Becoming Blended

This past weekend I attended Digital Pedagogy Lab - Vancouver (I was on the Digital Literacies track).  While I’m regularly thinking about Digital Literacy in my work as the Blended Learning Librarian, I’m also currently preparing my secondment that begins in September as the Digital Media Librarian, where I will be increasingly focused on the creation of media through our Digital Media Lab (currently under construction). 

I’ve been continuing to take visual notes/sketchnotes to actively engage with the content I’m learning. I’ve shared my notes from #DigPed below.

My visual notes are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Keynotes

Jesse Stommel, Executive Director, Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, University of Mary Washington

Rusul Alrubail, Partner, Ci.Strategy+ Design

Workshops

Day 1 - Digital Literacies Track (Bonnie Stewart and Dave White)

Day 2 - Digital Literacies Track  (Bonnie Stewart)

Day 3 - Digital Literacies Track  (Bonnie Stewart and Kris Shaffer)

Lightning Talks

Interdisciplinary Solutions—Michelle Clement

New Media and Pedagogy—Hannah McGregor

Open Pop Ups—Verena Roberts

Daagu—Carolyn Steele

Overcoming Digital Obstacles—Christina Chavez-Reyes

Net Neutrality—Brian Weston 

Readings

Rheingold, Howard. Attention & Other 21st Century Social Media Literacies

Bali, Maha. Knowing the Difference Between Digital Skills and Digital Literacies, and Teaching Both

Shaffer, Kris. Truthy Lies & Surreal Truths

Additional Readings:

Harford, Tim. The Problem with Facts

Streitfeld, David. The Internet is Broken: @ev is Trying to Salvage It

McMillan Cottom, Tressie. Academic Outrage: When The Culture Wars Go Digital

White, David S. and Alison Le Cornu. Visitors & Residents: A New Typology for Online Engagement

Skallerup Bessette, Lee. Arrested Professional Development

I thought I would take a moment to jot down my approach to sketchnoting/visual note-taking - there are many people who have thought/written a lot about this and I’ve certainly been inspired by some amazing note takers (ahem, Giulia Forsythe). I’ve been doing it for the past 3 years in an effort to get more out of webinars, conferences and reading that I was doing. I was feeling frustrated about jotting down notes in a notebook or Google Docs or Evernote and never returning to them.

I like to alternate between doing it digitally and old school with markers and paper.

Here are some of the tools that I love . . .

Digital

I’ve always used Paper by Fifty Three - I use this on my iPad with a mini Adonit. I export the photo files and share them on Twitter and on my blog. To be honest - it’s the only tool I’ve ever used and I’m so happy with it, I’ve never tried anything else.  

Lightning Talks at Digital Pedagogy Lab

Digital Sketchnote from #EBLIP9

Analog

Sometimes, I prefer just good old markers and a sketchpad. I use a larger sketchpad with a hardcover to make it easier when I don’t have a table. I use a variety of markers including: 

Sharpies

Tombow dual brush markers 

Paper Mate flair markers

Prismacolor markers. 

I usually either scan these or take a photo. I’m a big fan of the CamScanner app - I’m usually too lazy to go over to the proper scanner or I’m doing it on the fly at a conference. This allows me to quickly sharpen the image and increase the contrast. This makes for a more crisp and bold image. 

Affordable course content and open educational resources webinar

Analog Sketchnote from Personal Productivity Webinar

More Resources

I’m always looking for inspiration - so I’m always adding to my Sketchnotes Pinterest board to get ideas for layout, icons, and fonts. 

I also own Mike Rohde’s The Sketchnote Handbook: the illustrated guide to visual note taking. 

I also think that Kathy Schrock has collected some great resources.

You can find my sketchnotes on my blog: becomingblended.tumblr.com (here!). I use these for quick, personal reflection regularly and I can honestly say that this has changed how I process information at conferences, webinars and more. My visual notes are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

New Librarians Symposium provided Sajni Lacey and me the opportunity to revisit our Imposter Syndrome Workshop - we’ve been evolving how we can provide a collaborative opportunity and safe space. 

The conversations were great.

Here’s our presentation:

Confronting Imposter Syndrome:

A workshop facilitated by Melanie Parlette-Stewart and Sajni Lacey

Slides

Group Notes:

Also - the lightning talks & panel were amazing!

Here’s my sketchnote form the Real Talk panel:

This June I attended the LIbrarians’ Research Institute in London, ON.

These are my notes from this experience: 

In June, I traveled to Philadelphia for the 9th International Evidence Based Library & Information Practice Conference. 

My notes:

Collecting and Using Evidence Routinely for Advocacy, Opening Keynote Address / Alison Brettle

EBLIP and Everyday Practice for Librarians and our Libraries, Closing Keynote Address / Pam Ryan

Rick Stoddart, We Are The Evidence: Critical Reflection as Personal Evidence

Panel Discussion: Responding Proactively to “Fake News” / Moderator: Jon Eldredge, Associate Professor, School of Medicine, University of New Mexico / Panelists: Heather Holmes, Associate Director of Libraries, Medical University of South Carolina; Scott Walter, University Librarian, DePaul University; Malin Ögland, Head, County Library, Uppsala, Sweden

April Cunningham and Michelle Dunaway / Analysing and Assessing IL in the Framework Era: A Rhetorical Analysis Followed by Exploratory Factor Analysis

Susan Archambault and Alexander Justice / Exploring Student Use of the Information Commons through Mixed Methods

Ningning Kong/ Evidence-based Library Instruction Development for Spatial Literacy

My presentation:

Deciding and Designing with Data: Analyzing User Data and Behaviour Trends in Online Learning Objects

Introduction: This paper presents the analysis of online learning objects usage at the University of Guelph Library. In an effort to “meet students where they are at” and develop engaging learning content, the library has created online learning objects such as videos and online help guides that support learning, writing and research skill development. Evidence based library and information practice (EBLIP) offers an opportunity to translate usage data into evidence based decisions and best practices for the creation of online learning objects.

Objective: This study seeks to provide an overview of approaches to data analysis and user behaviour assessment for online learning objects: *Identify different data analysis tools used to gather and analyze user activity and behaviours in YouTube and Springshare Libguides *Examine user data such as flow, searching, acquisition, traffic sources, audience retention, watch time and session duration to identify trends *Develop an evidence based approach to best practices for online learning object creation

Methods: Mixed method approaches were used to carry out this study. User data from Google Analytics and Springshare Libguides were used to assess usage data from YouTube and LibGuides from September 2015 to August 2016. In addition, questionnaires and user experience testing were conducted to provide additional context and understanding of the data.

Results: Online learning object usage data provides an opportunity to discover how students are using online help content. Collected data allows us to engage in ongoing evaluation of trends and enhances best practices. Key findings include the need to connect content explicitly to related courses and to create smaller, bite-sized content, acknowledging the low amount of time spent with objects.

My notes from TLI:

Teaching for Now and Later: Key Factors in Creating Durable Learning /Dr. Joe Kim from McMaster University

INQUIRE: Teaching Techniques and Methods that Increase Student Critical Thinking / John Irwin Theo Selles Christine Zupo

Designing Empowered Students: Creativity Tools in the Post-Secondary Ecosystem / Christina Boyko-Head

My presentation:

My notes from the OCULA Spring Conference...

Keynote Speaker Sage Tyrtle: Storyteller

Last month I attended the 2017 Library Collective conference Knoxville, TN. It was everything I imagine the ideal conference should be! The attendees were open and welcoming and the sessions were based on practice and full of active learning experiences. Despite missing part of the first day due to flight delays and making it just in time to give my own presentation with my colleague, Juliene McLaughlin - it was a delightful two days full of learning.

I also played around with Paper for my visual notes.

Emotional Intelligence by Design (In a Library Workplace), Dory Cochran & Laura Beth Cochran

So, a librarian and an architect walk into a conference... this was one of the most interesting sessions I’ve been to at a library conference. I loved their way of facilitating the session and the activities that they chose were refreshing. From the session description, “By storyboarding spatial experiences, participants will explore self-awareness, identify boundaries of space, and discover implementation strategies to promote usable and beautiful work environments.”

Digital Scholarship R&D: Field Notes, William Shaw

We’re chatting a lot about Digital Scholarship at UG Library. This session was a great opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the current environment.

Float Your Library's Morale Boat: Uncovering, Using and Celebrating What You Have (Even When It Feels Like You Don't Have Much), Jill Markgraf

This session really pushed me to push past my comfort zone - the activities were fresh and creative! Taking elements from improv it was a highly interactive and engaging session.

Knowledge, Reputation, & Image: Crafting & Communicating a Professional Brand, Ashleigh Coren & Chanelle Pickens

Ashleigh and Chanelle were engaging and hit on a lot of things I’ve been thinking about lately (personal branding and digital identity). I loved their session. Pardon my poor grammar, etc. in my “Artist’s statement” - this activity was fun and I’m looking forward to revising and refining my statement. 

Our presentation: Give Your eLearning Objects the Beauty Treatment in a Flash (Myself and Juliene McLaughlin)

Presentation /  The Files

from the description:  This workshop will guide participants through a sleek workflow process from idea creation to a production-ready learning object. From synthesizing and simplifying content to incorporating peer feedback and designing mockups, our hands-on activities will challenge participants to make design and content decisions quickly.

And, TENNESSEE! 

Smoky Mountains

Our team just finished our group discussions of the ACRL Framework. Through this process, we’ve been using the following questions to guide our discussions. 

Name one important concept, theory, or idea that you came across in Frame. Why do you believe that this concept, theory, or idea is important?

Describe one way you might apply this Frame to your teaching.

What question(s) has this Frame raised for you? What are you still wondering about?

Here are my notes from last week where we discussed “Scholarship as Conversation” and “Searching as Strategic Exploration”:

Frame: Scholarship as Conversation

Frame: Searching as Strategic Exploration

Our team is currently exploring the ACRL Framework through guided discussions. Questions we’re thinking about:

Name one important concept, theory, or idea that you came across in Frame. Why do you believe that this concept, theory, or idea is important?

Describe one way you might apply this Frame to your teaching.

What question(s) has this Frame raised for you? What are you still wondering about? 

Here are my notes from today where we discussed “Information has Value” and “Research as Inquiry”:

Frame: Information Has Value

Frame: Research as Inquiry

My visual notes are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

my visual notes from yesterday’s webinar

Yesterday, I attended a webinar, Leading With Emotional Intelligence (ILA Leadership Perspectives). There was one tip that I took away that I think really helps to reframe conversations in the workplace (and outside). 

When in conversations, ask yourself:

“What is that person feeling?”

Ask people:

“What are you feeling?”

I think that this important because we often tell ourselves stories about the motivations and feelings of others. I think that by being direct we can avoid confusion and develop stronger relations with our colleagues.

There are a few things I’m Thinking about as I work on my Emotional Intelligence - specifically the recommendations of this article.

Try to avoid jumping to negative conclusions - specifically avoiding personalizing other people’s behaviours.

Exercising more! This can help feelings of anxiety and discouragement. This will help me deal better with stressful situations.

I need to set my own priorities and be comfortable saying “no” without guilt.

Our team is currently exploring the ACRL Framework through guided discussions. Questions we’re thinking about:

Name one important concept, theory, or idea that you came across in Frame. Why do you believe that this concept, theory, or idea is important?

Describe one way you might apply this Frame to your teaching.

What question(s) has this Frame raised for you? What are you still wondering about? 

Here are my notes from today:

Frame #1: Authority is Constructed + Contextual

Frame #2: Information Creation as a Process

OLA Super Conference is always an amazing opportunity to meet up with colleagues from across the province (and country). 

five things that made me happy at #OLASC 2017:

one: Talking about imposter syndrome with the amazing Sajni Lacey. 

This is my standout moment - the energy in this room. This experience felt very real and authentic and I hope I have more of this in my career (see more below).

two: Drawn & Quarterly swag. 

Thanks to my Career Centre colleague, Tamara Stojakovic, for alerting me to this delightful surprise. It was shockingly the first time I’ve walked away from OLA with free books (crazy I know!). This one, in particular, appealed to me and spoke to my visual note taking passion. If you haven’t taken a look at Lynda Barry’s “Syllabus” - you should! 

three: Authentic colleagues. 

I only saw one presentation at OLA and it was worth it. Being busy has its downsides (missing out on some incredible presentations being one!). But, I did stop in and watch my colleague, Ali Versluis, and her co-presenter, Myron Groover, give some serious real talk in “Levelling Up or Levelling Out? In Search of a New Vision for Library Leadership.”

"I know it's hard. That's the point." -@Bibliocracy on diversity in LIS #olasc— Alex Hanam (@AlexHanam) February 1, 2017

four: The Career Centre Posters and everything Career Centre. 

Volunteering has never felt so good. Co-coordinating the OLA Career Centre continues to be amazing. I’m a resume nerd - so I love sharing what I’ve learned from being on both ends of the hiring process. This year I created some career path posters - I hope to continue this project and find a venue to share them online in the near future. Our career paths are all unique and some meander. We need to share our experiences to help others find their way. Shameless plug - I also got to profile my sis > #sisterlibrariansnotsisterwives 

Check out the Career Centre Career Profiles

five: Lindy West. 

Sheesh. I’ll admit that I didn’t really look at who was booked to give the keynotes this year. I heard buzz about Lindy West and couldn’t remember why I knew her name. Then it hit me - it was this article and this podcast episode that I remembered. And, obviously, for fun - who doesn’t want to listen to a pointed and hilarious critique of that guy south of the border who seems to be getting a lot of attention these days. It was easily one of my favourite keynotes in recently library conference memory - fun, but serious, engaging and packed with authenticity.

"You have power to disrupt the idea that default stories are white stories." - Lindy West #olasc — Emily Burns (@emilymelissabee) February 2, 2017

This year, I was excited to present on a few different topics. I was also ecstatic to co-coordinate the OLA Super Conference Career Centre again, with my colleague, Robin Sakowski, and the always hilarious Tamara Stojakovic (from Mississauga Public Library). I find this to be one of the most rewarding ways to give back to the profession. It’s always inspiring to meet new professionals and chat about their goals and share my own experiences while providing tips about how to navigate the job hunt. This year also marked the beginnings of what I know [hope] is going to be a both challenging and rewarding experience - I began my term as VP/President Elect of OCULA.

My presentations from OLA:

#1: Create Your Own Community: How to Start Your Own Conference (or Workshop or Community of Practice) with Agnieszka Gorgon, Tracy Munusami, Juliene McLaughlin, David James Hudson

Presentation

This was the first time I have organized a panel discussion. This was a unique opportunity to work with new people and engage more with something that I was intrigued about (communities of practice) and learn from others on the panel. This group was great to work with and our differing experiences and perspectives came together in a way that allowed us to get new ideas and learn from each other and the audience. 

Program Description: Grassroots organizations and events are popping up across library communities as librarians and information workers explore new and emerging ways to develop communities of practice. These groups provide a unique opportunity for individuals with a common interest to engage in discussions and activities outside of traditional professional organizations. These groups include: eLearning Collective & Symposium, New Librarians Symposium, Community Librarian Camp, and Critical Librarianship Workshop.

This panel discussion will be an opportunity to learn about these groups and explore and contrast concepts of entrepreneurial thinking and grassroots organizing as pervasive for modern day professional development. Each panelist will provide a brief history, why they formed and what they do. Panelists will share their experiences and advice about building community and tips and strategies for creating a successful conference (or workshop or community of practice).

#2: Jumping Into The Deep: Imposter Syndrome, Defining Success and the New Librarian with Sajni Lacey

This might be the most rewarding experience I’ve ever had as a facilitator or at a conference. Sajni Lacey and I came together over a shared interest in exploring feelings of imposter syndrome as new/early career librarians and wound up here. We created a conference experience focused on telling our stories and interactive activities that had the audience sharing experiences and collaboratively thinking about how they could positively deal with these feelings. The energy in the room was incredible and I felt that we created a safe space where people were engaged and open. I want more of this in my life.

This session also provided the opportunity to collaborate with Sajni, who is pretty darn amazing. Her thoughtful approach to this topic really helped us develop our ideas into something that I’m pretty proud of. Stay tuned for more work in this area from us! 

This room! ❤️ had the most rewarding experience facilitating this group w @LaceySajni #olasc #impostersyndrome pic.twitter.com/OwZiv0KACf

Source: https://twitter.com/mparstew/status/827281103664746497

Presentation

Handouts

Program Description: Have you ever felt like a fraud or that you didn’t have enough experience or knowledge to successfully do your job? Feelings of imposter syndrome are not uncommon in the modern workplace, including in libraries and other information settings. During this session, we will use personal experience and research to explore imposter syndrome through the lens of new librarians and those that hire them. We’ll talk about competition in the job market, burnout rates, social media and the need for non-traditional skills in a dynamic field. Through experience and research, attendees will leave with tips and tools for managing and examining imposter syndrome.

#3: Social Media: How to Manage and Curate Your Professional Online Presence

Presentation

Handouts

This was my only solo presentation. I’ve done versions of this before (I love talking about building community online). The audience was great and asked lots of questions. This presentation topic is becoming bigger in my professional practice, as I talk to students about building an online identity across disciplines - so it’s always interesting to experiment with new activities and have conversations with people about social media.

Program Description: How do you take your digital identity to the next level? It’s important for all professionals to curate an effective online presence. For colleagues, potential employers and future collaborators, your online presence provides an opportunity to take a closer look at your experience, view your portfolio and get to know you. Maintaining a digital identity that is true to who you are and manageable can be a challenge – having a strategy is key. This presentation will provide steps for curating an online identity, including improving your social media presence and developing an online portfolio. This presentation will provide ideas for managing your personal digital brand. Through exemplars and best practices, attendees will leave with tips and tools for creating your best “online” self.This session is intended for those who already have a professional social media presence.

*till next year OLA . . .

Earlier in October, I attended ECIL 2016 (European Conference on Information Literacy). I really enjoyed the opportunity to share my own research with an international audience.

Me + My Poster

You can download a PDF of my poster “The Intersection between Professor Expectations and Student Interpretations of Academic Skills: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach” here.

I also found the content to be exciting and am sharing some of my visual notes from the conference. 

Visual Notes

Keynote: 3D Librarian: Information Literacy in an Accelerated Age (Tara Brabazon)

Workshop: Metaphor and Critical Reflective Practice: A Cross-Cultural Workshop (Anne-Marie Deitering, Merinda Kaye Hensley and Wendy Holliday)

Paper:The End of Information Literacy(?) (Michaela Dombrovská)

Paper: Information Literacy, Threshold Concepts, and Disciplinarity (Sheila Webber, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, England, [email protected] Bill Johnston, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland, [email protected])

Invited Paper: Designing Educational Games and Simulations for Humanities: Case Study of Czechoslovakia 38-89 (Vit Šisler)

Paper: The Academic Reading Format International Study (ARFIS): Investigating Students around the World (Diane Mizrachi, Joumana Boustany, Serap Kurbanoglu, Tania Todorova and Polona Vilar)

Invited Paper: Learning to Go On: Information Resilience in a Resettlement Landscape: Key Themes and Challenges of Fractured Landscape Research (Annemaree Lloyd)

Invited Paper: A Toolbox Approach to Researching, Understanding and Teaching for Information Literacy (Ola Pilerot)

Paper: Information Literacy as Disciplinary Inclusion: Identifying and Revealing Scholarly Communication Processes through the ACRL Framework (Sara D. Miller, Merinda Kaye Hensley)

Best Practice 

Today I attended a webinar on Affordable Course Content and Open Educational Resources reviewing the survey findings by ARL. The webinar provided a snapshot of initiatives and strategies in support of affordable course content by ARL member libraries and their institutions, discussed examples of noteworthy services and resources and discussed the future role of libraries supporting affordable course content in general and within the Association in particular.

Link to the SPEC kit.  

My visual notes from the session:

So I’m always looking for new and exciting conferences to attend (and potentially present at).

This arrived in my inbox today and I thought it was such a great list, I had to share.

My colleague, Laura Schnablegger, and I presented on our SoTL project at STLHE 2016.

About our study:

Numerous studies exist on how and to what extent course instructors in higher education are embedding or directly teaching writing, learning and research skills in their courses (Cilliers, 2011; Crosthwaite et al., 2006; and Mager and Sproken-Smith, 2014). Yet, disparity within the literature demonstrates that there is no consistent approach to the scaffolded development of these necessary skills within courses, programs, disciplines, or across disciplines. Preliminary research has also revealed that professor communication of expected or required student skills is often limited or unclear (McGuinnes, 2006).

Through a collaborative research project at the University of Guelph, we employed a multidisciplinary and multi-skill approach to explore the intersection between professor articulation and student interpretation of academic skills. Through this research, we have identified that, in the teaching and learning in third year university courses, discrepancies exist

a. between the learning, writing and research skills professors expect students to possess and the skills students think they possess when they enter the course;

b. in professor articulation of skills they will teach in their course and which skills they expect students to develop outside of class time;

c. in the skills students seek to develop based on their interpretation of the course outline; and

d. in students’ ability to identify necessary skills before and after taking these courses.

Based on these findings, we recommend that a curriculum-based approach to understanding the skill development needs of students can assist in bridging the gap between professor expectations and student interpretations of skill requirements.

About our presentation:

We presented an overview of our research project; our key findings; offered initial interpretations on student understandings of course outlines; demonstrate the value of cross-unit and cross-departmental collaborations; and offered recommendations and potential areas for further research.

Our presentation: