WILU 2010

Session 6C

Mita Williams @ University of Windsor

Session done board game style, using prezi to present board, spaces hyperlinked to various games (on the web) that included some library-like facets. Approach got my attention.

Examples:

• urgentevoke.com (has some Hamilton librarians providing support via Ask a Librarian)
• nikerunning.nike.com: race against others in the world
• play.signtific.org: Signtific Lab
• gawp.com: Games With a Purpose

[My own example: the MMOG Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures has a complex search engine built-in, enabling search criteria/limits, sorting.]

• “I love libraries. I love games. But I have yet to find a library game that I like.”
• Mandatory does not mean fun. Fun is more important than a realistic simulation. Most educational games are simulations.
• The Lost Museum: Who Burned Down the Museum lacks a satisfactory ending.
• Arden was realistic, but not fun.
• Nomic teaches at a mechanical level. Each move is a change to the rules.
• Bibliobouts is a next generation library game.
• Flow (immersion) is where the real learning occurs.
• Book: The Theory of Fun for Game Design

There are two layers to games:

• rules/mechanics are what you play
• the fiction engages you

There are games about things and games to do things. E.g., games to do research vs. games about research. Students want to work on their own research topics, not on a sample research topic. “Blend the line between libraries and games.”

Trivia: Monopoly was originally released as The Landlord’s Game and was designed by a Quaker, to teach the dangers of monopoly.

Interesting game/idea:

• urgentevoke.com
• choose a hero/author
• what’s his topic?
• shadow his research (past & current)

I proposed and facilitated a well-attended and informative session on “Improvisation in Instruction”. See the WILU blog post.

Three take-away points:

Difference between planned and unplanned instruction. Do you have some participatory, active learning techniques planned, or did something go wrong and you had to roll with it?

Improvisation requires: experience, knowledge of the content, both of which lead to confidence, which enables you to let go, give up control, be spontaneous, flexible, take risks. You also need to have a back-up plan in case the improv approach doesn’t fly.

There are pros and cons to using improv. It can engage students, be fun and increase their alertness. But what if you get no interaction, encounter fatigued students, can’t deal with a question or direction ‘in the moment’, don’t get around to covering your planned objectives, or encounter difficulty in assessing the achievement of the session goals and objectives.

Thanks to all of this morning’s participants!

Dan

Session 4C

Chad Crichton @ University of Toronto Scarborough, Robin Canuel @ McGill University

Can build:

• Mobile websites (non-platform/OS-specific). Easier to develop and more platform-friendly.
• Applications (platform/OS-specific). Require more technical know-how to create.

Mobile user generalisations. They are:

• interruptible
• easily distracted
• always on (connected)
• sociable
• contextual, goal-oriented (because they’re able to search for something at any point in time)
• identifiable by their type of device
• have ‘status’

Idea of mobile device as ‘Swiss Army Knife’

“M-Learning: Anytime, Anywhere”

“Mobilize Don’t Miniaturize”

Provided brochure of helpful tips, and Select Bibliography

Session 2D

Yusuke Ishimura & Joan C. Bartlett @ McGill University

Benefits of international students:

• intellectual contribution to university (i.e. best students)
• financial factor
• diversity

Students have different:

• academic culture
• language skills
• culture (in general)

Librarians need:

• to be understanding
• to be approachable
• to try different teaching approaches
• to try different communication skills

The presenters’ research focused on librarians’ experience and training needs with respect to international students. They surveyed (via listservs) librarians.

Only 51% of respondents offer special services for international students.

Academic expectations differ actross cultures.

Barriers for students:

• communication
• knowledge
• lack of research skills

Barriers for librarians:

• communication
• knowledge
• lack of teaching techniques

Where would we like to receive training on teaching techniques, sensitivity? Workshops, conferences? Who should provide it? Professional organizations, campus administration? Factors include:  content, cost, time.

We need to develop skills via practice with a variety of communication styles, and ask for or look for help. We can build on existing experience.

There is an ACRL interest group on internation students. (I think this is it.)

Idea:   A lot of money and effort goes into making prospective international students think they’ll be comfortable with their new university and country. When marketing our university to prospective international students, we could include some information about how our libraries work. E.g., we have open stacks; plagiarism is bad.

Idea: creation of a student ‘survival guide’.

Before instruction: Get students to write questions on cue cards and hand in/

During instruction: Tell them that asking questions is okay, expected. Wait for them to answer. Wait a long time.

After instruction: Ask student what was the most interesting thing about today’s class was.

Idea: provide/arrange for library ‘peer mentors’ (student assistants) from their country.

• Schools are teaching facts, not problem-solving.
• The literacy gap between minorities/poor kids and the middle class is becoming a digital gap between kids who have tech skill mentoring at home and those who don’t.
• US schools produce standard skills, but no innovation skills. Innovation gap.
• Academic language is boring, arcane, complex. It’s rational, but not exciting.
• Kids who play YuGiOh (a Collectible Card Game) understand and know how to exploit complex rules, probabilities. The game has a good theory of learning behind it. When kids love a game, they’ll learn its complex (college-level) language. Learning is in pop culture, for kids who can afford such games. Kids that can’t afford such games are only learning at school. Books and computers at school aren’t enough. Kids need parents’ guidance/mentoring to be able to learn at a higher level.
• World of Warcraft is statistically complicated, and forces involved players to theorize and optimize their play/performance.
• What if kids were to design the curriculum, to the point where they’re the experts?
• Librarians can become leaders, mentors, organizers (of play).