Tech classes and iMovie

I am not "mac-ophobic", but as a pc user the lovely iMacs are certainly not my first option for computers. Over the summer our campus discontinued updating the mac lab, actually I believe the lab is gone, and all that remain are a few g4 power books housed at the college of ed and at the library reserves desk. Personally, my iMovie skills are limited; okay, they are abmismal. I attended a short workshop four years ago and taught it once two years ago as an adjunct tech instructor. I was excited, and somewhat relieved, to learn of the mac lab demise since it would theoretically mean the end of iMovie. Alas, one of the instructional technology professors is continuing to use the laptops for an iMovie assignment this term and I have spent a good portion of the weekend assisting students using mac laptops with iMovie. Luckily, they are using still photographs as opposed to digital video this term so that flattens our learning curve somewhat. It is good experience to use macs, some schools are only equipped with apple computers, but dual platform capability makes the kids cranky (me, too).

It continues to intrigue me how much of my daily duties, whether at the reference desk or in the resource center, are filled with technology questions. I understand it more in the resource center because I facilitate an instructional technology lab and we have scanners, digital cameras, a small computer lab, and other like items. It follows if we offer the technology someone knows how to use the stuff. Either way, the best part is actually answering the question .... correctly.

Sure I wish they were using Movie Maker, but that is just selfishness.

Later the same day ....

It seems like cheating to start another entry on the same day when all I am doing is blathering a bit more about the same day. It has been a very odd Sunday evening. About an hour ago the main floor was overflowing with students doing assignments for tomorrow. I spent a lot of time exlaining where the serials stacks were, why they are called stacks, and how the journals are placed on the shelves. The professor in charge of the lesson actually called the shelving stacks, that's unusual. One young man was having issue with Dewey decimal and Library of Congress when finding a book. Oddly enough, his big complaint was no one ever told him why it was called Dewey. When I explained there was an actual Melvil Dewey behind the Dewey decimal system, he was happier. Go figure.

Now, I'm finishing up some web work and listening to the Steelers via an online Fox radio station. They are winning and it's closing in on half time (10 - 0, 2 minute warning). I was hoping to get home to see the fourth quarter, but as quickly as this game is progressing it seems to be a hope in vain. Two minutes later, it's 13 - 7 Steelers. Leave the computer to do reference work for a couple of minutes and see what happens?

Tags: iMovie, Movie Maker, Technology & Academic libraries, Technology and academic librarians