Issue
26(1)
The
Lighter Side of Staff Development.
Aaron Bacall. (2005). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press, 84 pp.
Price $19.95. ISBN 1-4129-0506-0.
Review
by: Pat Alexy Stoll
Office
of the Dean
Rowan
University
Writing
a 600-word book review on Aaron Bacall's The Lighter Side
of Staff Development turns out to be quite a challenge since
the book itself does not contain 600 words. Let me explain.
Bacall's
book is actually a group of 84 cartoons that can be used in various
professional development and training scenarios. Anyone who has
ever sat through a training and development session knows that
a bit of humor can go a long way to relieve the tedium of several
hours of presentation on a given topic. The cartoons have a we-are-in-this-together
mentality that pokes fun at training sessions and trainers with
a gentle, wry sense of humor. The artist's background is varied:
teacher, curriculum writer, and research chemist who is currently
a cartoonist and coordinator of medical programs in continuing
education at the College
of Staten Island
in New York.
It is not surprising that he works in the adult education field
because most of the applications of these cartoons would be in
settings with adult students/employees.
Of
the 84 cartoons, 38 can be used for general presentations by either
corporate or educational trainers; 17 are applicable to the K-12
school setting, and 29 deal with education in general (the K-12
arena as well as higher education). None of the cartoons focuses
specifically on advisement, but many of them show a staff/professional
development workshop from the audience's point of view-and usually
at the expense of the presenter.
The
main audience for this little book appears to be the training
and development professional who could incorporate these cartoons
into a presentation. Indeed, Bacall invites the reader to use
his work in the Introduction to the book, so there are no copyright
issues. He appears to endorse sharing his work. It would have
been helpful if the publisher had included a CD; the cartoons
could have been downloaded for easier inclusion in a presentation.
Although the book is small, there is no Table of Contents or Index.
A listing of the cartoons by subject would have saved some time
for the reader.
This
is not a classic advisement book that needs to be part of the
individual academic advisor's professional library; however, its
purchase is recommended for the general library in the Advisement
Center.
Opportunities to present to colleagues, both inside and outside,
are frequent enough in the academic advisement field to warrant
purchasing a copy of this unassuming book that will enlighten
as well as entertain.
