Blog 3: Tech Planning and SLM Leadership

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image by wikimedia user Pinguinguy CC licensed as public domain

Julia M Cameron, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons


Hello, Science Team!


    I found  an exciting new resource that I feel would really work well in your department.  It’s called Expeditions Pro.  It was featured in Edutopia Blog’s November issue.  Expeditions Pro takes virtual field trips to the next level by immersing the students in a complete virtual reality experience.  One of the best parts is that we will not have to purchase any equipment - Expeditions Pro is compatible with Google Cardboard.  Our district’s Office of Career and Technical Education has a class set of Google Cardboard VR Googles that can be checked out to our school.  Unlike a traditional field experience, this will be completely free of charge to our students.  By providing free experiences with technology we have already provided to the students, we will be able to meet student needs where they are. (Boyer, 2016).

I know that it can be daunting to try to plan a lesson and learn the software at the same time, but please do not let that deter you.  As the media specialist part of my job is to help teachers with technology integration in the classroom (Wine, 2016) and I will be here to support you every step of the way! 

 If you would like me to do a demo for your team just let me know the date of your next PLC and I will bring a set of glasses and do a tour.  If your team enjoys the PLC demo, I would be happy to set up a training session with the whole Science department, after which I can set up appointments with teaching teams or individuals in order to help them build their expeditions. Once we have created your expeditions, we could also set up an exploratory meeting so that everyone can test out each other's expeditions and brainstorm ideas as a team.  

I have included some additional informative resources about Expeditions Pro below. Please let me know if you have any questions!


Expeditions Pro Website - create an account, explore public tours, and more

OOSOOM — Underwater Earth Limited - You can tour the exhibition virtually using Expedition Pro - this would fit really well in our Marine Science Class or some of the biology units.





Side Note

When I went on my search for Educational Technology and Librarian blogs I was so sad to find that many are no longer active?   Some left good bye posts on why they were stepping away and others simply no longer updated.  It seems that many stopped updating in 2020 -2021 which seems to be in keeping with the mass teacher exodus in the wake of the pandemic.  Its's making me consider starting one of my own once I begin my media specialist career.



References:

Boyer, B. (2016). Meet your learners where they are: virtualizing the school library. Internet@Schools, 23(1), 4+. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A440057567/AONE?u=nysl_ca_dmvacces&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=73a967ca

Johnston, Melissa P., 2012. "School Librarians as Technology Integration Leaders: Enablers and Barriers to Leadership Enactment,‖ American Association of School Librarians.

Mauro, K. (2022, November). Immersive VR Experiences for Middle and High School Students. Retrieved from Edutopia: https://www.edutopia.org/article/immersive-vr-experiences-for-middle-and-high-school-students

Wine, L. D. (2016, April). School Librarians as Technology Leaders: An Evolution in Practice. JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SCIENCE, 57(2), 207-220.






 

Comments

  1. Katie NewtonFebruary 4, 2023 at 9:34 AM

    Lauren, thank you for sharing about Edutopia and Expeditions Pro! Already having that equipment available for use is a huge help as far as budgeting and time constraints go. VR goggles are a fun and unique way to tackle teaching and learning. You should definitely start your own Educational Technology and Library blog, I am always on the lookout for more to follow!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Jennifer RingFebruary 4, 2023 at 10:18 AM

    Hi Lauren,
    Thank you for the great post. I really like the idea of these virtual field trips. They seem easily customizable for different topics. You've targeted the science department which might be a traditionally harder group to with which to collaborate. I also caught in your included instructional video that these experiences can be completed with the Google Cardboard, but they don't have to be, which makes them even more accessible. Nice work.
    Jen

    ReplyDelete
  3. mpgwynFebruary 4, 2023 at 10:32 AM

    Lauren,
    First of all, thank you so much for the encouragement from a PACE survivor! I'm almost at the finish line- I"m sure you remember how that felt. For me, although the PACE coursework has been intense and challenging, by far the biggest challenge has been attempting to be a School Librarian with no training. Thank goodness for my peers both in the district and on social media that have graciously answered questions and shared their expertise.
    I am actually really exctied to read about the resource you are sharing. I work in a very small, very rural school, and I love the possibilities this opens up to our students. I can't wait to find out more and investigate the cost of the VR glasses needed. I think this would be something our whole school could use for so many purposes.
    Thanks again, Lauren, and I hope you do start your blog somewhere down the road.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Melanie WatersFebruary 4, 2023 at 11:59 AM

    Hey Lauren!

    I love the idea of VR in the science classroom. Science is sometimes too big or too small to teach students. Therefore, incorporating VR to students can give them the engagement they need to fully master the content. I have never done VR before, but I would imagine it being amazing when we talk about space or when we discuss an atom. I also felt sad when I read the bottom message. This profession is slowly realizing their worth and finding other ways they can use their skills to help students in other ways that do not pertain to the classroom. To think that an event such as COVID, making everything online, would stop teachers or media specialists from blogging. I feel for them because our workload has increased and keeping up with a blog can be hard.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ladines the LibrarianFebruary 4, 2023 at 6:27 PM

    Hi Lauren,
    Thank you so much for sharing this resource. I have not seen it before. I work in a small rural school, and it would be incredible to be able to offer my students the opportunity to see so many amazing things. Many of them have never been somewhere as simple as a zoo so this would be such a fantastic way to show them places. One of the major industries in our community offers STEM grants each year. I am considering writing one to get a set of the Google Goggles for our school. Thanks again for sharing.

    ReplyDelete

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