Comments on: On ALA 2.0 Bootcamp and free access to online learning

By: Herb

Herb — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 04:08:07 +0000

Having the ability to attend classes of all types and varities is great. In a world where we pack so much into one day, the ability to “attend” an online conference is really appealing. I hope we see more of them.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:38:14 +0000

Ding ding! I was thinking just last week about the need for more online, free structured learning materials while I was actually at a conference. ah, timing!

For me the key to online conferences is that they are not ‘live’ as such but as David says above, they occur over a limited amount of time to allow many people to participate. This works for me because of the issues with closing yourself off from other work to attend (I too lack an office) but also because of another obvious issue: timezones. I was invited to a webinar a while back but couldn’t possibly attend because it would be 3am my time. I love professional development, but not that much!

Having also had experiences with online education, the difficulty of juggling that with everything else is very familiar. I tend to have something of a cherrypicking approach to continuing education these days, blogs, surfing, looking up ideas and technology on needs basis rather than looking for an entire course. This even extends to usage of say, MIT OCW materials, if I want a refresher on Macroeconomics (which I provide library support for) I will choose a couple of lectures or readings rather than following the whole course in a linear format. The good thing about the online format is that you can choose to follow a whole course or just parts of it that are relevant to you.

With the conference I am organising now (meatspace) we will be ensuring that all materials are available online afterwards, *and* archived in a repository to ensure their survival. The unconference and online conference idea appeals to me, but I am also still a fan of the traditional models but with enhanced online contents too. As much as I think of myself as shy I still like to meet and talk with others at conferences.

I wonder if the workload of organising an online-only conference would escalate once you add in some of the more usual things like peer review, getting sponsors, etc. Those are the kinds of things that have taken up a lot of time in organising our physical conference (we have a 2 year lead time).

By: david

david — Wed, 31 May 2006 20:04:35 +0000

I’m a little behind on this one I see (mmm, vacation), but awesome idea! I’m in to help in any way possible!

I really don’t see free online stuff taking the place of physical conference. Some administrators might use it as a excuse to not provide funding for professional development, but if so you probably have bigger problems on your hands at YPOW. There’s a wide discrepency in travel funding from place to place as it is now. Being able to attend online “conferences” is a great help to allow more people to continute in discussions.

I like the idea of having materials available and discussions carried out over a period of like a week or so too. Could alleviate some of the “get out of my office while I’m wathcing this webcast” problems!

By: Steve Lawson

Steve Lawson — Wed, 31 May 2006 00:46:46 +0000

Karne, that is an interesting concern. I’m hoping that we can figure out the unique strengths of online and face-to-face conferences. Perhaps in a few years it will seem silly to travel across the country to hear people read their PowerPoint slides (I mean sillier than it does today, of course). Maybe face-to-face conferences will be mostly about working together in a hands-on, intensive session. I don’t know.

In-person conferences have survived the telephone conference call and email and the like, so I expect they’ll be around for quite a while longer. But I think you may be right; it might be harder to convince the boss that some big general conference is worth the money.

By: Karen K

Karen K — Tue, 30 May 2006 17:14:49 +0000

This is a great idea, Meredith! Thanks for getting the ball rolling.

I had a concern that I don’t think anyone has brought up yet, and I’m curious what you or others here think. It’s been said several times that a free online conference is a good opportunity for people whose employers can’t/don’t pay for them to go to an in-person conference. But as a general rule, when things are offered for free people become less willing to pay for them. So won’t it potentially become harder for us to convince our employers to send us to conferences if we’re attending free online ones? I really like traveling to conferences, partly because I’m not fully acclimated to developing relationships online, and networking in person (plus running into old classmates in person) still feels much more substantial to me, and I still think it’s reasonable for a professional to expect his/her employer to pay something for professional development. I’m definitely grateful for the free online stuff I’ve done (HigherEd BlogCon and listening to various podcasts), but it’s just a concern I have. Any thoughts??

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 30 May 2006 14:23:21 +0000

That is a valid point about conferences online and having the time to actually do them, free or otherwise. I am only now catching up on seeing some of the presentations from the HigerEd BlogCon, and boy, am I glad they are still available, for they clearly put up some very good stuff. But there was no way I could have done it at the time because work was just too busy between reference and instruction. Since I don’t even have an office I can close the door to, I get every possible interruption and then some. Even if I told my bosses I was taking “time off” to do it, which they may or not support, unless I found someplace to hide, it would be pointless. And yes, I am one of those people who lack funding to do a lot of face to face stuff, so in a way, I get the worse of both worlds: no funding to go anywhere, and I can’t even get the time at work to do something virtual at the time. Heck, I did one of the OPAL presentations at home at 8pm at night (only time I could get “away.”). So, I don’t have an answer, other that to say, there are some of us out there who don’t get “lucky,” and we need professional development opportunities too. Anything you can offer. Best, and keep on blogging.

By: Meredith Farkas

Meredith Farkas — Tue, 30 May 2006 02:12:20 +0000

Agreed, Laura. Coming from someone who did their entire MLS online, I can attest that online learning takes just as much effort as physical classes or conferences and people should get the same sort of time off for it. Unfortunately, most people don’t “get it” yet. The problem is, if you’re at work and there’s a Webcast going on, people will keep calling you and bothering you because they just don’t know. I missed half of a Webcast I was really interested in for that reason, but I plan to put my foot down about it from now on. If I’m doing a Webcast, I’m “out.”

I think the more common online learning becomes in our field, the more it will be seen as just as legit as face-to-face conferences.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 30 May 2006 01:02:05 +0000

Ergh–I should really finish reading the comments before I go ranting–anyway, Karen’s continuing ed day is just the kind of thing I’m thinking about. I don’t think we should devalue online learning opportunities by assuming that they’re something everone can do in their spare time.

By: Laura

Laura — Tue, 30 May 2006 01:00:54 +0000

Somehow I feel my point isn’t getting through here. . . I’m not saying one can’t get value out of online conferences–I think there’s tremendous value to be gotten from them–I just think that in some weird way, they’re harder to attend–and I’d like to see people be given time off work to attend them just as they would be given time to attend a meatspace conference.

By: K.G. Schneider

K.G. Schneider — Mon, 29 May 2006 22:20:58 +0000

Meredith, after August 3, when I turn in my major project for my MFA, I will have so much time I won’t know what to do with myself! OPAL would be a fun place for an MPOW dog ‘n’ pony show, among other things. I’ll follow through.

Ok, freewheeling idea time: imagine that we had a day every month recognized as Continuing Education Day, supported by library employers everywhere. Sorry that idea doesn’t go any farther… brain taken over by major project… sigh