Adult Online Learning Insights from #ETFOsa21 #NAMLE21 & TL AQ

Holy macaroni! What a full week!

July 13 - 15, 2021 was the ETFO Summer Academy session, "Rediscovering Joy in the TL Role".

July 16 - 19, 2021 was the NAMLE 2021 Conference.

Don't forget the ongoing Teacher-Librarianship Part 1 Additional Qualification Course with Queen's University.

There are so many things that I could write about each specific learning experience. (I will probably share my #NAMLE21 notes on the AML website.) However, there were some commonalities I noted between all three events. (Some of it may even spill over into the TDSB Expected Practice Writing Project that I mentioned last week and is ALSO still ongoing.) 

1) Learning on-demand has never been more fluid or possible.

With over a year of experience, thanks to the pandemic, the way online learning experiences are organized seem to be more flexible and accessible. In my Queen's University TL AQ course, we have candidates who are on completely different continents. They work at their own pace and I am learning more about how to manage group tasks (which I greatly reduced when designing this course) to accommodate for different time zones and work periods. Another example comes from the weekend conference; on Friday I watched 3 sessions (including two that were scheduled at the same time) from #NAMLE21. This would not have been doable at an in-person conference; I would have had to choose between the two. On Saturday, I watched six sessions in total, almost all of them "on-demand". Usually my brain would have been too full and I would have been too tired to absorb any more information. This leads to my next insight ...

2) There is a greater realization that time has to be carefully used online.

The ETFO Summer Academy had a limit of two hours of synchronous meeting time in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. This was a slight increase from last year, when it was capped at 90 minutes per portion. The individual NAMLE workshops are usually under an hour long, and often fall between 20-40 minutes. Organizers (of adult education, anyway) are being much more cognizant of how exhausting it is to stare at a screen for hours and hours at a time and are scheduling experiences appropriately. I can take a break when I need or want it, and return refreshed. If you have the stamina to watch several sessions in a row, that is your choice, but it is an option. When online together, the time is constructed in meaningful ways - more interactions, and any lectures or content-driven moments are punctuated by engaging multimedia supports. I really hope that my TL AQ candidates aren't spending too much time online. (I myself spend about 2-3 hours every night reading or viewing their contributions in the course, answering course-related queries via email, and taking notes related to assessment.) 

3) Be gentle with your facilitators/leaders - confidence is part of the façade.

Imposter syndrome is when "which an individual doubts their skills, talents, or accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud".^[1]" (although take into account systemic bias). In every group I've worked with so far this summer - the TDSB Writing Team, the ETFO SA team, other colleagues preparing parallel sessions to share at NAMLE - there has always been at least one person, and that includes me, that questions whether or not they are knowledgeable or experienced enough to merit this opportunity. Combined with that fear is the worry about the crowd receiving the learning. Adults are definitely less forgiving and more demanding than children, and at the risk of offending some, adult educators can be one of the toughest audiences to teach. When I first started teaching Additional Qualification courses in 2018 (with York University), I was absolutely terrified. I didn't even reveal to anyone that it was my first time leading the course until the very last day! The 12 participants then were marvelous, as were the 15 participants in 2019. Now I'm facilitating the course that I actually designed for Queen's University with 18 candidates. The onQ system is new to me, and I want to thank Bryan, Sarah, Penny, Deborah, and Julie for answering my questions and calming my nerves. I am extra-anxious about this course because it is my first time and I am responsible for the content. I know I will eventually feel more comfortable and confident after I go through it once, as is/was the case with the ETFO Summer Academy course. This was my fourth time presenting with ETFO SA (three of those times with the wonderful Jennifer Brown) and it was the first time for my colleagues Moyah Walker and Ketly Appleton. They were fantastic! They did a wonderful job and brought their own strengths to the team. I believe that the participants enjoyed their experience, but it can be hard to tell because ...

4) It can be harder to develop lasting connections or relationships. 

Let me clarify. I am not saying that it is impossible to bond virtually. After all, I have some very close friendships that were formed from participating in an online Twilight fan forum. What I am trying to say is that there are a lot of factors that contribute to the development of community and connections when it happens virtually, and I really miss how much easier it seems to come to me to "click" with people in person. There were nearly 30 participants in last week's ETFO SA session, and if you asked me how many I could name without referring to a list, I'm not sure what score I would get. When I went to NAMLE's conference in Washington DC in 2019 (my last trip before the pandemic hit), I made such incredible connections! Timothy, Theresa, Faith, Lisa, Belinda ... we aren't suddenly best friends, but we know of and about each other in a way that watching a video doesn't replicate as well. 

5) Preparing for these events takes even longer than the event itself. 

Okay, this is a repeat from last week's blog, just rephrased, but it is worth a second mention. If you watch my NAMLE 2021 presentations, one was about 30 minutes and the other was about 40 minutes. (Yes, I contributed two sessions.) It took hours and hours of preparation to get those ready, and that was just a solo endeavor. When you add other contributors, multiply the amount of time it takes. Our ETFO Summer Academy session that just occurred took at least 5 multi-hour group meetings with the whole team, plus many phone conversations and individual work on the planning document and slide decks. (My upcoming other ETFO SA session team has already met 4 times to discuss matters and a 5th meeting has already been scheduled while I am away on "vacation".) I estimate it took about 7 months of work to revise the Queen's University TL AQs (because I wrote all 3.) It's exhausting - but can be rewarding. 

So, thank you to:

• the ETFO Summer Academy people that made last week work
• Jennifer Brown (wonderful co-presenter)
• Moyah Walker (wonderful co-presenter)
• Ketly Appleton (wonderful co-presenter)
• Julie Millan (ETFO SA coordinator)
• Tracy Halliday (amazing guest speaker)
• Sean Liburd (Knowledge Books rep)
• Andrew Woodrow-Butcher (Beguiling rep)
• Miguel San Vincente (A Different Booklist rep)
• Malaika Eyoh (A Different Booklist rep)
• Alison Frayne (Goodminds rep)
• Achilles Gentle (Goodminds rep)

• the NAMLE 2021 conference folks (see my tweets for shout-outs)
• the Queen's University Continuing Teacher Education organizers &  TL AQ participants