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Hello,
Sorry for the late response this week. My computer was stolen out of my car. This semester taught me a lot about classroom and self organization and how to use technology to aid student success. I thought I was ahead of the curve for technology but I was wrong. Every week, I learned new websites and tricks that can be used in my daily life as well as my educator life. I think this semester opened my eyes to how helpful everyone was. The discussions were so passionate and creative and I learned a lot. I feel as if I know everyone personally. Another take away from this class was the lack of training I have as an educator. I realized that my district does not offer what we need to succeed as whole. I wish there was more training on educational apps and websites in the classroom. I believe that this course gave me vital information that I can pass on to my colleges and train them personally. I was going into this course thinking I would have some information to bring to this class. Now that this course is ending I have so much knowledge and information to share. I want to expand my knowledge with social media. This is something that I will continue to work on and grow and to teach others on my journey. I want to get more followers and influences that can bring me insight. I think this course was much more than I imagined it was going to be. I am beyond glad I had this course with an amazing professors and great students.

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The biggest takeaway for me from this class was the need to keep up: with the kids, with the technology, and with the changing library landscape. Students are used to multimedia platforms, and technology pervading other aspects of their lives, and we have to meet them at that level of technological integration. This means that in addition to their expectations, we also need to keep abreast of current technologies, and even with what is coming next. Teaching coding is a great way to get students prepared for the future, while incorporating different technologies and platforms like makerspaces and flipgrid into our libraries keeps us relevant now. We also need to keep up with the wider context of the changing world. The fact that there are these new literacies that we spent the semester talking about is evidence of change, and there is no reason to think that things will stop shifting. Beyond being familiar with current literacies and technologies and whatever else, we need to be flexible. We need to be able, willing, and ready to change at any moment, because whatever we get comfortable with no is not going to be the end of the line. We need to be ready to adapt to whatever comes next. A wide-reaching PLN can help with that by making us aware of what is coming and by giving us an idea of how other people address changes, but ultimately I think it will come down to a flexible mindset. The librarians that will flourish, particularly with young people, will be the ones that can take whatever new thing comes their way and make it their own.

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My biggest take away from this course is that I don't have to be perfect to do this well. I've always been hesitant to try some of these technologies and new ideas because I was not sure that they would be successful, or I didn't know where to start. I had built up in my mind that other people had it all together and figured out, and I would never be able to achieve that. Now, I know these are not true. Most librarians and teacher librarians are just doing the best they can and trying to stay as up to date as possible.
Its hard to narrow down to my favorite weeks, because I really enjoyed each part of the course on its own. The curation weeks really ended up helping me in some other courses, which I appreciated. The sheer number of tools we've touched on has been amazing and I plan on spending the winter break just diving deeper on a number of those tools! The apps of the week have been amazing!
Interacting with classmates who are in classrooms has been wonderful as well! We all came from slightly different backgrounds, so seeing what others were thinking about topics and why was really wonderful in aiding understanding.

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This class is so much more than I could have hoped for. I loved the course description and feel pretty comfortable navigating new technology so I was prepared to learn some great new ways to share and teach literacy. What I didn't plan for was the level of collaboration, camaraderie, and intensity involved in each week. The App of the Week was a great way for me to get an in-depth view of particular tools that we were exploring in class; the discussion board was filled weekly with like-minded teacher/bookish folk that just wanted to share and help in every way possible, to include our instructors who were an active part of our journey; and finally the discovery activities and scheduled assignments gave me hands-on learning with the tools that we discussed and were exposed to in our lecture materials. I would have never gotten around to trying half of the apps and tools that we learned about if I wasn't made to utilize them in my lessons.

I'm completely smitten with Flipgrid and have changed my mind about Twitter; I have recorded four lessons (two for this course and two for my own classroom) with Screencastify lite and I would never have dreamed of recording myself teaching before; I use Padlet and Seesaw in three of my five classes now; and I have created a new productive way to gather my news and see my social media feeds because of the PLN that we completed. The Hyperdoc Girls gave me a new way to organize my lessons that allow me to deliver authentic and engaging lessons to my students. I am so grateful that the tools and lessons in this class are internalized and part of my thinking process now so that they aren't just one and done. The shifts in literacy are not about to stabilize any time soon, but I am feeling more prepared to be a part of the conversation and feel armed with some great resources and mentors to help me when I might get stuck.

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When I first registered for this class I thought, ‘I’m pretty tech savvy and know a thing or two about tech tools so why not?’, but once the class started it was not what I expected. I have learned so much from this class and appreciate all the lessons taught each week.

One of my biggest takeaways from this class was Apps of the Week. I enjoyed learning from my classmates’ different types of apps that I could use to benefit my career. It was a nice balance to learn from professors and students. I enjoy browsing on the App store to find new apps to benefit my life and career so tackling ‘App of the Week’ with my classmates was fantastic. Recently I had a job interview for Teen and Emerging Technology Librarian and I was able to share the tools I was learning in this class. The director was impressed to see that I am learning about so many different tools and forms of technology. I did get the job and start January 3rd! I am looking forward to growing my knowledge with emerging technologies!

One assignment that stuck with me was creating an instructional website. Before this semester I had very little experience with creating websites. I enjoyed using Wix.com and working with the different templates to find the one that best fit my subject. I never heard of Wix before this semester and I am so glad I know about it now! I have used that site for creating my digital portfolio for the job interview and they were so impressed with it! Technology is continuously growing and libraries should grow with it. Librarians are to help make patrons’ lives easier and provide resources, which can be done by using tools and technology within libraries!

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One of my biggest takeaways of this course is how much I have to learn. There was not a single module where I repeatedly thought, "I knew that" and that's a good thing. The worst thing that can happen when pursuing higher education is to learn nothing. The tools presented over the course of this semester has already impacted how I present myself professionally. The conversations both with teachers, classmates, and the voices of literacy presenters helped me to look at each issue from multiple angles.

Many of the literacies we discussed are new to me and will continue to simmer in my mind. The most important thing I can do with the information I have learned is to be aware of how my programming and ideas support and make use of these emerging literacies. This course has given me the knowledge and tools to do so and for that I am grateful.

I think one of the most important things that happened over the course of this semester is that I learned more about what it's like to be a school librarian. To be perfectly honest, it cemented my decision that public librarianship is the career track for me. I think every single one of you choosing to become a school librarian is amazing and I am looking forward to supporting the ones in my district. Knowing the challenges, resources, and duties of the school librarian makes me a better advocate and support system, something I am very happy to do.

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I love that this class was designed in a way that we learned from one another each week, not just through the discussion board, but through the app of the week and the synthesis assignments. It's been so wonderful learning about the tools that my classmates found interesting, useful, or important. It's also great to discuss these issues with classmates whose backgrounds and careers goals are very diverse. It's easy to get trapped in "school library track" mode, and I forget that not everything has to relate to a school setting to be awesome.

I definitely have a new appreciation for using technology in a library setting. This class finally gave me an excuse/opportunity to explore tools for things like presenting information, back channeling, and curating web content. I discovered that I love creating infographics and presentations when I have tools like smore, piktochart, and Adobe Spark (which I just started playing with this week). I can actually envision creating visual materials for the library now instead of outsourcing them to other colleagues! Perhaps more importantly, I have a better sense of how to present information and data in ways that are more transparent to viewers, ways that make it clear I have a particular point or point of view. I finally found tools to curate web content that I enjoy -- scoop.it and Live Binders  allow me to assemble materials in ways that make sense to me.

I was lucky enough to have opportunities to integrate technology into some of my existing work projects. I had a lot of fun learning about tools like Kahoot and GoSoapBox. I've already incorporated some of the feedback tools from GoSoapBox into my teacher professional development programs. It's been fun having opportunities to test these tools in real life (but low impact) situations. Assignment 2 gave me an opportunity to put many of these new tech discoveries to use, and I'm really excited about the HyperDocs format. Something about it just made it really easy to make a lesson that encourages the use of digital tool.

Perhaps most importantly, this class really piqued my curiosity about digital tools. I feel more confident exploring them and experimenting with them after sharing my creations with all of you!

~Kathleen Barker

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My title is not all that elegant, but that is OK. To me this class was a fantastic tool for my tool belt. Not only did this course expose me to a plethora of tools to which I had never previously been exposed, the course material being avaible through the toolkits on symbaloo and pearltrees, the libguide and blog are a tool in and of itself.

I think the biggest take away for me are the ways to include coding in a school. Previously I ahd only been aware of Hour of Code, which while the technology teacher I saw exposing kids to it, engaged the stuents in the website, I saw very few kids doing anythign other than playing the previously created games. I didn't personally witness creation occuring. Having no other experience with how coding could be put into the curriculum I was amazed by the variety of programs out there and how there is something for every age level. Personally I hope to be able to learn more myslef and share it with even the littlest kids in a school.

The other idea that got me really excited was the topic of Social Reading. This was the topic that I connected with most. It brought me back to the excitement you get from sharing a great book with others and allowed me to explore more ways to do that with students.

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This is excerpted and cross-posted from our Week 15 discussion post:

You have been an outstanding group of learners. It has been an honor to eavesdrop on your thinking over the past weeks. Jane and I were downright dazzled by your enthusiasm and passion for learning. In our opening letter, we wrote the following:

"This is only the beginning of your journey through a vast, ever-shifting learning landscape. Think of this semester as an opportunity to sandbox. Your journey and explorations are valued in addition to your products. With your assignments and activities, we ask you to reflect on your learning, to allow us to see the process--the choices you made and stuck with and those you rejected.

We are aware that you aspire to work in a variety of different settings--possibly school, public and academic libraries. Some of you will want to work with elementary age children, others with middle or high school. Your situations relating to budgets, infrastructure, hardware and your ability to influence filtering decisions will vary as well. Try to maximize the value of our assignments by making choices to learn more about those aspirational contexts. Make the assignments and activities work for you!"

We hope you feel as though this was successfully accomplished. In reading through your final reflections below, I think it was. Not only will we cherish those reflections, but we will share them with Dr. Valenza, who designed this course.

Best to all of you in this program and beyond!

Michelle Luhtala

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When I first learned of this class I thought it might introduce me to digital tools that were going to be way beyond my reach and that it would be far too challenging. Nevertheless, I went for it anyway and I'm so glad I did! I learned about so many tools, apps and ways technology can be integrated into the library and although many were challenging at first, none felt too out of reach and most of them felt so useful and valid I was excited to tackle them just the same.

I think the idea of flipped learning and lessons were the most surprising things to learn about. I always thought of lesson planning, coming from an Elementary Education background, as something very rigid and with flipped learning, especially the way in which the women who created HyperDocs designed it, I felt more creative and inspired to use technology to create a more engaging lesson.

I am still holding on to the second week (Connected Learning) when we watched and discussed how students can share ideas with other students around the world. I think it's such a fantastic way for students to share and learn from one another and I think our discussion of how students from just a town over can share their unique perspectives and how that can encourage students to reflect and grow as individuals.

I look forward to staying connected to everyone I added to my PLN and building upon that and continuing my own personal learning network on and offline.

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Before I begin, I must share how I ended up enrolled in this class. I was talking to Dr. Valenza about my first semester here at Rutgers as a MI student and I had picked four classes (550, 510, 530, and 501). However, I was advised to choose a course other than 530 since I was taking 550 and had absolutely no computer coding/programming background. She was also concerned about attending full time with three young children and a husband who would be away with the military, but I knew I wanted to take three classes plus the zero credit course. That was when she recommended I enroll in this course and I am so very thankful!

I learned A LOT in this class! I would definitely say it was my favorite class, but it was also the class with the most work. I aspire to be a school librarian, but am not currently a librarian anywhere. Therefore, this course involved learning a lot of the basics in addition to new tools, resources, and literacies. I found Assignment 1 to be so enjoyable. I had never designed a lesson plan and had absolutely no idea what I was doing, but I kept playing around with tools, resources, and content until I got it. I think that may be what I enjoyed most about this class, you learn as you go. Everything is designed to get your feet wet. You play with different things and discover what you like.

I also loved learning new teaching methods. I enjoyed the sections on flipped learning and connected learning. I think that may be what I take away most from this class. I now have this understanding of why it is so important to change the way we teach students. Our goal should be to develop independent, compassionate, and active leaders. Flipped learning and connected learning enable us to teach that to our students. It encourages collaboration across the globe and giving students a voice. This class has showed me how important and valuable it is to encourage students to share their voice, listen to others, and consider new and varying viewpoints. Learning goes so much deeper when we share perspectives because together we can come to an entirely different understanding than if we view it from our own eyes.

I cannot express my gratitude enough. This class was fun, informative, and inspiring. I know this class will impact the way in which I run a school library in the future. Thank you!

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I took this course as an elective (my only elective!), and I admit that throughout the semester, I periodically found myself asking what ever possessed me to do so. Of course, I knew the answer to that question then as I do now: I had the feeling going in that this course would give me the best sense of the latest developments in literacy, provide a refresher on things I had learned in other courses, and allow me to create items for my portfolio). Right on all counts!

Looking back, I think this was the perfect class to take in one's final semester. It really reinforced all of the important themes and ideas that had been woven throughout the entire program, and helped to solidify their importance. I leave this class with a toolbox that is absolutely overflowing with the latest and best tools for literacy education. I know that I will be referring back to these materials constantly, especially in my first year as a media specialist. I have so many ideas that I would never have had if I had gone for the 'fun, easy' elective I had been tempted to take instead.

It was an incredibly challenging semester, and I felt forced to stretch and push myself all throughout. I'm glad I did, because this course not only gave me a lot to work with in the field, but also a lot to talk about in job interviews!

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Literacies and Standards and Tech Tools - Oh, My!

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Literacies and Standards and Tech Tools - Oh, My!

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Looking back on this course, I have to admit that I didn't really know what I was in for - and came quite close to dropping the class. In the end (and with the encouragement of Dr. V.), I'm grateful that I didn't, as it forced me way outside of my comfort zone at times and exposed me to so many ideas and tools I can bring with me into my future career as a Youth Service Librarian.

The many literacies we covered were at times a bit confusing to me due to the overlap, but once I decided that they didn't have to fall into nice, neat categories, I became more at ease with them. I found that media literacy in particular jumped out to me as an important "cause" I could wrap my interests around (given my communication and marketing background), and I truly enjoyed exploring it, which resulted in my making it a focus of several of my assignments.

I entered this course already aware of some of the school standards (such as CCSS), but I didn't realize that there were multiple sets of standards for use in a school library setting. From a public library standpoint, the two sets that I referred to the most in this class were the ISTE Standards and the YALSA Teen Librarian Guidelines. I was fortunate enough the work on a curated collection project in another course this semester where I was able to connect resources (books, articles, multimedia, lesson plans) to CCSS Standards. In the process, I discovered an interest in content curation I never knew I had!

Students and educators today have a vast array of tech tools available today, but one thing I came away with (besides this knowledge) is the importance of applying the "right" tools to learning goals. I feel that sometimes the push to incorporate technology becomes the end itself, and not the means. As our students explore the many tech tools around them, we need to help them not only discern which tools are appropriate to a particular project or instructional activity but also be flexible enough to move on to a different tool if they find one doesn't help them achieve their aims or as the project evolves. Creative individuals learn that their best works are often created through experimentation, and classroom learning is really no different.

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This semester I really learned that there are SO MANY TOOLS for kids to learn in new and inventive ways and, as a librarian, we can really think outside of the classroom box and have a little fun and freedom when trying to engage students in either self-guided or non-traditional learning environments.

I also learned that we don't need to be experts in a particular field in order to introduce a new tool or concept into a learning environment - it's OK if we're learning alongside the students too. This is something that resonated with me so much that, while talking to my manager about my career direction, I remembered it. He felt bad because he doesn't have a lot of hands-on experience managing a team and providing career mentoring and guidance. I remembered our lesson and told him: that's OK - we can learn together. This really resonated with me and I think is a lesson I'll carry with me for the rest of my life, whether I'm the student or the teacher.

There are also so many collaboration tools out there - most of which I'd never heard of before this class, so I'm happy to put them all in my "toolbox" and take them with me!

I really appreciate everyone's thoughtful responses and good discussion, even if I wasn't always as engaged as everyone else. You are all wonderful librarians!

-Victoria Saxon

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I was totally expecting another Flipgrid type of response. ^^;

My biggest takeaways: there are many different types of literacy, more than we think there are. And we need to be aware of all of them, especially the ones that are seldom taught in schools. Thus far, I've had exactly one coding class in my entire post high school career and that needs to change. Students need to feel at ease with coding for their future success. But that's not the only literacy that might need to be examined more closely.

I wanted to mention that data literacy is so crucial in today's society. Yet, outside of an economics or a statistics class, where might we encounter it? It needs to be taught and students need to understand that graphs and charts can be manipulated to demonstrate different results, not based on the actual reporting, but on whatever the creator wants you to see.

I promise that I'll come up with something more later, after reading everyone else's responses. But until then...

~Beverly Klotzkin