1. Workshops Toolkit: Tailoring Graduate Learning
Zach Elder
@LibrarianZach
Good afternoon, I’m going to talk today about a project we’ve been working on in our libraries at George Washington University, that is allowing us to expand the instructional offerings we present to graduate students. We call it the Workshops Toolkit.

2. The Challenge
Increasing instruction and support to our graduate student body
Without reducing our undergraduate instructional offerings
Serve grad students who work and online/hybrid grad programs
Keep consistent instruction despite staff turnover/vacancies
First, let me say that our library has always been very focused on undergraduate instruction, but until a few years ago we didn’t put a similar emphasis on grad students. We changed that mindset, but then had a challenge to face.
How to 4 things at once: Increase instruction to our graduate students. Without reducing our existing instruction load. Serving equally our traditional, weekend/evening programs, and online/hybrid graduate programs. Doing all of this consistently while experiencing staff turnover and vacancies, in a slow-to-hire academic bureaucracy, while going through our own re-structuring.

3. Strategic Plan: Vision 2021
Objective 3: Building upon our demonstrated commitment to innovative pedagogy, develop methods for expanding the reach of research instruction across the curriculum, being responsive to the needs of GW's diverse student body.
Engage with new and established curriculum and programs.
Provide instruction and support for communication and technical skills development.
Provide multiple approaches for optimal instruction.
This challenge is further spelled out to us through our Libraries’ Strategic Plan.

4. The Solution: Workshops
To accommodate instruction both library research skills, and technical, software-based skills, we began with a “workshops” model. Offering either one-off workshops or suites of workshops.
To encourage our graduate students who work in the government, suites of workshops were held on Federal Holidays.

5. Basic Guidelines for workshops:
30 minutes or less
Main focus of each on research tools or shortcuts, “Hacks.”
For example, “Searching Beyond Gelman” is an intro for students into searching WorldCat and using our ILL request system.
Suites of workshops on Federal Holidays (no classes, and many of our evening students with day jobs/government jobs could also attend.)

6. Workshops Toolkit Team
Select workshop topics, creators
Assign dates/times/rooms and presenters
Ensure each workshop can be presented by any librarian
Scripts, outlines, handouts, cross-training
As our librarian group transitioned into “Matrix” management-style, we became project-based teams. One of the project teams created, which I lead, is the “Workshops Toolkit” Team. As an aside, we were called the “Workshops Arsenal” team early on, but decided on the less-militaristic and more descriptive “toolkit.”
The team’s job is:
Selecting workshop topics, assigning dates/times, rooms and presenters for each.
Ensuring that each workshop can be presented by any librarian, using scripts, outlines, handouts, presentations (located in a shared Google Drive folder, the “Toolkit”).
Ensuring each workshop has an online learning object. This can be a libguide, a “how-do-I” video, or other digital object.
Collecting feedback from workshop session participants, and continually revisiting topics and timing.

7. Workshops Toolkit Team
Create online learning objects for each workshop
Libguides, “How-Do-I” videos, or other digital object
Collect feedback, provide takeaways
As our librarian group transitioned into “Matrix” management-style, we became project-based teams. One of the project teams created, which I lead, is the “Workshops Toolkit” Team. As an aside, we were called the “Workshops Arsenal” team early on, but decided on the less-militaristic and more descriptive “toolkit.”
The team’s job is:
Selecting workshop topics, assigning dates/times, rooms and presenters for each.
Ensuring that each workshop can be presented by any librarian, using scripts, outlines, handouts, presentations (located in a shared Google Drive folder, the “Toolkit”).
Ensuring each workshop has an online learning object. This can be a libguide, a “how-do-I” video, or other digital object. This benefits online students, students who couldn’t make the workshop in-person, and acts as a learning reinforcement for attendees afterward.
Collecting feedback from workshop session participants, and continually revisiting topics and timing.

8. Scripts and presentations
Workshop “owners” put scripts, presentations and handouts into a Drive folder shared by all librarians.
Tip: make certain this is shared with all librarians and staff members who conduct workshops.

9. Online learning objects
Libguides
“How-do-I” Videos
Each workshop got it’s own online learning object, either in the form of a libguide or video—or both.
Tip: If you are constantly changing your online catalog, interface, or other tools, video may not be the way to go.

10. Follow up & Feedback Short surveys sent immediately following events
Links to digital objects
Short surveys were sent in follow up s to all participants immediately following the events, these s also contained links to all digital objects covered during workshop(s), and other resources as needed.

11. Revising Never be afraid to change up or improve
We expanded workshop topics as we sought out partnerships
We began in the Fall with successful workshops, but we weren’t afraid of making changes in the middle of the academic year.
Some examples: we took RSVPs in the Fall, but about 50% of RSVPs didn’t actually show up (Facebook effect?). This caused us to book larger rooms than we needed, and shut out students who might have attended but couldn’t once our RSVPs reached max capacity. For Spring, we got rid of RSVPs, resulting in increased attendance.
We also added topics, as it became more well-known, other library staff wanted to pitch in. We also received suggestions from the surveys on additional topics

12. Added Workshop Topics Sample Ad:
Developing Engaging Presentations: Join GW Libraries and Librarian Mandy Gooch for a session on creating presentations for school projects, interviews, or anything! In this workshop you will learn a few tips and tricks for keeping your audience captivated, telling your story, finding resources, and moving beyond basic presentation templates. First come, first serve seating, and please bring your own laptop to this session.
Added topics included:
Search Smart with Subject Headings: Library patrons commonly search by keyword when looking for books or articles in the Catalog or subject databases, but often searching by established Subject Headings available in those systems can yield more relevant search results.  In this workshop, we’ll look at occurrences of Subject Headings in several of these databases and how they might be utilized for more efficient and productive searching.  This session is geared more for graduate students, but all are welcome to attend.
Copyright Basics for Grad Students: covers the basic aspects of copyright law you need to know when writing a thesis or dissertation, including an overview of copyright as a "bundle of rights" and the criteria for determining fair use.
Principles of Graphic Design: Learn the building blocks of successful design in this workshop
Developing Engaging Presentations: Join GW Libraries and Librarian Mandy Gooch for a session on creating presentations for school projects, interviews, or anything! In this workshop you will learn a few tips and tricks for keeping your audience captivated, telling your story, finding resources, and moving beyond basic presentation templates.

13. Results Satisfaction in the survey responses
Much higher online usage of libguides
Increase in graduate student research appointments
What Graduate Students Need to Know libguide: highest month prior to Workshops Toolkit: 224 views
Highest month post-implementation: 720 views

14. Zach Elder elder@gwu.edu
Questions?
Zach Elder