LIBE 467 - Assignment #3 - Transitioning the Learning Commons into a Digital Space
Transitioning the Learning Commons into a Digital Space
Pandemic Plan of Action
Learning Commons: Context and Background
Jan-Feb 2020
The reference and nonfiction collection at my school Rundle College Primary-Elementary is one that is in the process of becoming more up-to-date and aligned with curriculum. Moving from a donations model to a consciously curated collection has been a piece of my long-range planning from the beginning of the year. As a new teacher librarian in a role that is new to the school, the first job was to get a sense of the reference collection. From there, I picked a subject to focus on and worked on updating the nonfiction collection section by section. This involved weeding, selecting quality replacements and developing bibliographies. Part of the distant future planning involved building a website and a resources hub for teachers, but that was not part of my immediate planning model. As of January 2020, the Learning Commons had an online catalogue (OPAC) used for searching the physical books in the collection as the extent of the online usage and presence.
With the learning from the course, Information Services, LIBE 467, and the prompting of assignments, I began exploring online resources to use in conjunction with the print resources. In particular, I focused on the Alberta government’s LearnAlberta website, and sharing these resources with teachers and teachers in our Learning Commons lessons. My school does not subscribe to any other websites so this platform is our main researching space. I learned about the Deep Web, the Dark web and also effective searching skills on academic search engines. As my online skill set began to grow, and knowledge and confidence grew, my teaching shifted, moving away from literature based teaching to that of teaching effective research skills, taking notes, and citing sources. Teaching students the skills needed to become information literate was a focus. This was new for teachers too, as I broadened the scope of my role, I began to suggest resources, and co-teach in a new way. I began a collaborative research project with grade five, researching a famous person, as discussed in Assignment #2. I was also in the planning stages of a new research project with grade four, the World of Wonder project that had students learning, researching and sharing more about a topic of their choice using the Points of Inquiry model. The beginning phases of changing the landscape of how the Learning Commons functioned and the role in the teacher librarian were in the transition.
March 2020
As the news of school closures spread across the world, my school had teachers create a planning document that would help us think about what a shift to teaching and learning online would look like. I started my transition planning on March 9, 2020. One piece that was immediately evident was that the Learning Commons had nothing online. The need to create a space for the Learning Commons community to connect and exist in the virtual world was clear.
Area for improvement: Create a digital space for the school Learning Commons. Begin to evaluate digital resources, curate and provide a hub of excellent resources for learning and researching at home that supports both teachers and students.
Rationale: The Learning Commons needs to be moved online in order to effectively connect staff and students with resources. Connecting and building community will be essential as well as creating spaces for resources, research and learning to happen at home.
Information literacy is defined as, “a student’s ability to locate, evaluate, and use information in a variety of formats to meet their information needs” (Riedling, 6). This seems to be increasingly relevant in the COVID-19 world as a constant stream of information continues to cascade. How can I connect students and teachers with great resources while also fostering information literacy at this critical time? After consultation with an expert (Aaron Mueller), and conversations with my administrator, a blog was decided as the best platform for the moment. On March 10, www.rundlecollegelearningcommons.blogspot.com was started as a platform to meet the need.
At first I was posting constantly, all of the new author reads, live tutorials, etc. The response from the book world to sharing and creating information and material was incredible. I wanted there to be regular new blog posts, and relevant resources. After a week or so of this, the space started to seem cluttered. This was also reflected in the viewing stats. The flurry of posting was too much. I was reacting to the cascade of information, by pushing out a ton of information. When I posted one thoughtful item, it got views, when I posted several at a time, there were posts that received no views. This reflection also led me to the realization that the purpose of the blog was not clear. It was a jumble of reviews, links, resources and activities. I needed a separate spaces, one for the students and one for resources. I decided that the audience of the blog needed to be students. I saw a padlet created by another TL, and I liked how it was organized. I had not used that platform before, but I decided to try it. It streamlined the information and the freedom in which I could post and edit was straightforward. https://padlet.com/harte8/eqcbtoua93pf The audience for the padlet was larger, designed for teachers, parents and students, and this platform can be used exclusively as a resource. I edited the blog, deleted many posts, and moved relevant links over to the padlet, keeping the blog as a Learning Commons community space. The goal was to make each space purposeful and meaningful for the audience. There was also a need to connect in video form with students and teachers, so I started using screencastify and posting to a YouTube channel to record tutorials, book talks and read alouds.
Online Platforms
(March 2020)
Platform
|
Audience
|
Information shared
|
Purpose
|
Instagram
@hartelovesbooks
(first post June 2015)
|
Adults
Teachers, parents in school community
|
-Book reviews
-Some other literacy and book related posts
|
-to keep a log of what I have read my my own purposes
-to share recommendations
-connect and learn from others, reviewers, authors, illustrators
|
Twitter
@harteshannon
(first post Feb 2012)
|
Adults
Teachers, parents in school community
|
-Highlights from the school Learning Commons
-Relevant literacy articles
|
-advocate and make visible what the LC role entails
-share / celebrate with the wider community school LC happenings
-share information with others
|
|
First post - March 10, 2020
|
Students (K-6)
|
Book talks, celebrating/ promoting reading, book recommendations, (student work coming)
|
-to create an online learning commons space
|
|
Started March 31, 2020
|
Teachers, parents, students
|
Resource hub, links to sites
|
-curated to highlight the most current, relevant and best resources available.
|
YouTube Channel
(unlisted)
Started March 16, 2020
|
Teachers, parents, students
|
Online tutorials for teachers, recorded lessons, book talks, read alouds etc.
|
-videos created are housed here.
-to connect students with books.
-creating a video of me feels more personal than writing, the hope is that it helps students feels connected.
|
Creating an online community is so important, right now especially, when we are all at home. So, knowing this, and that we are at the beginning of a radical change, there is more work to be done moving forward. The timeline and goals below are some initial thoughts. Also, knowing the importance of being flexible, reflective and receptive to feedback on what is effective.
Goals for April-June 2020
Learning Commons Blog - This platform is used to build and create community. Students at the forefront, hub for sharing information, book talks and students interacting. For the online blog, I will use The Leading Learning Appendix 6 as a model for best practices. Seen below.
(image from Leading Learning p.35)
Padlet - Share out with the wider school community, continue to update and keep current.
Instagram - Continue posting book reviews, daily if possible.
Twitter - Continue connecting with educators, gathering and evaluating resources, information and sharing relevant articles
YouTube - Continue tutorials, read alouds, and book talks in video format. All read alouds need to be removed by June 30 as per publishers current COVID guidelines.
Teacher support- The main piece to build moving forward is connecting teachers with the resources they need, and continued collaboration. My role is to be supportive, connective and innovative. I will attend virtual team planning sessions in order to search out the needs and collaborate. Being flexible and innovative with teams as we all navigate a new teaching reality is my primary aim.
Looking Forward: Goals past June 2020
The larger vision I foresee is to have a website that hosts all of the pieces that have been individually created in one hub. To have a space where resources, bibliographies, projects, research, and community can all be intertwined. I like Surrey School’s website as a model. They created a comprehensive space, and have it linked through the school’s website. What I like about the Surrey School’s site is that the vision and mission are clearly stated, the goals are set out, and the organization is easy to navigate. However, building, hosting and creating websites is something that I have not done before. In addition to that, I need to create policies, a vision and mission guidelines for my Learning Commons that align with the wider school’s learning goals and values. Working toward this goal however, helps me work on each of the smaller pieces with greater clarity and purpose.
In these changing times, there is an opportunity to shift the perception of the role of a teacher librarian. There is a chance to model and teach information literacy, to connect with people and resources, to build community through support and to lead the way in collaboration. The work is challenging but exciting and the role of teacher librarian has never felt more important.
Works Cited:
Canadian Libraries Association. Leading learning: Standards of practice for school library learning commons in Canada. Ottawa, ON: Canadian Libraries Association.
Learn Alberta Online Reference Centre. (2020) Retrieved from http://www.learnalberta.ca/OnlineReferenceCentre.aspx?lang=en
Riedling, Ann Marlow and Cynthia Houston. (2019) Reference Skills for the library media specialist: tools and tips. 4th Ed. Worthington, Ohio.
Surrey Schools Library Learning Commons. (2020) retrieved from https://www.surreyschools.ca/llc/Pages/default.aspx
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