POST #2: Challenges to Using Iowa AEA Online Resources

In my role as librarian I collaborate with teachers on projects which involve research skills, tech integration and digital citizenship. This collaboration occurs differently with each teacher and project. The challenge then, is to make sure the skills and lessons are consistent across all classes. For example, there are two 7th grade science teachers who teach a bit differently. One may want to work with me on a research topic and the other one may not. It is important to make sure all the 7th grade science students are receiving the valuable information the AEA Resources can add to their research skill-set. I have to be flexible in my adaptation of lessons and time with students to deliver the best possible instruction and learning environment when they need it.
Some steps I have taken include creating teaching modules in our LMS which include videos on how to choose and use the best AEA resources. There are so many that can apply to curriculum projects, it’s important to educate students on which ones are a best fit and why. An additional step is to make sure the teacher who is not working with me in the library understands the AEA options and facilitates the use of the materials provided via the LMS. Often, teaching the teacher is harder than teaching the students. The most effective method I have found so far with reluctant teachers is scheduling 1:1 time with them. This can be difficult because they do not see it as a priority and it falls to the bottom of their very busy list. I continue to look for impactful ways to meet and work with teachers to share and integrate these AEA resources.

     I feel that, other than having a computer for every student, the biggest challenge is having myself (the teacher) competent, confident and comfortable in using the resources and able to choose the best resources for my group of students. In order to attain this I need to spend lots of time using and enjoying the resources so I will know which options work best for creating a lesson or for the students to create a project. If I am excited about a project or production, the students pick up on that and want to be engaged.
Students also need to be trained on the on-line resources to become familiar with how they work and what they can do. So some training needs to take place with the students before they can set off on their own assignment.

I think that some of the challenges that I will come across when trying to implement in my classroom is remembering all of the options that are available.    Going through this self-paced course was a bit overwhelming of how much was out there for teachers.  Another challenge will be time.  I was able to play around with some of the databases that I thought that i could use in class.  But the need will be to develop a habit of using those databases, rather than the "open web".   So in the end i think it will  be repeated use at the beginning of the school year so that I get used to my options and then it will become part of my "toolbox".

When I was first introduced to the AEA online resources, I was excited, but also extremely overwhelmed.  I had gone to a couple trainings at the school I was working for. They had brought in an AEA worker to go through some of the ways to integrate technology and their resources into our classroom.  They were extremely helpful as “launching pads” to get us started on the AEA website.  However, getting as much out of all the resources as possible seemed impossible.  Not only did I have to remember how to use the site and try to remember where everything was located, but I would have to try to make it easy enough for a 1st grader to navigate through.  
        As I took the time to get myself comfortable enough with the website, I began to slowly implement some of the great resources our young learners could use too.  It took a lot of patience and practice.  I decided to also use some of our computer class time to teach them how to use the website as well. I began integrating some of the online resources into their research projects, reading programs, science lessons, etc.. We began learning together slowly and sometimes the kids have taught me more than I have taught them!

I am excited to try many of these new resources. The challenges in my classroom typically come in the planning stages when looking at online resources. We plan out all of our projects throughout the year and often times we begin with the end in mind. We begin with the standards. There are so many resources to filter through.

One way I plan on overcoming this challenge is by making a resource that will give a quick overview of the online resources. I will make a top ten AEA resource page so when we are planning we can quickly decide on  what will enhance our project.

My biggest challenge when I started to use Iowa AEA Online resources was the amount of time it took for me to look through and decide which resource was best. Once I chose a resource, I had to spend more time to find the video or book I actually needed. I also previewed videos from Learn360, that also took time. Over the years, I have become extremely familiar with the resources that work best for what I am teaching and covering. Now when I take the time to search, I have made notes of the online resource I used. This has saved me a lot of time! Instead of searching for resources when planning out lessons, I will just look back at my AEA Online notes to see if I used anything from BookFlix or Learn360. I always like to make sure I am not missing something new, so I do check for new materials as well and will just add it to my list. The amount of resources can be overwhelming but once I took the time to get familiar, I use these almost daily.

My biggest challenge to using the AEA Online resources is to use them not in isolation. I have units that I regularly use that include the AEA Online resources. AEA digital library and Learn 360 are my first go to places for videos and video clips. BookFLIX is used with my elementary classes occasionally. I personally use TeachingBooks.net and iCLIPART for Schools when working on my lessons. But I only have a few teachers that will let me come in and show their students how to use the other databases when doing research. When we work together the students have a reason for looking up information. My stand alone teaching of the research that can be done with these resources has limited effect. The elementary classes enjoy the researching that we do in library class, but their teachers don’t also use the AEA Online resources in other classes. The students soon forget about the resources I have taught them to use.

We are adding a Makerspace to our libraries this year. I would like to have the students make some video on how to use the different AEA Online resources. The videos would be linked on the library page and shared with the teachers. Hopefully the novelty of the videos will get the students and teachers to use the AEA Online resources more often.

Using technology in the classroom is important to me. Finding the time to learn how to use the programs and how to teach them to the students is the challenging part. The positive note is that once you figure out how to use something, you can go back to it effortlessly. In my classroom, I plan to pick a few resources that will be the most valuable to my students. I will take the time to explain how to use them, and more importantly, time to practice using them. First, I am going to get on AEA and explore how to get to and use several of the programs. I will take notes and/or share videos on how to navigate through the different programs. Once I have mastered the program navigation, I will introduce it and its benefits to my students using the Elmo.

The biggest challenge for me, and many educators I think, is time!  My best thinking and uninterrupted time is at home, so I'm going to work in the evenings to implement the online resources I've been learning about in new and different ways.  I'd like to start with the AEA Digital Library.

The other first grade teachers are new this year.  This is challenging, as they are unfamiliar with the curriculum and standards. My plan is to work on 1 of the 3 units of science and then share it with the new teachers.  I'd like them to help with the other two units.  That way I'm sharing what I learned in the course, eliminating some of my work load and giving them a fun way to learn the new standards.  I hope they will feel some ownership as well.

As far as implementing challenges, this is big, but I would like to start with our new science standards and get into tge AEA Digital Library (in addition to  learn360) to create playlists for each new science unit--I have been using learn360 a long time but haven't used the ADL very much.   I think the educators tab will be especially helpful--I didn't notice it before!.  Following are the steps I will use:
1.  Create a teacher acct.
2.  Create a Playlist for one specific science standard/unit.
3.  Start adding relevant clips, videos...to the playlists.
4.  Share with my learning team at W-G
5.  Take my 1st grade team through the ADL and show them how it works and the many possible resources we could use.
6.  Work together to create the second and third science units.

Time!  That is definitely going to be the biggest challenge for me to be able to use these resources.  It seems that it is hard to find the time to really be able to sort through all of the various resources and find all of the ways that I can apply them to my teaching.  

Taking this class is the first step in overcoming this problem.  This course has forced me to learn about all of these resources and to learn about the benefit each can offer.  It will take less time for me to log on and find what I am looking for now that I have learned more about it.  

I also have the goal of adding more technology into my teaching in my CSIP plan moving forward, so this will be an excellent way for me to do that.  Any time we are given to work on curriculum I will enjoy applying the material I can find using the AEA online resources.

The biggest challenge to using the Iowa AEA Online Resources is just starting.  Right now while the materials are fresh, I can visualize a number of different ways to use the resources.  The challenge is to remember what it is I intended to use when I need to use it.  To help alleviate that concern, I have been jotting down ideas and links in a Google document.  I’ve indicated particular classes and lessons I think the resources may work well for my students.  This at least gets my thoughts down in one location but it doesn’t ensure that I will actually look at this information once this course is complete.  The next step is to hone in on one or two resources that I definitely want to use this school year.  Then I need  to incorporate this information into my lesson plans from the beginning of school.  For example, I give my students an electronic syllabus with links to documents we use all year.  I review this document with the links on the first day of school.   I can modify my syllabus to include links to the resources I plan on using this year.  Then on Day 1 I am introducing the resources to the students. The next step is to use these resources in my lesson plans in an effective way regularly. I have found that if I don't start using something right from the beginning of the year, it is less likely to happen.

As with most teachers I talk to, time is the challenge for all of us.  How much time do we have to find and use the resources that are out there at our fingertips but never get the chance to look at because there are those 15 (or more) other things that are on our plate that need to be done by tomorrow, by team planning time, by conferences, etc?  

Taking a class like this in the summer when my time constraints are minimal was a wonderful experience!  It gave me the opportunity to actually work with and play with sites/resources that I typically would not have had time to during the school year.  Just being able to plan a little now for something I would like to implement this fall has been very beneficial.

So pre-planning is obviously a step I have taken to overcome the time challenge.  In addition, knowing that finding resources does not have to take hours will give me the incentive to take little forays onto the sites when I'm looking for a new way to approach something or a fresh start.  I believe as I use the resources more and more, it will be easier to locate and use things quickly and efficiently.

One of the biggest challenges in my class is the age of my students.  First graders are not very independent and require a lot of assistance and step by step instruction.  We are getting new computers for our classroom so we will be providing tech training on basic computer navigation skills.  This will be a great way to also navigate to AEA resources on our school website. I plan to have parent volunteers and high school helpers also work with small groups to get comfortable with our new computers. I will introduce BookFlix first and let them practice navigating and searching titles and topics as part of our tech lessons.  The drawback is that it will be a while before students will be able to use it independently in literacy stations. I'm looking forward to seeing my students become independent users of the AEA online resources.

Well, being a substitute teacher, the most challenging thing to overcome using these resources is that I don't have a classroom.  However, I plan to utilize my time while substituting, like using my free time, to look over the resources and getting to know them better and how to navigate them more efficiently.  When in a classroom, I will get to know what the students are working on and maybe I can guide them to use the AEA resources that are available to them.  Just getting in tune with the different types of research papers or projects the students are required to do, will help me pinpoint the best resources to guide them to.  If given a study hall with students having nothing to do, we could even go through a couple of resources and teach the students how to use them to help make their project or paper better.  Taking this class has really opened my eyes to the vast information and awesome resources that AEA has available.  I hope I can somehow get that information across to the students I sub for.

It seems like the biggest challenges are gaining access, remembering login information, and user-friendliness when in the actual resources. Luckily for all educators who've used them for years or are now going to start using them, these resources have improved their user-friendliness (overall) and the ability to remember login information is easier (Google smart lock). However, the gaining access piece still needs to be addressed. Anymore, it shouldn't take seven clicks and multiple pages to get to these high quality resources! Until that is addressed, which I think it is being addressed, it will be challenging to gain access to/implement these resources.

Implementation challenges can be overcome if someone in my position at the AEA or locally can demonstrate meaningful classroom integration for the teachers' subject area. They need to see the steps to integrate and they need to see that it is meaningful to the subjects they teach. It takes a lot of time/effort but the payoffs are worth it!

I think the first big challenge for me to incorporate online resources is the amount of computers and other technological devices that are currently available in my classroom.  Right now we share a set of 5 chrome books with another class.  I will try and overcome that challenge by creating a rotation schedule so all my students have a chance to work on them in the time we are allotted for example with Book Flix.  I also could use the buddy system for when they are doing more research like activities with Britannica.  The ability for them to access these resources at home could also cut down on the amount of time needed in the classroom.

The second challenge will be just finding the time to personally get more confident in using the online resources before I introduce them to my class.  Second graders sometimes require a lot of help at the beginning when introducing a new program so this could take away from some of our other subject areas.  I will overcome this challenge by limiting the amount of online resources we use to one or two for the first year.  I also think it will be important to find ways to integrate it into what we are already doing like using Britannica for their farm reports rather than trying to add another brand new project or activity.

I currently substitute teach, and so the biggest challenge will be locating material in the small amount of time that you have to prepare for the class.

If I was still teaching full time, I believe the most difficult challenge would be trying to find material that would be applicable to high school mathematics classes (which is the subject I taught). Most resources discussed in the training related more to subjects dealing with social studies, history and language arts.

One of the easiest ways to incorporate the AEA resources for mathematics would be to use the Atomic Learning site to try and find videos that take students through procedures step by step. Students sometimes enjoy the ability to watch a video in a private setting more than a classroom setting because there is no stigma attached to replaying the video 3 or 4 times until they understand the concept. This alleviates the embarrassment some students might feel when requesting a teacher repeat a concept multiple times that other students have easily grasped.

However, if you want to use some of the other AEA sites discussed in the training, I think it would be necessary to think outside the box a little, and use the resources to dig deeper than the typical math lesson of just teaching a procedure. For instance, if you were learning about a specific mathematical theorem, you could use the Encyclopedia Britannica website to research the author of the theorem. You could also research how this theorem changed mathematics at the time or how the mathematical concept was applied in construction or art.

This is also my biggest challenge. I am a sub as well and am not likely to be allowed to have a code to use to search the sites. I'm hoping that having had some exposure to the class and the sites will be helpful to me when I'm subbing in a class that as had one of these sites assigned. It'll be easier to help students who are using the sites if I've had some exposure to them.

The biggest challenge for me is that I'm a sub so will not have access to the codes to enter these sites. I also don't do lesson planning so will not be able to use any of these as a lesson. I think that what I can take away from this class though, is that I am now familiar with these sites. The next time I see them, perhaps in a classroom where a teacher has assigned one or more of them, I will at least have had some experience with the sites and can be more helpful to the students who are using them. If a student is having trouble navigating, I'll be in a much better position to assist them in completing their assignment.

The biggest challenges to implementing the AEA online resources will be seamlessly integrating it into the curriculum.  The AEA online resources enhance the objectives and standards we are trying to teach.  Once the calendar is filled in with lesson plans, it is important to find where the AEA online resources fit in.  Then, it is a process of taking the time to clearly delineate how the resources can be implemented.  WIth each assignment, it is prioritizing our time as teachers to allow the time to walk through each project/resource as a student.  In doing so, instructions can be made more clearly and time can be used more efficiently in the classroom.  I think a reasonable yearly goal plan to use the AEA online resource at least once a month, whether it is using the resources as a class or individually.