Document Cameras in the Classroom

When I was in the classroom, I was a huge fan of document cameras.  I student taught for a year in a middle school where each classroom came with an Elmo.  When I got my first teaching job, my school did not provide document cameras to teachers.  After my first year teaching, I bought an inexpensive document camera that hooked up to my laptop and I am still happy with my purchase years later in the library.  I would use this technology to display an article or story we were reading so I could follow along with the class on the board, students could share their finished work with the class, I could go over the answers to an assignment on the board, I could provide examples of assignments and projects on the board, and so on.  

This classroom technology can be fit into the R.A.T. technology enabled learning model created by Dr. Joan Hughes. With or without the document camera my instruction as a teacher would be the same, but with the document camera I am able to replace walking around the room with examples and pointing to textbook pages allowing the focus to be on the board in a magnified view.  Document cameras amplified my instruction by allowing me to switch out what is being explained to the class quickly and I could share examples and student work efficiently without having to scan them to my computer.  Document cameras can transform lessons by allowing students to share their own work and ideas instantly allowing for discussion to happen with their peers.

I have focused on how documents cameras have fit the R.A.T. model in my own experiences, but there are many other ways in which this technology can be used in education.  If anyone is interested in gathering more ideas on how to use a document camera in a classroom or library, here are links to two articles.  

Bight Hub Education

Tech Hub

Putting Ed Tech into Practice.  (2011).  % Ways to Use a Document Camera in the Classroom.  http://www.teachhub.com/classroom-document-camera-uses

RAT diagram from ETS.  (2016).  Image retrieved from http://thinkspace.csu.edu.au/inf536reflections/2016/02/11/a-management-approach-to-implementing-new-technologies-and-pedagogies-in-the-classroom/rat-diagram-from-ets/ 

Wistrom, Elizabeth.  (2015).  How to Use Document Cameras in the Classroom.  https://www.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-elementary-school/63423-12-tips-for-using-document-cameras-in-todays-classrooms/

S'more!

This week I was looking through the Mighty Little Librarian's blog for ideas about technology integration when I came across her post from September 22, 2016.   The title of the post is "Beyond the Poster."  I decided to choose this post to focus on this week because I have never used S'more before and The Mighty Little Librarian used this this app to help teachers with technology integration within their lessons.

This week we focused on technology integration in school curriculum and how teacher librarians were put in the leadership role for this integration.  Technology integration will not benefit students and enhance lessons in a successful way unless it is done properly through much pre-planning and everyone is on board.  Technology integration will be unsuccessful if teachers and administration does not support the integration.  Teacher librarians need to be strong leaders in the school or else teachers and administrators may not fully trust or support the ideas and resources coming out of the library.  Many school librarians feel that when technology integration does not work it is due to unsupportive and uncooperative teachers and administration.

The Mighty Little Librarian used S'more to put a collection of tutorial videos in one spot to share with her teachers.  These tutorials went over how to use different technology apps and websites to within a lesson.  She shared her S'more with her staff because she knew many teachers were more likely not to try a new technology lesson enhancer unless they first saw what it was and how it worked.  She took on the technology leadership role just like many of us as school librarians need to as well to earn the trust of our staff and S'more is just one quick and easy way to get information out there to staff.  

Johnston, M. P. (2012). Connecting teacher librarians for technology integration leadership.  School Libraries Worldwide, 18(1), 18-33. 

Twitter Smore App.  (2018).  Image from https://twitter.com/smorerewards 

Whitehead, Tiffany.  (2016).  Mighty Little Librarian Beyond the Poster.  http://www.mightylittlelibrarian.com/?p=1453

Information Literacy Today

Information literacy has always been important, "fake news" has always been around for thousands of years, but suddenly in that past 2 years these topics have become a part of daily conversation.  It is more important than ever for educators and librarians to work together to with their students to help them recognize what is legitimate news.  When I was in high school and I was learning about research and which publications to trust and not trust, we used the term 'not a legitimate source.'  In the past years the term has now turned to "fake news."  No matter anyone's political views, our students are being faced with the term "fake news" from many different areas throughout their lives.  

We need to not just tell our students on how to recognize non-valid sources, but actually work

with sources and practice with them on how to view a news or journal source.  This takes time, this task cannot be achieved in just one lesson.  Infographs, like the one here, are great to have around for students to reference as they work.  As information professionals, we have the duty to help our students sort through sources and help them understand if they are looking at a valid source or not.  Communicating and collaborating with teachers is the first step to helping our students comprehend information presented to them in all areas of their life.  

PCmag.  (2018). Image retrieved from https://www.pcmag.com/news/359747/study-fake-news-spreads-faster-on-twitter-than-real-news

APUW. (2018). Image retrieved form http://www.apwu.org/news/deptdiv-news-article/fake-news