Fall e-Learning from ACRL features mobile apps, team-based learning, Pinterest and more

CHICAGO —The Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) is offering a wide variety of online learning opportunities in fall 2012 to meet the demands of your schedule and budget. Full details and registration information are available on the ACRL website. Registration for all online courses and webcasts qualifies for the ACRL Frequent Learner Program. Register for three ACRL e-Learning events and receive one free registration.

ACRL online courses provide asynchronous, multi-week content delivered through Moodle. Online courses scheduled for fall 2012 include:

Managing Student Assistants (Sept. 24 - Oct. 12, 2012): Discover how to get the best performance from your student workers. Examine strategies to improve the quality of student assistants in your department. Through a variety of exercises and discussions we will cover writing job descriptions, “selling” your job to prospective student assistants, financial aid basics, interviewing techniques, the importance of training, coaching & counseling and staff retention strategies.

Mobile Apps: What You Need to Know (Oct. 15 - Nov. 2, 2012): In this multi-week course, become familiar with some of the best apps. Learn how to evaluate and review the usefulness of individual apps, so you can make selection decisions and advise others. You will even learn about options and key considerations when planning a mobile presence for your own library.

Learning "To Go": Using the Learning Object Model to Develop Online Instruction (Oct. 28 - Nov. 18, 2012): Find out more about learning objects and learn how to create a learning object using a Web 2.0 application or other suitable technology.

ACRL also offers a variety of timely live webcasts addressing hot topics in academic librarianship. Webcasts last from an hour and a half to two hours and take place in an interactive online classroom. Group discounts are available for all ACRL e-Learning webcasts. Fall 2012 webcasts include:

Pinterest and Academia (Sept. 18, 2012): This webcast will introduce Pinterest and its usage, outline the technology trends represented by Pinterest and their impacts on libraries and information usage, explore academic and library applications and guide you through projects to try at your library.

A New Model for Student Learning: Using Team-based Learning in Information Literacy Courses (Oct. 4, 2012): Team-based learning (TBL), which uses a very structured approach to student learning in teams, has enormous potential when used in information literacy credit-bearing courses. Using some of TBL’s structures and the breakout rooms available in Elluminate, learn about the four critical components of TBL and their application in an information literacy course. The presenters discuss how TBL has radically changed their teaching and their students’ engagement and learning.

Embedded Librarians: Integrating Information Literacy Instruction at the Point of Need (Oct. 16, 2012): More and more libraries are adopting embedded librarianship as an approach to creating an integrated and sustained library instruction presence in classes across the curriculum. In this webcast, embedded librarians will describe examples of successful embedded projects across the range of academic levels and departments, including both online and on-campus instruction.

3D Printing Is Just the Beginning: The Future of Makerspaces within Academic Libraries (Oct. 30, 2012):

The maker movement is growing across the country and world. With interactive, participatory events and growing local communities, we've seen a shift. Individuals, professionals, and hobbyists from areas such as engineering, design, science, art, and more are coming together with one common thread: the desire to make. Examine why the library is the perfect place on campus for making and understand current initiatives in libraries.

Complete details and registration information for all fall 2012 e-Learning opportunities are available online. Contact Margot Conahan at mconahan@ala.org or (312) 280-2522 for more information.

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ACRL is a division of the American Library Association (ALA), representing more than 12,000 academic and research librarians and interested individuals. ACRL is the only individual membership organization in North America that develops programs, products and services to meet the unique needs of academic and research librarians. Its initiatives enable the higher education community to understand the role that academic libraries play in the teaching, learning and research environments. ACRL is on the Web at www.acrl.org/, Facebook at www.facebook.com/ala.acrl and Twitter at @ala_acrl.