The world is so full of a number of Things

Yes, it’s another programme of interesting online Cambridge Things! I loved being involved with running the Cam23 programme last year, so when I discovered that CARET was going to run a 13 Things for Curriculum Design programme, I eschewed all feelings of deja vu, stopped myself from wondering how many of these Things I’d actually manage to complete, and dived straight in … and here I am.

Thing 1 asks that we blog about our experiences are with curriculum design, and what we’d like to get out of the programme. Simples –

I have no experience with curriculum design, so that’s exactly what I want to get out of the programme.

Perhaps I should moderate that stark statement a bit. I have very little formal experience of curriculum design, because it’s still unusual for librarians – even those who, like me, are here to offer training – to be required to hold a teaching qualification or demonstrate an understanding of pedagogic principles. Please don’t get me wrong on this point. There are plenty of librarians who are passionate and informed about their teaching, and many do hold teaching qualifications. They’re the people who have taught and inspired me to think about course design – but my job description stipulates a library qualification, not a teaching one, and this is the case (I believe) for many librarian trainers out there.

But while I’m not formally required to know about the principles of good course and curriculum design, the past two years in my diverse, knackering and amazing job have brought me to the inexorable realisation of this huge gap in my own information skills. So like a good librarian, I’m going to see if I can start to bridge it by way of 13 Things – and like a good mongoose, I’ll also enjoy indulging my inquisitive streak and finding out.

Tune in next time for Cloudworks!

23 Things are Go!

Cam23 is officially underway, and in my excitement I’m jumping the gun by blogging about Thing 1: iGoogle. I confess that I adore iGoogle. It panders to my childish side with entertaining widgets, to my visual appetite with colour and images, and to my inner control freak by allowing me to reorder my page elements with click-and-drag ease.

Here’s my home tab, which has RSS feeds that keep me up to date with UL and Cambridge University news. It also reminds me what month it is and lets me know what I should be wearing (assuming I remember to look at the Weather tab). For pure enjoyment there’s an XKCD feed and a nod towards my secret life as a penguin, which happens in the dark outside working hours …

I also have to confess that I love my iGoogle as it is, and so I’ve already deviated from Cam23 instructions by not adding the COPAC widget. In a hasty bid to regain the moral high ground I explored the ‘optional extra’ suggestion of looking at other start pages, and this has really piqued my interest in their potential for libraries. The Unquiet Library at Creekwater High School, which boasts a seriously trendsetting librarian, has a really appealing homepage hosted on Netvibes. It’s colourful, dynamic, and user-friendly, with information presented in clearly delineated chunks.

Closer to home, thanks to Darren Bevin for letting me know about the Lewy Library’s Philosophy@Cambridge page, also on Netvibes. It’s fantastic to see a range of citation tools being made available, and the ‘Journals – latest issues’ tab is droolworthy. Looking at this page makes me feel libraries are truly moving forward into the 21st century.