ACRL

I am at the ACRL Conference. Strange to say this is the first time I have attended so I thought I would record some things. I am going to do this in bits, so expect more of these.

First, at 3000 people it is 10 times smaller than ALA and all academic librarians so I have met lots of friends, far more than I would meet at ALA. I like that.

Sessions, as usual, are a mixed bag but there have been some useful things.

Luz Mangurian, had some helpful things to say from a brain biology perspective about improving learning: emotions matter, show your students you care, sleep is important to memory retention, group learning, interactivity, discussion, and getting them to do the work all really work. We know this, I just wish we practiced it more! The other thing she said that I think is very important is "exclude the irrelevant." I always tell librarian teachers to show a model of success (in using a database etc.) before you get into the possible problems etc. Since she emphasizes the importance of emotion in learning it is no surprise that she describes online education as "the McDonalds of education."