Videos and QR Codes in the Library

The internet has become part of our everyday lives. We are constantly checking the internet whether it be looking up something, accessing social media, or watching videos on YouTube. Video messaging such as YouTube has become integrated in the way we run our lives. Typically people use YouTube for entertainment purposes, however, educators are using YouTube more and more to present, demonstrate, and share any videos they want. Many times, educators look to YouTube, as a teaching tool, to help teach a particular unit in class.

Here are a few YouTube channels from various libraries that show ways libraries are using YouTube.

Norman High School Library

This video is helpful to students because it explains to students how to access the library. This video would be useful to not only currents students, but new students and parents as well.

This video is one that students would like and have fun with. The librarian videos the mascot showing off different things a student could do in the library in a humorous and fun way.

The Unquiet Library

Finding and Using Wikimedia Commons Images: This video explain to students how to find free images that are not copyrighted through Wikimedia Commons. This will be a great resourceful tool for students when they are working on any assignment.

“Rocky Top" Performed at the Roots Music Club: This video consists on a band coming to the library to play. This is a fun way to get students engaged and interested in the library.

Pikesville High School Library

 

Pikesville High School FAFSA: This is an informational video reminding students to sign-up for FAFSA. This fun video grabs the student’s attention and help as a constant reminder to sign-up.
 



Wii Like to Party @ The Panthers Library: This is a video students would enjoy because it gives them an opportunity to relive the excited memories they made with their friends in the library.

BBMSMEDIA:

NoodleTools - How to use a pre-formatted database citation: This video shows how to use pre-formatted database citation. This would be helpful to students who are not yet sure on how to use citations.




Kids in the Hall - NIck's Director's Video: This is a fun and creative way to incorporate students into the school community. This is a great way for students to get to know their classmates they normally may not have met.

Library Use for Videos:

Animoto and YouTube are creative ways that can be used to promote the library. Here are a few ways that I can use:

-Create book trailers
-Showcase events happening throughout the library
-Library tours
-Showcase the Makerspace area
-Introduce the librarian

 

Book trailer:
I created this book trailer using the website Animoto. This was a very easy to use site that makes creating videos fun and professional looking. This site has many templates, videos and pictures to choose from. I chose this particular template because I felt it mimics the setting of the story. The book I created a book trailer on was I Was Here, by Gayle Forman. Once I created the Animoto video I was able to upload to my YouTube video and create a QR Code for students to scan and watch on their mobile devices.

I Was Here by Gayle Forman
Synopsis from publisher:

When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, and some secrets of his own. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

QR Codes:
I absolutely love QR Codes. I use them all the time, whether it be in my personal life or at school. The use of QR Codes in the library are endless. Ways I would use QR Codes in the library is by providing QR Codes to access:

-Book trailers
-YouTube Videos
-Documents from the library such as a newsletter
-Directions on how to access various things in the library such as the copier
-Link to the library website
-Link to funny video or pictures helping to understand the Dewey Decimal System

Almost anything that you want patrons to have access to, a QR Code can be generated for it. QR Codes can be a fun and engaging way to get students to visit the library, become familiar and comfortable with it.

 

Screencasts, Instagram, and Flipagram

Screencasts, Instagram and Flipagram are three different ways students can present, or share, their work or projects in their classroom. To create a Screencasts, students can use the website, Screencast-o-matic. This is a website where students could explain a project, on a computer, they created to present to the class. Instagram is a social media app where students can take pictures and short videos to share their work with friends, family, and other classmates. Flipagram is another digital media sharing app. Students can take pictures of something they created from start to finish, and present it in a way where it looks like a movie.

Screencasts: A screencast is a website that records what the students are doing on the computer screen, and it also records their voice. Screencast-o-matic is the screencast website I used to create a screencast. Screencast-o-matic was simple to use and very user friendly. This website is free, but only allows a certain amount of screencasts with the free version. If the students want to record their voice, they need to make sure to have a microphone. Screencast-o-matic also allows for various ways to create your screencast, such as, a YouTube video, a movie file, or upload it to the Screencast-o-matic website.

Instagram: This social media app allows students to take pictures and video and upload them on the app as a "post”. They can add filters, text, music, and other creative things to enhance their post. This is a free app and users can add friends on the app to see their pictures and videos they post. This app also allows for students to create a live video. This pictures I took on my Instagram account are of “Fall” displays from several grade levels and departments at the elementary school. Here are a few posts from my Instagram account: (kxs056) https://www.instagram.com/kxs056/

First Grades’s Fall Display! #trees #season #leavesfalling

A post shared by Kelly (@kxs056) on Oct 24, 2017 at 3:35pm PDT

Library’s Fall Display! #apples #leaveschanging #coolweather

A post shared by Kelly (@kxs056) on Oct 24, 2017 at 3:36pm PDT

Flipagram: This is an app that students can download on their smart phones. Flipagram is an app that can be linked with Instagram. Being a novice with Flipagram, it took me several tries to figure out how to use it. This was harder to use than other digital media sharing apps and programs. Students can create movies out of pictures they took and add music, text, and other filters to make the movie more exciting. Here is my Flipagram account: https://flipagram.com/kkstarr2219

View on Flipagram

The one that I enjoyed working with the most was Screencast-o-matic. I appreciated the flow and ease of use when I was making the screencast. As I was creating the screencast, I thought about the various ways I could use this currently in my classroom for the students. A screencast is something I could also create to show parents how to access certain websites to assist their child in their education. There are many reasons why you could create a screencast.

Infographics-Graphics is the Way to Go!

An infographic is a visual representation of data and information. It is an easy way to make complicated data into easy to understand pictures and graphics. Infographics are useful in the library because it catches the patron’s eye and interest more than a poster or worksheet with information and data printed in essay form. This is a great way for students to present research, as well.

 Easel.ly- This is a site where students are able to create visually appealing infographics. Students can use pre-made templates while changing the look of the template. Digital media can also be used in the infographic. I enjoyed this site, but even though it was user-friendly, I believe the available options were overwhelming for a novice user.

Infogr.am- This is a free website that allows students to create charts, pictures and graphs. Students can import data from Google Sheets and Excel. This was an easy to use site, with a simple interface. I was able to navigate Infogr.am fairly easily, but the site did not have as many options as other infographic sites.

Piktochart-This is also a free site to create infographics. Piktochart has a limited number of options when selecting a template. Students can import Google Sheets and Excel charts into Piktochart as well. This site also gives the user the option to embed a video. Out of the other sites I explored, this was my favorite site to create an infographic.

Below is an infographic I created using Piktochart.

Facebook Pages and Twitter

Facebook

Facebook is a social media tool that connects users world-wide. Users can post information they feel their followers need or should know. An advantage to Facebook is that the site gives users a place to look for current information that may be happening in their library. Users are able to private message the administrator of the page, and it allows for the administrators to put contact information and a Google map of the library of the school. One other advantage is that most of the time users that comment or share a post in some fashion have a direct relationship to the page. A disadvantage of Facebook is that many times posts can get lost among other posts. Another disadvantage is when a user sees a post that may be of interest to them, then they go back to try and find that post, you have to scroll through the entire page to find it.

I searched “school library” and not many showed up, especially elementary schools. Eventually, I found and followed Pasadena High School Library in Pasadena, Texas, and Moore Elementary School Library in Houston, Texas.

Pasadena High School Library in Pasadena, Texas
https://www.facebook.com/PHSLibraryTX/

-Many of the posts were about community events.

-There were also posts about student achievement within the school.

-Other posts were about book suggestions, deals available, book reviews, and movie trailers from books.

- I did not see any comments on any of the posts.

Moore Elementary School Library in Houston, Texas
https://www.facebook.com/moorearmadillolibrary/

-There were many posts about news within the district, such as Hurricane Harvey updates.

-Some posts were shared from the district’s Facebook page, about Hurricane Harvey.

-One post was a shared Instagram post from author Steve Swinburne.

-A few posts were inspirational quotes.

-One post that was of interest to me was from the Hurricane Harvey Book Club.

Twitter

I am new to Twitter, but I have started to become fairly familiar to it. Twitter is another mega social media site. Users from all over the world can connect and follow people and organizations that are of interest to them. An advantage to Twitter is that the posts are up-to-date and current. The posts are also more concise. I feel with Twitter, the content is more to the point and not clogged up with advertisements and extra stuff like games and random invites. Some disadvantages to Twitter is that it is more of a global connection, and not as geared towards connecting with friends.

Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock

Schrock is an education digital tech guru. She is a leader in the digital tech world. She is very active on Twitter. She tweets and retweets mostly about useful apps, digital hardware, helpful informational websites on technology, and ideas that can be used in the library. She also refers to her blog in her tweets. Schrock tweets about her speaking appearances as well.

Just found Ninox database for iOS. Great little free tool for teaching how to create and query a database. https://t.co/BntXg0LTBN

— Kathy Schrock (@kathyschrock) August 14, 2017

Linda Braun @lbraun2000

Linda Braun is a former president of YALSA, and a teen advocate. Based on Braun’s Twitter, I noticed she retweets various links from other websites quite a bit. A few of her tweets were about coding, and others were about events or programs taking place in the library world.

Girls who code books https://t.co/cJexBtuAms

— Linda W Braun (@lbraun2000) August 22, 2017

David Warlick @dwarlick

Warlick is a former educator and enjoys exploring the educational technology world. The most current tweets are videos about of a tribute to his father’s passing. Other tweets were YouTube links of aerial views of a drone video, and a video of photos from 1997-2014.

Gwynth Jones @GwynethJones

Jones is a librarian and a certified Google Innovator. She has a link to her blog on her Twitter page. Jones tweets and retweets quite a bit on Twitter. She posts mostly pictures and links that have information related to students in her school. On her blog, she posts helpful educational technology tips that will help teachers, librarians, and parents.

Jim Lerman @jimlerman

Lerman is a teacher, author, and speaker. He tweets and retweets quite often as well. His tweets and retweets direct you to his Scoop.it page. He tweets about creative ideas that can be implemented in the classroom and library. Some of his tweets were about infographics, tools for creating unique images, and creative resources.

If You Look At Student Work Take a Screenshot - Teacher Tech https://t.co/sRCGC5wUYM pic.twitter.com/npvp3RpBXW

— Jim Lerman (@jimlerman) September 5, 2017

Blogs and Blog Readers

Blogs and Blog Readers

Which to Use?

It is important to stay informed about the newest latest and greatest technology. Many websites and blogs provide information on helpful resources and help to keep you up-to-date in the technology world. However, how do you keep up with all those blogs and sites all the time? It is easy. Really Simple Syndication (RSS)! Feed readers are available to help store all these blogs in one location. A few of those feed readers are Feedly, Panda, and Feedbin.

I chose to use Feedly because it is clean and user friendly. I have never used a feed reader and Feedly allows me to easily add blogs and websites in a very organized layout. The fact that I can add blogs quickly and in an orderly fashion helps me save time when searching for a blog I am interested in. You can also add blogs and sites on Feedly while on the go!

I was not a fan of Panda because the interface was overbearing and not as user-friendly as Feedly. I feel this feed reader gave too many options. From someone who is new to feed readers, it confused me and was difficult for me to navigate.

This site is not free which is a strong deterrent for me. While you are able to save searches, I feel this feed reader is also too congested looking and allows for too many options. I do not feel it is as organized as Feedly.

Blogs:

The Absolutely True Adventures of a School Librarian:

http://www.nikkidrobertson.com/

Nikki D. Robertson is the author of this blog. She is a veteran educator who is passionate about digital learning. Her blog focuses on an array of posts with tips and tricks ranging from ways to use various digital technology such as QR Codes and social media, to book reviews and blogs on Maker-spaces. I really enjoy this blog because the blog posts are relatable and the information can be immediately implemented in the library.

Awful Library Books

http://awfullibrarybooks.net/

This blog informs librarians of books that should be weeded from their library. I enjoy this blog because I believe it will helps me keep my library up-to-date. I think it is helpful that the blog posts provide book cover pictures of the book as well.

The Children’s Book Review

https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/

Book reviews are the heart of this blog. The blog reviews books from infancy to young adult. The interface is very pleasing and easy to navigate. It is very helpful that the review posts are organized by subject, ages, and various other categories.

Reading Rants

http://www.readingrants.org/

This is a book review blog for teens. Reading Rants is very well organized with sections on a sidebar with reviews grouped into categories, links to other blogs, and much more. It also provides many other links for the user to view and read. This organization is what makes me excited about using this blog.

The Unquiet Librarian

https://theunquietlibrarian.wordpress.com/

The author of this blog is Buffy Hamilton. She was once a librarian who decided to go back to the classroom. Her posts are geared more towards educators as opposed to students. Hamilton provides helpful ideas for educators to use when conducting writers workshop and other writing activities. I like that there are photos of what she, or others, are doing in the classroom, and actual files that can be accessed. 

Tubmlr:

Here is my Tumblr link. Hope you enjoy!

https://www.tumblr.com/dashboard