Wow, ten weeks goes really really fast here at EdLab! Tomorrow’s already my last day, and to follow the precedent set by Scotty and Rebekah, I’m going to take this opportunity to post about my experiences as an intern this summer and talk about the projects I did.

(All the goodies are after the jump)

[Keep Private]

In honor of fellow Future of Libraries intern Rebekah's last day, I knocked together a few quick badges to commemorate her achievements. (Sorry design team, I'm not worthy!)

(Click to view full-size:)

If I knew how to attach meta-data to them, I would totally try to figure out how to include them in the Mozilla Open Badge Backpack.

Let’s start at the very beginning. Jo and Laura have been two of the best intern bosses of all time. They assembed a winning "team library" for this summer. I loved collaborating with Greg and Rebecca on so many projects, and I know we all appreciated the freedom we were given to explore our interests. Our time was divided into many different areas of focus, like the library, Vialogues, mSchool, fighting crime, etc.

Library. Since we’re librarians, we really enjoyed the range of library projects we got to tackle this summer. While permanent library staff members went on vacation, we got to step in and take over practical everyday responsibilities, like acquisitions and interlibrary loan. In additon to the hands-on education of these experiences, our frustrations with programs like Millenium and ILLiad confirmed in all of us the need to develop better library software. So we wrote a 17-page proposal outlining the benefits of an open-source replacement for the library’s online catalog, a product called Blacklight. Other things we did include, but are not limited to: attending the ALA Virtual Conference, going on archival adventures in the sub-basement, and working on various independent projects. For example, I got to research and write a proposal for a new ebook ordering system.

Vialogues. Just before AASL announced Vialogues as one of the 25 Best Websites for Teaching and Learning, we planned a big promotion to spread the good news with school librarians. Part of this project included researching, emailing, and Tweeting influential school librarian bloggers, as well as creating #library related Vialogues. Since then, we’ve continued brainstorming more ideas for future Vialogues promotion and adding content to the site.

mSchool. Or is it Edfluences? Even though we’re still not entirely certain how to explain the inner workings of the mSchool galaxy, we designed and created learning experiences for the launch of Edfluences. (But we still haven’t come up a better name yet.) Along the way, we learned some exciting HTML and CSS code to trick out our Moodle courses. The courses I created include Google Search Strategies and Welcome to EdLab. We also had the opportunity to lead a weekly D&R meeting to get your feedback on these learning experiences and to discuss the future of mSchool... Edfluences... alternative learning platform.

It’s official... my last day at EdLab is this Thursday.

While I am very sad to be leaving, I am very excited to share my big news: Next week I will be starting a job at Scholastic!

Since I won’t have a chance to present to the group, I would love to explain (via blog post) some of the projects that I’ve been working on this summer as a Future of Libraries Intern. Then if you’re curious, you can read a little more about what’s next for me. This is probably definitely going to be a long post, so get comfortable, grab a drink, make some popcorn.

In case your attention span won’t make it to the bottom, I wanted to thank you all for your hospitality this summer. It’s been a true pleasure to get to know everyone here. EdLab is a fantastic place to work, and I am grateful for this opportunity to learn from such creative and supportive colleagues. I will miss EdLab, and I have a feeling this isn’t adieu, just à la prochaine.

TIME published a very short article yesterday on the future of libraries, reporting on several ways "feisty librarians" are creatively responding to shrinking budgets and greater demand for services. I thought that non-librarians might be interested in seeing some examples of how libraries are trying to reinvent themselves. Perhaps there are even some ideas to take away for consideration.

Libraries are trying to meet people where they are. Bookmobiles have been around for ages, but now libraries are exploring some new outreach models. For example, the Free Library of Philadelphia set up library Hot Spots in underserved neighborhoods, which are equipped with computers, printers, and small reference collections. Also, last year the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh (where I used to work!) opened a “library without walls” open only on the weekends at the popular Pittsburgh Public Market.

I just read on Inside Higher Ed about an experimental social learning component that Stanford is adding to one of their most popular iTunes U courses (iPad and iPhone Application Development).

They are using the platform Piazza, which Megha reviewed on the EdLab blog last summer, to enable students to interact and learn from each other. At this point, it's just a pilot program for the summer to see how it works for such a big community of learners, so we'll see what kind of implications it has for social learning and the architecture of Piazza's system in a few months. I am not sure if I would want to be one of the teaching assistants moderating the discussion boards for

As online learning becomes more normal, there is a growing need for research and training on effective online teaching. Last week, TIME magazine published a story about Jane Good, a full-time online K-12 science teacher in Colorado. She teaches 125 middle and high schoolers at the 21st Century Virtual Academy, part of JeffCo public schools. Good shares some thought-provoking reflections on the benefits and challenges of the virtual classroom.

There are many advantages to making online learning available to students, especially for those who are self-motivated.

Today's virtual students choose online learning for numerous reasons, from supplementing their studies with specialized courses to making up classes they've failed. Athletes, performers and students with special health needs may all be drawn to online studies.

I noticed that Kate and Sharath both posted on the transformative MOOC model of online learning. Since MOOCs have potential to significantly impact the future of education, I wanted to share a conversation from The Chronicle of Higher Education. The Chronicle asked four professors of different subjects, teaching on different platforms (Coursera, Udacity, Udemy, and Blackboard), to share their thoughts on the experience of teaching free online courses to thousands of students. I will post a couple of the most inspiring and thought-provoking highlights here, perhaps there will be something we can learn from the professors as EdLab considers the value and process of the MOOC model and different platforms.

Last week the publisher McGraw-Hill and the online, nonprofit Western Governors Univeristy announced a “pay-for-performance” textbook deal with a unique pricing structure. (via EdSurge)

In exchange for McGraw-Hill agreeing to provide e-books and other learning tools at discounted flat fee, WGU will pay a “premium” for every student who passes the course using the materials. While McGraw-Hill anticipates making 10-20% less money than normal, as a bonus they will receive anonymous data about how students use their content.

In return for McGraw-Hill agreeing to take on some responsibility for student performance, WGU says it will share intelligence on how students are using the McGraw-Hill content — such as what course modules and e-texts portions students are looking at and how that correlates with student success.

Inspired by Greg's recent post, I researched several of the dynamic people who will be presenting at the ALA Virtual Conference next month. One of the most inspiring librarians I discovered is Brian Mathews, Associate Dean for Learning & Outreach at Virginia Tech, who blogs as The Ubiquitous Librarian for The Chronicle of Higher Education. In a recent post, he shared a recent project titled, "Think Like a Startup: A White Paper to Inspire Library Entrepreneurialism." Basically, he translates ideas from startup culture to libraries (and other educational instituions) who are being required to rethink/rebuild/repurpose what a library (or school) is and what it does. Mathews wrote this paper to "stir the entrepreneurial spirit" of librarians, and it definitely resonates with EdLab’s mission.