by Kay Kirscht
Quick Summary
Level Up's aim is to help Minnesota library staff keep up-to-date, and encourage learning new skills at all levels. Training sessions (webinars, conferences, workshops, tutorials and videos, articles, and books) are free to all consortia contributing their own PD offerings to the growing roster of online classes. This article includes a list of upcoming sessions for the week of November 16-20.
Level Up!: Your source for library professional development information.
LevelUpMN is managed by the Library Professional Development Network (LPDN), a team of Minnesota librarians identifying opportunities, and finding ways to fill gaps in training.
Level Up's aim is to help Minnesota library staff keep up-to-date, and encourage learning new skills at all levels. Training sessions (webinars, conferences, workshops, tutorials and videos, articles, and books) are free to all consortia contributing their own PD offerings to the growing roster of online classes (sort of like "Stone Soup" - everyone brings something to the stew; everyone benefits.)
In the interest of promoting this great idea (I've attended two of the webinars so far, and find them excellent - it's also an excellent way to meet folks from other libraries) – I've created a list of upcoming sessions:
Online Learning for Humans
Monday, November 16, 12:00 – 1:00 pm
Your learners are only human. They crave social connection and the ability to learn in the way that suits them best. Meeting both needs in online learning is not only possible but can increase engagement and improve retention, and it doesn’t take much extra time to implement! In this webinar, we’ll talk about how to design a more social learning experience in which any human can succeed. The strategies covered in this presentation can be adapted for any format of online learning. Let’s talk about how to meet your learners where they are – as humans.
A Practical Guide to COUNTER Release 5
Monday, November 16, 1:00 – 2:00 pm
Release 5 of the COUNTER Code of Practice is the newest standard for counting usage for electronic resources. New releases of COUNTER are intended to improve reporting, and can include changes in usage metrics and types of reports offered. Librarians need to understand changes from previous to new releases in order to effectively interpret usage data. This session examines the specific metrics and reports included in COUNTER Release 5, and offers a look at how Release 5 compares to Release 4. The goal is to provide a practical guide for understanding COUNTER Release 5, as well as overall challenges and opportunities with interpreting usage reports.
Google Chrome Extensions: Helpful Hacks for the Chrome Experience
Monday, November 16, 3:00 – 4:00 pm
Google Extensions, for use with Chromebooks and the Chrome browser, are part of a rising trend. Schools and libraries are turning more toward Google for Education and Chromebooks as tech tools. Extensions are a growing aspect of the Chrome experience.
This presentation will help attendees understand what an extension is and where to begin. Additionally, the presentation will demonstrate many different extensions and discuss how they can be used and which might benefit various users the most. Attendees are encouraged to follow along on their own device.
Restoring Our Attention
Wednesday, November 18, 10:00 – 11:00 am
At a time of pandemic and civil unrest, many of us are glued to our devices, doomscrolling with anticipation for the worst to come. We rely on technology more than ever before to connect to each other, our students, our families. How do we use it wisely? And how do we manage and protect our attention when our lifeline to the outside world is designed to exploit it?
In this webinar, we will take a look at the market forces that incentivize technology to distract and manipulate us. We’ll consider the consequences of chronic distraction in the short and long term, across individuals and society as a whole. And then we’ll look to attention restoration theory (ART) for ideas about what to do differently. ART is a theory that helps us understand how our attention is depleted and restored. At UW, I used ART in an undergraduate design methods course to frame the design of restorative spaces and experiences on the University of Washington’s campus. In the process, students showed promising signs of changing their behaviors and attitudes with technology.
We’ll learn about several of the practices we used in the class, many of which were contemplative in nature. We’ll also consider how these practices, and a design-framing, might help us and our students use technology differently.
Understanding China Data & Business Research
Thursday, November 19, 10:00 – 11:00 am
This webinar will provide an overview of selected official statistical information collected in the People’s Republic of China, with a particular focus on economic and financial data on Mainland China. It will explore options beyond the official statistics and ‘known data’ and discuss what needs to be considered when ‘thinking’ about data used for economic and financial research. Attendees will be able to:
- Identify China's information custodians.
- Identify and use suitable tools to find and access different information sources related to China.
