Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Update: U of Denver's Penrose Library Academic Commons

The Anderson Academic Commons project was completed in March, 2013. "The Commons is the campus centerpiece for collaborative, technology-infused teaching, learning and engagement."

Monday, December 19, 2011

Information Commons Discussion Group Midwinter meeting


Passing along this post from Rudy Leon, convener of ACRL's InfoCommons Discussion Group, regarding the virtual session planned for ALA Midwinter on January 11, 2012:

Hello all,
For Midwinter this year, the InfoCommons Discussion group will be meeting virtually. We're very excited to try this out. We've reserved an iLinc room via ALA, and will meet January 11 2012, 1-2:30 pm Central Time. The log-in instructions are below, and on the Connect space.

Our Midwinter discussion will continue the assessment conversation we had at Annual 2011. Don Beagle will kick off our meeting with a 20-minute presentation based on his EDUCAUSE report, "From Learning Commons to Learning Outcomes." This report was posted on Sept 27 by the EDUCAUSE Center for Applied Research (ECAR), and within 6 weeks had become the #1 most-downloaded ECAR research bulletin of 2011. Don's comments will also go beyond the ECAR report to look in more detail at 1) recent research into cultural impacts on user expectations of service delivery (especially pertinent to "Affect of Service" as measured by LibQUAL+® , and 2) recent research by Derek Rodriguez into library impacts on student outcomes in capstone courses, and how this might be adapted for Commons model assessment.

I'd like to extend this invitation to all of you: if you have information about service assessment at your Commons that you would like to share, please feel free to put together a PowerPoint slide or two and send that to Rudy Leon by January 9. Because of the nature of iLinc, I will need to upload slides ahead of time. Slides are not necessary if you want to participate, or contribute! But if you do have something visual you want to share, we have the opportunity to do so.

We've scheduled 70 minutes for discussion following Don's presentation. I'm very excited about this, and hope you are as well.
http://connect.ala.org/node/161334

Information Commons Student Assistant Program at Butler U.


Butler U. (Indianapolis) has a unique model for what they call the Information Commons. It's a collaboration between the Libraries and the Center for Academic Technologies and it is staffed by "highly trained student staff members."

As described on the IC website: "The program intends to provide Butler students with research and academic technology support directly connected to course activities, student learning outcomes and pedagogical innovations through highly trained student staff members. Information Commons student staff members are trained in library research methods, academic technology tools, and consultation skills. They provide support for students, faculty and staff at the Center for Academic Technology and the Irwin Library through in-class and evening training sessions and 1:1 consultations." http://bit.ly/uksfOc

Two Butler administrators, Julianne Miranda, Senior Director of Butler's Center for Academic Technologies, and Sally Neal, Associate Dean for Public Services, will present "Information Commons Student Assistant Program: Meeting a Campus's Classroom Technology and Information Literacy Needs Anywhere, Anytime" at the EDUCAUSE Midwest Regional Conference in Chicago,on Tuesday, March 27. 2012. http://bit.ly/s9nuQq