Tech Day Learning

Several of us had a great professional development day recently as we played with a variety of technology and explored some new additions to our toolkits for next year.

Our exploration spanned a number of areas, although my subgroup concentrated primarily on assessment.  We discussed various methods for data collection, including, for example, Socrative and Nearpod apps for use with the iPad.  Another suggested option which we will probably look at more for “flipping the classroom” is EDpuzzle.  We also looked at the LibSurveys and polling options available through LibGuides.  There, we found that the short answer questions in LibSurvey do not play especially nicely with iPads although the polling (multiple choice) option would give us a chance to share some quick results in real time with classes.  We considered Survey Monkey but were quick to return to an old favorite: Google Forms, especially when we learned that you can now insert images and then ask questions about them.

Here is a very quick example of Google Forms, using an image of a bibliographic citation. Our next step will be looking at sources for ideas for questions.  We will certainly consider input from our own experiences and local teachers’ suggestions, plus input from colleagues like Michelle Luhtala and others.  We have also started exploring nationally developed Trails, NILRC, Dominican U and other college surveys.

During part of the day we learned about the new interactive capabilities for PowerPoint with using Office Mix – you do need Office 2013 but this looks like it will be useful, too. We also looked at a new database, Statista which has some video tutorials here from Loyola University. We are excited to learn more about using this tool, especially since it will help students hone their visual literacy skills, creating and interpreting infographics. Other subgroups were looking at Explain Everything, Lynda.com, Remind and many more!  Overall, we had a great day; it was important to have the time to brainstorm ideas and share suggestions with each other across disciplines.

Added 6/14 about additional Professional Development: 50 FREE  June Webinars for Library Staff originally posted on WebJunction at OCLC.