Category: Training

Managing Professional Information Overload (NEST Retreat)

“Struggling to keep track of all the content you need to read, watch, listen to, and share professionally to stay up-to-date, but can’t manage it all? Learn about five free, online tools, including Evernote and Diigo, that can help you manage professional information overload.”

Managing Professional Information Overload (NEST Version)

These are the resources from a presentation I gave at the NEKLS NEST Retreat on October 6, 2011.

Brainstormed Ideas from NEST Participants

Brainstormed ideas from Lawrence Staff Day Participants [Given on November 2, 2011]
  • Coming soon

Effective Instructor Quote

I’m quickly skimming through Jessamyn West’s outstanding new book, “Without a Net: Librarians Bridging the Digital Divide,” and ran across this statement that is important for any trainer teaching any level of technology to any group of students, especially those uncomfortable with technology. In a lot of ways it’s common sense to anyone who’s worked with anyone learning technology, but it’s still always good to have the reminder.

I hope you take it to heart as much as I have (and read the whole book!):

Part of being an effective instructor is about putting technology use into perspective for people and helping them find a place for it in their own lives as something other than an insurmountable obstacle” –p74, Without a Net

T is for Training Challenge Meme

I met a bunch of the T is for Training crew at Computers in Libraries last year through Bobbi Newman. I finally joined the T is for TrainingGoogle Group last summer, but it’s taken me this long to pay attention to the messages. My attention was caught at the right time, apparently, because a Challenge Meme was posted, asking members to post answers to 27 Questions. Here’s my lengthy response, so I won’t mind if you just skim or skip.

  1. Your one sentence Bio: I’m a lifelong Kansan, diehard Kansas Jayhawks basketball fan, mom of two ornery cats, and love to teach people, especially librarians, about technology (particularly free web tools, open source, and social media).
  2. Do you blog? If yes, how did you come up with your blog name? Yes. What a journey to get there. I’ve been an on-again, off-again blogger on since early in 2004, beginning with Xanga in college. I then switched to WordPress.com for awhile. Notice there’s no links to those old blogs. You don’t want to go near them: I was a political science major in undergrad days (get the picture?). Currently, I contribute to NEKLS blogs (my place of work). I jump-started this particular blog again thanks to 23 Things Kansas. The tag line, Librarian in the Cloud: Sharing Info thru the Web…One Web App @ a Time, originated from the Fall of 2008, when Liz Rea, Sharon Moreland and I submitted a presentation proposal to the 2009 KLA/MPLA conference. We needed a snazzy title, and Liz, who’s the awesome NEKLS System Administrator with an uncanny ability to create superb presentation titles on the fly, threw out, “Living in the Cloud: How Using Online Services Can Let You Soar”. The title stuck, the presentation was accepted, and we presented at the 2009 KLA/MPLA Conference to a full room (presentation info post). We had had no idea cloud computing was going to take off in the way that it did last year when we submitted the presentation proposal in the first place. Sharon and I gave an encore presentation at NEKLS Tech Day 2009. Here’s the latest version of the presentation. Also, I’ve been sharing resources through Facebook, Delicious, Twitter, and other Web apps for several years, and my friends always appreciated it. When I started this blog up a year ago, the title “Librarian in the Cloud” seemed like a perfect fit! Continue reading “T is for Training Challenge Meme”

Learning how to use a Mac

I am an unapologetic Mac evangelist. I have used Macs since I was in third grade (almost 20 years now!), and even after using PCs over the past decade, I just don’t see how people can happily use a PC. Trying to fix one should be enough to drive people away. The viruses. The bloated software. The spyware. The bloated OS. Enough said.

As an acquaintance recently said, “Everything is so much easier and simpler to do on a Mac.” Each day, more people discover these truths. If you’re considering switching, or have already swtiched, but have no idea how to learn how to use a Mac, there are hundreds of resources available on a Web. Here’s a few links to sites that I have found useful in the past; they include guides and training videos. Most should be free; don’t pay for access to training unless you absolutely can’t find that lesson/tip anywhere else. Let me now if you know of other resources.

Find Out How: Mac Basics (Apple)

Teach-Ease: Video Tutorials

Mac 101: Get started with the Mac (Apple)

195 Free Mac Video Tutorials – The Master List for New Mac Users (My First Mac is a great general website to poke around in for tips)

Switching to Mac (another great general website)