Hey, remember the ANTS screencast-sharing project? I've stepped way back from it since assuming my new duties here at the U of C, but it's still going strong, and has undergone some major changes / improvements. Here's an update that was sent to the COPPUL Distance Education group:
As many of you are aware, we updated our Wiki last spring and we notified this group. Since then, we have been publicizing it outside of COPPUL and as a result we now have over 50 people registered on the ANTS Wiki. One reason that we are atracting more and more attention is the contributions made by our DE group (thank you very much!). Another reason we are growing is due to new contributions coming from outside of COPPUL. Each time a new tutorial comes up, we are posting them on the ALA Information Literacy Listserv in order to generate interest in the project. It seems to be working.
Interest in the Wiki is also increasing due to many of the Wiki's features
that we are marketing as well. They allow allow us to create more of a
community on the Wiki. In particular individuals can:
1. Create individual profiles.
2. Send messages to individuals when they view their profiles
3. Take part in a Discussion Forum. (It is hoped that the Forum will be used by people interested in the uses of Shockwave Flash and Building Tutorials... that it will be a community of people who share what they know with others.)
4. Set up their profile to recieve notifications via E-mail and updates about Site activity (by setting up a Watchlist).
5. Encourage others to participate by using its Invite Others feature.
6. Post to the Wiki any time they want to Adopt a Tutorial, update our list
of tutorials for development, etc.
If you have not already done so, it is a good time to register for our new
Wiki and set up a profile. I have recieved messages from about 4 new members. Two of them were Distance Education Librarians. So it is a good community to be a part of.
Both our old ANTS team members, as well as new team members, are also busy
working on several new innitiatives including:
1. A wonderful new site to host our tutorials with a lot of push technology
and sharing technology. We will tell you more about it as it nears completion.
2. Paul Betty (at Regis University) is experimenting with using Google Analytics to measure Captivate Tutorial use and he will be discussing this at the OCLS conference in March. So look for it if you are attending.
3. Richard Baer (of Camosun College) is having students view different tutorials and provide feedback about what works well and less well. He is just starting, but already we are getting some interesting feedback that we will share with the group when we have more data.
4. Bill Badke is now focusing on doing Information Literacy Tutorials. He also has agreed to oversee a working group devoted to working on Information Literacy within the ANTS project. It would look at what needs to be created, issues related to Information Literacy and Tutorials, etc. A second group (focused on the Technology) will oversee the Wiki, Dspace, and the New site. This will allow us to bring specialized knowledge to different aspects of the project.
In December we also added a third new member to the group: Duncan Dixon of Trinity Western University. Duncan created our CINAHL tutorials and is (along with Paul Betty and Richard Baer) helping with the new site. So we would like to welcome him and thank him for assisting with the project. We would also like to thank Paul Betty and Richard Baer for the time and energy they have devoted to the project thus far.
As you are aware, the project team did grow this fall. I would like to say that we expanded it for two reasons:
1. To help with many technological develpments that require more hands. In particular, we needed people with expertise in Captivate, Camtasia, Wikis, and Broadcasting sites. This expertise is important and whenever someone clearly had it, we felt it was important to include them in the project (be they a COPPUL or non-COPPUL Librarian.)
2. We are a project that is now open to non-COPPUL members, and having non-COPPUL members on the actual team, was a way to reinforce that we are more than just a COPPUL project. This in turn encourages others to participate in this project via contributions.
More works still needs to be done and more help - and ideas about how to improve the project - is always welcome. To begin however, do take the time to register for the ANTS Wiki (http://ants.wetpaint.com/ ) and post if you have issues related to online tutorials.
Cheers,
Carmen Kazakoff-Lane
Interest in the Wiki is also increasing due to many of the Wiki's features
that we are marketing as well. They allow allow us to create more of a
community on the Wiki. In particular individuals can:
1. Create individual profiles.
2. Send messages to individuals when they view their profiles
3. Take part in a Discussion Forum. (It is hoped that the Forum will be used by people interested in the uses of Shockwave Flash and Building Tutorials... that it will be a community of people who share what they know with others.)
4. Set up their profile to recieve notifications via E-mail and updates about Site activity (by setting up a Watchlist).
5. Encourage others to participate by using its Invite Others feature.
6. Post to the Wiki any time they want to Adopt a Tutorial, update our list
of tutorials for development, etc.
If you have not already done so, it is a good time to register for our new
Wiki and set up a profile. I have recieved messages from about 4 new members. Two of them were Distance Education Librarians. So it is a good community to be a part of.
Both our old ANTS team members, as well as new team members, are also busy
working on several new innitiatives including:
1. A wonderful new site to host our tutorials with a lot of push technology
and sharing technology. We will tell you more about it as it nears completion.
2. Paul Betty (at Regis University) is experimenting with using Google Analytics to measure Captivate Tutorial use and he will be discussing this at the OCLS conference in March. So look for it if you are attending.
3. Richard Baer (of Camosun College) is having students view different tutorials and provide feedback about what works well and less well. He is just starting, but already we are getting some interesting feedback that we will share with the group when we have more data.
4. Bill Badke is now focusing on doing Information Literacy Tutorials. He also has agreed to oversee a working group devoted to working on Information Literacy within the ANTS project. It would look at what needs to be created, issues related to Information Literacy and Tutorials, etc. A second group (focused on the Technology) will oversee the Wiki, Dspace, and the New site. This will allow us to bring specialized knowledge to different aspects of the project.
In December we also added a third new member to the group: Duncan Dixon of Trinity Western University. Duncan created our CINAHL tutorials and is (along with Paul Betty and Richard Baer) helping with the new site. So we would like to welcome him and thank him for assisting with the project. We would also like to thank Paul Betty and Richard Baer for the time and energy they have devoted to the project thus far.
As you are aware, the project team did grow this fall. I would like to say that we expanded it for two reasons:
1. To help with many technological develpments that require more hands. In particular, we needed people with expertise in Captivate, Camtasia, Wikis, and Broadcasting sites. This expertise is important and whenever someone clearly had it, we felt it was important to include them in the project (be they a COPPUL or non-COPPUL Librarian.)
2. We are a project that is now open to non-COPPUL members, and having non-COPPUL members on the actual team, was a way to reinforce that we are more than just a COPPUL project. This in turn encourages others to participate in this project via contributions.
More works still needs to be done and more help - and ideas about how to improve the project - is always welcome. To begin however, do take the time to register for the ANTS Wiki (http://ants.wetpaint.com/ ) and post if you have issues related to online tutorials.
Cheers,
Carmen Kazakoff-Lane
