Hoping to introduce students to coding and give them an idea of what it is, the library recently introduced Spheros to the atmosphere. Having learned about the technology from associates, librarian, Brandy Abbott, contacted the vendor soon after hearing about them and ordered some for students to not only have fun with the controllable spheres, but also to build off of their past learning skills.
“The Spheros are actually designed to help students learn how to code and practice coding,” said Abbott. “There’s an app you download to drive the Sphero and it teaches you how to use it, but you [use] code in order to direct it.“
Available at any time in the library, students will be able to use the Spheros at the discretion of Abbott. With the library having changed extensively over time, the Spheros offer another aspect of learning besides the traditional route of reading and researching, introducing students to new experiences coding and programming, and possibly showing them a new field moving forward.
“Yes we have books and we love books and we have databases and we do research, but we also want to learn in other capacities and other formats,” Abbott said. “The spheros are a part of that as well. It’s something that while you’re playing and having fun you’re also learning to code, learning to program…we wanted our library to have several facets of learning in addition to the traditional avenues.”