MOOCs
We started off by talking about MOOCs a bit, using one Tech Sharecase attendee’s personal experience as the springboard for discussion. Mentioned in the conversation was Karen Schneider”s blog post at Free Range Librarian detailing her experience being a student in a MOOC course, “All the lonely MOOCers. Where do they all come from?”
Badges and Gamification
We talked a bit about the trend to add game-like elements to instruction and the use of badges as incentives, something that was the focus of several presentations at ALA Annual this summer (such as this one and that one).
Google Maps
With an Android phone connected to the projector, we were able to see how Google presents floorplans for buildings in the Google Maps app. We looked at the floor plans for the library at California State University-Monterey Bay (some details on this can be found here).
We took at a look also at how the Street View technology from Google Maps is being used to present a 360 degree interior view of buildings, such as this one for Jan’s Hobby Shop on the Upper East Side.
Library Box
We watched the video about Library Box, a tiny wireless device that can be used to share files where there is no internet connection or where that connection is weak or heavily monitored or censored. More details about the project can be found on the Kickstarter page for it.
Laptop and iPad Mini Kiosks
Arthur gave us an update on the laptop and iPad Mini kiosks currently being set up by the reference desk. See the vendor’s website (Laptops Anytime) for additional info about the kiosks.
Sorry to have missed this session due to annual leave. I had a question about the kiosks. Will there be more such kiosks throughout the library and/or elsewhere about campus since each only holds a limited number of devices? About how many more are expected?
If the trial ones near the reference desk work as hoped, they could be placed in spaces where we do not have labs on campus, such as the 17 Lex Building and even in high traffic areas in the VC so that students do not have to come over to the Library. We have not decided what the future number would be. We would use the data on the use of the trial machines to help make that determination.