TEACHING OURSELVESdeveloping a learning community for library instructors

Lynn Jones | Lisa Ngo | UC BerkeleyLOEX 2010

Berkeley is a large decentralized campus, with more than 20 library service points.

A great deal of library instruction goes on at Berkeley.

• 600+ sessions

• 15,000+ students

photo by ben.chaney. creative commons licensed.

Instruction is done by subject specialists and by instruction

librarians.

Who teaches in the Library?

Subject Specialists

Full Time Instructors

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Number of Sessions

Who teaches in the Library?

Berkeley’s Instructor Development Program

has been active since Spring 2009.

The planning document is at http://tinyurl.com/IDTFreport

Themes and topics were given to us.

Designing events was up to us.

A community of practice is a group

of people who share their experiences

to improve their skills.

“Community of Practice”

http://www.ewenger.com/

Topic categories

Educational theory Faculty consultation and Assignment

design Designing effective instructional

materials Instructional techniques and Teaching

tips Instructional and classroom technologies Evaluation and assessment

Event types

Lectures / presentations by experts Lightning talks Journal / reading club Workshops Reflective practices Open observation

We’ve met in a variety of venues.

Informal

Even our classrooms.

Web “events”

Videos to watch and blog on

Blogging on readings or events

Recorded lecture

LOEX encore presentations

Things we haven’t tried yet

Recording ourselves teaching

Teaching buddies

Teaching portfolio

Acting / voice / improv lessons

Assessment

photo by comedy_nose. creative commons licensed.

Event attendance

Journal Clubs

Lightning Talks

Workshops

Presentations

Web

0 5 10 15 20 25

Survey responses

Lightning talks

Journal Clubs

Workshop activity

Lecture / Presentation

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

Useful?Number of respondents

Survey responses “... I have built a more solid group of peers

that I consider go-to sources for advice ...” “I have a new focus on engaging my

students as a higher priority than covering content...”

“I have been thinking about ways... in which I can advocate for more incorporation of active learning techniques into our unit's curricula ...”

“... I am more conscious of instructional design when creating lesson plans...”

The timing of events matters.

Everyone is very busy.

Our own prep time is limited.

The program is a work in progress.

Our Community