Nicole Hennig

AI Literacy: May 17 webinar

by Nicole Hennig | Mar 16, 2023

ChatGPT has been making headlines, with both positive and negative stories, including concerns about plagiarism and false information. You may not have had time to keep up with all the news, and you might be wondering how to separate the hype from the reality.

On May 17th I’m offering a webinar to address these topics. No matter where you fall on the spectrum between critic and enthusiast, it’s important for all of us these days to have basic AI literacy.

AI Literacy: Using ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Tools in Instruction
May 17 at 1:30 pm CDT via the American Library Association

In this webinar, you’ll learn why understanding AI tools (like ChatGPT & Bing Chat) is an important part of information literacy and something library staff should be learning about now.

After participating in this event, you will:

Understand the basics of ChatGPT and how it works
Know about the company behind it and the data that went into the product’s training
Know several examples of how to use ChatGPT and similar tools effectively
Understand some common criticisms of the technology and problems with it in its current form
Know some other tools and apps are available that use this technology

You’ll come away with:

A basic understanding of this technology (AI tools based on large language models).
Knowledge of why AI literacy is an important part of information literacy.
Inspiration & tips for offering workshops, guides, or handouts for your users on this topic.
A bibliography of best sources for learning more.

Bring your questions and comments! We’ll include time for discussion.

ALA Member Price: $71.10

Non Member Price: $79.00

Credit Type: Certificate Available upon Completion

Register

Chat GPT FAQ

by Nicole Hennig | Mar 15, 2023

In January, I put together a document to share with my department at the Univ. of Arizona Libraries (Student Learning and Engagement): Chat GPT FAQ.

It’s a work in progress – and I welcome your comments.

There are so many interesting questions about what these new tools means for education! So I’m learning everything I can about this topic and planning a webinar for librarians.

Feel free to share the FAQ with others!

ChatGPT FAQ

Webinar coming soon!

On May 17th I’ll be offering a webinar via the American Library Association: AI Literacy: Using ChatGPT and Artificial Intelligence Tools in Instruction.

It will focus on the importance of AI literacy for librarians – so we can help our users develop that same literacy.

You’ll learn why understanding AI tools (like ChatGPT) is a necessary part of information literacy and something library staff should be learning about now.

I’ll post more about the webinar soon – after ALA has announced it on their website.

Information Literacy Tutorials for Undergraduates

by Nicole Hennig | Jan 2, 2021

You can adapt and reuse these tutorials.

In January of 2019 I took a position as e-learning developer at the University of Arizona Libraries. I enjoy this work because I get to collaborate with my colleagues to create tutorials. I also enjoy learning to use new software tools for creating them.

The first tutorials we developed were aimed at undergrads to help them develop basic information literacy skills. They are based on concepts from ACRL’s Framework for Information Literacy.

My colleague Yvonne Mery, is an expert instructional design librarian. She was the visionary behind these tutorials and I helped bring them to life. She came up with the learning goals, wrote the scripts, created the practice sections, and gave feedback on my work throughout the process. I created the videos, recorded the voice-overs, and designed the tutorial websites and PDF assignments.

Each of these tutorials has 4 sections:

Watch
Think
Practice
Do

The Watch section contains a short, animated video that introduces the topic. The Think section is a quiz to help the student review what they learned in the video. The Practice section is a hands-on exercise that offers a chance to practice the concepts. Finally, the Do section is an optional assignment that can be used in a classroom setting and submitted to the instructor.

We used the following tools:

Vyond – for creating animated videos
Vimeo – for hosting the videos
Articulate Rise – for the website that presents the entire tutorial and for creating the quizzes
Sidecar Learning – for the practice section
Google Forms and Adobe Acrobat DC – for the assignments

Want to borrow these tutorials for your students?

All of these tutorials are open for use by anyone. We used a Creative Commons license so you can adapt and share your own versions of these with your students.

Would you like to try one of these tutorials for yourself? Start with How Do I Evaluate Online Information? or How Do I Create a Search Strategy?

Many University of Arizona instructors used these tutorials by embedding them in our learning management system, D2L. That way they could give students grades for completing them as part of their courses.

We’ll have more assessment results later, but for now you can read comments from our students on the effectiveness of these tutorials.

Making Library Services Accessible: online tutorial

by Nicole Hennig | Jan 25, 2020

Does your library staff feel confident about serving people with all types of disabilities?

It’s an important topic for all staff to know about , and it can be difficult to keep everyone up to date.

To help with that, I’ve created an informative and enjoyable online tutorial that you staff can complete in a reasonable amount of time.

Part 1: Making Library Services Accessible

This part is for any library staff member. It will help your staff:

Understand the different types of disabilities.
Feel empathy for people with disabilities.
Know why it’s important to make services accessible.
Learn how to provide help effectively.

Part 2: Making Library Websites Accessible

This part is for library staff who are responsible for websites and online services. It will help your staff:

Understand the WCAG principles.
Become familiar with the top priority accessibility guidelines.
Know how to use accessibility checkers and understand the results.
Become familiar with specialized tools for making writing clear, captioning videos, choosing accessible color combinations, and more.
Know how to learn more about specific accessibility topics.

Nicole’s accessibility tutorials for library staff are current, comprehensive, and relevant.

Our staff who complete this tutorial understand the importance of accessibility, feel empathy for people with disabilities, and know how to provide help effectively!

Samantha Everett

King County Library System, WA

Making Library Services Accessible

What’s included, how it’s delivered, pricing, and more.

Learn more!

Power Searching the Internet: The Librarian’s Quick Guide

by Nicole Hennig | Sep 21, 2019

Here’s what one reader said about my book, Power Searching the Internet.

This was a fast, practical read that packed a major punch.

It’s immediately useful for something I’ve always thought of as asymmetrical searching – not databases, but search engines and social media, managing Internet tools that react to you and your activity. Our patrons really need this info. Alas, it’s already going out of date – it gives some advice about Google+ (RIP) that is a shadow of things to come. Half of this stuff could be out in a year as Google and Facebook and the rest constantly morph into new, not necessarily better iterations. Meanwhile, though, tools like GScholar have stayed pretty stable.

This is also good foundational knowledge – if you know how it works now, a little change (or, in Twitter’s case, another goddamn overhaul) won’t completely throw you. Well worth $35!

Anna Gooding-Call

Freelance writer and public librarian

I always appreciate when people take the time to review a book of mine! Learn more about the book below.

Become a power searcher

Get the book