Instructional Design Plan (458 – Instruction and Assistance Systems)
This course covered information literacy standards, theories of learning, and creating instructional design plans that include assessable outcomes. At the end of the semester, we each developed an instruction design plan that included all of these elements. I created a plan for teaching a low tech literacy audience how to perform remote file storage using email and Dropbox. Instruction Design Plan
Practicum (591 – Music and Performing Arts Library)
I spent four hours per week at the reference desk and worked on the following projects for the library:
Focus Groups
I recruited students to participate in a series of focus groups on how students find scores and recordings in their studies. I asked students how/when students seek out scores and recordings, what tools they use, and how they view the library’s tools and resources. Librarian, Kirstin Dougan, used the results in her research, published in The Reference Librarian.
Collection Development
Collection Development Policy (590CD – Collection Development)
For this class, we each developed a fictional library for which we would develop a collection development policy. Inspired by my practicum at the Music and Performing Arts Library, I created a musical theater membership-based library that serves workers in the industry and fans. I focussed on the library’s policy for collecting audiovisual items. Collection Development Policy
Community Newsrooms in the East St. Louis Park District and the Mary Brown Center (LIS 490ST – Community Informatics Studio Course)
After weeks of research and planning, we spent a week in East St. Louis working with youth ranging from 4-16 years of age to equip them with citizen journalism tools. At the Park District we taught day campers at Jones Park how to use the computer lab I was a part of building the previous semester. Specifically, we taught them photography, photo editing, interviewing, and how to write a newsletter. At the Mary E. Brown Center we taught more formalized lessons on blogging, video production, developing interview questions, research, and photography. At the end of the week, we developed a video which documents our time in East St. Louis:
The students practiced blogging by developing news and personal stories: Metro East Digital Youth News
East St. Louis Park District Community Center Computer Lab (LIS 451 – Introduction to Network Information Systems)
(left to right) Rumyana Hristova, Sayer Jackson, Martin Wolske, Stacey Snyder, Zachary Matthews, Anna Coats
This group project was easily the largest and one of the most meaningful projects I have worked on. We were tasked with creating a computer lab at Jones Park in East St. Louis, Illinois. The lab would primarily be used for children attending the park’s summer day camp, which Zac Matthews and I got to visit the following summer semester (more details above). As described in our final report/blog, we had to address several challenges, such as strategizing how to broadcast a wireless signal 600 yards across an obstacle-filled park. In the end, we left behind a lab of 11 networked Linux computers, a projector and screen, a printer, a router, instructions for how to obtain a dedicated internet connection from their internet service provider, and a detailed instruction manual for users on the equipment and functionality of the lab. More details about the project and the documentation we created for Jones Park are linked below. In addition to learning about computers and networking, Martin Wolske taught me what true service means and effective methods to bridge the digital divide. It is not about coming in to save a community with technology. It is about developing relationships with people and using what you know to fit into their current framework. It is essential to work with the community to find out how technology can improve upon what already exists.
Instruction manual we left for the Park District
Broadband Plan for a Community-Based Organization (LIS 518 – Community Informatics)
A classmate and I were assigned to develop a plan for a nonprofit organization’s anticipated access to fiber-optic broadband internet through the efforts of Urbana-Champaign Big Broadband (UC2B). We worked with the Developmental Services Center (DSC), an organization that provides resources and support for developmentally disabled individuals in the Champaign-Urbana area. Our report includes suggestions for how staff and clients of the DSC can take advantage of this super high-speed internet and resources for improving the organization’s use of technology. Report
