Archive for the ‘training’ Category
T is for Training
I am way overdue on this post. Several months back my friend Maurice recognized the absence of a specific forum for library staff to discuss and share information about training, so he created the T is for Training podcast. Every other Friday a group people get together (virtually) to share tips and tricks and discuss training related issues. If you’d like to call in or join the chat session you can find information here. If you’d like to listen to the podcast you can find it here.
This week, among other things, we’ll be discussing Roy Tennant’s Top Ten Techie Traits post.
Other Library related podcasts:
Workshop Wrap Up
On Friday I finished the last day of the four day Becoming 2.0 workshop. I’m not used to spending that much time talking to people, some days I don’t talk to anyone. So at the end I was pretty tired, but that’s passed and now I’m just excited. There were 17 “students” and everyone of them has at least one thing they were planning to start when they got back to their library and each one was different. The great part of Web2.0 (or the Social Web) is that you can take what works for you and your patrons, and they are doing just that. As part of the class we had them create blogs and I really hope they keep blogging so we can follow what they are doing.
I have to say that this was a great group of people they were all willing to share tips and tricks and suggestions with us and each other. So thank you to all of them. I’d also like to say thank you to MOREnet who never fails to to be a wonderful host! They really go out of their way to make everything run smoothly!
Becoming 2.0 – What 2.0 can do you for you
After much preperation the time has finally arrived! This week I’m cohosting a Web 2.0 workshop sponsered by MOREnet and the Missouri State Library. The topic – They asked us to talk about using Web 2.0 tools in your library!
Even better, my cohost and I created the whole thing using Google Docs. How else are two people going to edit a presentation at all hours of the day and night? These will not be on my slideshare account if you want to see them you’ll have to check them out on the wiki after the end of the week. They wont all be up until the end of the workshop on Friday.
If you don’t have, don’t want or just aren’t signed into your Google account you can watch the presentation.
But if you want to get more from the presentation you should sign in.
If you log in with your Google account you can see the Speakers Notes. You’ll be able to see the notes the speaker has entered for each slide, and in this case who is responsible for each section of the presentation.
Teaching Patrons about Flickr
The first Online Picture Sharing class was last week and the second is this week, we only have 15 laptops for the patrons to use so we have to have multiple sessions. I choose to focus on Flickr vs one of the many other online picture sharing sites inpart because MRRL has a Flickr account and because of the Social aspects of Flickr.
I’ve started working on the next set of classes, one of them being Online Safety, this is a hard one for me because it’s important to me to teach people to be safe without making them feel like the internet is full of dangers. Any suggestions?
Are other libraries teaching patrons about blogging?
I’m taking a break from the video game (PS2) I’m playing, to write this, because even though I tell myself the hard parts teach me patient and perseverance, they really make my head want to explore. 
Last night I finally taught the rescheduled Introduction to Blogging class I was supposed to teach in May. I really love these classes and even better, patrons love them too. They get hands on experience and one on one time with a library staff remember. I usually spend the first half hour explaining things and giving demonstrations, then for the last half we do hands-on. Nikki teachs half of the series so when we’re not teaching we’re assisting the other person, because hands-on time for 15 people really does require 2 instructors. The last half hour always turns into an hour and sometimes an hour & half. The powerpoint and handouts only tell part of the story, the rest is demonstration, answering questions and assisting people with account set up. Being flexible is the most important part, you don’t know the skill level of the people in the class and you can have a wide range, you’ve got to be able to cover enough so everyone feels like they are learning.
I’m really curious, are other libraries teaching classes like this? How are they going? If so what subjects are they teaching? How are they received?
Find Your Friends on Facebook
I taught this class last night as part of the series of Internet classes I’m teaching to patrons at MRRL. I was a bit worried going into it, as almost all of the people at previous classes were seniors so I on the handout I added the websites I learned about at Internet Librarian last year. It ended up being a very interesting mix. I had some moms with their teenagers who wanted learn about Facebook to monitor their kids profiles, a lady interested in setting up a page for a Non-Profit, and some seniors. I’m not sure I’ll teach this one again, probably I’ll cover it in Internet Safety that I’m doing later this year or I’ll redirect specifically to parents who want to know what their children are up to.
It’s hard to teach people about Facebook, I think it’s just one of those things that is really hard to explain. This is probably the least well done of any presentation I’ve put together.
Intro to Blogging for the Patrons
Several people have asked me to share the classes I’m creating for the Patrons. I’m doing half of the series, a coworker is doing the other half, so you’ll only be seeing half the lessons.
The first one is Introduction to Blogging. It’s geared towards, beginners, people don’t really know much about blogs or blogging. I’ll cover some information about blogs then have them set up up if they like. I’ve also put together a handout to accompany it.
I’ll be teaching this next month so I’ll let you know how it goes.
