Wisner Online Discussion

I was amazed at how well the Wisner discussion went in that medium. It started slowly, but picked up quickly to where I was really enjoying the debate. I think we heard a lot more views since some members of the class who tend to be less eager to speak up were able to type out their thoughts and responses and perhaps edit them before posting. Some people don't feel comfortable voicing a disagreement while directly facing their "opponent" (even in a friendly environment as our class tends to be.) I heard a lot of great thoughts and ideas from people who I never hear from in class.

However, I really had a problem with the simultaneous talking and typing. There seemed to be two conversations going on at a time, and as soon as I caught up on one I felt behind on the other. I felt like I probably missed a few good points in the discussion because of this. It was a bit overwhelming for easily distracted brain. I personally work best in a face-to-face atmosphere, but once again, I was rather impressed with how well that medium worked out overall, regardless!

Ipods have arrived...too late for my immediate project

The Ipods have arrived and they DO look amazing. However, it is Thanksgiving week, so there is little point in sending them to the classrooms yet. Also, I'm still not sure of an easy way to load the mp3s onto them that I feel would work for most teachers. So I will be working on that in the coming weeks, and I'll hold off leaving the Ipods with the teachers until after the holidays. I'll go around and let them have some hands on time, but they are still getting used to following the steps to correctly saving and storing the mp3s. The immediate playback portion is very useful, but they aren't quite comfortable with saving the files when I'm not in the room (for some reason). I guess I need to take it slow for a bit so that they are ready for the next step, when we are able to take it.

I've really lost steam with the Ipods myself after waiting for so long and now finding frustration with iTunes just as I had feared. I think building on what is already working will help me re-energize as well so I can make a fresh push with the new year.

Getting some bites already

I haven't even officially introduced my project to the school, and word has already spread that I am doing easy sound recording of the students. The 2nd grade was very interested so I have set them up to record in a similar manner. They won't get the ipods immediately (if they ever do arrive) but they will be able to have stations for the students to record and playback to listen to themselves reading! That will be over 22% of the school's classes using the process as soon as I get them set up! 6 classrooms down, only 21 more to go!

Action Project Update

I am rather concerned that the ipods haven't arrived yet. However, I have proceeded without them. The teachers are already using the headsets to record, store, and playback the students in mp3 format. The ipods may end up being a luxury in the end! The program I chose (Audacity) has proven very simple and non-imposing to the teachers despite its vast array of tools they can use as they get comfortable with the basic recording parts. The only issue is them remembering to save it as an mp3 instead of just an audacity project file. Both store the sound, but I had to show one teacher how to go back and export the audacity files as mp3 so it would be usable by other programs.

Laying the groundwork

The ipods are on the way, so I decided to move ahead and show the teachers how to use the recording software we have with the new headsets I acquired for them to use. Each teacher has a flash drive with a portable version of audacity on it so they don't have to worry about installing the program each time they use it (our computers have Deep Freeze.) They seemed really excited about the prospects of the children being able to record and listen to themselves read. My first grade teacher also plans to record some books for centers. She says she has a set which specifically allows teachers to do that. I told them to try it out when they had time in the next week and that I would check in after that to see if they were having any issues. They both seem excited, so I hope they will have something recorded by the time the ipods arrive so we can dive in immediately. I guess I will see here in about a week if the teachers really are ready to use them!

Strolling toward the starting gates

I am actually writing this post on a Linux operating system. It isn't applicable to my project, but does fit in quite well with the general try-it-out nature of the class overall. I am experimenting with putting Linux on my mother's spare computer that always seems to get sick with windows. It has been quite a trial as I've set it up, but I'm learning tons about the pitfalls of Lunux.

My project is waiting on me to pull the trigger and order the Ipods, however, I have been hesitant to do so. It is a leap of faith on my principals part to allow me over a thousand dollars with no proof that it will actually work in the classroom. That scares me. I've spoken to the teachers I will be working with in the last couple of days, so that makes me feel more at east with the project. I just have to depend on the teacher's ideas on what they want to do with the technology, and then work to make that happen. They know best what they want and therefor they know what they would actually use. I just know that I would typically prefer to take charge and set it all up on my own. That just didn't seem to be the best practice in this situation though, so I'm working to let loose the reigns a bit and just see where we end up.

I am looking forward to completing the "organizational" chart for the project. I think I may not be so overwhelmed at not knowing what I should be doing next. I need to set out some steps for the trial run, because if it works, I will probably be implementing it on a much wider basis. The fact that we are the first school in the county doing this could add quite a few more eyes on my little ol' project as well.

It's going to be interesting, but I know I am in my element, so I have faith I can see this through!

Back on track

Another principal meeting...and I'm once again feeling good about the project. I worked with him and our bookkeeper to find the state contractors most likely to help us out. We are going with the 8GB or 16GB Ipod Nanos. The size will depend on the price differences, but these are capable of recording video as well. That will open up additional options with these in the future.

We decided to just start with the 1st and 3rd grades, since they will be the ones who are ready to run as soon as the ipods get here.

Into the wall I run

I'm having a hard time getting a quote from state contractors to buy Ipods. No one in the county has bought them before, and they don't seem to be in any catalogs. Our bookkeeper is not very helpful in the process either.

I'm also a bit nervous about how the system will work once we get the Ipods too. I have never owned an Apple product, but I worry about proprietary issues that would arise in trying to sync multiple Ipods to a single computer. I would love to find an easier way to sync them with the mp3s we want stored on there.

Everything has really ground to a halt over this, so I hope I can break through the red tape soon!

Second meeting with Principal

I was finally able to sit down and have another conversation with my principal to hone down my project. We decided that my idea of using audio recordings in the classroom would be the best goal to pursue at the moment. We discussed the possible uses of those recordings and benefits of each, but the two concepts we really spent the most time on were:

1. using them to record students reading and letting them listen back on an Ipod to hear themselves reading. We hope this would work to improve "reading with emphasis" skills.

2. using the Ipods to allow students to replay teacher instructions at home, or to offer Spanish translations for ESL students (and their parents) who are struggling with textbooks and instructional time using a language they don't understand.


We have decided to pilot this program in three classes that span our grade levels. We chose 1st, 3rd, and 5th grades to choose the classes, and then picked a teacher from each grade that we felt would be most likely to be open to the ideas. I'm a bit worried about pitching the ideas to the teachers, because I'm not entirely sure what form they need to take (I'll need their input and expertise in their own grade levels for that.) However, I am really excited about this large step forward. Now I need to form a solid sales pitch to the teachers and start working with them to figure out what our desired end-result will look like. Once that gets rolling we should be able to order our Ipods. We are going to offer 4 to each classroom, making a total of 12 we will need to purchase.

First Group Meeting Reflections

I feel like our first group meeting was successful. I think the online format will take some getting used to, but for a first meeting it was still very productive. We all were able to discuss and compare projects. Everyone seems to be leaning toward an audio/video theme in their projects, so we all are heading in similar directions. I'm still unsure what mine will ultimately look like, but I think I can use some pieces of what others are doing (such as book reviews) as ideas for teachers if I try to teach them to implement videos into their classroom teaching and assessments.

Lunch meeting with the principal

Sat down at lunch and was able to speak with Dr. Sheek about my project and it's scope. I threw out both ideas I had been thinking about and he reacted very positively toward both. I had the feeling that the "podcasts" were more exciting to him, and that he had been bouncing that technology around in his head already. He just didn't know which direction to go with it or what the first steps would be.

The library will be changing soon, but he envisions it as a process spanning a few years. However, the planning stage needs to happen now. If we can create a blueprint of what we want it to look like, then we will be able to slowly work toward it. I fear that without a solid final goal in mind, we may end up blindly following different directions and not spend any allocated funds efficiently.

I think we will be able to sit down and break down both ideas more in depth in the coming days. I think that both of my ideas will come about, I just need to figure out the best way to tie one up into a project. I guess I need to go back tonight and look at the syllabus to see what I should focus on within these to be my class project.

Action Learning Project Update

I've managed to narrow my project down to one of two directions.

Option one is creating a design plan for our school library as it transitions from K-8 to K-6. I know that they are wanting to improve technology access as well as modernize the look and feel of the media center. This may be too big in scope, but it is something that is going to happen and needs someone heading the project. There are different ideas as to what all will be included between my principal and media coordinator though, from what I've gathered.

Option two is offering instruction on using video and audio recording devices in the curriculum. I'm not sure that the final goal is exactly a podcast system, but I do think we could use existing technology to both modernize some class projects and record student projects without wasting too much paper. Our principal is almost always willing to invest in the hardware to empower the teachers as long as it looks like it will help increase student learning. I just am not sure which form the initial exposure to the technology should take yet.

Librarian Interview

I finally got a chance to sit down with our school librarian today. She was out of town all last week taking care of her father, but luckily we were able to plan ahead for a time today to sit and chat.

Mrs. Keatley is from a time where her first experience with a computer came in college. She recalled a time when Mac could only read a file up to a certain size. One of her final major papers was on the verge of that size, and apparently her final revision bumped it over. The computer let her save and overwrite the old file, but then refused to open the new document because it had become too large. I believe that early experience really set the tone for her ideas on technology from that point on.

Her first school library job began in 1987. The school had two Apple IIe computer in the media center that were the only computers in the school. She remembers them as slow and lacking in usefulness, but as sturdy machines that were built to last the test of time. She laments that the computers we get in now seem so fragile that we might as well throw them out once they are over three years old. The entire school shared two television sets on rolling stands and there was no option but to show VHS tapes on them since there was no cable system in the school. The card catalog was still based on cards, and the checkout system of taking the card out when the book left was simple…yet left you rarely having any idea of your actual inventory in the library.

She spoke of how her position’s name change from Librarian to Media Specialist really mirrors the role she has come to play in the school. Once the technology started flowing into the schools, they implemented a checkout system from the media center for each item. That slowly changed to having enough of everything that each classroom had their own and no longer had to check things out. However, the responsibility of keeping inventory of all the items remained her duty.

The actual books have changed too. She said that they used to have a smaller budget and could buy even fewer books because “library bindings” were twice the cost of normal books. On the other hand, books now seem to last no longer than 5 years maximum, and those expensively bound books are still holding up after 20 years.

The main problems in the library today seem to fall into two groups: upkeep and training. The lack of funding and time for each always creates an inefficient use of technology in the school. The budget always seems to include money for new supplies, but not enough to maintain them. She told me about how a few years ago the PTA supplied all our classrooms with a new printer. They worked great for a year or so…until the ink ran out. The PTA wasn’t willing to continually fund replacement, and the school couldn’t afford them. Last year we sent the majority of those off to be recycled.

Training is a major issue as well, because her time is so full with kids and book checkouts during the day. After school, she is busy fixing problems that the county tech team will never get to. Many teachers have no idea how to utilize the technology in their room. It is different with each teacher though, because they are all on different levels. She tries to offer school-wide trainings when an obvious need arises, but what is logical and natural to some ends up sounding like brain surgery to others.

She likes our current Follett system because it is localized and efficient. She says the larger circulation systems wouldn’t be best suited for our network because our server is old and adding pictures, reviews, or any other information would just slow down the check in/checkout process. It doesn’t appear that many students use the system to find books here anyway. Most prefer our online reference sources, but there isn’t a centralized system to search all of them from one site.

She sees the future of the library having less and less to do with actual books, and becoming more as a facilitator to finding information digitally. She thinks that many of the current fads of using blogs, wikis, and message boards as a bandwagon that is used more for show than actually being useful. However, she thinks that education will continue moving in that direction, and that more efficient tools will naturally evolve from those beginnings.

I have a feeling this conversation has been less of an interview and more of an open discussion that will continue in the future. She knows the future of the library is pretty obscure at the moment, but we have really had a great time speculating and discussing possibilities for THIS library at least!

Final Thoughts

This school is fortunate to have a principal that is very technology oriented. Although that tends to mean that our inventory list is massive and rather unruly, we get to experiment with most technologies that come out and seem interesting and useful. Ms. Keatley grew up in a time with little in the way of technology, but she is full of desire to continually learn as technology grows and changes. She also tends to be a bit distrustful of the newest changes in anything, and is unwilling to let go of functioning technology until she is absolutely sure the next generation will hold its own and supersede the current. I think this allows for a library (and school) that is both on the cutting edge, yet functional and stable, to appeal to all levels of users. She mentioned that she wants to get all the life out of a machine…yet get rid of it before its merely on life support. Many times inadequate funding prevents this from being possible, but I still agree deeply with the idea behind it.

Ms. Keatley has always been very knowledgeable, approachable, caring, and open minded. I believe that my time working with her (the last two years) has really nurtured my long-standing thoughts of becoming a librarian. This conversation (there was far too much discussion and frequent tangential ideas followed for the term “interview” to really cover it) has really served to reinforce both my desire to become a librarian and my admiration of my interview “subject”. While it didn't really open up a specific area for my service project, I mentioned it, and she agreed to keep that in mind and brainstorm with me again in a few days.

Journal Entry 8-27-09

I have never been one to keep a journal. I tend to live my life in a state of reflection, so it seems that as soon as I get my thoughts and ideas down on paper, they are already obsolete. While there is always a novelty in looking back at what you wrote, I still find it a bit tedious for so little perceived gain.

On the other hand, I am not opposed to recording my thoughts. Since this journaling serves the dual role of recording and sharing my thoughts for an academic goal, I think I can view it in a more valuable light and embrace the concept.

I really feel like this class directly addresses one of the major roles that I anticipate (and honestly desire) as a future librarian. I am excited about the prospects that the project offers, although I do feel a bit vague on the specifics on what we will be trying to achieve. I think the class will offer some great discussions on the direction that libraries are destined to go in the future (as well as in the present.) I hope that the group has the right mix of personalities to encourage an open academic debate, yet remain open minded enough that everyone is truly listening and weighing all views on the topics.

I'm sure that once I get my librarian interview finished, I'll have a lot more to put into my blog posts. My undergrad adviser at App told me I had a very terse writing style, so I always worry I am not elaborating enough in my posts. I guess my background with technology has influenced me as I always find myself looking for a more efficient way to do things.

Hello World!

I guess an appropriate heading for this blog is the same basic phrase that most programming languages use as a tutorial. Looking forward to this semester!