{"id":41,"date":"2026-07-05T16:18:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T00:18:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/bookmarked\/?p=41"},"modified":"2026-07-05T22:59:38","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T06:59:38","slug":"reflection-blog-post-hyperlinked-environments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/287.hyperlib.sjsu.edu\/bookmarked\/2026\/07\/05\/reflection-blog-post-hyperlinked-environments\/","title":{"rendered":"Reflection Blog Post: Hyperlinked Environments"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Jamie Taylor<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

For the \u201cChoose Your Own Adventure\u201d theme, I gravitated toward the readings about Hyperlinked School Libraries. Let me start with one takeaway\u2014school libraries and teacher-librarians can be critical to the success in preparing students as 21st<\/sup> century learners. Not a profound or new thought, just one I kept returning to as I moved through the readings.<\/p>\n

In Future Ready Librarians View Innovative Libraries First Hand in Baltimore County,<\/em> Glick (n.d.) described how Baltimore County Public Schools (BCPS), in collaboration with Future Ready Librarians (part of the Future Ready Schools initiative), were working together to transform their school libraries into creative places or “learning commons” for student inquiry and collaboration. One aspect of this was a commitment to staff all their schools with a \u201cfull-time certified school library media specialist,\u201d creating an essential partnership with colleagues in the design and implementation of inquiry-driven lessons. In the NEA Today article, Reinvented School Libraries Unleash Student Creativity<\/em>, Luster (2018) describes similar evolutions of other school libraries (including a BCPS high school) into places for learning, creation, invention, and exploration. Both readings highlighted the importance of certified teacher-librarians in facilitating these changes.<\/p>\n

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Photo by Hung Nguyen Phi<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

As we progress further into the digital age, we need to equip children with the skills they need to navigate the intricacies of life online and help them understand that their online activities have far-reaching consequences (good and bad) just like real life<\/del> life in person. N\u00ed Bhroin (2019) states that the term \u201cna\u00efve experts\u201d is more appropriate than \u201cdigital natives.\u201d This distinction is important; adults often assume children can navigate technology much more easily; this is partly true, however N\u00ed Bhroin finds there is a disconnect between knowing how to use the technology and being informed users of it (e.g., understanding the concept of protecting privacy when uploading content; interpretations of permissions\/restrictions).<\/p>\n

Park (2016) outlines eight digital intelligence skills parents and educators need to teach children to prepare them for the digital age. They include digital identity, digital use, digital safety, digital security, digital emotional intelligence, digital communication, digital literacy, and digital rights. Park states that children \u201cspend an average of seven hours a day in front of screens\u2014from televisions and computers, to mobile phones and various digital devices.\u201d In 2020 with the scramble to move K-12 learning online, school districts equipped students with individual devices, and many schools continue this practice today. Ten years ago, when Park\u2019s article was published, only a few of my junior high students had cellphones. Now, the majority of them are connected. Additionally, in the last few years, curriculum across content areas has moved online; it is not a huge leap to assume this seven-hour average has increased.<\/p>\n

Richardson (2016) stresses that technology \u201cis no longer an option when it comes to learning at mastery levels.\u201d He goes on to say, \u201cThe skills, literacies, and dispositions required to navigate this increasingly complex and change filled world are much different from those stressed in the current school curriculum.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a lot of California schools, the school library is an untapped resource and ranks at the bottom, 48th<\/sup>, in terms of the student to teacher-librarian ratio at 8,579 students for every one teacher-librarian (there was no data for North Carolina or Tennessee). For comparison, in 47th<\/sup> place is Indiana with a ratio of 4,246 to one. The state with the lowest ratio of students to teacher-librarians is Vermont at 407 to one (National Center for Education Statistics, n.d.). An important note\u2014the Model School Library Standards for California Public Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve<\/em> recommends a ratio of 785 students for every credentialed teacher librarian (Ong, 2011).<\/p>\n

On a positive note, however, is that California\u2019s ratio has shown improvement in the last few school years:<\/p>\n