Visual Communicator Things are now complete, it's time for a break

Pause, breathe, Visual Communicator section is almost complete.

This is a round-up of what we have covered and what you have worked through during the Visual Communicator section of the Rudaí23 course to date. We wanted to take time out to look back through Things 1- 9 of the course and look forward to the next stage of the course, the Online Networker badge, beginning in November.

The Rudaí23 course began in early September and since then we have covered 9 ‘Things’. We asked everyone to set up a blog and you responded with some great titles and designs. Wordpress and Blogger were the most popular platforms but some of you were adventurous enough to try out Tumblr. Congratulations on getting this far.

You can follow the other Rudaí23 bloggers by going to the home page of our blog and clicking on any of the blogs listed in our live feed on the left side of the screen. If you want to follow the blogs using a blog reader like Feedly you will find instructions here.

Things 1 – 9 covered a range of tools that you will hopefully find useful in the future for your visual communication needs: Flickr, Pixabay, Photofunia, RIPL, Powtoon, Screencast-o-matic, Canva and PIktochart. We also looked at Copyright and Creative Commons and appropriate uses of both. We hope you will be able to apply some of what you learned in your place of work and share it with your colleagues.

We were thrilled to see so many of you share your creations with us on Twitter, and we look forward to this network growing as we enter the Online Networker section of the course. To date, we have over 100 members in our Rudaí23 Facebook Group and670 followers on our Twitter account.

Here is a short checklist that we’ve put together so that you can check where you are at this stage in your progression through the course.

Have you reviewed the Digital Badges FAQ page here?

Have you read our Digital Badges "how to" guide here?

Have you applied for your Sample Badge? If not, apply here.

Have you written a blog post for Thing 2 and one Reflective Practice blog post – for either Thing 6 or Thing 9 in your progression towards the Badge? Our brochure explains the combination of Things you need to complete.

If you’ve completed the above steps you are now ready to apply for the Visual Communicator badge. Please include a link to your Reflective Practice blog post for Thing 6 or 9 in your application. It is important that this link is correct as this will then be tied to the badge and will act as evidence of you having met the criteria for earning the badge. You can apply for the badge here.

The next part of the course will begin on November 11th, with a section called Online Networker, covering Things 10 – 18 and including tools for networking, collaboration and developing your professional online persona.

Enjoy your break in between the Visual Communicator and Online Networker sections. Feel free to use this time to catch up or just start afresh and please ask any of our team for assistance if you are struggling.

If you are new to the Rudai 23 course and would like to begin with our Online Networker section of the course please read Thing 1 and Thing 2 first, and then register here. To find out more about the course download our brochure here. If you missed out on the Visual Communicator section of the course but would like to do it now, you can access the Things via our homepage.

For each section of the course you complete you will be eligible to apply for a digital open badge accredited by the Library Association of Ireland.







Registration for this course will remain open throughout the course. You can sign up any time, and complete the modules at your own pace.

Looking forward to catching up again in November.

Earn your fourth digital badge on the new Rudaí 23 online course

No man is an island according to John Donne, and this is certainly true when it comes to the information professional. We are a vibrant, collaborative and involved community, always willing to share our knowledge with each other. In order to tap into that knowledge bank, we need to be an ‘Engaged Professional’, so titles our fourth digital open badge. Read about our first open badge Visual Communicator here, our second badge Online Networker here and our third Critical Thinker one here. Our final badge ‘CPD Champion’ is a special reward you can apply for if you complete the previous four.

The Engaged Professional badge comprises four Things; Thing 19 Podcasts, Thing 20 Advocacy and Engagement, Thing 21 Professional Organisations, and Thing 22, our final Reflective Practice. This set of Things is designed to help you reflect on the profession as a whole and the part you play in it.

The beauty of Podcasts is that they suit the multitasking librarian. They are digital audio files delivered through the internet, similar to a radio show.  While walking your dog or stacking the library shelves you can catch up on professional subjects and current activities in any field. A great Irish podcast is Librarians Aloud, especially episode three which details our first run of Rudaí 23 in 2015. In Thing 19, as well as curating a list of worthy Podcasts, you will discover the tools and ability to create your own.

Now is the most important time in our history to advocate. In this digital era, we have seen a tendency to disregard the library and its staff, falsely assuming everything is available online, or everything online is authoritative and all encompassing. We have been introduced to Open Libraries, debilitating budget cuts, library closures and the like. It’s important that the public knows the role the information professional plays and how essential it is. Unless we advocate for our libraries, and rally those around us to do the same, they will no longer exist. We also need to advocate for ourselves. Thing 20 will help you ensure that your value and worth are appreciated in your organisation and your position flourishes.

Save our libraries campaign

Information professionals have learned by now that it is our collective voice that has the largest impact. It is crucial that we are part of a professional organisation. Being so will keep you informed, give you an opportunity to network with likeminded colleagues, provide a forum to exchange ideas and a platform to boost your career through CPD activities. It is through our immersion in the Western Regional Section of the Library Association ofIreland that we created Rudaí 23. Thing 21 will introduce you to some of the main professional bodies you should be aware of, such as the Library Association of Ireland, and hopefully lead you on the path to further learning opportunities and library joy. Eligibility to apply for this LAI certified digital open badge requires you to complete a Reflective Practice with Thing 22, your penultimate module.

Thing 19: Podcasts  January 6^th 2018

Thing 20: Advocacy & Engagement  January 13^th 2018

Thing 21: Professional Organisations  January 20^th 2018

Thing 22: Reflective Practice Write January 20^th 2018

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Earn your first digital badge on the new Rudaí23 free online course

More than half of the world’s population are ‘visual learners’. This means that you can get your message across to these people more effectively by using some type of ‘visual’ in your blog post, web page, poster or social media post. Evidence from social media platforms tells us that posts with visual or multimedia content engage more users than ‘plain old text’ so the modules in this section of Rudaí 23 are designed to give you the skills to be a competent visual

communicator.

There are many elements of visual design that you need to be aware of and start to consider when preparing content for the internet. The font and colour you choose and a well-proportioned layout incorporating some white space are the basic building blocks of visual content for the web. Over the next few weeks the modules for the Visual Communicator badge will introduce you to copyright free image sources online, ensuring that you have access to free-to-use photos and images for your blog or poster. Once you’ve completed the compulsory Image Banks module in mid September you then choose which of the two routes to certification most appeals to you to achieve the Visual Communicator badge.  Option 1 introduces tools that are popular in the creation of digital posters and short videos that can be used in teaching or promotional work. Option 2 covers a very exciting opportunity to create your own online exhibition using free blogging tools, or learn a little about the Omeka platform if you want to take it a little further. Digital exhibitions are not solely a visual medium, you can incorporate audio and audio-visual material to tell your story and even simple online exhibitions, of a just few pages, can be very effective.

When you complete Option 1 or 2 below and demonstrated that you have engaged with the learning material in the Visual Communicator section of Rudaí23 you will be entitled to apply for your first digital badge of the course:

Option 1:

Thing 3: Image-banks e.g. Flickr, Pixabay Sept 16th 2017
Thing 4: Communicating Visually Using Photfunia, gyphy, 
RIPL, Google Photos Sept 23rd 2017
Thing 5: Presentations Using Powtoon and screencasting tools Sept 30th 2017
Thing 6: Reflective Practice Write about Things 3, 4 & 5 Sept 30th 2017

OR

Option 2:

Thing 3: Image-banks e.g. Flickr, Pixabay Sept 16th 2017
Thing 7: Online Exhibitions Aurasma, Layar, Omeka Oct 7th 2017
Thing 8: Infographs Using Canva/Piktochart Oct 14th 2017
Thing 9: Reflective Practice Write about Things 3, 7 & 8 Oct 14th 2017


Good luck with the Visual Communicator modules in September and October. We look forward to learning with you.