February 2019 Experiential Learning Round-Up!

I wrapped up the winter session of Girls Coding Club at VA.

I led VA’s 3D Certification workshop on Sunday, February 3. 18 community members participated in certification, including 3 minors with their adults. SLA Sarah shadowed this program and will continue the in-person certification workshop for March and April. Our goal is to have certification migrated to an on-demand option no later than March 31, 2019.

I led VA’s Intro to Cricut workshop on February 11. 8 participants joined us to learn more about this electronic die-cutting tool. Feedback from participants indicated an interest in a certification model similar to the 3D printer so they can use the equipment independently on personal projects.

I led VA’s RevReads: Virtual Reality program on Sunday, February 17. We had 30 attendees test out the Oculus Rift and Oculus Gos. A deaf patron explored the technology with interpretation by Kelsey Nakaishi. At one point, Kelsey was able to use the Rift’s controller to sign to the patron while he wore the headset. DUe to interest by staff, I left 2 Oculus Go’s and one Rift at VA for the remainder of February for staff to try out.

I led VA’s Learn2Code program on CoffeeScript. We had 2 homeschool attendees who did not have any experience with computer coding. We working through several challenges on PencilCode.net.

I have wrapped up my Game Design for VR curriculum in preparation for Teen Tech Month in March and April. We will focus on 3D game design using Oculus’ documentation for preparing content for testing on Oculus headsets. All branches will have an opportunity to host this program. Battle Ground will look into hosting an event after their refresh in April.

I have wrapped up scheduling for Program Services’ Summer STEM program “Mission Control: Mars Rover Challenge.” All the branches are scheduled to receive this program, including Yale.

District Partnerships

I am coordinating the VR equipment moves around the District. The headsets are headed to LaCenter on March 1 for Teen Tech Month and their RevReads program.  I have solicited feedback from the CP and VA staff to create a quickstart manual for the branches participating in RevReads programming. My goal is to plan one more VR program in May/early June for all the branches before the headsets head back to the state in June.

I am actively researching 3D printer replacement and maintenance plans, based on best practices from libraries with established 3D printing services. IT has determined VA’s 2nd printer is too costly to fix and are waiting on Program Services’ recommendation for a replacement. I presented on the 3D printer certification process at DMM on 2/20/19. This project is headed into the content-creation phase and should be ready for review by early March.

Community Partnerships

Program Services has been invited to participate in two STEM Nights: York Elementary on April 11 and Frontier Middle School on April 16.

I continue to prepare for my WLA-OLA preconference session on Learn2Code and Virtual Reality in libraries as well as the conference session on easy maker projects with Hillsboro and MultCo.