interactive websites.  Your students are not your only patrons, you have other stakeholders like parents, teachers and administrators so while your space needs to be edgy, make sure that the content is there.  Your main mission is to display your media program in its best “virtual” light and advertise what your media program has to offer in improving student achievement. 

Students need access to resources while they are not in the school setting.  Having links to online catalogs such as Destiny and Library of Congress, databases such as World Book Online and online research tools such as MLA research guides are just the way to support your students and make your media program SHINE!

Getting teachers on board is easier.  You are probably making yourself the “go-to” person everyday in the media center whether it is technology or instructional assistance your teachers need but make them think about you when they are home working on lesson plans.  Provide links to Pathfinders, access to schedule collaborative lessons with you and even a space for quick tech tips for fixing and operating classroom equipment.

Parents are your stakeholders that you may not see day-to-day. Just because you don’t see them does not mean that they are not watching you.  Include your calendar on your site so that parents can check it for special events to attend or volunteer at, a PDF of your school’s Acceptable Use Policy that they can view and print out, and also some background information on yourself so they can see that you are a “highly-qualified” educator.

Because we are showing our stakeholders how up-to-date we are with our state of the art blog or wiki, don’t stop there.  Create links to your school’s Facebook page and Twitter account with a note to FOLLOW ME ON…

Your media center’s foundation is BOOKS, so make sure you have award lists and guides to popular books.  You can also create a spot for your stakeholders to suggest book titles to place in the media center.

That’s it for the bells and whistles!  Please make sure you have your contact information and hours of operation visible. I guarantee with these makeover tips, your media center’s site will get repeat visitors!

Media Center Web Pages

Media center web pages are becoming increasingly popular in schools. It is more likely that schools have them than not. Media specialists have much to consider when creating a website. They must have a clear focus on what they want the web site to accomplish. Most importantly, it should provide information. LMS’s also have to consider cost, audience, what to include and much more. One great way to create an effective media web site is to start with a survey that outlines the expectations and needs of users. The LMS should then take that information and create a site that meets those needs. One of the benefits of having a media center web page is that information and resources can be updated quickly and frequently. Also, it is nice that users can access the information from many different locations. Media specialists should be very careful about what they put on their websites. Information should be practical, useful and easy to navigate. This is especially true if the main users of the website will be students. It is a great idea to also have portions of the site that focus on parents and how they can help their children. Great sites are ones that is easy to navigate, is visually appealing, and provides a great deal of information in an organized way. One of the best ways to design and improve a web site is to look at other sites. Some sites have their links all on the home page which are divided up into categories to make them easy to navigate. I have noticed that most of the sites are visually appealing and make the user want to explore them further. Others embed the information which encourages the user to click into the site and fund what they need. I do like that most of the sites have some picture of the media center on the home page. Some of the popular links are policies, books, web resources, parent links, and others. My personal experiences have been with the media specialists having access to a page on a school website. This creates a uniform look, feel and navigability of the site, but it limits those who want to be more creative with what the site can do. The media specialist has the task of maintaining this particular page of the website.

Wikis — Original Post by Sue Thach

Wikis — Original Post by Sue Thach

Apparently, the use of wikis is really catching on.  When I typed the search term “wiki” into the Google search bar, I got 1,280,000,000 hits!  (One billion, two-hundred eighty million hits!)  It’s definitely time to jump on the wiki wagon!

A wiki is a website that allows users to contribute and share information or ideas, learn new information from other contributors, and be actively involved in the process while a concept is mapped out or a project develops.  On a wiki, users can also upload documents, link to Web pages, and embed videos, audio clips, files and images to share with the group.  The collected resources from the entire group can be edited and stored on the wiki until the project is completed.

Wikis are a great, fun, easy tool for collaborating, brainstorming, editing, planning, and creating.  People who are members of the wiki merely click “Edit” to add to the electronic conversation that is always available to them online in the wiki.  When the user clicks “Edit,” the wiki page becomes like a document with an editing toolbar that allows content and formatting changes.  Users can also add new pages to accommodate related or tangent subjects or a new project. 

Like email, the wiki is always accessible.  Users can get an idea wherever they may be and update the wiki using a smart phone; or they can wake up in the middle of the night with an idea, add it to the wiki, check what others have added, and not have to bother anyone in the group who might be occupied elsewhere.  Unlike email, in a wiki, everyone’s contributions are all in one place, rather than in individual emails that must be opened one by one in order to see recent communications.  It helps to see all of the collected contributions at once so that they can be expanded, arranged, and edited into a logical, flowing document.

            The uses for wikis in education are obvious:  both students and teachers can contribute to wikis as students collaborate with each other and the teacher guides the learning progress.  Rather than having a public access wiki like Wikipedia--which anyone on earth with an Internet connection can edit--teachers can create a private wiki that only group members an edit.   

            In order to keep peace among users of the wiki, there should be an honor code based on some rules of conduct.  The Apalachee High School (AHS) Media Center has a Wiki Charter detailing its rules and the reasons for them.  When using wikis, students (or any other users) should be aware of the importance of respect for others’ work and kindness as far as editing opportunities are concerned (AHS Media Center, 2011).  Teachers can check the wiki to ascertain whether all group members are contributing equally and to make sure that they are on track with their assignment.

            In my experience, wikis can become stale and then forgotten, eventually providing dead links and outdated information.  To keep this from happening, contributors and potential users must stay interested, informed, and aware of updates to the wiki.  In the school setting, advertisements or announcements, e-mail reminders, rewards for contributions, contests, and games are just a few ways to keep wikis active.  (At my school, all it takes is candy.)  If the wiki is started and maintained by a particular person, i.e., the media specialist or a teacher, and that person becomes unable to check links or update the content, then someone else who is dedicated to the wiki should take over.  

Teachers can collaborate with each other on wikis as well.  The Wikispaces for Teachers page has links to tutorials on how to use wikis for educational purposes.  YouTube has many videos that define, explain, give tips, and demonstrate how to use wikis.  One video entitled “Wikis in Plain English” had 1,618,755 views when I watched it (Lefever, 2007).  On Lefever’s Common Craft website, he has a transcript of the video so you can review the information without watching the video repeatedly (Lefever, 2011).  (I recommend the Common Craft site for how-to videos on lots of educational tools and subjects.) 

                                                         References

Apalachee High School (AHS) Media Center: Wiki Charter. (2011).  Retrieved October 9, 2011, from

         http://ahsmedia.barrow.wikispaces.net/Wiki+Charter

           

Lefever. L.  (2007).  Common craft useful handcrafted videos: wikis in plain English.  Retrieved from

         http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wiki&aq=5

Lefever. L.  (2011).  Common craft useful handcrafted videos: wikis in plain English.  Retrieved from

         http://www.commoncraft.com/video/wikis

Tangent, LLC. (2011). Wikispaces for teachers. (2011). Retrieved from 

http://www.wikispaces.com/content/for/teachers

YouTube:  Search results for wiki.  (2011).  Retrieved October 9, 2011, from 

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=wiki&aq=5

Group 4 Equipment Operations Manual URL

Stephanie WarmothEquipment Operations Group Project.docx

Podcasting

Podcasting can be very useful in the media center in many ways. Book talks, storytimes, news, displaying work, and much more can be spotlighted using podcasts. The beauty of podcasts is that they can be saved to a blog, staff drive or website and accessed at a time that is convenient for the user.

Often, teachers are not aware of new books in the media center. They may not always be aware of items that are available on a specific subject or standard that is being covered. Book talks are a great way for students and teachers to learn about new books, or about books on a specific subject. The media specialist could use podcasts as a medium for book talks to create interest in new or specific books.

Getting to the media center for stories can be difficult for some teachers. Media specialists could create a storytime podcast for younger students. Creating a storytime in the format of a podcast can allow the teacher to access the story when it fits her schedule, rather than attempting to schedule time in the media center.

Podcasts can be a great learning tool. Students love to use technology and it can sometimes inspire even the most reluctant learners. Teachers and media specialists can collaborate and create podcasts to help students to further develop their reading fluency skills, writing fluency skills, and knowledge of other content areas. Students can share their writing or other products on the podcast with the school.

In schools, students often display their work in the media center or in the halls of the schools. Providing a podcast about the projects can help students to show off what they have learned. It can also generate interest from other students. Podcasts could also be used to give information about displays and exhibits that are at, or soon coming to, the media center.

Many media specialists are charged with the task of organizing the morning news (or announcements) in schools. Using podcasts during the morning news can be a great way to share upcoming events. Details about PTA meetings, fund raisers, family events and much more can all be shared through a podcast. Then podcasts can relate information about an event that has recently occurred. Students could even conduct interviews with staff and students for the podcast.

Podcasts could be a great way for media specialists to participate in professional development. They could also create podcasts to help staff learn about new resources available through the media center.

The two main factors that I think make a podcast useful, is that they are convenient and accessible for teachers, media specialists, students and other staff. They can inspire interest in students and be a great vehicle for relaying information.

Podcasts – Original Post

According to Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a podcast is a blend of the words “ipod and broadcast” (http://www.merriam-webster.com).

I was first exposed to a podcast in Fall of 2009 when I had just begun my part-time Technology Assistant’s position.  I was asked to sign-up for an online web 2.0 class and attend it with our school’s Library Media Specialists. Throughout the course of the class, we were asked to create 2-3 items per week utilizing 23 new web 2.0 tools. One of the first tools that we had to use was voicethread, a voice recording tool to create an audiocast.

The first time I had to record my own voice with my thoughts, being flustered was an understatement. I was completely overwhelmed. I think I worried about every possible inconceivable thing that could go wrong; creating an account all the while protecting my identity; being sure that I didn’t say too many “…and ums…”, making sure that I spoke about what was needed, and most of all, did my voice sound ok? I don’t really sound like that, do I?

I think I spent 30 minutes trying to create a beautifully crafted, well-spoken podcast, when all that was needed was a blurb about how comfortable we were with the technology that we were using—I think my discomfort was very, very apparent! Needless to say, my comfort level with technology has grown a lot since that class:)

Fast-forward two years. I am now teaching French. My school system has added interactive whiteboards to all classrooms. The software for the boards includes a “recorder”. This recorder can be used to create audio or video podcasts.  Unlike videos that are uploaded to YouTube, videocasts only have a view of the computer desktop, combined with the audio. An audiocast is just a recording of a person’s voice, or utilizes only audio.

In my primary research I found a particular podcast that affected how I would like to use podcasts as a teacher and LMS. It was a Social Studies teacher reviewing his students for a test via an audiocast. The teacher walked the students through the chapter of their book, discussing and pointing out different areas for the students to pay extra attention to in order to prepare and study for the test.

I really thought that this would be a great way for me to review with my students, helping them hear and pronounce words that may be difficult, during a time that was convenient for them to study and/or listen to my helpful hints.

Now, after becoming more familiar with how podcasts work, I would like to add videocasts to show visuals of how to conjugate verbs, adding animations as well as a explain grammatical points and culture. This is also possible with the software that’s included in our interactive white boards. I can actually create a smart notebook file and with my headset and extra-long usb cable, talk and show the lesson in progress via my desktop. My fingers and shadows are not in the way. It’s just me and the lesson—talking to myself—teaching indivisible students who will see this video at a later time when it is convenient for them.

This capability is very helpful to students who not only learn from speech, but also learn even better from visuals. Everything is contained in one video and can be replayed as often as necessary, helping the student grasp the concept being taught.

I hope to include more and more podcasts as the year progresses and I really think they do help students and just like anything else, the more you use it, the easier it gets.