Learning 2016 - some misc. thoughts and facts

Learning 2016

Orlando, FL

October 23-26

The Learning conferences are designed for training and learning professionals, and focuses on issues surrounding workplace learning.  This was the 26^th year of the conference, and there were 207 breakout sessions offered, as well as 6 general sessions.  Attending the conference were 1639 learning professionals who support over 30 million employees worldwide.  Maryland Libraries sent 9 staff to the conference from 7 different systems.

The themes for this year were innovation, storytelling, and the panorama of learning. 

Here are some interesting and random ideas from the conference:

• People need power skills – deep thinking, advanced communication, and problem solving
• Leadership is a habit and people have to change their habits, this requires repletion and practice
• Multi-tasking is a myth, we cannot do more than one thing at a time
• 20% of the U.S. workforce lack HS Diploma = 40 million people
• Job rotations provide stretch assignments and cross-functional learning opportunities
• Our brains are wired to love pictures, 50% of your brain is involved in visual processing and interpretation, images process 60x faster than anything else in our brain
• In space, they use Greenwich Mean time

One final thought:  the average attention span of humans is 8 seconds, and goldfish have a 9 second attention span.

Lisa Kenyon

Staff Development and Training

Core 4 -- A Conference in the Crescent City

Beignets, beads, Bourbon Street debauchery, and...breakthrough learning.  Ok, so I didn’t actually feel the need to hit up Bourbon St., having done that in my more tender undergraduate years, and sadly, I didn’t make it to Cafe du Monde to partake of their famous flaky french doughnuts, but I did learn about breakthrough learning techniques and other concepts related to instructional design and training facilitation during the 2 1/2 days I spent at the ATD Core 4 Conference in New Orleans, LA.   

    

The conference is designed for HR professionals, curriculum designers, corporate trainers, nonprofit facilitators, teachers -- really anyone who has anything to do with professional development in any type of organization.  As a SLRC Librarian I deliver a variety of face-to-face and virtual trainings, and I attended ATD with the goal of absorbing new ideas.

So, what did I learn?

• It takes A LOT of time simply to design effective training.  According to research by Brian Chapman,  it takes anywhere between 22 and 82 hours to create 1 hour of instructor-led classroom learning.  Developing 1 hour of basic e-learning from scratch takes an average of 49 hours.    

• Avoiding “death by powerpoint” is a must, and visual design play a huge role.    Playing with font styles, shapes, and types of imagery creates appealing slides, and as Connie Malamed pointed out in her session on “Crash Course on Visual Design,” aesthetic appeal actually leads to greater learning.

• Learning styles are a big lie.  Ok, not totally but several presenters referred to recent research that suggests it’s less important to focus on individual learning styles and more meaningful to provide variety in your training because most people learn best by using a combination of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic techniques.  While we’re on the topic of theory, having a grasp of adult learning theory is super important.  When designing training,  adults often want to know WIIFM (What’s In It For Me), or how this is going to immediately and practically impact them.  Also, they often appreciate opportunities to share their life experiences during learning events as well as relate newly acquired knowledge and skills to previous knowledge.    

• Action mapping is a useful instructional design strategy that helps  trainers avoid the all too common “information dump” presentation.  The 4 step method involves 1.) identifying the goal, 2.) identifying what actions (not necessarily knowledge) people need to do to accomplish the goal,  3.) designing practice activities, and 4.) identifying the minimum information people need to complete each activity.   Maybe it’s not totally practical in all library learning contexts but if you’re like me, you’ll try anything to keep your participants from snapchatting and playing Angry Birds during your trainings.   

• Games are a great learning tool to integrate into training and instruction.  No, wait games are distracting and bad. Ok, so both things can be true.   Games are ok if they facilitate successful learning outcomes (I played a friendly competitive game of Jeopardy to find out how much technical lingo I already knew about e-learning), but don’t throw them in with no strategy and call it “engagement.”  Then it just becomes what presenter termed “clicky clicky bling bling,” just for looks.      

• The New World Kirkpatrick Model  used for training evaluation is super useful and super hard to implement.   Measuring level 1 (learners’ reaction to training) and level 2 (if and how much learners’ actually learn during training) is totally doable, but it becomes much harder when we try and measure how training changes behavior (Level 3) and how it influences outcomes (Level 4). Oh,  the ever present challenge of assessment.   No magic answers here, but some good food for thought.  

Speaking of food,  I did sneak out of the hotel one day between sessions to enjoy a classic muffaletta from the world-famous Central Grocery and a view of the muddy Mississippi.   It was yet another breakthrough learning experience, I promise.  

Emily Sachs

Information Services

Ghost Walkers of EPFL

Fourteen staff members put aside their doubts to explore Mt. Vernon in search of ghosts.  Our guide Rob, from Baltimore Ghost Tours, led us from the Belvedere to Eager Street to the Washington Monument and finally to Mount Vernon Place.

Along the way we learned a bit about the history of Baltimore, a bit about architecture, and a bit about the residents who loved the area so much they never left.

From society ladies who kept monkeys, to gallant ghostly gentlemen, the spirits of Mount Vernon's past came alive (so to speak) for the participants.

We also met some interesting people along the way, including one person who just bought an apartment that was included on the tour.  He apparently did not know the history of the house, but said that he thought it was "creepy" from the moment he bought it.

Some of the participants shared bits of history or tales of their own, but the bright sunny day made it hard to believe in visitors from the other side.

Everyone was left to decide for themselves whether the stories were true, or just stories.

ALA mid-winter deadline is Friday, October 7

If you wish to attend the ALA mid-winter conference in Atlanta, you must have your original completed and signed paperwork to SD&T by Friday, October 7, 2016.   

Your goals and intentions statement must clearly state why you should attend, and if you attended last year you should include examples of how you used the information you gained at last year's conference.

If you are approved for funding, you will receive confirmation your funding amounts the week of the 10th.  If your paperwork is received after October 7, you may received limited or no funding.  

If you have questions about completing the forms, instructions are available on the SD&T blog - forms page  or you can call the SD&T office.     http://learning.prattlibrary.org/p/forms.html 

ALA 2016 - Libraries and Community

ALA Annual placed a large focus on inclusion of patrons from all walks of our communities, whether or not they fit into our majority demographic. From collection development practices to programming development, attendees were encouraged to listen and learn from their patrons.

I attended so many inspiring programs, but my top three were:

• We Need Diverse Books and More: This panel - which included authors and scholars - discussed best practices for creating a truly diverse collection of voices in YA and children’s departments. Librarians were encouraged to investigate books for authenticity and strive to include characters who have intersectional identities.
• Literacy Inside and Out: When one member of a family is incarcerated, it has a lasting effect on the entire family. How can we serve our community members during and after incarceration? One excellent program idea came from the Hennepin County Library: their program, Read to Me, allows incarcerated parents read a children’s book and record it on a disc for their child.
• YALSA’s President’s Program: Grant recipients presented inclusive programs they created for young adults, including teen parents, GLBTAQ youth, and teens who are blind.

If I had to choose one key piece of advice that echoed throughout every program, it is the importance of building your library according to your entire community. While we think we know what our community wants, we should never assume we’re doing the right thing. No event should be planned without input from your target audience; creating space for dialogue and listening without judgment is the key to creating lasting community relationships.

Rebecca Starr

Information Services

ALA 2016 - 3D Printing: Programs and Partnerships

I enjoyed my time at the ALA Annual Conference in Orlando, FL. I attended engaging and thought provoking workshops during this year’s conference. For me the 3D Printing: Programs and Partnerships session really stood out. The workshop focused on the basics of 3D printing and offered program ideas that were unique.

Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library has a variety of programs that include animation, robotics, cosplay design, fashion, and host of other examples. They offered great ideas for programs. They also spoke about partnering with their area community college and even connecting with an animation studio to show their preteens and teens how their current projects could lead to other educational opportunities and careers. Their unique programs were great examples of how to integrate 3D printing into current programs. They also offered tangible ways to invite community members into libraries to enrich the experience of local teens.

Zandra Campbell
Orleans Street Branch

ALA no longer bundling registration

Found this today on the ALA website:

Starting with this Midwinter Meeting, we’re introducing a new way to reward people who register for both Midwinter and the Annual Conference & Exhibition in any given year. After the 2017 Midwinter Meeting, registrants will receive a personalized discount code applicable to Annual Conference registration. The discount code will be valid through noon (Central), February 15, 2017. (The discount will be equivalent to the past Bundle Registration savings.)

Midwinter Meeting registrants will have access to Annual Conference registration and housing on February 1st, 24 hours before those open to everyone else, and will be given plenty of advance notice of their priority registration date and time.

Why the change? Many reasons, but first and foremost, to make it possible for more members to save money. Under the old program, after September, there was no opportunity for members who, for fiscal or budget reasons, may not have been able to take advantage of the opportunity to bundle. This new way of discounting registration will allow anyone who attended Midwinter to earn the discount. The old system also presented challenges with opening and closing the system and tracking data between registration and housing. The new system eliminates those challenges and should provide members a better experience. The usual blocks of housing will be reserved. Everyone will now need to register separately for each conference, and we recognize that for some people, this will be less convenient. We hope that the improved efficiency of priority housing and the greater flexibility of discounts for attendees of both events will help mitigate any inconvenience. Be assured that we’ll evaluate this new approach to see how it works in 2017.

For more information and details:  http://www.ala.org/conferencesevents/bundle