Technology’s Impact on Education – Digital Learning Tools in Classes

Education Week released a special report investigating the impact technology is having in K-12 schools as digital learning tools flood classrooms across the country. The report reveals that technology is failing to reach its full potential in K-12 schools, despite the rapid infusion of new devices and technologies into the classroom. Further, disparities in technology access and adoption, and in the ways new tools are integrated into instruction, may be fueling a new digital divide that threatens to exacerbate long-standing inequities and separate education’s haves and have-nots along new fault lines.  

Herold, B. (2017). Technology counts 2017: Classroom tech: Where schools stand. Bethesda, MD: Education Week.

https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2017/06/14/poor-students-face-digital-divide-in-teacher-technology-training.html

Online Learning and Librarians

Online learning, already an essential component of the higher-education and professional landscape, has now developed a more ubiquitous presence in K–12 learning due to educational trends such as flipped education and use of tools such as Google Classroom. Despite the increasingly important role of online learning in K–12 education, little evidence indicates that graduates of school library preparation programs enter the profession with the knowledge, skills, and dispositions required to design and deliver online learning experiences for K–12 students, experiences that take advantage of available resources and platforms. A mixed-method national survey of programs in the United States was conducted to examine the ways that school library preparation programs prepare candidates to design digital learning spaces that include fully online courses for K–12 students. Results indicate that preparation of future school librarians for the design and delivery of online instruction to K–12 students are not yet seen as an integral component of these graduate programs.

Green, L. S., Jones, S. A., & Burke, P. A. (2017). School librarians fully online: Preparing the twenty-first century professional. School Library Research, 20(2165-1019). http://www.ala.org/aasl/sites/ala.org.aasl/files/content/aaslpubsandjournals/slr/vol20/SLR_SchoolLibFullyOnline_V20.pdf

School Libraries and Careers of Future Students

This report by littleBits was able to delve more deeply into the types of programs that are offered as part of maker and STEAM education, the challenges librarians face as they start and scale these programs, and some of the best practices to ensure an effective and engaging implementation for all students. This report highlights the importance of three initiatives to further enable librarians and media specialists:

1. PROVIDING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESOURCES to librarians and media specialists so they can more successfully be the leading force of innovation in their schools.

2. DESIGNING STAFF MEETINGS AND A SCHOOL CALENDAR THAT ALLOW LIBRARIANS TO INTERACT MORE FREQUENTLY WITH TEACHERS in their school so they can better integrate maker activities with curriculum and scale these activities beyond the library space.

3. RETHINKING THE DESIGN OF SCHOOL LIBRARIES to allow integration of STEM and maker tools, collaboration between students, and opportunities to share knowledge in the community.

Jamalian, A. (2018). The role of school libraries in the 21^st century maker movement. New York, NY: littleBits. https://fs24.formsite.com/edweek/images/wp-littlebits-Research_Shows_School_Libraries_in_New_Light.pdf