Session Descriptions

These are the descriptions used in email and other publicity across campus.

Introduction to Social Networking

Ever wonder what blogs, RSS, Flickr, wikis, Facebook, MySpace and Delicious are? This workshop will introduce you to these free social networking, or web 2.0, tools and will include examples of how they are being used at Purchase and other colleges. You will have a chance to ask questions and discuss some issues raised by these tools (ease of use for web presence, concerns about how much information to reveal on these tools, etc.). Note that this is an introduction to a variety of tools and it is not a hands-on workshop. See descriptions of other workshops for hands-on sessions.  See the outline of the Introduction to Social Networking session (not distributed to participants).

Create Your Own Blog

Participants in this session will be guided through the creation of their own personal or professional blog using free WordPress software. We will discuss “blogging basics”-including possible ways to use blogs and tips for “better blogging.”

Create Your Own Wiki

Each participant in this hands-on session will leave with a wiki to use in his or her professional or personal life. Participants will be guided through the process of creating a wiki. Wikis allow for easy collaboration by a few users or many users. This session will focus on creating wikis (using PBwiki) for purposes such as:

• Collaborating with colleagues on writing and research projects,
• Ways to keep a group of employees or group members informed in changing environments (e.g., online employee manual), and
• Creating an online portfolio. 

Background Information on Campus Professional Development Workshop Series and Library Participation

As librarians, professional development is important for our careers and for advancement within our profession. And, as technology advocates working in a small college library with a small budget, we have been quick to adopt free online tools that support our professional development endeavors and make our lives easier. In an effort to build better communication across the campus and to share our knowledge of these professional development tools as well as promote the library’s resources and services, we decided to offer an evolving series of classes for faculty and staff of the college.

When we began planning these classes, we were aware that other departments on campus were also offering sessions for faculty that focused on instructional technology and pedagogy, and some of these sessions were sponsored and promoted by the faculty union office (UUP). After coming up with tentative classes that we thought would appeal to our faculty and staff, we approached our local UUP office representative who enthusiastically agreed to help with promotion and, perhaps more importantly, to provide food for the attendees.

In the Fall of 2007, we (librarians) developed and taught five separate classes. The most popular class was one where we demonstrated ways to use freely available social networking tools in the classroom, as a way to communicate and collaborate with colleagues, and as a promotional aid for their professional achievements. We focused on the following tools: wikis, blogs, social bookmarking tools, RSS, Flickr, and Facebook. The initial sessions were well attended and the feedback we received was extremely encouraging. We offered similar classes the following semester and for the 2008-2009 academic year we have added more hands-on classes, and have extended the collaboration with more campus departments including: the Teaching, Learning & Technology Center, Campus Technology Services, Professional Council, and COIL (Collaborative Online International Learning) Center. The classes have morphed into a Professional Development Series of workshops and are initiated, developed, promoted and taught by faculty members, staff members, librarians, and information technologists alike. In the Fall of 2008 and again in the Spring of 2009, the series boasted more than 25 classes and included sessions on RefWorks, Clickers, PowerPoint, ArtStor, Second Life, Moodle, Final Cut Pro, Photoshop, and Blackboard.

Librarians focus much of their time on developing classes for students. We believe that developing classes for faculty and staff can be a brilliant way to perform outreach and to promote the library. Attendees of our classes begin to view us in a different light – as service providers – and they become strong library advocates.