I wrote this post a couple of weeks ago, and only just realised I uploaded it to the wrong blog!!
I chose to listen to Eric Mazur’s keynote, on how he has used peer instruction in the lecture theatre. It immediately struck a chord in terms of the ‘ah ha’ moments as Eric dubbed them, or rather the moments of assimilation in learning. Eric makes the very valid point that in much of our teaching we tend to focus on information transfer, leaving the assimilation up to students. I will hold my hand up to being guilty of this! In my standalone Information Literacy sessions, I’m so concerned with getting across important information in a small amount of time that I don’t allow the students enough time to explore the materials for themselves to help cement their learning. Perhaps the limited time-frames I work within don’t allow for this, but I must be able to think of a way that technology can enable me to extend the teaching and discussion beyond the classroom. Hmmm.
The second video I watched was Helen Keegan talking about the module she ran as an ARG. I’d heard about this around the time Helen gave the presentation as it caused quite a stir, but I’d never actually watched her presentation. Of the 2 presentations I’ve watched today, this was by far the most powerful. Watching Helen’s presentation I got a real sense of how exciting the experience must have been for the students (and staff!) involved. I’ve always been a keen puzzle solver, and the whole concept definitely appealed to the Scientist and Librarian in me! So, in this sense, I found the project the most powerful, and relevant to me. Having said that, in terms of translation into my own practice, Eric’s techniques would be much more realistically applicable. I think an ARG would need to be a large-scale Library project, with the involvement of lots of staff, and time. I’m not sure I’d have the confidence to lead on something quite so ambitious, but I’d certainly be interested in being involved in such a fun idea!
