Reflecting on Past Work

This semester has been very challenging for me but extremely rewarding. I have learned and explored many new electronic tools that can be used in and outside the classroom or library. These tools can best be used to enhance student and staff engagement, learning, and collaboration. While in conjunction aide the promotion of the library and its resources. There were so many different tools and I know those were just a very few needles found amongst multiple haystacks.

Some favorites were Pixton, Piktochart, and Symbaloo

Pixton was used to create a quick comic strip or even a whole comic book. I could view a top 10 category of member creations, make comments and publish my work. I found it to be very easy at times but if you wanted something more elaborate there was no problem.  It offered a multitude of graphics and animation for added effects. The tutorials were very helpful on creating speech, bubbles, characters, effects, props and scenes, and writing.

Piktochart taught me how to create incredible infographics, reports, banners, and presentations that are no longer dull and boring. I could use a template already made or I could start from square one. They also have a help for almost anything you can think of.

Symbaloo is my absolute favorite because I could store websites I like all in one place. This was a tremendous help this semester with all the different electronic tools we used. This would be awesome as a pathfinder for research, the library databases and so much more. The webmixes can even be organized by content so teachers and students can find what they need. Will definitely be using this and setting it up very soon.

The Most Beneficial to Students: Screencast-o-matic, SoundCloud and Shelfari

Screencast-o-matic and SoundCloud would be helpful in creating and viewing tutorials and instructional videos instead of PowerPoints.Step-by-step instructions lead them to successfully completing tasks, assignments, and understanding of concepts.  It’s something they can revisit over and over for reinforcement of skills. A wonderful interactive tool to collaborate on creating book trailers, book reviews, and projects.

Shelfari will be a great asset because it has a lot to offer in getting kids to read. When they make a bookshelf they can organize books by what they’ve read and want to read. This helps when it comes to looking for books in the library. Once they input this information they can get suggestions or recommendations within the categories they have read. Then they can click on the reviews to see what people have to say about the book before deciding. Before or while they are reading the book they can go back and look up information on the characters, setting, theme, and more to better understand what they are reading. After they have read the book they can then rate, review and even join a book forum to discuss the book.

Most Difficult

I didn’t really find one tool to be more difficult than the rest. Most of the problems lied with my internet service, the search engine, or security suite instead of with the electronic tool. Overall they were fun to explore and easy to access.