FOCUSING ON INSTRUCTION

WHAT WE LEARNED & WHAT WE’RE DOING

WHERE? UNC-Chapel Hill Academic Affairs Library

WHO? Heather Gendron Suchi Mohanty

Jacqueline Solis Kim Vassiliadis

WHAT? What do librarians think about when they think about the instruction?

WHY? New liaison model for subject librarians

HOW? Ask them!

WHEN? Spring 2011 – Present

SURVEY SAYS…. 29 useful responses

HOW DO YOU IDENTIFY WHAT YOU WANT YOUR STUDENTS TO LEARN? 

Answer Response %

By discussing learning outcomes with instructor 26 90%

By reading the assignment 25 86%

By reading the syllabus 22 76%

By defining specific skills or learning outcomes for the session 20 69%

Other 6 21%

By creating a rubric based on the class syllabus 4 14%

HOW DO YOU STRUCTURE YOUR CLASS?

Answer Response %

Longer lecture/demo, with less work time 12 41%

Evenly split between lecture/demo and work time 11 38%

Shorter lecture/demo, with most of the session for work time

5 17%

Lecture for the entire session. 1 3%

TEACHING WEAKNESSES

Figuring out how to do more hands-on and still cover necessary material.

Making sure I'm meeting the students where they are.

Strong start & finish to my sessions, really getting the message across that they can ask me for help later.

Less rambling & more focused.

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE ENOUGH TIME TO PREPARE FOR YOUR INSTRUCTION SESSIONS?    

PERCEPTIONS OF INSTRUCTION

IMPORTANCE OF INSTRUCTION

I feel like most students get by without a lot of library instruction. Google and library databases have made finding "good enough" information pretty easy for many topics.

I think instruction is important in the sense that it exposes students to some of what the library has to offer. More importantly perhaps, it lets students know that there are professionals who are available to help with their research.

COMMENTS

Instruction is a major component of my job, yet I feel that I do not

have enough time to develop new teaching methods and

activities. Sometimes I feel bored by myself and would just like to

try something different.

I often throw together a course page and lesson plan the day before a scheduled class without spending adequate time thinking about what students need to learn. Sometimes the planning is even an hour before the class...

I make it a priority.

THINKING ABOUT ASSESSMENT….

EVALUATING YOUR INSTRUCTION SESSIONS

Answer Response %

I have not evaluated any of my instruction sessions 12 41%

less than 25% of my sessions 8 28%

25%-49% of my sessions 5 17%

50%-74% of my sessions 2 7%

For more than 75% of my sessions 2 7%

TYPES OF ASSESSMENT CONDUCTED

Answer Response %

I got feedback from students on what they thought they learned from my instruction

6 67%

Feedback was requested from course instructor on how the session went

5 56%

Evaluation of my teaching style and delivery 4 44%

Other, please describe: 3 33%

I evaluated student worksheets or gave a post- test in order to determine what they learned from my instruction

1 11%

OTHER METHODS OF ASSESSMENT

Peer coaching to self-evaluate teaching

Evaluation with instructor of effectiveness as related to final assignments

Students send me e-mail messages. I typically invite them back for an individual session and many take advantage of this offer

REASONS WHY WE DON’T EVALUATE OUR SESSIONS

Answer Response %

I don’t have the time in the library session to conduct evaluation

12 60%

I’m not sure that the information would be meaningful. 8 40%

I don’t know of any effective methods of evaluation 8 40%

Other 8 40%

I don’t know what to evaluate 7 35%

OTHER REASONS

I think I just don't have time to think about or create an evaluation tool before the class session.

If you mean so I ask the students to evaluate, there's no time. If you mean having someone observe me, I'd be interested in this.

I think it is asking too much of the students.

WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING SESSIONS WOULD YOU BE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING?

• Evaluating student learning (learning outcomes/learning objectives)

• Evaluating your teaching (style, content, presence etc.)

• Active learning activities and/or theory

• Fostering critical thinking skills

TURNING FEEDBACK INTO ACTION

• September: Learning Outcomes Assessment Workshop w/ Diane Harvey from Duke

• October: Assessment practices already happening at UNC

• November: Topic TBA

THANK YOU!

Continuing Instructional Education for Library Staff at Duke LibrariesEmily DalyPerkins LibraryInstruction & Outreach Department

Lean and mean team

• Two full-time staff, a part-time intern and a field experience student

• Not part of Research Services

• Key functions: • Coordinate instruction• Gather statistics• Develop support tools• Maintain tutorials and help pages• Provide professional development

Instructors Forum • Bimonthly event

• Fairly good attendance and support from admin

• Organized and led primarily by I&O staff

• Topics:• Instructional technologies• Reports of user studies• Teaching Summon

Special workshops

• Approximately 4 per year

• Topics:• Advanced LibGuides functionality• Assessing student learning outcomes • Shared student learning outcomes for Writing 20• Using PollEverywhere or other survey tools

Spring instruction retreats • Began with a fall retreat in August 2006

• Have offered event every spring since May 2008

• Topics:• Active learning • Evaluating teaching and assessing student

learning • Integrating special collections into instruction• Understanding digital literacies • Incorporating data into instruction

Retreat goals

• Introduce new concept

• Give librarians day to talk with their colleagues about instruction

• Other benefits • Engagement with Duke faculty and support staff• Engagement with TRLN+ librarians and faculty • Opportunity for follow-up programming

Planning & logistics

• Begin planning in January

• Location and budget have varied

• Day runs 9am-2pm and includes breakfast and lunch

• Speakers include Duke and non-Duke librarians, faculty, students and support staff

• Day includes hands-on portion in our lab

• Invite guests from TRLN libraries

2009 | Special collections

2010 | Digital literacies

2011 | Data in the classroom

Evaluating success • Devote last 15 minutes of retreat to planning

next steps• Include participant evaluation form• Respond in project and program planning

I’d love to hear more experiences of

librarians using data

I loved learning

about the different

data management

tools available

Great range of sessions and speakers.

Could really benefit from follow-up.

Thank you for your interest!

Feel free to get in touch:Emily Daly | emily.daly@duke.edu | 919.660.5879

Lisa R. Coats First Year Engagement Librarian

&

Anne E. Pemberton Instructional Services Coordinator

(in abstentia)University of North Carolina Wilmington

The Frosh Freshen Up:Preparing Librarians for a New First

Year Seminar Library Session

North Carolina Library Association 2011

What is First Year Seminar?

2 credit hour course Required next fall as 3 credit 90% take a FYS Variations: IBEC, TRANSFER, Learning

Communities, LINKED to classes

Library Chapter in FYS Text

FYS Resource Page

Online Tutorial

Feedback

WorksheetsOnline Questionnaire

Created PowerPoint… First Year Seminar

Library Session…and Outline

SharePoint to Share Documents

Jing Videos

Provided Mock Session

Observation & Practice Sessions

Feedback in Public Services Meetings…

…and via Email…

…we also sent Email Updates

Wrap up…