Professional Development Activity :: Digital materials/resources and emerging technologies

Today I have decided to base the professional development activity for the topic 'Digital Materials / Resources and Emerging Technologies' in the INF330 assessment on using a new technology.  For this I have taught myself how to use the virtual world game Second Life (http://secondlife.com/), as I have an interest in learning how virtual games could benefit children's learning.  It has also been found 'the fastest growing demographic of virtual world users is children between the ages of 5 and 9' (Marsh, 2011, p. 103).

To start in Second Life, the website asks you to design your own character. I chose a slightly gothic looking lady and called it The Quiet Librarian.  It takes about an hour to download all the bits necessary to run, then when you're ready you can open it and take off.  It didn't take me long to figure out the basics to Second Life.  The arrows on the keyboard moved my character around (though it does look very odd, not a normal walking motion), and the tabs on the screen allowed me to chat to others in the room or search and teleport to another world.  I teleported myself to the Illumination Library (designed and owned by Second Life Literary Foundation) and clicked on an item marked as Daniel Defoe's 'Robinson Crusoe'. I was able to read the book via a link to a webpage (not in the Second Life screen).  My computer is very slow so it wasn't the best experience.  It was interesting to see what a virtual world game involves, and how easy it is to take part.

Virtual worlds, such as Second Life, have been designed to help people communicate with others without leaving the computer.  This is a great benefit when children cannot travel to a classroom or library easily.  But is this an ideal place for children?  Long periods of play in the virtual world could affect a child's social skills, as 'children who play these games would see less of a distinction between their online friends and real friends; virtually socializing might be just as fulfilling as a Friday night party. And they would be more likely to participate actively in their own entertainment, clicking at the keyboard instead of leaning back on the couch' (Stone, 2010).


References:

Marsh, S.  (2011).  Young children's literacy practices in a virtual world: Establishing an online interaction order.  Reading  Research Quarterly, 46(2), 101-118.
 
Stone, B. (2010, January 9).  The children of cyberspace: Old fogies by their 20s.  Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com

INF330 Professional Development Activity Assessment :: Diversity

For the assessment topic 'diversity' (in regards to library services for children and young adults) I decided to first research this through the peer reviewed journals on the Charles Sturt University library catalogue.  I found there are many forms of diversity such as a person's illness, their living status, religious beliefs and race.

Children and young adults should be given the opportunity to read literature from various authors to provide an intelligent view of the world's people and its many different cultures.  It is appalling to note in America 'more books are written about non-whites than are written by non-whites' (Thirumurthy, 2011, p.446).  This note would have been found quite normal over fifty years ago in times of racial discrimination, but in today's society it seems we are still accepting literature from authors because of their race.  This gives children and young adults a very limited view on the world, and we should instead be giving them 'authentic and unbiased literary experiences' (Thirumurthy, 2011, p.446).

Children and young adults need literature that is written for them and not be judged on their own diversity, as 'if we want to turn at-risk readers into book lovers, we need easy-to-read books that depict their lives and their dreams' (Jules, 2010).

I then found an excellent online resource, The International Children's Digital Library, for children to find and read books online.  The website has a link for children to 'read books', which takes them to an online catalogue for children and young adults.  It is easy to use with large, bright buttons that have pictures and colours to help younger children learning to read.  The site has a large book collection in many different languages, providing many children all over the world the opportunity to read a book written from their own country.  This website would also benefit librarians looking for a larger range of books to add to their collection with its link 'award winning books'.



References:


International Children's Digital Library. Retrieved from http://www.childrenslibrary.org/icdl/SimpleSearchCategory?ilang=English

Jules, J. (2010).  My life is normal, too: diversity in children's literature. Colorín Colorado. Retrieved from http://www.colorincolorado.org/article/40002/

Thirumurthy, V. (2011). Building cultural bridges through international children's literature. Expanded Academic ASAP, p.446.  Retrieved from Gale - GALE|A266224229.