Teaching and Communication Strategies for a New Era

Teaching and Communication Strategies for a New Era

By Dr. Ruth Childs, Theatre professor

 Top three recommendations:
Be prepared, authentic, and communicate

Be ourselves.

Breathe deeply-- slows our speech down.

Aim your camera for your full face and shoulders (if teaching online).

Dress the part,.

Demonstrate, if possible.

Stand up when teaching or recording a video.

Get a light ring, better light for videos or online teaching.

Do a few rehearsals of the script or class before the session.

Add symbols to your notes: One for breathing, one for a smile.

Add variety to your voice.

Underline the most important words.

Keyword-- exercise
    Try changing how you speak the important words:

1. Loud
2. Pause 
3. Slower
4. Add a guesture
   

New Metrics for Telling Your Library's Story

New Metrics for Telling Your Library's Story

June 11, 2020

1 Evaluating Events: Maurini Sturb from U of R spoke

2 Research Commons: Meris Longmeier at Ohio State

Supporting the Research Lifecycle

https://library.osu.edu/researchcommons/

https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/91810

3 RAMP - Jon

rampanalytics.org

UT Austin -- Krystal Wyatt-Baxter

Institutional Assessment

Reframing reference services: Perceptions and futures of the reference desk, findings from a mixed-methods survey of United States academic libraries

Reframing reference services: Perceptions and futures of the reference desk, findings from a mixed-methods survey of United States academic libraries

ALA webinar,  June 8, 2020

Traditional reference desk is still prominent.
75% , perception: reference desk gets mostly reference  questions

https://rdw.rowan.edu/lib_scholarship/20/

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iyptdl1rsKk-1JMpUtbDngp540KmbBy1etb2HtvHaMk/edit?usp=sharing

A research and writing studio example: 
https://library.wwu.edu/rws

Someone mentioned that using LibCal really helped with research consultations.

Majority of research consults are often a follow-up from the instruction sessions they have done. 

Intellectual property, privacy, OERs

https://www.commonsense.org/education/articles/privacy-in-the-classroom-why-should-i-care

https://www.oercommons.org/about

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPo8ofxTvZA

https://copyrightalliance.org/ca_faq_post/what-is-copyright/

Psychological First Aid Webinar 05/21/2020

Speak warmly and genuinely with those you are working with survivors.

Help families create routines and structure: predictability.
Help the survivors by letting them be involved in the decision making process.  Instead of open ended questions, you might want to give them three choices to choose from. 

Validate survivor's thoughts and feelings. 
Express empathy.  So you feel?... It sounds like....
If you get the feeling wrong, apologize and let the survivor clarify or say what they really feel.  
Don't say "I know how you feel"  --- reflect back to them, like it sounds like you feel really sad or upset....
Don't start any sentence with "At least ... [anything]"

Some questions are just unanswerable.  Just stand there (be there). 

Dealing with anger:  Sometimes the will direct at at you, just because you are there.  Validate, but don't take it personally. 

To be empathetic, you need to take care of yourself.  You might just not be able to help at certain times.

We are in "chronic ambiguity" --say I don't know or provide accurate information

Normalize your reactions... we don't feel normal, what your feeling is what is expected or understandable. 
Positive Coping Strategies
How have you gotten through this before? 
What skills or strengths do you have to get through this? 
What do you have control over and what do you not have control over? 

Effective vs. ineffective ways of coping (seeing it in writing can help)

Stress Management and Self Care Webinar (05/07/2020)

Institute for Disaster Mental Health


Eustress:  The positive stress that keeps us functioning.. like challenges at work, or pushing oneself physically

Sometimes there is a delayed response to a particular stressor

Stress Reaction:  Emotional, Cognitive, Behavioral, Spiritual, Physical (Shame, Guilt)

Quarantine Brain can be a stressor!  yes!

Outbreak Specific Stressors:
General Uncertainty and Unfamiliarity
-Impact is unpredictable... we don't know when this will end.
-Unprecented use of social distancing
-Information changes rapidly
  
Result: Constant need to adapt

Stressors:
Medical Fear, Caregiving, Practical concerns (job loss, enough supplies, education, other healthcare needs), Social Experiences, Economic Concerns, Work/Life Balance,

Self care imperative:  "People who do not take care of themselves cannot take care of others or meet their professional demands."   Taking steps to take care for you own

Compassion Stress Continuum: 
Compassion satisfaction <----------------> Compassion Fatigue
http://www.proqol.org

Burnout

Emotion and Behavior-Based Pratices
Meditation
Mindfulness
Yoga
Breathing exercises
Exercise

Cognition Based
Self talk, Stress Inoculation, Cognitive restructuring

Stress Innoculation:
Acknowledge that stress exists

Component elements:
1. ID potential stressors
2. Appraise or evaluate the stressors
--is the situation a challenge or a threat? 
--is it under my control or not?
3. ID how we're going to cope with them 
A. If under my control:  Develop a problem-focused strategy. 
B. Not under my control: Emotion-focused Strategies, like the Serenity Prayer
4. ID Organizational Strategies

Productivity: Coping with Distraction While Working from Home 4/23/2020

Although this webinar dealt with distractions while working at home, the part about productivity I found particularly useful.  '

Focus blockers
Freedom https://freedom.to
Self Control Https://selfcontrolapp.com (free for Macs)
Focus (for Mac) : https://heyfocus.com

Figure out your own circadian rhythm. When do you work the best and have the most energy?  Use that time to do your "deep work" and save the other time for "shallow work."  
Deep Work
Writing
Curriculum development 
Strategizing
Planning/Forecasting
Make a video/image/instructional materials
Flowcharts
Researching  
Lesson Planning
Reading/Studying

Shallow Work
Email
grading
Data Entry
Scheduling/Calendaring
Editing (?)
Marketing
Purchasing
Book orders
LibChat
Registering
Blogging

Our brains can only focus for so long.  Deep work will make us feel more tired.
Admit, I can only do this much today.
52 min. work, 17 min. break
80/20
Pomodoro Technique

Deep work: “Professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate.”- Cal Newport

Shallow work: Noncognitively demanding, logistical-style tasks, often performed while distracted. These efforts tend not to create much new value in the world and are easy to replicate.” Cal Newport