 |
| "Changing Direction" Courtesy of Curetoday.com |
I had intended to create a number of short instructional videos on the digital resources offered by our school district's Resource Center. I had intended to do a series of three instructional videos. I had been thinking of showing how to use Learn 360, Gale, and EBSCOhost. In preparation of creating these video tutorials I have discovered the following: 1) Our school district already has an instructional video page which shows how to use a few of these resources (thought not all of them). 2) YouTube already has an instructional video/tutorial on how to use EBSCOhost.
I have a web site, of sorts, for each of my classes on the school district portal. Today I had the thought that I could create a Fernie Secondary Library Site on the portal for all staff members. I might even be able to set up a page for the entire school - students and staff, but my thought is to start small and initially open it to staff members only. Students and staff at our school are just beginning to make use of the portal. There are only a handful of staff members who are actively using the portal to have students participate in on-line discussion groups, submit assignments, and create their own blogs, but this number is growing. The site has more capacity than I know how to use, but I will learn through trial and error (any help from technical support when I need it). I am excited to think of all the ways it could be used for the library!
Below is a screen shot of my collection of classes on the portal:
Below is a screen shot of the portal site I have just begun to set up for our Library. There is so much potential for this site. I have already created a Digital Resource Tutorial page.
Although I have used many of the digital resources from our school district, there were several I did not fully understand and had never used. This past week I spent a lot of time exploring. I also met with a librarian at the Fernie Heritage Library and she also reviewed what she teaches when she goes into classes. She reviewed some of the ins and outs of Ebsco Host, World Book, and Gale. Together we explored a few more. She was able to explain which of the links covered all content for Ebsco Host and also for World Book and Gale (there are many different links for each of these resources). My own confusion regarding some of these links and the resources page as a whole is likely shared by many other staff members. For that reason I think a video overview would be useful for all staff members.
To summarize, my current plan is to create two video tutorials and to get a portal site for our library up and running. The two video tutorial will be as follows: the overview of the Resource Center page and a more in-depth video on one of the digital resources without a tutorial already made for it. I will create a welcoming portal site for the Fernie Secondary Library with a "Resource Tutorial Page" which will include the two videos I am making as well as the other useful videos I have found in other locations. I will begin to make the site attractive to look at and user friendly. In the future I hope to have many useful pages for both teachers and students. The resource tutorial page will be the first one I work on. For students and staff, using this site will be as simple as logging onto the portal, clicking onto the Fernie Secondary Library page, and clicking onto the Resource Tutorial page.
Work Cited
Ebsco. "EBSCOhost Advanced Searching Tutorial."
Online video clip. YouTube. 18 April
2018. Web. Accessed 9 November
2018.
Froehler, Kim (Teacher of Transformative Learning, SD5).
"Using the Portal." Interview by
Karla Germaine, October
2018.
Hayes, Tina. "Digital Database Tutorials." Interview by
Karla Germaine. November 2018.
School District No. 5
(Southeast Kootenay). “Fernie Secondary School Library.”
Sd5.bc.ca. Web. Accessed 23 November 2018.
School District No. 5
(Southeast Kootenay). “My
Site.” Sd5.bc.ca. Web.
Accessed 23 November
2018.
School District No. 5
(Southeast Kootenay). “District Resource
Center.” Sd5.bc.ca. Web.
Accessed November
2018.
A 'one stop and shop spot' for people to find all their resources in one place will be helpful - I know it! People get frustrated so quick (at least I do) having to search in different places and knowing you found something earlier but unable to remember where you saw it. High five to you for making a user friendly haven. If you were confused about the links and resources before following your inquiring mind to learn about them, chances are VERY high that many of your colleagues feel the same way. In a sense, you are providing them with a coles notes version of what is out there and that will be appreciated by teachers. Your approach will work because you have identified that you know it will change over time and that this is just the start! It is like gardening....never an end in sight and always something to do. Wait, that sounds like the teaching profession, too! There is ALWAYS more one could do!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the encouragement! The "Cole's Notes" is exactly what I had in mind. The gardening is apt as well - another of my hobbies.
DeleteA good update on your project that captures a better sense of your audience and their needs, as well as utilising existing tools and resources that can support your goals. A good discussion about meeting the needs of your students and staff and anticipating their knowledge and awareness of whats out there and how to access it. A good summary of your changes, new goals and key outcomes you hope to achieve. Glad to read you are feeling better and able to catch up a bit.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThanks, Aaron. I am finally feeling better. And I've already begun to use my own site in work with other classes. I made it into a Photography classroom today to give a lesson on Canadian Copyright. I was able to use my homepage to use the slides and videos I had compiled as part of my homepage feature.
Delete