Week 1 Create your Blog and Register for the Invitational

September 30, 2012

Before you get started, please take a minute to let us know how much you already know about the MARVEL! resource by taking this survey. These results will be compared with post-Invitational results to help us gauge the success of the Invitational.

Here is some information you can use to create your personal blog to begin recording your thoughts, discoveries and exercises.

Why Blog?

Blogging is a way to process and share your thoughts. Blogging creates a virtual community. Week by week, you will write short posts about your discoveries, joys, and frustrations regarding these electronic resources. By reading past posts, you will see where you’ve been. By reading others’ posts, you will see that you are not alone. Others will share the same joys and frustrations. Best of all, you will help each other discover new features and applications for the electronic resources.

Blogs are easy to set up and use. Try searching (using a search engine) for library blogs or teacher blogs to see how others have used this tool. Also, check out this video from Common Craft called Blogs in Plain English (2 minutes 49 seconds).

Discovery Exercise:

1. Each participant in the MARVELous Maine Invitational is required to set up a blog. If you already have a blog and want to use it for the Invitational, you may. Your blog will be the way your successful completion of assignments is recorded and verified to receive continuing education contact hours. Several free blog sites exist, but we recommend using either Blogger or WordPress (Most of the examples we show use Blogger).

How you identify yourself on your blog is your choice. You can blog under your real name or create a screen name. However, in order to receive recognition for completing the Invitational you will need to register your blog name/URL and your real name with the Invitational Team. You will sign up for the Invitational with this information in Step 2.

IMPORTANT HINT: When you set up your blog account, write down your login and password and keep the information in a safe place. Also write down your blog address. Your blog address is the URL you will use to access your blog. For example, if you created your blog in Blogger, then your blog address is http://what-i-called-myself.blogspot.com/.

Creating a blog using Blogger or WordPress takes just three steps:

1. Create an account
2. Name your blog
3. Select your template.

Once you’ve created your blog, here are two important things to know:

• To add posts: The maintenance interface that you will use to add posts, edit, or change the set-up of your blog is accessed online at http://www.blogger.com/ or http://www.wordpress.com. Be sure to write down your login and password.
• To view your blog: Your blog address is http://(xxxx).blogspot.com or http://(xxxx).wordpress.com where (xxxx)=the unique identifier you entered in Step 2. Be sure to also write down your blog address.

If you run into problems or would like more information about blogs and using Blogger, here is a discovery resource you can use: Blogger’s Quick Tutorial.  WordPress also has online support.

2 – Send us your Blog URL

We are no longer accepting new blogs for this session of the Invitational.  You are welcome to follow along with the lessons each week.

3– Think PLAY!
Have you ever wondered why teenagers are so good at all this technology stuff? It’s because they spend so much time just playing with it. Think about all the things you learned as a child through play; for the young, playing is learning. Unfortunately, as working adults we don’t have quite as much time to explore or experiment – or play – with things. That’s why this program encourages you to set aside a little time each day, or each week, to play with the electronic resources.  To get prepared to explore the resources in MARVEL!, check out the three short introductory tutorials on the Maine State Library website:

• Introduction to MARVEL!
• Navigating in MARVEL!
• Searching MARVEL!

Remember that your blog is your “homework” in the MARVELous Maine Invitational. For each lesson blog about what you’ve learned or how you will use the resource discussed in the lesson either with your patrons or personally.  You might give us your search terms, unless it’s a really personal search, and few titles that turned up when you searched.  Let us know if you found the interface easy, hard or frustrating to use and why.  Let us know if the information you found was useful or not and why.   The entries don’t have to be long just give us enough information so that we know you really tried to use the resource of the week.  That’s one of the ways we’ll determine who completes the Invitational so that your name goes into the drawing for the iPad.

Do you have any questions? If so, contact us . So what are you waiting for? It’s time to get started on Lesson 1

Welcome to the MARVELous Maine Invitational

The MARVELous Maine Invitational was developed by Maine State Library staff to introduce you to MARVEL, the statewide subscription electronic resources. The Invitational encourages library staff to learn more about the resources that provide expanded access to information and research tools to all schools, libraries and citizens of Maine. It is your chance to Explore…Discover…Play …and Learn about the statewide subscription resources and how they can be useful to you both personally and in your library. This is an opportunity for you to learn at a pace that is comfortable for you and to share your learning experience with your colleagues in the Maine library community.

The Invitational is a self-directed learning program; you work at your own pace and at your own convenience. The Invitational will begin September 30, 2012. Lessons will be revealed weekly according to the program calendar, and they will remain available on the program site for an extra week until the Invitational officially ends December 15, 2012. Ten assignments – at least one blog post for each lesson – must be completed by the end date in order to earn continuing education contact hours for the Invitational and to be eligible for the Grand Prize of an iPad 3 (a $499 value).

If this sounds a bit confusing or you have never done an independent learning program like this before, don’t worry. Once you get started, you’ll get the hang of it. One very cool thing about this program is that everyone gets a chance to learn from one another. As the program proceeds, you are encouraged to check out the blog sites listed on the Participant Blogs and watch what happens during the coming weeks as everyone posts to their blogs.

For more information about the MARVELous Maine Invitational, check out our FAQ. Please contact us if you have any questions.

Thank You

The Maine Library Invitational is modeled after the many self-guided learning programs available. We modified the South Dakota Library Challenge: Electronic Resources Edition with their permission. South Dakota’s inspiration came from Helene Blowers of the Columbus Metropolitan Library and formerly of the Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg County. She graciously allowed us to “borrow” her material from Learning 2.0, a blog that taught PLCMC staff members about web 2.0 tools. The Learning 2.0 model is being used in libraries all over the U.S. and around the world to encourage lifelong learning among library staff. Take a look at the original Learning 2.0 blog.