library+instruction+technology

I subscribe to my own blog using Bloglines. I noticed recently that new posts I had written were only displaying partially in Bloglines. I double checked my Bloglines settings to make sure I hadn't set the display preferences to summary. I double checked my Word Press settings and everything looked fine on that end too.

I did some more digging/Googling and discovered that the problem was in the syndication URL. I hadn't specified a version type and Word Press was defaulting to an older version. So, this afternoon I updated the two URLs linked under "subscribe".

If you use Bloglines and would like the full text of my posts…

1. Unsubscribe from my blog
2. Add my blog again using this URL http://www.whitis.us/blog/?feed=rss2

There is probably a more elegant and technically correct way to do the change…but this is the simplest.

Sarah Bosarge and Karen Estlund from the University of Utah shared their pilot study findings on student use of mobile and social computing technology for personal and academic use. They did this pilot study to determine what tools students are using. They intended to use this data to decide where to focus their limited resources. Based on their results they plan on developing audio content for their web site and MP3 players to be used in conjunction with their instruction program. 

They have posted a copy of their questionnaire, Power Point slides, bibliography, and other background information on a wiki.

technorati tag: loex2006

This was the best session I attended this year. Robin Ewing from St. Cloud State University and Justine Martin from Minnesota State University at Mankato were an outstanding (and entertaining) duo. Their presentation provided a background on gaming, gamers, learning styles of gamers, motivation, engagement, features of games that make people want to keep on playing and how all of this can be applied to instruction.

People play games because they are engrossing. They have flow, rules, goals, challenges, elements of control, and some have aspects of fantasy. The current generation of students prefers to learn through trial and error. That is how they learn the new games. They don't read the manual. They learn best by doing.

If we are able to take these concepts and apply them to our instruction, then we have a better change of engaging the current game generation. Integrating narrative or creating a first-person scenario is an easy way to start to implement some of these game based concepts.

Examples they suggested we try is to allow students to pick their own topics, don't demo…have a student "drive" the computer, ask students to direct the student "driving" the computer as to what to do next if a search fails, create "power-up" cards [database tricks...truncation symbol...the power of AND OR NOT] that you can give to students who are having trouble or who are doing well.

They developed a great bibliography of books and articles to get up-to-speed on game based learning. They highlighted the books written by John Beck, James Gee, and Marc Prensky during their presentation.

technorati tag: loex2006

Bee Gallegos and Karen Grondin from Arizona State University at the West campus presented on how they are using gaming to engage students. They have used a couple of different gaming techniques.

Fletcher's Great Library Race, was one of the first game based activities they created. This game is an exploration activity designed to acquaint students with the physical arrangement of the building. The game is loosely based on The Amazing Race. Students are divided into teams and assigned roles. They were given a clue and then had to go to different areas to find additional clues. They could ask for help at service desks. The first team to collect all the clues, return, and solve the puzzle was the winner. 

Race Through the Library, is the current game that they are using and improving. This game is board based and used in an instruction classroom with English classes. Students move game pieces through the board by rolling dice and correctly answering questions about the library and the research process.

They are currently developing an online video game .  

technorati tag: loex2006

Susan Ariew and Heather Runyan from the University of South Florida gave an excellent presentation on how to teach information ethics to students. They have developed a set of scenarios that most college students would find themselves dealing with in the classroom or the dorm room.

The students are divided into groups. They are given a scenario to read and then asked what the problem is and how it could have been avoided. The groups are asked to present their findings to the class. Susan then uses PowerPoint slides with background information on each scenario giving background information and teaching the students how to avoid getting into trouble.

Scenarios were developed for plagiarism, copyright, and more than one on fair use of different types of media. They also created a list of readings and background information on intellectual property rights issues.

During the session they had us go through the exercise. It was very interesting to hear the other groups describe how they thought the student's would answer the questions.  This is something I would like to try this Fall in my Library Research Methods course.  

technorati tag: loex2006

Gerri Foudy and Travis Johnson from University of Maryland at College Park presented their research findings on how students look for and evaluate information. They interviewed 256 students individually and 110 in focus-groups. The interviews were conducted by graduate students in the library and information sciences program at UMD. Those participating were not told that the research was being conducted by the library.

Based on the first question asked, where do you go/find information, a majority of people started with either a search engine or the library's web site. Students indicated that it depends on their information need as to where they start.  If they don't know a lot about a topic, they will start with Google before jumping into library research. 

I was surprised by some of the comments reported from graduate students. One grad student indicated that he/she would contact the author of a paper to get a copy before trying to get it from the library. Another graduate student commented on going to his/her advisor if they couldn't find an article on-line.

One of the presenters shared that many students also feel that newer information is the best. They don't quite understand how information is produced. They are coming from an on-demand multimedia environment. "Convenience trumps almost all else."
Findings about what they think about the library…they don't, they want to be independent, they only ask for help to physically find an item in the building. Many of the comments gleaned from the focus group show that many students have library anxiety, especially about the library as place.

Implications for instruction:

• Students use the Internet daily for many different purposes. We need to change how we talk about the Internet in our instruction sessions.
• Teach how to evaluate all information sources, don't focus on the web alone.
• Teach advanced search options in search engines and relate it back to AND/OR/NOT.
• Use active and peer-learning during library instruction.
• Create easy on-line tutorials.
• Implement simple search interfaces to library resources, e.g. MetaLib.

technorati tag: loex2006

Ann Wheeler and Pam Harris from Swarthmore College talked about the evolution of their library orientation program. They covered the core attributes of the Millennials. These attributes were common themes in many of the later breakout presentations I attended. They outlined the four goals for their orientation program: show a personal face to the library, make sure the students understand we're here to help, library locations, interactive and fun.

They run all of their first year students through library orientation in a couple of days. They tried to get as many library staff involved to either lead tours or to be at various places throughout the library.  They felt that the orientation was successful based on positive feedback. 

technorati tag: loex2006

Scott's keynote, Teacher/Librarian 2.0: Upgrading Your Instruction for the Net Generation (and Beyond), was on Friday, May 5. He spoke about the changing nature of instruction. His talk covered different aspects of teaching and learning including transformative learning, and instructional improvement.

Joan's keynote, Re-thinking Information Literacy for net Gen Students, was on Saturday, May 6. She focused on how we need to change our instruction to meet the needs of the Millennials. She recommended that we incorporate more visual learning opportunities in our instruction. Emerging technologies to reach out to Millennials was also discussed.

technorati tag: loex2006

LOEX 2006 was a great success. It was held May 4 through May 6 at the Marriott Inn & Conference Center on the campus of the University of Maryland University College. UMUC is located on the northwestern edge of the University of Maryland College Park campus.

I drove to the conference. (The only one from Ohio who did). It took me a little over 6 hours. The scenery was great. This was my first time driving I-68 in West Virginia and Maryland. It is a lot more scenic then the PA Turnpike.

I was surprised how quickly I left spring and entered late winter as I climbed out of West Virginia into Maryland.  It was kind of strange to see nothing but miles of trees with no leaves for about 60 miles. The other two impressive sights on I-68 was the city of Cumberland and Sideling Hill.

Traffic on I-270 south from Frederick wasn't too bad. I didn't run into bad traffic until I merged onto I-295 eastbound. I spent about 30 minutes traveling 20 miles on hour towards College Park. That slow speed gave me time to check out the LDS Washington D.C. Temple. I don't remember seeing it in the past when I've been on the beltway. I arrived at the Marriott around 4 p.m. and was able to quickly park and check in.

The opening reception was held in the lower level of the Marriott, which also serves as an art gallery. It was nice to meet new people and catch up with old friends. I had a nice chat with Margaret Fain from Coastal Carolina University. I think there were a total of 9 librarians from OhioLINK libraries in attendance this year.

After the reception, I ate dinner with Doris Ebbert from Otterbein College, Kim Leggett from Columbus State Community College, and Olga Hart from University of Cincinnati at R.J. Bentley's. Bentley's is located on the opposite side of UMD's campus, so we were able to check out the heart of campus on the walk over and back. It was good to catch up with Dorris and get to learn more about Kim and Olga and their work. 

technorati tag: loex2006

OCLC has issued a new report focused on the college student subset of it's Perceptions report that came out earlier. Their web site indicates that this report has new graphs and additional analysis of the data collected from their original Perceptions of Libraries and Information Resources report.

(Thanks to Candi Clevenger's all OhioLINK email today.)