Infographics-To-Go

Infographics are great tools to use for visual representations of evidence and information. They help the human brain extract patterns of information from the graphic representation. It’s important for students to be able to read and interpret visual representations of information. Students can break down information and use image, symbols, and text to communicate in an attractive and effective way using a variety of tools. I looked at three of these tools to find one that worked best for me.

Infogr.am is a free site that has lots of charts, graphs, and maps available. It’s easy to import data from Google Drive, Excel, or Dropbox. It’s easy to drag what you want from the sidebar and put in numbers and details into the data chart provided. You can also add pictures and videos. It’s simple to use, but there were not as many options available as some of the other infographic sites.

Easel.ly is another popular infographic site that has lots of great eye-catching templates and features. It allows the user to insert media- YouTube videos and stock photos. Overall, I found the site to be difficult and frustrating for me as I tried to find a template to quickly use for my information. Many of the objects I wanted to use as symbols were not available unless I signed up for the pro plan. If I were going to use this with students, I would need to allow for extra time to learn and explore the features.

Piktochart had a limited number of templates available to customize. If you want more, you must have a pro account. The free templates have great visual customization options that can add patterned background and custom color schemes that will look great in a presentation or printable. It’s easy to add videos, pictures, stock pictures, and frames. The program worked well in my Chrome browser. It’s compatible with Google and Facebook. This was my personal favorite and the easiest for me to use. With a little practice, I can see how I might use this in the future to make annual reports to share with administrators and teachers. Here is the example infographic I made.

TMI: Too Much Information? Try a Blog Reader!

 Staying up-to-date with the latest education and technology trends is important, but the real challenge is finding the time to sort through the deluge of information and find what really matters to you. How can you weed through the constant barrage of blogs and posts showing up in your social media from all over the world? The solution is simple- Really Simple Syndication (RSS)! With this file, you can subscribe to a site and have the new content automatically pushed out to you. Just open your RSS reader app and see what’s new on the websites that you want to keep up with. You might want to check out Inoreader, Feed Wrangler, Panda, or Feedly.

Inoreader is great for long-term use. It allows you to subscribe to Twitter and Google+ users giving you one app for all of your online needs. Your stuff is stored permanently, not just short-term.

Feed Wrangler is focused on reading and doesn’t have social media integrations. It’s for Web and iOS users who want a distraction free and clean interface.
 

Panda is a newsreader best experienced as a Chrome Extension. You can use web application as well, but they only offer limited functionality on iOS (Panda Lite).

I chose to use Feedly. It has a clean, simple interface, and is the perfect solution for the casual reader who wants to see all their websites in one place. It allows the user to tag information and save articles to boards. It integrates with Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Evernote, OneNote and more, making it easier to share with your networks and teammates. Because it’s powered by RSS, you can add any RSS feed and read it whenever and wherever you go. Just enter the URL of the feed in the search bar or search for it by name. Feedly is available free for iPhone and iPad or use it as a web application.

Here are a few blogs and sites that I follow using Feedly:
 1. Maker Ed: http://makered.org/blog/ 
Maker Ed posts about their makerspace work and the work of others to raise awareness, appreciation and interest in maker education. I followed this site to stay informed of the latest trends and to connect and learn from other maker educators.
2. Renovated Learning: http://renovatedlearning.com/2016/12/19/budget-friendly-projects-makerspace/ 
This blog shares the experiences of Diana, a teacher librarian from Tampa Florida, in starting a makerspace and redesigning her learning space. I followed her blog because she has something on her site for those who are just starting a space to those who are growing current makerspaces. It’s filled with resources and advice.
 3. Kirkus Reviews Children’s Book Blog: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/features/blog/childrens/Julie Danielson blogs about children’s books. I followed this blog to keep up with the reviews and her suggestions for choosing books to grow the library collection. It also has a section with Top Lists.
 4. The Children’s Book Review: https://www.thechildrensbookreview.com/weblog/2017/06/the-real-deal-summer-reading-list-by-joe-ballarini.html 
This site contains reviews and articles divided into developmental ages of children, and categories for audiobooks, author interviews, award winners, and so much more! I followed this site because of it’s easy to locate information and for how it presents information in different subject categories. This I a great resource!
 5. Awful Library Books: http://awfullibrarybooks.net/friday-fiction-high-flying-romance/
 Mary Kelly and Holly Hibner are public librarians in Michigan who love talking about library collections and services. They also present and consult on various topics. This site is the result of a presentation “Will Weed for Food.” It is a collection of library holdings that they find questionable and amusing. I followed this blog site simply for the amusement factor. Sometimes funny, sometimes shocking, it’s interesting to see how societal standards and cultural norms have changed over time. It also contains tips about weeding and why it’s an important and essential component of collection development.

Facebook and Twitter: Are You Connecting?

This 1987 throwback AT&T commercial appeals to our desire to be connected to our friends and family. Even though some may believe technology has created a high-tech community that isolates users from social contact with the rest of humanity, it does not change the basic need people have to want to “reach out” and connect with someone. Today, we have the ability to reach out even farther; we have the technology to reach out globally and share information exponentially. School librarians can connect with library patrons and professional learning communities by using Facebook and Twitter. Here is a look at how a few school libraries and educational technology leaders successfully use social media to promote and advocate for their programs.

Facebook:
Facebook is a social network that supports personal, direct connections with a particular group of interested users. As I searched for school libraries on Facebook, I had to scroll down quite a bit to find an American school library with a currently active site. I was pleasantly surprised to find library Facebook pages for a suburban elementary in a school district near my own, as well as a large high school library near the city of  Dallas, Texas.

Crockett Elementary Library, Weatherford, Texas.
Stats: 242 Like This Page; 240 Follow This Page; 16 People Are Talking About This Page

Content: This library posts current information including the following:

• videos of students creating “dubsmashes” and photos of school events.
• Summer Reading Lists 
• Promotion of the Weatherford Library Kick-off Carnival for Summer Spectacular 
• Promotion of next fall’s book club read, Wonder by R.J. Palacio.
• Promotion of the soon to be available Follett Destiny Collections, a program that will allow for collaboration between librarians, teachers, and students to support classroom learning.

  



 Duncanville High School Library, Duncanville, Texas.
Stats: 294 People Like This Page; 284 People Follow This Page; 66 People Checked-in at this location; 9 People Are Talking About This Page

This high school library includes some of the following:

• Video links to local news sites that featured a story about their students. 
• Shared a link to 7 Young Adult Novels for Bookworms of Any Age
•  A promotion for reading aloud to students 
• A Piktochart Inforgraphic of DHS library yearly statistics 
• Promotion of fun activities for Star Wars Day… “May the 4th Be with You!” 
• Shared a link advocating for school librarians
• Anime Club Meeting and activities                 This was such a great library website! 

 

Facebook provides a great opportunity to connect with the school community and promote a library program to interested users who follow your page. For security purposes and to protect the integrity of the content, many schools have library Facebook pages that are closed groups. You must ask to join in order to see the posts, the discussion, or comments. Although closed groups can protect student privacy and make it easier to control content and comments, it creates a limited sphere of influence because it denies access to information by outside users. Pages that allow access to anyone should be carefully monitored by the librarian and frequently checked for comments on posts.

Twitter:

 Twitter is a great way to share short bursts of information in 140 characters or less. It's like a “shout out” to the world. It can provide a quick stream of updates from friends, family, scholars, experts, journalists, and celebrities. It creates an instant global community with people who are interested in following your work or hobbies. It’s a unique blend of texting, instant messaging, and blogging with the ability to tag your content with a #hashtag. Here is what I found when I followed some educational technology experts.
 Kathy Schrock: @kathyschrock

I followed Kathy Schrock, an educational technologist and Ed Tech Presenter from Cape Cod, MA. Kathy shares professional information about technology products, apps, and information about her speaking engagements. She will be traveling to Florida to present at the Florida Educational Technology Conference in January of 2018. She creates a professional dialogue with other technology users asking their opinions about advantages and disadvantages of different apps or products. She will also tweet or retweet information about helpful sites and apps. She provides links to her Discovery Education blog, Kathy's Katch

                                




 Jim Lerman: @jimlerman

Jim Lerman is from Greenwich Village, and describes himself as a parent, learner, teacher, leader, author, speaker, collaborator, networker, focused on new schools for new learning. He has 1,119 followers and has tweeted 18,520 times. His tweets take you to his Cultivating Creativity site on Scoop.it! Here, he posts links to various educational articles from many great sources. I could peruse his collection for days! It’s an amazing resource for both students and educators interested in educational technology. Here are just a few of the interesting resources I found.

                    

From my experiences, I find Twitter to be a resource where people with like-minded interests can connect and share useful information in a short, simplistic format. If you're interested in discovering more about a tweet, links are often embedded that will take you to sites with more content. It’s a great tool for promoting your interests as well as developing your professional skills.