It's been fun!...

Wow! This has been a whirlwind of a semester, but I have really enjoyed getting to know the technology that is available to me as an educator. It is so easy to get caught in mundane routines, and I think the tools that I was introduced to this semester will allow me to keep students engaged and learning activities interesting. There are now so many technology tools for me to choose from for my classroom and one day my library, and I am super excited about that. There were some tools that I liked more than others, but all in all everything I learned was helpful and applicable.

Facebook was a tool that I was already very familiar with. I have already created multiple Facebook pages for non-profit ministries that I’m a part of, so that was not new to me. However, it was very helpful to search for library Facebook pages and see how librarians are using this tool to connect with students and parents. I got a lot of ideas of both how NOT to use Facebook for the library and how to use it. I look forward to creating my own page for my library someday. I was also grateful for the wonderful elementary school pages that I did find…these will be great resources for me to go to when I need ideas! On a similar note, I enjoyed learning how students and teachers can use Pinterest for lesson planning, project planning, brainstorming, sparking creativity, etc. I already love Pinterest personally, but now I love it professionally too! J Vine and Instagram were other social media sites that I was already familiar with, but it was fun experimenting with them and learning how I can use them to engage students in learning.

I really enjoyed learning how to make QR codes. I think that I will use these in my library to promote books, advertise events, suggest similar reading choices, have students vote for bluebonnet books, etc. I think QR codes are a quick and fun way to get information to students. As for making videos, I am not very creative with this format. For instance, my Animoto video that I made for this course was pathetic. However, I think young people are very creative with videos and I think that this technology would be a great engaging way for students to show understanding of things that they are learning.

Mindmapping was a tool that I was not crazy about. I get that it is a simple and more attractive way for students to organize and display knowledge, main ideas, details, etc. I just thought that mind maps were awkward to create and did not flow as well as I think they should. Some of the tools to create mindmaps were not the easiest to use, and the end result is not as attractive and eye catching as I think it needs to be for students. I think word clouds work better for this purpose.

I had a lot more fun creating podcasts than I thought I would. I thought that SoundCloud was a great tool…easy to use, great recordings, available in app form, etc. Recording and hearing my own voice was a bit different, but it is something that I could get over. I think for students to hear your voice from home via a podcast would be exciting for them. I am excited to see how I can use podcasts in my classroom and library.

Online book communities were not a new thing to me. I have had a Goodreads account for quite some time, and I really like it. I do wish that I used my Goodreads account more often, and this assignment did make me more excited about getting it up and running again. It is fun to see the books that you have read or want to read on a virtual shelf like this. It is also cool to see who has similar interests as you and to see what your friends are interested in reading. I don’t think students will use online book communities like adults will, but I think that it is still a great tool for those who would be interested.

Making the cartoons and comics was a lot of fun! This is definitely a tool that students will enjoy and will allow them to stay engaged in their projects. I can see myself using this tool more in the classroom than in the library. I like the idea of students creating a comic at the beginning of the year to introduce themselves to their classmates.

Screencasting was a tool that I did not know how to do, but I was very excited to learn. I was relieved to find out that there are free websites out there for screen casting. This tool can be helpful in the classroom to show students how to do an assignments, how to work an online program, how to do ANYTHING that involves a computer screen. I love this. I can think of ways to use it in the library as well…such as showing students how to search the catalog and how to research online. Another thing I learned this semester that I know I will use a lot, is how to embed something. We embedded things into our blog in almost every assignment, and it was different for every tool. It was fun to learn how to do that, and it allowed me to have a much more professional looking blog. I hope to have a blog for my library one day, so this will come in handy for sure!

I learned so much this semester...both through the technology exploration assignments and through reading the many interesting articles on the PEW research website. I am excited to get a job as a librarian in the near future and to apply the things that I have learned to make my library the best that it can be! I want to have a library where students feel connected, engaged, and challenged, and I think that many of these technology tools will help me to create just that. Thanks for a wonderful semester!

Teens and Their Privacy

Lenhart, A. (2013) Teens, social media, and privacy: reputation management, third party access & exposure to advertising. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/06/25/teens-social-media-and-privacy-reputation-management-third-party-access-exposure-to-advertising/

This presentation covered the steps teens take (or do not take) to manage their privacy on social media sites. There are many interesting and some very alarming facts in this article. I was not surprised to see that Facebook is still the dominant platform that teens use for social media. There was a steady climb in Facebook membership from teens until 2011, then the increase slowed down a lot, although membership has still grown slightly since 2011 (only 1% growth from 2011-2012). Adult membership on Facebook took a huge jump from 2008-2011 (40% growth), which probably is a good clue as to why teen membership slowed down at that point. Twitter, on the other hand, has increased significantly since 2009 in teen membership. I wonder if most teens are moving from Facebook to Twitter, or if they are just adding Twitter in addition to Facebook. The two platforms are quite different, so my guess would be that it is in addition to. In 2012, the top three social media platforms for teens were Facebook (94%), Twitter (26%), and Instagram (11%). Instagram was brand new then, so I would assume the percentage of teens on Instagram would be WAY more than that now, in 2014.

I was a little surprised to see the type of information that teens are sharing on their social media profiles. Most of them have their profiles set to “private,” and still I think they share too much information. Especially since most teens accept each and every friend request that comes their way…whether they know the person or not. 92% of teens share their real name…which is not that surprising. I know that my niece and nephew have fake names on their profiles, but that’s because my sister made them, not because THEY were trying to be safe. 91% of teens share photos of themselves. This is more so for older teens, but I would say that is only because older teens more likely have smart phones that they can take pictures with. 71% of teens share their school name. This is a lot more dangerous than they probably realize, because this tells strangers where they live, their approximate age, when they might be traveling to and from school, etc. This is more common for older teens, and my assumption would be because older teens are more involved in school extra-curricular activities so they are more likely to post things about their games, competitions, etc. 53% of teens share their email address and 20% their cell phone number on their profiles. I hate that teens (even though only 1 out of 5) share their cell phone numbers. This just opens up a lot of scary possibilities, such as strangers getting their numbers, bullying, sexting, pranking, etc. Not a good idea! I think that when most teens create their profile and add this information, they are thinking of their good friends and family that will see it. The acquaintances, friends of friends, ex-friends, etc. that are on their Facebook friends list are probably not in the forefront of their mind, so they do not realize how dangerous it is to share too much information.

As for privacy settings, only 60% of teens have their Facebook settings set to private! That is way too low. 14% of teens have theirs set as public! I think Facebook, and any other social media site, should make it a requirement that anyone under the age of 18 has to have their profiles set to fully private. Then again, teens just set up accounts and lie about their age, so I am not sure how productive that would be. Twitter is even more nerve-wracking, because 64% of teen Twitter users have their profiles set to public. Granted, Twitter is a much more public forum and people tend to share less private information in their short Tweets, but again, I think that teens should be required to have private profiles and pages.

It was interesting to read how teens manage their online reputation. Reputation is a big deal, especially in your teen years, so I am glad to see that teens are taking precautions to create a positive online reputation. 59% of teens delete or edit posts. This is great, because teens are often known to post something without thinking, so the fact that they go back and delete or edit these posts is encouraging. 53% delete other people’s comments on their page, which is also a good thing. I found it interesting that more girls than boys untag their photos. I would guess that this is not for safety reasons, but because girls are far more picky about how they look in photos! Another interesting management point that is mostly done by girls is deleting and blocking people on social media sites. I would think that this is because girls tend to be more emotional when it comes to arguments and drama in the life of teens. When girls fight, or a couple breaks up, or a friend is mean to another friend, it is girls who are most likely to unfriend someone to prove a point. Boys tend to ignore things like this.

When reading about the concern that teens have over third parties using their information, I was not very surprised to read that teens do not care much at all. Most teens are not too concerned, probably because they really don’t know what that means. Girls do show slightly more concern than boys. I did find it interesting that those with bigger networks of “friends” are slightly less concerned than those with smaller networks. My thoughts on this are that teens with larger networks are probably the ones that accept friend requests from people that they barely know or do not know at all. They are also the teens that probably have less monitoring from their parents. The fact that they accept so many friend requests, in my opinion, shows that they have less concern for their security and their privacy. Which makes since that they have less concern over third parties using their personal information. When asked about how they feel regarding advertising practices, teens have mixed feelings. 30% of teens say that they have gotten inappropriate ads on their social media pages…which could mean that the ads should have been for older eyes only, or even would be more appropriate for younger users. One quote that was eye-opening to me was the 13 year old male that said “I usually just hit allow on everything. Because I feel like it would get more features. And a lot of people allow it, so it’s not like they’re going to single out my stuff. I don’t really feel worried about it.” This just shows the lack of concern that some teens have for their safety and their privacy. It also show how clueless teens are about the fact that advertisers and other third parties use their specific information to target their sales.

The most surprising information in this presentation was the concern of parents. Only 53% of parents are very concerned about their children’s interactions with strangers online. Are the other 47% of parents just that confident that their kids cannot interact with strangers, or could they care less if they do or not?! As a parent, I feel like this will always be a huge concern. Only 49% of parents are concerned about their child’s reputation management. Again, do the other 51% not care about their child’s reputation online? I would hope that more than 44% of parents would be concerned that their teen’s online activities will impact their future opportunities. It is sad that more parents are not expressing concern for their student’s behaviors and involvement in online social media sites. If more parents were concerned, then more teens would be concerned as well!

Mining PEW – 24 pages (151 total)

Libraries in the Community

Rainie, L. (2013) Libraries + parents = innovation and success. Pew Research Internet Project. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/06/30/libraries-parents-innovation-and-success/

This presentation highlights the 13 key facts pulled from the Pew Internet’s research on libraries in today’s society. The most important fact is that libraries are indeed important to the community. To be precise, 91% of surveyors agree with this statement, and 76% think that libraries are important to their families. 94% of parents believe that libraries are important for their children. As an educator and a book-lover, this is a huge relief to hear! If parents think that libraries are important for their children, then that means that children are being introduced to the library by their parents. Parents think libraries are important for many reasons. I was excited to see that 84% of parents think the library is important because it promotes the love of reading and books. The fact that most parents find the love of reading important tells me that they are encouraging their children to read. This gives me hope for the future! Coming in closely behind the love of reading, parents also think the library is important because it provides resources not available at home and it is a safe place for children to be. When asked what services are most important that are offered by the library, borrowing books and free access to the computers were the two main contenders. 77% of surveyors said that free access to computers and Internet in most important. This seems to go hand and hand with the fact that patrons believe that the library provides resources that are not available at home. Although many print materials are available in the library that are not available in most homes, it is also highly valuable to have free access to the Internet if a family does not have a computer at home. Especially these days when most students are required to do or submit work online, it is nice to have a place like the public library where students can go to guarantee access to the Internet.

I enjoyed reading the reasons why people tend to frequent the library more often. Having grandchildren was at the top of this list. I think grandparents find it important to take their grandchildren to the library, because it may be where they spent a lot of time as a child and they may have good memories of going as a child. They want to give their grandchildren that same opportunity. Other reasons people increase their frequency in visiting the library include research purposes, to borrow books, to use the computer and/or Internet, and to study.

I loved the part where this presentation said that people like librarians! As someone studying to be a librarian, this makes me feel good! I always think people view the librarian as the “shusher” or the nerdy old lady with a bun, glasses, and her nose in a book. I like to hear that 98% of surveyors who visit the library have had positive interactions with their librarians. That’s awesome!

It was not surprising to read that among library users, parents do more library activities than others. This includes activities such as browsing the shelves, borrowing books, attending classes and events for children, borrowing movies, and using the computers and/or Internet. Even borrowing e-books is more common with parent patrons. 29% of the parents surveyed have read an e-book in the past year and over 60% of them own an e-book reader or a tablet. Parents are also most interested in more tech services being offered by the library. For examples, parents are interested in see an “Ask the Librarian” online service and a cell phone application for smart phones where they can access the library. I thought it was interesting, but not surprising, that mothers are more influential in library involvement than fathers. More mothers (than fathers) own library cards, visit the library, visit the website for the library, and use the computers at the library. This probably has a great deal to do with the fact that many mothers stay home with their children during the day, freeing them up to visit the library during daytime hours.

I loved reading that the public wants the library to be more engaged in education. Coordinating with local schools and offering free literacy programs are just two great suggestions that were offered as ways to get the library more involved in the educational lives of the children in the community. Sadly, I learned in this presentation, that only 22% of surveyors knew all or more of the services offered by their library. That is not enough people! As librarians, we need to be proactive in getting the public engaged in the library and aware of the services that it offers. 31% of people knew nothing or almost nothing about what the library has to offer. That is way too many people who are clueless about the library! The good news is, however, that reading is alive and well! It was relieving to see that 90% of older teens have read a book in the last year and that 85% of teens have read a PRINT book. Although many believe it, print books are not going away and they are not antiquated. Technology does also aid in the engagement of teen readers though…with 25% of older teens having read an e-book in the past year and 16% an audiobook. What I loved most about all of these statistics was that 58% of parents with children under six years of age read to them every day! And 50% pf parents with children under age 12 read to them every day. That is amazing! I know that it is hard to find time to read with your child every day, so I commend the half of these parents that finds it important enough to do every day. That says a lot about their priorities and their desire to create a love of reading within their children. As long as this enthusiasm for the library remains, then the library is here to stay!

Mining PEW – 19 pages (127 total)