ACRL Instruction Section Pre-conference Planning Committee
Minutes
23 July 2014, 1 pm, Pacific time
Conference call
Dial-in Number: (712) 432-1500
Participant Access Code: 370431#
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Introductions
Brief discussion of charge
Brief overview of timeline
Brainstorm potential topics for a pre-conference workshop
Next steps
Timeline:
 Mid-August: topic and list of potential speakers determined
 End of August: confirm with ACRL intention of hosting a pre-conference
 15 October: topic, description, learning outcomes, confirmed speaker(s) to ACRL
Minutes:
Everyone introduced themselves.
Nancy briefly discussed the charge. In today’s meeting we will focus on discussing potential topics. Reiterated the
timeline:
 Mid-August: topic and list of potential speakers determined
 End of August: confirm with ACRL intention of hosting a pre-conference
 15 October: topic, description, learning outcomes, confirmed speaker(s) to ACRL
Mark – in the past, IS Exec had to approve conference programming, but that is no longer the case. Mark will
inform them of the pre-conference planning committee progress, for consistency with other programming.
Conference programming is chosen by ACRL committee. No approval level for us on pre-conference committee.
Nancy – Do we want to talk about how long we want the session to be?
Michael – choices are half-day or full-day
Mark – confirmed. The topic might dictate the length, which one makes most sense.
Nancy – the topic will dictate, but a half-day might be more affordable, monetarily and in terms of timecommitment.
Nancy – Thought we might create a Google Doc for brainstorming. Jennifer Kneivel had suggestions for
assessment. We talked about tying it into the framework.
Mark – survey within IS more than a year ago (previous Winter/Spring) about their interests for programs.
Membership had varied responses. Number 1 answer was that they were interested in MOOCs, online learning;
2nd most popular answer was assessment.
Nancy – Jennifer also attended sessions on student retention.
Michael – idea about incorporating visual literacy components into instruction, as with their EN102 courses in
Alabama. Partnering with digital humanities personnel to present concepts.
Nancy – what would be the outcomes in that instruction?
Michael – Analyzing an image in context, talking about visual communication. Librarians are demo-ing library
resources related to images, film. Class by class basis partnership related to whatever themes are being taught in
the course.
Nancy – Any other ideas?
Kimberly – Financial Literacy is a popular topic right now.
Nancy – Assignment design and working with faculty. Addresses something in new framework or undergrad
learning outcomes, course outcomes.
Ben – That would be interesting.
Michael – Would we have to adhere to one theme? Or could we have more than one session? Would we have a
half- or full day?
Mark – Might depend on the topics. Would it be too disjointed with multiple themes? People might stay for the
morning and leave before the afternoon.
Michael – Would need to be tightly related or easily related
Nancy – Plan to focus whole workshop on one topic.
Michael – We could always plan for 2016, right?
Nancy – Other ideas: Curriculum mapping. We’re doing that here at UNLV. Identifying core courses where you
want to reach out to different departments. Identifying courses in liaison area with a research-component, then
reaching students and tying their progress to campus or course outcomes.
Mark – Char Booth did a presentation on that in Indianapolis.
Nancy – She’s engaging.
Kimberly – reflective practice in instruction
Nancy – short workshop with Michael similar to her book.
Michael – tying her thoughts on reflective practice with assignment design?
Nancy - Char is on immersion faculty. This topic is very tied into Char, but who else could we get if she’s not
available?
Mark – She might be able to suggest someone. If pieces have been taught in immersion, perhaps a student from
immersion could teach.
Ben – A lot of reflective practice is covered in the intentional teaching track
Michael and Mark are speaking Hungarian without us! 
Nancy – Should we go ahead and contact Char Booth?
Group consensus was yes.
Nancy – This would be appealing and possibly a money-maker.
Mark – If she could recommend other people, that would be good, because we don’t know how much of this
content she is already teaching in immersion. She may be less likely to want to do this if it’s being taught in
immersion.
Nancy – If possible, suggest that she include aspects of assignment design. Tie in to ACRL framework?
Mark – Framework should be voted on in the fall. Not certain. ALA has to approve as well.
Nancy – we can make anything we do applicable to any sort of framework if it’s not approved by then. Assignment
design is always applicable.
Michael – Incorporate other stakeholders. Many possibilities for the session. Char as introductory speaker or
leading workshop. Could also discuss Guide on the Side and similar tools. Assignment design might be a fertile
ground for people sharing the tools they’re using. Could find an instructional designer as a speaker – not
necessarily a librarian – to have a fresh take.
Nancy – Any other ideas?
Kimberly – Digital storytelling. Flipped classrooms.
Nancy – Flipped classroom could possibly work as a workshop, too.
Nancy – Could we rank them, 1st 2nd and 3rd? Potential speakers? Recommendation to Mark by mid-August?
Mark – Doesn’t have to be completely fleshed out, but knowing the topic and potential speakers will be helpful.
From ACRL, they just need a yay or nay in August as to whether we’re hosting a pre-conference. Final topic in
October. We just don’t want to say yes before we have an idea.
Nancy – Reflective teaching has fewer possible speakers, but other topics may have more speakers.
Mark – Maybe develop ideas more before suggesting speaker names.
Nancy – Let’s add some learning outcomes to the document before we vote. Do we want to set up another phone
call? Next conference call meeting Wednesday, August 6, at1:30 PDT. A lot of our information and work will be
on the Google Doc in the meantime.
Action Items: Nancy will create a Google Doc with a list of ideas. She will give a deadline for populating document
with ideas, and then a deadline for ranking them. By August 6, we can regroup and discuss favorites.