I have enjoyed the journey in my SLIS 5720 class tremendously. It is amazing to think that you are keeping up with technology, only to be put quickly in your place. I have learned about so many new types of technology. This knowledge will enable me to be a much more effective librarian and educator in the future.
In conclusion to this class, I have been asked the following question: What specific plans do you have for implementing technology in an educational setting as a result of what you have learned in 5720?
A few months ago, I shared my skills that were lacking, so I am happy to report that I will have so many new skills to share with students. I am thankful to have the support of my local intermediate school librarian in my endeavors as a "soon-to-be" librarian. She is going to allow me the pleasure of sharing my new knowledge with various 5th and 6th grade classes.
Shortly, I will be teaching 5th grade students how to create a blog. Their blogs will be focusing on how to teach others to conduct research. This will allow students to share ideas that they have on tricky research topics. One thing that this class has taught me is that a blog can have a limited number of words for each post. How daunting to a reader to have to keep reading for an extended amount of time. The limit of 300 words seems perfect.
Another plan for 5th grade students to implement the technology that I have learned about is to allow them to develop collaboration tools for sharing information with other students in the district. They will learn about sites like Diigo and Google Docs. If time permits, they will learn how to use sites like Net Vibes to develop pages that can be useful to themselves and also fellow classmates.
While working with 6th grade students, I plan on teaching them about how to use social networks safely. I believe most students will already be registered on a social network, so teaching them about the dangers will be vitally important.
I also plan on teaching 6th grade students how to create a podcast. Their developed podcasts will be based on their favorite authors. I think they will enjoy this activity.
This is only a beginning to a wonderful experience of sharing my newly found technology with the world. I hope to keep developing my knowledge and using it to educate others.
