One more conference! This time around, in my backyard (mostly): Netville in Nashville, the 2006 LITA Forum. I’ll be speaking on Saturday about libraries and wikis, and trying to give my spin on when they are useful, and when they aren’t. If anyone is attending, I’d love to meet you.
I’ll be blogging some of the conference over at LITA Blog, and some here. So check both if you’re interested.
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Last night we finally got a bit of a break from the insane pace of Immersion when most of us took the opportunity to head to Milky Way Bowling and try our hand at a little candlepin bowling. Free drinks, free food, and a bit of physical activity, and we were almost ready for today.
Today = re-writing our pre-Immersion assignment with all the tools and tricks we’ve learned over the last 3 days. What was a 4 page document is probably going to be 10 or more by the time I’m done with the damn thing, and working thru all the new concepts and strategies is almost overwhelming. It’s going to take months to digest all the stuff we’ve done.
The best part of the experience? By far it’s meeting people like those in the pics above…I’ve learned a lot in 4 days, but I think I’ll be learning from these guys for the rest of my career.
A great deal of today was spent trying to wrap our heads around Kolb’s Learning Styles inventory, developing lessons that incorporated as many of the styles as possible, and examining our own preferences in instructional design with Kolb as a lense. Rewarding, but difficult stuff to work through.
We also had the pleasure of having Randy discuss our primary instructional tool: ourselves. We looked at voice, body, and attitude as it relates to the instructional arena. Again, incredibly rewarding stuff, and things that definitely aren’t taught during the MLS. I’m learning about 2-3 things every day that will directly influence my instruction at UTC…which, I suppose, is the point, after all.
Tonight = mock instruction, with the real thing tomorrow.
The day before we began Immersion, I was able to do a tour of Boston that had been arrange by ACRL. We saw a ton of Boston, including the Old North Church and Boston Commons. We also drove over the Salem and saw the House of Seven Gables and the cemetary where the Salem Witches are buried…the picture is of the memorial to these innocents who were killed by a fanatical populace.
My Immersion photos are here, and more photos are being added by other participants using the acrlimmersion2006 tag.
Today was day one of Immersion, and there’s far more than I can possible write. Plus, I should be doing my homework. So I’m off to that. More Immersion talk tomorrow.
This morning I head out for ACRL Immersion, at Simmons College in Boston, MA. The next week will be a whirlwind of instruction, along with trying to keep up with the ongoing website redesign and, you know, breathe.
I’m going to do what I can to blog some of the action. The schedule is absolutely insane…7:30 am – 9 or 10pm every night. So what time I have may be reserved for sleeping, but I’ll do my best. đŸ™‚
A very nice writeup of my ALA presentation from Karen Schneider via LITABlog…it was just a ton of fun to do, and Karen is entirely too mum about her involvement in the process. She was the instigator that got Steven, Karen C., and myself together to do the thing in the first place. Thanks, Karen! I hope to get the chance for a repeat performance next year.
Another pic I’ve been meaning to get to…these are little promo items from the Google Bash at this year’s American Library Association Annual meeting in New Orleans. They were at the bar, and when you ordered a drink the bartender would pop one in along with the booze and ice. When you do that, they light up:
They have a couple of electrodes on the back that need to be bridged with some conductive item before they light up. Clever, and they gave the party a decidedly sci-fi aura, with everyone walking around with different colored glowing drinks.
I’ve got a ton of leftover stuff I still want to talk about from ALA Annual. Here’s my favorite vendor sign from the exhibit hall at ALA in New Orleans…
Large Print Audiobooks? Do they just talk louder?
I’ve just returned after a complete whirlwind of a week. I spent 5 days in New Orleans at ALA, then drove to Columbus, OH for the Origins game fair, the second largest gaming convention in the country. So much stuff to talk about, but I’m completely exhausted. So instead of writing, you all get: My Week In Pictures!
Why Would Anyone Listen to These Three?
Originally uploaded by Wandering Eyre.
Great pic by Michelle Boule, just prior to the LITA presentation that she chaired and I, Karen Coombs (to stage left in the photo), and Steven Bell took part in. The presentation was titled “Next Step Blogging” and will be revealed in its entirety on LITABlog (as soon as Karen Schneider finishes it up…). My slides can be found here. It went remarkably well, with an absolute standing-room-only audience. Next time we need a bigger boat.