I decided to create a very quickly thrown together animoto for this point.  But I will say, that despite being absolutely freakout exhausted and ready to graduate, I have really enjoyed this class and what it has taught me.  Michael, thanks for everything!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNqpfDEJQzA

For my Library 2.0 group project / presentation, I worked with Jessica Coates and Drew Smith on Mobile Librarianship.  We covered Mobile Librarianship from both the librarian’s and users perspective.  My focus within the group was on Mobile Librarianship from the Patrons perspective.  I discussed the benefits of the library having mobile browser version of their websites, what an ebook could do for libraries, and what the library could get from creating a mobile phone app.  I did not address any of the issues in my presentation as Jessica made sure to discuss those points.

We used Google Docs to collaborate online.  We exchanged notes, created a handout, and build our presentation from the web-based application.  I believe it was incredibly successful.  I am presenting Google Docs to Elmhurst College Faculty for Reading Day, and this presentation served as an experiment for that as well.

I really enjoyed working on this group project.  I think we are just entering the beginning of potential mobile technologies, we just have to remember to not leave anyone behind.

Below I have included a slideshare presentation of my contribution to group project:

War of the LMS, or, How does Moodle stack up Against Blackboard?

Abstract:

With this research paper, I will examine an academic library’s need for a learning management system or LMS and whether or not academic libraries would be better served with a paid-subscription services (Blackboard) or an open-source platform (Moodle).  By providing an overview of the various LMS platforms, I will be able to identify the needs of an academic library through library literature articles and my own analysis.  I will provide evidence of other universities whom have pursued similar paths.  Essentially, this paper will examine the pros and cons of using the free, open source LMS system, Moodle, over the paid subscription services from Blackboard and what type of environment and user population would be best served by such a change.

Moodle, in the right environment, has the ability to strengthen the connection between librarians who provide user instruction and information literacy for faculty and students.  Moodle has the opportunity to enhance students’ overall learning experiences in and out of the classroom by building better connections between students, faculty, and librarians.  Additionally, a service like Moodle, can also create stronger bonds between students to group experiences.  Moodle is capable of becoming more of an educational social space than Blackboard.

While this paper will cover a lot of the technical aspects of comparing and contrasting an open source LMS with a paid-subscription based LMS, I will also connect this to the theories and culture of Library 2.0 in the LIS world

Description:

Learning Management Systems (LMS), in one form or another, are generally always found in Universities and colleges and in quite a few academic systems, libraries are involved in an LMS, whether it be managing an LMS for the university or using it in a similar capacity to that of faculty for Information Literacy or other user instruction based courses. These days it seems that the choices a university has in choosing an LMS is Blackboard or other. That is a little bit of a generalization but in that generalization lies some truth. Blackboard has established itself as the lone powerhouse in LMS platforms. It would be safe to assume that most university systems currently subscribe to some version of Blackboard. The issue, however, is that with that power follows fewer competitors and ever-rising subscription fees. Some universities and colleges are beginning to only be able to afford the basic versions of Blackboard and that can threaten to diminish the educational experiences of students. This is forcing smaller universities to consider LMS alternatives, especially during times of such a volatile economy and shrinking budgets.

Of course Moodle is one of the biggest and most well open LMS alternatives to blackboard, which will also be the focus of this value assessment, but some other systems include, Docebo, eFront, Dokeos, Claroline, ATutor, ILIAS, OLAT, Sakai, .LRN, Openelms, and Ganesha (Sampson). Other alternatives can include, with some creative thinking, turn Content Management Systems (CMS) into LMS platforms. For example, Michael Stephens and Kyle Jones, using Wordpress with the plugin, BuddyPress, have created a beautiful and highly functioning LMS.

Open source software is not always the answer to a University’s LMS needs of a university nor is it intended to be a short-term solution. This is paper is not necessarily a proponent of open source platforms nor does it pledge any allegiance to paid subscription services such as Blackboard, but rather an assessment of the alternatives, particularly Moodle, and what types of libraries could benefit from an open source LMS. There are very definite pros and cons to both open source and paid subscriptions and every university system is different whether it’s because of size, needs, budget, etc.

For academic libraries with librarians involved in the sort of do-it-yourself, guerilla IT tacts and mentality such as Elmhurst College, a switch to an open source platform could not only save the library thousands of dollars, but also provide a more customized and intuitive LMS environment for students and faculty. Blackboard offers great services, however, only it is harder for smaller universities like Elmhurst to afford the more advanced versions. It is not fair for students of smaller academic systems to receive a lesser educational experience based strictly from a financial standpoint, and yet at the same time, Blackboard does have the right to make money, and they should not be faulted for that in the slightest. This is where open source systems can be so effective.

Open Source Content Management Systems: Wordpress MU and Drupal:

I recently post the question on twitter:

These are the responses received to this point:

To this point, it seems like most user prefer drupal over Wordpress because it can do so much more.  But it also seems to be far more difficult to get it up and running.  In order to prepare for the GSLIS Advanced Web Design class next spring, I wanted to test out both systems.  I believe both are very important to libraries, but which is better for the library?

I have installed both systems on to my web hosting service: Wordpress on Modlab and Drupal on Modlab in order to see what all the fuss is about. I do agree that wordpress is much easier to set up and launch right out of the box for a simple site, and drupal, as Dan stated, does indeed have a steep learning curve. I can really see the pros and cons for both systems. Wordpress seems much easier to set up and maintain,  but is that necessarily a good thing?

Basically it really all depends on the library’s needs and even, to a certain extent, the skill level of the librarian in charge of setting up and maintaining the site.  It appears that Drupal take a lot of start up work to get it going, but it is also a CMS that can do a lot more for you that Wordpress appears to be able to, but that is not always needed for libraries.  Wordpress has it’s limitations, but is quite easy to set up and maintain.  For a smaller library, with a small budget, I would probably recommend a wordpress system over drupal.

Either way you go, both systems are incredibly exciting and I can’t wait for the semester to be over so I can dive into both!

Update:

See Kyle Jones’ wordpress as a CMS presentation: http://thecorkboard.org/blog/reflections-on-the-wordpress-as-cms-presentation/

Skokie Public Library via Twitter:

My for Brand Monitoring assignment, I chose to follow the Skokie Public Library in order to understand how libraries can  interact with the community through twitter conversations and what the community thinks of them.

I think it’s pretty incredible that twitter has become a network for folks to converse about anything and everything and libraries seem to be following these conversions and responding to them or retweeting them.

It’s really interesting to see just how involved the library is on a social networking tool like twitter.  They are utilizing in in a fashion to get folks into the library and using services.  They are proving that they are more than just bookshelves.  The library can provide quick reference via twitter.  It is also a great way to address issues and complaints, ones that possibly the patron didn’t really want to directly mention to the library.

http://twitter.com/tobrien/statuses/6013314366

http://twitter.com/lekpen/statuses/5803998698

http://twitter.com/leahlibrarian/statuses/5803214845

http://twitter.com/SkokieNet/statuses/5896236313

http://twitter.com/TeapotJedi/status/5893739192

http://twitter.com/skokielibrary/status/5393720273

Moodle as a replacement for Blackboard?

Is this a crazy idea or what?  Replace Blackboard?!?! Well, some believe (myself included) that it’s actually not all that crazy of an idea.

While I don’t think that Moodle could or would ever fully replace Blackboard, it certainly can challenge Blackboard’s cornering of the market share on LMS’s.  In these tough economic times, some university systems are looking to slash budgets, but items like Blackboard are left untouched or downgraded, but universities believe that they cannot live without Blackboard.  And while universities cannot live without an LMS product, it is debatable as to whether or not that system has to be blackboard.

It should be noted that while Moodle is a free and open source LMS, it does carry certain costs upfront.  These costs include the hours put in by IT and/or Librarians to install, setup, and educate faculty on how to use Moodle.  Moodle does has an extensive support system, but users of Moodle should still have there own customized user guide for Moodle.

Universities wishing to move over to Moodle should certainly test it out first and keep blackboard, even if it’s only the basic version and slowly transition from the paid subscription service over to the open source Moodle.

Of course there will always be Universities that will not have any issues affording Blackboard, but the paid LMS has not always been very kind to the smaller schools and the fact that they are buying up other paid LMS products and the raising of their prices makes even more difficult for schools to afford it.  There are of course pros and cons to both systems, but especially for the smaller universities and colleges, imagine, once an open source LMS is up and running, what the schools could do with those savings?  I believe the future is bright for programs like Moodle and in a way, it’s all because Blackboard is outpricing it’s own customers.

Current References for Moodle Reseach Paper:

(2003). Interest Growing In Open Source Distance Learning Platform Moodle. Electronic Education Report, 10(12), 7-8. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.dom.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=11600322&site=ehost-live&scope=site.

(2005). Open University Applies Moodle on Grand Scale. Distance Education Report, 9(24), 3-6. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.dom.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=19349673&scope=site.

Beatty, B., & Ulasewicz, C. (2006). Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System. TechTrends, 50(4), 36-45. doi: 10.1007/s11528-006-0036-y.

Bradford, P., Porciello, M., Balkon, N., & Backus, D. (2007). The Blackboard Learning System: The Be All and End All in Educational Instruction? Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 35(3), 301-314.

Bremer, D., & Bryant, R. (2005). A Comparison of two learning management Systems: Moodle vs Blackboard. Proceedings of the 18th Annual Conference of the National Advisory Committee on Computing Qualifications, 135–140. Citeseer. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:A+Comparison+of+two+learning+management+Systems:+Moodle+vs+Blackboard#0.

Cole, J., & Foster, H. (n.d.). Using moodle. portal.acm.org. O’Reilly Press. Retrieved from http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1408591.

Corich, S. (2005). Is it time to Moodle. 18th Annual NACCQ Conference Paper, Hrsg.: Sam Mann, Tony Clear, S, 155–158. Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:Is+it+time+to+Moodle?#0.

Downes, S. (n.d.). Places to Go: Moodle. Innovate: Journal of Online Education, 2(2).

Eales, S., & Scantlebury, N. (2007). INTEGRATING LIBRARY SERVICES AND RESOURCES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY. New Review, 13(1), 8. doi: 10.1080/13614570701571476.

Maikish, A. (2006). MOODLE: A Free, Easy, and Constructivist Online Learning Tool. MULTIMEDIA AND INTERNET@ SCHOOLS, (December 2005). Retrieved from http://scholar.google.com/scholar?hl=en&btnG=Search&q=intitle:MOODLE:+A+Free,+Easy,+and+Constructivist+Online+Learning+Tool#2.

Young, J. R. (2008). Blackboard Customers Consider Alternatives. Chronicle of Higher Education, 55(3).

Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System.
The article presents teacher experiences in using an online tool, Moodle Learning Management System(LMS).Moodle LMS is a course management system which is designed to aid educators in establishing an online learning community. Dr. Brian Beatty, assistant professor at the San Francisco State University(SFSU), prefers Moodle in terms of usability and interface while Dr. Connie Ulasewicz, also from SFSU, prefer Blackboard in dealing with student sharing work difficulties. Educator experiences were presented to provide insight which can help educational institutions to decide whether to adopt alternative tool, Moodle LMS or stick with the commercial open-source system, Blackboard LMS.

Beatty, B., & Ulasewicz, C. (2006). Faculty Perspectives on Moving from Blackboard to the Moodle Learning Management System. TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 50(4), 36-45

MOODLE: A Free, Easy, and Constructivist Online Learning Tool.
The article features the management system software called Moodle. The software is designed to help educators create quality online content and a collaborative, interactive environment to support their classrooms courses. The adoption of the software has increased to 150% in academic classes in grades 4-12. Through the use of Moodle, students will be able to learn how to operate various online modules such as online quizzes, online discussions and online journals.

Maikish, A. (2006). MOODLE: A Free, Easy, and Constructivist Online Learning Tool. MultiMedia & Internet@Schools, 13(3), 26-28. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

INTEGRATING LIBRARY SERVICES AND RESOURCES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY.
This paper was presented at the cpd25 Conference, London, on 23 April 2007. It gives an overview of the development of the Open University virtual learning environment (OU VLE), using the Moodle open source solution. In particular, this paper provides information and illustration of the Moodle enhancement projects that are being led by the Library, and the new e-portfolio system-MyStuff-into which the Library is having significant input. The paper concludes by indicating how involvement in the development of the new Library website, called Open Library 2.0, and in the OU VLE, has benefited this work and the overall reputation of the Library.

Eales, S., & Scantlebury, N. (2007). INTEGRATING LIBRARY SERVICES AND RESOURCES AT THE OPEN UNIVERSITY. New Review of Information Networking, 13(1), 31-38.

Interest Growing In Open Source Distance Learning Platform Moodle.
Reports on the growth of open-source distance learning platform Moodle at schools, colleges, and at corporations in the U.S. Provision of basic collaborative environment for distance learning applications; Design of the system; Means of administering a course management system.

2003). Interest Growing In Open Source Distance Learning Platform Moodle. Electronic Education Report, 10(23), 7-8. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

Open University Applies Moodle on Grand Scale.
The article offers various news items related to higher education. One of them relates to the Learning and Teaching Office of the Open University in Milton Keynes, England, which will launch the largest application to date of an open source course management system. There is also an announcement by Alabama education officials regarding a new $10 million distance learning initiative that will offer students in rural school districts an opportunity to take electives and advanced placement courses that have previously been unavailable to them.

(2005). Open University Applies Moodle on Grand Scale. Distance Education Report, 9(24), 3-6. Retrieved from Academic Search Premier database.

library card created at http://bighugelabs.com/

Meyer, D. (2006). Setting the table: The transforming power of hospitality in business. New York: Harper.

Upon first glance, one might conclude that a book about an entrepreneur-restaurateur would have nothing to benefit library service, right?  However, the same concepts (service, hospitality, innovation to name a few) that Danny Meyer applies to his restaurant business are not mutually exclusive with that of libraries.  With that in mind, should Setting The Table be included on a list of important books for library/information science professionals to read?  Absolutely.

The sole reason why I believe this is an important read for library/information science professionals is because essentially, we are in a service industry, and hospitality is an important concept that tends to be lost among librarians from time to time.

Meyer (2006) states that hospitality is “about soul – and service without soul is quickly forgotten” (p 65).  Difference between Hospitality and Service, Meyer (2006) explains, “is that service is the technical delivery of a product whereas hospitality is the how the delivery of that product makes its recipient feel” (p 65).  However libraries or really, businesses in general needs “both great Service and great Hospitality to rise to the top” (Meyer 2006).

The point is that if librarians treat the library as a service job and provide their patrons with the best possible service and hospitality, then librarians are creating an atmosphere and an environment that has patrons wanting to back to the library rather than only coming in when it’s an absolutely last resort necessity.

Setting the Table Presentation

For my blog post of Social Networking, I decided to explore librarything, because honestly, prior to taking this class, I hadn’t really heard much about librarything before.  So why not use this opportunity, right?

My Catalog: SuomiStewart at Librarything.com

Library thing is a very interesting social networking site, at first I didn’t really see it as a social networking community until after I had cataloged my books.  I was able to see other who had also cataloged the same books.  I have the ability to create user-generated tags, which seems to really want to challenge the traditional ways of cataloging.  I can hear Professor Gertrude Koh cringing at the very notion.

One slight humorous event that occurred while inputing my books into librarything.  I was entering the ISBN number for Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, and apparently I enter the wrong ISBN number and the error message I received started with “Don’t Panic,” which a fan of the book will realize that “don’t panic” is inscribed on the hitchhiker’s guide in the book.  Quite ironic, but delightful all in the same.

Once you have begun cataloging this whole community opens up to you.  LibraryThing seems to be a pretty amazing setup.  I didn’t even have to offer an email address.  How many open source, free websites can boast that?