In the beginning, I wasn’t even 100% sure what asynchronous meant. Synchronous and asynchronous just were not on my vocabulary’s radar. After making the lesson plan, I’m sure a completely Asynchronous lesson plan would be very helpful for some students. But when most of the class is already de-personalized by having the online format, putting a few videos/guides/libguides/etc. in to a course shell will not fully immerse students into library resources.

Putting a face to a resource is a helpful exercise that allows the online/distance students a friendly face wit which to associate with the library. Having tutorials, explanations of processes, etc will be very beneficial for refreshing knowledge, but having even a one-shot online class would allow students to further their knowledge and feel connected with the library rather than feeling it is a far-away thing that isn’t very helpful to them as online students.  So I decided to make an online lesson plan that used elements that the students could come back and use asynchronously should they need further explanation. Doing an online class allows the students to know a librarian is really there to help them if the librarian is able to communicate that feeling well over the Internet.

Once upon a time, there was an intern. This intern did her very best to prepare to create a video that would be helpful for students under the Supervisor’s dominion. All was well. The week came to construct the tool one faithful night, when the intern finally had a few hours together to put together the tool she had imagined. Tired from the week before, she and her fellow intern went to the neighboring kingdom to create the tool. But alas, the keys to the kingdom were missing. She and her fellow intern searched frantically for the key. They looked high and low, asked neighboring kingdoms for help, and attempted to find a different way in. The way was shut and none knew how to open it.

Downhearted, the two made their way back to their kingdom and contacted their Supervisor. Luckily, the Supervisor allowed them to make the video in her kingdom, though the better tools to make the video were found in the locked kingdom. Resting and nourishing themselves before continuing, the interns began to set up their tools. The audio set up went splendidly, although the littlest intern hated the sound of her own voice being played back to her. She planned on being out in a few hours.

But, alas, Camtasia had other plans. It stumbled and errored and made its way through, had trouble uploading audio too. When making the video, oh what a sight, it took the interns well into the night. They finally finished their asynchronous tool, went home and over their dreamland did rule.

My game plan for the session using some asynchronous tools was to further connect students with the information. Online students can often be left out to dry when it comes to library instruction, but creating classes that have at least one session of library instruction could increase their knowledge of how to research and be information literate.

Semi-Asynchronous Session One Lesson Plan

Observing was an  interesting experience for me. While I have sat in many classrooms as a student, I’m not sure that I have ever sat in a classroom as an observer. Looking specifically at their lesson plan and what methods the instructor employs when teaching.  The timeline of my observations can be divided into three clear points.  When I first began observing I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I mean obviously I was looking at what topic were covered and how this information was presented, but other than that I had little idea. As I began co-teaching my observations quickly morphed into studying what particular aspect of the lesson I would be covering that week with the the specific librarian, looking at how they covered the topic, and thinking about how I would address the topic in relation to my own teaching and co-teaching sessions. After, completing all of my teaching and co-teaching sessions my observation time really shifted to focus on observing for the study. Therefore I really began parsing apart the sessions based on what questions were asked in the sessions. Throughout this journey of observation, I really learned in great depth the different aspects of a teaching session.

I found Co-teaching to be extremely helpful. Each experience gave me more confidence in my own teaching abilities. I co-taught several times with several different librarians, and each time it was a new experience that gave me more practice. Planning these co-teaching sessions with each librarian was also a learning experience. They all had different lesson plans and different ways of conveying the lesson. My first co-teaching session was with Karlie and Paige. We each took a section of the lesson, therefore dividing it into three parts. This method allowed me to do a small portion of the lesson and get comfortable leading instruction. It was really a confidence booster.

My next experiences co-teaching were with Kayla and Alex separately. Again each had their own way of doing things and planning the lesson, and it was helpful to see what approach they both took. With these co-teaching sessions I taught half of the lesson plan and then they would teach the other half. Both Kayla and Alex have different teaching styles and teaching such large portions of their lessons was really great practice for my own solo teaching.

Overall I found co-teahcing to be extremely beneficial to my instruction experience.

It was very interesting to to go through the process of creating my asynchronous material. I tend to be a very practical person. I like to have a plan and know exactly what direction I am going. Therefore when it came to creating this content and looking at topic I wanted to create something that would be a time saver and practical in nature. During my time observing classes I noticed that during the session one classes time was spent covering useful items on the website. I felt that this information was useful and definitely needed to be conveyed, but that given the general nature of it that it could be more useful asynchronously. This would give the librarian more instruction time during the lesson to cover other material, and allow the student to view the material at their own convenience.

When creating the screencast I ran into several issues. I felt that it was useful to create separate audio files from the video file. However, I was unable to figure out how to listen to the audio file while I recorded the video, and therefore struggled to make my timing match up. Also, audio was an issue in other ways. The microphone I used created a lot of background noise and through my editing of the audio, I feel I distorted the audio track even more. I reach the point in editing, that I felt I was hurting the file more than I was helping. Some of these issues I feel spring from my ignorance of the software Camtasia. Perhaps through more practice and perhaps some instruction on the software, my video and audio content will improve. In addition, I was also at a loss when beginning and ending my video. I am unsure what the best practices are for creating screencasts and would be interested in knowing what is recommended by others.

All in all I feel this was a very helpful learning experience, and certainly furthered my knowledge of asynchronous material.

Quiz: https://docs.google.com/a/crimson.ua.edu/forms/d/1uUWTZyAzLz5j0DxrX5Npvkec7JDcIJhsOosjM5m5FO8/viewform?usp=send_form

Quiz: https://docs.google.com/a/crimson.ua.edu/forms/d/1x1vbiPNjqLfAVdgu1I1prJmTAWx53FwR3Opz6kzFx_A/viewform?usp=send_form

Co-teaching was a great way to get more comfortable with library instruction before teaching on my own. For all of my co-teaching sessions, the instruction librarian gave me a section to teach. I was then able to teach nearly all of the Day 1 and Day 2 lessons in pieces before taking responsibility for the whole lesson on my own. By basing each section on the librarian’s lesson plan, I was able to approach the material in different ways. In more than one instance, this approach was not one I would have typically envisioned, so it opened my mind to new teaching methods. I believe co-teaching can also be a good experience for the students. Very few instructors will be able to relate to 100% of the students 100% of the time. Therefore, splitting up the session gives two different perspectives, approaches, and personalities and breaks up the lesson. Students will hopefully relate to one of the two voices in the room and potentially feel more comfortable seeking that instructor out for ongoing research assistance.

I actually had a student approach me at the Information Desk for help with her paper. She remembered me from one of the classes I co-taught and then asked me my opinion on a source she was thinking to use for her annotated bibliography!

This post is a general reflection on instruction. I’ll follow up with a post on each of the following: co-teaching, Day 1, and Day 2.
I came in to this assistantship not knowing what to expect. I come from a family of teachers and have led plenty of training sessions for youth and adults. I’ve also taught summer school sessions in a community center on journalism and art. Therefore, the basic principles of leading students through a curriculum is not foreign to me. However, the goals for research instruction can be overwhelming. I know how important research skills can be, and I have helped high-school students with research in the past and been shocked by their lack of ability to complete even simple tasks such as finding an image and copying and pasting it. Therefore, it’s hard not to feel pressure to catch these students up while not boring the others. Lucky for me, Gorgas’s reference librarians are all experienced instructors. Seeing them teach, gave me a framework for lessons plans and a confidence level with the material. Furthermore, the reality is, we only have the time to give the students the tools. It is then on them to seek out additional help and give themselves time to become better skilled researchers.