Thursday, December 01, 2011

Exciting New Project

Penn College is starting a new major: automotive restoration. The faculty have requested that the library put together a list of resources to support the course. Another casual part-timer and I are creating a LibGuide that includes how to find used auto parts, assembly manuals, collectors, museums, etc.
The library currently has a restored Ford Mustang on display. Who ever thought I'd work in a library with a classic car in it?

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Scribblar: Another Free Interactive Whiteboard



In my previous post, I mentioned trying Dabbleboard to get students to participate in contributing keywords for a research assignment. The site did not keep the words on the board as they were written. I tried using the "save" feature, but nothing seemed to make the words stay on the board.
I found a new intereactive whiteboard called Scribblar and plan to try it with the students next semester.

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Using Dabbleboard for Class Interaction/Assessment

Today I have two English comp classes that will be using Dabbleboard to brainstorm ideas for criteria they use to evaluate information. I've incorporated this feature into the LibGuide for the class. A worksheet is also available for evaluating the information resources they find.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

New Collaborative Web 2.0 Tools

The October issue of Campus Technology came today (yes, I get the print edition.) The article entitled "12 Cool-laborative Web 2.0 Tools" caught my eye. I scanned the list for anything I could find new to me and or interesting. JoinMe quickly got my attention, it's a web-based screen sharing application. I've been waiting for something like this!! I can't wait to try it out. We could definitely use this with our Virtual Reference service. Nothing to download, simply give the user or users you wish to screen share a code number and you are there.
It doesn't get cooler than this--or does it? There is also a web-based file conversion site called Zamzar.com Great article, CT!!! Thanks!!

Wednesday, June 22, 2011

SWOT Analysis of Mobile Learning

From the Upside Learning Blog

Strength: Development platforms for mobile are easy-to-use and do not involve most of the complications associated with desktop or system software
Weakness: Myriad number of operating platforms, device types and variations in supported technologies make it difficult (and at times impractical) to create a unified solution which works well across the board.
Opportunity: One of the best ways to offer quick, real-time on-demand performance support. More than pushing training on to a mobile device, designing mobile performance support solutions would be the greatest opportunity.
Threat: Lack of standards for learning on mobile, and even general use of technology on mobiles.

Thursday, April 07, 2011

Overstream for Creating Closed Captioning

Just discovered Overstream, a web app for creating captions for videos. It works with YouTube and Google video editors. Here's the first video I captioned with it. The timing is a bit off, but it was pretty easy to do...

Friday, March 25, 2011

More Fun with Android Apps

Just found out about a very cool app called Quick Cite.Just download it from Android Market ($1.02) and use it to scan bar codes on books. It will create citations in APA, MLA,Chicago, or IEEE. AWESOME!!

Saturday, March 12, 2011

QR Codes

In an engineering economics class, I created a QR code that I included on the library assignment worksheet. At the beginning of the class, after I introduced myself and told the class what we would be learning, I asked if anyone knew what the square mark at the top of the worksheet was. Almost immediately several students said "a barcode!" I asked if anyone had scanned it and they had. The code led them to the LibGuide for the class assignment. This made a great icebreaker for the class and an effective way to link the worksheet to the LibGuide.

Poll Everywhere

After spending many hours preparing a Harry Potter-themed Poll Everywhere game for Career Day, the event was canceled due to a snow storm. Hopefully the Harry Potter phenomenon will live on until next March, when we can actually use it.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Using VoiceThread for Library Instruction

I created a VoiceThread for students in an Advertising class to comment on how they would use various library resources for the multimedia mix marketing campaign. See the library assignment page of this LibGuide for more info.

QR Codes

Showed an Advertising class how to use QR Codes to link their print ads with Webpages by creating a code that linked them to the LibGuide for the course.