Blog 3

"Virtual reality game.png" by Piyush maru is licensed under CC-BY-SA-4.0

The blog that I examined this week is actually a review of a book about immersive technologies and their uses within the classroom.  The blog is hosted on School Library Journal’s website and also has a video of the blog author, Joyce Valenza, and the book author, Jaime Donally, discussing the book Learning Transported: Augmented, Virtual, and Mixed Reality for all Classrooms and the role that librarians can play in introducing these technologies to both educators and students.

According to Melissa Johnston, “technology has become a crucial element of teaching and learning, and the teacher librarian, as an information specialist and educator, has the potential to lead through technology integration” (2012, p. 19-20).  The use of immersive technologies has many implications within the school library.  It can be used to tell stories, provide immersive experiences that tie in to curriculum, allow virtual field trips, allow live virtual collaboration, and many other applications.  I have not yet seen the use of augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality within the elementary environment but can now see the value of using these technologies to appeal to both students and teachers.  

These technologies are not just for experiences, they also provide opportunities for students to create and curate their knowledge in new ways.  In the video, Donally explains how librarians can use immersive technologies within the library to teach digital citizenship and internet safety.  They also discuss how these technologies can be combined with nonfiction texts to provide meaningful learning experiences for students within the school library.  

In “A Technology Plan,” the authors state that “digital learners are hungry to use technology in schools” (Overbay, Mollette, & Vasu, 2011, p. 56).  Immersive technologies provide a new and exciting way for digital learners to harness technology for education.  However, this article and the author featured on this blog both caution against purchasing technology just to have it.  They both discuss the importance of planning and training before implementing new technology.  In fact, all of the articles that we read this week focus on the school librarian’s role in planning and implementing new technologies in their schools.  While immersive technologies can still seem like a thing from the future, they are becoming more common.  School librarians can be on the forefront of this technology by collaborating with and training other educators on how it can be used in the classroom and the library to meet standards while engaging students in a new and exciting way.  

References

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

Overby, A., Mollette, M., & Vasu, E.S. (2011). A technology plan that works. Educational Leadership, 68(5), 56-59.