Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Virtual Makerspace Resources for Students and Staff

December 10th is GUHSD's first ever Innovation Day! I know that you are innovating on a regular basis since I get to see and hear about what you do through your students every day. Thank you for working hard to help our students be creative and collaborative critical thinkers and communicators!

In conjunction with Innovation Day, I wanted to share a new resource that is available via the library website. As part of my Teacher Librarian credential program, I have had the privilege of studying under a top thinker in the field of school libraries, Dr. David L. Loertscher. In his course, my classmates and I worked earlier in the semester to create "virtual design halls." For my final project, I created our very own version: a GUHSD Virtual Makerspace (vMakerspace). Here is an information doc that explains more.

Click on the image below to explore the vMakerspace.
The vMakerspace is also linked on the school library website.

The vMakerspace is a curated collection of web resources that should all be compatible with our FutureForward Chromebooks and free for at least basic functionality. Think of it as a virtual toolbox for project creation and self-discovery learning. If you want students to create a word cloud, there are links to good word cloud generation sites. If students love music, there are links to music-related tools. In fact, I showed a student these tools yesterday, and she created *THIS* last night!

Also, please know that as I created this resource, a lot of my inspiration came from YOU! For example, thinking of the video projects that many of you assign students, I included video-related tools, as well as collections of Creative Commons "free" photos, stock footage, and music. On this topic, you can always refresh your understanding of copyright and fair use by revisiting John Cross's fantastic presentation from our back-to-school staff days.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about the vMakerspace or anything else, please feel welcome to connect with me. I always love to hear from you!