Startino.com

With the many tasks that librarians are required to accomplish, it is very easy to become overwhelmed.  On my desk right now, I have six pieces of paper with notes about things I need to remember or complete.  Our students face the same challenges.  You may use planners or set reminders on our phones to help remind us of what we need to accomplish.  This month's tech tip is another tool to help organize your many endeavors.

Startino.com is a free online to-do-list.  It is easy to set-up and use.  You simply enter your email, create a password, and click "sign up".  You are now ready to begin.  From here you can create categories that will allow you to organize tasks into different sections or you can simply start adding tasks to your list.

You can separate your items into "top" tasks which put them at the top of the list or you can remove them from the top and put them in a secondary list if they aren't as pressing as other items.

Once you have completed the task, simply click the box in front of the task and it will remove it from your to-do-list and put it on the "completed" list that you can open and see your progress.  You can remove items from the completed list if need by deselecting the box in front of the task and it will be moved back to your to-do-list.

A great way to ensure you see your list is to set Startino as your home page or your "start-up" page if you use Chrome.  This will guarantee that you see you list everyday.

Students might find this helpful when organizing assignment for class.  They can create a category for each class and add their assignments to the list.

I hope you find this a useful tool and share it with others.  Please let us know what you think in the comments.

We hope to see you at TLA's annual conference in Austin.  The DELRT Business Meeting is Thursday, April 16 at 7:45am.

Enjoy!

Code Academy

Khan Academy is one of our most viewed blog posts.  To compliment that, we are going to take a look at Code Academy.

This is a great place for you or your patrons to learn basic coding skills.

The tutorials are broken into 3 sections: Web Developer Skills, Language Skills, and APIs.  Each section is broken up by skill and you can choose what skills you want to learn.

Web Developer Skills include making a website, making an interactive website, and making a Rails App.  I'll be honest, I don't know what that last one is but you can learn to do that!

The Language Skills you can learn are HTML & CSS, JaveScript, jQuery, PHP, Python, and Ruby.  I've been working on the HTML & CSS and the Python languages and I'm feeling very comfortable with them.

Finally, there is the API section.  There are 21 different APIs that you can learn to use to make your own applications.

The tutorials are very hands-on.  They provide you with a paragraph or two of information and then have you try it before advancing to the next step.  There are also hints if you get stuck.

Each tutorial is independent of the other.  Once you choose a tutorial, it provides you with information such as technical skill level needed and about how long it will take you to complete it.  Each tutorial is broken apart into lessons.  You receive a recap and encouragement as you finish each lesson.

You create an account before you begin so you can stop at any point and your progress will be saved, even if you haven't completed the entire lesson.

With all the technology today, it is becoming imperative that we know at least a little code to be able to keep up with the world.  Even if you just want to tweak your library's website, you need to know a little HTML or CSS.  Code Academy is a great way to get a few basic skills so that you can hold your own in the technical realm.

Be sure to comment below to let us know what you think and Happy Coding!

HackCollege

Happy New Year!!

We hope everyone had a great holiday season.  Hopefully you had some down time to relax.  I know that we are back to work even though the students aren't back yet.  This is a great time to reorganize, streamline, and set new goals for the new year/semester. 

I normally post tools that can help you with your students and/or the function of the library but today I'm going to share a website that your students might find useful and it can give you some insight into what they are dealing with and what they are trying to accomplish.

HackCollege.com gives tips and tricks for almost anything.  There are articles and videos ranging anywhere from How to Pack for Freshman Week to How to Improve Your Crappy Car to How to be Successful with Online Classes. 

One of my favorite things on this site is an infographic about searching better with Google. I think I heard some grumbling but hear me out.

 I know that we want our students to only use the library when completing assignments but, to be realistic, that's not going to happen.  And what happens with our seniors at the end of every semester? They graduate and no long have access to all the awesomeness that is THE LIBRARY...what then?

We have to prepare our students for the inevitability of Google searching.  They already know what it is and they are comfortable navigating though it but we need to show them how to be efficient searchers. 

This infographic gives great tips about searching Google better but that can help students understand our databases a little better too.  Even though a search engine operates differently than a database, knowing that you can tell the system what you want will make our lives as librarians easier because it builds a foundation of knowledge about defining perimeters to get better results.  It even gives a plug about using the campus library!!

Like I said, HackCollege is full of all kinds of information for students and even includes "Study Breaks" which might give you a chuckle or two.  Even if you aren't a fan of searching in Google, give this infographic a look and if you choose not to share it with your students maybe it can help you in your personal searches.

Please leave us some comments below about the site, the narrative, or the inforgraphic.  We would love to hear your thoughts.

Piktochart

Happy Turkey Week!!

We at DELRT hope that everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving.  We are very thankful for each and every one of you.

Today I'd like to share with you a site called Piktochart.com.  It is a great way to make quick little infographics that can be shown in presentation form as well as an image.

There are several templates to choose from or you can create your own from scratch.  My college is currently working on creating a new QEP.  I've used these piktocharts to provide visual representations for our initiatives and goals.

Here is a ready-made Thanksgiving graphic that is available from the site.  Leave a comment to let us know your thoughts and how you can see this implemented.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

DocsTeach

DocsTeach.org is a website from the National Archives.  Some of you may be very familiar with it but for those who aren’t, I’d like to take a minute to share a great educational resource.

The National Archives has digitized quite a few items and made them available online.  There are written letters, newspaper clippings, videos, photographs, charts, etc. from different points in American history.  They have sectioned the documents by time period and you can see the main page for that here.



Drawing for a Washing Machine

7/9/1844

Records of the Patent and Trademark Office

National Archives Identifier: 595451

This is the printed patent drawing for a washing machine invented by Oliver B. Wright.

But they haven’t stopped there.  They have also created a program that will help you develop lessons to teach using the documents and provide you with tips to teaching students about primary sources and how to use them.  You can find that are here.  There is also a section where you can browse through lessons to use with your students.  Those are located here.

This is a fantastic source, not only for history lessons, but for any research lesson.  One of the hardest things for students to do with regards to research is understand the difference between primary and secondary sources and then find primary sources.  This site helps tackle both of those problems.   

Go check it out and let us know how you or your coworkers were able to implement this treasure.

First Report of the Battle of the Little Bighorn, From Gen. Alfred H. Terry, Montana, to Assistant Adjutant General R.C. Drum, Chicago

6/27/1876

Records of U.S. Army Continental Commands

National Archives Identifier: 301976

ComicMaster

ComicMaster can help you create visually attractive, comic style flyers that can help you spread the news about upcoming programming or introduce new lesson.  Super heroes are huge right now so why not use that to the library’s advantage.  

The navigation is quite tricky and it does take a minute to get familiar with how to set it up.  It isn’t the best user interface but once you get the hang of how it works it's actually fun!

Unfortunately, it doesn’t allow you to save it to a program outside of ComicMaster, meaning you can’t save it to your computer or a flash drive.  Your only option is to print it which is fine if you are making a physical flyer to post somewhere.  I was looking for something I can post digitally.  So, I clicked “Print to PDF” and was then able to save the PDF to my computer.  I was then able to save it as a JPEG image which is what you see here.

I’m sure that you creative folks out there can make some of these that are much more interesting than this one.  When you do, we would love to see it.  Please share it in our comments section.  I hope you can find some great ways to use this tool and show the world how “SUPER” your library is.

Jing

We are beginning the fall semester and that may mean some budget cuts for your library.  In case you had to cut your screen capturing software from this year’s budget, you can still make awesome videos for your library. 

Jing is a free screen capturing software that is very easy to use.  You can create videos up to 5 minutes long and save them to your computer or share them with social media.  These videos upload very easily into LibGuides.

You can also capture images with Jing.  One great use for this would be messaging with patrons.  If your library uses a chat option, you can capture an image, save it to a Jing friendly website (screencast.com), and send the automatically generated link to the patron in the chat box.

There are also video tutorials to walk you through the process of capturing and customizing the features so learning how to navigate the software is very easy.

If you create a lot of video tutorials and need a free way to do it, Jing is a great option.

PowToon

PowToon is a video creation website that has you create short videos to explain your ideas rather than creating slide shows.  It is billed as an alternative to boring slide shows.  You create an account for free or you can “upgrade” to the Business or Pro versions to access more content. 

To get started you choose the type of template you would like to use.  There are some pre-made templates that you can select and then edit the content or you can start from scratch to create your video.     

Then you add people or characters, backgrounds, shapes, items, and transitions.  The editing screen is set up similar to PowerPoint so it has a familiar feel and is easy to navigate.  You can also add music to your video from their collection or you can upload your own.  You also have the option to add a voice over. 

When inserting images, you can choose your own or search the web.   The site will only allow you to search for Creative Commons images when searching the web.  Great for avoiding copyright infringement!

With the free version, your only option for the completed video is to export it to YouTube. If you purchase one of the paid plans then you are able to download the videos so you can present them anyway you like. 

While these short videos aren’t the best way to present all information, they are a great way to give a little more life to dry presentations. 

Give it a try and share your creations with us in the comments!

Socrative

Socrative is a student response system that allows students to use their own devices.  Teachers can create quizzes that the students answer in real time.  On the webpage you can choose to create an account with Socrative 1.0 or 2.0.  They offer the same features but the layout of 2.0 is more compact.
Socrative 1.0                                                                                             Socrative 2.0

 

The teacher begins by creating an account and that will create a “Room Number”.  It’s going to be some dreadful number that you won’t be able to remember but you can edit it by going to “My Profile” using the “Menu” button at the top of the page. 

Once you have created an account, there are four options:

·         Start Quiz
·         Quick Question
·         Space Race
·         Exit Ticket
·         Manage Quizzes

At the end of each of these the teacher is provided a report of the results from each activity including a grade for everyone who participated as well has what their responses were.  These reports can be downloaded into an Excel document, emailed, or (if you linked your Google account with it) sent to your Google Drive.  The reports are also stored in the “Reports” section under “Manage Quizzes”.

Start Quiz

This allows you to administer quizzes that have be created ahead of time.  You can have questions that are multiple choice, true or false, and short answer.  You are not limited to one format when creating your quiz.  If you want 3 true or false questions, 2 multiple choice questions, and one short answer then you can make it so.  You can require that they enter their names before answering and you can randomize questions and/or answers.  You can also have questions progress at the student’s pace or at the teacher’s pace.

Quick Question

You can create quizzes ahead of time to administer during class or you can use the “Quick Question” option to have students respond to a verbal question.  If you just want to find out if your students’ understand what you are talking about but you are worried that some of them are relying on others to answer verbally, then “Quick Question” can help with that.  You can simply have students log-in with your “Room Number” and they can answer your verbal question.  This has the same format as the quizzes, multiple choice, true or false, and short answer.  You can have students respond anonymously or require they enter their name.  You can also limit it so they can only respond once if you want.

Space Race

You can use your premade quizzes to create a “Space Race”.  Students can be set in teams (up to 15) by choosing or being assigned a color and they answer the questions for the quiz as their “spaceship” races across the teacher’s screen.  If a correct answer is given then the ship moves forward, if an incorrect answer is given then the ship does not progress.  When an incorrect answer is given the students receive a message saying it is wrong and telling them the correct answer.  You might wish to project the “race” on the board for the class to see. 

Exit Ticket

The “Exit Ticket” is a set of three questions that are generated by the software to assess how a student perceived the class.  They are asked how well they understood, they must type something they learned, and they answer a question posed by the teacher.

Manage Quizzes

This is where you create new quizzes, import quizzes from others using the provided code, edit, duplicate, or delete your quizzes, and view past reports.

Student Log-In

Student visit the site http://m.socrative.com for Socrative 1.0 or http://b.socrative.com for Socrative 2.0

This tool provides teachers an ability to assess students in a more interactive way so instruction can be tailored when needed rather than after the major test.  It provides data to support the class and grades the quizzes for you.  This is a fantastic idea to see what is happening with students’ learning in a real-time environment.  It could even be used to assess the service or performance of the library, you would simply provide patrons with the “Room Number” and ask they to answer the survey on their device.

Hope you can find create ways to use this at your institution.  Please share your thoughts and ideas below.  We would love to hear from you!

Remind101

Today's nifty, free little tool is Remind101.  This allows you to text students without revealing your personal number.  You simply provide your name, email, and create a password.  You give your "class" (or library) a name and the site gives you a number and a code to give your students. 

Some cool features:

• you can create multiple classes
• you can remove the classes (i.e. at the end of the semester)
• you can determine what name appears for you on the text
• provides embedding codes so you can add it to your blog or webpage
• students can't text back
• there is an app in the App Store and Google Play to manage the system on the go
• you can add attachments
• you can schedule texts to be sent at a later date so you can schedule reminders when events are scheduled so you don't have to remember to send a reminder, Remind101 will do it for you!
• the site provides you with a PDF handout for students about signing-up
• you can request an email of the "message history" to see what has been sent and when
• students can receive the massages as e-mails if they don't have texting

You aren't limited to the number of students who can receive the texts so this is a great way to remind students of events happening in the library.  You can also use it with groups such as book clubs or to send information to co-workers or work studies.  If you are working with classes you can remind them about what you will be doing or what they will need for class.

A few things to keep in mind:

• you can only text 140 characters
• it is tailored to K-12 teachers so it will not allow you to message individual students
• it will warn you if you are trying to text Monday-Friday 8PM-7AM or Sat.-Sun. 8PM-9AM, you can click past the warning and send it anyway if you would like

This service has a great many possibilities. I'm sure you have a million ideas as to how to use this, please share those with us in the comments below.  Enjoy!

Glogster

Glogster is a free platform for creating digital multimedia papers or posters.  It is great tool that allows users to build interactive displays.  Users can attach graphic and even video as well as audio into their presentations.  The electronic resource gives users the ability to add their own text and even paint on their creations, opening up creative options that are not found in most electronic presentation platforms.  Glogster also allows users to collaborate making building of multimedia items or posters a snap.  Creators can link out to websites and other content from the internet easily using the tool.  It is a great platform that will give patrons especially children and young adults a web accessible presentation utility that can be used anywhere there is an internet connection.

The interface is very easy to use unlike most graphic programs like Photoshop or Gimp giving users a quick way to build material for multimedia presentations.  It is great for a library that needs free presentation tools for children or young adults.  Anyone is allowed to create a free account.  Just go to the right hand side of the screen and select the area that says go to Glogster.com. Once you have setup your account on Glogster you are ready to go.  You can either create your own presentation, or use templates.  The templates option is great for first time users and can really speed up the process for building a Glog!  Check Glogster out it is a tool that can benefit your patrons and add value to your library.

http://www.glogster.com/

The content of this post was created with the help of the UTPA Writing Center.

Classtools.net

Classtools.net is a free set of templates that allow educators and other users to create interactive learning content.  It is a web based tool where librarians and teachers can build educational video games and faux social media pages to go along with assignments or presentations.    Classtools.net is totally free.  There is a premium option that includes several additional features including ad free access.  

Probably one of the more exciting features is the ability to create a virtual treasure hunt using the educational site in conjunction with Google Maps.  Users can also create QR code assignments.  This is a very versatile set of tools especially for individuals looking to build interactive educational games and other out of the box learning experiences.  

For librarians it represents a chance to add games and other non-traditional content to webpages and instruction sessions.  Teachers will find it useful for building lessons using media that kids and adolescents respond to.  The free version of the site is very busy with numerous ads and constantly changing windows but despite this Classtools.net is very easy to navigate.  Also the templates themselves are simple to use allowing librarians, teachers and other educators to create content very quickly.  This website is a great tool to add to your distance learning arsenal and even though it is geared toward a younger audience it can be useful for older students.  

http://www.classtools.net/

WiseMapping

WiseMapping is a free web based tool that can be used for developing concepts for projects or papers.  Based on the idea of diagraming or what is known as a spidergramming or spidergraphing.  Individuals can link concepts or words in order to create a map or framework to facilitate thoughts or planning.  This tool is a great way to brainstorm, problem solve, or organize information without developing restrictive hierarchies. 

For librarians WiseMapping can be a useful tool to show patrons.  It is web based and free so access will not be a problem.  For students it presents an interesting way to organize papers or projects.   They can also easily use it to brainstorm.  Patrons interested in writing will find it useful for developing ideas for fiction and non-fiction stories.  WiseMapping can even be used to develop simple horizontal family trees for libraries that have stakeholders interested in genealogy.

This tool offers the ability to collaborate.  Users can share mind maps and even allow others to edit their creations.  The mind maps can be exported into blogs, power points, word documents, etc…   Also you can publish or make public the diagrams you create on WiseMapping.  Mind maps can be printed directly from the tool as well, making it useful for students and teachers.

It is easy to set up.   Users first have to make an account, once that is accomplished they can immediately start creating mind maps in WiseMapping.  It has tutorials available for individuals using the web based tool for the first time.  Also users can get help by selecting the Contact Us link at the bottom of the WiseMapping website.   

This is a very powerful free web based tool.  WiseMapping is a great addition to any librarian’s education arsenal.  I encourage everyone to check it out and leave a comment about this tool. 

http://www.wisemapping.com/

Mind Map

Khan Academy

In my blog today I am going to discuss Khan Academy.  This is a website based learning tool that offers tutorials and exercises on a number of different topics.  The electronic resource is free to use and has lessons in math, science, economics/finance, and history/civics.  It represents a self-paced tool that anyone with an internet connection can use.  One of the unique features of this site is that they have partnered with several education institutions including the Getty Museum and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Khan Academy represents an amazing resource that can be used by school libraries and can be leveraged by public and academic libraries as well, to the benefit of their patrons. 

Its biggest advantage is that the electronic resource represents a way to offer tutoring to patrons both young and old without expending excessive resources.   One of the critical shortages that libraries face is a lack of personnel.   Khan Academy has many easy to use self-paced tutorials so that there is no need for an organization to hire tutors or use staff in order to provide educational help to patrons.  The other major problem libraries and many educational institutions are facing is deficient funding.   Khan Academy is free.  All you need in order to use this electronic resource is an internet connected computer and a working email.  Patrons can just register and right away they can begin using the program within most libraries.  Khan Academy is a great tool that has many great features and can help users reach their educational goals.

www.khanacademy.org

WorldCat.org

Happy Holidays everyone for this blog I am going to discuss and old tool.  As librarians we probably have all used WorldCat.org or the paid database version of this useful e-resource.  For those of you who may not have heard of it, this tool is a database of library catalogs from around the world.

Now you may be asking yourself why is he going over WorldCat.org?  It has been around since 1971 in one form or another.  Well, I think that sometimes going back and giving overviews of older tools is good idea because with all of us being busy we might not notice new features or even realize that the data available has expanded or been reduced for any given tool. Also for those institutions that have distance learning programs where users may be in other states this WorldCat gives librarians access to library catalogs from all over the United States.

The first thing that I would like to point out is that there is a free version available at http://www.worldcat.org/.  It can be accessed by anyone who has an internet connection.  This is great for libraries that have lost there subscription to the OCLC First Search database version of this electronic resource or those institutions which may be on a budget.

Next the folks at WorldCat have gone mobile.  There are now apps of this tool for iPhone and Android.  This is pretty cool because now you can search for books and other material through your smart phone and other devices without having to worry about screen compatibility issues.  It is also useful for libraries that are trying mobile reference but whose online catalog does not have a device ready platform.

Some new innovative features that librarians may want to check out include social media function where users can rate as well as review materials and the WorldCat Identities Network.  This latter feature is most intriguing.  It allows users to create visual maps between different subjects or people.  You can see their interrelationships in expanded data trees that are easy to interpret.  The WorldCat Identities Network also lists books and other materials connected with with your searches.  It is a very power research tool that can be a great asset to public, school, and academic school librarians as well as other educators.

WorldCat.org is a powerful tool that contains the records of 2 billion items.  It allows users to find books, articles, video, audio, and other materials that their local libraries may not have but which may be obtainable through inter-library loan.  WorldCat now features innovative new features which turn it into a learning and social media tool.  The electronic resource is a must for librarians no matter if they are in academic, public, or school libraries.

WorldCat
www.worldcat.org/