Building a Participatory Culture: Collaborating with Student Organizations for Twenty-first Century Library Instruction

Today’s students are critical thinkers, collaborators, and creators. They expect to participate in twenty-first century learning environments not as passive information consumers (think lectures), but as active contributors (think team-based problem-solving). There are opportunities for instruction librarians to collaborate directly with student-led organizations. These partnerships have the potential to increase attendance at library events and provide platforms for students to engage in richer forms of exploratory learning that incorporate twenty-first century skills. This article will discuss the literature surrounding library instruction collaborations, identify “Librarian–Student Organization Collaborations” as an important form of partnership, and supply specific case studies of successful library instruction events based on these collaborations

Anything BUT overlooked: Librarians teaching scientific communication skills at the University of Florida

Over the past 7 years, faculty science librarians at the University of Florida have developed and taught a three-credit Honors program course entitled "Discovering Research and Communicating Science". The goal of this course is to prep. students (primarily freshmen) to begin undergraduate research, and thus teaches the ancillary skills often overlooked in advanced electives: searching and evaluating scientific literature, prepg. a scientific poster, and writing scientific abstrs. and papers. Guest researchers visit throughout the semester to expose students to undergraduate research opportunities and talk about success in research and other professional opportunities. This talk will discuss the motivation, organization, and ongoing development of the course over its different iterations. It will also present feedback from students in prior years, as well as potential relevance to std. chem. information literacy instruction

Reaching Out to Minority Librarians: Overcoming Diversity Challenges through Mentorship

Increasing and supporting diversity within the workforce is by no means a new issue within libraries. Diversity awareness in librarianship can be traced back to the 1930s.1 A casual search for ‘diversity efforts’ reveals scholarship going back to the 70s and 80s outlining proactive recruitment and retention efforts. Literature shows that a diverse workforce provides libraries with a broad range of strengths.2–5 Mentoring programs are well-known among administrative professionals for their benefits.6–9 Outside of librarianship, diversity and mentoring efforts have been studied in the corporate and nonprofit sectors which have yielded a great amount of scholarship on the successful elements of diversity and mentoring programs. Library science has considered and integrated many diversity-related best practices of the business and human resources world, however, there is little research tying these best practices back to mentoring relationships. There have been very few previous studies that have extracted quantifiable data on mentoring relationships between minority librarians and their mentors. Field research would greatly complement the vast amount of prescriptive and case-study literature on the benefits of mentoring relationships to allow for the further development of mentoring programs and retention efforts

A Synthesis on Digital Games in Education: What the Research Literature Says from 2000 to 2010

this research reports the results of a literature synthesis conducted on digital gaming in education research literature. seventy-three digital gaming research articles in education were identified through a systematic literature search and were coded across several relevant criteria. our research indicates trends and patterns from empirical studies on digital gaming in education from 2000 to 2010. Most research literature appears in the context of K-12 and higher education, and most literature appears to rely on experimental methods of research. the results show a steady increase in the number of publications related to digital gaming in education being published since 2004. the results also demonstrate that literature in digital gaming in education lacks completeness in reporting vital information, such as treatment intensity and duration, gaming platforms, or the number of players in a game. the missing information is vital in understanding the scope and direction of digital gaming research in education. recommendations for future research are provided. 26

AI is for Everyone: Building Faculty Learning Communities

The University of Florida’s initiative “Building an AI University” emphasizes “AI is for everyone.” This inclusive approach envisions AI as part of every college, department, and student learning experience at UF. An integral part of this strategic vision includes AI faculty development across disciplines. In 2023-2024, the Center for Teaching Excellence and UF’s Center for Instructional Technology and Training collaborated to create two AI Faculty Learning Communities. This presentation will describe the process of identifying faculty AI learning needs, leveraging AI expertise across campus, developing a structure for learning activities, and cultivating a community of learners