TEL Trainer of the Month

Septmeber 2009 TEL Trainer of the Month: Philenese, Sharon, Nancy, Inga, and Christina at APSU
by Jennifer Wooters

TEL extends sincere thanks to trainers Philenese Slaughter, Sharon Johnson, Nancy Gibson, Inga Filippo, and Christina Chester-Fangman. They work together at Austin Peay State University and generously share their instructional expertise with TEL. Philenese emphasizes that this group is a team in the truest sense. She says, “APSU’s Instructional Services Librarians enjoyed being a team long before the idea of team teaching TEL presentations became our standard.” Christina agrees, saying, “We are all interested in and supportive of what each other is doing!” Furthermore, the team members share the same values. Sharon says, “As the instruction team at our university, we have a vested interest in teaching life-long learning skills. We all wanted a way to interact with the surrounding community. This seemed an opportune way to put our money (actions) where our mouths (hearts) were.”

Christina explains that training together as a group evolved naturally: “A couple of our team members attended the ‘Train the Trainers’ workshop a few years ago and were excited to share what they discovered about TEL with us. Then, of course, we wanted to just jump right in and see what we could do to contribute to the project.” Philenese elaborates, “Since it was late summer and things were relatively slow here in the library, we opted to all go … the team approach was such a success that we have continued team teaching TEL presentations.”

Training as a group has its advantages for trainers and for learners. Speaking to strangers can be easier when you have backup. Nancy says there is “nothing like the moral support of your colleagues in traveling to places you haven’t been before and speaking before different audiences from elementary students to frontline teachers!” Inga agrees that training in a group is good because, “it is of great value to have trusted colleagues on the floor assisting the learners.” Bringing new trainers to the head of the classroom also helps keep the lessons fresh, which keeps learners focused. Sharon says, “A team provides variety so participants don’t zone out on one speaker.” Philenese sums it all up, saying, “Not only do we enjoy working together but we repeatedly get comments on the evaluation forms about how much the participants enjoy the team approach.” And Inga mentions a fun and unexpected benefit of being a TEL trainer: “We have become experts on regional gastronomy—we travel and we explore local eateries. What could be a better combination!!

The group likes all of the databases available through TEL. Nancy says, “There’s no bad TEL resource or feature.” But they especially rave about Points of View because it encourages critical thinking, Learning Express Library because it provides so much valuable information, and Kids InfoBits because its icons and articles are so appropriate for children.

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