Poll Everywhere

I was at a keynote at the Academic Leadership Workshop (SKPolytech) earlier this spring where the speaker used Poll Everywhere to add interactive elements to her presentation.  I was well aware of this project, as several of my colleagues had been working with the speaker to get this all up and running.

Frankly, I was prepared to be underwhelmed.  I have used clickers before and didn't really imagine that I was in for a "wow, that is so cool" moment, but boy was I wrong.

The live display of data is impressive.  To see the totals move as someone inputs their data is incredibly cool. To have immediate feedback from the audience either through a text or through a website is amazing and also simple (for both the presenter and for the participants).  My favourite feature was the word cloud.  The speaker asked us to describe what Saskatchewan Polytechnic means to us?  It was incredible to watch as the word cloud formed and then dynamically changed as more people contribute their ideas.  In a matter of moments you could see what was resonating with the audience.  And words that you may have anticipated but noticed were missing or not as prevalent is also interesting to observe.

So... I took a huge risk.  Normally copyright librarians are risk adverse, but I definitely do not embrace that sentiment in my teaching.  I had a presentation the very next day and I thought that the word cloud would be the perfect way to determine the temperature of the audience on the issue of copyright compliance.  So I taught myself how to use it!!!!  In about 30 minutes.  The software is highly intuitive and easy to use.  It was also fun.  And I received a lot of very positive, very enthusiastic feedback.  I highly recommend it!

Terrified of technology - notes from a conference presentation

The final session that I attended at WILU was entitled "Mobile Technology and Learning: Information Literacy Beyond the Classroom", presented by Robin Canuel and Chad Crichton.

The presentation began with a thought provoking discussion on determining the needs of the end users which is something that we are very concerned with in libraries. Their argument - does Steve Jobs ask us what we want or does he tell us what we need?

They then briefly demonstrated types of technology that could be incorporated into the library such as Google Goggles, GPS and QR codes.

The next portion of their presentation focused on the challenges of utilizing technology which they identified as:
- expertise
- cost
- competing priorities
- perception of librarians as perhaps technology illiterate
- licensed vs. owned content (DRM)
- speed
- coverage

The opportunities:
- engage students with the use of compelling technology
- harness the librarian's expertise (I am not sure in which context I wrote this comment down - but I like it - so I am leaving it!)
- the ability to re-emphasis traditional information literacy skills

They stated by the end of their presentation, members of the audience who didn't already own a smart phone would be inticed to run out and buy one. Hmmm... I don't own a smart phone, I found their presentation compelling, but I am not sure if I am ready to make that leap just yet!

* As a side note: I played whirly word on my friends' iPhone for several hours last weekend. That game is only available for iPhones - now I feel the need to have a smart phone!!!

** I love their idea of QR codes. I think I am going to add them to the stacks where I work and see what happens.