Learning circle onboarding training organized at Tampa Hillsborough Public Library in Auguest, 2018
Below is a summary of notes taken during the P2PU Community Call on training resources and facilitator onboarding held on January 18, 2019.
Megan’s Experience in Tampa
- 3-hour training, designed as a learning circle
- Online learning within the training; got folks confident to run the training
- Helped to build buy-in with administrators
- 10 learning circles so far from the training
- Did a month-long public speaking learning circle for staff development as a kickoff
- 3 hours was a sweet spot for length; may try to compress to 2 hours in future
- Course topics: Tampa utilizing existing library databases (Lynda, Universal Class, Mango Languages for ESL and Spanish)
- Additional feedback from Megan posted here.
Overview of P2PU Training Resources
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Half-day training agenda and slides (This is what Megan and Nico used in Tampa)
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Intro to learning circle slidedeck. Good for introducing the program to colleagues before training.
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Intro to learning circles video. Good for general introduction
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Juliana’s Organizer Guide This brand new! This is like the facilitator guide, but for organizers who are trying to onboard colleagues/volunteers.
Proposal
Development of online learning circle course to be used in guiding you through in-person discussion and online learning
- To be developed using P2PU’s free course builder tool, Course in a Box
- Will supplement/replace the current facilitator page
Community Feedback
- Sherry - Online course is a perfect solution. Modelling and engaging people in a learning circle.
- David - Is there a comprehensive way to view all resources/videos for helping training? Include elements that model the parts of learning circles: check-in, course work, activity, going over the past week, plus/delta, etc.
- Al - maybe we could record a learning circle?
- Marsha - I have had a lot of other library staff ask me to ‘sit in’ on my Learning Circles- I think a video or guide walking someone through what a Learning Circle can look like is a good idea
- Megan - staff training learning circle was really helpful; allowed everyone to pause and check in when an issue came up; doing public speaking was cool because people learned something new, and also got to participate/experience a learning circle
- Marsha - I really liked the activity we did at the last gathering where we had slips of paper with different scenarios, and we decided what a LC was and what it wasn’t- having activities like that in an online course would also be great.
- Sherry - It’s sometimes hard to communicate how LCs differ from classes. Any thoughts of creating a short public-facing video introduction for learners? Slides and video have some good materials for the beginning of a learning circle; also a helpful way to explain to patrons. Not just about resources for facilitators, but also for learners!
- Megan/Sherry - The public is still confused - a marketing tool for patrons, an activity for week one, a short video, etc.
- David - I like the idea of libraries making promotional videos or promotions for the community: “learning circles periodically offered at the library”. Important for it to be grounded in the community. “This is a real thing that is happening in libraries”. Could be useful for facilitators as well.
- Athy - Professional development learning circles: free reign to do what they want as long as they are doing PD; introducing model through the circle itself, and doing a course like grant writing, consumer health, etc. 20-30 minutes talking about the learning circle, then doing a course together, and then doing plus/delta at the end.
- Learning circles create relationships between different branches that wouldn’t necessarily meet otherwise
Announcements
- P2PU Gathering will be in Boston in September!
- Open Refresher Learning Circle 101 on February 26 - details to be posted soon!
- Next Community Call: Friday, February 15 - 12 PM ET on Community Learning Assessment Strategies
In attendance
@Nico_Koenig, @grif, @SaraDixon and Noelle Barrick from Wichita; @aoliveras from Onondaga (Upstate NY); @Jennifer_Shipley and @Athanasia_Fitos from Miami; Steph Miller from Multnomah (Portland, OR); @David_Rosen from Boston; @Sherry_Lehane from Providence; @SteveFoerster from New World University; @Marsha_Malcolm from San Jose, @Roselyne_Odera from Siaya, Kenya; @Megan_Danak from Tampa