I'm looking for ways to revitalize my open workshops for fall quarter. What open workshops do you hold? What times of day have you found to work best? How do you market your workshops? How do you encourage/reward attendance? Do you hold your workshops in the library or elsewhere? I'd appreciate your input.
--Chandra
GOA9: Progress Report
2 days ago
3 comments:
My favorite workshop is one that I call "Anatomy of a Paper". It's also widely popular with students who have participated. It lasts just under one hour. I review the elements of developing a research paper, (idea development, keywords, research, evaluation, integration, editing, editing). I have a PPT somewhere, if you want to see it.
I think that the more creative that you can be in developing a presentation that meets the needs of your students, and the more creative you are in MARKETING that presentation, the more students that you will have attend. You can't just send at an e-mail the week before the workshop and expect students to attend. Get it put on the weekly campus calendar, have it announced on the Portal (and make sure the announcements says that online students are welcome to attend), put signs up, make up miniature fliers and pass them out in classes (great job for work studies, too), and tell students about it when you complete Reference interactions.
There are also many ways that you could encourage or reward attendance. You may want to offer certificates for students who attend that they can add to their portfolios. You may also want to entice students to attend with a gift card opportunity (receive a ticket at the end of each workshop... drawing at the end of each quarter). You may also want to offer food at the event.
Some may disagree about these rewards - that external motivators should not be the reason that students attend a workshop. I would say that very few students are going to be drawn to a workshop just on the merits of a workshop - would you? Most students think "I already know it all" - "that information is boring" - "I don't have time" - "what does that have to do with me". You aren't going to change that thinking without them viewing the workshop (hearing the sales pitch). You use the reward to draw them in, and a quality presentation to keep them interested and coming back.
OPEN WORKSHOPS
I have done only a few, but the ones that I thought went well were the ones where I asked instructors to share the workshop info with students that they felt really needed assistance in that area.
Another hook has been to ask students to bring an assignment with them that would relate to the workshop. What a plus to get some homework done while attending a workshop.
Candy or food never fails!
Right now I'm giving open workshops on Noodlebib Advanced. Students that received the information and began using it are really impressed and swear that they're going to continue using it. Let's cross our fingers.
I guess I'm also looking for motivational or incentive ideas. Most of my instructors haven't really shown much interest in giving extra credit, and I can hardly ever get food or other incentives approved in time due to our budget.
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