Adult User Education/Module 5 Objectives and Readings

Objectives

Demonstrate and awareness of the different considerations surrounding diversity within the instructional environment and demonstrate an awareness of current instructional technologies available: Read and discuss textbook chapters and assigned articles covering diversity and instructional technologies. Continue working on adult education instruction program plan for a specific library setting, while considering ways to integrate both attention to diversity and instructional technologies into program planning. Reflect on the readings, discussions, and activity and share new ideas and knowledge acquired.

Reading

Read in text – Chapter 10: Diversity & Chapter 11: Instructional Technologies Diversity Dixen, Rebecca and Stephanie Thorson. "How Librarians Serve People in Prison." Computers in Libraries 21, no.9 (October 2001): 48-53, (Academic Search Complete) - Finally an excellent article about special library work! The information literacy services in this article are provided by a law library service. Hutchinson, Nancy G. "Beyond ADA Compliance: Redefining Accessibility." American Libraries 32, no. 6 (June/July 2001): 76-78, (Academic Search Complete) - Discussion of how one public library remade itself to be accessible to all patrons. Degyansky, Kathy. "The Disconnected." Library Journal 133, no. 12 (7/1/2008): 30-33, (Academic Search Complete) - This article describes a section of our population that in age are younger adults, but who are having to take on adult responsibilities without the education that could make them more successful.

Instructional Technologies

• Dewald, Nancy, Ann Scholz-Crane, Austin Booth, and Cynthia Levine. "Information Literacy at a Distance: Instructional Design Issues." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 26, no. 1 (January 2000): 33-44 - This article has some great information on instructional technologies that can be used at a distance, but keep in mind that these technologies could also be incorporated into the web page of a library, or utilized in training sessions.
• Cohen, David. "Course-Management Software: Where's the Library?" Educause Review 37, no. 3 (May/June 2002): 12-13 - http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ERM0239.pdf - This is a short article that discusses where the library can fit into a university course management system.
• Dewald, Nancy H. "Transporting Good Library Instruction Practices into the Web Environment: An Analysis of Online Tutorials." The Journal of Academic Librarianship 25, no. 1 (January 1999): 26-31 - This article talks about considerations for utilizing online tutorials as a means of providing instruction.
• "Wikis in the Online Class" - http://twuid.pbwiki.com/Wikis+in+the+Online+Class - This information area from the TWU Instructional Design resource discusses what a wiki is and why it is an effective instructional choice. Even if your class is not online, you can still use this information if you plan on working with a wiki!
• "Blogs in the Online Class" - http://twuid.pbwiki.com/Blogs+in+the+Online+Class - Another resource from TWU Instructional Design.
• "Podcasting in the Online Class" - http://twuid.pbwiki.com/Podcasting+in+the+Online+Class - Another resource from TWU Instructional Design.
• "What is a Webquest?" - http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/concept2class/webquests/index.html - Information on what a webquest is and how they can be used with other educational techniques.
• Screencasts:
  • "Screencast" definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast
  • Wink - http://www.debugmode.com/wink/ - a free software that will allow you to create screen-capture tutorials and save them as flash files.
  • Jing - http://www.jingproject.com/ - another free screen-capture tool.
  • Camtasia - http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp?CMP=KgoogleCStmhome - a more expensive version of this kind of tool.
• Online, or virtual, communities:
  • "Virtual Community" definition - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_communities
  • List of virtual communities - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_virtual_communities
• Educational software:
  • SoftChalk - http://www.softchalk.com/ - this software allows you to create learning modules and has some really neat features (I encourage you to look at some of the demos).
  • StudyMate - http://www.respondus.com/studymate/samples.shtml - this software creates quizzes and learning activities.
  • Articulate - http://www.articulate.com/ - this company's software can be used for both learning modules and activities.
• Synchronous tools:
  • Wimba - http://www.wimba.com/ - an online tool that allows synchronous meetings via the Internet. This tool has text, audio, and video capabilities, along with a whiteboard and the ability to upload files such as powerpoints.
  • Elluminate - http://www.elluminate.com/ - this tool is similar to Wimba, but it also has a 3-person version that you can use for free!
  • Skype - http://www.skype.com/ - this tool uses VOIP (voice over internet protocol) and allows you to call anyone via the Internet. There are also video capabilities that you can use with this tool.
• Collaborative Writing:
  • Google Docs - https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=writely&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&followup=http%3A%2F%2Fdocs.google.com%2F&ltmpl=homepage&rm=false - this is an online tool that allows you to share your documents with others, and it allows for asynchronous collaboration on documents by enabling each use to edit in real-time online. No more file exchanges by email are needed!
  • Buzzword - https://buzzword.acrobat.com/ - Adobe's version of document sharing and editing.
  • Zoho - http://www.zoho.com/ - a suite of online collaborative applications.

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