Over the past two decades, shifts in technology have altered the roles of school librarians in a multitude of ways. New rigorous standards, proliferation of devices, and steady growth of online and blended learning for the K12 market now demand librarians engage with learners in online environments. Taking an instructional design approach is the way one librarian is meeting the challenge of further embedding her library's resources, instruction and services into online instruction. The article chronicles how her thirty years of experience with shifting library roles have changed her from a teacher librarian to a designer librarian. A continuum of K12 online embedded librarianship is offered.Keywords: designer librarian, embedded librarian, instructional design, reusable learning objects Designer Librarian: Embedded in K12 Online LearningWe sit at a point of convergence. Rigorous standards, rapid growth of online and blended learning and new assessments challenge educators to be highly informed and highly adaptable. These challenges, juxtaposed with the growing availability of devices and elegantly designed web tools, open up a wide world of possibilities for what we might help our learners achieve. Blended and online learning are growing at a steady pace, pushing teachers and librarians to consider new ways of effectively reaching learners. Technology committees in schools are being replaced with "innovation" teams focused on the quest to improve, differentiate and personalize the learning environment. While a multitude of solutions are possible, attention must be given to online learning and our learners' ubiquitous use of devices for personal and school needs.The 2014 Project Tomorrow Report, The New Digital Playbook, presented findings on mobile computing devices and noted that in school, 75% of the high school students surveyed were using their devices to access class information; 22% were viewing teacher-made videos. Outside of school, a wide majority of these students (73% of girls, 60% of boys) were using their devices to discuss schoolwork (usually via texting). Clearly, these devices are here to stay. We have a responsibility to help students learn how to work with these devices, and learn in online spaces, as a significant portion of their college work and future workplace trainings will take place online.
High school librarians and teachers face the challenge of preparing students for the rigors of academic-level inquiry. To achieve this goal, one school examined its research practices and explored ways to more fully integrate information fluency skills, quality resources, and higher-order thinking into the curriculum. While collaborative partnerships existed, wider perspectives and a larger consensus were needed in order to improve practice. Collaboration between language arts department members and their librarian was seen as a solution to this problem and included an exploration of current best practices in information literacy and inquiry-based learning. Three main principles guided this work: a) a commitment to honoring the research process, b) improving students’ nonfiction reading skills, and c) recognizing and enacting reflection as the driver of critical thinking. This chapter describes the collaborative process, the team protocols put into place, commitments, and instructional design tools, along with implications for ongoing improvement.
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