Upper Floor Learning Center at TJSL
Whoops! I know it’s now two weeks old, but want to finish my CALI posts so that I can then post them to our library blog at work.
SO! On the last day at CALI, I went to two presentations, and I’m going to talk about one of them here. It was called, “Learning Centers in the Library: What can we do with them?” and was given by a reference librarian from Thomas Jefferson School of Law. The law school recently relocated, and the campus is gorgeous.
View from one of (!) TJSL’s patios
Stairway at TJSL
The librarian discussed the use of “Learning Centers” (think “Apple Genius Bars”) at TJSL’s library. They have two learning centers, on different floors of the library, and they use the centers for various teaching opportunities:
- She teaches Advanced Legal Research there. She can have the students go off and do exercises with the print resources, come back and talk about it.
- They use them for smaller classes : on plagiarism, citation, etc.
- The vendor reps use them, as well
- Those who teach in the bar prep program use it
The set-up is pretty awesome:
Main-level Learning Center at TJSL
(Click to see larger version of photo).
There’s a big screen in the middle of the area, which, when presentations are not going on, can display library/school/student information. There are two white boards on either side of the big screen. There’s a document camera on the “ceiling,” so the instructor can project either her computer or a book (or anything else) resting on the bar. The “bar” surface can also be used as a white board – students can sketch out a research plan right on the table, and the instructor can then project the plan on the big screen. The set-up also enables the instructor to unplug her computer/iPad from the document camera and easily plug in a student’s, for demonstration and collaboration purposes.
TJSL doesn’t currently use the Learning Centers this way, but she and other attendees envisioned other uses:
- Training sessions for faculty
- Allow legal writing instructors to use them for small group work
- Career development could have small seminars there
- I could see seminar classes being held here
She said that they have not had too many complaints about noise – that it is very clear when sessions are being held there, so students know when it will get noisy. But she said she doesn’t schedule any sessions during finals/study days.
She really likes using the learning centers for teaching because it allows for a more collaborative space than a traditional classroom, because she likes to be able to send the students out “into the stacks” at times during the class, and because she generally likes to be in the library when giving a research class.
I really like the look and feel of the Learning Centers, and would like to try to teach a small class in a similar set-up.
One Two other quick things I wanted to show:
They’re using QR codes in different areas of the collection to explain what you’re looking at. I could see us doing that at certain areas of the library – esp. the 1L-intensive areas (ALRs, anyone?).
ALSO!
Vintage Bluebook! Squee!
If you want to look at any of my other pics of CALI (I don’t really have very many), check out my CALI2012 set on Flickr.
jkbeitz 