Tom and I are presenting a pilot Learn to Learn Online class next Wednesday, January 23 from 10-11:30am EST. The session is one hour with 30 minutes tacked on at the end for feedback. The objective is to introduce staff to the synchronous learning environment. Eventually this will be required for any staff who take online classes. The session will be held online using Horizon Wimba. All you need is a computer with high speed Internet access. You can access the audio portion via VoIP or a landline (although the landline number is long distance).

We have several staff members attending but I’d like to have some input from other trainers or really anyone out in libraryland who feels he or she could contribute some constructive feedback.

Email me at lreed “at” plcmc.org if you are available and interested. Happy learning!

Today Tom and I delivered two drop-in sessions where staff had a chance to try out our new online learning platform Live Classroom. The sessions went very well. We only had two participants who had technical difficulties and I believe those may have been because they were accessing the network over a wireless connection.

The sessions were voluntary. Staff only needed to register in advance so that we could make sure they had an up-to-date version of Java on their PCs. We had full-time staff, part-time staff, front line circulation staff, managers, supervisors, collection management, administration — a wide range of participants.

My biggest fear, and I’m sure Tom’s too, was that we would have major technical problems. Thanks to all of Tom’s hard work and testing and to our IT department for getting our infrastructure upgraded to support this technology, it all went smoothly.

Most of the staff expressed immediate interest in what classes we’d be offering next and how can they get training as presenters so that they can use this tool for facilitate meetings and/or their own training. It’s going to be a busy year!

Here’s a screenshot of one of our whiteboarding exercises. I love the artwork that was added. Additional screenshots are on Flickr. There are several comments on the whiteboard that this will take some getting used to. I whole heartily agree! I’m confident though that if we create a positive learning experience for staff that they will come to love online learning. When it’s done right, you don’t even think about the technology.