Testimonials

"Dear Di. Or, should I say “Dear masterful one”? Our very thanks for leading not one but TWO successful IBSC Ideas Labs for School Librarians.  Not only have I loved learning more about this topic, your facilitation style and skills are ones we often model to others as they think through this work.  You are always prepared, listen to everyone carefully, connect the dots, and keep the conversation moving smoothly.  While you offer your own experiences, it is never about you or your school.  It is about the topic at hand. Thank you!   The time and preparation you put into this is evident.  And, as I told Bruce, I am very privileged to be able to be part of this with you and the group. This is truly the highlight of my week." (Interim Executive Director, International Boys' Schools Coalition,  October, 2021)

"Thanks for leading another great cohort of Ideas Lab for Librarians. The resources and prompts you provided generated terrific conversation. You truly are a wonderful facilitator that is prepared, inclusive, and an outstanding listener." (Interim Executive Director, International Boys' Schools Coalition, May, 2021)

"We are happy to share the chapter with you, Dianne. Your work contributed significantly in supporting ours. It definitely takes all of us to get the word out of the importance of graphic novels."  (Author, The Role of Graphic Novels in K-12 Classrooms, 2021)

"I hope that this note finds you well.  Thank you SO MUCH for running the IBSC Ideas Lab for Librarians.  As I am new to the position here at St. Andrew's, and as I am the only librarian, it often feels like I work in isolation. Having access to such wonderful professionals is invaluable to me in my work and in helping me to feel always inspired to do more for the boys and faculty at my school. After such a challenging year, I feel energized and invigorated with lots of ideas to work toward implementing." (Teacher Librarian, Canada, 2021)

"THANK YOU!  You are a superb facilitator and your leadership provided a very rich series of 3 conversations with school librarians. The conversation just flowed, resources shared, and support felt. We know you spent a lot of time thinking through the topics, keynotes, and prepping. We truly appreciate this and are so lucky to have you as part of this community.  You make it easy and fun for us all. This one is hard to describe as ‘work’." (Chief Operating Officer, International Boys's Schools Coalition, 2021)

"Most importantly, I’d like to thank ma’am Di Laycock, the person who introduced us to the concept of an action research project. Without her efforts and help, we wouldn’t have managed to write such a dynamic and informative research project. Moreover, it was only her, who made us realise that in reality the action is way more important than the research. We have tried to keep this very logic in mind in the process of our project, and thus we have tried to reach out to the grassroots level of the human psyche in order to alter our actions accordingly to suit the person best." (Student, Student Action Research Program, Dehra Dun, India, 2018)

" Di’s presentation was excellent, it has helped greatly with developing a selection policy for our graphic novel collection"

"Has given inspiration to rework some aspects of graphic novels within our school"

"I valued learning about the increasingly important role of diverse ways of enhancing learning & engaging reluctant learners through the use of the graphic novels"

"This was both practical and inspirational. Sometimes it can be hard to get teachers to embrace this format. Di has given much assistance with this"

"Always good value. I have seen Di speak on the topic several times. She always has something new and very relevant"

"Excellent. Professional visual ppt. Excellent use of research; had a web link to give resources links. Brilliant speaker!!! Excellent knowledge"

My work is referenced by Kay Oddone (2014, June 10). in Getting graphic: Introducing graphic novels into the classroom-Resources and inspiration. 

"Di Laycock’s (University of Sydney) paper, “Teacher Tales from the Graphic Novel Classroom” stood out the most for me among this group because her phenomenological case study of how Australian teachers were using and responding to graphic novels struck me as timely. We usually rely on anecdotal evidence for what works in the classroom without ever putting the information together in a comprehensive fashion. So, when Laycock reported that teachers had a highly positive experience with graphic novels in terms of their own pedagogy and student outcomes, it meant something because it was based on a wide-ranging study." [Blog post by Peter Wilkins on Graphixia (http://www.graphixia.cssgn.org/2012/07/03/75-report-on-the-third-international-conference-on-comics-comics-rock/) regarding presentation at Comics Rock International Comics Conference , Bournemouth UK, 28-29 2012.

"Your presentation on Data Collection was received enthusiastically – the clear illustrated definition of Qualitative and Quantitative data was understood and, as the feedback said, 'I gained confidence to gather data and realised that I do have data to use.' The comments also demonstrated that your presentation style was 'top quality' and delegates were feeling more comfortable about 'taking the risk.' They found the 'practical examples really changed their way of thinking about research.'" [Feedback from organisers of the SLANSW Research Seminar: Shout it Out, 15 Sept., 2012].