Moodle is an open source course tool that NTK utilizes in its learning experiences. Whether it is a course on scientific writing or a training course for staff, Moodle is used to organize courses, much like commercial options like Blackboard or Canvas. This is a tool that I saw used in a few of the courses I sat in on and it was used in the mini trainings our staff took part in each week. It was also the platform for one of my final projects at NTK.
Having worked with the Reference Source section of the CRM Platform development, Alena approached me in my final week in Prague about a possible Moodle course development. As I “tied up” each of my projects, she felt that this was final project was a way to help the entire staff in later trainings. As support services are not always trained reference professionals, being able to explain reference resources to students can be a challenge. Even as a trained reference professional, the number of resources available in a library like NTK can also be overwhelming.
I was tasked with creating a learning tool to help guide NTK staff in choosing appropriate reference sources in their interactions with patrons. Without much time to develop it, my task was mostly to create a “skeleton” of what such a tool would be, and then implement parts of it into Moodle so that it could grow and change with the library.
This gave me the experience of creating a course without actually having to implement it, and it was a fun experience to learn how the tool worked and be aware that platforms exist beyond the commercial structure that function much in the same way as the ones institutions pay so much money for.
I took the basics from the form I had developed for the CRM platform and used that structure to create the structure for the Moodle Course. This broke down the NTK’s reference sources into about 8 different types of resources. These were each defined and explained how they may be used in reference meetings with patrons. Then, for each of these categories, each resource that fit into the category was broken down as follows:
- Availability
- Content Covered
- Volume Available
By giving the basics of each of these resources and defining the types of resources they were, it was hoped that these could be used to develop an “arsenal” for staff to use in interactions with patrons. This tool, hopefully, would also be used as a reference resource for staff when confronted with questions that went beyond this tool kit they had created for themselves. I believe it was Alena’s intention to introduce this tool in trainings with staff so that it could help them provide better services to NTK’s patrons.
Some of my original notes are available for viewing here so one can see the idea of the course’s breakdown.
Raven K 