London Libteachmeet - Chocolate and Quizzes!!

I recently had the pleasure of attending the London Libteachmeet :) I was desperate to go after hearing so many good things about library teachmeets on twitter but when it came to booking they were full for listeners my heart sank... even though I am confident talking in front of students and teachers during meetings and running training sessions I quake in my boots at the thought of talking in front of fellow professionals! (Even though I have done it once before...) Anyway, I calmed myself down and thought to myself well it's only 2 minuets I am sure a can cope and booked in...

I had read a bit about libteachmeets and opted for no PowerPoint slides (which got me a round of applause before I even spoke). So for support there I was with just my little scrap of paper. I had written my notes of what I was going to say on the train up to London. I know... stop shouting at me I should have been more prepared but I knew my topic and it was only 2 minuets right?! Well wrong really I went up last... never good for the nerves... started off well and as soon as the 1 minuet sign went up I panicked and my face went bright red! I felt like panicking but luckily my online quiz I was talking about saved my bacon and people were actually interested in it which was great! I think that next time I have to give a timed talk I will definitely be more prepared!

Here's me going red...

My online quiz What kind of LRC user are you? (click on the link and give it a go... it's only 9 questions long!) is not a test as no answer is wrong. I use it to measure where 2nd year FE students are at with utilising the LRC and it's resources. After the test they are grouped as either Superstars, Wanabes, Sufers or Newcomers depending on their answers (for Singstar fans you can see where I pinched that idea from...!). The quiz is a great ice breaker and allows me to adapt my teaching to fit in with the students. The site I used to create my quiz also complies stats of the answers which has lead to us finding out that 59% of the students who took the quiz didn't use the catalogue and 27% thought Athens was just a place in Greece! I am glad we are moving to OpenAthens in September :)

Thank you to everyone else who spoke. I thought you were all great and I came away with loads of ideas and examples of best practice including; using real research stories in your teaching sessions, the quick quiz, using chocolate as prizes, a treasure hunt style induction, using self-reflection tools, online information skills packages, and more uses for chocolate in teaching!

Hannah