LIBE 477

I feel that in "narrowing down" to AR and ARGs, I have still set the scope of my digital artifact project too wide. I’d really like to use augmented reality (AR) to enhance the students’ use of the library. Going back to my first blog post about how to support a culture of readership and evaluating the needs of the students in my school will lead me in narrowing my direction for this project. I’ve lived in multiple cities in multiple countries, but in the rural area I teach in now, the culture is more anti-intellectual than any other place I’ve experienced. Not only are the people uneducated, but they discourage others from accessing or embracing education as well. Students entering kindergarten in this culture are not prepared for school or learning, so they start already behind their counterparts in other areas of the province. Unlike where I grew up, students that go to university are the exception rather than the rule. Some of them do go onto post-secondary trades or vo

477 – Digital Artifact Brainstorm    What’s a digital artifact? An artifact is a thing made by human(s), not naturally occurring; often left behind when a person or culture moves on. A digital artifact, therefore, would be a likely non-tangible creation, left on the internet or computer system. While physical artifacts can take many forms from pottery to automobile to textile to landscaping, digital artifacts too can vary widely in form, function, and topic.    Digital artifact formats include:  -         Videos & vlogs  -         Audio files & podcasts  -         Images & slideshows  -         Journals & blogs  -         Infographics  -         Interactives  o     Video games  o     Virtual reality (VR) & Augmented reality (AR)  o     Alternate reality games ( ARGs ) and  unfiction -         Animations & webcomics  -         Websites & archives      Digital artifacts can take a wide variety of topics, including:  -         Original content [OC]  -         S

In this phase of LIBE 477, I’ve investigated some spurious advice for promoting student readership, reviewed the process I use for self-directed professional development, and explored some non-traditional libraries and information resources. I did not complete the blog about supporting other teachers’ information/communication technology learning, but I did spend some time reading what my classmates had to say on the topic.    Post 1.  I was particularly proud of my post about all the bad advice that parents & non-teachers give about fostering a culture of reading. I had a lot of fun writing it. In searching online for relevant, professional advice on how to make students read more, I kept coming up against posts, blogs, and articles about all the things that teachers are doing wrong—either by non-teachers, Pinterest Homeschool Mommies, and even actual teachers. In the end, I realized that a trained and experienced teacher would have to filter all this advice through their knowledg

As soon as I heard this week’s topic in Aaron Mueller’s Sunday Video, I knew what I wanted to write about. I remember reading about a tribe in the Amazon rainforest that uses generators, solar panels, laptops, and satellite internet to create their own self-directed “universities”. They learn what they choose, whether literacy skills or hands-on techniques, such as carpentry and metalwork. I thought the idea had a lot of merit.    So-called “developing nations” need not go through the same path that the Global West took to get to where we are (as if that’s so great). A pre-industrial culture can learn from a post-industrial culture, and in fact, might leapfrog to points beyond the post-industrial culture’s imagination. One need not learn how to use a wooden hammer before a metal hammer, for example.    As for the rest of the world, as our traditions become institutions, it may be valuable to interact with outsiders who can bring new ideas to the table. Moreover, everything that we are

What strategies, resources, tools, and networks will I use to continue to develop my information/communication technology skills and pedagogy throughout my career? I suppose that I will increase my ICT knowledge, skills, and pedagogy the same way that I have done any of my own professional development in the last ten years. My school district doesn’t present required or recommended professional development. This is left up to our union members to devise on an individual basis. It’s usually the same handful of teachers who repeatedly host yoga, sports, outdoor school, or SOGI-related pro-D events. Occasionally, a speaker will be brought in from the community, but expert speakers, conferences, and keynotes are almost completely absent from the pro-d options in my rural district. Moreover, I work in a less-populated area of the district, and very few organized options are available without an hour or more drive each way. All this is to say, I’ve been largely on my own in my profession