Book Creator and ParentSquare

 Case Study Number One: Book Creator

• https://youtu.be/MKn3Dxs8UwI 

• Overview: Book Creator is a platform/digital tool which provides many ways for students and teachers to create content in the classroom. Projects can be worked on individually or collaboratively and allows teachers to comment/edit/and provide feedback directly on the content. This platform is engaging and inclusive with many options available to create and provide content across content areas and abilities. "Digital literacies...represent the multiplicity of skills needed for managing information and communication in the rapidly changing and increasingly digital world." (Robinson & Robinson, 2021) This platform allows students to utilize and incorporate new literacies into their projects and assignments.

• User Engagement: Whether students are creating a class paper, making a comic strip, illustrating their writing, working on vocabulary, reading and creating books, or viewing the content that has been shared from individuals worldwide, they are interacting with a number of new media and literacies. The platform interfaces with with a number of apps including Bitmoji, Canva, Giphy, and Google Drive. Classes can share content and collaborate on projects within the classroom or even the school. Also in the app students can voice record, make and add videos, include images from their computers or internet, and draw. There is even a text to speech feature which will read content to students. Book creater immerses students in the content and turns them into not only participants in their own learning but co-producers. Utilizing this tool and the charging and collaborating aspect of it , "takes the focus off the teacher and puts the students at the center of their learning." (Ledgerwood, 2022)

• Influence on Communication: This platform affects communication style and format among users both within and outside the classroom because there is a wide range of format and media available that can meet any student where they are regardless of their abilities. projects and lessons can be tailored to students and projects can be scaffolded in order to help the individual be successful in creating their desired content. Robinson & Robinson provide that, "In our technologically dependent world, which depends on tools such as the internet and other digital innovations, there are multiple non-traditional literacies required for being a successful, critical-thinking, global citizen." (2021) Once a user publishes their work it can be shared publicly worldwide through the platform or privately via a link or QR code.

• Information Consumption: Book Creator allows users to share and view content and creations with others in the school, community, state, country, and even the world. It is a unique opportunity to collaborate with and learn from individuals from other backgrounds and cultures truly encouraging participant to think globally. Students are also to receive and provide feedback with one another in the spirit of connectivism which is where learning occurs, "through digital technologies and participate in learning communities to share and build their knowledge." (Ledgerwood, 2022)

• Impact on Learning: The positive impact on learning Is that students can be exposed to and work with multiple literacies in a manner of different ways. After collecting research either through interview, online, in books, or video theycan then share that information in a number of creative and engaging ways. This allows individuals of all abilities to actively participate in their learning. A negative impact on learning could be that not all students are not receptive to critical feedback and may be hesitant to share what they have created.

• Privacy and Safety: Individuals need to be invited into the "libraries" in Book Creator. Only those who are entered into the teachers libraries are able to create content. Also, content can only be viewed if it is shared by the creator. Students and teachers have password protection and while the teacher can view and edit the class content, students only have access to the work of others in the permissions are set accordingly.

• Identify Required Literacies: Book Creater works to enhance and enforce traditional print literacy, digital literacy, speaking and listening skills, visual story telling, language learning and communication.

• Reflect on the Implications: This platforms aligns with educational goals across content areas as it provides the possibility of customization and and collaboration through multiple media pathways and can meet Learners at any level. Students can journal, collaborate on authentic assessments, develop community engagement projects, study, and create books, comics, presentations.

Either click the link or scan the QR Code below to view my Second case study using the platform that is featured in my First case study.

https://read.bookcreator.com/TNoz4KbRfzboTjZAsZF9YxFZOS83/5iS2WF5zQUe96TJp0NQAsQ 

References

Distraction-free schools: Governor Hochul announces New York to become largest state in the nation with statewide, Bell-to-bell restrictions on smartphones in schools. Governor Kathy Hochul. (n.d.-a). https://www.governor.ny.gov/news/distraction-free-schools-governor-hochul-announces-new-york-become-largest-state-nation  

Kaye, L. K. (2021). Exploring the “Socialness” of Social Media. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 3, 100083. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2021.100083  

Ledgerwood, K. (2022, July 31). Using social media to promote 21st-century learning. Technology and the Curriculum Summer 2022. https://pressbooks.pub/techcurr20221/chapter/using-social-media-to-promote-21st-century-learning/ 

Robinson, Z. Z., & Robinson, P. A. (2021). Using social media tools for promoting critical literacy ... Using Social Media Tools for Promoting Critical Literacy Skills in the Classroom. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED611606.pdf   

Exploring Personal Digital Literacy (PDI) in my classroom

The topic that I am planning to research for my final project is Personal Digital Literacy (PDI). I was inspired to pursue this topic further after reading in our text of a student who used this method to learn and share information with the community about native bird species. As a math and science teacher who is also involved in the Beekeeping and Gardening Clubs at my school, the possibilities of application in my classroom are vast. 

Coiro, J., Castek, J., & Quinn, D. J. (2016). Personal Inquiry and Online Research. Reading Teacher, 69(5), 483–492. https://doi-org.sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/10.1002/trtr.1450 

           This article outlines how to introduce and implement the process of personal digital inquiry (PDI) in the classroom. Teachers model expectations, provide prompts to guide student investigation, support knowledge building opportunities, and monitor student progress. Students are able to research personally relevant topics and then publish and reflect on what they have learned. Through this process students become more emotionally engaged in what they are learning as their research is interest driven. Students are guided to consider purposeful choices of technology in their inquiry while developing their ideas.  The information provided by Coiro et al., will be beneficial to me when I introduce and guide my students through PDI in my classroom.

Green, L. S., & Chassereau, K. (2023). Modeling Guided Inquiry and School Librarian Instructional Partnerships to Pre-Service Teachers Through Digital Video Production. Journal of Education for Library and Information Science, 64(2), 185–205. https://doi.org/10.3138/jelis-2022-0015 

            This article discusses the importance of the teacher/librarian partnership. Although the article is about pre-service teachers working with librarians it can be applied to classroom teachers as well. Students need to be introduced to methods of guided inquiry so that they are able to access and compare the multiple types of information sources to do meaningful research. In my school the librarians are available to teach a number of digital literacy lessons and can walk students through ways to gain meaningful understanding of their topics of interest.

McCormick, L. J., & Heaton, L. (2020). Review of From curiosity to deep learning: Personal digital inquiry in grades K-5. Education Review (Tempe, Ariz.), 27. https://doi.org/10.14507/er.v27.2895 

           McCormick & Heaton discuss the benefit of giving students "voice and choice" when it comes to engaging in their own learning. When educators build relationships with their students and offer digital enhancements to their lessons it inspires students to be more reflective and action minded. The scaffolding provided by teachers helps to drive and facilitate student inquiry processes. This information will be helpful to me when the time comes to model and scaffold student inquiry in their area of personal interest.

Rivera-Amezola, R. (2020). Preservation and Education: Teacher Inquiry and the "Family and Community Stories" Project. Language Arts, 97(5), 324-329. https://sunyempire.idm.oclc.org/login?qurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.proquest.com%2Fscholarly-journals%2Fpreservation-education-teacher-inquiry-family%2Fdocview%2F2405674039%2Fse-2%3Faccountid%3D8067 

           This article details the efforts of a district who sought to engage the families in the community to share their stories through digital storytelling. The idea was to team with families and the community to present the diverse stories of individuals and their experiences. The authors share the unforeseen obstacles that they encountered from being too ambitious with their timeline and goals, to re-framing their expectations when it came to how the stories would be told. This article was important for me to include because it served as an example of how digital literacy projects can take many forms and the participants may not present their ideas of follow the timeline in the way that is initially planned.

Wargo, J. M., & Giunco, K. (2023). Interrogating Young Children’s itineraries for writing: Promoting disciplinary literacy through personal digital inquiry. The Reading Teacher, 77(4), 428–438. https://doi.org/10.1002/trtr.2253

            This article focuses on how students can work together on their individual PDI projects while also providing feedback to one another. PDI follows four core sets of practices to link problem based learning, personal investigation and inquiry. Teachers craft questions to initiate student thinking and combined with their own background knowledge they are able to brainstorm and refine their research. This article will aid me in the instruction and application of PDI in my classroom.