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This month’s Flipped Classroom focuses on ways you can get the word out on what Sora has to offer to your students, staff, and even to parents and other community members! We know that your time is limited, and it can be difficult to find opportunities to even think about how to promote the WSDLC collections and Sora, let alone put any plans into action. Our hope for this month’s flipped classroom is to provide you with a few resources and ideas that can help take the load off planning and lead you to something that is doable. Don’t forget, even the smallest action can have a huge impact!
Marketing
Ideas & Examples
Below we have compiled a listing of different Marketing ideas from OverDrive, WSDLC members, and other Sora users around the globe that have seen fantastic results.
- Mention, provide walkthroughs, and/or Sora “Lessons” to students during library time: new class orientations, classroom visits, etc.
- Provide direct links: On library webpage, in the “waffle”, Clever, Schoolology, etc.
- Include video tutorials (from OverDrive and/or locally created) on our library website for students and staff; Host a screencast to staff and students to illustrate how to access books with Sora.
- Promoting titles in daily announcements.
- Information in school newsletters: Beginning-of-the-year newsletter home, monthly newsletters home, staff newsletter, etc
- Individual Readers’ Advisory / Recommend/remind it to students who want books we don’t have in paper, or for when the copy is out.
- Flyers on walls, in halls, and sent home. Posters that display informing how to log in, check out books, etc. Tshirt billboards are great advertising.
- Sharing Sora info on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
- SORA tshirts purchased for all library staff.
- New staff orientation to SORA.
- Links to Sora on online / digital library materials.
- Share information about Sora when there are groups of teachers/students in the library for booktalks and research type projects.
- Printed bookmarks for students.
- Add titles to our Overdrive account and curate collections for teachers and our school’s Battle of the Books.
- Hold a training session for teachers during in-service.
- Signs on shelves of popular titles with QR codes: “[TITLE] not here? Scan the QR code to view on Sora”
- Enlist students to help create promotional materials: design posters, create videos, whatever they want to do!
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- Create a google form to capture students’ book requests!
- Create curations of popular titles that will hook students on reading
- Offer a variety of content: ebooks, comics, manga, audiobooks, magazines, etc
- Set up a Sora Showcase display in your library
- Hang up Sora flyers, handout Sora bookmarks, and post on social media with our free graphics and templates
- Host contests between schools or grade levels with prizes (you can view branch reporting usage data to determine winners)
- Check out School Stars and see the creative ways other schools have promoted Sora to their students
- Create a google form to capture students’ book requests!
In October 2021, an open Google Docs page was created so WSDLC members could share with the rest of the WSDLC community their marketing efforts. It is always being added to, so check it out, and definitely add your own marketing strategies to it: Member Exchange: Marketing & Engagement
(You may notice that many of these examples have made it to the list of examples above!)
From Other Sora Users Across the Globe
In each of OverDrive’s Sora Spotlight posts, a different librarian, media specialist or educator is interviewed about their school’s Sora use and how they engage their students. These brief posts are filled with more real-life examples of the promotional work being done at schools. Snippets from some of these posts include:
- “I said [to teachers], “Invite me to your class for 12 minutes.” Twelve minutes was all I needed to get the kids set up on Sora.” –K.C. Boyd, Librarian at Jefferson Academy in the District of Columbia (D.C.)
- “… I decided to do “12 Days of Ebooks” around Christmastime, over break. I started posting daily book talks on our high school library Instagram featuring just our new Sora ebooks.” –Andria Morningstar-Gray, Library Media Specialist at Lakeview High School in Ohio.
- “Last year, during our science festival, I had a booth and also had Sora up on my projector screen to help parents that wanted to learn Sora. I also handed out bookmarks.” –Crystal, Librarian at Southwest Educational Development Center (UT)
We encourage you to read through these posts, and see if there is anything that resonates with you and could be applied in your own school!
Resources
OverDrive has an always-changing assortment of downloadable materials available to help promote Sora collections.
From print-ready materials such as posters aimed at promoting the magazine collection to teens, an assortment of bookmarks, and Sora coloring sheets; to Informational Handouts for Students, Educators, and for Parents.
There are also resources for activities: You can try hosting a Sora Scavenger Hunt, or a Diverse Reading Challenge!
Check out OverDrive’s social media posts: Promote National Poetry Month, Show off the audiobook collection, or post about Sora generally.
You can also utilize OverDrive’s short videos to introduce Sora to Teens or your school’s Younger Readers.
There are also materials available so that you can market in languages other than English.
Find these plus much, much more on OverDrive’s Marketing and Resources page!
Printable Bookmarks and Half-Sheet Handouts – This informational half-sheet can be given to students as they come through the library, passed out in classes, or even hung on the wall. It gives a brief overview of what they can access through Sora, and how to access it. It is also customizable, so you can include your school’s specific access instructions!
Digital Library Card template – From Beth Hennes, Marshall Public Schools: “For our littlest kids without emails (PreK-3) and elementary who might rarely check email, we made “digital library cards” that we could print to send home (and laminate for classroom use). We made one mega-long PDF so that we could print more than one per page. My Google Add-on of choice for that is Autocrat. I used the Library Card Manager Google Sheet for that one too.”
You can view these, plus many more downloadable materials from the WSDLC’s Marketing and Promotional Resources page.
Training
Providing training or walkthroughs is not only a way to market this resource but also increases the chances of continued use. After all, if your students and teachers aren’t sure how to use Sora, marketing alone won’t make as much of an impact. Training can sound like a large and daunting undertaking, and while that can be true, OverDrive has created multiple resources that can help you get your students and teachers better acquainted with Sora.
There are full training kits that include videos, graphics, powerpoint presentations, and lesson plans that you can use. Many of these that are geared towards students at various grade levels, as well as a few that are intended for teachers and even parents!
Training for Students
If you can’t be with your students to help walk them through Sora, try out this Self-Paced Module from OverDrive: Getting Started with Sora – Students: They will be able to learn Sora step-by-step with short, informative lessons and additional resources. You can link this module on your website, in email blasts, in digital newsletters (or create a QR code for physical newsletters), or anywhere else you think your students will find it.
Training for Educators
Similar to the training for students above, you can share these Self-Paced Modules from OverDrive with your Teachers:
Learn Sora step-by-step with short, informative lessons and additional resources. This module was designed specifically for educators outside the school library.
This module is designed for educators. Discover ways to use Sora’s flexible reading tools for lesson planning, curriculum development, and more.
Tips for educators: This module is designed for educators. Discover tips and resources for helping your youngest readers and prereaders sign in to Sora to begin enjoying titles in the app.
This brings us to the end of not only another flipped classroom training session, but also to the end of the training calendar year! Thank you so much for all of your time and effort!
If you would like to talk with an OverDrive expert about how you can most effectively market Sora, schedule a one-on-one session! Contact wsdlc@overdrive.com to schedule your 20 minute session.
If you have questions specifically about the WSDLC consortium, you can contact wsdlc-info@wils.org.
You can view the full year’s training plan and revisit previous Flipped Classrooms here: WSDLC Training Schedule
Thank you again, and enjoy your summer!