March 2015 archive

Creating a Library App: Things to Know Before You Go Mobile
Tuesday, April 28, 2015 11AM-12PM PDT
Registration link: http://www.cla-net.org/?861

Mobile apps are a popular topic in libraries. But what does it take to create one and what kind of programming can you do with apps? Is an app the right solution, or should you create a responsive website? What is the process like, and what resources are needed? How do you manage privacy, security, and legal concerns? Who do you need to get the job done, and what skills should they have?
These are all important questions that should be asked (and answered) before you think about creating a mobile app. Learn from expert panelists from libraries and nonprofits who have created, developed, and managed mobile apps for their organizations. Panelists will share practical advice and information based on experience, as well as helpful tools and resources.

Zeth Lietzau is the Manager of Digital User Experience and the Community Technology Center at the Denver Public Library. He’s the leader of their Virtual Services initiative, which defines the direction of DPL’s online services, mobile & otherwise, including the Volume Denver project which is available as a mobile-responsive site.
A303_Lietzau Makers, Hackers, and Badges at the Denver Public Library

Anna Jaeger and her team at Caravan Studios create mobile apps that are designed in partnership with nonprofit and community-focused organizations to meet the needs of their constituents. Anna has been a frequent speaker on nonprofit and environmental technology since 2007. Prior to her work with Caravan Studios, Ms. Jaeger was a founder and co-director of TechSoup Global’s GreenTech initiative and the director of TechSoup Global’s IT Engineering department.
https://cc.readytalk.com/cc/s/meetingArchive?eventId=li2t1jz4hoy6

Ani Boyadjian has been a working librarian since 1990. An LAPL staffer since 1996, she is now Research & Special Collections Manager at the Los Angeles Public Library, where she also oversees the Library’s Digitization efforts. She most recently spearheaded the development of the ARchive LAPL app in a partnership with USC and app developers Neon Roots, to use augmented reality to tell stories about the historic Central Library.

More on mobile apps in general on this IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=mobile+apps

big data and education

Big Data is Finally Coming to Education Here’s What We’ve Learned So Far

http://www.edukwest.com/big-data-education/

Long lectures don’t work.

The best predictor of future course behavior is past course behavior.

Data from MOOCs suggest that one way to boost completion rates is to increase engagement early in the course.

Even in online courses, offline support is essential.

 

More IMS blog entries on Big Data:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=big+data

MOOC in Europe

Institutional MOOC strategies in Europe

Status report based on a mapping survey conducted in October-December 2014
http://www.eadtu.eu/documents/Publications/OEenM/Institutional_MOOC_strategies_in_Europe.pdf

Institutional_MOOC_strategies_in_Europe (link to the PDF doc)

Darco Jansen
Programme manager EADTU
Coordinator OpenupEd, HOME and SCORE 2020
Robert Schuwer Expert Open Education Professor
OER, Fontys University of Applied Sciences, Eindhoven, Netherlands EADTU,February 2015 ISBN
978-90-79730-15-5
nstitutional profile in their MOOC offering compared between that of US survey (US 2013 and U S 2014) and this survey (EU 2014) .

nstitutional profile in their MOOC offering compared between that of US survey (US 2013
and U
S 2014) and this survey (EU 2014)
.

p. 11 What is a MOOC?

It is important to note that MOOCs remain relatively poorly defined. MOOCs can be seen as a term or word related to the scalability of open and online education. Some even argue that it is a political
instrument and as such a concept that should be broadly defined.
MOOCs are “online courses designed for large numbers of participants, that can be accessed by anyone anywhere as long as they have an internet connection, are open to everyone without entry qualifications, and offer a full/complete course experience online for free”.
More on MOOC in this IMS blog:

https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/?s=mooc

big data and LRS door counters

LITA discussion (attached below) on how one can easily do real-time but also big-data like estimate of patrons’ attendance in the library.

GitHub https://github.com/ and listuser@chillco.com Cary, for wifi connected counter

From: Cary Gordon [mailto:listuser@chillco.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 29, 2015 9:35 AM
To: lita-l@lists.ala.org
Subject: [lita-l] Re: patron/door counter

I am not an expert on door counters, but I think that it would be pretty simple — no, really — to make your own system using a small, inexpensive computer like a Raspberry Pi with a wifi adapter and connect it to your current counter. It would take a little programming, but the result could be something that the community could share.

If you are interested in this, we could create a project on GitHub. I would be happy to help.

Cary

On Mar 28, 2015, at 2:49 PM, Mason Yang <hyang@marymount.edu> wrote:

Hi,

We have a old door counter which can only be checked manually. We are looking for a new door counter system which can help us to find out how many patrons come in during certain hours. I found a couple systems online and would like know if some libraries recently installed any door counter systems and what’s your experience with them. I made a short list of questions below. If you can take a few minutes to answer those questions or just drop a line or two of your comments to reply to this email, I will really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance for your time and inputs!

  1. what’s the model and the brand of the door counter system?
  1. Wired to your network or wireless connected to the internet?
  1. Does the system count the number of entries/exists hourly?
  1. Dose the system generate reports,if any, automatically?
  1. What’s your general experience of the system?
  1. Will you recommend the system to other libraries?

 

Thanks,

Mason Yang

Electronic Services Librarian

Library & Learning Services

Marymount University

 

Phone: 703-526-6844

Fax: 703-284-1685

mason.yang@marymount.edu

BYOD

5 Essential Insights About Mobile Learning

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/15/5-essential-insights-about-mobile-learning/

1. Set goals and expectations for teaching and learning with mobile devices before worrying about the device itself.

St. Vrain Valley School District in Colorado,

Mooresville Graded School District

Consolidated High School District 230

2. Develop a strong community of support for the initiative early and keep up transparent communication with parents and community members throughout the process.

Forsyth County Schools in Georgia.

3. Think about equity, but don’t let it stop forward motion.

includes both urban and rural areas,

4. Evaluate the effectiveness of a mobile learning initiative based on the goals set at the beginning of the rollout.

5. Some of the biggest lessons learned include giving up control and trusting students.

included students in the discussions

STAY NIMBLE

While these mobile learning pioneers have seen some of the pitfalls and can help districts new to the game avoid the same stumbles, this space is changing quickly and every community’s needs will be different.

“It’s no longer just something you implement; it’s evolving and it’s unique in each location,” Bjerede said. “If you try to be cookie cutter about it you won’t meet the needs of every kid in every classroom.”

The technology will change, students will surprise their teachers and the best advice to district leaders is to stay open to all the possibilities and allow students to take control of the tremendous learning opportunity that having a device at all times could offer them.

=====================================

My note: Kathrina Schwartz offers an opinion, which reflects the second wave (withdrawl) in the 3 steps of innovation

The Struggles and Realities of Student-Driven Learning and BYOD

http://ww2.kqed.org/mindshift/2014/07/07/the-struggles-and-realities-of-student-driven-learning-and-byod/

A 2013 Pew study revealed that only 35 percent of teachers at the lowest income schools allow their students to look up information on their mobile devices, as compared to 52 percent of teachers at wealthier schools.

Many advocates of using mobile technologies say the often cited issues of student distraction are just excuses not to try something new.
“The way you discourage it is engage them in the activity so they don’t even think of sending a text. You’ve got to jump in and play their game or you’re going to lose them.”

Angela Crawford has heard all the arguments of BYOD evangelists, but doesn’t see how they match the reality of her classroom. “BYOD is very problematic in many schools, mine included, because we have a prominent engagement problem,” Crawford said.

Tactics to improve engagement like making work relevant to her students’ lives or letting them use their phones in class to look up information, haven’t worked for Crawford, although she’s tried.

When she first started, Crawford was enthusiastic about jumping into collaborative, project-based learning. “I thought my colleagues were monsters because of how they were teaching,” she said of a school where she previously worked and where teachers lectured all the time. She tried to teach students through projects, but found it was a disaster. To her students’ parents, her efforts to make the classroom “student-centered” looked like she wasn’t teaching. “There is a different perception of what a teacher should be in different cultures,” Crawford said. “And in the African-American community in the South the teacher is supposed to do direct instruction.”

“What works best for each student is really the heart of student-centered learning,” Crawford said. “Sometimes what the student needs best is direct instruction. They need that authoritative, in-control figure who is directing their learning and will get them where they need to go.” Many of Crawford’s students come from homes run by single mothers who rule with an iron hand. She tries to replicate that attitude and presence. “They respond to that; they like it,” Crawford said. “It’s comforting to them.”

Still, Crawford will not be experimenting with a bring-your-own-device program. “My problem with education innovation is we tend to want to take a new technology or a new idea and go forth with it as if it’s the silver bullet,” Crawford said. “What happens is that teachers who teach in my type of environment realize this would be a disaster in my classroom.”

Crawford is skeptical that kids in higher income areas aren’t misusing technology too. Her children attend school in a more affluent district and they tell her that kids are constantly messing around on their devices. They just switch screens when a teacher comes by. They get away with it because their teachers trust them to do their work.

“I think kids in middle class or upper middle class schools are equally distracted as low-income students,” said Bob Lenz, director of innovation at Envision Schools, a small charter network that’s part of the deeper learning movement. “It’s just that because of the privilege of their background the content and the skills that they need to gain in school — they’re coming with a lot of those skills already– so it’s not as urgently needed.”

Digital Humanities

Where Can I Fit into the World of Digital Humanities? A Conversation

A CSPW Digital Premodern Workshop, co-sponsored by the James Ford Bell Library
“Where Can I Fit into the World of Digital Humanities? A Conversation”

Facilitated by:

Dr. Austin Mason, historian and Robert A Oden Jr. Postdoctoral Fellow for Innovation in the Liberal Arts and Digital Humanities, Carleton College

and

Dr. Justin Schell, Digital Arts Sciences + Humanities – University of Minnesota Libraries
Saturday, 4 April 2015

9:30 am – 12:30 pm

120 Andersen Library, 222 – 21st Avenue South, West Bank Campus

premod@umn.edu
http://premodern.umn.edu

Jumping into the Digital Humanities with Sarah V. Melton

http://gla.georgialibraries.org/mediawiki/index.php/Carterette_Series_Webinars_Archive

the intersection of computing and the disciplines of the humanities. five concepts: web design; digital exhibits; GIS geographical information systems; text mining; text encoding

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