NCLab Nevada Library Portal

Welcome to the NCLab Nevada Library portal. Here, you’ll find content that we hope you will find helpful in implementing NCLab courses as part of your online catalog, as a focus for library clubs, or as training for people looking for new careers.

All detailed content is held in separate web pages that can be accessed by clicking on the links in this page.

You will find six sections, addressing these topics:

  • Using NCLab Courses at Your Library
  • Course Information
  • Activity Guides
  • Support
  • Marketing Materials
  • Resources for Club Instructors
  • News and Updates

Using NCLab Courses at Your Library

As a library, you have options on how to use NCLab courses.

  1. You can provide access for independent teen and adult learners simply by signing them up with a username and password. NCLab provides support as needed while they are learning. The librarian primarily acts as a curator rather than instructor. Look for patrons who are interested in exploring programming, coding, or computer-aided design as a possible career. These skills are useful even if a person just wants to better understand our automated world. For children under 16 years of age, we ask that the parent sign them up.
  2. You can manage learning clubs with NCLab courses and projects. NCLab has an archive of suggested activities that are suitable for clubs, whether they are at the library or meeting online.
  3. NCLab courses are 100% online, so your patrons can work on them at home.
  4. For detailed information on how to enroll patrons, match courses to clients and more, please read Nevada Library Guide for NCLab Courses (April 16, 2020 draft).pdf. You will need a supervisory (teacher or admin) account to access this guide. Please contact support@nclab.com if you need to update your user account.

Course Information

The NCLab courses currently being offered through Nevada Libraries include:

Intro to Computer Programming
Skills Learned:
  • Computational thinking
  • Logic and problem solving
  • Algorithms and programs
  • Syntax and code formatting
  • Loops and conditions
  • Variables and functions
  • Recursion
Read More
Visual Intro to Python
Skills Learned:
  • Python code syntax
  • For-loop and nested loops
  • Variables and functions
  • Boolean logic and conditions
  • While-loop
  • Operations with Python lists
  • Solving tasks with recursion
Read More
Spatial Literacy
Skills Learned:
  • Understand the 3D space
  • Think spatially
  • Solve problems using visual-spatial reasoning
  • Extrude planar shapes to 3D
  • Move and rotate 3D shapes
  • Build 3D models
  • Export models for 3D printing
Read More

NCLab has created content overviews for each unit in each course. These guides can be printed and shared with patrons.

To familiarize yourself with the courses, you may also wish to view one of the recorded 2020 webinars. These 15 to 30-minute webinars discuss each content overview. This document contains links to both the webinars and the content overview PDF files.

NCLab Nevada Library 2020 Course Webinars

Activity Guides

In 2017 to 2019, NCLab produced several webinars with accompanying slide shows and other materials. These webinars cover games, art, 3D modeling, engineering projects, themes, and game competitions.

NCLab Library Webinars 2018-2019.pdf

The webinars and supporting materials are hosted on NCLab’s community page, which acts like a question and answer forum.

Webinar – Community

Support

To set up an account for your library, contact Sheila Crawford Bunch (NCLab) at sheila@nclab.com, 775-303-6075.

For questions regarding the library contract at the state level, please contact Norma Fowler (Nevada State Archives, Library and Public Records) at nfowler@admin.nv.gov, 775-684-3407.

Librarians and patrons can contact NCLab for routine support questions via support@nclab.com. The NCLab desktop has a message button that will relay questions to support@nclab.com.

Promotional Materials for Your Library

NCLab has created some promotional materials for your library. Printed postcards for your front desk are available from the Nevada State Library, Archives and Public Records. Please contact Norma Fowler if you would like a box of cards sent to your branch.

You can download the electronic version of the postcard as PNG image files for the front and back of the postcard. Please feel free to use these on your website or in-library displays. If you need another format (PDF, TIFF, etc.) please contact Sheila at sheila@nclab.com, 775-303-6075.