Technology: A Curse or a Blessing?

I happened upon this article and began reading into its relevant information on teacher librarians and the use of technology. While I grew up in the boom of technology and can navigate myself around all the novel intricacies of technology, I would hardly call myself tech savvy. I still remember days without immediate access to information and even having computerized systems such as students have today. One quote caught me particularly, "Many young people have never known a world without instantaneous access to vast quantities of information using a multitude of formats, text types, graphics and multimedia." This truly is profound. Because of this new landscape the article brings up two solid points: understanding our roles and developing these skills (as many of our students surpass our knowledge in technology use). Combes stresses to limit the management of the systems in the library and become a management of information via technology use instead. She also stresses that our role is not to be the sole technology expert that fixes all computer glitches and technology malfunctions. Instead, the goal is to become a leader in what teachers preach- a life-long learner.

Before going on, can I just say how uplifting this article already was for me. It pushes for advocacy for the teacher librarian, it creates an authoritative perspective on actually becoming a co-teacher, teacher librarian and reminds us that it is okay to say no. These things keep repeating in all the literature read thus far and I'm beginning to see a pattern. Ok, back to the article.

The article proposes 7 strategies for navigating the information world and technology. However, these strategies do not reflect the actual technology use and consumption by teacher librarians, classroom teachers or students. Instead these strategies focus on the overall profession. I was let down in this matter because I was hoping to review strategies to help navigate the technology tools and co-teaching/lesson planning process. The initial portion of the article seemed so promising with the look into the student use of technology and their information seeking habits; but failed to provide any context or solution to the problems presented by their habits.

Here are the steps Combes provides for working through the challenges of technology incorporated in teacher librarian:
1. prioritize
2. be realistic
3. strategic plan
4. delegate and collaborate
5. don't make assumptions
6. staff professional development
7. promotion & advertizement



Combes, B. (2008). Challenges for teacher librarianship in the 21st century: Part 1 – Technology
Retrieved from http://www2.curriculum.edu.au/scis/connections/issue_66/challenges_for_teacher_librarianship_pt1.html