Loex of the West Pre-Conference Workshop I
Wednesday, June 8, 2006
8:00AM-noon
Fairmont Orchid, Hawaii
Learning theory tells us that most people retain only 5-10% of theinformation imparted during a lecture. Faculty who teach entire courses complain about the difficulty doing any more than just covering the material within the constraints imposed by large lecture courses and bythe semester or quarter system. How can librarians, who have even less time and authority with students, overcome the institutional and individual barriers that must be addressed in order to design and deliver effective information literacy instruction? This half-day workshop presented by the Education and Outreach Department of the University of California, Irvine, Libraries will teach instruction techniques that enhance the effectiveness of one-shot research skills sessions. The program is based on four assumptions about information literacy instruction: (1) Library instruction is the most effective and long-lasting when it is embedded in the curriculum of a course; (2) How we teach is as important as what we teach; (3) Active learning by the class participants is crucial; (4) Individual and program effectiveness will improve only when there is continual feedback, assessment, and program revision. Workshop attendees will learn or reinforce in their learning of these four concepts, along with practical approaches for implementing them. Although these concepts are not unusual in the pedagogy of instructional librarianship, what is remarkable is the extent to which our department members apply them intentionally, consistently, and joyfully in our daily work and are therefore able to pass them along to others. Our groups expertise is based on our experiences in establishing dynamic partnerships which inform all the instruction processes in which we are engaged. We will engage the audience in an interactive and enjoyable manner which reflects and models the concepts we intend to teach. Our half-day pre-conference workshop will include an extended interactive, role-playing exercise in which the participants plan, design, and practice teaching a session in order to achieve the integration of information literacy into the curriculum. The workshop will include assessment and evaluation by the participants culminating in an open-forum discussion. In keeping with our own department's belief in the value of affective considerations, the participants will have fun in this workshop!
Presenters: Cathy Palmer, Tom Babayan, Allison Tran, & Christopher Christion, University of California, Irvine
Cost: $75
No minimum number of registrants is necessary. Maximum number is 40.