ACRL 2009 - Information Literacy Assessment

One would think I was already done with my blog coverage of ACRL, but the truth is I had to turn all my attention to work and the upcoming Washington Medical Librarians Association (WMLA) conference I'm program chair for next week! After this entry I still have one more ACRL entry mulling on the back burner that integrates thoughts and experiences from the two keynotes given by Sherman Alexie and Ira Glass.

The last session I attended at ACRL was The Right Tool for the Job: Picking the Best Method for Information Literacy Assessment. This was nothing fancy nor glitzy compared to other session options going on at the time, but provided a good introduction and overview of how and when knowledge tests, integrated assessments & rubrics are appropriate assessment measures to use as part of library instruction.

As usual, a brief summary of my more extensive session notes

• Knowledge tests focus on cognitive domain (recall, understanding, knowledge, analytical)
• Use knowledge tests to assess at the cognitive level, not for behaviors or attitudes, or opinions.
• Integrated assessments involve collaborating with professors to include information literacy assessments within the course assignment in meaningful, authentic way
• Audience response to this is that annotated bibliographies have worked very well for students as an integrated assessment tool
• Rubrics describe learning in 2 dimensions (parts/criteria and levels of performance)
• Benefits of rubrics include focus on deep learning and higher order thinking skills, and a way to provide direct feedback

These assessment methods cover nearly any type of instruction and gave me some food for thought regarding how I can develop better ones for the online courses I teach to my colleagues that provide all of us with valuable information as part of the learning experience. I'm not satisfied to rest in the knowledge that the continuing education courses I teach are free; they are investments of my students' time and I strive to make it the best possible and productive experience for them.

ACRL 2009 - Creating Instruction To Go

I didn't immediately share the notes from this excellent session about online learning late this morning because I continued my path of scholarly learning bailed on ACRL with Marie for a few hours to have lunch & check out some nuclear pants at Archie McPhee. HOT!

I have to say that not only was the content of this paper about creating learning objects very informative, but the presentation itself is one of the best ones I've seen at a conference. The presenters walked the talk: they didn't merely read their Powerpoint (far more elaboration than that) but engaged us as the audience from the beginning with our questions about what they had. After explanations, they had us follow in their footsteps of identifying learning objects, brainstorming steps to accomplish meeting the objective of the learning object, then shared the tools they used along the way.

Par for course, a few teasers from my session notes:

• Faculty love the idea of information literacy but do not want to compromise their class time to offer it.
• What is a learning object? An online resource or set of resources that have been developed to achieve a specific learning outcome.
• Needs to be able to stand alone and remove any contextual references to other learning objects
• So much of what we do is related to interfaces so this is especially difficult to do.
• Always include a check for understanding via a quiz or learning exercise at the end of a learning object.
• Microlectures: 60 minute lectures, cut extra verbiage, in less than 2 minutes communicate cores. (published in Journal of Higher Learning and EduGeek blogged it well)

.. and much more including more specific how-to's with free online tools I hadn't heard of before such as Mindmeister and trailfire. I'm really looking forward to using these methods on some online course development roadblocks I've hit and am hopeful I'll move on from frustration/guilt that things aren't going forward to some clearer objectives and ways to meet them.

ACRL 2009 - Social Networking Literacy Competencies for Librarians

Excellent, thought-provoking papers about the use of social networking in the library and by librarians by both speakers that were well worth dragging my still-sick self out of bed and onto a Metro bus to slog through the rain at 8am on a Saturday morning for!

As usual, some teaser thoughts from my notes (can you tell my brain is on format autopilot?)

• It is not enough to know what social networking is but able to understand nature and roles, importance in research, communication and information life cycle of the social networking site.
• We have to evaluate the tools just as we do everything else and not jump on board just because it's new.
• Librarians who are social networking-literate must be able to apply their current skills and curiosity to emerging and evolving resources.
• Professional associations and library schools can support librarians with CE initiatives
• Require new hires to possess social networking skills (yikes!)
• How frequently do students use Facebook for academic purposes? Most ranked rarely and they feel Facebook impacts their academic study negatively.
• When developing a virtual presence, consider students' actual perceptions of the library. Talk to your students, not student workers or this study's students.
• Becoming a fan of the library involves less effort/awkwardness than friending.
• Don't send apps or poke the students on Facebook.

My thoughts - It is impossible to verify with 100% accuracy any institutional online presence on Twitter. An individual may use a library or library product name, create a profile with the company logo, link to the company website and fill out all the appropriate profile details, follow (and be followed by) others in the field and 'talk the talk'... and not be sanctioned by the library or institution to represent them at all.

I am not going to give further attention to the individuals on Twitter I'm aware of who have done so with National Library of Medicine (NLM) by linking to them here, but be aware that they do exist. As it was in January and still the case now, there is no official NLM presence on Twitter.

ACRL 2009 - Peer to peer teaching/evaluating

I absolutely adore teaching online and am constantly on the lookout for strategies, methodologies and structures to enable my students to have the best learning experience possible there.

While this session was geared towards library instruction by librarians for students at the University of Alberta in a face to face setting, I wonder about the possibilities of implementing colleague peer-review teaching/observing relationships for online education and the valuable feedback that could be obtained by it.

Some teasers from my notes:

• Why experiment with peer to peer research process? A desire to share love of subject matter that shares your passion and enthusiasm, improve and enhance skills, overcome ‘silo-ization’ to talk and learn from one another
• Used a 3-step approach of Preparation, Observation phase, Closing phase
• Challenges of teacher: being observed by peers made them extremely nervous. Ironic since same academics ok with peer review of their research but threatened by having a peer in the classroom (paraphrase of Washer, 2006)

This also introduced me to skrbl, which I had not heard of before and want to check out later!

ACRL 2009 - Have we engaged in a cultural Ponzi scheme?

I still have not refined the fine art of concise, witty & accurate conference blogging.

In the interest in sharing the scene of the ACRL 2009 conference here in Seattle, however, I can share my notes quickly so here they are.

The title is included as teaser thoughts in them from our keynote speaker from the Institute of Global Ethics, Dr. Rush Kidder:

• As ethics drains out of culture, law rushes in the fill the void.
• We can live either by self regulation (ethics) or enforced regulation (law)
• We do have a choice about this and don't have to go into a compliance mentality by regulating everything.
• As we move on to the 21st century, our technology leverages our ethics. A single unethical decision can wreak havoc globally almost instantaneously.
• He is not concerned w/Facebook or Twitter, library storage/legacy issues, take it to the meta level.

Today's are brief because I only attended the first-timer's orientation and the opening keynote. Thankfully fellow University of North Texas alum Jack Bullion stopped me at orientation and Marie Kennedy met up with us along with Anthony who, if he blogs, I can't link to it since he hasn't accepted my Facebook invitation yet!

First impressions: I am thrilled with how social media usage and networking is so openly encouraged by the availability of free reliable wifi for attendees at the Convention Center (this is NOT the norm there), along with mention by the conference chair to post pictures on Flickr, join the Facebook page, and use Twitter with the #acrl2009 tag, etc.

Unfortunately I am getting a brutal cold so I'm not involved in the social scene... I just want to get a good night's sleep so I have enough energy for the next day!