12 Association of Research Libraries Research Library Issues 298 2019 to either obscure or enhance the message. Students and faculty alike can effectively communicate their research or data through compelling storytelling in video production or strong visual designs. Distilling a concept down to its key components or main takeaway creates the building blocks for any visually rich project. For example, Alison says, one must consider such decisions as choice of typography or color palettes. With the right choice a presenter can positively emphasize information, or with the wrong one confuse and distract the audience. Since 2013, Alison has taught more than 500 course-integrated workshops reaching more than 12,000 students from a variety of academic programs including literature, media and communication, biological sciences, and business, as well as drop-in workshops reaching an additional 1,000 students. In the pre/post tests in Alison’s classes, on average, students increased their pre-score with no preparation from 50% correct, to 89% correct on the post-test. The pre/post tests were standardized across topics. In keeping with the overarching goals of Library Next, Alison is working to enhance the library’s role in curriculum development. One example is a computational media research section led by Alison and Ximin Mi. Computational Media is a joint program between the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and the College of Computing. Students in the program are heavily involved in the user experience. In this course, students work with emerging technologies to propose a research initiative utilizing available library resources and showcase their work as the semester concludes. Students are challenged to think creatively and critically in concert with the instructors who assess their progress. To meet the growing demand for data literacy, several librarians at Georgia Tech submitted three proposals for a new program called Minimester Classes. The Commission on Creating the Next in Education proposed a matrix of minimester classes, which are short courses that can overlay the regular semester calendar. The purpose is to create short courses—one credit for five weeks—that could be used in a variety of ways, including future faculty training, whole-
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