Reminder: Registration for AALL Webinar on Educational Storytelling as an Instructional Technique Due by Feb. 16

Back in the day, I would use one of my own legal research stories for a research class lecture or while working alongside an anxious young firm associate performing research when appropriate. In my case, storytelling was oftentimes a parable that sounded in the research log and writing process to serve as a warning -- "you may think you have finished research and can now just write but the odds are high that during the analytical process that goes into writing, you will be returning to perform more research until the work product is ultimately finalized."

Quoting from the description for AALL's Feb. 22, 2012 Developing and Using Stories to Teach Legal Research webinar:

[S]torytelling ... serves as an effective communication technique in trial practice, business administration, and library science.  While little used in law librarianship, storytelling has the potential to transform the way law librarians convey legal research techniques and legal information to law library patrons.  This comprehensive webinar will introduce educational storytelling, and include a demonstration of a legal education story as well as methods for collecting, developing, and evaluating potential stories.

If storytelling is or has become a technique little used by law librarians, it can be a valuable technique that IMHO should be used in the classroom and in patron assistance. It certainly isn't always appropriate but the technique ought be in the law librarian instructional toolbox. Again quoting from the webinar description:

This comprehensive webinar will introduce educational storytelling, and include a demonstration of a legal education story as well as methods for collecting, developing, and evaluating potential stories.

(Emphasis added.)

This isn't a matter of telling "war stories." The key here is developing stories which are instructional for the patron in the library and other stories for group audiences. In the context of legal research instruction in law schools, storytelling needs to dovetail into the intent of the course. Is the course designed to teach reseach skills to students so they can conduct legal research during their academic career? Is the course designed to teach practice-oriented legal research to students?  

Moderated by Mark Estes, the webinar's speakers are Vanessa Christman (formerly Uribe), El Dorado County Law Library Director, and Beth Wrenn-Estes who is a full-time lecturer in the School of Library and Information Science at San Jose State University. Should be interesting.

Developing and Using Stories to Teach Legal Research
February 22 at 11 a.m CST
Cost: $30 for AALL members; $60 for nonmembers; $150 for site registration (per physical site)
Registration and payment due by February 16 at 5:00 p.m. (CST)

For additional information and to register, go here. Do note, space is limited. [JH]