ACRL Instruction Section
Continuing Education Needs and Interest Survey
Summary:
1. What topics would you like to learn about through some form of continuing
education?
34 Pedagogical skills
10 Evaluation techniques
16 Learning technology
16 Using technology to teach
7 Teaching technology
26 Other
2. Would you like to participate in continuing education by:
9 Attending national meetings
15 Attending state or regional meetings
8 Attending teleconferences or videoconferences
11 Receiving online instruction
7 Viewing or listening to a video or audiotape of an ALA program or
pre-conference
9 Reading summaries of conference programs posted to a listserv or
website
2 Other:
Real course offered on weekends
Local sessions (L.A.) by knowledgeable, experienced and talented
instructors in well-equipped hands-on electronic
classroom
3. Do you have easy access to e-mail or WWW?
50 Yes, e-mail
48 Yes, WWW
0 Neither
4. Do you have any comments or suggestions for the Instruction Section
regarding continuing education?
13 responses
5. Are you a member of the ACRL Instruction Section?
37 Yes
13 No
Text of responses:
1. What topics would you like to learn about through some form of continuing
education?
Pedagogical skills:
Active and/or collaborative learning in one-shot BI sessions, including practical
examples, not just theory
Learning how to apply BI principles to technology training
Effective techniques
Current learning theories
Classroom management techniques
Interactive learning activities in the area of library instruction
Active learning techniques
Collaborative learning activities in the area of library instruction
Basic classroom technique -- classroom presentation techniques and management
Newer and successful approaches to teaching more with less time
Additional and more in-depth materials like the "Teaching Methods' Brainstorming"
on backside of the most recent Instruction Section Newsletter
How to make the shift from teacher-centered (performer/lecturer) to student-centered
(teacher as consultant) mode of teaching. How do you think about teaching
when you think about it in a student-centered way? How to you think about
ways to help students learn from this new mind set? How do you create
learning situations? How do you give students responsibility for their own
learning?
I would like opportunities to role play teaching or have some kind of volunteer guinea
pig group to teach and then discuss with them how to do it better. I need
practice being a classroom reaching and I hate it that I'm practicing on real
students. I've suffered through too many bad teachers to be comfortable
being yet another bad experience for students.
Teaching students to acquire knowledge, not just "information"
Teaching/learning styles
New trends or models in instruction, especially with various populations, adult
learners, distance education.
More of the same! Instruction methods, hands-on active learning ideas (where is that
Cookbook, anyway?)
Practical advise for coping realistically with different learning styles
Designing assignments and exercises for students to learn concepts rather than
through lectures.
Learning styles
Instructional design
Library instruction strategies for distance learning programs
How to teach pedagogy to other librarians
Motivating staff to employ new instruction techniques
Effective library instruction
Fostering critical thinking skills
Teaching styles and techniques
Cooperative/collaborative learning
Working with faculty to develop effective instruction for students
Developing effective library assignments
How to teach general concepts rather that "how to" which changes so quickly
Teaching critical thinking skills (how to's, techniques, which skills need to be
learned first, etc.)
Information literacy (what skills do students need, how to integrate info. literacy into
both library instruction and the general curriculum)
Teaching in a computer lab environment
Evaluation:
Criteria for evaluation of a college and/or its library re infoliteracy.
Evaluating library instruction
Developing effective evaluation and assessment models and tools for instruction
Evaluating BI sessions
Testing
Theoretical and practical information about testing and grading
Ideas about how to determine if students have learned anything and what they have
learned
Assessment (to support your teaching, the library's program, for institutional
accreditation, etc.)
BI output measures
Outcomes assessment and library instruction
Learning technology:
How to use various electronic tools -- Acrobat reader, Web plug-ins, Power Point, etc.
UNIX commands and basic UNIX programming -- the base for much on the Internet
Windows 95 tips
Installing and setting up computers to do what you need them for
Most of us know a little about a lot of different kinds of technology, enough to get by.
We need a place to "breath" a little by breaking those large clumps down
into smaller learning units, a place to pick up those little pieces of
knowledge that we don't already have. Perhaps mini-workshops that fill in
gaps.
Future of HTML
Keeping up with technology
Library computer application
Advanced web-writing, basic programming
HTML and other formats for creating web pages., ie. tutorials, virtual tours
Standards, design issues for creation of totally interactive Web tutorials for learning
library and research tools
Internet search skills
Present and approaching changes in technology
Library computer systems
Computer hardware troubleshooting
LANs
Using technology to teach:
Using or creating CAI products that can be locally adopted
Any aspects dealing with instruction and technology
Library user instruction using Power Point
Using multimedia in instruction
Visual aids in instruction
Let's take a closer look at where our teaching colleagues in AAHESGIT (?) and other
cybernauts are going, and see how that will impact us in user education
Library instruction via the web
Creating web tutorials
Using web pages for instruction (2)
Principles and design for instructional Web pages (on the library, research strategies,
online catalogs and indexes, etc.) with frames and live links, etc.
Designing good interactive Web sites for those who don't make it to library sessions,
or who need help at odd hours or locations
Using the Web to offer online instruction. Using Web forms to offer online
interactive handouts
Web page design
Web as a tool for mass delivery of basic library instruction
Web-based instructional programs (2)
Online instruction
Teaching technology:
Learning approaches to teaching technology
How to teach about the Internet
What do our students know about using the Web and E-mail?
Webliographies
Teaching topics about the WWW
Incorporating the web into one hour instruction session
Teaching students to use the Internet as a reference tool
Other:
Coping with technostress
How to avoid burnout
New research methods for various disciplines, so that we won't be teaching irrelevant
methods or ones that faculty consider "outdated."
How to provide better reference service in the following areas: Business, sciences,
engineering, law.
In-depth reference work/instruction, both general and for the field of religion
Subject background info for upper-division instruction
Approaches to specific kinds of information-acquisition
Promoting information literacy on campus
Distance education and library instruction
Providing instruction for distance learning students
Working with high schools
How can the web be used in reference service and BI?
Administration/management issues
Timesaving solutions for coordinating a BI program
Career-planning issues
Copyright and the Internet
Large scale information literacy programs
Collaborating with faculty in web projects or distance learning projects
How to develop better working relationships with faculty for BI purposes
Getting colleagues motivated for instruction
First Year orientation projects
Coping with the lack of an electronic lab
Effective classroom design, including equipment issues
A good textbook and hands-on exercises or worksheets for a 1-credit hour course,
"Electronic Information Retrieval"
New learning communities
Publishing articles in Library Science: how to write, who to submit to, etc.
Do you have any comments or suggestions for the Instruction Section regarding
continuing education?
I think it will be hard to decide what to offer because each of us has different "weak"
areas.
Some library schools offer continuing ed. workshops, but many have had to cut them
due to funding. Please help.
Continue the very helpful items such as "Teaching Methods' Brainstorming..."
contained in this newsletter issue.
I appreciate the work that is being done by the section to help librarians on the job
keep up with the technological explosion. So much has changed since I
went to library school, but I have been able to learn a lot from other
librarians through this and other professional groups.
We need it! But most of us can only attend one conference a year. All of the above
would be of help to some of us.
If it's possible to offer continuing education sessions beyond the national
conferences, that would be a big help. Many institutions are cutting back on
travel funding and it isn't possible for all of us to make it to ALA and ACRL
national meetings. Regional institutes (similar to what LITA tries to do)
would help reach the non-meeting attendees.
It's good to see a survey about this, instead of assuming that the section knows what
its members want in terms of continuing education and training.
Develop continuing education packages of content that can be requested by
state/regional organizations/individuals to be used to deliver continuing
education at the more local level.
I really like the idea of a workshop (national or regional) because part of the value of
professional development activities for me is the opportunity for informal
discussion or for working in small groups.
I would like to see more regular activity at the state level in Washington State by the
chapter. This is probably something that will have to be dealt with at
grassroots level. Your question has just made me realize I'd better start
seeing how I can contribute to the chapter in my new home state -- thank
you!
We do not have any budget for travel, so whatever continuing education I get needs to
be electronic or broadcast. Next year looks very bleak in terms of money
and staff.
Keep up the good work -- we need as much CE as possible in as many ways as
possible.
Doing work at the local level is probably the most immediately helpful
I think you do a great job, but unfortunately many of us can't afford to belong and are
lurkers to all of your hard work.
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Last Updated: August 4, 2000
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