Emerging Technologies, Emerging Teachers:
Collaborative Workshops at Simmons GSLIS
These pages support a poster presentation offered at ALA 2007 in Washington, DC, on Saturday, June 23, 2007. Presenters:
Jennifer Lege, Thompson Scientific, Simmons GSLIS '06, past chair of ASIS&@Simmons
Ellen Knowlton Wilson, Simmons GSLIS '07, past vice chair of ASIS&T@Simmons
Alison K. Cody, Simmons GSLIS MLS expected Dec. '07, current chair of ASIS&T@Simmons
Quick Links
- Workshop Handouts & Slides
- Sign-Up System and Workshop Schedule (Please note: nothing will be displayed if there are no workshops currently scheduled. The workshop series runs during the fall and spring semesters.)
Abstract
At Simmons GSLIS, a collaboration between the GSLIS Tech Lab and members of ASIS&T@Simmons has led to the creation of a highly successful series of student-run workshops on emerging technologies. This presentation will detail the origin, evolution, successes, and challenges of the workshops and offer suggestions for implementing similar programs at other institutions.
Background
The Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) draws students from a large range of backgrounds and with greatly varying degrees of technical knowledge. How can technology topics be taught to an audience with such a wide range of interests and backgrounds? At GSLIS, the GSLIS Technology Lab and the Simmons chapter of the American Society of Information Science & Technology (ASIS&T@Simmons) have teamed up to create a technology workshop series. The workshops are conceived of, developed, and taught by Tech Lab student workers and ASIS&T@Simmons members and cover a variety of technology topics.
Simmons GSLIS has a dedicated technology lab known as the GSLIS Tech Lab, managed by Linnea Johnson, assistant director of information technology for GSLIS. During all of its operating hours, the Tech Lab is staffed by student lab assistants known as Technology Reference Assistants (TRAs).
The Simmons chapter of ASIS&T is very active in the GSLIS community and has won several national awards. In the spring of 2006, a new slate of student leaders assumed leadership of the chapter, one of whom was Alison Cody, a Tech Lab TRA.