Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe

Lisa Janicke Hinchliffe is Coordinator for Information Literacy Services and Instruction and Associate Professor of Library Administration at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and starting in July she will also be the Head of the Undergraduate Library. Lisa is also a member of the ACRL Information Literacy Institute Immersion faculty and has taught instruction courses at the Graduate School of Library and Information Science at the University of Illinois, both in-person and online, and undergraduate courses in critical thinking at Illinois State University and Parkland College. Lisa is the Editor of Research Strategies and author of the Neal-Schuman Electronic Classroom Handbook. Her scholarly interests include service innovations, information literacy, library use, user assessment, and education and professional development for academic librarians.

Making the Case: Selecting Evidence of Good Teaching for the Teaching Portfolio

Lisa Hinchliffe, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

session 2b / Thursday, May 11 / 1:30 - 3:00 pm

Once you have a teaching philosophy statement for a teaching portfolio, the next step is to gather evidence of how you put that philosophy into practice. But - what exactly is that evidence and how does one collect it? Too many teaching portfolio workshops stop with the teaching philosophy. But that's only the first step. This session will demonstrate how to select evidence for a teaching portfolio that enhances the teaching philosophy statement and identify ways to gather that evidence in as efficient and effective a manner as possible. This process will also provide insights into areas for professional development and improvement and mentoring opportunities - all in a framework of helping librarians more fully develop the skills and competencies needed to be excellent teachers for information literacy. Checklists and reflective prompts will be provided as well as opportunities to review portfolio materials from practicing librarians who have agreed to share their portfolios as examples. The session will be of particular value to new librarians, librarians seeking tenure or promotion, and applicants for teaching awards or grants.

Lea Currie

Lea Currie is currently the Coordinator of the Humanities Council at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries, a position she has held since April 2005. Previously, she was the Instruction Coordinator at the KU Libraries. She teaches undergraduate and graduate students and is the subject liaison for the School of Education and the Department of Classics. Lea's research interests include assessment of library instruction, library collaboration with campus writing centers and student services, and library instruction for a diverse clientele. Lea has her MLIS from The University of Texas at Austin and her BA from Texas A&M University.

Frances Devlin

Frances Devlin is the Digital Reference Services Coordinator at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries and acts as the lead administrator for the Kansas Academic Cooperative Chat Service. She provides instruction sessions to undergraduate and graduate level classes and is the library liaison for the Depts. of French & Italian Literature, Theatre and Philosophy. Her research program is focused on adapting, using and evaluating new technologies (such as chat and instant messaging) to enhance traditional reference services in academic libraries. Frances received her MLS from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Through the looking glass: Reflections on peer evaluation of library instruction

Lea Currie and Frances Devlin, University of Kansas

session 2b / Thursday, May 11 / 1:30 - 3:00 pm

Peer evaluation of instruction at the University of Kansas (KU) Libraries was initiated as a pilot in the Fall Semester 2005 and will be fully implemented in 2006. Librarians at KU have faculty appointments and peer evaluation of teaching is an important component of the promotion and tenure process. Peer evaluation is one of several options by which library instructors can document teaching effectiveness.

What are the advantages of peer evaluation? It provides:

· a framework for conversations on improving instruction
· opportunities to reflect on teaching styles and try new approaches
· supportive feedback and advice from colleagues
· mentoring or coaching partnerships

In this presentation, we will define peer evaluation, its goals, its inherent strengths and weaknesses, and the roles of the instructor and peer evaluator in the process. A key element for success is on-going training for the evaluators. Presenters will share a list of procedures and an observation tool developed for pre- and post-instruction session communication between the participants. In our case, we used a "checklist" of observable activities. The presenters will facilitate a discussion with the audience on the pros and cons of using a checklist as part of the evaluation process. Key issues related to formative and summative peer evaluation will also be discussed.