Sunday 15 March 2020

Online training in a hurry - please help yourself

I've thought long and hard about posting this. There are many more important things in the world to worry about right now and I don't want to be accused as cashing in on problems (although as I'm making no money from this that might be hard!) but I do want to do my small part to help.

Over the last few years I have been working on producing online training to compliment the face to face sessions I regularly deliver on scholarly communication and research support. As a result I have a bank of materials on this area ready to go including videos, slides and handouts. I know a lot of librarians are either moving to online instruction or thinking about it, something that will hopefully make both teacher and student safer whilst still getting the message across. Putting together even the most basic of sessions takes time so if it's useful please feel free to help yourselves to any of the resources below as a starting point.

I've compiled most things I've produced on a single website as even I have trouble finding it occasionally! Everything is organised by subject and then format within that e.g. presentations, webinar etc. There are slide decks and presenter notes for most sessions and I'm working on adding more as they are developed. Most of the content is aimed at librarians but it's pretty transferable for students.

There are also some resources for ready to go webinars:

I'm working on adding the current online content I'm developing for students and currently have slides and notes for predatory publishers and data management with more coming in the next few weeks.

Alternatively if you're self-isolating and want to use this time for some self education feel free to have a look at the online Research Support Ambassador Programme which covers the basics of library support around the scholarly communications lifecycle. It's an introduction but it's a start! 

If you are looking to develop your own online teaching materials then you could do worse than this guidance from Alison Yang:

Whatever approach you take during this time above all stay safe, stay healthy and wash your hands!