Studio in Computing for Learning

  School Libraries, Make or Die? "Activity for kids - Active Ageing Carnival 2010 with Public Libraries" by ArtistIvanChew is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Blog Post by Tina Taggert  There is a trend of adding makerspaces into school libraries. The question is: Is this merely a fad or is it necessary for school library survival? School librarians traditionally have ben primary collaborators with classroom teachers. However, this has been in decline as we moved toward teaching in our specialties, which has led to teaching in isolation. Having a basic understanding of what a makerspace is would help in understanding the problems facing library usage and may act as a conduit between libraries and classroom teachers. "Makerspaces take many forms but generally involve a physical space with shared resources to pursue technical projects of personal interest with the support of the maker community "(Oliver, 2016). Other sources define makerspaces as the "new

Blog Post by S. Mahar Makerspace = Community While we homo sapiens have been makers for the past 70,000 years , the Maker movement was in effect born with the publication of Make magazine in 2005. As delineated by Make Magazine, the Maker movement "embraces innovation, creativity, and learning to improve our communities and create a better feature. Tinkerers, educators, parents, and professionals are included, because we are all Makers. That includes you." (2018) Credit: makermedia.com (2018)  Makerspace & Accessibility A defining characteristic of the movement is inclusivity. Yet, there is little evidence that the reality of the movement matches with the ideal. One issue with the limited reach of the Maker movement is that people with disabilities could directly benefit from the do-it-yourself and collaborative approach to technologies like 3D printing, coding, robotics and circuitry but in many ways they do not have free access to these spaces. People with

Embracing Technology: Supporting the Tech-Reluctant Teacher Blog Post by Allison Fluet More than ever, teachers are being expected to integrate technology into their classrooms. But how can we support educators who feel less than confident about how to do so?      It’s Sunday night and our assistant principal’s weekly technology update posts to our staff email. In it, is a screenshot of the administrator's dashboard showing who has used Seesaw that week with congratulations to those teachers who made it on the screen. He thinks he’s encouraging staff to take the leap and try this new digital tool. Unfortunately, many teachers feel the opposite effect; discouraged, inadequate and pressured. There’s little time provided for professional development around technology yet the expectation to use it is looming over teacher’s already overflowing plates. With little time for PD and the reality that many teachers are unsure of how to meaningfully implement technology how can tech-co