Beautiful Nebraska, Peaceful prairie land...

...laced with many rivers, and the hills of sand...
okay, enough from the Nebraska State Song.

I'm here in Lincoln, Nebraska, tending to my mom post-surgery. I will be working my way through the class discussions over the weekend, so please be patient if you've posted a question for me.

Parking on Campus

Those of you who come to campus may have noticed some of this...

From the Director of Public Safety~~~

During the first few weeks of the spring semester the parking ramp has experienced more on-campus parking demand than we were able to supply. On Monday's and Wednesday's we are encountering peak demands between the hours of 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. During this period of time we have been intermittently closing the parking ramp for 10 - 15 minutes. Opportunities to help alleviate parking congestion:

1) The Bookstore worked with MetroTransit to offer students a semester transportation pass for $84.00. The Bookstore has sold 2,520 semester bus passes as of 1/21/09.

2) We will be receiving free bike racks this spring that will accommodate 50 bikes through a grant the City of Minneapolis received.

3) Central Scheduling is working on event scheduling and considering parking demand issues.

4) Employees on payroll deduction have the opportunity to obtain a guaranteed parking space at the Laurel Village Parking Ramp located across the street from our parking ramp. Please contact me (ext.6902) if you are interested in pursuing this option.

5) We will be focusing on parking permit enforcement and removing those who have no association with the college.

~~~
So, if you can carpool, take an alternate form of transportation, or arrive before or after the busy times, you can minimize the problems you may encounter with campus parking, and potentially save some money and a bit of the environment.

Thinking about the weekend

It's early to already have the weekend on my mind, but my weekend will start a bit early this week. On Thursday (or Wednesday, if the weather looks bad for Thursday), I will be heading to Nebraska to spend the weekend with my mom who is going to have oral surgery on Friday. I'm an only child, and she lives alone and can't be by herself after the surgery, so I will be staying with her. My plan is to return to Minnesota on Tuesday, Feb. 3, assuming all is well with her recovery.

I will have computer access over the weekend, so will be checking in and working. There are webinars scheduled for Thursday night (INFS 2200) and Tuesday night (INFS 1000), my travel days, but at this point, my plan is to be in one place or another by the time the webinar would begin, so there should not be a conflict. If my plans change, I will let you know as soon as possible.

Student Center Survey

For those of you on campus:

MCTC is looking into a major expansion of the Helland Center. This is still
very much in the planning stages, and student input is being sought as to
what might be desired. Some great ideas are being flown including a Health
Care center, a medition/yoga room, a fitness center, and even a new
auditorium/performance space.

I would very much like to encourage you to complete this three question
survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=WIbCspOg2B5AI9VtX8xUHA_3d_3d.

Thanks for taking the time to do this!

Our View From the Park - President Phil Davis

Tomorrow on the library's BlogTalkRadio show, Our View From the Park, I'll be talking with MCTC President Phil Davis about who knows what. Probably the budget situation for the college and the state, not sure what else.

The show streams live from 11-11:30 a.m. on our BTR web site at:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/MCTC-Library

You can call in with your questions during that time, or you can log in with an account and post questions to the live chat that will be open during the session. The call-in number is:

(646) 200-4753

After the show, you can go to the above link and listen to the archived show. You can also download the show or subscribe using iTunes. Hope you'll join us!

FacebookGate

This article posted on eSchool News raises some interesting issues about fake college groups on Facebook (and no doubt on MySpace as well, although the article doesn't talk about them). From an information literacy perspective, this raises issues around validity and honesty, and detecting it when something is a spoof or deliberately false. It can be very hard to tell without doing some serious background checking. We tend to take things on faith, and that can get us in some trouble. Not such a big deal when you join a group on Facebook that ends up being a ruse (although they mine a great deal of information from you when you do so), but could be a big deal if you're looking for other information. This isn't too far removed from the many phishing emails you might get, which can end up in identity theft or worse.

Carter, Dennis. "Phony Facebook Pages Teach Students a Lesson." eSchoolNews. 13 Jan. 2009. eSchoolNews. 21 Jan. 2009. http://www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?print&i=56696

Online Classes Survey

Many of you participated in the informal survey I posted here regarding your experience with online courses. Here are the results.

Yeah, I've taken quite a few	5 (15%)
I've taken one or two	11 (34%)
No, this is my first one	16 (50%)

Total Votes: 32

More Things on a stick

Folks working in libraries now can register for the incentives. Anyone else just might want to check out the 23 Things and More Things.

More Things On a Stick Program To Launch in January

ST.PAUL, Minnesota (January 15, 2009) --Minnesota’s seven multicounty, multitype library systems (multitypes) will launch the More Things On a Stick: A Library Learning 2.0 Program on January 20, 2009.. This program is the new version of the very popular 23 Things On a Stick Program sponsored the Minnesota Multitypes last year. Staff in academic, school, public and special libraries, as well as members of library Governing and Advisory Boards are invited to participate in this fun, self-paced program that encourages participants to experiment with various Web 2.0 tools. Mashups, more organizational and productivity tools, and deeper uses of RSS and Delicious are just a few of the new offerings in 2009.

All details about how to participate and suggestions for getting ready are now available online at http://morethingsonastick.pbwiki.com. Registration will begin on January 20^th at this same address (as part of Thing 1). Those who complete all 23 Things plus the evaluation within 17 weeks will win a completion prize.

More Things On a Stick are online activities that encourage participants to experiment and learn about new and emerging technologies that are reshaping the context of information on the Internet today. The activities are hands-on with experiential exercises, short readings and discovery work. Each Thing can take as little as one hour or as much time as you’d like to give it. The Minnesota Certification Program has approved this program for 25 contact hours to meet public service and technology competencies. Continuing Education Units will be available to all participants as well. Early endorsements of this program include but are not limited to, MLA, MEMO, MINITEX and State Library Services. Others are expected to add their support and will be mentioned on the More Things on a Stick wiki site.

Participants who wish to receive the completion incentive prize must register their blogs (Thing 1) by February 20 and complete all Things plus the evaluation (and blog about each one) by May 20, 2009. Receipt of the completion prize enters participants in a statewide drawing for additional prizes.

According to Ann Walker Smalley, Metronet Director, “Participants clamored for ‘Thing 24’ when they had finished the original 23 Things On Stick! More Things On a Stick builds on the learning from that successful program and offers people the chance to try new Things that will make their personal and professional lives more productive, more connected, and even more fun. Join this online learning community and start 2009 with a resolution to try all of the Things. You do not have to have done the original 23 Things On a Stick to do More Things.” Participants are encouraged to work with others in their libraries or regions and to share their insights and discoveries either through the participant blogs or in person.

This program is the Minnesota twist on the 23 Things: Library Learning 2.0 program, developed by Helene Blowers at the Public Library of Charlotte & Mecklenberg County. Library organizations across the country have used the 23 Things concept to encourage staff to learn and use these Web 2.0 tools. The directors and staff of the seven Minnesota Multicounty Multitype Library Systems are the core of the 23 Things On a Stick team, with additional coaches available across the state. This group has worked together to develop More Things On a Stick and to customize it for Minnesota library staff. This group will track participants’ progress as shown in the individual blogs and provide helpful hints and encouraging words.

The multitype library systems respond to the needs of Minnesota librarians by providing library support services, including continuing education. The multitype systems believe that knowledgeable library staffs are better able to meet the needs of their library users. The multitypes connect library staff in all types of libraries to professional and staff development opportunities and look forward to broad participation in this exciting learning program.

Contact: Ann Walker Smalley, Metronet Director, ann@metronet.lib.mn.us

More Things On a Stick blog is online at http://morethingsonastick.pbwiki.com

Change has come to America

And, with the inauguration, so to a new WhiteHouse.gov.

From an information literacy/library preservation perspective, the National Archives will be capturing the previous administration's web documents for "digital posterity."

An Historical Day

In case you missed it...

Global Issues in Context

This new MCTC Library database offers global perspectives on issues of international importance and current world events and topics in the news related to these issues. It includes a variety of international periodicals and news sources that provide information seekers with a framework to better understand 21st-century issues and events while highlighting global connections and the interdependence of all nations.

Global Issues in Context focuses on broad issues, such as war, genocide, terrorism, human rights, poverty, famine, globalization, and global warming, as well as more specific events and topics in the news that are related to these broader issues, such as genocide in Darfur and changing weather patterns across the globe. It also includes profiles and news about nations.

Try the database out and let me know what you think of it. Is it easy to use? What do you think of the Overviews? What do you think of the organization and the content? Notice that the world news articles are very recent, and that the results of a search done in the main search box at the top of the screen are different from the results that you get when you use the search box in the World News part of the page. What intrigues you or pleases you or annoys you about this database? How might you use it with your classes? What questions do you have about it?

Use this link to try it out, or go to the library home page and find it in the complete list of databases and in the Politics/Government category.

Twin Cities Metro Area Housing Resources

If you're a Minneapolis/St. Paul metro-area resident, and need help with housing (or you know someone who does), here are some local resources you can use. No one should be without a place to go with the weather we're having right now (-23 according to accuweather.com).

Metro Shelter Hotline-offers information about emergency shleter and transitional hosuing for single adults, families and youth in the 7 county Metro Area.
1-888-234-1329

St. Stephen's Outreach Program
612-879-7624-will meet students on the spot

People, Inc.
Homeless Outreach
651-491-4510 ask for Matt Horn
651-225-8963 ext 16

StreetWorks
612-252-2735

Emergency Shelter/Ramsey County
651-225-9354

Anyone interested in art, and art @ MCTC...

Four MCTC art students have work on display at the Hopkins Center for the Arts (1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins). The work is on display as a part of the 3rd Biennial Twin City Undergraduate Showcase and will be up until February 22. Twelve Twin Cities undergraduate schools are participating in the invitational and each has four student pieces on display. The four Associate of Fine Arts (AFA) students representing MCTC are - Alfonso Fernandez (photo), Megan Longo (sculpture), Mecca Johnson (watercolor), and Kelly Rohloff (print). Hours are at hopkinsartscenter.com.

The History of the Internet

This video gives a basic overview of how the internet we know today was created. One reason I think it's important to know this background is that it helps to explain how things work today. For example, it emphasizes the importance of standards. Without the development of the TCP/IP standard, the internet could not grow due to incompatibilities between systems. It also highlights the distributed aspect of the system. When competition between internet service providers is reduced, more of the service provision becomes concentrated and loss of access by large numbers of people become more likely. Take a look, and let me know what you think:


History of the Internet from PICOL on Vimeo.

Climate Savers Computing

This web site was pointed out by the director of our campus IT services department. Take a look a the tips to see if there are some easy things you can do to save some energy. From the web site:

"The average desktop PC wastes half of the energy it consumes. This wasted electricity needlessly increases your electric bills and contributes to global warming. Use this section to find out how you can make your home or office computer more energy-efficient and save money in the process. By turning on your computer’s energy saving features you can save over $60 a year in energy costs and reduce your CO2 emissions by nearly half a ton."

http://www.climatesaverscomputing.org/learn/

Learning Center mini-sessions

For those of you on campus...

The Learning Center presents regular mini-sessions on many topics in the following subjects:

ESOL
English
Chemistry
Math
Reading
Nursing

The Spring 2009 Mini Sessions Schedule are now available on the MCTC website.

Friday is the end of open drop/add

Just a reminder that Friday Jan 16 is the end of the open drop/add period. After that date, you will no longer receive a full refund if you decide to withdraw from a course without a petition. Also, after that date, courses from which you withdraw will show on your transcript and will count toward (or against, depending on your point of view) your academic standing.

For students in INFS 1000 and INFS 1200, you must take the course(s) for a letter grade. Students in INFS 2200 can choose their grading option: letter grade, pass/fail, or audit (no college credit awarded). For students in INFS 2900, grading is ONLY pass/fail. More info on taking courses pass/fail are online at:

http://www.minneapolis.edu/currentstudents/registeringforclasses/passfailoption.cfm

The deadline for changing grading option is April 8, 2009.

Cataloging Text Now In

If anyone in INFS 2200 intro to cataloging was still needing to get the Chan text, the MCTC Bookstore has them back in stock now.

If anyone is having problems getting any of the texts for my classes, let me know as soon as possible.

UserGenerated Content Online-

Teaching information literacy is interesting, because many students are information literate about a lot of things, but not about scholarly literature. In college, we're all about the business of scholarly literature. On the web, much is about user-generated content which is often the opposite of scholarly literature. But instead of complaining about the dreck on the internet, I'd like to think we can contribute to and improve the overall content on the 'net with well-written blogs and other "Web 2.0" tools such as Wikipedia, Flickr, and YouTube.

Talk about filling an information need - I used the web over break to figure out how to thread my 1960s-era sewing maching after I had lost my manual (I couldn't remember the path through the tension...). Without all the user-generated content on the web, I would have had to schlep to the library, wade through a bunch of books on sewing to try to reverse-engineer the tension on my oldie-moldy sewing machine, and the regular public library probably wouldn't even HAVE books old enough to address my dated machine (did I say it was old?), so I'd have to either go to a different library that DID have older books that covered machines that were contemporaries of mine or get them through interlibrary loan... Okay, you get the point.

This article on Information Today talks about contributing to Project Gutenberg,, one of the oldest examples of user-generated online content; what can YOU do to improve the information online?

Syllabi and the new semester

Spending a good chunk of last week with a sick kid, and the weekend away on a hockey tournament has put me a bit behind in finishing the updates for your course syllabi for spring semester. I will have the first two weeks posted for your courses by tomorrow (Monday) afternoon, and will have the rest asap.

Access to D2L is open now...

As you have probably noticed, you now have access to your courses in D2L. That said, I will be updating stuff in there all weekend long, so you can look around, but don't start printing things out or freaking out about dates, because much of that will change or shift around. See, here's what happens: I copy the course content info from a previous course. The information is brought in to this semester's courses with all the old information attached. So, all the deadlines, etc., will display from the last time I taught the course, which will either be from the previous semester or from last year. In short, don't panic. By the same token, if you don't see any information in the course yet, it is because I haven't opened the content up yet.

Email me with any questions. I will be out of town this weekend, at one of my kids' hockey tournaments, but will be online quite a bit checking email, etc.

Texts for your classes

The MCTC Bookstore has highly competitive pricing on the texts required and recommended for the courses I teach. You can get them from other sources if you wish, but be sure to get them as they will be useful to have sooner rather than later. Just know that they, erroneously, list the department as Information Sciences instead of Information Studies. Yes, we've told them. No, they haven't fixed it.

The Badke text required for INFS 1000 must be the 3rd edition. The bookstore has the right one. If you obtain the text from another source, be sure you are getting the 3rd edition.

For INFS 1200, the boostore states that the Kao text is a choice text. It is not a choice; you must have that text. The Evans text is recommended, but optional. I have no idea why there's two listings for the Kao text in the bookstore's database.

I just recieved an email today from the textbook purchaser that told me that there were some problems getting the Chan text in for INFS 2200. Again, be sure you are buying the 3rd edition of that text if you don't get it from the MCTC bookstore. Regarding the Anglo-American Cataloging Rules with updates (AACR2, revised), if you have access to the 2002 update or later at your workplace, you can use that instead. If you don't, and don't wish to spend a ridiculous amount of money for something that you'll promptly donate to a library or sell back immediately following this course, you can try to borrow a current version from a local library. But, you must have the 2002 revision or later. You can also join the American Library Association at the substantial student discount rate and purchase AACR2 directly from them and get a 10% member discount.

The MARC of the beast...

Some insider baseball library talk... Good prep for those of you in my Intro to Cataloging class. Check out this post on Thingology.

Welcome to Spring 2009!

Welcome to everyone taking courses from me this semester. Here are some things to be aware of as you take an online course from me.

At Minneapolis Community and Technical College (and all Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system schools), we use Desire 2 Learn (D2L) as our course management software. There is a link to D2L at the bottom of the MCTC web site home page (www.minneapolis.edu), so you can use that link, or better yet, bookmark the direct link to D2L (https://minneapolis.ims.mnscu.edu/). Because the two web sites are hosted on different computer servers, it's a good idea to have them bookmarked separately. That way, if one server is down, you can still get to the other one.

Once you have logged into D2L, starting on Friday, you will see your courses listed separately under the semester. All of your courses will have links, whether or not the courses are taught online or not. Many instructors use D2L for posting grades and other class materials for face-to-face courses as well as using the software for online classes, so if you have other face-to-face courses on campus, be sure to ask your instructor how he or she uses D2L.

The syllabus is the class "master" outline. If you find a discrepancy between the syllabus and something in the D2L course (and I'm sure you will; after all, I am human and I do make mistakes), be sure to ask about it so I can make a clarification or correction. The syllabus for your course will be posted in the D2L content area for the course. You will be notified of any changes to the syllabus via this blog, course posting, and/or email.

And that brings us to communication. MCTC makes an email account available to you through Metnet.edu. You can activate that account, or be sure you have an active account listed in your student information on campus. In any case, it is your responsibility to ensure that your email is correctly listed in D2L and in your student information, because that is the email information I will use when I'm contacting you with course information. If you email me from some other account, I will reply to whatever email you use, but when I generate email, I will pull the information from whatever is listed in D2L. I do not keep track of other email information for students.

Once the first week of class is over, I will set up something I call "Online Office" within D2L. This will be a discussion forum that has two members - you and me. You can use that forum any time to communicate with me. Because it is private, you can use that space to ask about grades, get clarification on an assignment, ask for a deadline extension... whatever you would normally talk to an instructor about during regular office hours, before or after classtime, etc.

In all of my online classes, besides asynchronous email and discussion forum communincation, there will be opportunities for synchronous, real-time communication, either through chat on D2L or through webinars using WebEx. Because, of course, one of the points of taking an online course is so you don't have to be in one place at one time, I know you may not be able to participate in all, or possibly even any, chats/webinars. However, I do encourage you to make time to participate in at least one or more, as students who do indicate that the chats/webinars enhance and improve their learning in the course. In any case, archives will be available for you to review after the chat/webinar event. I will give you more information about these chats and webinars later.

I make use of various media in my courses. I often introduce content or give feedback to you by posting MP3 files, and I use video and Flash files as well. You should be able to use these various file types, and will need to have appropriate plug-ins on the computer you're using for class.

Which brings us to the computer and internet access you are using for taking online classes. It is best to have your own computer at home and to not rely on using a computer anywhere else, such as at a library, at work, or at school. Also, because of the media used in online instruction, having broadband Internet access is best, but you can make due with dial-up. Just be prepared for waiting and long download/upload times. There is information on technology recommendations and common plug-ins on the MCTC web site (http://www.minneapolis.edu/currentstudents/d2l.cfm). If you have any concerns about your computer skills or access, please ask them sooner rather than later.

And, one last crabby-sounding note: maintaining communication with me and accessing the course content and materials is your responsibility. Generally speaking, "technology problems" are not a valid excuse for missing deadlines, not being able to view something, not participating in class discussions or group work, and so on. If you know you have to move and you won't have your computer set up for a couple of weeks, you need to let me know BEFORE you move and work out alternate arrangements. If you're late paying your internet service provider and your internet access is cut off, you need to call me, and then find your way to a coffee shop and free wi-fi, and get online as much as you can anyway. My DH (darling husband) just finished getting his MBA through a distance program at Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, and one student was in southeast Asia when there was a tsunami that cut off his internet access; that was a valid excuse. If you have to flee an abusive boyfriend and don't get to a computer for a week because you're at a shelter, that's a valid excuse.

...Which leads me to one last, I hope "friendly" sounding point: If you talk to me about whatever situation you're facing during the semester, we can almost always work out something that will cut you a little slack but still keep you on track in the class to finish. Please, please, please communicate with me if you get in a hard place in your life. Maybe your mom is sick, or your kid had to go to the emergency room, or you fell on the ice and messed up your back and are on pain meds that keep you from concentrating, or you were just diagnosed with some life-threatening disease, or you're pregnant with twins and while you're not actually due until the semester is over who knows what might happen, or... who knows what? Please let me know what's going on as soon as possible, and we'll figure out how to handle it.

Okay, nuff for now.