Six Techniques to Get More From The Web Than Google Will Tell You

Thanks to The Librarian In Black for alerting me to this interesting new article at CIO.com. I think we sometimes think we know where to get information all the time-we’re good at it. But this highlights some resources that I don’t think would have come to my mind in looking for certain types of information, maybe you’ll see some too.

7 Things You Should Know About Skype

Educause has a new 7 things you should know..This one about Skype. I use Skype and like it, but have never used it to teach or for the library. I’d like to though! Check it out here.

PRIMO Site of the Month!

The Peer-Reviewed Instructional Materials Online (PRIMO) Committee of the Instruction Section of ACRL has announced the Site of the Month interviews for October and November 2007 & have posted them to their committee website.
To read the full interviews and to browse the archive of previous profiles, please go here.

Read details after the jump. Continue reading PRIMO Site of the Month!…

“Muddiest Point” Assessment Exercise

This exercise can be used alone or in conjunction with other techniques. It is simple and easy, yet very informative for the instructor. With this technique, you are asking the students to quickly write down a question they still have about the entire session or about just a segment of the session (i.e., What was the muddiest point in using controlled vocabulary terms?). It is important to provide feedback to the students, so if you don’t have email addresses for the entire class, you may want to ask them to include their email.

To initiate this exercise, hand out an index card or paper on which they can write. Let them know how long they have — i.e., 2 or 3 minutes. Students may also want to know what you will be doing with their responses. When they are finished, collect the responses and be sure to respond with clarifying information as soon as possible after the session.

“One Minute Paper” Assessment Exercise

This is a reflective, in class exercise that can provide immediate feedback to the student and instructor on the student’s overall sense of her/his learning. Additionally, it can be done in conjunction with the Muddiest Point technique. The two questions together could be an easy assessment tool for evaluating the class.

To initiate, give students a large index card or paper and ask them to describe the most important thing that they learned in the class session today. Ask them to write in full sentences, not bullet points and give them about 2-3 minutes to answer the question. Ideally, have your question on display — either on the board, a slide, or written on the paper you handed out. You could phrase the question very simply as, What was one new thing you learned today?

If you have used this technique in class, let us know how it went, tips for how to do it best, etc.