AALL 2018 Recap: Lightning Lessons: Research Instruction in a Flash

By Taryn Marks

Presenters: AJ Blechner & Heather Joy

This was the best presentation that I attended at AALL. It was informative, adhered to the description given in the program, kept my attention, and easily blended expert advice and practical experience, so that I both learned about something someone else had done and got solid, replicable advice on how to implement that something at my own institution. It also was by far one of the most-attended sessions I’ve ever seen at AALL (the speakers had 100 copies of their handouts and quickly ran out).

Heather Joy and AJ Blechner discussing how to implement your own lightning lessons.

First, the speakers described what they mean by lightning lesson (a short, less than 5 minute instructional session)—and then they provided an actual demonstration of how they have conducted a lightning lesson at their own institutions. Second, they handed out an overview and outline of how to create a lightning lesson at your own institution, providing easily scalable and replicable information that can be translated across different institutions. This was not the typical, “here’s how I did it at my institution, you can do the same thing;” they took a mile-high view of the process as they implemented it at their respective institutions, removed the esoteric descriptions of their own institutions’ quirks, and translated them into planning and organizing tips for any institution. Then, they allowed time for workshopping, so that each person could start to plan their own lightning lessons based on the material given to them at the session. Lastly, they gave the audience tips that they learned about creating and implementing lightning lessons (the two most important: get colorful baked goods, and own how cool and important the lesson you’re giving is, regardless of what it is).

AJ Blechner and Heather Joy demo how to do a lightning lesson at AALL 2018.

The session was recorded, and I encourage anyone interested in or thinking about the idea of lightning lessons to watch it. You only need to see the first 15 minutes or so to get the speakers’ demonstration of a lightning lesson and their suggested process for creating and implementing the lightning lessons, and the last 10 minutes or so to get their quick tips and answers to questions. If you are interested in creating your own lightning lessons, they posted their material to Google Drive, so that you can download them and use them to organize and plan your own lightning lessons.