Those of you monitoring library discussion lists have probably already read a dozen posts on Steven J. Bell and John D. Shank's Academic Librarianship by Design. (ALD) Far more eloquent pundits than I have reviewed this book, so I'll just offer a few meaty nuts for later digestion.
Steven and John speak a lot about the need to become a "blended librarian." We need to supplement our traditional library skills with expertise in instructional technologies and instructional design. Then, rather than sitting on the sidelines (in our libraries), we need to enter the fray with faculty and integrate what we do into the learning process. Two places to learn about becoming a blended librarian: http://www.blendedlibrarian.org/ and http://home.learningtimes.net/library.
The title of their book comes from their belief that design thinking should be applied to every service we offer. Here's the standard model for instructional design:
ADDIE-
Analysis (what does the student need to learn?)
Design (how is the student going to learn it?)
Development (now you need to create the material)
Implement (have the students use it)
Evaluate (did the students learn what you wanted them to learn?)
ALD adapts ADDIE with a new acronym, BLAAM (Blended Librarians Adapted ADDIE Model). To BLAAM, you need to :
Assess (make sure you have a problem!)
(create) Objectives (what do you want them to learn?)
Develop
Deliver
Measure
ALD has a number of case studies where design thinking has been applied to library services.
[OK, a comment from the peanut gallery... Is anyone else picturing Emeril walking up to a student, saying "You need to find a primary source? BLAAM!!!"]
Back to our regularly scheduled programming....
ALD goes on to discuss how to entice faculty to participate in collaborative design think, and further, how to integrate the library into courseware. ALD describes a model for integration called A_FLIP (Administrative, Faculty, and Librarians Instructional Partnership). A_FLIP demonstrates how librarians can create links to library services from within course management systems. There are two ways to do it. The first is to create a system level presence for the library within the CMS and encourage all faculty to link to it. The second way is to approach faculty of individual courses and build library links that are course specific.
Two more acronyms and I promise I'll let you go!
First, LTA - Low Threshold Applications. (http://www.tltgroup.org/ltas.htm) LTAs are an absolutely brilliant idea. Most faculty are stressed out by the thought of learning something new. LTAs make it painless. An LTA is a helpful tool or technique that can be taught in under a half hour and summarized on a single sheet of paper. This doesn't mean five paragraphs in an almost invisible font size; it means something simple with a screen shot or two.
Second, DLM - Digital Learning Materials. These are best described as self-contained learning objects. They can be tricky to locate, though. Here are some places that ALD suggests: MERLOT http://www.merlot.org/
Wisconsin Online http://www.wisc-online.com/
LOLA Exchange http://lolaexchange.org/
PRIMO http://www.ala.org/acrlbucket/is/iscommittees/webpages/emergingtech/primo/index.htm
For more information, read the book and visit the Blended Librarians Online Community.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
CES 2008 Photo Blog
CES 2008 Photo Blog
PCMag shot these photos at the Consumer Electronics Show.
A few snippy remarks:
* The personnel at the vendor booths are remarkably different from those we get at library conferences. (Can you imagine, Brodart Booth Babes?)
*Given the lack of beefcake in said personnel, I'd say they still have a pretty clear gender bias!
(It must be Friday....)
PCMag shot these photos at the Consumer Electronics Show.
A few snippy remarks:
* The personnel at the vendor booths are remarkably different from those we get at library conferences. (Can you imagine, Brodart Booth Babes?)
*Given the lack of beefcake in said personnel, I'd say they still have a pretty clear gender bias!
(It must be Friday....)
'YouTube for Intellectuals' Goes�Live - Chronicle.com
'YouTube for Intellectuals' Goes�Live - Chronicle.com
The latest issue of The Wired Campus describes bigthink as "a YouTube for intellectuals."
It may not have the viral impact of someone lipsyncing on their webcam, but still worth taking a look! :-)
The latest issue of The Wired Campus describes bigthink as "a YouTube for intellectuals."
It may not have the viral impact of someone lipsyncing on their webcam, but still worth taking a look! :-)
How well are American Students Learning?
The current issue of the Internet Scout Report links to this report:
2007 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well are American Students Learning?
The report examines the 2007 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) tests for 4th and 8th graders.
What amazes me most is how little we actually know about what makes reading and math scores go up and down for students. The authors of the report are upfront about problems with assessment and a number of findings that don't make sense.
It makes me wonder how well we do assessing higher education....
2007 Brown Center Report on American Education: How Well are American Students Learning?
The report examines the 2007 results of the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NEAP) tests for 4th and 8th graders.
What amazes me most is how little we actually know about what makes reading and math scores go up and down for students. The authors of the report are upfront about problems with assessment and a number of findings that don't make sense.
It makes me wonder how well we do assessing higher education....
Pew Study Shows Use of Video-Sharing Sites on the�Rise - Chronicle.com
Pew Study Shows Use of Video-Sharing Sites on the�Rise - Chronicle.com
The Chronicle reported on a recent Pew Study on online video usage. This may added incentive to incorporate YouTube videos into instruction!
While over on the Pew site, I found a second report, Information Searches That Solve Problems. The report discusses a survey that found that more people (58%) turn to the Internet than any other source. There is still hope for libraries. The study found that Generation Y (40%) were twice as likely as 30 yr olds (20%) to use a library to solve problems.
One doubt in my mind - is it because Gen Y like libraries better, or is it because they have easy access on college campuses?
The Chronicle reported on a recent Pew Study on online video usage. This may added incentive to incorporate YouTube videos into instruction!
While over on the Pew site, I found a second report, Information Searches That Solve Problems. The report discusses a survey that found that more people (58%) turn to the Internet than any other source. There is still hope for libraries. The study found that Generation Y (40%) were twice as likely as 30 yr olds (20%) to use a library to solve problems.
One doubt in my mind - is it because Gen Y like libraries better, or is it because they have easy access on college campuses?
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Wakerupper.com - Free Wake-up Calls and Telephone Reminders
Wakerupper.com - Free Wake-up Calls and Telephone Reminders
Found this in the Dec. 2007 issue of Wired. Useful if you forget to pack an alarm clock!
Found this in the Dec. 2007 issue of Wired. Useful if you forget to pack an alarm clock!
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Toshiba's Incredibly Shrinking Hard Drive - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
Lots of news over on pcmag.com about the latest Consumer Electronics Show.
Their post about Toshiba's latest drives is amazing. Imagine a 1.8 inch drive that holds 120GB... or a 2.5 inch drive that holds 320GB:
Toshiba's Incredibly Shrinking Hard Drive - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
Let's consider the ramifications...
I could store my entire life's work on a single device... and misplace it in under 30 seconds. Sigh.
Their post about Toshiba's latest drives is amazing. Imagine a 1.8 inch drive that holds 120GB... or a 2.5 inch drive that holds 320GB:
Toshiba's Incredibly Shrinking Hard Drive - News and Analysis by PC Magazine
Let's consider the ramifications...
I could store my entire life's work on a single device... and misplace it in under 30 seconds. Sigh.
iResearch-Reporter
F.J.Devadason over at Library 2.0 sent me a note about a new search and datamining tool:
iResearch-Reporter <http://www.iresearch-reporter.com/>
The response time would be a tad slow for students, but it does a nice job of extracting concepts. Downside is that it's going against the open Internet, so some of the sites have credibility problems. Imagine pairing this with a federated searcher pointed at sources of your choice...
Perhaps I should have titled this post...
A Girl Can Dream, Can't She?
iResearch-Reporter <http://www.iresearch-reporter.com/>
The response time would be a tad slow for students, but it does a nice job of extracting concepts. Downside is that it's going against the open Internet, so some of the sites have credibility problems. Imagine pairing this with a federated searcher pointed at sources of your choice...
Perhaps I should have titled this post...
A Girl Can Dream, Can't She?
Snapshot: Personal Electronic Devices Owned by Students
Campus Technology cites a study by Eduventures which finds that cell phones and laptops are the top two gadgets owned by college students. Email is still preferred for school communication.
"Snapshot: Personal Electronic Devices Owned by Students," Campus Technology, 1/8/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=57155
"Snapshot: Personal Electronic Devices Owned by Students," Campus Technology, 1/8/2008, http://www.campustechnology.com/article.aspx?aid=57155
Tuesday, January 8, 2008
Searching Library Collections in�Facebook - Chronicle.com
Searching Library Collections in�Facebook - Chronicle.com
WooHoo! If you are a Facebook user, you can now add a Worldcat plugin to your profile page. Plugin is here:
http://apps.facebook.com/worldcat/
WooHoo! If you are a Facebook user, you can now add a Worldcat plugin to your profile page. Plugin is here:
http://apps.facebook.com/worldcat/
Monday, January 7, 2008
2007 Horizon Report
The New Media Consortium and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative have issued their 2007 Horizon Report on technology and higher education.
In their executive summary, they identify these key trends (listed in priority order):
*The environment of higher education is changing rapidly.
*Increasing globalization is changing the way we work, collaborate, and communicate.
*Information literacy increasingly should not be considered a given.
*Academic review and faculty rewards are increasingly out of sync with new forms of scholarship.
*The notions of collective intelligence and mass amateurization are pushing the boundaries of scholarship.
*Students' views of what is and what is not technology are increasingly different from those of faculty.
The report also lists the following critical challenges:
*Assessment of new forms of work continues to present a challenge to educators and peer reviewers.
*There are significant shifts taking place in scholarship, research, creative expression, and learning, and a profound need for leadership at the highest levels of the academy that can see the opportunities in these shifts and carry them forward.
*While progress is being made, issues of intellectual property and copyright continue to affect how scholarly work is done.
*There is a skills gap between understanding how to use tools for media creation and how to create meaningful content.
*The renewed emphasis on collaborative learning is pushing the educational community to develop new forms of interaction and assessment.
*Higher education is facing a growing expectation to deliver services, content and media to mobile and personal devices.
The main body of the report contains an in-depth examination of 6 emerging technologies that will impact higher education in the near future:
One Year or Less - User-Created Content; Social Networking
Two to Three Years -Mobile Phones; Virtual Worlds
Four to Five Years - New Scholarship; Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming
Take the time to read the entire report in online format rather than as a pdf. For each of the 6 technologies above, the authors hyperlink numerous recommended readings and examples of these technologies in higher education.
They've also organized the links under these del.icio.us tags so that you can visit them easily:
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+user_content
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+socialnetworking
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+mobile
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+virtual_worlds
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+scholarship
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+educational_games
In their executive summary, they identify these key trends (listed in priority order):
*The environment of higher education is changing rapidly.
*Increasing globalization is changing the way we work, collaborate, and communicate.
*Information literacy increasingly should not be considered a given.
*Academic review and faculty rewards are increasingly out of sync with new forms of scholarship.
*The notions of collective intelligence and mass amateurization are pushing the boundaries of scholarship.
*Students' views of what is and what is not technology are increasingly different from those of faculty.
The report also lists the following critical challenges:
*Assessment of new forms of work continues to present a challenge to educators and peer reviewers.
*There are significant shifts taking place in scholarship, research, creative expression, and learning, and a profound need for leadership at the highest levels of the academy that can see the opportunities in these shifts and carry them forward.
*While progress is being made, issues of intellectual property and copyright continue to affect how scholarly work is done.
*There is a skills gap between understanding how to use tools for media creation and how to create meaningful content.
*The renewed emphasis on collaborative learning is pushing the educational community to develop new forms of interaction and assessment.
*Higher education is facing a growing expectation to deliver services, content and media to mobile and personal devices.
The main body of the report contains an in-depth examination of 6 emerging technologies that will impact higher education in the near future:
One Year or Less - User-Created Content; Social Networking
Two to Three Years -Mobile Phones; Virtual Worlds
Four to Five Years - New Scholarship; Massively Multiplayer Educational Gaming
Take the time to read the entire report in online format rather than as a pdf. For each of the 6 technologies above, the authors hyperlink numerous recommended readings and examples of these technologies in higher education.
They've also organized the links under these del.icio.us tags so that you can visit them easily:
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+user_content
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+socialnetworking
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+mobile
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+virtual_worlds
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+scholarship
http://del.icio.us/tag/hz07+educational_games
Library Software Manifesto | TechEssence.Info
Roy Tennant posted this in his blog over on TechEssence.Info:
Library Software Manifesto | TechEssence.Info
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Vickie
Library Software Manifesto | TechEssence.Info
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Vickie
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Students Find That Wikipedians Are Tougher Graders Than Their�Professor - Chronicle.com
Students Find That Wikipedians Are Tougher Graders Than Their�Professor - Chronicle.com
Still catching up. An interesting turn in the Wikipedia debate.
Still catching up. An interesting turn in the Wikipedia debate.
Virtual Hosting Blog � Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies
Virtual Hosting Blog � Scientific Web Design: 23 Actionable Lessons from Eye-Tracking Studies
Eyetracking is a particular area of interest for me. Here is a good summary of findings.
Eyetracking is a particular area of interest for me. Here is a good summary of findings.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
PC Magazine's 10 Weirdest Tech Devices of 2007
PC Magazine has an article on the "10 Weirdest Tech Devices of 2007." The variety of USB devices never fails to amaze me. A smart alecky comment - one of the clothing tech items could be used as emergency lighting in case of a library power failure.
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