A Breather

Phew.

It's been a crazy few weeks with school ending, the Faculty Collaborative for the last three weeks, and catching up after a vacation. A vacation that was much needed but also eye opening. Let me explain.

My best friend got married last week in Miami. I went down for a full eight days to celebrate with her, soak up some sun, and relax. I was wound pretty tight before I left, as most of us are at the end of the semester. So, the chance to get away was most welcome. And I made it clear that I was getting away. For the first time in a long time, I set my Out-of-Office to this:



And I held to it. I could have logged on to a number of computers while I was away, but I didn't. For eight days, I was away from the office, from Facebook, from Hotmail, from the NYTimes. In truth, it felt like I was away from it all. When we got home, Jon said that he can't remember the last time that I was so relaxed. When I moved at such a steady pace. And I know that being away from my computer was a big, big part of that.

So, that was pretty eye-opening.

But that's not what I want to get at. Let me add this part into the equation:

I sport a pretty simple phone. Jon and I have iPhones on our wishlist for the summer but until our contract with Verizon expires and we get the money together, I'm pretty low tech when it comes to my phone. And there have been many times where that frustrates me. But on this trip, I felt blessed to be so low tech. I couldn't believe how many of my close friends who said they were on a full vacation as well couldn't separate from their phones. First thing in the morning, in the middle of beach time, during dinner.

I am not saying this to sound soap boxy. I am saying it because it made me stop and think. Because I started to wonder and worry whether adding a smartphone to my life was such a good idea after all. As I've mentioned before, I am not always the best at controlling my use of technology. But on this trip, I wanted to more than ever. I wanted to step away. And part of the reason I was able to do that was because I work in academia. I don't run a company, I don't have "clients" or "patients", I don't check stocks. I help students at a library. And I was never more glad of that than when I was able to close my eyes and listen to the sound of the ocean rather than looking at a screen or moving around the beach for a signal.

But it's more than that. I changed the level of expectation for my connectivity, for myself and for those that try to connect with me. I made it clear from the get-go that I was not checking in let alone responding. And I imagine that did something for those that thought to be in touch with me. But it also did something for me. It changed my own expectations of my time, my energy, my anxiety.

And that was the real eye opener. That the expectations we set of our use of information is incredibly important when we are seeking information. But also when we are trying to evade it. And that it takes evading. I had to talk myself out of following the crowd and checking in. I had to remind myself that all I really needed was this time away. I think I had devalued that more lately. And I think that is dangerous. I love my job. I love my friends. I love technology. I love connecting. But it felt incredibly rejuvenating to take a breather from it all and connect back with myself.

As I said, I know that I have some bad habits when it comes to how I use technology. And I am in the market for techniques to harnessing it, controlling it. If you have some, or if you have had a similar or different experience unplugging, I'd love to hear it!

Put a Poem in Your Pocket

I love poetry.
Truly.
I get "Poem A Day" in my email from Poets.org and I treasure them. I don't always love the poems they send but I can't tell you how many days have been made better by pausing to read a poem. The think about a poem. For a couple of notebooks now, I have the tradition of pasting a poem into the inside cover so that I always have a poem at hand. Poems by Mary Oliver, Galway Kinnell, Wallace Stevens have all graced me with their presence in my everyday.

So yesterday, I was thrilled to see this post about National Put-A-Poem-In-Your-Pocket day. I immediately jumped on this. As did my excellent friend Emily over at her blog.

So two things on this post:
1. Do you have a poem in your pocket? And if so, what is it?
2. Have you sent a poem to a friend or loved one lately?

The answer to those to questions for me is yes.
Here is the poem in my pocket and hopefully in my friends' pockets. I hope you too choose to celebrate this wonderful day!

It Is That Dream
by Olav Hague
Translated by Robert Bly

It's that dream we carry with us
That something wonderful will happen,
That it has to happen,
That time will open,
That the heart will open,
That doors will open,
That the mountains will open up,
That wells will leap up,
That the dream will open,
That one morning we'll slip in
To a harbor that we've never known.

Bringing You The Right One.

See Neil Gaiman's discussion of libraries here.

Amen.

Some hard questions

Spring is such a marvelous time in Vermont. Winter was pretty easy this year but still pretty long. Spring brings everyone such joy and no where is it a reminder of rebirth and reinvention than Vermont.

It also happens to be my favorite season.

So, with Spring fully underway and a lot of my immediate responsibilities completed, I have been trying to think a bit about my work. About my job. And my areas of interest. About my areas of weakness. And what I love about my work. And what I don't.

This is something I think we all give thought to every now and again. But I took some more formal steps towards thinking and understanding my thoughts. First, a little background...

I love notebooks. I carry a notebook around with me all the time to capture ideas, take notes, remember things. A lot of people do this with their computers or the PDAs. But, I know myself with technology. I don't always use it in the way that I mean to. Meaning that I get distracted some times. I Facebook when I should be capturing. I email when I should be jotting. So, I limit my access by putting myself in that good old fashioned space of putting my pen to paper on a regular basis.

Each notebook contains lots of content but I try to go back through them regularly, to catch lost threads. Usually, I do that when I am taking up a new notebook. However, with Spring being here and having just gotten back from conferences, I thought that I would end my current notebook with a bit of a reflection as a chance to capture things that I want to do, things that I love to do, things that I need to do, things that I need to revisit. So, I started some pages. They are:

-Things I Love About My Work & My Job
-Things I Want to See Change About My Job
-Things I Have Noticed in the Past Year
-Opportunities that Interest Me
-Areas Where I Need Help
-Interactions that Stick Out

And then I have some blank pages.
I feel certain that there are a number of ways I could deepen this reflection. But in sitting down to think about these prompts, I am amazed by how quickly some things come to the surface. One of them is that I love helping students. In the classroom, at reference, with their research, with their writing...working with students makes me feel good. And, not to toot my own horn, I am good at it. Students seem to like me because, I think, I am genuinely interested in what they have to say. Which I am. It's a win-win.

As I think about that, I think about teaching. How the kind of teaching we are doing at Champlain, steeped in Inquiry, really does require a genuine interest in what students have to say. And that is something that is difficult to teach. It is something that comes from within. Andy and I are going to hear Parker Palmer next week and I feel like this is something that he talks quite a bit about in his writing: authenticity. I can't begin to say how much that resonates with me in the classroom. And at the Reference Desk. We spend so much time talking about service in librarianship but what does that really mean on a day-to-day, person-to-person basis? How do you engage your service mindset? Is it something that you turn on? Is it something embedded in you? Is it something you have learned? Is it something you are cultivating? Is it a combination?

Which leads me to a harder question: How can we strengthen our connection to service in a genuine and authentic way? How can it be something that we cherish and enjoy in our work…even when students fall asleep in sessions or when they tweet that library sessions are boring (yup, that happened). Is it something that warrants a workshop? Yes, of course. But it goes deeper than that. One of the things that I loved at LILAC was the talks that discussed professional development. But how can we professionally develop something so personal? So unique to each of us? But also something so vital.

It’s a hard question. And one I am thinking over. How about you?

LILAC2010: Information Literacy and Digital Natives: Bridging the Gap

Information Literacy and Digital Natives: Bridging the Gap
Elizabeth Symonds, Univ. of Worcester
Sarah Kennedy, Univ. of Gloucestershire

A faculty member wanted to know about the “journey” the student took between when he gave the assignment and when they handed it in.
Focused their research on first year students, first semester.

“How do new students engage with the learning process outside the classroom?” Where do they prefer to work
who do they interect with
what technologies do they use
what do they think will be expected of them when they come into higher ed
what skills do they think they need to work on?
IDEA: compare their data to US data

How they did it: harge mandatory module; questionnaire once they received the assignment; focus groups; another questionnaie after the assignment to look at actual practices; more focus groups; faculty interview (compare faculty expectations with students’)

Findings on WHERE: home and “learning center”; they indicated that they wanted fewer distractions. Wanted more quiet. What we might think they want in more general activities might not be so in their learning spaces.

Findings on WHO: suspicious of group work. Again, assumption that because they like being social, it does not mean that they like learning in groups.

Findings on SKILLS that students bring with them:
They are good at some things but not at all. They recognize that they don’t have good researching skills.

Expectations before they did their assignments:
Student concerns on Essay Writing, Time Management, Referencing, Faculty Standards. Difference among the two student groups (Sport students v. Psychology students).

What skills do you think this assignment has asked you to use or develop?
Was this a multiple choice or did we ask students to think about it and describe it on their own?

Students were quite wary of Wikipedia. Knew how to use it appropriately.
They want their own computers.

Real concerns over time management: leaving it to the last minute. They ALL said they would start earlier on next time.

Recommendations:
Students do rely heavily on different types of university resources: digital and physical, quiet and group.
Heavy concerns over summative assessment in group work. All group members’ contributions should be assessed and held accountable.

Information services should include a range of support activities: time management, referencing, etc.

Who do you go to for support? Drawing on the LIM idea. And finding out where we can be offering additional support. They don’t know who else is available. They only think faculty.

A lot of questions here. A lot of assumptions challenged, particularly about group work. How they think about group work v. their actual experience. Faculty dealing with group work more effectively. Peer assessment.

LILAC2010: Information Literacy and Digital Natives: Bridging the Gap

Information Literacy and Digital Natives: Bridging the Gap
Elizabeth Symonds, Univ. of Worcester
Sarah Kennedy, Univ. of Gloucestershire

A faculty member wanted to know about the “journey” the student took between when he gave the assignment and when they handed it in.
Focused their research on first year students, first semester.

“How do new students engage with the learning process outside the classroom?” Where do they prefer to work
who do they interect with
what technologies do they use
what do they think will be expected of them when they come into higher ed
what skills do they think they need to work on?
IDEA: compare their data to US data

How they did it: harge mandatory module; questionnaire once they received the assignment; focus groups; another questionnaie after the assignment to look at actual practices; more focus groups; faculty interview (compare faculty expectations with students’)

Findings on WHERE: home and “learning center”; they indicated that they wanted fewer distractions. Wanted more quiet. What we might think they want in more general activities might not be so in their learning spaces.

Findings on WHO: suspicious of group work. Again, assumption that because they like being social, it does not mean that they like learning in groups.

Findings on SKILLS that students bring with them:
They are good at some things but not at all. They recognize that they don’t have good researching skills.

Expectations before they did their assignments:
Student concerns on Essay Writing, Time Management, Referencing, Faculty Standards. Difference among the two student groups (Sport students v. Psychology students).

What skills do you think this assignment has asked you to use or develop?
Was this a multiple choice or did we ask students to think about it and describe it on their own?

Students were quite wary of Wikipedia. Knew how to use it appropriately.
They want their own computers.

Real concerns over time management: leaving it to the last minute. They ALL said they would start earlier on next time.

Recommendations:
Students do rely heavily on different types of university resources: digital and physical, quiet and group.
Heavy concerns over summative assessment in group work. All group members’ contributions should be assessed and held accountable.

Information services should include a range of support activities: time management, referencing, etc.

Who do you go to for support? Drawing on the LIM idea. And finding out where we can be offering additional support. They don’t know who else is available. They only think faculty.

A lot of questions here. A lot of assumptions challenged, particularly about group work. How they think about group work v. their actual experience. Faculty dealing with group work more effectively. Peer assessment.

LILAC2010: How to Interpret Research on Information Literacy and Library Instruction

How to Interpret Research on Information Literacy and Library Instruction
Lorie Kloda, McGill
Alison Brettle, Univ. of Salford
Assoc. Editors: Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (Open Access)

Evaluating and interpreting research
Five steps:
Having a question you want answered
Find evidence to answer it
Evaluate or appraise that research
Decide: it applicable? Apply it.
Assess the process.

Critical appraisal as reliability (the research does what it is supposed to do); validity (how close to reality it is); applicability (can I transfer/apply this in my setting).
Develop checklists or standardized guide so that every time you are judging articles with the same criteria. Some are pre-exisiting: reliant is one that assess research on information skills instruction. Focuses on study desing; educational context; results; relevance.

Giving us an article to read an article, use the tool to discuss, talk about the experience of using the checklist. What is one positive thing they could have done to improve the article? Flaws and limitations of the research but also offer constructive feedback.

THIS IS SO SO HELPFUL.

A great guideline for reading but more so for writing articles and conducting studies.

Interesting that the groups don’t agree and that the abstract and introduction don’t align.

Not know what they were teaching too but we know what they asked.
The Results were spread throughout the results and discussion sections.
No limitations or caveats presented. Such an important part of articles.

Critical doesn’t always mean negative, it just means thinking critically.