Gaming and Technology Workshops
Overview
All sessions are 3 hours unless otherwise noted. Workshops can be customized for librarians serving teens, children, or adults. Workshop length and content can be modified to 1 hour, 6 hours, or an online 3-4 week interactive session. Hands-on classes require 1 Internet connected computer per student and basic Internet proficiency. All software is available free online, JAVA and Shockwave plug-ins required.
Gaming
Core Collections: Accessing and Circulating Video Games at the Library
The average age of the gamer is 33 and rising, 81% of teens play games online, and 25% of people over 50 are playing. How is your library supporting the needs of gamers in your community? Circulating video game collections may be a place to start!
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss key questions to ask in creating a video game collection development policy
- Discover online and print selection materials and resources for physical video game collections
- Identify criteria for selecting video games with high replayability
- Hear "booktalks" for video games that are ideal for stater collections
- Learn about model circulating video game collections in libraries in the United States
Digital Downloads for Gamers
Circulating video games and software is one way to serve gamers, but without community and staff storage, buy-in, theft, damage, and storage can be major hurdles. Discover alternatives such as downloadable games and subscription-based game services from a variety of vendors, and hear about libraries that are implementing digital and mail order game services! We will also examine the potential of mail order gaming services from vendors such as Red Octane and GameFly, and show other digital services with appeal to gamers for libraries to consider.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss key questions to ask in creating a digital and virtual video game collection development policy
- Discover online and print selection materials and resources for digital video game collections and services
- Identify criteria for selecting video games with high replayability and high quality gaming support materials
- See demos for downloads and subscription services that are ideal for virtual collections
- Learn about model virtual video game collections in libraries in the United States
New! Board Games and the AASL Standards for 21st Century Learners
The American Association of School Librarians' (AASL) Standards for the 21st-Century Learner define student interactions with information in terms of an inquiry-based experience. Rather than learning by lecture and rote memorization, today's students need to explore information in a process not unlike the scientific method. The member libraries of the School Library System of Genesee Valley BOCES in New York have developed a document that aligns the AASL standards with specific games that can be utilized as learning resources in school libraries. Come to review the new AASL standards and apply them through trying some tabletop games! Several games will be raffled off to attendees.
Help! My School's Library is Turning into an Arcade!
Bad situation? Or challenging opportunity? Gaming—3D, interactive, digital environments—is the medium of choice for learning and play for today's millennial students. Discover defining characteristics of the gamer generation, learn how gaming fits with new literacies, and discuss how library teachers can harness the increasingly popular medium of electronic games to encourage student reading and research.
This session ties to the following strand:
- Internet & Multimedia Production
- Library & Media
- Technology Integration
- Other: Gaming
Video Gaming in the Library (6 hours)
The average age of the gamer is 33 and rising, and an estimated
80% of the population under age 34 has played a video game! Beth Gallaway,
co-author of Game On: Gaming at the Library (Neal Schuman, 2008)
explains why video games matter to your library in terms of entertainment,
culture, learning, literacy, and youth development. The session concludes
with a hands-on (or feet-on) portion—wear comfortable clothing and clean socks!
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Articulate how video games meet development needs of teens, and build developmental assets of adolescents
- Examine video game collection development policies, procedures and issues
- Discover best gaming program practices in the US and Canada
- Experience a variety of games on the three major platforms as well as online
- Design a new program of service to appeal to the “gamer” generation
Technology
New! Creating and Managing Your Online Identity (computer lab)
What kinds of information are risky to reveal online? How does one separate professional online identity from personal What is an avatar, and how do you create one? In this hands-on workshop, participants will discuss identity and how they represent themselves online, learn some important safety tips, and preview selected virtual worlds. Discover online applications for avatar creation, easy tech programs, community building, and more.
Exploring Virtual Worlds
With over 6 million virtual residents, the online 3-D digital continent of Second Life is a growing community with a population the size of Singapore. The virtual world of Habbo boasts over 7.1 million users, the Massively Multiplayer Role Playing Game World of Warcraft is home to over 7.5 million, and even companies like MTV and Sony are jumping on the bandwagon with virtual Laguna Beach and Home.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Gain exposure to several virtual communities
- Discuss educational, creative and social benefits of virtual communities
- Examine how libraries are responding to user needs by extending new and traditional library services in virtual spaces
Feed Me! RSS Feeds and You
Hands-on or lecture style! An RSS or XML feed is like the engine of my car—I don't need to understand how it works, just how to make the right connections so it runs! Discover how feeds are changing the way we use the web, explore and evaluate several types of feed readers, and unearth resources to help you create feeds for your text, audio or video content.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Be able to explain what a feed is
- Recognize if a website has a feed or not
- Evaluate three styles of feed readers
Podcasting
Hands-on or lecture style! Podcast was the word of the year in 2005, and more and more libraries are jumping on the podcasting bandwagon. What is it, how do you do it, and what are the benefits?
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Learn how to subscribe, listen to and evaluate podcasts
- Discover best practices in library podcasting
- Create and post a digital audio podcast with show notes using GabCast
Note: Each participant is required to bring a cell phone to call a toll-free 1-800 number.
Web 2.0, Hands-on
Hands-on or lecture style! Web 2.0 is an interactive web: instead of passively reading, listening and viewing, we are collaborating to create new content with tools like social software (MySpace), wikis (Wikipedia), blogs (Blogger), podcasts (iTunes), and tagging (Amazon.com). Find out a little more about how you and your patrons can change the web, and discover how libraries are incorporating Web 2.0 into their program and services.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Explain the key differences between Web 1.0 and 2.0
- Explore Web 2.0 websites and applications
- Develop a plan to implement a Web 2.0 feature into current library services
Website Evaluation
Hands-on or lecture style! It's a wiki wiki world, and today's web makes it very easy for anybody to make a webpage. Discover strategies for evaluating that the information you are receiving is accurate, authoritative, up-to-date, and well-presented.
By the end of this session, participants will:
- Discuss what makes a “good” website
- Review and rate webpages for a number of elements
- Utilize “faked” websites for own instructional sessions
- Discover resources for promoting databases over search engines