Final Vision Project- Content

Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker

At the beginning of the week, I started investigating which platform to use for the library website.  I had created a website using Weebly for a previous course but decided it was a little bit limiting so decided to go with Edublog and create a blog which would hopefully be more interactive.  

After spending a considerable amount of time trying to figure out how to navigate the blog, I chose to pay for the pro status in which I could embed videos and most importantly, ask for help.  This also provided me with more options and I was then able to proceed.  I had some material to put on the blog, it was now a question of figuring out how and where to put it.    I was very thankful to have been able to draw upon some of the tools shared in this course.  For instance, I was having trouble posting word documents so I copied the document into google drive and then got an embed code for putting it on the library website/blog.  Wow, I can do this!

In my previous post, I talked about creating a library website that encourages parents to read with their children, provides resources and services on the web for students, includes short instructional videos for students to consult, and instead of lists of resources, consider including pathfinders for students.

In terms of encouraging parents to read with their child, I began by looking at other Edublog library sites and found sharebookbox, an embeddable book widget which allowed me to select books in both English and French to showcase on the website.  I also started a short list of author websites.  I chose only authors we had talked about in the library and sites that would be appealing to students. I also included a parent letter about reading with your child in the French Immersion programme.  I realized that it would be a good idea to share this letter with the teachers at my school, asking for feedback which I will do once back at school.

In terms of providing Resources and Services, I wanted to choose topics that could benefit a large number of students at the school. It had been brought up at the last staff meeting about finding French resources students could consult when completing projects as oppose to using English resources.  I plan on adding a teacher resource section on the blog for this purpose. While the goal is to reach this point, I believe it is common for students to choose English resources as they are easier to find and often easier for them to read.  I think it is important to address issues around translation in schools.  In my opinion, it is often a topic that is not spoken of until there is a problem.  The benefits of addressing this in school is that translation helps learners understand the connection between the two languages as well as it provides them with an opportunity to look more deeply about the meaning of words and also see the pitfalls of translation, too.

“If we could shift the emphasis from learning translation as a set of discrete skills (although it may have its own merits) to using translation as a resource for the promotion of language learning, we might be able to reinterpret and humanize it, using it to our advantage as a powerful tool for developing language awareness.”

(Stoitchkov,2006)

I started by creating a page for the website on using Word Reference, my favorite online translation tool and then decided it would be beneficial to create some lessons around translation.  Stay tuned for more details.

Every language is a world. Without translation, we would inhabit parishes bordering on silence.

George Steiner

Just before Spring Break, my principal asked me to share information with staff about eBooks as they are now available through our district.  While I will be showing staff and students how to access them, I wanted to create a page on the website that students can refer to on their own.  While exploring how to introduce the eBooks, I noticed Follett has some lesson ideas I would like to explore in the future.  

 My next task in regards to Resources and Services is to create info about bibliographies in French.  

For the short instructional videos, I tried desperately to create a screencast with Screenr and Screen-o-cast but the java plug-in did not work.   I will continue to explore other avenues. 

Finally, I spoke about making the website interactive.  I created a school library Twitter account and posted a few tweets with news from the library.  I still need to find ways of making the website more interactive, providing an opportunity to connect with a wider community.

I would have liked to have gotten further with the blog but I seemed to have run into problems each step of the way.  If something could go wrong, it did.  I am encouraged though as I am confident that once I get the hang of things, it will go smoother. 

References:

Ala.org. (2013). Position Statement on Digital Content and E-books in School Library Collections | American Association of School Librarians (AASL). [online] Retrieved from: http://www.ala.org/aasl/advocacy/resources/position-statements/digital-content [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].

Keep calm and persevere. (2014). [image online] Available at: http://www.keepcalm-o-matic.co.uk/p/keep-calm-and-preserve/ [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].

Pilkington, M. (2011). US ebooks Reach Critical Mass Overseas. [image online] Available at: http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/peru-lags-behind-latin-america-in-ebook-adoption [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].

Pollo, C. (2008). Making the most of online translators in foreign language classrooms. Clear News, 12 (2), Retrieved from: http://clear.msu.edu/clear/newsletter/fall2008.pdf.

Stoitchkov, R. (2006). How to use translation in the language classroom | BETA. [online] Retrieved from: http://www.beta-iatefl.org/1202/blog-publications/how-to-use-translation-in-the-language-classroom/ [Accessed: 30 Mar 2014].