Activity 17: Online Education:


Explore the Coursera and Khan Academy sites.  Sample an introductory lesson from one or both. Feel free to sign up for a full class if you find one that interests you.



 I watched an introductory video and signed up for a class that starts in January. I find it confusing to search Coursera as there are so many options so I just ended up browsing and picking out one that sounded interesting. This seems more aimed at adults and older kids/teens.



So, I tried Khan Academy before I watched the introductory video and it makes more sense watching the video first. I signed up as a parent and could create an account for my son which is cool. I like the way the math is set up in graded levels and that there is the potential for testing and seeing where you need help and where you can move forward. It sounds like this will be done with other subjects as well, which I think is great. I think this covers a lot of material, but it would be great if there were varying levels offered so it could work for people of varying abilities, knowledge bases, etc. I will try some math with my son to review what he's doing in school and maybe we'll look at some history for fun..he's interested in medieval times.

Have you used Coursera or Khan Academy before? 

Nope.

Have you taken other online classes?

I have signed up for two. One on Library Advocacy(edX) that I did several exercises for but I got terribly behind and didn't finish. I have signed up for a MOOC that I am very behind on-officially it is finished, but I have til mid December to try to catch up. I have done webjunction webinars and other short term online trainings.


What do you like or dislike about learning new things online? The tricky thing for me is that when it is on my own time, especially if I am doing it at home, other things get in the way-e-mails to answer, tv to watch, books to read,  kid/husband to talk to, I am tired and I don't feel like it...I also am very distracted in the online environment with exploring various links and then getting lost in my own thoughts. I think sometimes if I go to an actual class or do something online that is shorter term I am better off, but I guess I keep working on it. I do feel accomplished when I actually finish. 

I guess the good part is that you don't have to go to a school, especially if it's from a school that is in another state/country, etc. I guess another good part is sometimes you can keep working on it bit by bit and of course, free, is less expensive than not free, although maybe paying money would make me more attentive because I wouldn't want to waste the money...not that I want to not finish things, but when you know someone's money is invested, one starts to feel guilty about the idea of wasting it...

Oh, I digress. Lots to learn both online and in the real world.

Activity 16: Online Presentations: Haiku Deck, Slideshare, Tildee, Prezi, Google Slides:




 Here's a Haiku Deck presentation I created for the 1st session of Adapted Summer Reading Program in 2014. I generally found it easy to use, although I think there were some times when I had to edit in order to fit things in, but editing is not necessarily bad. I do remember that I was in a hurry to create my presentation and then later I discovered if I had read help sections that there were some things that could have been easier. It was nice to use for an Orientation and it was good that you could share it by e-mail.

It was pretty easy to create a free account and download the Haiku Deck I had previously created. I had discovered this site previously when someone asked me how they could share a Powerpoint type presentation.

Take a look at the presentation I made! It's pretty easy to do this. This could be a good educational/learning/createch activity..to teach people how to teach each other and in the process help to ingrain the thing you are teaching...I like it!

 I watched the introductory video and made an account. I will have to play with this. It does seem a bit complicated with the zooming and framing and all and there are times when I have watched Prezis and they seemed a bit dizzy making, but still they are kind of intriguing..I will have to see whether I explore this further. It could be interesting to tell a story with the paths you can show and zooming in on details.

Okay I just did a very quick slide show with little to no content, just to give it a try. This was pretty easy to use and it is nice you can add videos and also you don't have to worry about clicking on save.

 

 

I think all of these are intriguing and could be useful in some capacity as I have commented above. I will have to play with these more when I have real content to add.

Activity 15: Historypin.com is a website dedicated to bringing history to everyone on a global scale. It allows users to post pictures onto a map in the area that it pertains to
It’s a very interesting way to learn about where you came from or where you would like to go.

Blogging Exercise For This Activity

1. Look up where you were born. Is there something about the city you didn’t know about? The neighborhood?
I don't remember what neighborhood I lived in when I was born as I was only 5 at the time I left. I did look up the city and state and there were some interesting photos from previous times, but nothing that held any personal connections for me. I tried looking the name of the elementary school I went to, but I didn't find any photos of it.

This is Mount McKay which my family and I saw in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The Thunder Bay Library posted this with some interesting commentary on how it might have gotten its name.

2. Look up a place that you would like to visit. What buildings or landmarks look interesting?

 This is a glacier in Alaska

 This is Centennial Library in British Columbia

This is Gruchy's Beach in British Columbia. Max loves watching waves and the tide.

Well, all of this make more sense when you look at the How to Guides....this could maybe be good for people doing History Day projects and for archives and the like..maybe tracking a trip?

Activity 14: Learning Express Library

Try it out!

• Find the LearningExpress Library tab under the Research Tab on our homepage.
•   Did this!
• Click on Welcome in the User Guides tab and watch the short video.
•  Okay-my comment on this is that it should say Welcome, Short video so it is more apparent that there is a short version of the video available. I do think that in the longer video it is nice that you can click on a certain section that you need as many people won't have or want to take 16+min to watch an instructional video, even if they really probably should...
• Click on “How to take a Test”  in the User Guides tab and watch the 2 minute video of the basics of test taking.
•  The How to take a Test video seems thorough and I like that you can get a list of questions/answers by subject area so you can see where you need to improve or what you already know and that it recommends other tests/products that may be of use.
• Take a look at the “Featured Resources List” at the top left of the homepage. It is under “Welcome to LearningExpress Library.”
•  There are quite a few resources. For career information, one might also want to check out iseek.org or Occupational Outlook or JobNow for careers not included in Learning Express, but it does include quite a bit. It's nice that it has academic help for grade school-adult, career info, adult basic ed, citizenship, etc.

Blogging Exercise:
What are some pros and cons about this site?
Sometimes you can't find the test/career you want, but it is overall a nice resource. I like that it has computer classes now which includes everything from how to install a printer to using the internet or various microsoft products. I wish the instructional videos for computer classes were close captioned as I can't watch them at the reference desk with the volume on and this would be good for people who have hearing impairments or who benefit from seeing words while they hear them.

Would you recommend patrons to use it? If not, why? I would recommend it in many cases as it has a lot of nice resources. It may not be right if someone needs a particular test that isn't there, but it does have quite a bit to offer.

Activity 13: Statistical Abstract of the United States

Search and browse the online Statistical Abstract of the United States. Reflect on what you find — content, ease of use, availability of help, etc.
Does your library still have print copies of the older editions of the Statistical Abstract? Have you used the print version before (for your own information or while helping a customer)? How do you think using the online version compares to using the print editions?

 

1) Yes, we do have older print copies of the Statistical Abstract.

2) Yes, I have used the print version way back when.

3) The online seems nicer for searching and is more interactive than just the pdf copies which are essentially the static books, but put on to a computer platform. You can get more up to date information, although need to watch for the relative standard of error: Mean RSE : the Relative Standard Error of the mean wage estimates, a measure of the reliability or precision of the mean wage estimates. The relative standard error is defined as the ratio of the standard error to the survey estimate. For example, a relative standard error of 10 percent implies that the standard error is one-tenth as large as the survey estimate. You can also see more years of data when you use spreadsheets as it isn't as limited as a printed page and you can see how to cite the information and have links to other data and press releases about the data. The ProQuest LibGuide is pretty helpful.

Activity 12: History Day Help

REMINDER: when a patron comes up to you and asks for help with a History Day topic, make sure the patron has an active library account AND a pin number set up in order to access our databases from outside and to check out materials. (good advice)

1. Find out what National History Day is. 
http://www.history.com/shows/classroom/videos/national-history-day-history-of-nhd#national-history-day-history-of-nhd



2. Find out what the theme for History Day 2015 is.
3. Find some of the topics the Minnesota Historical Society suggests students work on.
4. Find where you will direct students to look for information on History Day in SPPL?
Blogging Exercise:
1. Explain your experience working on the tasks.

Looking at History Center for information on Roy Wilkins I found background information, historical documents, articles, a media clip and journal articles.  I think this can be a good source of some primary materials and background information. Also on the Teen page History Day Help there are some good links to not only the History Database, but also online repositories like the Library of Congress, National Archives, Minnesota Video Vault (tpt). I think these are good resources to share with students along with checking our catalog for print resources. Another resource that we don't link to directly (you can get to it through Other Online Databases and Websites and then Books and Literature and then E-Books) is HathiTrust Digital Library which offers a great wealth of digitized titles (government documents, etc) from libraries around the world. The only thing I don't like about HathiTrust is that I find it difficult to search at times.

2. Explain how you would apply it with History Day 2015?

I would/will hope to keep this information in my brain and to make sure the students are aware of these resources and at least point them out to the student/s and if there is time and desire on the student/s' part we could look at some of the resources together to try to see what they can find on their topic. Both the U of M and MHS have good information on how to organize one's search and presentation.

3. After performing the tasks, do you feel better prepared to help patrons out with History Day?
Yes, it is always good to have a reminder of what is available.



 

Activity 11: Search Engines Beyond Google:

I tried Bing and it seems pretty good. It does certainly have similarities to Google, but I like the sub-categories, reminds me a little of how Yahoo used to look. Under "More" there is a travel section, a translator and Explore Bing which has spotlights on timely information like Halloween and Elections (both coming up) and other topics depending on what time of year it is and then features of Bing.

 



I tried this search engine. It seems interesting..definitely less clutter and ads..and I guess it is good that it doesn't search your personal info..sometimes the ads/info gathered from data mining are interesting, but in general I suppose it is better if it doesn't do this. The searching seems pretty good. It does talk about instant answers and ways of searching, but I don't see how you get instant answers..I thought it would be something you click on.

I tried Ask and it definitely does have a lot of trivia questions, which are interesting..but I wonder what sources are being used to answer it and whether it is usually accurate. The one about Christopher Columbus and who funded his voyage matched what I had heard so that seems accurate...

 

RecipeBridge.com does have access to a lot of recipes..I guess it could be handy if you really want all of your recipes in one place? Maybe if you're very interested in food and cooking? Otherwise I think just searching the internet works well too.

 

I just tried  Momondo which seems interesting. I don't know whether Kayak being an "indepdently run" subsidiary of Priceline is bad..hard to say. I haven't really used either site before. But I did do a search on aurora borealis under "inspiration" and came up a list of the best places to see it so that's cool.  

 

At home I sometimes use www.goodsearch.com because I like the idea of donations being made to a charity of your choice. I used to use www.dogpile.com, but then I think I just ended up joining the Google bandwagon at work.