OALT Conference Thursday May 6, 2010

1. OALT Conference Thursday May 6, 2010

2. menu • Appetizer • Successful public computer training programs • Successful staff Web 2.0 training program—online! • Main Course • Adapting a staff training program into a public training program • An overview of Betty Blogger: A recipe for Web 2.0 • Dessert • Betty Blogger: successes and disappointments • Betty Blogger: adaptations

3. appetizer: Public Training • Six ingredients to successful public training: • Provide a suitable facility • Offer a variety of classes • Create a flexible yet structured schedule • Market, market, market! • Develop program policies • Encourage evaluation

4. appetizer: Public Training • Provide a suitable facility • Hands-on, demonstrative instruction • Consider • Accessibility • Customer needs

5. appetizer: Public Training • Offer a variety of classes • Create a flexible yet structured schedule • Consider: • Consistency • Public demand

6. appetizer: Public Training • Market, market, market! • Click! brochure • Consider: • Staff promotion, word of mouth, BPL Guide, newspaper ads, BPL Learning Center… • Develop program policies • Consider: • Registration, Minimum enrollment, Program fees

7. appetizer: Public Training • Encourage evaluation • Consider: • Demographics? • OS and email provider? • Other uses for the library? • Likes and dislikes? • Future suggestions?

8. appetizer: Staff Training • Seven ingredients to successful staff training: • Identify your “why’s?” • Do your research • Design it well • Give an incentive… • Provide support • Measure your outcomes

9. appetizer: Staff Training • Identify your “why’s?” • We considered: • Our Strategic Plan – “implement a computer skills program for technology and e-resources” • Growing public requests for assistance with Web 2.0 applications, and for information on using these tools • Expectations regarding the professional development of staff, i.e. reference desk staff staying current with new trends affecting Libraries

10. appetizer: Staff Training • Do your research • We considered: • Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenburg County • “Learning 2.0” staff program • We consulted: • McMaster University’s Amanda Etches-Johnson • User Experience Librarian

11. appetizer: Staff Training • Design it well • We created: • An online platform • Blogger.com • A persona • “Library Lady” http://bpltrainingroom.blogspot.com

12. appetizer: Staff Training • Design it well, con’t. • We created: • Ten tasks (and a summary…) • e-Mail • Blogs • RSS feeds • Flickr.com • Streaming • Productivity Tools • Wiki • Tagging • LibraryThing • Facebook

13. appetizer: Staff Training • Give an incentive… • We decided: • Staff participating on their own time: SanDiscSansa 250 • Staff participate on paid time: 5 hours of staff time • Why? • Increase staff buy-in / participation • Rewards staff for taking control of their PD • Ties in with downloadable e-Audiobooks

14. appetizer: Staff Training • Provide support • The Training staff: • Promoted coworker collaboration • Made computers available • Offered drop-in classes • Updated FAQ daily • Constant communication • Available through email/phone

15. appetizer: Staff Training • Measure your outcomes • We measured: • 137 possible participants • 112 participated • 82% participation rate • 40+ staff chose to participate • 112 began the program • 106 completed the tasks • 95% completion rate • 88 participants won MP3 players

16. main course: Public Training… Online! • Adapting: staff training becomes public training • Identify your “why’s?” • Design it well • Implement the program (step-by-step) • Monitor and communicate • Evaluate your success

17. main course: Public Training… Online! • Identify your “why’s?” • We considered: • Our Mission Statement: “Enriching Burlington through literacy, learning and community connections” • Our Strategic Plan – “Improve our collections, programs and services so that they reflect changing community needs” • What were we missing? • What weren’t we teaching? • Who weren’t we teaching?

18. main course: Public Training… Online! • Identify your “why’s?”, con’t. • We considered: • Our goals: • Enrich our community through lifelong learning • Enroll 100 students and see 1/3 of them graduate • Use the software we’re promoting • Encourage and support staff participation • Raise awareness and increase the profile of the library

19. main course: Public Training… Online! • Design it well • Liaison with Marketing and Communications • Think simply and design accessibly

20. main course: Public Training… Online! • Design it well, con’t. • Create your content • Be relevant and creative • Act “responsively” http://bplsummerschool.blogspot.com

21. main course: Public Training… Online! • Design it well, con’t. • Make it fun!

23. main course: Public Training… Online! • Design it well, con’t. • Prizes: to give or not to give… • 2008: • Creative Zen 8 GB Audio/Video MP3 Player • Canon Powershot 7.1 MP Digital Camera • The Reader Digital Book, from Sony • 2009: • Creative Zen 16 GB Audio/Video MP3 Player • Nintendo Wii • Toshiba L300D laptop

24. main course: Public Training… Online! • Design it well, con’t. • Support yourself with support materials • Get ready for registration • Designate an email account • Write emails and standard responses ahead of time • Create a Google Docs tracking document

25. main course: Public Training… Online! • Implementing the program • Market yourself well • Connect with your community • Create a routine your students can rely on: • Weekly emails (same format) and weekly tasks (same format) • Weekly drop-in sessions • Weekly feedback

26. main course: Public Training… Online! • Implementing the program, con’t. • Celebrate your successes • The importance of face-to-face exchange

27. main course: Public Training… Online! • Monitor and communicate • What did we anticipate and what were our realities? • Anticipated: 1 hour daily • Monitoring blogs/tracking progress • 3 hours of weekly drop-in sessions • Reality: 30 minutes daily • Monitoring blogs/tracking progress • 3 hours of weekly drop-in sessions

28. main course: Public Training… Online! • Evaluate your success • What were our goals and were we able to achieve them? • Were we able to: • Enroll 100 students and see 1/3 of them graduate? • Use the software we were promoting? • Raise awareness and increase the profile of the library? • Encourage and support staff participation? • Enrich our community through lifelong learning?

29. main course: Public Training… Online! • Evaluate your success • What were our successes: qualitative vs. quantitative? “The most important thing I learned in the Betty Blogger summer school was that I ROCK. I'm amazed that I could learn so much in so little time.” – Emma Lucy “The self-directed learning mode was wonderful. I am not very mobile, and sometimes when I have paid for a course at an outside location, I have to miss the class if I am having a bad day. It was very good to be able to work on assignments at home.” – Laverbread

30. main course: Public Training… Online! • Evaluate your success, con’t. • What were our successes: qualitative vs. quantitative? • “My son is enrolled in a Web 2.0 course at Brock University. He has a learning disability and I often help him with [school work.] His course calls for creating a blog, participating in a wiki, social networking etc. Yesterday I was able to explain to him the difference between a blog and a wiki, and tomorrow I help him set up his blog." – Knit Wit • “It's strange but by studying social networking using technologies I've learned more about social networking in the real, physical reality. I've made actual friends that I spend time with from the classes at the library… The library itself is a social net, for sure!” – Tambourini

31. dessert: Adaptations • Strategies for successful online training: • What were our disappointments? • Summer school drop outs: • program delinquency rears its ugly head. • Online privacy: • take a lesson from the Boy Scouts and BE PREPARED! • Commenting: • can you force people to “mingle” online? Yup. You can.

32. dessert: Successes and Disappointments • Strategies for successful online training: • What didn’t we anticipate? • Information overload is a myth • “I can’t remember my password…” and other dramas • Keep it simple… And when you think it’s simple, go back and make it simpler • Don’t forget your junk! • HAVE FUN! • What are our steps to success?

33. dessert: Adaptations • Where do we go from here? • “Her future’s so bright, she’s gotta wear shades!*” • ON Ministry of Culture's Angus Mowat Award • HALINET partnership, summer 2009 • Betty goes Invisible…? http://eresourcetraining.blogspot.com/ *Song Lyrics to "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades“, recorded by Timbuk 3, written by Pat McDonald, from the album Greetings From Timbuk 3, (1989)

34. après dîner