What is International Week of the Deaf?

International Week of the Deaf takes place September 19-25, 2022, and is an annual opportunity to honour and build awareness of the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing community. This year’s theme is “Building Inclusive Communities for All,” which reminds us to foster connections with and understand the concerns of Deaf people.

The Library honours this occasion with a selection of resources to read and watch, which the RRC Polytech community can learn from and enjoy.

Selections to Read – Print Books

Deaf around the world: the impact of language

A compendium of work by scholars and activists on the creation, context, and form of sign languages, and on the social issues and civil rights of Deaf communities.

A journey into the deaf-world

A compelling story of this much-misunderstood minority as it struggles for self-determination.

Deaf empowerment: emergence, struggle, and rhetoric

Examines the Deaf social movement in America from its inception in the mid-19th century through its growth and empowerment in the late 20th century.

All of us together: the story of inclusion at the Kinzie School

A warm, encouraging testament to the dedication and hard work of the Kinzie teachers and parents. Reading about it is a wonderful, uplifting experience that also could serve as a model for any community.

Access: multiple avenues for deaf people

Presents an accomplished group of contributors who address the major technological, institutional, and societal advances in access for deaf people, as well as the remaining hurdles.

Selections to Read – Ebooks

Signs of Hope: Deafhearing Family Life

Tells the story of a narrative inquiry with three deafhearing families. For many of us, deafness represents loss and silence. For others, being deaf is a genetic quirk; an opportunity for learning, spiritual adventure and reward. For yet others, it is the most natural thing in the world.

Deaf epistemologies, identity, and learning: a comparative perspective

Noted scholars and researchers examine the many ways that deaf people see and acquire deaf knowledge.

A man without words

Vividly conveys the challenge, the frustrations, and the exhilaration of opening the mind of a congenitally deaf person to the concept of language.

Sign language, sustainable development, and equal opportunities: envisioning the future for deaf students

Offers creative and open-minded explorations of the construct of sustainability that are informed by their work with deaf individuals, deaf communities, families of deaf children, and other stakeholders.

Language, Power, and Resistance: Mainstreaming Deaf Education

Explores how different types of power are used in the deaf education system to establish, maintain, and also resist medical views of deafness. 

Deaf Eyes on Interpreting

Brings Deaf people to the forefront of the discussions about what constitutes quality interpreting services.

Selections to Watch – Streaming Video and DVD

Through Deaf Eyes [DVD]

Exploring nearly 200 years of Deaf life in America, this film presents the shared experiences of American history–family life, education, work, and community connections–from the perspective of deaf citizens. 

Deafology 101: a crash course on deaf culture [Streaming video]

Presents a highly entertaining lecture on deaf culture by Ken Glickman, author of “DEAFinitions” and other humor books.

Note: This video has been digitized from an older VHS master. For best picture quality, set your browser to a smaller window.

The Dance of Words [Streaming video]

Features young artists who have embraced their deaf identity in adulthood after spending a difficult childhood in the grey zone between hearing culture and deaf culture. These emerging artists show how they are using the arts to build a deaf culture that makes them proud. They shine a spotlight on their community while promoting and advancing deaf culture with a keen sensitivity.

Have Questions or Comments?

Library staff love to hear from the College community about our collection! Feel free to connect with us in person at the Notre Dame and Exchange District Campus Libraries or through Ask Us Chat at library.rrc.ca.

Written by Linda Fox – Library Technician, Program Support and Promotion

Services and Supports to Ensure College and Career Readiness

Assessment Services, a subdivision of Library and Academic Services, creates and administers entrance and diagnostic academic testing for College programs to help students determine their overall academic readiness for their program and desired career. They also work with students to help them prepare for College by determining and improving their academic readiness.

This department recently developed from offering admissions and diagnostic testing to incorporating language placement testing, external examinations, distance examinations, and accommodated exams.

In this series of posts, we would like to introduce our multi-faceted team to you, beginning with Admissions, Diagnostic and Placement Testing.

The Admissions, Diagnostic and Placement Testing Team

We organize, develop and facilitate admissions testing for a select range of program areas (Health Sciences, Community Services, AME, and international students) and for any application that is missing an academic transcript. We also offer diagnostic testing in collaboration with SIE for Intro to Trades, Compass Skills, and College Transition programs, in addition to offering diagnostic assessments to the Ndinawe organization that supports at-risk youth in Winnipeg. We are also responsible for organizing language placement tests for the Language Training Centre.

Applicants who need to take an admissions assessment as part of their application should visit our resources at our Admissions and Diagnostics website. Here students will find out about helpful resources and preparatory supports that we offer, including pre-program workshops for Community Services led by Yaw, and a tutor-led Degrees of Reading Power workshop.

Stay tuned for the next post in this series, where we’ll introduce you to our Exam Accommodations team.

Written by Piers Smettem, Assessment Specialist

All of the staff at Library and Academic Services are happy to extend a warm welcome to everyone returning to campus. We’re looking forward to providing a safe study space and continuing to offer supports to students and staff, both in-person and online.

Alan Chorney, Manager, Information and Programming Delivery with Library and Academic Services.

Staff and services nearby to help you succeed

For an overview of our free services, stop by in person at ATLAS (Academic Success Centre), the Library Service Desk or visit our website at library.rrc.ca. Library and Academic Services is not just a great place to study, but a supportive team of enthusiastic staff who are here to help you succeed.

Your ideal study space: a virtual tour

Our Notre Dame Campus (NDC) location offers multiple spaces to study. A variety of setups are situated under the skylight, by a window, in a study room, in private carrels, or at tables with whiteboards nearby. Find your ideal study space at the NDC Library!

We look forward to meeting you – online at library.rrc.ca and in person at the Notre Dame or Exchange District Campus Libraries. All the best in your studies at RRC Polytech!

Written by Linda Fox, Library Technician – Program Support and Promotion

Another school year is just around the corner and although it is always an exciting time, it can also be a little stressful! Check out these free resources and supports to help you feel successful and calm throughout your studies.

1. Take advantage of dog therapy

Studies have shown that spending time around furry friends can boost our mood, lower our stress, and give us a stronger sense of belonging.

Learn more in this online article (RRC Polytech login may be required) >> Putting Away Pre-Exam Stress: The Effect of Therapy Dog Sessions on Student Well-Being

Did you know that Red River Polytechnic has provided therapy dog visits in the past? Read more about it in Campus Well-Being’s newsletter.

2. Know you’re not alone

Being a student can stir up a lot of negative emotions and for those who already struggle with mental health, it can feel hopeless. High numbers of students seeking help has led academic institutions to provide easily accessible mental health supports to students.

Check out this online video by CBC to learn more (RRC Polytech login may be required) >> Crisis on Campus: Mental Health Demands Surge

3. Set aside time to be mindful

How can mindfulness activities help you be successful while keeping your stress levels at a minimum? Mindfulness for Students provides tips and tricks to better studying, active listening during lectures, and even how to properly prepare for exams. This book is a great tool for your life in and outside of the learning environment.

Learn more and borrow this print book (RRC Polytech ID card required to borrow) >> Mindfulness for Students

Learn about Campus Well-Being’s tips for promoting mindfulness through stretching >> 7 Stretches To Try at Your Desk

4. Spend time outside

Clinical studies have shown that spending time outside lowers stress and boosts mood. Many colleges are striving to implement programs in which students can spend more time in nature and gain an appreciation of the great outdoors while also lowering the anxiety that can come with the stresses of college.  A great guide for educators wanting to provide opportunities for fresh air in their programs and a great read for students to understand why getting outside is important for your mental well-being.

Read this ebook online (RRC Polytech login may be required) >> Nature Rx: Improving College-Student Mental Health

5. Learn tips for writing success

A step-by-step guide which makes the writing process a breeze! Offering suggestions from how to avoid plagiarism, to how to effectively organize your idea, How to Write Better Essays is sure to help you hand papers in with confidence.

Learn more and borrow this print book (RRC Polytech ID card required to borrow) >> How to Write Better Essays

Did you know the Academic Success Centre offers writing support? Learn more by visiting ASC Supports for Students – Writing Centre

Additional free supports offered at RRC Polytech

If you would like to learn more about the mental health supports offered at the College, please explore the following links:

• RRC Mental Wellness
• RRC Counselling

For the full list of student supports, visit www.rrc.ca/supports.

Guest post written by Hilary Ottenbreit, Library Information and Technology student     

Increase Adoption of OER and Electronic Resources: A Key Action for High-Quality Learning

As indicated as a key action of high-quality learning at Red Forum 2022, the Library Team is here to help support instructors in finding high-quality electronic educational resources. The pandemic has blurred the lines between” in-person” learning and “remote” digital classrooms. The RRC Polytech Library is here to support instructors in locating resources that can withstand the need to shift learning environments nimbly.

We invite instructors who may have struggled with format shifts using their current teaching materials, or those who are seeking alternatives to current textbooks, to consider the shift to Open Educational Resources (OER). These are educational materials such as textbooks, problem sets, slide decks, lesson plans, handouts, infographics, and other educational content that can be used for free and without permission.

Advantages of OER

OERs are published under an open license, such as Creative Commons. This allows several key advantages:

1. Instructors can switch the format of materials with ease and without concern for the violation of copyright, these resources can be printed or remain in digital versions for students.
2. Instructors can Retain, Reuse, Revise, Remix and Redistribute the materials freely without violating copyright.
3. OER use allows for cost savings for students when suitable OER can be located to replace course materials students pay for out of pocket.

More Information

Learn more about OER as well as past faculty education sessions held over the past two years: visit the Faculty Support OER Page.

See the impact of our current OER use at RRC Polytech in this 2-minute video: OER Impact Video.

Find support at the RRC Polytech Library to get started with OER: contact the Copyright Officer.

Written by Ebony Novakowski – Copyright Officer

Since we had redesigned the Library and Academic Services website last summer, it was decided that user testing would tell us whether our new site design was effective.

Last fall, we arranged for a small sample of students to review and critique the site. This spring, we decided to do the same using a group of Faculty.

In our site redesign we used principles of user centric design, attempting to create a site for our users, who were defined as two personas: “Average Student User” and “Average Instructor User.”

This particular test targeted instructors, and would evaluate our “Average Instructor User” persona.

Our Academic Support Coordinator, Melissa Coyle, asked for volunteers via Staff News. Not sure how much interest she would generate, she was pleasantly surprised to receive a number of volunteers, all Instructors and EAs, and from different programs and areas of the college. Choosing five candidates that represented an even cross-section of our college, Melissa went ahead and administered a test, one-on-one with each volunteer.

We would like to take a moment to thank the staff who volunteered to take our test. Without you, this entire process would not have been possible. Bravo!

Using a list of twenty-one tasks, consisting of scenarios and questions that could be discovered on the Library and Academic Services website, Melissa monitored the candidates progress in browsing the web pages, taking notes as to the success or failure of the candidate in resolving each task.

It is true that you do not know how easy or hard a designed task might be until you observe an average person attempt to complete it. Melissa did this through a WebEx session with each candidate. It is an ingenious way to conduct a usability test, and Melissa was able to adeptly conduct the testing, all the while taking note of the challenges met by the users.

In case you were not aware, the Library and Academic Services website is quite deep, and contains information on services offered by the Library, Academic Success Centre, and Assessment Services. Some of the tasks were easily resolved by the users, such as:

• Where would you go to find the hours for NDC and EDC campus?  
• You are browsing the LAS website and want to ask a Library staff a question. How would you ask a question or request help? 
• You are an instructor who would like to schedule an in-class Academic Skills workshop for your students. Where would you go to request this workshop?
• You have a student in your class who you would like to refer for tutoring. What instruction would you provide the student to request or connect with a tutor on their own? 
• You are looking for information about Copyright, where would you go to find this?

Other questions posed to be more difficult for the users, indicating adjustments may be necessary on the web site:

• You are an instructor who has assigned a research paper to your students for a specific topic and would like to reserve a selection of books for your class at the Library – how would you do this?
• You have a student who is unfamiliar with LEARN and struggling to access course materials, submit assignments, and participate in online discussions . You would like to connect them with a tutor for help – how would you do this?
• You’d like to share some self-directed resources with your students with a focus on study skills. Where would you find these?

Clearly we have more work to do to improve the Library and Academic Services website. In fact, we recognize that a website must be continuously managed, meaning changes are always necessary, and future testing will always be a smart step.

In addition to areas of improvement, the testing has shown us that our process of user-centric design is working. For the most part, we discovered that our Instructor persona was able to use the website to complete the tasks built into the user-interface.

When we build a web site, we think we can do plenty by considering how users will interact with the site. However, until we have some real users try the site, and we watch how they do it, we cannot know the whole story.

So, take our advice. Arrange for a few users to test your web site!

Mark Nelson
Library Systems Specialist
Red River College Polytechnic

The Academic Success Centre (ASC) is partnering with Career Services to provide a comprehensive, interactive workshop series on the development of employment documents and skills for students.   

The series will be a combination of presentations by the Career Services team supported by ASC workshops on complementary topics including: Job Search Strategies and Networking, LinkedIn Profile Development, Resumes and Cover letters, and Interview Strategies. By attending all workshop, students will gain the knowledge and skills they need to succeed with their job search. The series complements Math, Science, and Communication’s (COMM-2172) Communication for the Workplace course.

These workshops will be designed for students in business related programs. All students are welcome to attend and adapt the information to their field. 

Register Now: To register for the workshops, click here to visit the Get Job Search Ready website. 

Access the LEARN Shell: Click here to self-enroll into the Get Job Search Ready Career Services & ASC LEARN shell.

Workshop Overview

The Nursing faculty invited the RRC Polytech Library to be the sixth stop on their Amazing Race team-building exercise this spring.

Participants arrived at the Library to receive an old-fashioned card catalogue card pointing them to a book on team-building on the Library’s shelves.

A clue hidden within the books pointed the teams to the sunny side of the Library to find another stop in the children’s section (too bad it rained on Tuesday). Surrounded by picture books, the nursing faculty teams found old magazines for their next task.

Fifteen energetic teams participated in the team-building exercise that involved Skills tests, quizzes, random acts of kindness, a College locations scavenger hunt, and a group project to create a creative Representation of Teamwork.

Connect with Us!

Do you have an opportunity to include the Library in your team-building exercises? We make a great stop on any scavenger hunt and are happy to brainstorm activities to fit your team and event.

Connect with us through Ask Us chat, our Ask a Question form, or visit one of our service desks during regular Library hours.

Written by Rosemary Woodby – Reference Technician

This week we are highlighting “The Teaching Professor” A weekly, online newsletter dedicated to helping college faculty improve students’ learning.

Library and Academic Services (LAS) offers many avenues of support to faculty at RRC Polytech. Among those is our subscription to The Teaching Professor; an online, weekly, newsletter aimed at those teaching in higher education.

The Teaching Professor has been lauded for its succinct articles that make the connection between theory and practice in the scholarship of teaching and learning. It covers a wide range of topics such as course development, student engagement, academic integrity, online and blended learning, and professional growth.

Here are some reasons to check it out

The Twenty Minute Mentor is a monthly feature of a 20-minute video program. Check in each month to see what the topic is!

This months 20-Minute Mentor is How Can I Optimize Announcements to Help Online Students Navigate My Class? presented by Nathan Pritts, PhD, professor and lead faculty at the University of Arizona Global Campus.

For Those Who Teach is the long-running weekly column from Maryellen Weimer, the publication’s founding editor and its lead writer from 1987 to 2022.

Resources

The Library Team has taken the time to pull resources from “The Teaching Professor” in three potential areas of interest for faculty.

Please check them out and take time to get to know “The Teaching Professor”.

1. Preparing For Return to Class

At this time of year, everyone is looking forward to the slower pace of summer days! When the time comes for you to start preparing for your return to the classroom, The Teaching Professor can help with some icebreakers for the first week of classes and with setting the tone of your classroom:

How to Welcome Students to an Online Class

Creating Connections: Team-Building Activities for the Online Classroom

Transforming Classroom Culture

Bringing Authentic Humor into the Classroom

2. Academic Integrity

Academic dishonesty in the 21^st century is so different than the days of looking over a fellow student’s shoulder for the answer. The Teaching Professor has many articles addressing this, here are just a few:

How to Keep Your Students’ Work off Study Sites

Cheating: Can We Be Doing More to Promote Academic Integrity?

A More Optimistic Way to Teach Academic Integrity: Standing with Honor on the Shoulders of Giants

Activities that Promote Awareness of What is and Isn’t Cheating

3. Life Long Learning

For educators, lifelong learning is so important. Developing your skills and knowledge after your formal education ends keeps your teaching fresh, allows you to reflect on what you’re currently doing, and gives you new ideas to strengthen your classroom connections. Here are a few articles to get you started:

Energize Your Teaching by Playing to Your Strengths

Why it’s so Hard to Change the Way We Teach

What Ted Lasso Taught Me About my First Semester of Teaching

Pandemic Lessons: Connect More and Hustle Less

Defining and Denouncing Student Shaming: A Teacher’s Reflection

Don’t Forget to Sign Up!

 The above links are just a small sampling of what can be found in The Teaching Professor. To sign up for weekly article summaries please click here to sign up Teaching Professor Email Update Service.

Written by Erin Edwards, Resource Management Technician

RRC Polytech staff and students can now enjoy hassle-free scheduling with the library’s new online equipment booking system.
Find out everything you need to know about the new booking system so you can plan ahead, and be front of the line for fall bookings!

What’s available?

There are many equipment categories to browse and book online:

• Laptops for Staff and Students
• Equipment for meetings and presentations
• Webcams, headsets and computer accessories
• On campus use items
• Light Therapy Lamps for those long winter months!
• And much, much more!

Where to go on Library.rrc.ca to book equipment?

You can navigate to the equipment booking system from the library homepage, either by selecting Book Equipment from the icon bar on the homepage, or find it under browse and borrow from on the homepage top menu.

OR

Where to pick up a booking?

The RRC Polytech Library has two locations, one at the Notre Dame Campus in CM18, and another at the Exchange District Campus in room P214. Our two libraries have different equipment collections, so make sure you select the location you’ll be picking up from, before browsing and setting up bookings.

Add upcoming bookings to your outlook calendar

When you create a booking, you will receive a “Your booking has been confirmed” email with an .ics calendar file. Open the attachment and add the booking to your calendar.

Make sure to add alerts@mail.libcal.com to your safe senders list so you don’t miss any important updates or reminders about your bookings!

Cancel or Change an upcoming booking

Created a booking you no longer need? Need that equipment for a different time? You can cancel an upcoming booking anytime through the link included in your booking confirmation and reminder emails.

To change a booking, simply reply to your booking confirmation or reminder email and let us know the change, you’ll get an automatic email notification confirming when the changes have been made.

Find out more!

Need some help figuring out how to book equipment? Find out everything you need to know on the book equipment help page.

Curious about the student laptop loan program? Check out the laptop loans terms of use.

Find all the loan periods for equipment on the loan period information page.

Connect with Us!

More information about our services and supports is available on our website. You may also connect with us through Ask Us chat, our Ask a Question form, or visit one of our service desks during regular Library hours.

Written by Artemis Hedrich – Reference Technician