There is an informative discussion on the LITA board regarding signage, both hard/software-wise as well as design-wise.
From: Hess, M. Ryan [mailto:MHESS8@depaul.edu] Sent: Monday, January 05, 2015 6:14 PM To:lita-l@lists.ala.org Subject: [lita-l] Re: Digital Signs – Best practices, hints & tips
Hi Christa,
I don’t manage the signs in our library, but had a part in getting them put in place and designing workflows. Along the way, I found some interesting research on the topic:
San Jose Public Library (2009). San Jose Public Library Signage Design Guidelines. Retrieved from http://www.olis.ri.gov/ services/ ce/ presentation/ SJW-SignageDesignGuidelines.pdf
Barclay, D. A., Bustos, T., & Smith, T. (June 01, 2010). Signs of success. College & Research Libraries News, 71(6), 299.
Shooting more from the hip, my opinion on digital signage is that commonly made mistakes with content include:
– multiplied narratives don’t work in most library cases. Keep everything short and on a single slide
– keep the slide visible for at least a minute to give people a chance to read it
– make sure your graphics are appropriately sized for HD screens (keep those images sharp and avoid pixelation)
On a technical note, we use a mix of solutions:
– PPTs on USBs
– We’ve experimented with Google Drive Slideshows too, to help streamline the work
M Ryan Hess
Digital Services Coordinator
DePaul University
JTR 303-C, DePaul University, Lincoln Park Campus, 2350 N Kenmore Ave., Chicago IL 60614
office: 773-325-7829 | cell: 650-224-7279 | fax: 773-325-2297 | mhess8@depaul.edu
We are using a Plex Media Server feeding 3 Rokus over a wireless connection from a laptop. We use .jpg pictures for our slides. Each Roku is connected to a different folder on the Plex server since our displays are in different parts of the building.
Edward
—–Original Message—–
From: Junior Tidal [mailto:JTidal@CityTech.Cuny.Edu]
Sent: Monday, December 22, 2014 1:10 PM
To: lita-l@lists.ala.org
Subject: [lita-l] Re: Digital Signs – Best practices, hints & tips
Hi Christa,
We used two templates for our digital sign. We were using PowerPoint on a Windows machine.
Librarians would take turns updating the slides to promote databases, workshops, library hours, etc., and we had a stable of maybe a dozen or so slides. We updated the slides whenever we needed to promote specific events, usually a couple of weeks before it took place.
This made it much easier to update the slides, because we couldn’t remotely login into the PC with Powerpoint running. Now, we can connect to the RPi/Screenly, and upload images.
Best,
Junior
Junior Tidal
Assistant Professor
Web Services and Multimedia Librarian
New York City College of Technology, CUNY
300 Jay Street, Rm A434
Brooklyn, NY 11201
718.260.5481
Group work assignment – what is digital literacy and why is it important to people of all ages:
Students work in groups and outline a definition of digital literacy and a list of 5 reasons about the importance – 5 min
Study and discuss the following infographic (5 min) https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2014/10/16/early-learners-tech-use/
For and against children spending time with technology. Gaming, social media, and computer use in general as addiction. “Disconnect/Unplugged” (Sherry Turkle) versus contemplative computing and similar meditative and contemplative practices: https://blog.stcloudstate.edu/ims/2013/11/05/getting-unplugged/
Of course, not all aspects of online course design require a team of specialists, a longer development time, and more funding. Some things can be done quickly, cheaply and by individuals with focused skill sets.
But technology can, when built with a deep understanding of how students learn, meet both of these needs. We can build online courses that provide students with hundreds of opportunities to test their knowledge. Using scientifically-based learning analytics, we can provide each learner with immediate, context-specific feedback. We can build software that constantly responds to each student’s cognitive and educational differences and serves up activities that address these differences.
Educator, technologist, researcher, and innovator in edtech, distance education, and faculty development
“Placing the burden on lone educators with minuscule (or non-existent) funding and who are not hired for their strengths in instructional media development is neither logical, nor fair. But more to the point, it’s a lost opportunity to leverage high-quality course design to drive improvements in learning outcomes.”
I could not agree more with this statement and the remainder of the article. I’ve long supported an instructional design partnership model where faculty occupy a leading role along with other professionals capable of making the interactions, activities, and rich-media meet the quality needs of an increasingly complex learning environment (and world).
We need to start imagining new models for building, acquiring and sharing instructional media.
This has always been an issue. My students love activities that provide them with immediate feedback. I spend extra hours building a wide variety of different activities into each Learning module. It takes time and effort and if I am going to address different learning styles that is an entirely different issue. To create effective interactive learning tools that will not waste my students time and will challenge their skill level consumes more time than planning for a face to face class with different activities. I would love to talk to someone-be able to explain what I want my students to learn, suggest a few interactive choices, and come back later to find age related learning activities that fit different learning styles.
There is going to be a fight because this model is more like a business product that educators contribute to, rather than own. Perhaps this is the true industrialization of education, replacing the craft model of individual teaching with standardized, high quality product?
I have forwarded this article on to members of the course development team within Pearson for their feedback. I am curious to see their impression of the article versus mine, considering I predominantly am a part of recruitment services for Pearson specifically. Within our academic partnerships platform, we do contend with faculty, should they employ our course development team, to this vein because the ownership usually rests with the instructor solely. Editing course content or abridging related material so that it could be received potentially as more either user-friendly or technologically savvy can be a source of major contention with faculty members. I do agree that this is an industrialization of education to an extent, but it also pushes the ownership of traditional education past the instructor, a predominantly sole proprietorship environment, to an completely different team effort. The natural technological growing pains coupled with role expansion and differentiation are also issues needing to be addressed as well.
Suppose one was to take this seriously. What might such a course look like – for a subject like Biology? Could it be built on existing LMS platforms, or is a new platform required?
I think that both individual ownership and team collaboration are important to the development of successful online learning. We (hopefully) use the concepts of group and team learning in our classroom environments. We should not be afraid to open ourselves up to some of the positive opportunities that could develop from participating in these practices. It does not mean giving up our ownership of content and presentation. I see it as a marketplace of choice where instructors can decide what kinds of activities, helps, prompts, extra materials, and resources they want to add to their class content. The choices could be categorized by learning styles or how they fit into learning paradigms. I think we must face the reality that some parts of education will have to be more industrialized than others just because of the delivery method. This does not have to be a negative issue if there are enough choices to help instructors develop the rigorous content they want to deliver without sacrificing their entire life to the project.
University libraries are increasingly the ONLY place on campus that has quiet spaces, since cell-phone conversations are ubiquitous. I think a professional shushher would be a nice touch to any library. Either that, or zero-talking floors and okay-with-some-noise-floors alternating.
Information Specialist, Visiting Lecturer at University of Szeged
Today university/academic libraries have “all-inclusive services” and they are places for social life, too. In my point of view it is very important for libraries to be always ready for changes, to be regenerative, and to find new ways including the needs of next (Y, Z?) generation. A library is a third place, “a place to be”. And study. With librarians behind the scenes.
Vice President and Chief Information Officer at Hawaii Pacific University
I had the opportunity to spend some time in a local high school library yesterday. It was a hub of activity with a class in session, students browsing stacks, small group activities, and numerous meetings. I thought it was great to see so many students collaborating and having fun. The students were very engaged.
It seems important that Matt Reed mentions both the group study areas and the individual quiet spaces in a library. In the past, university libraries tended to be places for individual quiet work. But as Russ and Sharon mention, students have meetings in libraries to work on group activities. If we pay attention to developments in higher education, student work will be increasingly collaborative rather than individual, interdisciplinary rather than narrowly focused in one disciplinary area. In the USA we can find these values set forth in places such as the AAC&U list of high-impact practices, where collaborative assignments and projects are recommended:http://www.aacu.org/sites/default/files/files/hip_tables.pdf
Some experts recommend that the most valuable things students can learn to do is work on problem-solving with other people who come from diverse backgrounds.
Libraries may need less space for stacks as printed books and periodicals are replaced with digital storage, but the need for meeting rooms and collaborative study areas may increase. And of course a coffee shop on the premises definitely helps.
Professor 1 at Technological University of the Philippines
What is the bearing of a library as a Learning Resource Center if not significant to the students. I think it speaks so much on the learning impact not only by the students together with the faculty. This is also the reason why the area of Library is included in institutional/programs accreditation.
From: Zane Berge [mailto:berge@umbc.edu] Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2014 10:16 AM Subject: Call for Chapters – Digital Badges in Education: Trends, Issues, and Cases
Dear Authors,
You are invited to submit a chapter proposal for a book, Digital Badges in Education: Trends, Issues, and Cases that Lin Muilenburg and I are editing that will be published by Routledge. Please see the call for chapters at: http://bit.ly/CFC_DBiE
Feel free to pass this call along to anyone or any group you believe would be interested.
Regards,
Zane
Zane L. Berge, Ph.D.
Professor of Education berge@umbc.edu
Twitter: @ZaneBerge
Share, if you are using badges as part of the assessment process in your class and/or if you intend to start using it.
Let us know, if you would like to start discussion on this campus about adoption of badges as part of the assessment process.
Leaderboard – Brightspace.com – Brightspace by D2L. needs to be purchased, but allows modify and customize with HTML and CSS
Badges: meaningless if the entire institution is not on board. google and mozilla badges platforms. D2L is about to roll out badges, only if the entire institution and the business recognize them. otherwise, the badges are dead upon exit from class.
Scavenger hunt mentioned. Bluetooth info beacons used across campus to enable scavenger hunt. Across mobile devices.
Librarians and instructional designers mentioned.
His D2L home page has twitter widget and skype widget. He says the Skype widget enormously used. When will my proposal for Adobe Connect Widget will be addressed, am asking I for years?
excellent report by NPR on the advantages but also perils of computerizing/automation of a complex process, which requires prolonged education and discussions, rather then “yielding with a hammer.”
What is your take on how students can be educated to avoid plagiarism? How academic dishonesty should be handled?
Please consider other IMS blog entries on plagiarism
The dispute focus on the administration and its execution in public education.
I think, the dispute is important for educational institutions, libraries in particular, because it reveals the complexity of “traditional” literacy. The same complexity applies no less for other literacies, digital and information ones included.
