Tag Archives: distance learning

Check it Out:, School Media Specialist

Annie Allen Extended Mini Grant Report

This is a guest post from Annie Allen, Media Specialist at Rogers Middle School. Read more about our Extended Mini Grant Program or fill out one of our applications. This program is only available during the FY21 school year.

I was awarded an $800 CMLE Extended Mini Grant to purchase ebooks for our middle school students. Getting books into the hands of our students has been a challenge during Distance Learning. Students and parents are not able to easily pick up print books at the school, so expanding our ebook collection was a priority. With a limited budget, ebooks have not been something I’ve really been able to expand access to. This mini grant allowed me to purchase 108 new ebooks for our students!

Of these, 81 of the titles ordered were able to be shared across our secondary schools through MackinVIA, the platform we use for our digital content. This means that not only are these books impacting access for my 700 students here at Rogers Middle School, but thousands of students across our district! All of the titles purchased are perpetual ownership, which means our students will be able to enjoy access forever!

Historically, ebook circulation has been low at my middle school. Our students really prefer print books, but with Distance Learning ebooks became some of the only books easily accessible for students. With most of our access being those from the EbooksMN collection, I wanted to purchase some additional titles with strong middle school appeal, specifically fiction novels.

I purchased the new ebooks in late December, and they were ready and available for students when they returned from winter break. I heavily promoted the new books the first two weeks back to school, posting on Schoology, creating featured book content in MackinVIA, and sending out a video for our ELA teachers to show to students. These efforts paid off!

Last year during the same time frame (Jan 1-Jan 31, 2020) there were only 38 total logins to MackinVIA and 0 views and 0 checkouts of ebooks. This year between January 1 and January 31, 2021 there were 1,972 logins to MackinVIA, 1,080 ebook views and 12 ebook checkouts! January 2021 ebook usage exceeded TOTAL usage of ebooks from March 2020-June 2020 when we moved to Distance Learning for the first time (109 ebook views, 2 checkouts)! February has seen continued usage due to I Love to Read Month promotional activities (again featuring the new ebooks) and a virtual book tasting with 6th grade ELA classes. Through February 23rd, there have been 555 views of ebooks and 12 checkouts. This is encouraging since more than 90% of our students are now back in-person 4 days per week. 

Having the additional ebooks for our students will be a game changer for the rest of this school year and into the future. Our students who have remained in Distance Learning will continue to have easy access to our expanded ebook collection in addition to those attending school in-person. The titles purchased are newly published, old favorites, or titles in our book club collection which means they will have broad appeal for a while. I am excited to use our ebook collection for a summer reading promotion since our students will have continued access over the summer months!

Conference, Writing

Submit a Paper Presentation to the Distance Library Services Conference

Stack of Copy Paper
The deadline for submitting Paper Presentation proposals for the next Distance Library Services Conference is April 23!

What is a Paper Presentation? The Paper Presentation format requires that you write a paper and then present at the conference. Your paper will be published in both the conference proceedings and later in special issues of the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning. Your presentation is an opportunity to share issues, findings or conclusions related to your paper.

The average attendance for the past three conferences was 273, so in addition to your paper being published in the Journal of Library & Information Services in Distance Learning, you will benefit by presenting at a smaller, focused conference with ample networking opportunities.

Proposals should fall into one of three general tracks:​

  • Teaching & Learning (e.g. technologies, strategies, instructional design, assessment, best practices, successes/failures)
  • Marketing & Outreach (e.g. advocacy, assessment, collaboration, strategies)
  • User Experience (e.g. assessment, best practices, initiatives, student success)

If you want to share your research, projects, or ideas with others providing library services online or at a distance, this conference is the place to do it! Submit your Paper Presentation proposal soon!

To submit a proposal, please visit http://libguides.cmich.edu/dls2018/call_for_proposals

 

Academic

Online Round Table: Distance Learning!

Desktop computer clipart - Yellow theme
The ACRL Distance Learning Section Discussion Group invites you to join us for the next DLS Round Table Discussion!

A large portion of distance librarianship depends on teaching, supporting, and collaborating with students asynchronously. Motivation, engagement, and participation in asynchronous courses was the focus of our first round table discussion. Now we would like to expand upon our strategies for assessing these interactions – both assessing student learning outcomes as well as keeping track of our interactions.

We encourage new and experienced librarians to take part in this discussion. These discussions are about learning and sharing. You will be a valuable addition whether you are just getting started or you have all the answers.

Register to participate in this interactive session now! Participation is limited to the first 90 registrants!!

http://ala.adobeconnect.com/e3qrsu59dnu/event/registration.html

Please send any questions to the DLS Discussion Group Co-Chairs, Kristin Heathcock (kheathcock@hccfl.edu) and Lindsey Wharton (lwharton@fsu.edu)

Academic, Check this out:, General, Public, School Media Specialist, Special

Distance Learning: The Next Steps

Image by Nazzen. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons' licensing.
Image by Nazzen. Retrieved from Flickr. Used under Creative Commons’ licensing.

Distance learning is often marketed as a way to meet diverse educational needs by offering course flexibility, accessibility, and program diversity. In an infographic, Career Graphics illustrates the evolution of distance learning starting as early as 1728; emphasizing key factors which influenced its transformation to what we know it as today. Some of these elements include the first correspondence courses and the introduction of new technologies such as the radio, television and internet.

In an article by Edudemic, author Nina Hassing eludes to the number of times employees change career paths as an important variable in the growing need to apply broader, analytical thinking skills. She stated, “Memorizing facts will have a much lower value, while utilizing information for analysis and decision making will be a critical skill for educational and professional advancement.“  This is used as the backdrop to discuss why the concept of distance learning needs to evolve. Hassing lists 9 ways in which this type of learning will continue to grow, why change is needed and her predictions for the future of distance education. Click here to read the full article, Why (And How) Distance Learning Needs to Change (August 2013.)