3.3 Technology-Enabled Learning

Candidates use digital tools, resources, and emerging technologies to design and adapt learning experiences. Candidates engage all learners in finding, evaluating, creating, and communicating data and information in a digital environment. Candidates articulate, communicate, model, and teach digital citizenship.

During my first semester of graduate school, I took LLT 510: Information Resources and Services. The course was designed to look into emerging technologies, reference materials, and Web 2.0. While enrolled in the course, I wrote a paper that focused on the emergence of podcasts and microblogs into the library sphere titled "Microblogs and Podcasts: How Library Reference Continues to Evolve". 

I chose to focus on microblogs because I had not encountered blogs too much through my educational journey and was curious about how they fit into libraries as a digital resource. Blogs have been something that I have been aware of, but not something that I realized could be part of a library's catalog. The multifaceted nature of microblogs allow them to be used as tools for students as well as librarians. The chat function is such a boon to those using it and being able to communicate with others from around the globe. It can help to exponentially expand the library's collection by only adding a couple more digital resources. 

I chose to focus on podcasts as well because it is a media form that I have interacted with many times but also had never truly seen as a library resource. Audio recordings can be so useful in giving students a way to hear primary sources and consume media in a different way. Podcasts are a way to help students find a different way to learn new material or find what they are looking for. This also helps to celebrate and nurture another way that students can learn from the materials that the library holds. 

As a librarian, it is important for me to be aware of all different types of technology that can be used as a resource or something that I can have available for my students to access. Technology is ever-evolving and that's makes the profession itself ever-evolving as well. In order for me to make sure that the students I am serving have the most up to date and accurate resources at their disposal, I need to be aware of just how much technology is evolving.