Karin Schreier Hallett is School Librarian and Instructional Coach at the Martin J. Gottlieb Day School in Jacksonville, Florida. Prior to her employment at MJGDS, she held librarian positions in university and community college settings. Karin loves exploring all aspects of liquid literacy.

This article provides a perspective from a librarian on integrating twenty-first century learning into student projects.

As a librarian helping students navigate the information universe in a K-8 Jewish day school, I have come to see the challenges my students face as existing in a liquid form rather than solid. The information world is no longer a solid state – it’s a fluid world where technology has profoundly affected the nature of how we seek, retrieve, and evaluate information. My primary professional outlet for exploring these issues is my blog titled Liquid Literacy (http://liquidliteracy.wordpress.com). This blog explores topics in three general areas relevant to students in a K-8 environment: 1. Liquid Literacy (the competencies), 2. Liquid Library (print and digital media resources), and 3. Liquid Learning (use of technology tools for learning not bounded by library walls). I use the blog to both profile my own work and to learn from other professionals about the many creative, innovative, and boundary-crossing teaching and learning opportunities available in the new digital era.

While it may be tempting to equate modern learning with technology, it is important to understand that teaching and learning in the 21st century is not simply about flashy new tools, but continues to be all about learning outcomes. Properly embedded in the learning process, technology transforms teaching and learning, but should not fundamentally change it. In fact, while fostering a love of reading is one of my curricular priorities, reading and literacy education is no longer limited to print formats. I am continually amazed at how the “all-about-books” stereotype of librarians and libraries remains so pervasive. In this new era of information overload, as a school librarian, I must educate both students and colleagues about modern literacies and skills: information literacy, media literacy, global literacy, and digital citizenship. In short, I must stay informed about both new products and new practices – and be prepared to implement these in pedagogically sound ways. I find myself continuously transcending the walls and boundaries of our small library, collaborating with professionals beyond campus and taking risks by innovating new projects. One such example is my e-books project with 4th and 5th grade students.

My 4th and 5th grade students created e-books on Fort Caroline, the first French settlement attempt in the New World, and the Lost Colony of Roanoke, respectively. This was a collaborative project with their social studies teacher, Ms. Shelly Zavon. Information sources were exclusively web-based, previously gathered, organized, and annotated by the students themselves using the social bookmarking tool Diigo (for more information, please see http://liquidliteracy.wordpress.com/2013/02/24/a-lesson-in-socialbookmarking- in-the-classroom/). Our overarching goal was for students to create an alternative to traditional school reports, but also to experience the joy of writing and publishing! Beyond demonstrating mastery of subject area content, we also wanted them to strengthen their verbal and written communication skills. The prospect of publishing the e-books for a global audience not only enhanced the authenticity of the project, but also served as a motivator. Each stage of the learning process, of course, had to be mapped out first.

Drawing on their subject knowledge, students began by brainstorming possible chapter topics and then putting them in an order. Each student (5th grade) or student pair (4th grade) contributed a chapter to their class e-books. Once topics were distributed, students began the prewriting stage by selecting relevant websites, reading the information, and taking notes to organize their ideas. Students used Google Docs and each shared their documents with the classroom teacher and myself, allowing us to provide immediate feedback. In addition, some students also chose to share their work with friends in the class, seeking their input as well. It was particularly important to provide feedback to students at this prewriting stage, as some found it difficult to narrow information to their particular topic or to simply stay focused on their section of the book by avoiding overlap with another section. Finally, we needed to make sure that facts were accurate. Since the writing process required several stages, including extracting relevant information from the sources, drafting, revising, and editing text, it took multiple in-class sessions.

Periodically, we checked our progress as a group. It was very important to me that students take ownership of this project. Together, we read through all draft sections and checked facts, suggested word choice changes, provided syntax and grammar corrections, and incorporated transitions between the sections. Reading as a group had the added benefit of providing each student with a better idea on their classmates’ content. Also, once drafts were complete, I provided each student/student pair with a checklist to ensure writing mechanics were in order. Checklists are a great form of self-assessment for the students that ensure learning, emphasize the need for quality work, and also provide them with a sense of project ownership.

Each book chapter was to include at least one relevant image. This allowed me to teach a mini-lesson on Creative Commons images and where and how to find and then properly cite them. For our history topics, we found Wikimedia Commons a great resource.

Creating and publishing an e-book lends itself beautifully to teach students digital citizenship. For this project, I introduced an adapted version of the MLA citation style. Students learned to create proper citations for both text and images, including in-text citations. Students used the BookCreator app for iPad to create their books. Before importing text and images, students checked each other’s work one last time. For this purpose, I provided them with a Final Check sheet. Fifth grade students also compiled a glossary and editors were asked to identify words/phrases to include in the glossary during the final check.

The last step was to decide on a format for the e-books. Each class brainstormed several options for font style, color and size as well as background color. They also co-designed the book covers and wrote group reflections. Once their sections were finalized, they sent them to me via email in the epub format option. I combined the books into one and added the Table of Contents, Works Cited, Image Credits, and, in the case of the 5th grade’s book, the Glossary pages. The final products are multi-modal, including text, audio, images, and hyperlinks. As an alternative to traditional school projects, e-books can be used with any area of study and can be produced in a variety of formats. For example, my 1st grade students have created both narrative e-books (see http://liquidliteracy.wordpress.com/2013/01/05/1st-grade-authors/) and informative e-books (see http://liquidliteracy.wordpress.com/2013/06/09/ebooks-step-by-step/).

As you can see, publishing student-created e-books involves educating both students and teachers about many new learning opportunities and work products available to students in the new digital information universe. The classroom teacher and I informally assessed both the process and the quality of work through continuous observation and reading of all documents at each drafting stage. If we felt we had to take a step back to bring the group together, we did take the time to do so. For example, after reading all drafts, we realized that there was some repetition between different book sections. To ensure the students took full ownership of this project, we also then read all drafts as a class to identify repetitive information. All work was fully collaborative. We also continually provided feedback on all written work. Most students received comments/suggestions from both teachers and their peers.

This project promoted development of several modern literacies crucial to students’ future success, empowering them in unique ways unavailable just a few years ago. Students learned many skills, from writing (organization, word choice, sentence fluency, transitions, and mechanics) to editing/proofreading to finding Creative Commons images to citing sources to collaborating to fluent transition between multiple apps (Google Drive, browser, BookCreator) to publishing. This project incorporated many hallmarks of modern learning: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication – timeless skills which have become more vital for students in order to succeed in the new global and interconnected world. As an exclusively digital process, creating and sharing collaborative e-books has allowed my students to research, create, connect and learn in a new way. They are no longer simply users of information, but are producers and active participants in the global learning community. The collaborative e-books have been downloaded by the current generation of 4th and 5th grade students at our school, who are using them to learn about Fort Caroline and the Lost Colony of Roanoke, and as of this writing, the Fort Caroline e-book has been downloaded 181 times and The Lost Colony of Roanoke e-book has been downloaded 402 times in nine different countries.

For both Ms. Zavon and myself, this project was meant not only to deepen our students’ understanding of the time periods and historical events with the added thrill of the publication of an e-book for a global audience, but from the beginning we wanted this to be a student-centered/ student-owned project. Creating and publishing e-books is a very involved process, but it is worth the time spent planning and then guiding the students.