SOPA/PIPA protest and Internet Archive

Tomorrow, Wednesday January 18th, several major websites are "going dark" to protest the SOPA/PIPA internet censorship bills.

Among them is the Internet Archive, which we use as hosting for our podcast mp3 files. In short, we think this means that ALI episodes will be inaccessible on January 18th 2012.

We the producers of Adventures in Library Instruction would like to take this as an opportunity to express our opposition to SOPA/PIPA! Learn more about these bills. This is important stuff.

Episode 32: Critical skills and strategy

*(Not actually episode 2, as Jason says at the beginning and end of the episode for some reason)

Audio note: Rachel's wifi dropped in and out a bit. We think that nothing important was said during the brief pauses! Also, the recording quality improves after the first five minutes or so, so if the audio sounds muddy at first, stick with it.

Download the podcast (mp3, ~48 minutes)



News:
Rachel's upcoming new gig

Show Notes:

• George Boole
• Jason's Simmons College continuing ed classes (Zotero, Instruction Librarian Boot Camp)

No December episode

Well, we tried -- twice in fact -- but a combination of illness and technical difficulties have pushed our December episode into early January. Have a happy new year, and we'll talk to you in the next couple of weeks.

Anna, Jason, and Rachel

Episode 31: You Want to Watch Me Teach????

Listen to the podcast (mp3, ~60 minutes)

Catch up with Rachel, Jason, and Anna as they discuss their recent instruction endeavors, as well as the pros and cons of team-teaching and observing our instruction peers. The conversation includes balancing different teaching styles, finding time to observe others, and co-teaching "take aways."

***Spoiler Alert***

The pros greatly outweigh the cons. 

Show Notes:

• Jason's [with Sarah Steiner] Simmons College SLIS continuing education course, Instruction Librarian Boot Camp
• Why DRM Doesn't Work -- comic referenced during this month's episode.

Episode 30: Putting FUN Back in Fundamentals

Listen to the podcast (mp3, ~60 minutes)

Rachel, Jason, and Anna talk with Theresa McDevitt [editor] and Ryan Sittler [contributor] about their recent publication, Let the games begin!: Engaging students with field-tested interactive information literacy instruction. Theresa is a Government Information/Reference Librarian at Indiana University of Pennsylvania Libraries, and Ryan is an Instructional Technology/Information Literacy Librarian at California University of Pennsylvania. We take the opportunity to discuss the making of the book, the idea behind games in the library classroom, and practical applications for using games in information literacy instructional design.

Show Notes:

• McDevitt, T. R. (2011). Let the games begin!: Engaging students with field-tested interactive information literacy instruction. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers.
• Kate Ash’s Education Week article, “Balancing Fun and Learning in Educational Games.” [via the The Committed Sardine Blog at the 21st Century Fluency Project].
• Sittler, R., & Cook, D. (2009). The library instruction cookbook. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.
• Cook, D., & Sittler, R. (2008). Practical pedagogy for library instructors: 17 innovative strategies to improve student learning. Chicago: Association of College and Research Libraries.
• Faculty Survey of Student Engagement http://fsse.iub.edu/
• Goblin Threat via Lycoming College 
• Thinking Worlds 
• Planet in Peril: Plagiarism (Serious Games Challenge award winner!)

Episode 29: Balancing and Prioritizing the Instruction Load

Listen to the podcast (mp3, ~60 minutes)

Rachel, Jason, and Anna share possible strategies instructors can take to relieve instruction-related stress, especially stress revolving around instruction load and setting priorities. The Adventures in Library Instruction trio also discuss programmatic, department-wide strategies to help keep library instructors energized.

Show Notes:

• Jason's [with Sarah Steiner] Simmons College SLIS continuing education course, Instruction Librarian Boot Camp, coming in November;
• Pellergino, Catherine. "Why it matters how faculty view librarians." Spurious Tuples (Personal Blog). August 26, 2011).
• What Students Don't Know - 2-year anthropological study of Illinois libraries studying students' research habits and library interactivity;
• Library Society of the World FriendFeed discussion about managing instruction loads;
• Farkas, Meredith. “Tutorials that matter. (Technology in Practice).” American Libraries. (August 10, 2011). [re: integrating learning objects strategically in the discipline curricula] 
• The Instruction Balance, coordinated by ACRL’s Instruction Section’s Teaching Methods Committee and Education Committee, January 22, 2006, San Antonio, TX [check out the accompanying bibliography -- a bit dated, but some good resources]
• Picture of Rachel's monkey costume (sans makeup):

Librarian Wardrobe blog

Want to put faces with voices? We're on the Librarian Wardrobe blog today.