What's the Point?

 

It is time to answer the important question of "what is the point of this blog?" 

In list-ical format, because that is fun

1. This is a class assignment. I am a Library Sciences student at the University of Illinois, and this blog is for my Youth Media Literacy class. I am also a library assistant in a high school, so I do relate many of these posts to my current students. Full disclosure: I am having way to much fun doing it, and will likely continue to add posts after the class ends. The assignment was to explore new types of media or information/communication technologies and write short reflections on them. We had the flexibility to present those reflections in any format we felt was appropriate. I have collected those reflections here. 
2. I like to learn new things (and learning new things is good for my brain). One of my favorite things to do is to try something new, even if I am not very good at it. I also find that keeping in practice with learning to do something new makes it much easier for me to continue to learn new skills. As I age, and technology continues to advance, I will be able to keep up because I am keeping my brain in shape. 
3. It is an awesome way to connect with my students. I have been sharing this experiment with my students, and they have been enjoying following along. It gives us something to talk about that isn't academic, and that is huge with helping build relationships during elearning. They have also been suggesting other media and ICTs that I should try. Look for upcoming posts on Among Us and several anime on their suggestion. Another way it helps me connect with my students is by finding out how they like to communicate, and then learning to use their preferred methods of communication. This was a large part of the inspiration for my Instagram Stories post; I asked my students how they would like to hear about books, and they suggested a series of short videos like Tic Tok or Stories. 
4. It helps me be a better youth librarian. One of the biggest challenges for adults who work with youth, in any field, is identifying the needs of youth. Exploring how youth use media, how they interact with media, how they create media is a huge piece of understanding their needs - especially from the lense of helping them learn to be responsible adults. I could just read articles written by other educators about how youth interact with media, but this is much more fun. I also spend a lot of my day helping my students use different technologies. It is much easier to help them if I am fluent in the tools they are using, and the only way I can do that is to be hands on.

So there it is, why I am writing this blog. Hopefully I will see you all again soon as I continue to explore different types of media and how they can be used with and by youth services librarians!