Infographics

Infographics:

Infographics is a new vocabulary word for me.  I had always seen what I would consider “flyers”, but I did not know that there were sites that would facilitate the creation of “flyers”.  After navigating through some apps, I found that one can use infographics as a tool for instruction.

My Infographic of Choice:  Piktochart 

I found this infographic app very user friendly.  I did not know how to create an infographic and I tend to try the app prior to getting any video tutorials.  Surprisingly, I was able to navigate and use the app with such ease.  The tiles on the side were labeled and consistent with most apps, thus facilitating the search for tools.

Infographic Apps:

Easel.ly:  Is very easy to sign-up.  One is able to create usernames and passwords or use social media such as Facebook or Google to activate an account.  It has many temples and very easy to use.  The issue for me was that I was not able to find a theme that I felt would fit my needs.  The graphics when scrolling is animated, thus making the site appealing.  It allows for animations, which was very nice.  I did not select to use Easel.ly as the first link did not work.  However, after I completed my infographic, I went in to the site to be able to critique the site and found that I would have enjoyed using this site as well.

 

Piktochart:  Again, like Easel.ly, activating an account was very easy.  The app allows for embedded videos and the use of icons was one that all are familiar with.  It has many templates and many icons.  There are some animation features.  I liked the break between each block and I was able to use many of the design components as well as the graphics on the text elements. 

Infogr.am:  One can easily activate an account using their social media accounts on Facebook and on Twitter as well as a traditional username and password.  It is easy to use and has many charts.  It has maps and one can embed videos, SlideShare or even import sheets from Google.  The text had many options, a bit busy, but very desirable.  I felt that the templates were limited when compared to the other two, although there were plenty. 

How People Approach Facts and Information-Infograph

Instagram, Facebook and Twitter

Facebook

 I have already joined several library groups.  After going through the different feeds, I notice that the advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.  The advantages I found were many.  I found that using social media a librarian is an open forum to all that work in the field to seek help of find recommendations.  While visiting the different pages I saw questions I did not think to ask, but is relevant and information that I can use.  Librarians were sharing resources and ideas of activities that can be used in and out of the library.  I saw decorating ideas.  Many shareable links to pod casts and professional associations.  Many suggestions on how to motivate students at different age groups and different demographics.  Librarians were sharing accomplishments and seeking advice from seasoned libraries.  I saw feeds of authors’ podcasts and videos and D.I.Y. projects for maintaining current furniture.  Librarians were sharing books and their views on books.  They shared ideas on how to collaborate with local libraries for the different summer activities and reading programs.  The disadvantages were few, what I did see was that some pages are not exclusive to school libraries, which is not exactly a disadvantage, since we are able to learn from the public librarians.  I saw information that might be irrelevant.  I think however, that the biggest disadvantage is the lack of technology for our patrons, thus the information on social media is not accessible to all.  But in all, it is a positive experience. 

I did look up different library levels and found the following:

Elementary School Library pages, I found the feed that asks patrons to return books and provides the patrons with dates, times and place of locations of where to return the books.  I saw activities that students worked on while in the library.  I also saw a summer library schedule, which I’m not quite sure how that works, seeing as to how many libraries remain closed.  I saw students’ accomplishments, such as ranking for A/R classroom for most words read, the Royal Readers recognition, Top A/R readers recognition as well as Million-word readers recognition.  They also have announcements such as The End of the Year Parade and Author activities.

Middle School Library pages I found some similar posts as that of the elementary, such as book drop and curbside service.  I loved the clash of the covers reading list for the 2020-2021 school year, which is a preview of new books to come, where patrons can click on the link, which will take them to a trailer of the book as well as an annotated bibliography.  I saw announcements to promote the public library, which worked with the library to provide access to students with the summer reading.  I also saw announcements that promoted virtual readings with authors and provided the patrons with dates, times and link to access the reading.  I also saw a link to an author’s podcast.

High School Library pages were different than the Elementary and Middle School Library pages.  On the High School Library page, I saw announcements to their on-line library, which I didn’t see in the Elementary and Middle School libraries.  I saw recognition of the top 10 students and video stories of their high school seniors.  I saw an announcement to promote the summer library program at the public library.  I really loved the North Texas High School Virtual battle of the books video.  There was an announcement to promote a poetry contest.  The librarian was encouraging reading by sharing her current read and asking others to share theirs.  I saw book recommendations and Public Service Announcements, such as having students stay safe around water and for them to be cautious if a novice swimmer.

Twitter

Kathy Schrock @kathyschrock

Shared her Edtech web sites.  I loved how she found a solution to project an item from a portable tablet.  Kathy shared a Reynolds read-aloud.  She also shared tools for screen shots of web pages for Instagram, twitter, Facebook and Twitter, Pinterest and other social networking sites.  She also shared a summer passion project for students.  I loved how she shared thirty-one books that support conversation on race, racism and resistance.  For me what stood out the most was the solution to project from a portable tablet.  It even provides the steps necessary to project.  This is beneficial, with the uncertainty of this upcoming school year.

@kathyschrock

Linda Braun @lbraun2000

Linda is a learning consultant, a teacher and a teen advocate.  Linda shared a website LEO.  LEO is a company that provides learning experiences tools to libraries.  Linda shared tweets from organizations, which she collaborates with to meet our youth's needs.  Linda shares updates from the School Library Journal and resources from YALSA.  She re-tweets often on webinars and on learning that affects our youth.  Based on her tweets I can see that she is passionate for our youth and wants leaders to cultivate an experience that has a positive effect on our youth.  What struck me the most was her sharing of her article.  The article she wrote is featured on American Library Association Website and discusses the difference between teen centered and teen driven services.  Below is the article.

@lbraun2000

Alan November @globalearner

Alan is the founder of November Learning and the author of Who Owns the Learning? Host of Building Learning Community conference.  I noticed that Mr. November tweets Ted talks, and states that facts are available with a click of a mouse.  I also noticed that his feed is mainly about learning and the continued learning of what one has learned.  He shares a podcast where he interviews Lainie Rowell and shares his complimentary webinars on creativity and transformation during the pandemic.  He shares ideas on distance learning.  In all his feeds all have to do with learning and creating the learning. The tweet that I liked the most was the one from Microsoft where one can learn ideas, tips and tricks for distance learning.

@globalearner

Gwyneth Jones @GwynethJones

Gwyneth Jones is a daring librarian.  She is a former member if the ISTE Board.  She shared her blog with us and her students, parents and her community.  Gwyneth Jones tweets about using social media to have your voices heard and to connect to others.  She tweets inspiration, public service announcements, and recognition of students and others.  She shares books she's read.  She tweets about technology tools that are educational and fun for students.  She has a virtual recess for students, where they can take a break and play Kahoot!.  The re-tweet that I like best is about the use of ten whiteboards to use for distant learning.

@GwynethJones

Jim Lerman @jimlerman

Jim Lerman is an architect of ideas an implementation.  He has tweets on the facial recognition technology and how some businesses are moving away from that.  He tweets about racial issues and resources on teaching and learning about protests.  He tweets about distance learning tools.  He tweets on resources for educators.  The tweet I like the best is from learningkeepsgoing.org

@jimlerman

Instagram

Instagram could be used in a number of ways.  I’ve had an Instagram account for a while.  I follow Dave Ramsey, my daughter among other people.  I’ve never posted anything on Instagram and found it fairly easy to use.  I never thought of using Instagram for the library or the classroom, but after seeing the Prezi and from We Are Teachers “10 Surprising Ways to Use Instagram in the Classroom” I am able to see that we can use Instagram to share an image to prompt a writing piece.  Students are able to share videos or pictures to show their work.  We can use Instagram to promote the library or encourage reading.  We can use Instagram to acknowledge work and recognize achievements. We can showcase student work, feature students and go on scavenger hunts.  As the Prezi stated at the end “Brainstorm”, which is what we have to do to find ways to use Instagram in the educational setting. 

Still photo with Overgram:  Learning Mode!

Video:  Elementary School Library Decorating Ideas

Feed Reader

Feed Readers:

I was initially very confused with Feed Readers.  I explored a few feed readers and for some reason, I still wanted to use the feed reader as not only a feed reader, but as a blog.  After several discussions with my professor and re-reading the article it finally came together.  Feed Readers are just that, readers.  All they do is read information by accessing sites, feeds and blogs that interests you.  Although, I did read the article, I felt that it missed a few details.  I searched for customers’ reviews and found the different attributes for the different feed readers.  It is for that reason that:

My Feed Reader of Choice:  Feedly 

The feed reader I chose to subscribe to is Feedly.  I chose Feedly, because it was so easy to use.  I also signed up for Bloglovin’, but I found that there were not many library blogs to follow.  I was able to start using Feedly with my Google account, so the start up was beyond easy.  I was able to set views as desired.  I was able to organize my feed by most popular, popular + latest, latest or oldest. My settings were easy to navigate.  I was able to determine how I wanted to see my feed. Using the power search feature I was able to search for content in my Feedly. 

Reader Apps:

Feedly:  Is a very easy to use site. It is used by both casual and power users.  The free plan offers the casual user everything they need.  One can follow up to 100 sources and create topical categories to organize their content.  They offer mobile apps to access content from anywhere. “Leo” helps you declutter content and learns from your feedback.  The pro plan allows you get notifications and add notes and highlight information.  However, I feel that the initial setup is it a little cluttered and have to go in to organize as desired.  The blogs are not listed in alpha order and the home page has your content along with social media and other featured posts.  It does not allow one to search through old content.

NewsBlur:  is best used for filtering out the content that you find less interesting.  A user can subscribe to up to 64 different feeds.  You can choose to set your content to read full-text.  One can filter to highlight certain content or hide content.  It allows users to share stories to social media and it allows one to find people with similar interests.  The premium account allows users unlimited access to subscriptions.  The issue with NewsBlur is that it only allows 64 feeds with the free subscription and it does not update the content frequently.

 Inoreader:  is best for free searching or keeping your content longer.  Inoreader has a customizable dashboard.  One can have an unlimited number of subscriptions.  One can search within your subscriptions as well as to feeds that you do not subscribe.  Provides a tutorial on how to use the major features.  The premium account adds feeds for twitter and Google+ profiles.   There are no subfolders and you can’t have unread items longer than a month.  Options and customization are limited to premium users.

 The Old Reader:  is best used for sharing content and getting recommendations from friends and it is easy to use.  The Old Reader makes it easy to share content or recommendations to friends.  You can connect to social media or Google accounts and one can view recommendations made by friends.  One can also find trends and follow other people.  One can view full-text articles and allows up to 100 subscriptions.  This reader is not easy to be modified and difficult to customize and there is no mobile app. 

 Bloglovin':  is for discovering popular lifestyle content.  Bloglovin’ is set up like a social media website and has a clean look.  It is focused on images, very much like Pinterest and has love and comment options.  Dashboard has categories to popular lifestyle content.  Sub lists are listed in alphabetical order.  One can publish a blog in folders with blog widgets.  One creates personal collections and add content to that collection.  However, it is difficult to read on the reader and opens a new window instead.

 Netvibes:  Is more for marketers who want to monitor their industry.  Nertvibes lets one follow favorite publications.  Netvibes lets users connect and compare internal and external data in one place.  It allows for custom workflows that allows you to see posts using hashtags, which they call potions and triggers.  The feed reader has limited features for the both the basic and the premium features.

 FlowReader:  is for combing your RSS and social feeds.  FlowReader allows you to follow content on Twitter, YouTube, Reddit and Pinterest, thus allowing all your favorite sites on one place.  You can view posts in chronological order.

 Feedreader:  is for reading.  It is add-free and lets you subscribe to feeds.  It allows you to read the content in either collapse or expanded view.  It allows you to sort subscriptions into different categories.

 Feeder:  allows your RSS feeds on any device.  It allows you to subscribe to sites and view posts in reverse chronological order.  It has an app so that you can read your stories on the go.  The app has a simplified view of the articles.

 Selfoss:  is a self-hosted web, third party iOS and your RSS reader.  It is an open source where you can host the app on your own server.  It allows you to follow sites and Twitter.  It has basic features that allows you to organize your feeds.  One can add data sources and build plug-ins for added features.

 Blogs to follow:

Ask a Librarian: What do I do with these old books?:  This blog is great tips on what to do with old books.  It provides us with links to determine the value of books.  The blog discusses donations and book sales and collaboration with public libraries.  They discuss book art and tax implications.

Information Literacy:  This blog will provide the reader with tips and tools on information literacy and information ethics.  It goes on to describe credibility and what to look for when conducting web search.  It discusses the importance of information literacy and the implications for life-long learning.

Library Patch:  Is a blog about how to get started with MakerSpaces.  It discusses the process, such as essentials and non-essentials.  It discusses when students should use the Makerspaces and how you are able to incorporate it into the curriculum.  It provides tips on how to create stations and how to evaluate the makerspace.

For the New School Librarian:  A great website for any new school librarian.  It discusses ten things a new librarian should do first.  It discusses how to prepare for the circulation desk and what one should expect and how to execute.  It reads that one should take photos to document changes. It goes on to discuss the library handbook, finding materials and sources, creating schedules, finding mentors, technology, layout, policies and the importance of attending meetings.

What Works for School Libarians:  is a great blog about what works for school librarians.   It discusses classroom management in the library, and reading initiatives, reading videos, library centers, productivity and even gives us a heads-up.  Great for new librarians. 

Tumblr:

Tumblr Account:  Trumblr

References:

References:

Volvovski, V. (2020, May 12). The 10 Best Free RSS Reader Apps. Retrieved June 14, 2020, from https://zapier.com/blog/best-rss-feed-reader-apps/