If you teach information literacy or do any kind of library instruction, chances are that you've never had formal training in actually being a teacher. We get it! While it can sometimes seem that teaching comes naturally to certain individuals and not to others, teachers and teaching librarians all have room to improve. When librarians gain confidence in their teaching abilities and connect with students in productive ways, student learning has the opportunity to improve as well. We just gave a presentation outlining 6 strategies to improve library instruction at the Brick & Click academic library conference:
In our presentation, we talked a lot about WHY each of these strategies are important (if you need a refresher, see our slide deck above, or read the full paper in the conference proceedings. But if you’re like us, your favorite part of presentations is exploring all the tangible tools and practical tips--so we decided to extract the HOW for you right here!
Speak the Language of Your Students
Design Meaningful Activities
Connect Skills to the Real World
The Muse (we highly suggest subscribing to their weekly newsletter!)
Automating job searches with IFTTT (if this then that) and advanced Google search
Professional nameplate sites and of course, LinkedIn for Higher Education
Tell stories and be funny (...or at least try to be)
Listening to stories is a great way to become a better storyteller. Check out this classic list of storytelling podcasts + this list of new and addictive storytelling podcasts.
Engage Students Outside the Classroom
Make Your Content Beautiful
Piktochart (Infographic Maker)
Good Stock Photos: Death to Stock, Pexels, Albumarium, Unsplash
Okay, that's all for now! What did we leave off? What tools or links would you recommend?