Getting the word out

A new crop of undergraduate student-teachers start classes today. The energy is most palpable at the moment.

So with lots of new faces in mind, I thought I’d go over a few of the ways we in the Doucette Library try to convey information about resources.

Workshops: We do workshops – lots and lots. We should rename ourselves Workshops-R-Us, in fact. These are not your typical library workshops that review research strategies or searching databases or catalogues. We promote the resources that can be found in the Doucette and also illustrate our workshops with the very resources that student-teachers can also use in their work as both students and teachers. We often teach about how to think about the resources: why would I use this? how would I use this? what do I hope to provoke from the students with this? is this the best resources to accomplish my objectives? etc. These sessions are challenging but really fun to do – almost like playing, really. We offer these workshops through classes, the Education Student Association and on our own in something called Black Chair Sessions. The BCS sessions are 20-30 minutes and super focused on a very narrow topic. Bing. Bang. Boom. You’re in. You’re out. You’re better informed.

Library/Subject/Research Guides: Whatever you want to call them, these are incredibly rich resources that the staff in the Doucette Library have created that again direct student-teachers to materials that will help them with their own school work, when they’re out on practicums or even once they’ve become teachers. We organize them around topics that are centred around lesson planning, teaching specific curriculum topics such as social studies, science, or fine arts, specific areas of importance in teaching K-12 grades such as children’s literature, English language learners, technology, interdisciplinary teaching, early childhood education and so on. We recommend web resources, online journal articles and Doucette Library books and kits, of course. It’s about finding information even when you’re not on campus.

Blogs: Well, if you’re reading this you know that I blog in the name of the Doucette Library. But you may not be aware that a colleague, Paula Hollohan, also writes a blog about using technology in the classroom. Doucette Ed Tech reviews many types of resources including apps, gadgets, and trends. It’s a great place to start with getting a grasp on the Maker movement or design thinking, for example.

Pinterest:  Both Paula and I have created Pinterest boards that are filled with resources (again, mostly from the Doucette Library) specific to topics relevant to curriculum or classroom practice. My boards (found as Doucette Library) are really focused on the Alberta program of studies and there are boards for elementary social studies, science and math. Every topic in very grade level has a board dedicated to listing mostly juvenile resources appropriate for classroom use.  Paula has boards related to educational technology.

Goodreads: Again, this is something both Paula and I have joined to help us keep track of the books we read. It also allows student-teachers or anyone else for that matter to see what we’re reading. I’ve made a link from this blog to get to my account and welcome you to ‘friend’ me if you wish to join in.

Litsy: This is brand new for us. Recently, Paula and I have been struggling with trying to revamp a book club that we use to run for student-teachers. This wasn’t the kind of book club that required everyone to read the same book and then discuss it. It was a way for Paula and me to recommend fiction and nonfiction with curriculum tie-ins to students. We also encouraged students to talk about the books they were using or seeing in the classrooms when they were on practicum. But with program changes, there has been a real time crunch for students and we haven’t been able to run it. This year we thought we’d try something new with a new social media-type app. It’s being described as: if Goodreads and Instagram had a baby it would look like Litsy. So Litsy lets us (and you) list the books you’re reading (or have read) plus add pictures and comments much like what you’d see on Instagram. It is easy to use and I’d recommend you stop by for a look and perhaps sign up.

And that’s about it – at least, for now.  We’re always looking for ways to share our expertise and recommend the resources that will help student-teachers excel and enrich their own teaching practices.

Choose-your-own-adventure technology

Tammy’s discussion of “Choose your own adventures” books  led us to an interesting conversation on the appeal of these books to non-readers and then further, to if these  type of books might appeal to on-line game players and X-Box players (do they call them X-Boxers?).  Our sense of this was no – but were there on-line versions that might incorporate some of the decision making and thought processes?

Some Googling and trials of different search terms (choose your own adventure, interactive character stories) brought me to  Choice of Games, a company devoted to “producing high-quality, text-based, multiple choice games”. Their belief is that text-based games are an underutilized format in computer games, and that the use of text interacts with the imagination in different ways than a graphics-based game. (Hmmmm – interesting premise. I like it.)

They have many, many games that they have produced – the one that Tammy and I played is called “Dragon”. It starts off with a knight who attacks a dragon (the character that the player assumes). The choices that are made determine the arc of the story.  Whoever wrote this one clearly has a sense of humour and a willingness to push the boundaries of stereotypes. Here is an example:

“As you think about it, the knight’s attack was probably inevitable. After all, you did just kidnap the princess from right out of her tower. Although…Isn’t it a little sexist to always kidnap princesses?

o   Maybe, but tradition demands that dragons kidnap princesses, even if that is sexist.

o   You dare question my actions?

o   You know, I never thought about that before. In fact, I think I kidnapped a prince, just to avoid being sexist.

o   I’ll have you know that I make a careful point of alternating between princes and princesses, but it happened to be time for a princess.

Good humour displayed here and at a level that kids would get, I think. As you move through the game, the choices that you make determine things about your character (or you) – in this case, whether you, the dragon lose or gain brutality, cunning, disdain and infamy, what your wealth is and if you have wounds. 

The adventure continues – unlike physical books however, if you don’t like the way it is going, you have to go back and start again, which can certainly change the entire focus.

But what Tammy and I thought had huge potential was that Choice of Games offers the opportunity for you to write your own multiple choice games. They offer a basic guide to their programming language that enables someone to post their adventure online. Of course, you cannot just randomly start writing the program. And this is where an opportunity to capture the attention of reluctant writers and addicted gamers comes in. The story line will have to be plotted out, include what happens at each choice point – students would need to know about plot development, think through the impact at each choice point and perhaps even read a few books/short stories to get some ideas for story ideas and what might appeal to a particular age group.

This would not be a quick project – but the inspiration of being able to see a game that you have written on line might just appeal to those who are reluctant writers and readers.  It certainly would have more appeal than a book report – at least from my perspective.  And certainly, in Alberta, at any rate, a project of this nature would go a long way toward achieving not only the vision set out in  Alberta Learning’s Learning and Technology Framework, but the ability to foster cross-curricular learning is invaluable.

Choice of Games can be played both online and as downloads through iTunes and Android. In addition, authored games can be placed on iTunes and Choice of Games will split proceeds with the author. Kind of a win-win for everyone!!
                                                                                                                                                       --Janet

This time a book – instead of an app

Guest blogger - Janet Hutchinson

Janet has recently taken on learning about instructional technologies for the classroom.  Part of her time has been learning about iPads, their usefulness as a classroom tool and related apps.  We've gotten into a few discussions about some of the questions that arise when looking at some of these 'educational tools.'  Do these apps add anything to the reading experience?  Are they educational, entertaining, distracting or altogether off-putting? Do they replace the physical book?  What is lost without the physical book if anything? and so on.   

Finding current books that direct you to worthy apps is important however fleeting their relevancy.

With my new-found interest in iPads and apps (OK, who am I kidding, I have always been a bit of a geek….), I have been discovering books that are about technology and technology integration into the classroom. One could argue that by the time a book gets through the stages of production, at least 30,000 new apps will have been introduced in the iTunes store (that’s a conservative estimate – a quick Google tells me that according to about.com, apps available on iTunes have gone from 50,000 in June of 2009 to 775,000 in January of 2013 – other sites cite different numbers. The point is, it is a quickly growing market). However, whether these apps are useful or achieve learning goals can be difficult to measure without some reading and thinking about incorporating them into the classroom.

I have been reading several books about technology and technology in the classroom to help me with understanding this process. Tammy has asked me to review some of what I am finding.

So the first book  that I am reviewing is Apps forlearning – middle school iPad, iPod touch and iPhone by Harry Dickens and Andrew Churches.

There are several reasons why I liked this book. To start, the authors have not covered huge numbers of apps. They have selected 5 to 8 apps in each category and expanded on how a student or teacher might use this in learning and research.

 I also liked the fact that the chapters were broken down by subject area. For example, the Social Studies chapter lists 6 apps and gives examples of the types of information that a student might gather from the app, or how the teacher might use the app in their classroom.

Each chapter ends with a brief synopsis of each app listed in the chapter, along with the URL, the purchase price and the device availability. (If you are Canadian, some of the apps listed are American based, so might be of limited use in some aspects of the curriculum – but I am continually on the lookout for quality Canadian apps that mirror some of the American ones I have found – I’ll keep you posted.)

Finally, the authors have not limited themselves to curriculum subject. They have devoted several chapters to basics, literacy, apps and tools for sharing and talking and tools for creating.

This book might get dated quickly – but the authors’ principles about what to look for in an app and why it is important to integrate them into the classroom mirrors much of my thinking on the subject.

And the other reason I liked this book? Most chapters feature at least one app that I thought would be great for classroom use. Nothing like positive reinforcement in a field where I feel like as much as I have learned, I still have so far to go!!

An educational app looking to make a difference

One of the most beautiful apps that I have downloaded in my quest for apps is the one developed by the World Wildlife Fund. There is exceptional detail to the layout and the stories within the story and the photography is gorgeous. The app explores a number of animals on WWF’s list of endangered animals. The list is (sadly) ever-expanding, and WWF does a really good job of adding stories to the list.

The app is well-constructed and once you get the hang of it, easy to navigate. Each animal is introduced by a single word. The word is meant (I think) to typify one fact about them. The Tiger’s word is Solitude, the Snow leopard’s word is Rarity and the Panda’s word is Charisma. Inside each story, the user receives facts about the animal, including 3 threats to their existence, their current population, their habitat and the distance that they are from where the user is (The snow leopard is 6,700 miles from me – the polar bear is 1327 miles and the bison is just down the road, at 503 miles). Each story includes photos of the animals at various spots in their habitats and video and interactivity to keep it interesting. For example, in the Gorilla story, one page shows leaves that need to be gathered up into a circle. Once they are all gathered, another fact about the gorilla’s foraging and movement activity is revealed. On another screen a number of dots move towards a centre dot. When you tap on the dot, it mimics the thumping behaviour that gorillas use as aggression displays to warn off other males. The thumping that you do also brings up other types of behaviours used by the gorilla male.

This app is free to download at the iTunes store and WWF is doing a great job of adding new stories to it. One of the features shows a globe, with dots indicating the locations of threatened animals. I imagine that the intent is that eventually the app will have all the stories of all the animals.

One last thing that I particularly like is that there is no overt asking for donations – that certainly is one of the ways that the user can help – but it is not first on their list. And they make sharing the app via Facebook, Twitter and email easy.