In-Class Exercises

Kristine R. Brancolini (brancoli@indiana.edu)
Wed, 21 Apr 1999 07:55:56 -0700 (PDT)

I teach a course in the School of Library and Information Science here
called Audio and Video Information Programming. Translation: Media
Librarianship, with a focus on new technologies. I will be giving the
course during the six-week summer session this year, which means that
students meet from 1:00 - 4:00 two days a week. Obviously, I don't want
to lecture that entire time, so I'm trying to gather ideas for in-class
exercises. The class will include practicing school librarians working on
master's degrees and students planning to work in all types of libraries,
so type of library is wide open.

I'm working on a big list right now, including in-class activities I have
used in the past. Three of those are:

* reading articles about a real public library censorship case, breaking
into two groups, then having the groups present the opposing
points-of-view.

* breaking into pairs, reading short case studies dealing with copyright
issues, then presenting their interpretation of the the copyright law as
it applies to the situation.

* watching two short documentaries, different styles, subject matter, and
intended audiences -- then writing 100 word reviews.

So I'm coming to you for other ideas. What do you think would be useful
activities that library school students could do in-class to help them
become better prepared to do the sorts of things you do everyday?

If you would like to see the syllabus for summer 1997, it's on the web at:
<http://www.indiana.edu/~libreser/L552/L552-Syllabus.html> I'm planning
changes for 1999, but the basic outline will be the same. More emphasis
on future technologies.

Thanks for your assistance. This is one the last media courses in a
library school anywhere, so I want to be sure to give our students the
most possible course.

Kristine Brancolini
Indiana University Libraries