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You Can Do It! Creating Digital Content
- 2. You can doYou can do i t !i t ! Lear ni ng t o cr eat e di gi t alLear ni ng t o cr eat e di gi t al cont entcont ent Logan Macdonal d, Anyt hi nk Li br ar i esLogan Macdonal d, Anyt hi nk Li br ar i es
- 4. • • •• • • TheThe t r ai ni ngt r ai ni ng comf or tcomf or t
- 8. • • •• • • Par t i ci pat oPar t i ci pat o r yr y st af fst af f
- 12. ““ MustMust Haves”Haves” f or cont ent cr eat i onf or cont ent cr eat i on t r ai ni ngt r ai ni ng
- 13. Col l aborat iCol l aborat i veve
- 14. In dept hIn dept h
- 15. Creat i ve &Creat i ve & FunFun
- 16. Put sPut s concept sconcept s t o workt o work
- 17. HOMAGO Hangi ng Out Messi ng Around Geeki ng Out Hangi ng Out Messi ng Around Geeki ng Out
- 18. 21st Cent ury Ski l l sCreat i vi t y Cri t i cal Thi nki ng Communi cat i on Col l aborat i on Creat i vi t y Cri t i cal Thi nki ng Communi cat i on Col l aborat i on
- 19. Part i ci pat ory Li brary Anyt hi nk engages t he communi t y i n creat i ng, produci ng and shari ng product s and i deas. Anyt hi nk engages t he communi t y i n creat i ng, produci ng and shari ng product s and i deas.
- 20. PROJECTS MENTORS SCHEDULE SHOWCASE THE TRAI NI NG MODEL
- 21. PROJECTSPROJECTS Pr oj ect s woul d be… •Par t i ci pant - dr i ven. •Achi evabl e. •Col l abor at i ve. •Fun.
- 22. PROJECTSPROJECTS Pr oj ect s woul d have… •Some basi c i nst r uct i on. •Wel l - st r uct ur ed act i vi t i es. •A f i nal pr oduct or goal .
- 23. MENTORSMENTORS Ment or s woul d be… •Found i nsi de ( and somet i mes out si de) t he or gani zat i on. •Hobbyi st s, amat eur s or pr of essi onal s.
- 24. MENTORSMENTORS Ment or s woul d be… •Knowl edgeabl e. •Good i nt er act or s. •Gui des and r esour ces f or cr eat or s.
- 25. SCHEDULESCHEDULE The schedul e woul d i ncl ude… •Pl ent y of t i me t o cr eat e. •A deadl i ne. •An end- of - day showcase.
- 26. SHOWCASESHOWCASE The showcase woul d pr ovi de… •An oppor t uni t y t o show of f t he f i nal pr oduct . •Posi t i ve peer f eedback. •A chance t o shar e exper i ences.
- 27. I t ’ s not about t he st uf f
- 29. What does st af f t hi nk? 94% TechFest i nspi r es me t o cont i nue l ear ni ng mor e af t er t he day i s over . TechFest i nspi r es me t o cont i nue l ear ni ng mor e af t er t he day i s over . 83% Thanks t o TechFest , I f eel mor e comf or t abl e t r yi ng somet hi ng new. Thanks t o TechFest , I f eel mor e comf or t abl e t r yi ng somet hi ng new. I di d not enj oy l unch. I di d not enj oy l unch. .
- 30. ““ Loved t he l ayout t hi sLoved t he l ayout t hi s year : f ocusi ng onyear : f ocusi ng on hands- on l ear ni ng,hands- on l ear ni ng, bei ng cr eat i ve, t r yi ngbei ng cr eat i ve, t r yi ng new t hi ngs i n a saf enew t hi ngs i n a saf e envi r onment , bei ng abl eenvi r onment , bei ng abl e t o choose f r om at o choose f r om a var i et y of subj ectvar i et y of subj ect
- 31. Movi ng t heMovi ng t he comf ortcomf ort
- 32. Quest i ons?Quest i ons?
Editor's Notes
- Here’s some history about how we developed this style of training day at Anythink. In 2010, we started our annual staff inservice day for technology training – we called the day TechFest. TechFest was originally designed as what I would call “Conference Style.” We had a keynote, we had breakout sessions and we sometimes mixed in some hands-on activities. TechFest seemed to be in the “comfort zone” when it came to training. Our staff was comfortable with this style of training and they reported in evaluations that they learned a lot and enjoyed the day. We started to notice a couple of puzzling things. On one hand, staff members were saying things like “If you provide more training, I can do my job better.” and at the same time others were telling us that they still didn’t understand ebooks even though they went to the Overdrive trainings we held each year. This left us wondering-- Was there something about technology training that makes retention difficult? Is a conference-style training the best approach? Do we continue to stay in the comfort zone even if staff members aren’t learning what we need them to learn?
- At the same time, our other staff trainings were incorporating elements that were more active and interactive and that required our staff to be creative and take risks. This is a picture of an exercise on one of our other all-staff training days called “I am creative”. Staff members were asked to guide a blindfolded partner through a “minefield” laid out on the sidewalk with duct tape. They had to be able to connect with their partner and give clear instructions to make sure the blindfolded person didn’t step on a “mine.” These are transferable skills -- making a connection with someone else and communicating a detailed process could help in other situations like helping a customer with self-check or delivering a craft program. Since we were already doing this in other trainings, we started thinking that this idea of using particpatory exercises to teach transferable skills could apply with tech training too.
- This left us wondering-- Was there something about technology training that makes retention difficult? Is a conference-style training the best approach? Do we continue to stay in the comfort zone even if staff members aren’t learning what we need them to learn?
- We knew that the day would need to be collaborative. Ideally, the day would be structured to build on one of the things that we had already been doing at other trainings – encouraging small group collaboration between staff in different job roles and from different branches. Since the day was geared towards technology, we also wanted to encourage exposure to different ideas and skill levels so staff could learn from each other and share their tech knowledge. We also wanted staff to be able to work in groups that were centered around an interest rather than a job role to help facilitate collaboration between people who didn’t work together every day. It’s always easier to talk to someone if you share the same interests.
- We felt that this training could be a chance to let staff explore technology in depth. One reason was that one common evaluation of previous tech trainings was that they were “too basic,” or didn’t have “enough advanced training.” We also wanted to allow participants more time to spend enough time with the equipment and software that they would feel comfortable exploring their own solutions rather than listening to a presenter’s brief explanation of her favorite way of doing things. This is that transferable skills vs. memorization of procedure idea.
- At Anythink, we believe everyone is creative and we have been encouraging staff to be more comfortable exploring their creativity at work. We knew this training day needed to be high-interest, fun, and provide opportunities for staff to be creative. Easy to engage with so staff would find that creative spark right away.
- And finally, we wanted to make sure that any learning opportunities we created would be structured around some of the key concepts that are driving Anythink right now. Even if the skills weren’t explicitly identified to staff, by saying “You are going to learn the following 21st Century skills,” for example, we thought it would be important to design the day so that those concepts and skills were a part of the experience. In particular, the concepts and skills we wanted to focus on were HOMAGO, 21st Century Skills, and the idea of the participatory library. I’m going to go over these concepts briefly and if you want more information about any of them we’ve posted a list of links and resources on the PLA conference site.
- HOMAGO stands for hanging out, messing around and geeking out. It’s a theory about informal learning and how teens interact with digital media based on the work of Mimi Ito and a team of researchers as well as the YOUmedia project at the Chicago Public Library. The theory describes three “genres of participation” or ways that teens participate with digital media. Hanging Out, where you’re using digital media to socialize and communicate or you’re hanging out in a content creation space because you have a crush on someone. Messing Around , when you’re exploring content creation tools and doing things like posting videos to youtube or customizing your tumblr theme. Geeking Out, where you’re taking a deeper passionate approach to digital media, and usually focusing on one area of knowledge like music production or video game programming. Our digital media creation space is based around HOMAGO so we wanted to make sure our staff could experience some of the things the YOUmedia network lists as HOMAGO essentials. Hanging Out and Messing Around should actively support, reward or foster collaborative activity. Messing Around should support self-directed, interest-driven activity. Messing Around should incorporate mentoring from adults with the expertise to provide encouragement and feedback. Messing Around should give youth some sense of ownership of what they did, through performance or physical artifacts or seeing how they contributed to a larger effort. Geeking Out should offer hands-on workshops and projects centered around making and doing.
- One of the goals in our current strategic plan is, “Anythink and its staff understands and exhibits 21st century skills.” A list of 21st century skills specifically for libraries and museums was published by the IMLS in 2009. For us, we wanted to make sure this training would illustrate 21st century skills like: “Demonstrate imagination and curiosity” “Assume shared responsibility for a collaborative work and value the individual contributions made by each team member.” “Understand and utilize the most appropriate media creation tools, characteristics, and conventions” “View failure as an opportunity to learn; understand that creativity and innovation is a long-term, cyclical process of small successes and frequent mistakes.”
- The third concept is this idea of a participatory library. Anythink has been moving towards becoming a participatory library for the past few years and the statement on this slide is also in our current strategic plan. We are drawing inspiration about being a participatory organization from the work of Nina Simon, who wrote a great book called “The Participatory Museum.” The participator library is a big idea and one thing it means for us at Anythink being able to engage our customers at all levels of participation including: Customers who just want to consume content Customers who want to create content Customers who want to contribute to a project Customers who want to socialize around content And everyone in between. We thought this training day would be a good venue for letting our staff explore content creation and maybe figure out what their own favorite level of participation might be.
- Here’s the training model we developed. The day is set up like this: Ahead of time, everyone coming to the training day is asked to self-select the project or group they find most interesting. We used a website called Sly Reply. This gives everyone time to think about what they want to do and also makes it easier to sort people into groups during the day. On the day of the training, participants meet in a large group to kick things off. We did a keynote during this time last year and a hands-on introduction to circuits this year and both seemed to work well as a kick-off. Then, people join their small groups and work with a mentor for an extended period of time to complete a project. There is a deadline for finishing the project, and then the large group reconvenes for a showcase where each group gets to show off what they created and talk about their experience. The key components of the day are projects, mentors, the schedule, and the showcase. We have learned a lot over the past two years of doing this training and we’ve identified some tips that should help if you want to replicate or adapt this model at your library.
- We have found that the most successful projects are participant driven and based on what participants want to do. We have polled our staff each year to see what they are most interested in learning. Participants should be able to pre-select their favorite project. Project should be achievable so they can be completed within the given time. For example, a 1 to 2 minute video seems to be the perfect length for a 4 hour work period. Projects should be collaborative and fun. Even though we had high interest in an session on RDA Cataloging this year, we chose another option because we didn’t feel it lent itself to a collaborative product and it was likely to only be fun for a handful of staff members.
- Project groups should get a little bit of instruction from the mentor to introduce the concepts / software / skills necessary to complete the project. We have found that the best projects have a clear goal with corresponding activities that lead to the goal. Any planned activities should be well-structured and relevant to the project, either to introduce necessary skills or complete a part of the larger goal. Speaking of the goal or final product, it can be as simple as “we’re going to make a 60-second stop-motion animation.” It doesn’t necessarily need to be specific.
- Mentors play a huge role in this training model. The great thing is, they can come from inside or outside of your organization. There are probably several people already working at your library who have a content creation skill and would be willing to share that knowledge with their coworkers. Mentors also don’t need to be professionals. A good mentor could be the facilities employee who has a passion for digital photography and a good depth of knowledge on how to take great pictures. Or you might want to invite a member of your community who is a professional music producer.
- Mentors should be knowledgeable about the topic or have a level of expertise that gives them gravitas. I use the words “good interactors” here to mean that the best mentors are able to engage with participants and facilitate collaboration. There are some experts whose skills aren’t geared towards being a mentor. And the best mentors let participants explore the project as a group as much as possible and act mainly as guides and resources, helping the group get started, providing feedback, and helping if the group gets “stuck.”
- We have found that the ideal schedule includes plenty of time to create. 4 hours seems to be about right in our experience. A deadline is a great motivator. We have found that the pressure of a deadline is helpful to focus work during what is pretty much an big block of unstructured time and helps make sure projects get completed by the end of the day. Make sure to set aside enough time for the end-of-day showcase. We have had 120 trainees, or 12 groups of 10, so each group gets 5 minutes during the showcase. You may want to allow more time for each group if you aren’t training as many people as we are.
- The showcase idea really comes from the HOMAGO essentials, the idea that Messing Around and Geeking Out should include some aspect of performance or public display of creative products. We have also heard from staff that they appreciate the opportunity to share their experience and reflect on the project. Plus, it’s always great to hear that applause from your peers at the end of the day. Showcase is most relevant when participants present experiences and take the lead in describing the product (as opposed to the mentors doing the talking.) May need a break before the showcase to coordinate the A/V requirements necessary for displaying a variety of digital content (movies, audio recordings, photos, objects)
- The technology doesn’t matter as much as the experience. Some of our most popular and well-received projects were made with a small number of resources. Two smartphones running a stop-motion animation app like Smoovie could make a great project!
- As you probably do, we followed up this training day with a staff survey. Our participatory TechFest was one of the most well-reviewed trainings we have done at Anythink. These are some statistics from the evaluation of this year’s event showing that a huge majority of staff agree with these statements that reflect a couple of 21st century skills. Also, one of the key indicators of a successful training day – only one person complained about the lunch!
- Here’s an example of the kinds of comments we received on our evaluation survey. On a personal note, even though we didn’t explicitly tell staff that these were the goals of the day I was pleased to see that at least one member of staff saw what we were trying to do.
- So what has this meant for our staff? One of the things we have been most impressed with as a result of this training model has been the way our staff has risen to the occasion and embraced the higher level of flexibility, creativity and risk-taking that comes with exploring digital content creation. It’s a bit of a leap from learning how to download an ebook to writing, recording and mixing a three-minute song in one day and our staff has jumped on board. There’s a sense of accomplishment that comes with the finished product that our staff has really responded to. Staff really ran with the skills they learned on this day and immediately started integrating content creation into their programming. In my opinion, I think the comfort zone has truly shifted at this point and I think it would be difficult to go back to a more traditional sit, listen and follow along training. We’re exploring different ways we can build on what we learned here and push things even further. Here are some of the things we’re just starting to think about – Grounding the day in design thinking where staff would work with a client to identify a need, then use technology to create a prototype. Incorporating Problem-Based Learning where participants are presented with a problem and are asked to use technology to research and present a possible solution. Using this model for public programs too.
- Questions, thoughts, or comments?