MLA 2012 Report on several sessions:
Screencasting: Launch a Virtual Library Instruction Program
Elaine Settergren and Alyssa Novak
Online Division of the Globe Education Network schools:
Globe University, Minnesota School of Business, Broadview University
For
online orientation to the library website, catalog or databases, I
can’t think of a better way to introduce people who are not physically
with you to the library’s vast and very useful assets.
However, the thought of doing such instruction is daunting, to say the least.
Alyssa
and Elaine (who do screencasting on a regular basis) put together an
amazing and, I believe (though I haven’t tried it yet), easy to follow
guide for creating your own screencasts.
Their
experience has shown them that their constituents (the students of
Globe College) are only willing to spend as much time as they absolutely
have to when they need something to work for them, whether it be a
database, a catalog, whatever. So convenience is the watchword for mass
training via screencasting, and in this day and age, I suspect that is
true for our customers as well. However, their cry of convenience over
everything had me remembering an old marketing adage “You can have it
fast, cheap, good—pick two.”
In
their presentation, they covered both a free software called
“Screencast-O-matic “ and then uploading the completed version onto
Youtube. Screencast-O-matic is software that requires no downloads, is
easy to upload to Youtube, is easy to start and stop (a big plus when
you flub a line), and is free and easy (music to all our ears!)
Uploading
to Youtube allows for close-captioning in a text format, makes it easy
to track statistics, gives flexability with the ability to embed the
video in other places as necessary and again those magic words…is free
and easy. Not to mention everybody and their grandmother gets onto
Youtube daily and its accessible on all kinds of devices.
In
fact, the two presenters actually demonstrated how to do this by
creating and uploading a short demo piece during their presentation.
And, if you are prepared (have a script handy, have the proper
equipment, do your homework, know what you are “teaching”, etc) it
really does seem as easy as it could possibly be.
The
most problematic part of this practice seems to be keeping it updated.
They recommend using an excel spreadsheet and reviewing former
screencasts once a year (at a minimum) to ensure that they are still
accurate and relevant.
Their handout can be found here:
Organizational Creativity: Managing Change, Remaining Competitive
Alexander Sonsteby
Metro State University
This
was easily the most frustrating of the sessions I attended. While I
think that the presenter does know his subject, his presentation was
disjointed. The presentation included several “hands-on” exercises. In
one, each of the participants writing a short story using StoryCubes (a
dice game with words on it instead of numbers….you throw the dice and
then try to include those words in the story you are creating). Given
the time constraints, I suspect it was an exercise in futility for the
majority of the folks in the audience. The other exercise was to jointly
‘create the worst website homepage ever’. That was fun, but hardly worth the time invested, which ate into his presentation significantly. Many of his suggestions for spurring creativity in groups that you work with seem to have come from a book called “Thinkertoys” by Michalko. Unfortunately, we do not own this in SPPL, but it is widely available through ILL. His handouts for the presentation consist of a long bibliography and the promise that his powerpoint is available to anyone who asks for it. I will not be asking, but I will probably be talking to Collection Development about a few of the books on the bibliography, which can be found here:
‘create the worst website homepage ever’. That was fun, but hardly worth the time invested, which ate into his presentation significantly. Many of his suggestions for spurring creativity in groups that you work with seem to have come from a book called “Thinkertoys” by Michalko. Unfortunately, we do not own this in SPPL, but it is widely available through ILL. His handouts for the presentation consist of a long bibliography and the promise that his powerpoint is available to anyone who asks for it. I will not be asking, but I will probably be talking to Collection Development about a few of the books on the bibliography, which can be found here:
Traveling the Yellow Brick Road
Melissa Gray
St Paul Public Library
Melissa
did a wonderful fantasy genre talk, filled with history of this unique
type of writing, and added a great deal to my own knowledge of fantasy
tropes, including urban, Arthurian, high, steampunk, etc. While I enjoy
reading fantasy, I had never given it that much thought before. And
that made this an invaluable session for me. Anything that stimulates
the old gray matter is a lovely thing! I learned a great deal about the
beginnings of fantasy, garnered many titles that I will want to take a
closer look at, and definitely enjoyed her passion for her subject.
Well done!
Much of what she talked about was new to her audience and I wish she
had used more tech (such as a projector?) to back up her presentation.
Just trying to keep up with the titles she was throwing out became
impossible. Once I accepted that, and simply sat back and enjoyed the
session, I found myself being transported by the depth and sincerity of
her admiration for this genre.
Her
handouts page holds much to be pondered and explored.
Find them here: http://mnlibraryassociation.org/uploads/conf12/handouts/E6.pdf
--Doris @Central
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