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Plays Well With IT

January 25, 2012 By

In the 15 years I’ve worked in libraries, I’ve been in many IT-related roles. A couple of them were even within an IT department. This has been a great vantage point from which to witness the challenging if not ghastly relationships librarians often have with IT.

I’ve been seeing a lot lately about technology training competencies for librarians. Yet something I rarely see mentioned in this context is relating well with IT departments.

As trainers, we have so much need for technology to support our training initiatives, and technology is often in the domain of IT. With this in mind, I thought I’d throw out an additional competency when it comes to technology training.

Competency: Plays Well with IT

Associated Skills and Knowledge:

1) Trainer befriends the Head of IT (substitute equivalent in your organization)

Ask the Head of IT to join you for lunch or coffee. More than once. This allows a human connection to grow between you. They’ll learn that you’re a competent professional, with your own set of skills and your own valid point of view within the organization. You will learn the same. Maybe you’ll end up on the radar when IT plans are being made that have the potential to impact you. You may be told about things going on in the organization that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Cultivate this relationship.

2) Trainer involves IT in planning

Let IT in on your training program plans. If your objectives and needs are understood, especially as they fit in to the larger direction of the organization, it’ll be much easier to get support for your initiatives. True or not, trainers (and many other librarians) have a reputation in IT for following the next shiny thing. It may not be so obvious to IT why everyone in the organization needs to learn social media, or why wikis and blogs are essential for your training program. Make sure your well-thought-out initiatives that involve technology are understood, and not seen as trivial.

3) Trainer folds IT into the product evaluation process

I once worked in a library where the public services management selected and went into a contract for a federated search product, without involving IT in the process. There were considerable implications for IT infrastructure and workload that weren’t planned for. Needless to say, this wasn’t awesome for the relationship between these departments.

Can your current IT infrastructure run the training software you’re evaluating? Host the files it puts out? Letting IT know about a product you want to purchase is a really good idea. Not only will you head off problems, you’ll be able to budget for additional hardware, software and IT staff time you may not have known you need.

4) Before the End Run, Trainer communicates

Sometimes, letting IT know what we’re planning and purchasing results in NO, or some level of control over our program so we’re not able to meet objectives. This is often due to lack of resources, but the bottom line for trainers can be that we’re held back from innovating and doing our jobs. This often leads us to take the proverbial End Run, leveraging the many possibilities for hosting material in the cloud, or using web services that are affordable and don’t involve our IT infrastructure.

If you decide on the End Run, let IT know in advance. They’re going to find out anyway. After the communication attempts you’ve already made, this is your last effort to understand any unanticipated impact.

There may be political or personal fallout from the End Run, and you’ll need to manage it. Sometimes, it’s only the End Run that allows IT to understand what you need. Sometimes, IT is even happy about the outcome.

5) After the End Run, Trainer befriends the Head of IT

See 1) above.

Do you have other ideas or experiences to share about working well with IT? Please feel free to offer them in the comments below.

Mary Beth Faccioli

Mary Beth Faccioli, MLIS is the Instructional Design and Technology Senior Consultant at the Colorado State Library.

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Refurbed Card Catalog becomes Awesome eReader Storage

March 17, 2011 By

How many of us have emply card catalogs gathering dust in the back halls of our our libraries? Linn McDonald, Library Media Specialist at the Bloomington Jr. High School in Illinois, came up with a creative way to take one of these treasured relics into the digital age. “I have received many many positive comments from fellow librarians as well as faculty and students in our school.” she says, “We found that both our Nooks and our Kindles fit in the drawers with their covers on.”

Linn adds that “the cabinet is perfect for organizing our eReaders as we have them in groups of six, and each column in the cabinet has six drawers. Most ebooks can be purchased once and placed on up to six Nooks, so each column represent one group. Each group is registered under a separate email address. That way, it’s easier for us to keep track of what books are on each group. I have labelled each column/group with a separate name. Our 4 groups are Eliot, Maya, Voltaire, and Beatrix, with each Nook in the group labelled as Eliot1, Eliot2, and so forth.”

She also mentions that they are balancing the use of thier Nook collection by checking out three groups to reading teachers and one group to individual students who return a form signed by a parent or guardian. The reading teachers are using the Nooks with groups of six students. “Some struggling readers, some very high-level readers – so we can reach a wider range of students in our school. Some groups are creating video or podcast book trailers after finishing their book. I’m sure other ideas will follow as we use these with our students.”

Thanks for sharing with us, Linn, and please keep us up to date on those new ideas!

Marianne Lenox

As the Staff Training & Volunteer Coordinator for the Huntsville - Madison County Public Library in Alabama, Marianne is responsible for planning, directing, maintaining and implementing a comprehensive staff training and volunteer program for her library. She consistently strives to provide learning opportunities, professional information and technical training to ensure both better library service and the professional development of the Library’s staff and volunteers.

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Filed Under: e-readers, Feature, Free Stuff, Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

E-readers: step into your patron’s shoes

February 21, 2011 By

My best preparation for helping others adapt to this new technology has been to own and operate my own e-reader. I will hereby truly confess that I was not instantly savvy and suave with the gadget of my choice. No, I definitely had a learning curve to climb. Even if you had no moments of confusion or missteps, put yourself in the shoes of your patrons. Imagine helping your not-so-computer-slick grandmother who doesn’t care about keeping up with the tech-savvy Joneses but just wants to read on a device that will allow her to adjust the font size to her liking.

The following are some of the assumptions I bumped up against while getting acquainted with my e-reader. Your patrons may be coming to the library to be disabused of similar assumptions.

1. I know how my device works.
Gadgets don’t come with detailed instruction manuals these days. No, I don’t believe it is the responsibility of library staff to be a walking instruction manual to educate patrons in the use of their devices; just be prepared for some level of ignorance about the features and functionality.

My shoes: I bought my e-reader at a big box electronic equipment store. After waiting 10 minutes for someone “knowledgeable” about e-readers to show up, I was not told anything more than the information I had arrived with and did not even have the opportunity to operate a test device. I learned later while reading reviews of my model that it has a stylus (so sleekly embedded that it was invisible to me) and the capability of writing and drawing note pages—cool!

2. Checking out an e-book from the library is as easy and familiar as checking out any other item.
It is super-easy to purchase a book from the brand’s online store with a wifi-enabled device. Simply locate the object of reading desire, supply your payment info, click purchase and the e-book pops onto the home screen rarin’ to be read. The commercial entities are good at creating a user-friendly process. This sets up a consumer expectation that the process will be equally seamless for a library download. Not so much.

My shoes: As I navigated to the special “digital books” section on my library website (not the regular catalog), I did diligently read the fine print, the list of compatible devices and the instructions for installing the special software to my computer (not my e-reader) that would allow me to download a book many steps later. I managed to download the desired book but then became confused about how to transfer it to my e-reader. I called tech support and received immediate assistance—yay!

3. I won’t have to wait on a hold list for the electronic version of a popular book.
Wrong.  Don’t be surprised if you are confronted by disappointed patrons. With the surge in popularity of e-readers, the waiting lists will only lengthen.

My shoes: If I had stopped to think about licensing restrictions on electronic content, I would have realized that, of course, there would be limited distribution of digital copies. But in spite of my insider library knowledge, I was caught by surprise to find that a book I wanted had 3 copies available and 8 people ahead of me. I’ve been waiting over two weeks so far …

Enough assumptions for now. I’ll close with a success story for my library: Seattle Public Library. This is actually my husband’s story. He was attempting to download his first library e-book and ran into a similar problem to the one I had encountered. Only it was 2:00 in the morning. He called the tech support number listed on the SPL “digital books” page. Someone answered the call! My husband was so pleased with the immediate help he received that he asked how he could donate to the library. The tech support person helped him navigate to the online donation form and the library was subsequently $50 better off.

Moral of the story: if your library is proud of its e-book tech support, why not place a “Donate Now!” button right next to the “help” button?

Betha Gutsche

Betha Gutsche has been a virtual librarian ever since receiving her MLIS from the University of Washington Information School. Immersed in the online community of WebJunction, she has cultivated community connections through forums, live online events, and writing stories about the library community. She has delved into e-learning design, curriculum development, needs assessment, and all things connected to social learning in the online world. Betha is the editor-in-chief of the Competency Index for the Library Field. She is now the manager of Project Compass, a program working with public libraries to augment their service to communities impacted by tough times. Underneath it all, Betha is an artist and loves to raise awareness of visual literacy and introduce people to the power of image.

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E-readers, Libraries, and Training…Oh My!

February 18, 2011 By

After Christmas it hit like a storm. Questions from patrons about e-readers along with usage of NetLibrary and OverDrive soared. With the drop in price of Amazon Kindles and then competitors dropping their prices to match, e-readers went from being the tool of the tech-elite to a device that nearly anyone can afford.

According to Linda Raymond, materials management manager for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library, new patron use of OverDrive is up 160% over last year, circulation of digital content increased by 399%, and holds on digital content increased 178%. Raymond says circulation would be even higher if we had more materials to meet the increased demand.

Evolution of Readers

Evolution of Readers by John Blyberg

With this surge in the use of e-readers and library lending of digital materials, questions from the public have increased as well. Nathan Cook, library service specialist II for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library works in the busy Telephone Reference department of the library. Cook says that for the first few days after Christmas nearly every other call was about e-readers–mostly from the elderly who received e-readers as gifts. Now the questions are down to five to six a day

Providing training on e-readers for staff at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library has been challenging due to the fact that we have no money in our current budget to purchase the devices needed to conduct training. Luckily staff from the North Carolina Master Trainer program have been trained in the use of e-readers and are prepared with an “E-Reader Petting Zoo” which will be coming to Charlotte in April.

How has Cook answered this blitz of questions with no training? Cook says, “I’ve answered questions with a combination of guesswork, luck and the printed instructions that are linked from our Media Downloads page. Between using what we already have available on our page, and the Internet to check out the websites and FAQs of the individual readers themselves (or their makers’ companies), I’d estimate I am actually successful in helping at least 75% or 80% of the questions I get about these services.”

I’m always pleased when I see staff like Cook who are resourceful and seek out the information needed to get the job done. Other staff at the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library have taken field trips or training classes to Barnes and Noble to try out the Nook. These are the people we need helping us to research and prepare for training! As leaders in training it is our job to not only provide training for staff, like Cook, who field such questions about tech gadgets but to also anticipate “the next big thing” that will impact our staff.

Our theme at ALA Learning for February and March will be staff training on e-readers. Were you prepared for the e-reader craze? How are you preparing now? Do you have any materials you’d like to showcase here on ALA Learning? In addition to posts from our contributing authors, we want to hear from you! If you have a story to tell or training materials to share, please contact me at webmaster@alalearning.org. We’re looking forward to hearing from you!



Lori Reed

Lori Reed, Managing Editor of ALA Learning, has more than 15 years experience in training and is the Learning & Development Coordinator for the Charlotte Mecklenburg Library where she oversees the learning & development of a diverse group of staff at twenty libraries. Lori’s passions are performance consulting, learning strategies, and e-learning. Lori is coauthor, with Paul Signorelli, of Workplace Learning and Leadership: A Handbook for Library and Nonprofit Trainers. Lori also blogs at LoriReed.com and can be reached at lori[at]lorireed.com.

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5 Library Sources for Quick Computer Training

September 25, 2010 By

It’s hard to find good online technology tutorials, especially those for quick and basic computer skills. Harder still to find some that meet our high expectations as information professionals. So why not turn to the library world itself?

Below is a collection of my top 5 favorite sites for these quick computer training materials. These could be webinars, class handouts, tutorials, screencasts, you name it. What’s important is the content. It’s content I’m comfortable pointing a customer or a fellow staff member to if some core computer fundamental skills need improving. Weirdly, two institutions get two mentions apiece — but that’s because what they have is awesome.  Browse through what they have, and you might be surprised to find there’s something there for you too!

  1. Infopeople Archived Webinars (all past Infopeople webinars, often with PPTs or other handouts linked too; on topics other than technology too)
  2. Infopeople Training Materials from Past Workshops (from 8 hour live classes and 4 week online classes each class includes numerous how-tos, readings, bibliographies, exercises, tutorials, cheat sheets, and more; on topics other than technology too)
  3. Akron Summit County Public Library Computer Training Class Handouts (great list, copious detail)
  4. Akron Summit County Public Library Computer Training Tutorials List (equally good list but the materials are in tutorial format)
  5. Milwaukee Public Library Computer Class Curriculum (an extremely detailed list of basic and more intermediate computer skills, with printable handouts on how to do just about everything customers ask you how to do)

Sarah Houghton-Jan

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How Free and Open Source Software Can Help

April 22, 2010 By

ALA’s Library Instruction Round Table issued a call for presenters this month to participate in their conference program, “Capitalizing on Technology: A Teaching Technology Fair” during the 2010 ALA Annual Conference in Washington, D.C. June 24-29.

Here is their Program Description:

Using technology in teaching is an ever changing process and keeping aware of new technologies can be daunting. Come discover how using free or open source software can enhance instruction. Presenters will discuss and demonstrate using various technologies in their instruction. Attendees will then be able to talk with librarians who use free or open source technology. Even if you just want to learn more about how free or open source software is being used, this session will help you capitalize on technology.

First of all, if you’re going to the conference and attend this program, please share with us what you learn.  I will not be there and can’t wait to see what comes out of this program.

Next, this made me think of all of the free and open source software I use to actually do my job and would like to share my list with all of you.  The easiest way to do this is to go through the sequence of what I open when I get to work in the morning and then other applications I use throughout a typical day.

After I turn my computer on and log in, I open our Spark Instant Messaging client.  This is used internally in the IT Department (of which I am a member).  Throughout the day, we communicate to each other using this open source IM client.  We let each other know where we are or where we are going or when we are back (no clunky in/out board for us!).  We ask questions of the group for clarification, or we can just chat individually with someone.  We send important links, and a myriad of other communications throughout the day.  The techs can even jump in with questions when they are out in a library troubleshooting or installing new equipment/software.  This has cut down on departmental emails and has strengthened our teamwork approach.

Next I open Outlook, which we all know is NOT free.  After that, I launch my Firefox Browser.  This is my browser of choice, and I have it customized with many

Greasemonkey scripts (allows for customization of the way a Web page displays using small bits of JaveScript) and other Add-Ons; all of which are free.  Here’s a screen shot of a few of them…

Meebo is a Web based IM that lets me log into my IM networks from any computer with a browser and internet connection.  So my Google Talk, AOL IM, Messenger and a host of other IM/Chat clients can be accessed all at once in a single buddylist from anywhere.  Because I use the meebo firefox extension, this loads automatically when I launch my browser.  I have also placed the meebo me widget on all of my blogs and on other sites I’ve used for workshops as well as within our Intranet so that anyone can reach me anytime instantaneously when they need assistance.  Another great way to avoid email.

The first site I open in my browser is Basecamp.  (Actually, using the Morning Coffee Add-On, these sites open automatically into separate tabs when I click the icon on my browser).  This is the open source project management software my department uses.  We started with a free version, and now we do use a paid version.  I love this.  It keeps me on task for all of my projects and trainings.  The templates are the best.  If I teach a class on a rotating basis, I can just pull in a template of each task and step I need to do to prepare for, conduct and follow up for a class.  When working on projects with others, I can clearly see the scope of the project, what my tasks are and when they need to be completed, and everyone else’s tasks.  Again, this has added better communication and teamwork within our department.

Gmail, is what I open next.  What can I say except that I absolutely could not live without it.  The labels, filters, and ability to add in so many other features makes this the email client of choice for me.  Many times, I have contemplated forwarding my work emails into Gmail for better organization, but I have not taken that leap to date.  Instead, what I have done, is signed up using my Gmail account for all of the listserves, Google groups, Yahoo groups and others.  This way I can filter all of those out into labels (think folders on steroids) to read when I have time.  Also, if I want to use a vacation message in my professional Outlook email, all of those groups will not have to read that because I did not sign up for them using my Outlook account.  Truly, there is nothing more annoying than seeing someone’s vacation message all over the place…

SurveyMonkey is my next stop.  It is great for creating surveys, but it can do a lot more than that!  We do not have a Web programmer at MPOW.  I needed a free and easy way to handle registrations for my training classes.  The ideal would be an online form that would feed into a database.  I was tired of people just sending me an email to sign up for a class and then placing that information into a spreadsheet.  So, a few years ago, I began using SurveyMonkey in a creative way.  We do have the paid version here, which allows me to use logic and export results directly into Excel.  Staff click a link on our Intranet to register for training.  It takes them to a survey I created that contains almost 30 pages with logic built in.  They only see on average about 5 of those pages as they register.  Each class option leads them down a different logical path of pages.  Each class has pre-requisites and I didn’t want to have to keep checking with people when I used to use email to see if they had the skills necessary for a class.  They would fail to include that information in their email even when asked.  The registration survey forces them on a logical path for each separate class.  So, to take Microsoft Word Level 2, it asks them if they have Basic Windows skills or have already taken the Basic Windows class.  If they aren’t sure, it links them to another survey where I have built a Basic Windows Pre-Test.  After that, it asks them if they have Word Level 1 skills or have already taken that class.  Again, they are linked to a pre-test if they aren’t sure.  This has made registrations a snap now and I rarely have to follow-up with anyone.  Feel free to take a look at this and test it out if you like here (Don’t worry, I created a copy of my true registration, so you can fill in whatever you like and it won’t get mixed up with the real data).

I check my account daily to see who has registered for classes or who has completed a Pre-Test that I need to process and send results.

The last site I open is our Intranet.  We use an open source wiki from MindTouch as our Intranet.  We do pay for support.  Before we moved to this a few years ago, we had one person who could post to our Intranet which was a static Web site he maintained using Dreamweaver.  Everything had to go through him and it sometimes took a few days before information was posted due to his workload.  Now, ANYONE can post to the Intranet with a few clicks.  The user interface is super easy to use.  Plus, there is the opportunity to build community with a comment box on every page.  We are currently working on a redesign to put some procedures into place and to make it easier to find stuff.  We pretty much just slapped it together in the beginning.  We may be doing things backwards, but at least people can get information out quickly and cut down on the tremendous amounts of email that used to fly around here.

Now for the random array of many other free and open source sites that help me in my work…

I love Doodle for helping me to coordinate dates for training classes or meetings.  This is a free, Web-based scheduling tool.  I used to schedule classes randomly and sometimes only get 1 or 2 students sign up.  I changed this model to one where you have to sign up to be put on a waiting list for a class.  Once I have 4 people signed up, I use Doodle to coordinate the best date for those 4 people.  Once that date is determined, I then broadcast the selected date to everyone and usually more people then register.  My training room accommodates 12 people.  This method has been very effective.  I’ve been doing this a little over 2 years now and I teach classes less often but pull in more people.  This wastes less of my time and students’ time and allows me to do more one-on-one trainings.  See how beneficial a free little Web ap can be?

Oh how I sing the praises of Jing!  I can use Jing to capture anything I see on my computer screen and share it instantly.  This can be as an image or a short movie.  As much as I wanted to be able to use Captivate years ago, I never had the time to really learn and use it effectively.  I even went to a 2-day course and didn’t get the hang of it.  That was before all of these free and easy screen casting and screen capture tools started popping up everywhere.  I began using Jing about 2 years ago and may have to get a pro license soon.  For now, everything I’ve done has been for free.  My first use was when we pushed out Outlook Exchange to all of the member libraries.  I created an entire library of how-to videos and posted them to our Intranet.  Then, I started just sending out little videos of how-tos when questions would come up.  I can literally throw on my headset, hit a button, have the video uploaded online and a link or embed code ready to go in 10 minutes.  It’s that simple.  Plus, they have great video tutorials in their help area to get started.  However, if you’re someone who likes to do a lot of editing, forget it.  This is about quick and one take.  For professional tutorials, guess I’m going to have to eventually learn one of the others…

You gotta love Dimdim‘s slogan… “Why meet when you can Dimdim?”  I’ve only used this a few times so far, but it’s free and pretty easy.  It lets anyone host and attend live meetings, demos and webinars using just a Web browser.  The free version only allows for a small meeting.  So far that’s all I’ve needed it for.  I’ve also used it to share a screen to show someone how to do something.  Looks like we’re going to be using GoToMeeting now as we just purchased an account.  Something new to learn but at least I can begin doing large scale webinars.

Have I mentioned that I’m a Google junkie?  Google is also my home page for any browser I use.  This past year I made the switch from Bloglines to Google reader as my RSS Feed Reader.  There really is no going back.  I love being able to put multiple labels on a feed and easily share items.  I’ll never be able to actually read everything I have in there, but somehow what’s really important floats to the top and I get the information I need.

Told you, Google junkie… I use Google calendar for many things.  We use it right here on ALA Learning to figure out who posts when.  I like to keep everyone informed about all of the great (and many of them free) library-related training opportunities that abound outside of our System.  I cull information from many feeds and listserves into one big Library-Related Training Opportunities Google Calendar.  It’s easy to just paste information into the calendar and insert a little HTML where needed.  I use a widget on our Intranet and the full calendar embed code at the bottom of my blog.

The theme continues… Google docs helps me to collaborate with people here at MPOW and all over the globe.  This is another tool that we use here on ALA Learning to keep some sense of order to this team blog.  I also like to use the docs or spreadsheets when I’m sharing data gathered from questions I’ve raised in groups or listserves where people want to see the results of my query.  One usually cannot attach documents or pdfs to listserve posts, so giving a published Google doc link is helpful.  See an example here.

Remember I mentioned that we do not have a Web programmer?  Well Google Forms, which are a part of Google docs, are a wonderful way to create forms for placement on Web pages.  I use this on our Intranet as a way for people to report any continuing education/training they have received throughout the year.  Our supply request form was created by our Collection Development/Technical Services department and has again cut down an tons of emails.  You can also set up simple surveys using a form.

I haven’t had time yet to really learn how to do a podcast using Audacity, getting a good mic, mixer etc etc.  I occasionally fill in as host of the T is for Training show and have gotten very familiar with Talkshoe.  This is a service that lets anyone easily create, join, or listen to live interactive discussions, conversations, podcasts and audioblogs.  I think a great use of this would be if I recorded a weekly training tip that I could then share with everyone via my blog and the Intranet and of course iTunes.  Talkshoe does all of this quite easily.  If you want to know more about it, ask the pro, Maurice.

Honestly, I could keep going and going.  There’s Skype and Slideshare and Scribd There’s the Blogger and WordPress blogging platforms I use.  I won’t even get into the free social networking stuff (think twitter, facebook, flickr…)  These are much more familiar than the items I’ve discussed.

So tell me, what free and open source software do you use to make you more effective and efficient in your job?  Please comment and let us know.  I can’t wait to learn about new gems out there!

Stephanie Zimmerman

Stephanie Zimmerman is the Training Coordinator for the Library System of Lancaster County (Pennsylvania), a federated system with 14 member libraries, three branches and a bookmobile, which serves 490,562 residents. She designs and implements technology and development training and consulting to the member libraries. This includes training on Innovative’s Millennium Integrated Library System, Microsoft Office Applications, emerging technologies (i.e. social media) and various other areas. Her goal is to remove the fear of technology and help others to realize the amazing possibilities it provides. Teaching others to do things for themselves and see their excitement when they break through their barriers is her greatest reward. Stephanie has been a software trainer for 15 years. Her past employment involved training on federal and county government applications. She also worked for a private industry marketing company where she traveled across the country showing manufacturers and retailers in the consumer packaged goods industry how to use geodemographic targeting software. Always wanting to help others, Stephanie graduated from Millersville University (in Pennsylvania) cum laude with a BA in Social Work. She was also a student in the Computer Information Systems program at Harrisburg Area Community College. She is a member of ASTD (American Society of Training and Development). She is also a regular contributor to the T is for Training podcast which focuses on training in libraries. She was a trainer for WebJunction’s Spanish Language Outreach project and has done training for Commonwealth Libraries. She is grateful to have landed in the world of libraries. When she began her current job in January of 2004, there were no other library trainers in her immediate area. She turned to the social web to begin networking with other library trainers across the world and immediately realized her passion for social networking and social media. All of her continuing education has been done through these networks and she can’t help but push others to discover the immense opportunities available through online collaboration. Stephanie lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her family which includes husband, Bill (a self-employed stay-at-home-dad) and two children (ages 2 and 4 months). When she’s not being Mommy, or working, you’ll most likely find her singing. Stephanie can be reached at szimmerman[at]lancasterlibraries.org.

Filed Under: Cool Tools, Free Stuff, Resources for Trainers, Technology, The Training Life Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Five Tips For Successful Webinars

March 15, 2010 By

Good webinars don’t just happen.  Beyond having a relevant topic and a great presenter, there are a number factors that affect the end result.  Whether you are scheduling and producing webinars, or creating and presenting them, these tips will help you deliver a great webinar experience for everyone.
5tips

  1. Write for the medium: Regardless of the webinar platform you use, tailor the lesson plan to the webinar environment.  Most webinars consist of an audio feed, a chat space, and a space that allows the presenter to share a slideshow, and possibly share their desktop or a whiteboard.  The webinar environment doesn’t allow for the useful visual cues that body language and eye contact provide in a f2f environment, and may not even provide audio feedback for the presenter.  For these reasons, well-designed lessons that work like a charm in a f2f environment might fail to engage the audience and hold their attention in a webinar environment.


    You can mitigate these issues and engage the audience by building in more questions, and taking advantage of whatever interactive features are offered in your platform.  Does your platform offer polling?  Use it!  Shared whiteboard?  Use it!  Hand-raising or yes/no capability for participants?  Use them!!

    MORE INTERACTION
    I like to start webinars by posting a map of the state (or country) and asking participants to use the arrow tool in Wimba to point to where they are on the map.  This communicates to the participants early on that the webinar will not be a passive experience for them–they are going to be involved.  I also work with trainers/presenters to build in slides/questions that can be drawn on (literally) during the webinar, and encourage presenters to include these types of interactive activities throughout the presentation.  At minimum, plan on using more questions, and using them early, to mentally engage participants and create the expectation that they will not be passive observers.

  2. Know your platform:  There are many good webinar platforms out there including Acrobat Connect Pro, iLInc, Elluminate, Wimba, WebEx, DimDim, and GoToWebinar.  Each platform has its own benefits and its own limitations.  You wouldn’t go into a f2f training without knowing the room layout and the availability of training tools such as chartpads, markers, laptop, AV, projectors, screen, etc., so don’t go into your webinar environment without knowing the layout, the tools available, and how to use them.   Most webinar platforms offer some great screen-shot heavy help files and/or recorded screencasts you can use to learn the layout and the tools.  Find them.  Use them.  Once you know your platform…

  3. Test, Test Test: The most common reason a webinar tanks is technology failure.  Wait, let me rephrase that.  The failure is not the technology, but the failure of the webinar producer, presenter, and participants to account for the platform’s limitations, and prepare and test their computers.  Each platform has it’s own requirements regarding browsers, operating systems, necessary bandwidth, and downloads/plugins recommended or required.  Each platform generally offers a simple link that can be clicked to setup/test the user’s computer.  Every person involved in the webinar must click the setup link prior to the webinar and make certain their computer is set up, tested, and ready to go.  Send this information out early and often to the participants. And make sure the presenter has tested/setup the computer they will be presenting from, and make sure it is a wired, not wireless, connection. 
    Let everyone know the preferred method of audio participation.  Nothing beats a good noise-canceling headset. (I love my Logitech Premium Notebook Headset.)  If you’re offering dial-in access, send/post the number/PIN.  If participants are going to use laptop or desktop speakers, make sure they know to mute their microphones!  Nothing ruins a webinar faster than feedback (which is why you also need to know how to mute participants individually or en masse–it’s a lifesaver.)

  4. Practice, Practice, Practice Whether you are the webinar producer, presenter, or both (not recommended), it is imperative that you log some practice time in the webinar environment.   I highly recommend that there is at least one “producer” in the webinar (i.e. someone other than the presenter who knows the webinar platform cold.)  The more experienced the producer, the less time the presenter has to practice–but the presenter ALWAYS has to practice.  At minimum, the presenter should know how to advance slides (if using them), and how to log out and log back in again, in case of a network interruption.  Desktop/application sharing, a vital part of some webinars, adds a higher level of complication, and usually requires the presenter to master the application sharing mechanism–something that is not always simple or intuitive.  The producer needs to know everything else: How to advance slides, how to mute participants, how to expand/limit control of various room features (whiteboards, control of microphone, etc.), how to toggle between various features (polls, whiteboards, slides.)

  5. THE ACTUAL EVENT:  So, the presenter has written a great lesson, you’ve learned your platform inside and out, everything has been setup and tested.  Now there’s just the little matter of actually having the webinar!  Here are a few tips that I’ve found will greatly reduce problems and add to the overall quality on the day of the event:
  • Arrive early: Both the presenter and producer should arrive at least 15 minutes early to get logged in and do a final test to make sure the technology is working, and do one final review of the tools/features to be used.
  • Webinar Environment Review: Before the presenter begins the lesson/presentation, spend five minutes doing a brief review of the webinar environment with participants.  Walk them through playing with the features that they will be using during the webinar (writing tools, pointing tools, etc.)
  • Have a wingman (or woman): In webinar parlance, the wingman is the the producer’s assistant.  The wingman ideally knows the webinar platform inside and out, and is available to help participants with any tech/audio issues, and keep an eye on chat for questions or problems.
  • Recording: Yeah, it’s a newbie mistake, but it happens to everyone.  Don’t forget to hit “record”!  (I put this right into my script in 24 point bold type.  But then again, I need notes to myself to remember to leave the house with my pants on in the morning.  Whatever works for you.)
  • Take notes during the webinar: During the course of the webinar many useful resources and/or URL’s may be mentioned by the presenter or by the participants in chat.  It’s a great value-added service if you can capture these resources and post them with the recording and other handouts (i.e. the presenter’s slideshow, supporting documents) after the webinar.
  • Save the chat: Before logging out, copy and paste everything in the chat into a word document and save that document… Besides being a good backup for the recording, having a text copy of the chat to share with the webinar participants after the webinar can help them quickly  find useful pieces of information that may have been shared in chat.  I treat the chat transcript as semi-confidential and I don’t post it–but depending on the webinar I will send copies directly to those who participated.
  • Extend the Learning. Post the recording, notes, handouts:  Finally, spend some time in post-production (the specifics vary with each webinar platform) and get the recording posted to a website along with related documents and the presenter’s presentation, if available.

I hope you find these five tips useful in creating or presenting your webinars.  Let us know what works for you!

Peter Bromberg

Filed Under: E-Learning, Presentation Tips, Technology Tagged With:

Making Microsoft Office Sing

March 12, 2010 By

Are you one of the lucky ones tasked with training Microsoft Office products?  Does the thought of doing so overwhelm you?  Relax, there are a ton of resources available to help you put together a suite of training that will knock anyone’s socks off!

Knock Socks Off

Original photo from cheezburger.com

First, I know this is a bit late, but at MPOW a few of us are just now moving to Office2007.  We are planning on moving the whole system to Office2010 eventually.  For now, my challenge was helping the few of us moving to 2007 without launching an entire training program since everyone else is still using 2003.  I was so happy to find the Guides to the Ribbon on Microsoft’s site.

The most challenging part of moving from Office2003 to Office2007 is the Ribbon.  I’m still not thrilled with the thing, but I can see that if I were a brand new user who hasn’t been a slave to the Office Suite for more years than I care to count, it is probably a bit easier to learn.  My brain to hand movements for making Office work are automatic after years of using and training on the software.  I love the Interactive Guides that you can run right from the page or, even better, download to have with you at any time.  I have the guides on my computer’s desktop so I can get to them quickly and I also carry them around on my thumb drive to use when helping people on location.

Here is a quick screencast of what the guides look like in action:

Now let’s look at all of the various resources out there that can help you put together that awesome training program for your staff or patrons.

The obvious place to start is Microsoft Office’s site itself.  They have many free, self-paced online training courses.  They’ve just launched an awesome tool called the Enterprise Learning Framework.  This helps you to develop a training and communication plan during deployments of upgrades.  You choose the topics you want people to learn and it will create a customized email with links to all of the online training available.  Very cool!  There are also free training presentations, and the Unlimited Potential Curriculum which is free for non commercial use in nonprofits.  I still have more to explore in Microsoft’s resources.  Check them out and please let us know in comments other tools you may have used from this rich collection.

Next stop is WebJunction’s Technology area.  There are a wealth of resources there.  When focusing on Office, be sure to see the Office Applications area.  Don’t reinvent the wheel, there are many others who have already done this.

I also like the stuff put out by GCF Learn Free a part of the Goodwill Community Foundation, Inc.  They have a YouTube channel that I subscribe to that puts out quick and easy tutorials on a variety of topics including Office.

Don’t forget a Google search on free microsoft office training!

If you’re willing to spend some money, there are many companies that have already done the hard work of creating the curriculums needed for Office training.  Again, a Google search on microsoft office training curriculum will get you started.

Personally, I had to go the route of putting out some cash to save me the hours of time it would take to build my own curriculum.  It would have been more expensive for my system to pay me to do that than it is for me to renew my license with CustomGuide every year.  The price is very minimal for a non profit.  Their courseware is totally customizable and includes online learning as well.  They have pre-assessments and post assessments to help as well.

I hope you have fun building your own Office Training Program.  It’s amazing how you can make someone’s day by showing them an easier and more efficient way to get the job done using Office.

Please let us know what you’ve done and share your links with us!

Stephanie Zimmerman

Stephanie Zimmerman is the Training Coordinator for the Library System of Lancaster County (Pennsylvania), a federated system with 14 member libraries, three branches and a bookmobile, which serves 490,562 residents. She designs and implements technology and development training and consulting to the member libraries. This includes training on Innovative’s Millennium Integrated Library System, Microsoft Office Applications, emerging technologies (i.e. social media) and various other areas. Her goal is to remove the fear of technology and help others to realize the amazing possibilities it provides. Teaching others to do things for themselves and see their excitement when they break through their barriers is her greatest reward. Stephanie has been a software trainer for 15 years. Her past employment involved training on federal and county government applications. She also worked for a private industry marketing company where she traveled across the country showing manufacturers and retailers in the consumer packaged goods industry how to use geodemographic targeting software. Always wanting to help others, Stephanie graduated from Millersville University (in Pennsylvania) cum laude with a BA in Social Work. She was also a student in the Computer Information Systems program at Harrisburg Area Community College. She is a member of ASTD (American Society of Training and Development). She is also a regular contributor to the T is for Training podcast which focuses on training in libraries. She was a trainer for WebJunction’s Spanish Language Outreach project and has done training for Commonwealth Libraries. She is grateful to have landed in the world of libraries. When she began her current job in January of 2004, there were no other library trainers in her immediate area. She turned to the social web to begin networking with other library trainers across the world and immediately realized her passion for social networking and social media. All of her continuing education has been done through these networks and she can’t help but push others to discover the immense opportunities available through online collaboration. Stephanie lives in Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her family which includes husband, Bill (a self-employed stay-at-home-dad) and two children (ages 2 and 4 months). When she’s not being Mommy, or working, you’ll most likely find her singing. Stephanie can be reached at szimmerman[at]lancasterlibraries.org.

Filed Under: E-Learning, Resources for Trainers, Technology Tagged With: , ,

Transfer of Training in a 2.0 World

March 10, 2010 By

If you follow ALA Learning, you’ve probably realized by now that I’m an e-learning addict. In my last post, Fighting for Attention, I shared some insight into how to add digital pizzazz to your e-learning efforts. Today I want to invite you to come and play inside my digital sandbox, and check out three intriguing tools I’ve been tinkering with to help with transferring knowledge from the classroom back to the work environment.
 

Twitter Gaming
I was a huge fan of Terminator and Terminator II: Judgment Day. Needless to say that was I stoked to learn that Sony would release another Terminator flick after the apocalyptic letdown that was Terminator III. Before the launch of Terminator Salvation, Sony cooked up Resistance 2018, an elaborate game using Twitter, in which members of the human resistance army were using Twitter to decode messages from Skynet. Players earned points by decoding the messages. As players earned points, they rose up the leader boards on the Resistance 2018 website and achieved higher rank in the army.

I’ve been experimenting with the setup of how to make a Terminator-esque Twitter game for my library. A spiel of this sort can be used as a follow up exercise for any class where you need to do a knowledge check. For example, I’ve created a basic reference e-learning module, and the “homework” portion of the class is a massive set of reference questions. While I believe in the value of having folks new to libraries demonstrate an understanding of reference resources, I heard seen in my evaluation surveys that new hires really dislike the chore answering the questions. For my next batch of new hires, I plan to use a Twitter game like Resistance 2018 in which I invite the new hires to use their Twitter accounts to answer reference questions sent by me. As in Resistance 2018, the person who answers a question the quickest with the correct answering (citing their source along the way) will receive the most points. I’ll set up a leader board on a private Sharepoint blog so the newbies can compete for bragging rights.
 

ExitReality
For years companies have valiantly attempted to transform casual web-browsing into an interactive 3D experience. Platforms like GoGoFrog and 3dxplorer can give you an overall feel for the web in three dimensions. Both sites have potential, but by and large, the result is a clunky 3D browser that subtracts – not add – value to your web surfing experience. ExitReality is one of those tools that I find absolutely useless when used as a method for web surfing; however, ExitReality serves as an outstanding three dimensional meeting platform.

ExitReality is a small plugin that, once downloaded onto a computer, turns any webpage into a 3D space based on a theme of your choosing. Turn a webpage into an apartment, dojo, movie theater, etc. The list goes on. Users can select from more than 100 available avatars and then begin chatting immediately – either with text or through VoIP, thanks to the dynamo that is Flash 10. Rooms vary in size, but most are large enough to comfortably handle a small group of 5-7 participants with plenty of space to move around.

Since the plugin automatically renders websites, you will find that pages that have many links on them are somewhat difficult to use in 3D. As a work around, I recommend designing your own simple webpage using Microsoft Word. Include a few links to material that supplement what was taught in class and then publish your site online using a free web hosting site, like X10 Hosting.

Consider using ExitReality as a live, real-time discussion forum for your learners to meet after class and discuss concepts or ask additional questions of instructors. The added layer of interactivity is nice, and the core functionality of multi-user chat with VoIP is well worth this 4.5mb download.

A 3D intro video to one of my e-learning classes shown on the big screen in Exit Reality.

 
Bubblr
Bubblr is an easy to use, web-based program that allows users to create comic strips from Flickr photos. After a strip is published, it can be printed, shared by email, or embedded in a blog. I envision Bubblr as a tool to where you can invite learners to demonstrate comprehension of class concepts by synthesizing their knowledge through a comic strip. For instance, I’ll be conducting an orientation soon to provide new employees with an overview of the library. As a follow up exercise, the new employees will need to create a short comic strip that demonstrates that they understand how our branches are arranged. Here is a quick strip that I put together to showcase this neat tool.

What online tools are you using to maximize training transfer?

Jay Turner

Jay Turner, Training Manager at Gwinnett County Public Library in Georgia, is responsible for all aspects of learning and development for a staff of 300+ employees. He considers himself a lifelong student, and delights in sharing his passion for learning with anyone willing to listen (much to their chagrin!) He is a library lifer, who began working in libraries as a teen and has worn almost every conceivable public services hat since. Jay’s diversity of experience helps him develop and deliver solutions that are creative, practical, and effective. He is a self-proclaimed information and tech junkie, who gets his fix by playing in his “digital sandbox” with new tools and neat ideas to make learning more accessible, more flexible, and more fun across any medium. He can be reached at jayturner[at]comcast.net.

Filed Under: Cool Tools, E-Learning, Technology Tagged With: , , , ,

5 Tips for Trainers to Prevent TechFail

February 4, 2010 By

Rewind to Monday, February 1, 2010. It’s 11:45 am at the Harford Public Administration offices.

It’s a typical Monday morning: catching up on email, social media, mailboxes moving slowly toward zero. I prepare to jot down some notes for this post on the ALA Learning Blog.  I open my trusty laptop and start banging away at some ideas about marketing your trainings and marketing yourself.

I take a break and find some video blogging resources on the web and >>>WHAMMO<<< surreptitious website redirection to an unknown Web site, leads to an extremely large popup ad that says:

YOU HAVE BEEN INFECTED…DOWNLOAD OUR PRODUCT NOW.

The background on the screen becomes an ugly green/yellow color and says:

YOU ARE INFECTED SAVE YOURSELF!

Well it said something like that making me think a zombie had entered the interwebs. I clicked the X to close the program, which of course installed the bleeping thing. I tried the faithful CTRL + ALT + DEL keys and discovered I lost Task Manager.

To sum it up, it’s a Monday morning and I lost my computer.

Yeah. Good times. The upshot is that my laptop has now been nuked. Wiped out. Toast.

But I am such a twenty-year plus veteran tech head, of course I saved my data on our network. Right? Well, no not quite everything. So that stuff is toast. I lost two projects in various stages of brilliance.

Did I mention that my brand new HTC Hero (an Android based smartphone), with 50+ apps and set up to my specs also decided to take a holiday to bricktown? Yeah, great day Monday was, so as we stand today (Thursday) the Hero had to get fully wiped–as did the laptop. But, I got an upgrade to Windows 7 so I have that working for me! Yeah me.

So, what does this have to do with training you ask?

There are so many aspects to creating and delivering training and presentations that inform and transform that sometimes we forget some essential training tech tricks that save our sanity. I like to think my bad day of tech inspired this list so that you may not have a day like my “Techfail” Monday.

Training Tech Tip One: If you need it, back it up.

Backing up your important data should be as automatic as the sun rising. You will always be thankful for backed up copies of your presentations, research, writing and photographs when your computer goes belly up–which it will when you least want it to do so. Make sure you do this on a regular basis. If you are a mobile trainer, you may want to back your stuff up in the cloud (as in applications and/or data that live on the web) and on a handy portable hard drive.

Now ask yourself: Do you have your vital training materials backed up? If so, could you reach them if you needed them while you are out of the office?

Training Tech Tip Two: Don’t cry over spilled anything.

Think of this as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy tip. Don’t panic. Stuff happens. Everyone has had something unexpected happen while training. The room you booked for training is being used for a storeroom or extra office space. You will show up and no one remembers that you were coming that day, and no one is available for training, and can you come back next Thursday. Thanks. Goodbye.

Perhaps you will double confirm and show up at the wrong time, floor, building, street, town or state because someone left the trainer out of the loop. Perhaps the room is uncontrollably too hot/cold/moldy/drafty/sunny for you (and your participants) to be comfortable during four–days of training. Perhaps you are doing an all-day training on “Using the Internet for Beginners” and there is NO internet access whatsoever because of a fire early that morning. Roll with it and adapt. Remix on the fly.

Now ask yourself: Have you had a bad start to a training day followed by the one of your best trainings ever? Were you able to transform your tragedy into a learning opportunity for not only your learners but for yourself?

Training Tech Tip Three: Be prepared for technology to fail.

Being prepared for technology failure will save your bacon and make you look like the training deity that you are. Make sure that you could get across most if not all of your learning objectives without anything that uses electricity or batteries. Just you and your tools (voice, handouts, facilitation skills, adaptability, experience, flipcharts) and some time should be all you need to do your presentation in a pinch.

A very easy way is prepare for tech fail is to think about doing computer training without a computer. What would you say? How would you demonstrate certain skills or point things out? Would you want to have screen shots to hand out as back up plan? Detailed instructions on basic tasks participants could do back at their computers without you standing over them?

Now ask yourself: How would you deal with a technology failure while training? Would you be able to get across your training objectives without technology?

Training Tech Tip Four: If you think you need it, bring it.

Over the years, I’ve created my own technology kit for off site trainings.

The BGIMD Basic Training Technology Survival Kit©:

Computer stuff:

  • One 50 Foot Network Cord
  • One 25 foot Rotating Head Extension Cord
  • One/Two Surge protectors
  • 24 port hub
  • Projector
  • Laptop
  • USB 8 in one kit
  • USB hub

I also may throw in a small webcam and speakers if needed.

Boy Scout Stuff:

  • Extra Batteries for Remote Keyboard/Mouse/Presentation Remote
  • Flash Drive with Materials (if I am working outside of my home library system)
  • Healthy Snack Food (a low blood sugar trainer is a mean trainer)
  • Markers, pens and sometimes writing pads
  • An extra shirt or two to adapt to the crowd

Ask yourself: Do you have your own “training kit”? What’s in it? What do you always seem to need but forget to carry to a training site?

Training Tech Tip Five: Back that cloud up!

The cloud (as in applications and/or data that live on the web) is a great tool to organize and back up your information. You can use tools in the cloud to create training curricula; share materials and resources; bookmarks and links; all accessible from any computer with an internet connection. You may be able to eliminate all of your handouts or point trainees to a site with all of your class information in one handy place.

Just remember to have a copy of whatever you put in the cloud somewhere in real life. If you use a wikispace to create your content and that wikispace gets attacked your data could be wiped out. A more likely scenario is that your favorite cloud resource is purchased/goes bankrupt and you no longer have access to the data you created. Would that throw a wrench into your plans? Sure it would.

Now ask yourself: Do you have up-to-date copies of all of your cloud materials? Are you ready if your cloud service goes offline?

I hope these five tips and the follow up questions help you become better trainers and help you avoid a technology disaster. Have you survived techfail in training? Share your stories and tips in the comments!

Maurice Coleman (ALA Learning Bio) is a Trainer for the Harford County (MD) Public Library, Speaker, Consultant and Organizer/Producer of T is for Training, the Library Training Podcast.  He blogs when the mood hits at
The Chronicles of the (almost) Bald Technology Trainer and tweets a few times a day.

Maurice Coleman

Maurice Coleman, has been Technical Trainer at Harford County (MD) Public Library in North Eastern Maryland for the last 7 years. He has 20 years of experience training all ages how to sensibly use technology, computer hardware and software. He has also trained on effective technology planning and deployment, social media skills, nonprofit organizational development and fundraising, community organizing and presentation skills. He has presented at numerous conferences on topics such as digital personal branding, technology implementation, presentation and training skills, community development and effectively using social media. He hosts the library training podcast T is for Training and writes for the American Library Association’s LearnRT blog ALALearning. For his work he was named a 2010 Library Journal Mover and Shaker and received the Citizens for Maryland Libraries Davis McCarn Technology Award. You can find him on twitter @baldgeekinmd

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Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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