How do you trick children to become more digitally literate? With zombies of course! - Kari Morley

How do you trick children to

become more digitally literate?

With zombies of course!

Kari MorleySubject Librarian

Anglia Ruskin University

3 locations: Cambridge, Chelmsford and Peterborough

Over 35,000 students worldwide

Large proportion of vocational courses: Nursing, Midwifery, Paramedic Science, Surveying

Times Higher Education Entrepreneurial University of the Year 2014

Money DilemmasJelly bean budgeting

Assist the SurgeonAppInventer

The pig personality test Modelling junk

Why me?

(Isn’t it cute?!)

First steps

Biggest problems to overcome

One session suitable for children aged 6-16 and with varying abilities

IT - access to appropriate resources and sticking to the licensing agreements

Fear of the undead unknown

A hands-on, computer based session

Basic online research skills

“Fun” topic of zombiesSeparate sessions for each different age ranges

Include the younger siblings too

The concept

Cambridge 2015

Chelmsford 2014

Cambridge 2014

TeamZombie

Allocated tasks

Find online resources about zombies and survival suitable for children and add to a Libguide

Design posters and worksheets

Test any programmes to be used

Design the lesson plan

Plan costumes

One Page Project Plan

Safe online resources(not as easy as you might

think)

The Zomguide

A chance to show off Libguides and explain our day-to-day role at ARU

Includes links to:Open Access articles Blogs World Health Organisation Government websites NHS

Activities for all ages

2014 - Ability appropriate worksheets

Activities for under 7’s

Keyword game

A worksheet that can be drawn and written on

Wordsearch

2 min IntroductionSurvival scenario

Introduce ourselvesEmphasise that this might seem silly but it’s actually quite useful for own research.

5 min Ice breaker discussion:Zombie fiction vs zombie non-fiction

What we think we know about zombies – keywords added to the boardWhat we actually know – where could we look for reliable information?

5 min Discussion and demo: Good resources vs bad resources

“What makes a good reliable resource?” “Which of these sources would you trust or not trust?” Look at different sites and discuss which ones could be useful and why.

10 min Hands-on activity Using the Zomguide to answer the work sheets. Staff to distribute worksheets based on age/ability.

3 min Close Closing discussion included all the best things they’d found from the Zomguide & whose brain they’d like to eat

Timing Topic Activity

2014 lesson plan

Feedback from 2014

Very popular – 190 attendees & 30-40 turnaways at

Chelmsford alone

Parents were very positive and could see the value

Attendees enjoyed themselves

Misleading description in the programme - “Felt like homework”

People don’t read signs or programmes

It’s best to be over prepared – extra activities are always useful

2015

What did we change for this

year?

2015

Older age range: 12-16

More accurate description for the programme

Changed the survival scenario

Augmented reality apps: HeartCam was very popular (and gross)

Activity packs rather than single worksheets

Lots of posters – thanks to the budget from Outreach!

Improved the Zomguide & made a ReadingList

Timetabled a break for lunch!

“How doing your

homework could save your life!”

The Open Access area

at Cambridge

2015

Feedback

40 attendees

Cambridge session was held in the Open Access area instead of a classroom

Activity pack worked well

Most children were younger than we’d planned for

Each session was different depending on who turned up and we lost the “community survival” theme

My advice

Have a clear plan

Always have back-up activities (or 5) ready for

emergencies

One off events are a great chance to experiment with

new ideas

Group activities don’t work well for Open Day events

It’s ok if not all staff will find this as much fun as you do!

Seriously, no-one reads signs or programmes

Tips for working with children (if you’ve never done it before)

• Don’t be scared of them

• Talk to them normally – no-one likes being patronised

• It’s ok if one won’t talk to you there is always another one who will…

a lot!

• Children love gross things

• You are not responsible for controlling their behaviour

• Enjoy it!

http://anglia.libguides.com/Zombie

The Zomguide

Kari MorleySubject Librarian

Anglia Ruskin [email protected]