Although Monday was a Memorial Day holiday here but we opted to have a session on Blogging by Dr. Clara. After that session all the associates were taken to the Allerton Park outside Champaign for an some hiking and outing. It was a very enjoyable trip with associates having fun with each other and taking pictures for memories. Tuesday was started with a visit to Siebel Center for Design which was very interesting place with innovative furniture and infrastructure design to promote collaborative learning environment including classrooms, meeting rooms, makerspaces, and an open informal theater space with staircase sitting. I gathered lots of useful ideas that can be implemented in our Digital Library building in the campus center specially the idea of all the tables, chairs and whiteboard on wheels that can be moved easily according to the need and requirements to promote collaborative learning. The Human Center Design workshop was very informative with focus on promoting design thinking among students and how we can apply that to the libraries. Later in the day I got an opportunity to experience mixed reality and virtual reality at the innovation center (CITL).
Wednesday we started with a session on SWOT analysis, Professional Development Program and SMART goals. I got to learn and reflect upon my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and also learnt about Professional Development Program (PDP) with short terms goals, medium term and long term goals. The day ended with a detailed visit to the Main University Library where we saw various sections and libraries for different schools. Scholarly Commons was again a very interest place with innovative furniture for collaborative work spaces including PODs for group discussions. Visit to iSchool on Thursday where we had detailed session on various programs offered at the iSchool for Library professionals, later in the day we visited the Urbana Free Library. On Friday we had a visit to the Campus Instructional Facility which was very interesting with various types of classrooms for collaborative learning, a big auditorium and monumental steps for informal sitting.
Highlights:
- Visit to Siebel Center for Design (innovative infrastructure and furniture design promoting collaborative learning)
- SWOT Analysis and Professional Development Program
- Visit to the Main Library I like the idea of Scholarly Commons with innovative workplaces
- Visit to iSchool and Urbana Free Library
- Visit to the Campus Instructional Facility
- Session on AI and Machine Learning including Documentary “Coded Bias”