library+instruction+technology

Olga Hart, Ted Baldwin, Debbie Tenofsky, Stephena Harmony, and Heather Maloney from the University of Cincinnati shared their experience developing an online game [PowerPoint slides] during the Instruction Interest Group breakout session. I was very interested to see how far they had gotten in the development of their game. I had dinner with Olga and some other Ohio librarians at LOEX in May. Olga had described their library faculty learning community focused on using games as pedagogy during dinner.

The UC team has spent over 200 hours developing their game. Unfortunately we were not able to see a live demo during the session. However, they did show us some screen captures (see the PowerPoint slides). Their game is focused on teaching plagiarism. It is remnicent of the Sims, but requires the students to make choices to move the game forward. 

The tools they used to create the game include: Flash for the framework, Poser for animation, and Mimic for audio synch. They recommended that game development requires a lot of time, project management, and resources.  Additional best practices and lessons learned can be found in their slides.

Their session handout (not included in the PowerPoint slides) includes the following "sources of inspiration":

Tutorials 

• Bruin Success with Less Stress (UCLA)
• The Plagiarism Court: You be the Judge (Fairfield University) 
• TILT (University of Texas)
• You Quote it, You Note It! (Acadia University)

Books

• Learning by doing: a comprehensive guide to simulations, computer games, and pedagogy in e-learning and other education experiences by Clark Aldrich.
• The study of games by Elliot Avedon and Brian Sutton-Smith.
• The art of game characters by Leo Hartas.
• Rules of play: game design fundamentals by Kate Salen and Eric Zimmerman.

Article

• Squire, K. & Steinkueler, C. (April 15, 2005). Meet the gamers: they research, teach, learn, and collaborage. So far without libraries. Library Journal.

Mixing it Up: Using a Blend of Projects to Create a College Transition Program was presented by Mary Lee Jensen, Barbara Schloman and Ken Burhanna from Kent State. Ken talked about Informed Transitions. This is the outreach program that Kent State Libraries has to high schools throughout northeast Ohio. Teachers bring their students into the library to work on class assignments. They general are there for four hours.  Mary Lee talked about their Transitioning to College. This is a web site with streaming videos, worksheets, and handouts that can help students prepare for college level research. The content is from the student's perspective. Finally, Barbara talked about Trails (Tool for Real-Time Assessment for Information Literacy Skills). Trails was developed primarily for K-12 information literacy assessment, but it could also be used in an higher ed environment. Barbara suggested that it might be used for assessment of first year students entering college. She also suggested that it should be something brought to the attention of pre-service teachers in education programs. Trails is free and standards based using the 9th grade Ohio Academic Content Statndards and AASL's Information Power.

Simmering Information Literacy Ingredients for Learning [PowerPoint slides], was presented by Colleen Boff and Richard Wisneski from Bowling Green State University. They described the challenges the liaison librarians were having delivering effective library instruction to the College of Education and Human Development. Their solution was to create a curriculum map of all the majors in the college to identify where they could best target library instruction sessions. They applied for and received a grant to develop a tutorial to learn how to conduct research and create citations using APA.

The ALAO 2006 Conference [list of sessions / slides and handouts] was held November 3 in Akron. The keynote speaker this year was Dr. J. Richard Madaus, Executive Director of the College Center for Library Automation in Florida. Dr. Madaus's presentation was good. He spoke about how quickly technology has changed over the past five years and how libraries are tying their best to adapt with limited budgets. He addressed the hesitancy of some library administrators to implement emerging technologies. He encouraged us to experiment and to keep up with new technology and how our students and faculty are using it.

Overall, the content of his presentation was in line with the continual conversation on many library blogs about how to adopt and co-opt technology in the library.  I didn't really find anything he said surprising or new to me. I did however, write down a couple phrases he used during the presentation. During one point he mentioned "the illusion of site bound librarianship." This was in reference to how some libraries try to replicate the physical library in a digital environment. This practice does not make sense to our born digital students and even some younger faculty. He also talked at one point about how traditional college students are use to "information foraging." He advised that we need to design our interfaces and web sites to make it easier for students to "catch the scent" of a good information source.

Denise Monbarren, Special Collections Librarian at The College of Wooster Libraries, presented a concurrent session at the OPAL Conference on using special collections in support of student learning. I was interested in what she had to say, since I had received a request to use materials from our special collections this past Spring to support a class assignment.

Denise gave us many good ideas. She recommended that we understand our special collections strengths and how that matches faculty research interests and courses being taught.  She strongly encouraged us to think through preservation issues before having students use materials. A major concern is the handling of materials and the ability to make copies. Denise suggested having two copies of heavily use materials (like yearbooks) and designating one as the one that can be photocopied and used during classes. She also recommended that assignments not require students to use the same item.

She gave some ideas for how to start using special collections to support student learning and also indicated how much time it would take.

Minimal commitment – Show and Tell

Give tours and show some examples.  This can be used to introduce students to the idea of primary research. This option works best if you have limited staff. 

Limited commitment – Show and Tell and Learn 

Give a tour and use examples for hands-on learning to provide context. Denise advised that this be done during one class period and works well for those with limited staff.

Moderate commitment – Show and Tell and Discover

Give a tour and have students come back in groups of 3-4 during the semester to research a specific area of interest.  Denise advised that this can be done well if the faculty member gives the students direction and not have every group's assignment due at the same time.

Extreme commitment – Show and Tell and Hope for the Best 

Give a tour and allow students to pursue individual research in the collection. Denise shared that in her experience this only works well for motivated upper level students.  She advised that it would be difficult with limited staff.

Denise finished by saying that she was more than happy to have anyone come and visit her in Wooster and she would share more of her experiences. Examples of some of the policies she developed can be found on the College of Wooster's Special Collections page.