What I Did During my Non-Teaching Semester
Because I'm now the Head of Information Literacy Initiatives, my teaching load has decreased, meaning I don't have to teach our 3 credit information literacy course in the spring. This was exciting! All that time I spent on planning lessons, teaching, grading, re-working lessons, updating information, dealing with student emails, etc. I could funnel into projects!
Let's start off with what I did accomplish:
1. Attended and presented at LOEX (with my amazing co-presenters, Joanna Gadsby and Veronica Arellano Douglas), which was amazing and I wish I could go every year. Every single session to was relevant to my work, and I met really smart people that are thinking about information literacy in a critical way. I actually thought I won free registration to next year's LOEX, but it turns out that there were multiple Natalie B.'s at this small conference.
2. Took on the role of Interim Chair of our General Education Council as we were implementing phase two of our revised General Education Program AND having an on-site visit from our university's accreditation body (where gen ed had historically been a concern of theirs). Luckily, our Gen Ed Council is made up of pretty stellar faculty and I channeled my inner Leslie Knope to prepare for the commission's visit.
via GIPHY
The revamp of the general education program is a huge win for our information literacy program because it gave teeth the the information literacy graduation requirement: Faculty who want their course to count as meeting the graduation requirement must list the two approved outcomes on their syllabus, and the course had to be approved through the general education council. The council will be assessing the graduation requirements on a five year cycle. Exciting times! We also were re-accredited with flying colors -- especially the general education program.
3. ACRL was in Baltimore - and as current past-president of the ACRL Maryland Chapter, and on the ACRL Local Arrangements Committee, it meant a lot of volunteering and planning. We threw a chapters party with the Delaware Valley Chapter, which was a great success. Overall, though, I prefer to not have the national conference where I live. I took a lot of Lyft rides, and didn't get to go to many sessions - although I did see Roxane Gay and the Librarians of Congress Carla Hayden.
4. Did all the usual things: Annual assessment of information literacy, worked with business students, writing 300 students, thought about instruction, answered emails, went to committee meetings... and wondered how I normally do all of this PLUS teach a 3-credit course. One thing I clearly did not do was update this blog. At all.
Let's start off with what I did accomplish:
1. Attended and presented at LOEX (with my amazing co-presenters, Joanna Gadsby and Veronica Arellano Douglas), which was amazing and I wish I could go every year. Every single session to was relevant to my work, and I met really smart people that are thinking about information literacy in a critical way. I actually thought I won free registration to next year's LOEX, but it turns out that there were multiple Natalie B.'s at this small conference.
2. Took on the role of Interim Chair of our General Education Council as we were implementing phase two of our revised General Education Program AND having an on-site visit from our university's accreditation body (where gen ed had historically been a concern of theirs). Luckily, our Gen Ed Council is made up of pretty stellar faculty and I channeled my inner Leslie Knope to prepare for the commission's visit.
via GIPHY
The revamp of the general education program is a huge win for our information literacy program because it gave teeth the the information literacy graduation requirement: Faculty who want their course to count as meeting the graduation requirement must list the two approved outcomes on their syllabus, and the course had to be approved through the general education council. The council will be assessing the graduation requirements on a five year cycle. Exciting times! We also were re-accredited with flying colors -- especially the general education program.
3. ACRL was in Baltimore - and as current past-president of the ACRL Maryland Chapter, and on the ACRL Local Arrangements Committee, it meant a lot of volunteering and planning. We threw a chapters party with the Delaware Valley Chapter, which was a great success. Overall, though, I prefer to not have the national conference where I live. I took a lot of Lyft rides, and didn't get to go to many sessions - although I did see Roxane Gay and the Librarians of Congress Carla Hayden.
4. Did all the usual things: Annual assessment of information literacy, worked with business students, writing 300 students, thought about instruction, answered emails, went to committee meetings... and wondered how I normally do all of this PLUS teach a 3-credit course. One thing I clearly did not do was update this blog. At all.
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