Blog Post 1 - Thoughts on Technolgy for Educators and Information Professionals

We're off to a great start, getting to know each other online, creating LiveBinders and blogs......To get us going on blog posts, we read a great article by Melissa Lamont, a digital collections librarian at San Diego State University (at the time of writing):

Lamont, M. (2009). Gender, technology, and libraries. Information Technology and Libraries, 28(3), 137-142.

As a UNT student, I was able to retrieve it through Ebscohost on https://www.library.unt.edu. If you happen to be a visitor who is not connected to UNT, you should be able to find it through your local library.

Now for some questions posed by our instructor that deal with both the article and our own thoughts about technology in the library and the classroom:

How do you feel about the author’s assertions?

Lamont (2009) made several points about IT in general and within libraries in particular. She asserts that although the presence of women in IT is growing, the majority of IT professionals that are titled as such are male; male IT professionals also tend to earn higher salaries than women IT professionals, and of the journals she reviewed, males tend to publish IT-related articles more frequently than women.

While the journal sample that Lamont (2009) presented does  seem to show this, I don’t think either her sample size or length of review was large/long enough to make a broad generalization about the mix of male/female publishing about IT-related topics. Certainly a good starting point for further research, but not a truly representative sample of the field.

I’m interested in reading the full article by Hargittai and Shafer (2006) that Lamont talks about, particularly their conclusion that “women test at the same skill level as men but consistently underrate their technical ability”. I’d love to find out the “real world” result of such a test among my colleagues –we are not teachers or librarians, but we do utilize technology every day, and most of us are women.

I also hope to find and read Benokraitis’ (1997) book about “subtle sexism”; I agree with Lamont’s summation that “women are made to feel less competent and less comfortable with technology” and would like to know if Benokraitis offers any suggestions on how to not only recognize signs of “subtle sexism” but also ways to counteract it in the workplace.

Overall, I enjoyed Lamont’s article – lots of food for thought as I move forward in the program and decide what the pros and cons will be of declaring either Library Science or Information Science as my major and the impact that decision may have on future job prospects.

Describe your technology strengths and weaknesses.

I’m a child of the 80s, so I grew up with chalk boards, hand-written papers, card-catalogs, word-processors, typewriters, and overhead projectors. The only computer I ever used as an undergraduate was an Apple Lisa, and that was in the graphic design office where I worked – most of our layout/design work there was still done on drafting boards, letter-presses, etc.

I’ve tried over the years to learn about, acquire, and use new technologies as they become available, but I’m by no means claiming a “techie” or “computer-wiz” label! Nowher close to a Luddite, but still learning about most of the applications/products/gadgets that I don’t use on a daily basis.

My kids (part of the digital generation) have never experienced a technology-free world, so they tend to jump right in to all the “new” tech advances – they had Ipods, so they “taught” me the basics of the Iphone; they are masters of the TV/cable remote, so they “taught” me how to program the DVR and use On-Demand.

I’m not scared of learning new programs or using new tech “things”, but I’m usually not the first in line when the latest models come out – I’m hoping that’ll change a bit as I learn more through this class.

As an educator and/or information professional, how do you plan to use your technology strengths?

My belief is that educators/information professions have both the privilege and the responsibility to introduce, engage, encourage, and explain technology to their students/patrons. I’m hoping that by the time I’m in a school and able to accept this great challenge, that I’ll be comfortable not only using, but explaining the “latest and greatest” tech gadgets and apps to my students, colleagues, and community. My goal is to learn as much as I can about as much as I can so I can speak from experience instead of from uncertainty (or unawareness).

What do you feel you need to do to overcome your weaknesses?

Try, try, and try again! I’ve found over the years that IT folks and librarians are some of the best resources on a college campus for getting hands-on advice in the technology realm – I’m pretty sure that holds true on K-12 campuses too, so I will always utilize those connections! I also plan to seek out and watch/complete as many online tutorials as are needed to become competent in using new technology – we experienced some great examples already in this class when setting up LiveBinder and blog accounts, and that’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg in regard to technology!

How do you feel our weaknesses affect our ability to share information/teach?

I think change scares a lot of people, and because technology often changes the way we do/produce/learn things, utilizing new technology can be scary too. As an example, for many years my mom was scared to use her computer for fear that she’d hit a wrong key and cause the machine to crash or explode. But then the grandkids got Webkins and asked for help keeping them “alive” – they showed her how to play games, update their accounts, etc. which also led to them showing her other “simple” things like how to print a word document, how to send/receive email, and how to upload pictures. She’s much more comfortable using her computer now, but she’s not alone in being fearful of learning about/using technology.

I think when people (adults and kids) are allowed to watch/observe/shadow someone who knows how to use a new/updated tech feature or gadget, they feel more comfortable trying it themselves. I’m hoping to be that “expert” for the students/patrons/community I serve someday!

What would you like to learn about technology in order to improve your instructional strategies?

As I said already, I want to learn as much as I can about as much as I can! I know I’ll be a more effective teacher/info professional if I can confidently talk about and use whatever kind of technology my school/library owns. I also want to be able to confidently recommend applications/gadgets they don’t already have/use and be able to talk about the pros and cons of what the apps/gadgets can do – how they’ll enhance learning strategies, help kids gain a broader perspective, etc. Since I’m not currently in a school or library, I know there’s already a lot out there that I don’t know about, but I’m hoping by the end of this class I’ll not only have a good grasp on what my kids are using in their classrooms/libraries but also have some ideas/tools/links I can share with their teachers/administrators/librarians to make their learning environments even better!