Learning Modalities and Online Instructional Tools

I recently attended a Brown Bag session hosted by the Information Literacy Committee at my university on learning modalities delivered by Brenda Spotton Visano, a Professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration and the Department of Economics.   The idea of learning modalities, the varying ways in which our minds are stimulated to learn, isn’t new to me.  I was a teacher before becoming a librarian.  However, what was new to me was the idea of learning modalities in connection to online information literacy tools.

Online information literacy tools have gone through some very promising changes.  Online tools began simply as pathfinders, guides to resources that remained relatively static due to the nature of the technology used (i.e. websites).  Now, in an age of interactive tutorials, such as those created using Captivate, the possibility of reaching the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learner becomes much more feasible in an online environment.  In addition to this, students who are notoriously under-served, such as those with special needs, have the opportunity to utilize tools that incorporate their particular accomodation (e.g. audio over textual).  By elevating the importance of multiple formats of instruct to the same level as content, librarians can reach learners with multiple learning styles.

OLA Super Conference 2009 – Poster Session

This was my first time at the OLA Super Conference as a “real” librarian.  I had volunteered at the conference before and had the opportunity to go to the expo, but this time I was able to fully experience the conference in a completely different way.  I thought as a new librarian that I wanted to contribute to the conference, but having never created a presentation for a room of my experienced colleagues, I wanted a way to deliver content without the pressure.  Voila, a poster session!


My poster session titled “York University – Web 2.0 Workshops for Library Staff,” outlined the creation, delivery, and assessment of Web 2.0 workshops YUSA1 staff to learn about the new and innovative technologies available to web users. The sessions focused on a specific Web 2.0 application (e.g. Library Thing, StumbleUpon, etc.) and required the participants to create their own accounts, provide content, and discuss their ideas and opinions during the sessions.  The poster content included a description of the workshop, handouts from the instruction (including information related to the blog), and a discussion of staff need for professional development in a library context.


It was a wonderful experience to meet so many librarians who had either developed similar sessions or were in the process of creating them for their own library community. I found myself surprisingly, and happily, involved in discussions on Web 2.0 as a delivery tool for research and as an output for cultural expression. While I thought my poster session would be a forum for me to share my experiences with others, little did I realize how much I would gain from my colleagues in return. Thank you for making my experience a positive one!

Full Literary Panic!

Well, not really but I always liked the way that sounded.  Full literary panic.  It’s almost like the sheer volume of information from a library can cause an over powering sense of terror for people.  Oh… wait, I’m a Reference and Instruction Librarian for a university.  I deal with that daily.  *dons her cape and flies through the stacks, reference book ready*


OK, so that may be an exaggeration but I certainly do get the sense that what I do matters and that is what makes me love my job.