Blog Post #5: Exploring SORA and Gale Databases
Two digital tools that have shaped the way my library lessons have affected students are SORA and Gale Databases. These tools, though not traditional forms of social media, have become an academic type of social media for my students. Linda Kaye states that, "different types of engagements on social media may garner differential benefits or harms to users, particularly through the way certain activities may be better at promoting interpersonal connections than others" (2021, p. 1-2). From my observations, both of these technologically advanced platforms have improved the interpersonal connections between teachers, students, and classmates. Following are breakdowns of the various ways these platforms have changed the way my high school students interact with information, texts, and each other.
SORA by Overdrive Education
Overview
SORA is an eBook and audiobook app that allows readers to digitally check out books. It is an aesthetically pleasing platform that is user-friendly. Books are grouped by genres and grade levels so that students and teachers can browse. There’s a search feature that can locate specific books and a tool that allows users to organize their own collections. Readers can download eBooks to their Kindles and audiobooks to their smartphones.
User Engagement
For my school, initial engagement with the SORA app happened during the pandemic. Students could not come into the library to check out physical books so we added the app to our Classlink app management system. Then I provided a user guide to staff and students through an email and Canvas announcement. Students were able to click on a book and have it in front of them immediately. They could bookmark pages, highlight text, and look up words. ELL teachers were able to guide their students by showing them books in their native language while also having them check out the same books in English. Once we were all back at school in person, we continued to use the SORA app for its convenience. Sometimes teachers or students need a book quickly and I’m able to go to Overdrive Marketplace, place an order, and see the book become available within a few hours. With our main book order company, Follett, we usually have to wait a few months to get books in.
Influence on Communication
SORA has helped students communicate with their teachers because when they’re reading a book through the app, they can highlight passages and share them with their teachers. Similarly, teachers have been able to better reach their students, especially ELLs, because this app is convenient and can be brought up on their smartphones or Chromebooks. Students also have the ability to check out the same books as their classmates (if it's ordered as a simultaneous checkout) and participate in discussions about the book.
Information Consumption
The information received through SORA is usually accessed through a student's or teacher’s computer. The easiest way for them to open educational apps in our school is through Classlink. When they’re in school or at home, they have quick access to this system and can easily click on the SORA icon to open the program. Once they click on the book, they click on borrow and can begin reading. To turn the pages they click the right side of the page. Students and teachers can share passages by highlighting them and emailing them to each other, which is different from the way they communicate when reading print books.
Impact on Learning
While SORA provides a quick and easy way for students to access books and audiobooks, it’s not beneficial for all students. There are many students who share with me that they don’t concentrate as well when they read digitally. Though they may use SORA when they need to read a specific passage and they forgot their book at home, they don’t prefer it. On the other hand, different students are more motivated to read through this digital platform. Some, especially students who have dyslexia or other learning disabilities, concentrate better when they’re listening to an audiobook. SORA has helped them tremendously.
Privacy and Safety
When using SORA, only one student may check out a book at a time. This ensures the privacy of the students and their reading material. They may not share it with others online while they’re reading. Of course, as with any digital activity, there are ways for students to take screenshots of pages and share them with younger friends or family members. Through lessons on responsible internet use, students are advised against this. SORA, like all of the apps we subscribe to at our school, is required to comply with New York’s EdLaw 2-d, which requires them to have data security in place (“Education Law,” 2024). One issue with safety on our SORA app is that the accounts of elementary and secondary schools in our district are combined. We’ve been trying to figure out a way to separate them, as it’s not appropriate for a 2nd grader to open it up and see a high school title. This is something we’re still working on.
Relevant Literacies
The literacies that are required to use SORA are visual, digital, media, aural, and information literacies. It’s important for students to be proficient in each of these literacies when reading an eBook or listening to an audiobook. As they become more familiar with SORA, students will become more advanced and improve their abilities.
Implications
As with any digital application, there are benefits and drawbacks. The benefits of SORA are its convenience, ability to motivate some reluctant readers, the portability of books, and the ease with which students can join a book discussion in class with only their computers or phones. The drawbacks include continued exposure to screens and less enjoyment for students who prefer reading print materials. SORA can be a positive addition to any classroom or library as long as its use is balanced with traditional reading and other in-person social interactions among students.
GALE Electronic Databases
Overview
The Gale Database system is a collection of electronic educational databases through which users can access credible academic articles from journals, magazines, newspapers, and digital sources. Our students log on through the Classlink system, where there is one icon for the general Gale database homepage and other icons for more specific ones that are used frequently.
User Engagement
Students use the GALE databases when they are researching topics for assignments, papers, or projects. Beginning in ninth grade, I hold a library orientation during which I show them how to access and use the databases. Throughout the school year, teachers bring their classes to the library for more personalized instruction catered to their work. The students are able to use keywords to search their topics. They use limiters to select date ranges and types of resources they would like. The most useful tools include the citation tool, which automatically provides a citation for their resource; saving tool, which allows them to save their resources on their Google Drive; and highlighting, which gives them the opportunity to digitally highlight important parts of an article and save them in color coded folders.
Influence on Communication
Students have been able to communicate better with their teachers and with me because of the organization skills Gale databases has given them. They are able to quickly bring up an article they have questions about because it’s been saved on their Google Drive; they can show us a mostly complete Works Cited page because they have all of their citations done as soon as they read the articles; and they are able to pull up important points that they highlighted. This database has helped students to feel less overwhelmed during a research project. While using the Gale databases, students can work together online by sharing articles they find through Google Drive or email. When students are working on a group project, they can communicate through the sharing system directly from the database page.
Information Consumption
When teaching students how to use digital resources, it’s important to address the issue of credibility. While I teach students to avoid Google for their research papers, they don't always listen. Helping them become more familiar with the GALE databases has minimized the problem of credibility. Even though database articles sometimes get facts wrong they are much more likely to be reputable since they have been peer reviewed or vetted by experts.
Impact on Learning
The digital databases have had a huge impact on students’ learning during my years as a librarian. For one thing, the students have become proficient at navigating this digital tool. Most of them no longer seem lost when searching for topics, and they even seem to enjoy the rabbit hole of research. Using the databases has helped cut down the time that they search for articles, allowing them to spend more time reading and analyzing the information. I’ve also seen that it has helped students actually enjoy the process of research more and they seem more willing to work socially with others while using the databases. Since they’re used to working on digital platforms, especially their phones, they quickly feel comfortable sifting through information from this tool.
Privacy and Safety
The issues of privacy and safety are not so problematic when using educational databases because each one has already been vetted by our school. The databases are required to comply with New York’s EdLaw 2-d, which requires them to have data security in place (“Education Law,” 2024). When instructing students on how to use the databases, however, teachers and I reiterate the fact that no one should share passwords or allow others to use their accounts.
Relevant Literacies
When using Gale databases, students use a variety of literacies including media, computer, aural, and visual. They use their existing knowledge in combination with new material to learn how to navigate each step of the tool. When reading articles they must sift through the information and extrapolate important passages and information; when looking at images they must decipher their meanings; and if they use the audio component they must make meaning of the aural speech.
Implications
Using digital databases has several implications for education. Though it’s important for students to continue using physical print books for their research, they must also learn how to become literate in studying the vast online world of information. When using databases, they are guided in doing this because of the curated information. In this way, students will be better able to expand their knowledge of new technology and merge their abilities while also being responsible users of digital tools.
References
Education Law Section 2-D Definitions. (2024). New York State Education Department. Retrieved June
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