Growing a collaborative and sustainable instruction community with the UA Libraries Teaching Tools Hub

Library instruction takes many forms. With ever-expanding delivery methods, formats, and literacy topics, designing engaging lessons and effective learning objects is time-intensive, even for familiar subjects. It can leave us feeling like we’re either reinventing the wheel or creating a quick stopgap until more time, energy, and creativity allow. To make instruction more sustainable, The University of Arizona Libraries’ Student Learning and Engagement department developed a collaborative instructional repository to encourage sharing, reusing, and adapting of learning objects. This session will outline our development process, practical use cases, and small steps (and larger lifts) for participants to adopt similar practices at their libraries. Participants will gain hands-on experience with evaluating instruction materials for clarity and adaptability. Finally, presenters will share tips for gaining buy-in and fostering a culture of collaboration around instructional materials.

Learning Objectives:

Presenters:

Lara Miller is the unit lead for Teaching and Research Strategies at UA Libraries. She’s also the liaison to the College of Engineering and the College of Architecture, Planning, & Landscape Architecture. Robin is the Business Research and Experiential Learning Librarian at UA Libraries and serves as the liaison to Eller College of Management. She teaches strategies for finding, understanding, and synthesizing information and data, emphasizing the importance of cultivating a curious mindset and thinking critically.

Robin Vickery is the Business Research and Experiential Learning Librarian at UA Libraries and serves as the liaison to Eller College of Management. She teaches strategies for finding, understanding, and synthesizing information and data, emphasizing the importance of cultivating a curious mindset and thinking critically. New to her role, she is excited to explore connections between maker literacies, design thinking, and business research. - Robin Vickery, University of Arizona, Business Research and Experiential Learning Librarian