My last blog. Week 13

Class

Our last class we discussed our experiences with Twitter—what we liked and what we did not.  I feel more people disliked than liked, however, most of us are still on Twitter.  I personally found it more useful for professional reasons than social, but still not a huge fan.

We also discussed tips on our upcoming webinar, which we presented in the last week or so.  I think my group did well and had lots of different ways of teaching our material (video, polls, chat, lecture, and a screencast).  I have to admit, we became a little nervous once we were live and rushed through our presentation a bit, but other than that we did well.  It’s a different way of reaching out to people.  I attended four other webinars and overall found them interesting.  I participated in:

“Reconnecting with the Forgotten: Reaching out to older teens and young professionals in public libraries”

“Challenges and Opportunities: Institutional Repositories”

“Three Blind Mice”

“One small step for libraries, one giant LEPP for mankind: Catering to Limited English Proficiency Patrons”

 Way to go everyone! I am so sad that tomorrow is our last class.  L

Readings

"Planning an Online Professional Development Model" by Kristin Fontichiaro

Fontichiaro developed an online projected that allowed K-12 professional to tinker and “play” with teacher-friendly Web 2.0 in order to learn them.  Since not everyone has the time or the need to attend formal training, this project offered an alternative solution.  Through the project teachers were required to blog their experiences so Fontichiaro could identify what tools worked well and applied to their field and what tools they struggled with.  Fontichiaro based her idea off of another Helene Blower’s Learning 2.0 project for the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County.  Overall, Fontichiaro’s project was a success.

 

"The C's of Our Sea Change: Plans for Training Staff, from Core Competencies to Learning 2.0" by Helene Blowers and Lori Reed

This article discusses how one library (the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County) developed technology training for Web 2.0 tools for its staff through four Core Competencies tiers; however, it was the tools were taught in the usual way.  Blowers implemented her own strategy she named “Learning 2.0.”  Blowers describes Learning 2.0 as “an online self-discovery program that encourages library professionals and other employees to dive right in to new technologies specifically Web 2.0 tools…on their own” (13).  This successful program allows library professionals to keep on with technology and learn tools through their own way and on their own time.

 

"When Teachers Drive Their Learning" by Joseph Semadeni

A school district in Wyoming has developed their own program called “Fusion” that allows teacher to master best teaching practices and strategies during their contract hours.  This program encourages teachers to improve their teaching skills and effectiveness in the classroom.  Through individual and group study, peer evaluations and observations can become experts in the areas of specialization that they want to.

Overall, these articles point to different methods and projects that lead to life-long learning.  To be effective one must remember that learning and improvement does not stop once a professional leaves their classroom and complete their education.  The library world is constantly changing and if one does not adapt to these changes they will be left behind in the dust.  I find this advice relevant in any professional, and once not all people adhered to.

Week 11

Class
Paul Courant came in and discussed a Digital Public Library of America along with academic and public libraries and a few other topics.  I am so sad that I cannot remember all of the details to this discussion we had.  I had taken notes in class, but did save them right away and my computer restarted on me.  Since I only have Microsoft Word Starter instead of the full version, it did not save.  I am looking forward to reading other people’s blog so I can complete my notes again.

After our guest lecturer we split into our cohorts and discussed embedded librarianship.  For the most part, our group decided that it did not have to be a “lonely” position.  We also concluded that while embedded librarianship can be in public libraries it seem more common or practical in an academic library.

 

Twitter

Ok, I have joined everyone else and signed up for Twitter.  It frustrated me so much I think I will inactive my account after we are done with it.  It kept on freezing on me, the site was down a couple of times, and it was extremely slow at loading my searches.  I thought it might have been my computer or connection, but other sites worked and loaded fine.

I followed a variety of people and institutions in the field of archives and libraries such as ALA, archivesnext, AADL, and a few of the bloggers that I have been following.  The archive tweeters seemed to actually provide more “important” information than library tweeters did.  For instance, libraries tweeted about upcoming events or books, while archive tweets contained more news updates such as budget cuts.  Some of the issues that did come up were the HarperCollins policy and using social media in libraries.  While I can see how social media can benefit libraries because it helps people connect to them, I’m still not a fan of it for real communications.  The statuses are just too short to be informative. 

Something else I found interesting, ALA seemed to post more on Facebook than they did on Twitter. On my Facebook, ALA updated info about webinars, conferences, voting, etc.  I also found Facebook provided more in-depth information since it’s not limited to just 140 characters.  I’m sorry all of you tweeters, but I’m going to stick to Facebook.