How to transform your media centers into makerspaces

Even with tight budgets, it’s possible to repurpose your libraries or media centers into 21st century makerspaces

For many of us in education, budget cuts are always a possibility. The challenge becomes how to make our services and programs truly stand out to stakeholders, so that we’re truly transforming what we’re doing to meet the needs of our students in today’s world. With that in mind, we recently re-introduced our media centers to our district community, Brevard County Schools in Florida, as a valuable and integral part of a student’s education that supports 21st-century skills

Our “a-ha” moment about how to make this rebrand a reality came at a tech conference. With a colleague, the two of us stopped at a 3D printer booth and we both had the same vision. We talked about repurposing the media centers into Innovation Centers where students had the opportunity to experience STEM activities through a maker format. We were excited about the chance to give our students the opportunity to truly envision, design, create, and walk away with a 3D printed model.

We approached the Brevard Schools Foundation and shared our vision. At the Foundation’s recommendation, we applied for and won a grant from Northrop Grumman. In developing a timeline and plan for implementing the grant, we identified six schools where the changes would start and made sure that they were willing and able to support this new program. One of our goals was to make the program replicable and sustainable. This was our chance to create a model that could be rolled out to other schools in the future.…Read More

Librarians are taking the lead in the digital transformation

Librarians and media specialists are bridging the gap between instruction and technology. One pioneer shares how she does it

For library media specialists, finding high-quality digital resources that align with Common Core and state standards, and that support classroom instruction, is an ongoing challenge. No longer just the keepers of the physical books and card catalogues, these media specialists are being called upon to organize and share content that can then be used to create relevant and personalized learning experiences.

With more than 20 years of experience in instructional technologies and K-12 education under her belt, Joquetta L. Johnson has experienced the evolution of the school librarian firsthand. A library media specialist at Randallstown High School in Randallstown, Md., Johnson says that with the Information Age, librarians have effectively transformed into instructional technology leaders.

“When technology first impacted education, it hit the libraries first—first in the public and then in the school libraries,” says Johnson, whose school has about 980 students and one campus. “Because of this, we’ve been at the forefront of the educational technology movement for a long time.”…Read More

5 tips for creating a makerspace for less than the cost of an iPad

You don’t need power tools and 3D printers to start a makerspace. Instead, get creative

Where others see trash, I see treasure. Reusing, repurposing, and recycling items that can be found in the kitchen garbage can, on the curb, or collected by friends and families helps educators to save money while protecting the environment.

Today, our library makerspace has developed into a 21st century learning laboratory, with funding from grants and through the generosity of individuals and organizations that support our DonorsChoose projects. But it wasn’t always this way.

In 2013, I began creating a makerspace in our library with only recyclables such as yogurt containers, bottle caps, and toilet paper tubes that I had been saving over the summer. I scoured the library storage cabinets to find office supplies such as markers, crayons, paper clips, rubber bands, glue, and scissors. Then I began raiding my own craft supplies. There was a physical space, and students were making things. I had a makerspace.…Read More

Join the Transform Your School Library movement

Movement is designed to address the evolution, future of the school library

Mackin Educational Resources, global distributor of print and digital media to PK-12 schools and libraries, announced the formation of the TYSL movement, or Transform Your School Library.

This philanthropic endeavor was designed to provide school librarians and educators with critical information related to the evolution of today’s school library.

TYSL is comprised of dozens of the country’s leading change-advocates committed to shaping the future
direction of school libraries. Advisory board members include district level professionals, teacher-librarians, superintendents and more.…Read More

Gale brings interactive science tools to libraries

New resources demonstrate libraries’ need for ed-tech partners

Gale, a part of Cengage Learning, is offering three new science products for academic and school libraries. The products are designed to help students understand science beyond the text, and combine Gale’s curriculum-aligned reference content with partner CyberScience’s interactive 3D models to bring science learning to life.

Two products, geared primarily for the academic market, cover the topics of human anatomy and chemistry, while a third resource combines multiple science topics and can be used as refreshers in introductory college science courses or as a basic science learning tool in high schools.

“These engaging products bring science to life by enabling students to manipulate and interact with content but, more than that, they demonstrate Gale’s transformation beyond a library reference publisher to a true education technology partner for libraries,” said Paul Gazzolo, senior vice president and general manager for Gale.…Read More

Is your library going Future Ready too?

Modern librarians can take charge in making their schools Future Ready

Ed note: This is the first in a series of columns from digital library expert Mark Ray discussing the changing role of librarians and the Future Ready Schools initiative.

digital-libraryDuring the past year, more than 1900 superintendents have signed the Future Ready Pledge, part of a broadly-defined initiative to promote digital transformation in American schools. Superintendents across the nation are signing on the dotted line with a commitment to promote and support digital ways of teaching, learning, and leading. As the Future Ready Schools project enters its second year, districts are seeking to operationalize innovation from the classroom to the central office.

My district, Vancouver Public Schools in WA, is among a growing number of districts that have identified teacher librarians as partners to provide the necessary leadership to help schools make future readiness more than just a promise.…Read More

Great ways library media and IT departments can work together

Library media specialists and IT teams can work toward a common mission

library-mediaInformation technology (IT) departments in the K-12 environment have historically operated as their own separate entities, making decisions about, providing support for, and overseeing the successful implementation of hardware and software on campus. With more and more technology infiltrating classrooms, the IT team’s role has shifted to include more interaction and collaboration with other departments, administrators, and individual instructors.

As purveyors of digital learning materials and research, library media specialists are aligning with their IT departments to help create dynamic, engaging hubs for students and instructors. At Henrico County Public Schools in Henrico, Va., Suzanna Panter said the 50,000-student, 70-school district was an early one-to-one laptop adopter and, as such, relies on strong ties between its media and IT departments.

Panter, who is the district’s educational specialist, library services, actually has an employee who serves as a go-between for the library and the IT department. “At the library, we’re completely instructional in nature,” Panter explains, “so we don’t see eye-to-eye with IT on every issue.” During a 2015 migration to Microsoft Office 365, for example, Panter says her department had concerns about the proposed single sign-on (SSO) process, which automatically signs a user into his or her email account once signed onto Office 365.…Read More

Top 10 of 2014, No. 1: Libraries, reinvented

eSchool News highlights some of the 10 most significant ed-tech developments of 2014, and school libraries are No. 1

libraries-techEach year, the eSchool News editors compile 10 of the most influential ed-tech developments and examine how those topics dominated K-12 ed-tech conversations. No. 1 on our list for 2014 is the new role of school libraries.

School libraries have evolved from quiet places to read books into bustling centers of collaboration, learning, and research. School librarians are emerging as leaders as they help teachers learn valuable technology integration skills. They also teach students how to research and evaluate information.

With libraries serving as many schools’ central hubs, it’s only natural that they would intersect with many of the other top trends on our list—by setting up maker spaces, letting students explore coding, and helping to increase student access to the internet after school hours.…Read More

Four ways to advocate for school libraries

Libraries and librarians are essential to teacher and student learning–here’s how to support them

school-librariansIf school librarians want to make a case for library funding, they must demonstrate how they help students learn and prove that they build collaborative instructional partnerships with classroom teachers.

Libraries often suffer financially when school administrators are forced to make budget cuts, often because administrators might still have outdated views regarding what the school library actually does.

Librarians have specialized and varied training, but often, that training does not help direct funding to the school library unless administrators see how libraries benefit student learning, said Michelle Luhtala, head librarian at New Canaan High School (Conn.), during a Connected Educator Month edWeb webinar about making the case for school libraries.…Read More