Date: June 5
Time: 2-9pm
Hours: 7
Total Hours: 35
Today, I spent most of the afternoon and evening at Perry. I continued to help staff the reference desk. Today was the beginning of the observation study (I stated the incorrect dates in a few earlier posts), so I conducted all of the observations from 2:00 until 8:00. The tally sheet is working really well! I continued to work on the Analytics Station instructions. I also began setting up the Book A Room extension on the library’s new website. I talked with Sharon about deselection as well.
I was able to sit in on a computer class conducted by Scott, a Guiding Ohio Online Americorps member. The class was on photo organization, a subject that I also teach at my library. I haven’t really had an opportunity to observe other library computer class instructors. The class was lecture-based rather than hands-on. Scott had a single computer connected to a projector, while I typically teach with individual workstations for each student. Both formats have their benefits. Lectures are much easier to teach and much more feasible for a small library like Perry. Hands-on learning is, however, more likely to “stick” for students, but the costs of additional computers are prohibitive.
There were 2 students, who are regulars in the computer classes. Scott used a variety of easy-to-understand analogies and descriptions that as a digital native, I never would have thought of! He seemed very familiar with organizing files on the computer, but less confident on cloud-based services. Interestingly, he discussed Pinterest as a cloud-based storage site, which I had not at all considered. Guiding Ohio Online begins and ends classes with a short survey, which helps gauge what students wanted to learn and whether those objectives were fulfilled by the class.