Instruction Adventures

A common topic many college students need instruction on to aid in their information literacy skills is the concept of Boolean operators. The following is a lesson plan I thought would be a fun way to introduce the topic to a college class.

LESSON PLAN
Objectives:
1. Students will know the definition of Boolean logic and Boolean operators.
2. Students will be able to use Boolean operators to connect key ideas and conduct searches.

Set-Up:
1. Have projection screen set up.
2. Have computer set up and Internet connectivity established if these tools are available.

Procedure:
1. The teacher writes the three Boolean operators, AND, OR, and NOT on the board. The teacher explains that these terms are used to narrow or expand the results in online searching.
2. The teacher tells the students that they are going to help demonstrate the meaning of each Boolean operator.
-The teacher should ask all students who are wearing jeans to stand up. Count the number of students standing.
-The teacher now asks that students who are wearing jeans AND blue shirts to remain standing. All others should sit down. Count the number of students still standing. There should be
fewer students standing.
-The teacher should explain that using the AND operator has narrowed the results.
-Now the teacher asks that students wearing jeans OR blue shirts should stand. All the students wearing jeans should stand, all the students wearing blue shirts should stand, and all the
students wearing jeans and blue shirts should stand. Count the number of students standing. This should be a larger number than before. The OR operator has expanded the results.
-To demonstrate the NOT operator, the teacher asks all students wearing jeans but NOT sneakers to stand. The NOT operator has excluded all students wearing sneakers. It has, therefore,
limited the results.
3. The teacher should demonstrate using these operators in an online search.

Student Work:
1. Students should work in pairs or small groups to determine keywords and their relationships about a topic they are researching and search online.
2. The teacher provides students with blank Venn diagrams.
-Students write in their keywords and shade in the area that represents each of the 3 Boolean operators (AND, OR, NOT).
-Have students conduct their search online.

Assessment:
After students have completed the topic worksheet, they should present their work to another group or the class.

Hope this lesson plan was helpful!

Jennifer

This article addressed the topic of good teachers, and what it is that makes a good teacher successful. One thing the author talked about was creating a natural critical learning environment. This can be done through discussion, role-playing, or other techniques. The author also talked about getting the students’ attention and keeping it. Even in library instruction, I feel it is important to start with something fun that will grab the students’ attention and hold it. Students should see the library as a fun and interesting place, and not a boring one. Librarians should really think about what the students know and care about. Another point the author made was that the best teachers build their course backwards, deciding what students should be able to do by the end of the semester. Even though for an instruction librarian it is usually by the end of the instruction session instead of the end of the semester, the basic concept still applies. In my opinion the best lessons build on each other, with everyone going through each step of the process to get to where they need to be by the end.

In the article, the author also discussed in great detail qualities of good teaching. One of these qualities was good talk, meaning that the teacher is able to communicate orally in ways that stimulate thought. Another quality was warm language, meaning that the language used is involved and tells the whole story. The author also described a great teacher. The best teachers simply know how to make good explanations. This skill is particularly important for instruction librarians who are often explaining to students how to do something, such as use a new database. One of my favorite points made by the author was that great teachers know how to talk well, and they know how to get students to talk. I feel library instruction should involve discussion, and not just be the librarian lecturing to the students. There are several different learning styles, such as auditory or visual, and some students learn better by the lesson being interactive rather than just sitting and listening. Overall, I felt this article was really helpful in showing what a good teacher should be and applies to instruction librarians as well.

Jennifer 

This article reports on a study that examined student achievement when podcasts were used in lieu of lectures in a required technology course for perspective teachers. Students were divided into two groups, one group was the podcast group and the other the control group. Data was taken on the students through chapter quiz scores, online survey responses, and podcast journals. The results showed that podcasts can in fact replace lectures with no detrimental effects on the students’ achievement in the classroom. The article even points out benefits of replacing lectures with podcasts, citing additional time gained for in-class demonstration, guided practice, and other activities as examples.

I am currently working on a podcasting project myself, so I found this article very interesting. The project I am working on is a podcast series for ENG 101 and 102 students to assist them with writing research papers. I do believe podcasts can be valuable educational tools and can be a great alternative to lecture, but I do not think they can replace the classroom experience. I believe their purpose should be to add to and enhance what happens in the classroom, which is what I think the article was getting at when talking about the benefits of podcasts. I agree with the article that podcasts are beneficial and a great way to use technology as an educational tool.

Jennifer

This article provided a case study of recent curriculum development in a freshman skills program at Gonzaga University which included a block of “thought and expression” courses. These courses gave instruction in writing and speech communication. The authors made a comparison of these courses to the medieval university “trivium” of grammar, logic, and rhetoric. I feel these classes are important requirements for a quality college education. Many people go to college because they believe a college education will improve their job prospects. If you ask employers in the job market today what the most important quality for a potential employee to possess is, at the top of the list is being able to communicate their thoughts and ideas, both orally and in writing.

For the case study, library faculty were integrated into the instructional team and helped design several innovative assignments that supported the critical thinking goals of the “thought and expression” course block. They believed the goals of the courses could be enhanced by promoting information literacy skills as part of a set of three assignments. These included a wikipedia assignment, a point-of-view assignment, and a researched argument essay. Results of the study were generally positive, with faculty reporting that the quality of the research papers, as well as student research behaviors, were higher the semester the study was conducted than previous semesters.

I think many modern college students today are in college to get a degree in order to make them employable, and undervalue a quality well-rounded college education. They often complain about having to take their freshman introductory courses, such as ENG 101 or COMS 101, thinking that “this is not the career I am going into, why do I need these?” not realizing that the skills they learn in these courses will in fact benefit them. Being able to communicate your thoughts and ideas is a vital part of both personal and professional relationships. The skills learned in these “thought and expression” courses will help students not only in their career, but in life.

Jennifer

I felt this article was an interesting read. I thought the author brought up an interesting point about how for teachers, critical reflection and analyzing of your own “autobiography” gives you insight into how your own past experiences shaped you into the type of teacher you are. The article used an example of a teacher who was more reserved and reflective during class discussions back when they were a student. That teacher is more likely to be understanding of students who are the same way than a teacher who was outspoken and always had something to say. Even though the author used this point in the context of teaching, I feel it applies to everyone. Everyone has their own past, or “autobiography,” that has shaped them into the person they have become.

The author also discussed how reflections from others, such as students and colleagues, can give teachers insight. Trying to see yourself as your students see you can make you more effective in the classroom. Talking with colleagues dealing with the same difficulties that you are facing can also give you new perspective and ultimately make you a better teacher. Critical reflection can change the way you think about your professional development.

I think the biggest takeaway from the article was that critical reflection of oneself can lead you to discovering your own voice. You realize that your own experiences, as well as the experiences of those around you, shape how you work, giving you confidence in the work you are doing, no matter what profession you are in.

Jennifer

Today I had the opportunity to be a part of an instruction session for an ENG 102 Intro to Writing class. It was different from my previous instruction experience. The session began with a discussion of research topics and narrowing broad topics down to a more specific topic. The final assignment for this particular class was a 1,500 word research paper, so their topics needed to be specific enough for them to be able to thoroughly cover in only 1,500 words. After they narrowed down their topics, the discussion moved on to choosing keywords to use in a search and everyone came up with 3 or 4 keywords relevant to their topic. After they had their keywords, we then talked about boolean operators, including the functions of AND, OR, and NOT. A Venn diagram drawn on the white board was used as a visual aide to demonstrate the functions and differences between the different operators. The students then had an opportunity to come up with their own search strings using the keywords they had come up with and their new knowledge of the boolean operators. At the end of the session they had the opportunity to use their search strings they had developed to search Scout, the university’s main online database. I loved how the lesson was designed, where it took the students step-by-step through the process of creating a search for their research paper, starting with coming up with a topic and ending with searching Scout with a search string they had developed for their individual topic. Overall, it was a great experience and I look forward to the class returning next week!

Jennifer

I recently had the opportunity to be a part of a library tour and instruction session for the Rural Minority Scholars program at the University of Alabama. I took a group of 3 recent high school graduates enrolled in the program on a tour of Gorgas Library. We went to different floors of the library and I pointed out important things of interest. The students were very interactive and enjoyed searching for things listed on a worksheet given to them at the start of the tour. I thought the worksheet was a good idea to keep them involved in the tour as well as giving them something to take home that had useful information about the library on it. They were particularly interested in certain areas of the library, including the Sanford Media Center and the Williams Collection. Before beginning the tour, I thought that the students might be so preoccupied with finding the answers for the worksheet that they would miss the overall experience, but this was not the case. I enjoyed that they asked questions prompting discussion, and I felt the library tour was overall a good experience for them as well as for me.

After the library tour, there was a discussion where the students shared what they had seen on their tour, followed by an instruction session assisting the students with writing their upcoming research papers. The topics of their research papers were health related, so the instructor shared resources specific to that field. I felt this was helpful for the students to be knowledgeable of resources that are discipline-specific to their program. The instructor even created a LibGuide page for the class with links to these resources to make it easy for the students to find. With technology advancing like it is, it is important for the instruction librarian to utilize these technological tools such as LibGuides to enhance their instruction. The instructor also showed the students how to look up on the library’s website where certain software is available on campus. I felt this was important because many students are not even aware of many tools and resources available to them through the university. During the session, the instructor also asked the students the topics of their research papers and used those as examples when demonstrating how to search the databases and other resources. I felt this was beneficial for the students to be able to see firsthand how to use these tools as well as keeping them involved in the discussion.

Overall, this opportunity was a great learning experience for me. I really enjoyed interacting with the students and answering their questions, as well as getting to see library instruction firsthand. I noticed how important it is for the instruction librarian when presenting the necessary tools and resources to pay close attention to the needs of the students you are instructing and plan your lesson accordingly. This enables students to get as much out of the experience as possible.

Jennifer

In the past week, I have finished teaching all of my sessions and have begun to focus exclusively on collection development for the history department with Brett Spencer. Finishing classes was a great relief, to be honest. I am getting really busy with schoolwork, and the anxiety I feel when I teach only adds to that stress. Teaching, for me, was a really valuable experience, and I learned a lot about myself. I am so grateful that I was given this opportunity, and I know how valuable it will be for me in the future.

I also learned through this process that I really enjoy collection development. Analyzing the history department, creating a conspectus and buying books has been really rewarding and fun. Brett is an excellent teacher, and I have been learning so much about which presses are more reputable than others, how to make sure I don’t buy items we already have in the library, and how to make judgment calls about books in general. In performing collection development duties, I have actually learned that my duties as an assistant to a private library creator were actually very similar to collection development, and so I found that I already had learned some of the skills required of a collection development position. This revelation should seem intuitive–after all, we were building collections–but sometimes it is hard to notice these connections or applications. After all, we were just buying books online and putting together collections for clients at Kinsey Marable & Co. How could that ever translate to buying books online and putting together collections in an academic library?

Yesterday I finished my final teaching session of the semester. True to form, I was teaching the database Opposing Viewpoints in Context and the database would not function. I tried and tried and tried, but apparently the Alabama Virtual Library, the carrier of OVIC, was experiencing technical difficulties. So, my entire lesson was useless and I had to improvise a lesson on the fly. Luckily I had planned to talk briefly about Academic Search Premier and my class was only eight students, so it wasn’t a huge deal and I think the students still benefited from the lesson. The class was comprised of three male freshmen students and five female freshmen students. The women in the classroom were very attentive and tried hard to implement my lessons in their searches. The men very stereotypically looked for the lowest prices on GNC protein powder. What was encouraging, though, was that by the end of the lesson everyone, including the men, were looking for sources for their topics. I was able to individually help everyone search, and in fact one of the protein powder guys had a very smart and fresh take on subject headings, keywords and searching in general. While I was explaining the process to him, he said, “oh, like tags.” What he meant was, keywords and subject headings are like tagging photos on facebook. I found that really encouraging because I think its a great metaphor. I never thought that this student who at the start of class couldn’t pay attention would actually teach me something by the end. This is one of the great aspects of instruction, and it is moments like these that keep instructors coming back to the classroom.

This week I read “Standards and Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators: A Practical Guide.” What struck me about this reading was the common themes that keep popping up in this reading: “collaborating,” “mentoring,” “improving,” “sharing,” and so forth. These standards clearly emphasize instruction librarians’ roles as supporters of one another. These standards emphasize instruction coordinators’ roles as mentors, as supporters of those librarians below them. These standards are really encouraging, and it’s really great to see how they are put into place in our environment. As members of the Jedi Council, we are there each week to discuss our struggles, our successes, and how we might improve upon our teaching. Brett and Sarah both do a wonderful job of motivating and encouraging us, and we, as interns and assistants, have the benefit of seeing how good instruction coordinators and librarians function.