Illinois - About Online Learning

Continuing Online Distance Learning

2008-07-24T16:03:10Z

Hello all,
This survey is being sent to public library managers and managerial staff to get your perception of your role as a change agent in the use of continuing online distance learning. It will gather useful data that will be used in a statistical study to provide feedback that supports the efforts of continuing online learning in libraries.

As valued members of the library community your opinion really does matter!

Please take 5-10 minutes and give us your views. All answers will be kept confidential.

The survey is located at the following link:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=3twCZ9qw_2f_2fkf89nJMlKOVg_3d_3d

Thanks!
Cheryl

21st Century Literacy

2009-07-22T19:11:06Z

I've known Howard Rheingold ... online ... for over a decade. Here's his presentation on 21st Century Literacy: Here]

It's 40 minutes and very, very good.

Re: Online Training for Frontline Staff

2008-05-09T13:58:30Z

Hi Lori - I work at the State Library in Iowa and do a lot of training in Wimba for staff all across the state. There are a few things we have done to help with the situation you describe. Mainly, we do almost all of our training now in the morning, as most of the smaller libraries are closed then, so the library is relatively quiet with few distractions. Also, by having it in the morning, some of the staff at libraries that are open have the option of doing the class from home instead of at the library. This also helps with another problem we discovered at some of the larger libraries - firewall issues and getting IT on board with online learning.

Finally, a few of the libraries have scheduled their meeting rooms for training. If it is not a "hands on" class and a few staff members at a particular library want to take a class, they will set up the computer with a projector and speakers, so many can participate on one computer.

Interestingly, we have many of the same issues as trainers - we don't have private offices and are in a workroom with many noises and distractions. We originally addressed it by doing much of the training from our LAN room, which is a separate room with a door. But, since our online training has really taken off, we are having a small soundproof studio built so we won't be disrupted and won't bother others.

I hope this gives you a few ideas! Michele

Online Training for Frontline Staff

2008-05-06T19:35:11Z

Hello everyone,

As we are looking to deploy Wimba Classroom system wide to 600 staff in July, I am wondering how other libraries have dealt with the challenges of synchronous learning for front line staff. These are staff who:
* do not have access to private offices
* do not have their own computers
* who must attend training from a computer in a workroom

From our pilot group we've received feedback that they had difficulty with the sessions due to the noise and disruptions in their work areas.

We have limited quiet spaces and they are usually in constant use by the public.

Just wondering if other libraries have come up with a creative solution!

TIA!

Lori Reed

Online CE -- Any experience with the courses at Simmons College?

2008-03-06T19:05:35Z

I've had a request from a staff member to find out if the <a href="http://www.simmons.edu/gslis/continuinged/workshops/online.shtml#online_a16">online courses at Simmons College</a> are 'any good?' Have you or your staff had any experience with these courses? You may want to write to me off-list to speak candidly: eiaukea@piercecountylibrary.org

Thanks!
elizabeth iaukea,
Learning Manager, Pierce County Library System (WA)

Re: COURSE: WJ's Designing a Library Web Site

2008-02-18T06:02:40Z

One other resource that I thought about - while not written specifically for a library, the author is a librarian who worked on various projects at NYPL -

Web Design on a Shoestring
by Carrie Bickner
# Paperback: 240 pages
# Publisher: New Riders Press (October 16, 2003)
# Language: English
# ISBN-10: 0735713286
# ISBN-13: 978-0735713284

My curiosity is piqued by your questions - are you embarking on a new web design for your library? Looking to gain additional knowledge through self-study? Depending on what you are aiming for, I might have other resources to recommend.

The other suggestion is that good web design is good web design regardless of the field But if you find a library web site that you feel is well-designed, I would suggest contacting them and finding out who did the design, the platform it is built upon, etc. Libraries love to share that type of knowledge so that others can suffer less.

Re: COURSE: WJ's Designing a Library Web Site

2008-02-16T03:00:26Z

> i.e. What are examples of the best library web design?
I think that this is sorta in the "eye of the beholder" - for example, some people like Amazon's site, but many web designers think it is poorly designed.

My personal favorites are from some of the larger library institutions generally, like NYPL and Columbus (although I just read that their recent redesign has left some of their patrons flummoxed).

My advice - find a site (library or not) and use that as a model, but be prepared for people to not like certain parts of it. My other advice - get "Don't Make Me Think" by Steve Krug if you want a short primer to web site usability and testing.

> Are there designated design types of websites that are best for libraries?
Hmmm, not sure exactly what you mean - I think you want a usable web site and you can make it look any way that you like (well, really that you can afford).

> Are there templates available that make it easier for
> small libraries to design and set up their websites?
Most web hosting packages will include multiple templates that can be customized for your site. Also, if your library is in Oregon, Illinois, Colorado, or Texas, you can participate in Plinkit - more info is here - http://www.plinkit.org/about - I would suggest that you poke around the partner sites to see various examples of the way that the basic template has been customized.

Iowa has a similar project called PLoW (Public Libraries on the Web) (http://www.statelibraryofiowa.org/ld/plow/stay)
and Kansas has a service called My Kansas Library on the Web (http://www.mykansaslibrary.org/).

Both Plinkit and PLoW run on an open source software content management system (CMS) called Plone. My Kansas Library runs on the open source blogging platform WordPress.

Also, more and more sites are coming up that try to make elegant design as simple as "drag and drop" - two services that I have played around with and found fairly easy to use are a) more limited but free is Weebly - http://www.weebly.com - b) more options but also a small charge per month for a basic package - http://www.squarespace.com/

> What are the design elements (i.e. tabs across the
> top, menu bars, colors, white space, length of a
> page, etc.
Hmmm - not sure - again, in my opinion, and I am definitely not a web designer - these choices are informed by usability tests and paying attention to accessibility and ease of use.

> What is the best terminology to use for patrons?
Here I can point you to an actual resource:
Library Terms That Users Understand
http://www.jkup.net/terms.html
"This site is intended to help library web developers decide how to label key resources and services in such a way that most users can understand them well enough to make productive choices. It serves as a clearinghouse of usability test data evaluating terminology on library websites, and suggests test methods and best practices for reducing cognitive barriers caused by terminology."

I hope this helped, but please feel free to ask more questions or let me know if I have just confused you.

Re: COURSE: WJ's Designing a Library Web Site

2008-02-12T02:08:06Z

Hi,
so far, I have not found a course about library web design that answers my questions (or books or articles, or webforums either)
i.e. What are examples of the best library web design?
Are there designated design types of websites that are best for libraries?
Are there templates available that make it easier for small libraries to design and set up their websites?
What are the design elements (i.e. tabs across the top, menu bars, colors, white space, length of a page, etc.
What is the best terminology to use for patrons?

Thank you!

2008-01-29T19:55:58Z

Wow, you are thorough! You responded via this discussion, email & phone. Thanks for your enthusiastic support!
TV

Re: Shaping Outcomes: a new online course from Indiana University & IMLS

2008-01-29T17:53:39Z

Hello Todd,
I apologize for the delay in getting back to you. YES, we are eager to get the word out about your fantastic project, and have been working to identify all the best ways to highlight it. I was actually just in the process of responding to you, so will give you more details momentarily. I encourage folks to be sure to visit the project [url http://www.shapingoutcomes.org]www.shapingoutcomes.org[/url] and we'll keep you posted on other ways we'll be highlighting it in the future.

Thanks so much Todd!
Jennifer Peterson
WJ Community Programs Manager

Shaping Outcomes: a new online course from Indiana University & IMLS

2008-01-29T17:28:41Z

I am Graduate Assistant at the School of Library and Information Science at Indiana University (Indianapolis). For my GA assignment, I am working on the Shaping Outcomes Continuing Education Project. Shaping Outcomes is a five-module instructor-mediated online course for library and museum professional, based upon Outcomes Based Planning and Evaluation, an emerging best practice in library and museum studies. It prepares students to plan internal projects and to produce robust design and evaluation plans for grant proposals. Our web address is: www.shapingoutcomes.org and we are also a "Featured Online Resource" on the IMLS website ( http://www.imls.gov/resources/resources.shtm ).

The Institute for Library and Museum Services (IMLS), which funded the development and testing of the course, has now provided support for a "continuing education" phase. The cost per person (or working group) is $150, with IMLS-provided scholarships for students in organizations serving economically disadvantaged populations.

I have been trying to make this information available on the WebJunction site, but get no response, and their online form crashes each time I try to use it. I hope offering it here is acceptable to this community. If you have any questions, please email me (outcomes@iupui.edu) or see our website (www.shapingoutcomes.org). Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Todd Vandenbark,
Shaping Outcomes, Technology & Participant Support
outcomes@iupui.edu
755 W. Michigan St., UL 3135E
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Voice: 317-278-2385
Fax: (317) 278-1807 (Call first)

Re: Information Literacy in the Digital Age Online Class

2008-01-14T21:41:27Z

I think there's a good fit here, building on libraries having had AV material for, ah, ages. ;-)

We need to make sure that our computer labs (and stand-alone stations) have private ear pieces/head phones (or allow patron to use his/her) and make sure that we have sufficient bandwidth. The more, the better.

And, of course, we have to make sure that our staffs are adept at the new information literacy, the definition of which seems to change about every 3-4 years.

Re: Information Literacy in the Digital Age Online Class

2008-01-14T20:55:52Z

Hi! Sounds like an interesting class. Can you post a syllabus?

We could have an interesting discussion right here about how information literacy is changed by the Digital Age. I found some provocative statements in [url http://www.acal.edu.au/publications/papers/occasional/lepani.shtml ]this paper[/url] by Barbara Lepanis at the University of Sydney.

"Information is no longer a scarce resource. ...The critical new skill is not just how to get information relevant to a task, but how to do this within time constraints, and how to extract meaning from all the "noise" of competing voices."

"...multimedia permits an extraordinary flexibility in conveying concepts - through words, pictures and sounds, as something that can be built or played as well as read or watched."

"The inability to process and interpret visual media will soon be much more debilitating than many of us care to admit."

So what are libraries doing to meet these challenges?

Information Literacy in the Digital Age Online Class

2008-01-13T17:32:12Z

Hi everyone! I teach a 4 credit hour course at Southern State Community College in Ohio called Information Literacy in the Digital Age. This course is provided in Blackboard and taught online live using Wimba Classroom. The course provides coverage on most library research databases from EBSCOhost, Lexis-Nexis, digital music libraries, digital media commons, and other resources. Students maintain a works cited page on RefWorks. This course is taught each quarter. All you need to enroll is a computer on the Internet and it helps to have a headset with microphone. If you are interested in more information about the class, or if you'd like to sit in on a live session of the class online, drop me a message. Thank you!

Re: Camtasia offering Studio v3 for free

2007-12-10T16:55:26Z

I noticed when I first started using Camtasia that it wasn't completely intuitive getting started, but made more sense as I went along.

First, if you haven't already, take a look at Help. In the normal help section, the first page links to some decent step-by-steps for common tasks. But also if you choose "Quick Start Videos" from the Help menu, that will take you to a place on their web site where they have instructional video clips.

And for more instructional videos - try searching for Camtasia on YouTube - there is actually quite a lot there. And there is another newer site that I like called sutree.com that is all instructional videos - although they don't have as much on Camtasia at this point.

Dale

Re: Camtasia offering Studio v3 for free

2007-12-07T18:28:15Z

I need to learn how to work with camtasia studio 3, because apparently I can't figure it out myself. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks, Sara

Camtasia offering Studio v3 for free

2007-11-23T18:41:44Z

Just came across this today.

Camtasia Studio is a screen recording program that allows you to easily create tutorials that include anything you can see on screen, plus audio, and nice features like callout boxes, titles, etc. It also can output a variety of video formats, including flash, and can even publish SCORM compliant tutorials for use with a Learning Management System.

So, the deal is that they are offering version 3 as a free download. Currently, they are up to version 5. So this isn't the latest and greatest, but it works really well in any case.

Anyway - here is where I found this, on a site called Download Squad. They give the link to download the application and the separate link to request a software key. Other than having to give them a working email account where they will send the key, I don't see any catches. I got my key within about 10 seconds, of course it includes an advertisement to upgrade to the latest version.

http://www.downloadsquad.com/2007/11/22/techsmith-offers-free-camtasia-studio-download/

Dale

Tuition-for-work exchange ? ? ?

2007-05-07T17:48:30Z

Are there any states that offer to pay your graduate tuition (or a percentage) in return for working for them for a number of years?
Must one be a resident of such state?
I am looking to start an Online Library Science program.
I would prefer to work in a rural situation.
Can relocate anywhere.
Any ideas at all on this?
I can't find anything online and i've searched extensively.
Thanks!

Re: Interesting Article on E-Learning

2007-01-26T00:11:39Z

My finance has me searching for business & management E-learning courses for his employees. I've bumped into some questions, like: How do I evaluate the course(s) and the student's learning needs. Lots of answers and info in the link you shared. Thank you!

Message was edited by:
liz ag

Video tutorials re: book repair

2007-01-22T16:52:01Z

Hi!
A librarian recently asked me if there are any good (preferably free) online tutorials about book mending. Is anyone aware of any? I did a quick search on YouTube and found these: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=molly1216 -- but don't know enough about book repair to know if this might be useful.

Thanks for any/all help!

Brenda