SLIS 761 Amber Eaves

 Digital Makerspaces Using Google Drive  "Maker spaces promote learning through play; have the potential to demystify science, math, technology, and engineering; and encourage women and under­represented minorities to seek careers in those fields." (Britton, 2012)      One incredible resource that I found when researching about Digital Makerspaces is this  Virtual MakerSpace  by It was originally created by Shannon Miller , and she was kind enough to share the template for open use for librarians and teachers to adapt and modify it as they see fit.  There are links for art, building, coding, design, engineering, music, reading, robotics, and more! I thought this was an incredible curation for elementary students, and you can see the time, effort, and energy that went into this project.      This is a twist on the traditional in-person MakerSpace that I was familiar with. I love that students can access this MakerSpace at any time, and teachers would also be able to utilize it

 Cyberbullying This week was an important topic to cover, and I appreciated the videos and readings. I loved the tone of this video above, and I feel that it could be influential for students to see it and realize that they are able to make a difference in the life of one of their peers.  I also thought it was so interesting to see the parallels among bullying in schools, higher education, and even into the workplace, in the article "From the Sandbox to the Inbox." I did not realize the psychological components of bullying are repeated behaviors, intended harm, and using power over another person.  (Faucher, Cassidy, Jackson, 2015). Bullying goes far beyond simply being mean or rude. Most examples of bullying within the workplace include gossip, rumors, public humiliation, unwarranted criticism, threats, isolation, or intimidation. It is interesting to note that none of these behaviors are physical in any way, but that they can cause the most damage to an individual.  This gr

  Adaptive Technology: Dictation Tools Image from Understood.org      One incredible adaptive technology that I was able to learn from my fourth grade students was the use of a dictation tool. I had never before seen anyone use this until this past year. I tasked my students with creating a research project about severe weather, and they had to create a Google Slides presentation to share what they had learned. One of my students knew that he struggled with writing, typing, and spelling. He asked if he could use his speech-to-text tool, and of course I agreed! What would have taken him ten or twenty minutes to type out and spell, he was able to synthesize into a few great summary sentences and speak them into his presentation instantly!       With dictation tools, students are able to speak and the program or tool they are utilizing writes for them. This tool is beneficial for students with dyslexia, spelling issues, apraxia, or limb differences. It is often referred to as "speech

 Bee-Bots Image from Robot Advance What are Bee-Bots? They are fun robots created for young students to learn coding skills. They can be used to teach sequencing, functions, coding, and problem-solving! These robots are available for $599 for a hive set, as pictured above, from Terrapin  , individually from Lakeshore Learning , and even cheaper ($74.99) from Amazon!   Image from Terrapinlogo      Bee Bots have seven primary buttons located on the back of the bee. These each have clear images that students are easily able to recognize, identify, and use. Bee-Bots are able to learn up to 40 consecutive steps in a row! The X button is used to clear any previous codes the bot has learned. The up and down arrows move the bot forward and backwards, and the left and right arrows indicate turns. Once it has been programmed with the directions, a user simply presses GO and the Bee-Bot follows the sequential instructions.       Because these are popular among elementary schools, many teachers ha