Three instructors, five team leaders, 37 participants, 5 regional locations in New York, and 963 miles travelled; this, the winning equation for a summertime road trip of the third Library Instruction Leadership Academy (LILAC).
Dr. Brian Morgan of the Ella Shear Cline School of Education joined librarians Michelle Costello and Kim Davies Hoffman, along with many other co-Principal Investigators on the IITG planning team, to design a LILAC like none before. After offering two local instances of the academy (2010 & 2013), meant to train librarians new to instructional roles in foundational pedagogical methods, LILAC 3 aims to widen the audience throughout New York State. The first stage included five full-day workshops (over a two-week period) in various regions of the state, in an attempt to reach as many participants as possible – Potsdam, Saratoga Springs, Highland, Rochester, and Ithaca. Dr. Morgan provided a thorough grounding in pedagogical theory and Michelle and Kim followed with demonstrations of that theory into the practice of library instruction. Students were immersed in the theory as they contemplated their professional content through hands-on and collaborative activities
Giving LILAC participants a three-week break to resume their typical fall semester routine, online modules for the academy picked up on Monday, September 15, beginning with a focus on librarian interactions with students and collaborations with faculty and community members. Three more two-week modules will be spread out until mid-November and participants will culminate their learning with multiple final projects (a progressively developed lesson plan, a usable digital asset that can be used to supplement a class lesson or used to promote library services, and an action plan for a project personalized to each participant’s library).
LILAC 3 is not only meant to educate its participants, but its developers too. Module presenters are experimenting with new technologies to translate the typical LILAC content into asynchronous learning. The regional leaders have been immersed in the LILAC experience since the time of IITG proposal writing, so that they might sustain in future years such professional development opportunities in their local regions.
