Wouldn’t it be great if complicated technology concepts were explained in a simple way that’s easy to understand? Imagine how something like this could assist you in training sessions for patrons or staff. Well look no further, Common Craft creates explanatory videos “In Plain English” that cover topics like green, money, society and technology.

In this free webinar, Stephanie Gerding from TechSoup will interview Lee LeFever, from Common Craft to learn more about their videos and how they are created. We will also hear how librarians are using these videos to support the needs of their community.

Wednesday, November 18 from 2-3pm EST

Register here: http://www.techsoupforlibraries.org/events/tech-training-made-simple-with-online-videos

Some of the key points from this session:

• Filters do not work because the current definition of obscenity does not work on the Internet.
• Accuracy of filters is still an issue–in both directions–filters both over block some good material and under block objectionable material.
• Sarah spent months testing filters and found that among the four she tested, the accuracy for filtering text-based Web pages was 81%, accuracy for image searches 44%, and accuracy for e-mail attachments 25%.
• 81% was the best rating out of all the filters tested for any category.
• When patrons hit a blocked site they will most likely be too embarrassed to ask for legitimate sites to be unblocked.
• Examples of legitimate sites that were blocked: WebMD, wikipedia entry about Hustler, WWII history site, National Geographic site about beavers.
• It’s not only commercial Web sites that were blocked. The library’s own online resources were blocked.
• It’s also easy to get around filters with portal sites or sites that allow you to click through via a thumbnail image. Adult images on Web pages that did not have sexual text were not blocked. Sites that contained misspelled words such as pron or pr0n instead of porn were not blocked.
• Sarah cited other studies conducted between 2001-2008 showed about the same ratings as SJPL.
• In sum, “All filters block a wide range of constitutionally protected content in attempt to block other content.”
• Filters falsely block many valuable web pages and other online resources such as war, genocide, safe sex, public health.
• If you have filters in place advise your customers what their experience is going to be like and that good sites WILL BE BLOCKED.
• Do not send the message to parents and patrons that filters will protect children.
• To combat filters: use stats from other studies, do good research, collect anecdotal stories.
• Final result for SJPL: Filtering was not put in place. Now there is a resolution to NEVER filter so it can’t come up again.
• Price makes a difference. The more you pay the more flexible the filter is. You really get what you pay for.
• “ERATE isn’t worth it” for filtering according to Houghton-Jan. Have to figure in other costs…staff time for research, install, maintenance.

One of the key take aways from this session is that if you are living with filters in your library, education for the community is key. If you want to fight filters take a look at the work already done by San Jose Public Library.

You can find a copy of Sarah’s slides and links to more resources at her site librarianinblack.net.

The challenge here is how to continue the momentum when the prizes are given out and the official program is over. When does learning become its own reward for staff? I shared the Learning 2.1 site which is where PLCMC continued its Web 2.0 learning.  I also shared Learn Chat a twitter based discussion group for trainers that takes place on Twitter on Thursday nights.

One of the keys to engaging learners online is to reach out to them in their native environments. Many of our staff are already on Facebook so that has become a natural place for me to reach them. I’ve begun posting status updates during the day to let staff know where I am and how they can reach me. A few staff contact me regularly through Facebook chat to ask questions about training and registration. I foresee some research in my future about demonstrating the value of allowing staff to use social networking sites while at work.

I ended the presentation with the steps to creating a marketing/learning/really any plan.

1. Identify a need.
2. Research.
3. Identify the audience.
4. Identify objectives. Output or outcome?
5. Craft your message.
6. Find the right platform/tools.
7. Develop a plan.
8. Evaluate. How will you know what worked?

Notice that you don’t even consider whether to use Facebook, Twitter, or blogs until step 6. It’s crucial to first identify a need, your audience, and objectives before thinking about how to get your message out. That’s not to say that you can’t play. Play is essential for learning! But when you are creating a strategic, long-term plan it’s important to lay the groundwork for success.

There were some really good questions from the audience. I’m posting two of them here for discussion. Please add a comment if you have ideas about either of these questions.

1. A librarian working with high school students who are taking dual enrollment online courses via Blackboard asked how she can communicate more effectively with the students. She said she gets hundreds of questions via email each week from the students and does not have time to answer them individually. The high school students do not seem to like Blackboard but that is what she has to use. Ideas to help her?
2. Another question came from an academic librarian about how to verify that a person taking or “attending” an online class is really that person and how can we be sure that the person is not paying someone or having a friend take the class for him or her. Frank gave a really good answer to this but I want to see what your thoughts are on this.

If you want to learn more about designing better self-paced e-learning check out this book: Michael Allen’s Guide to E-Learning

Link to my e-learning bookmarks: http://delicious.com/lorireed/e-learning

For instance when times get tough training budgets appear to be an easy mark. But is that the best solution?

Addressing one of the fears many organizations have about training: What if you train them and they leave? But what if you don’t train them and they stay?

Whose responsibility is learning? The professional or the institution?

What is learning? Does watching a YouTube video count or talking at lunch?

If learning is important are we modeling that?

I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I did!

In the meantime there is no better live blogger than Sarah Houghton-Jan. Check out her notes from the conference.

Even though this is geared towards corporate learning, I find that all learning is essentially the same, and it is really useful to see how other industries approach learning.

From the LearnTrends Web site:

LearnTrends 2009 – The Corporate Learning Trends and Innovations Conference

November 17-19, 2009 | Online | Free

The theme/focus this year is on Convergence in Workplace Learning. We will bring together people who look at different aspects of learning and knowledge work to understand better what’s going on in those areas and how we should be thinking about this holistically.

As always, this conference is about getting together interesting people who bring a slightly different perspective and have meaningful conversation around innovation in workplace learning. We typically get more than a thousand people signed up and at least a hundred in each session.

To register, you must first register on the LearnTrends community and then register on the Conference Event Page.

Conference Hashtag: #learntrends

I gave two presentations at the convention about two of my favorite topics–multigenerational workforce and marketing libraries.

A big thank you to Pat Carterette and the Georgia Public Library Service for inviting me to the convention and hosting me while I was visiting!

Reading the speech as a mom, I can only be grateful that we have a president who values education.

Reading the speech as a trainer, there is one paragraph that really hit home with me:

And no matter what you want to do with your life – I guarantee that you’ll need an education to do it. You want to be a doctor, or a teacher, or a police officer? You want to be a nurse or an architect, a lawyer or a member of our military? You’re going to need a good education for every single one of those careers. You can’t drop out of school and just drop into a good job. You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

Let me repeat that last line:

You’ve got to work for it and train for it and learn for it.

This could not be more true, and I think this should be one of our mottos in the training and library world. It’s not enough to just show up for training. Training requires work on the part of both the trainer and the learner.

As trainers it is our responsibility to make this clear to our learners and to help them in whatever ways we can to be successful in their learning. So take the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t force him to drink.” Let’s change that to: “You can lead a horse to water, and you can make sure the water is fresh, tastes good, and is delivered so that it can reach all variations of horses.”

Years went by and I did not think much about the MDA Telethon again until I became a firefighter. On Labor Day weekend fire departments across the nation support the MDA with their “Fill the Boot” campaign.

Now many years later I watch the telethon every year with a mix of emotions. This is my 10-year anniversary of being diagnosed with the neuromuscular disease Charcot-Marie-Tooth Disease (CMT). Luckily the effects I experience from CMT are very mild—the worst being some pain with walking or prolonged activity as well as overall fatigue. I am blessed that this disease will not shorten my life, but this is not the case for many of the more than a million Americans who suffer from neuromuscular diseases—diseases such as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) which can cause death within 3-5 years.

While my health insurance covers all of my treatment for CMT, it does not cover the research that is needed to find treatments and cures for these diseases. Since many of these diseases have had their genetic cause identified there is a good chance that they can be cured or at a minimum have reduced pain and suffering through stem cell therapy or other forms of treatment.

As you celebrate Labor Day weekend with your families and friends please consider a small donation to the Muscular Dystrophy Association during the telethon, online, online auction, or if you see firefighters collecting for Jerry’s Kids, fill their boots! Every penny raised counts and goes to benefit the lives of more than a million Americans afflicted with neuromuscular diseases.

Some facts:

• MDA is the nonprofit health agency dedicated to curing muscular dystrophy, ALS and related diseases by funding worldwide research. The Association also provides comprehensive health care and support services, advocacy and education.
• The majority of contributions to MDA come from individual donors.
• MDA is the largest nongovernmental sponsor of muscle and nerve disease research.
• Funded almost entirely by individual private contributions, MDA seeks no fees from those it serves.
• MDA dedicates 78.3 cents of every dollar it spends directly to research, services and education.
• MDA sends more than 4,000 youngsters with muscular dystrophy to accessible MDA summer camps each year, at a cost to MDA of $800 per camper. There’s no charge to families.
• Tens of thousands of people visit MDA’s 220 clinics and 35 MDA/ALS centers every year.
• MDA awards research grants to more than 300 teams of scientists and physicians worldwide.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and have a safe and relaxing holiday!