Professional Development for Librarians with Instructor Responsibilities

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Professional Development for Librarians with
Instructor Responsibilities

• Clara Fowler
• University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center,
  Houston
• Michele Ostrow
• University of Texas at Austin
• Fran Ebbers
• St. Edwards University, Austin

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Teaching librarians to teach

• Using professional competencies as a framework to
  guide continuing education and promotion

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Continuing education should model needed skills

• active and collaborative learning activities
• asking and answering questions
• higher level Information Literacy skills
• scaffolding instruction across sequential classes
• teaching effectively in multiple settings

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Identifying existing teacher training programs

• Most faculty-level training addresses teaching a
  semester-long class.
• Difficult to find models that teach instructors
  to create and deliver effective instruction
  sessions in a limited period of time.

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Our goals today

• Give examples of professional development
  programs that you can adopt or modify to suit
  your needs.
• Present techniques for keeping track of your own
  continuing education for your professional or
  tenure review process.

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Obstacles to an in-house program

• Teaching librarian role may be filled by only one
  person (or very few) in the library.
• Lack of specific performance measures focused on
  teaching.
• Lack of quality professional development training
  or staff dedicated to staff training in
  libraries.
• Lack of funds allocated to staff training.

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Charge of the Proficiencies for Instruction
Librarians Task Force

• focus on broad areas of proficiency rather than a
  comprehensive list of skills
• outline an approach to assist individuals and
  organizations in selecting the proficiencies most
  appropriate for their environment

Proficiencies document available at
-http//www.ala.org/ala/acrl/acrlstandards/profsta
ndards.cfm
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Organization of the Proficiencies

• Administrative ability
• Assessment and evaluation skills
• Communication skills
• Curriculum knowledge
• Information literacy integration skills
• Instructional design skills
• Leadership skills
• Planning ability
• Presentation skills
• Promotion skills
• Subject expertise
• Teaching skills

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5. Information literacy integration skills

• The effective instruction librarian
• 5.1 Is able to describe the role of information
  literacy in academia and the patrons, programs,
  and departments they serve.
• 5.2 Collaborates with classroom faculty to
  integrate appropriate information literacy
  competencies, concepts and skills into library
  instruction sessions, assignments and course
  content.
• 5.3 Communicates with classroom faculty and
  administrators to collaboratively plan and
  implement the incremental integration of
  information literacy competencies and concepts
  within a subject discipline curriculum.

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5. Information literacy integration skills

• The effective coordinator of instruction
• 5.4 Investigates coordinating information
  literacy standards with institutions program
  review, departmental learning objectives, and/or
  accreditation standards.
• 5.5 Collaborates with institution-wide faculty
  development programs to support ongoing faculty
  training.
• 5.6 Encourages, guides, and supports instruction
  librarians to collaborate with classroom faculty
  and administrators in the development of
  increased focus on information literacy whether
  at the course, program, department, or
  campus-wide level.

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6. Instructional design skills
The effective instruction librarian 6.1.
Collaborates with classroom faculty by defining
expectations and desired learning outcomes in
order to determine appropriate information
literacy proficiencies and resources to be
introduced in library instruction. 6.2.
Sequences information in a lesson plan to guide
the instruction session, course, workshop, or
other instructional material. 6.3. Creates
learner-centered course content and incorporates
activities directly tied to learning
outcomes. 6.4. Assists learners to assess their
own information needs, differentiate among
sources of information and help them to develop
skills to effectively identify, locate, and
evaluate sources. Continued
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6. Instructional design skills
The effective instruction librarian 6.5.
Scales presentation content to the amount of time
and space available. 6.6. Designs instruction to
best meet the common learning characteristics of
learners, including prior knowledge and
experience, motivation to learn, cognitive
abilities, and circumstances under which they
will be learning. 6.7. Integrates appropriate
technology into instruction to support
experiential and collaborative learning as well
as to improve student receptiveness,
comprehension, and retention of information. The
effective coordinator of instruction 6.8
Identifies, encourages, and supports training
opportunities for librarians in instructional
design and incorporating technology to support
pedagogy.
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12. Teaching skills

• The effective instruction librarian
• 12.1 Creates a learner-centered teaching
  environment by
• using active, collaborative, and other
  appropriate learning activities.
• 12.2 Modifies teaching methods and delivery to
  address different learning styles, language
  abilities, developmental skills, age groups, and
  the diverse needs of student learners.
• 12.3 Participate in constructive student-teacher
  exchanges by encouraging students to ask and
  answer questions by allowing adequate time,
  rephrasing questions, and asking probing or
  engaging questions.
• 12.4 Modifies teaching methods to match the class
  style and setting.
• 12.5 Encourages teaching faculty during the class
  to participate in discussions, link library
  instruction content to course content, and to
  answer student questions.
• 12.6 Reflects on practice in order to improve
  teaching skills and acquires new knowledge of
  teaching methods and learning theories.
• 12.7 Shares teaching skills and knowledge with
  other instructional staff.

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How can you use these competencies in your
library?

• Solo instruction librarians
• focus on one competency for a semester.
• develop a reading list
• develop in class activities that focus on your
  selected proficiency
• have a fellow librarian watch you teach and give
  you feedback
• ask the students to give you feedback  

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How can you use these competencies in your
library?

• Group of teaching librarians
• select one proficiency to focus on for a semester
  and create your own learning community.
• Instruction Coordinators
• develop a comprehensive program using the entire
  list of proficiencies.
• Administrators
• use the competencies to justify for more staff or
  to move instruction to a higher priority in the
  core functions of the library.

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Proficiencies in ActionIdeas from the UT-Austin
Libraries
Line and Form by bookgrl, http//www.flickr.c
om/photos/bookgrl/1097742165/
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UT Libraries Who Teaches?

• Library Instruction Services department
• Instruction Librarians in branches
• Subject specialists across campus libraries with
  instructor responsibilities
• Interns from School of Information

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Support Mentoring

• Proficiencies 5, 7, 10, 12
• Tips Techniques for Library Instruction
• Interns from School of Information
• New librarians librarians new to teaching
• Librarians integrating information literacy into
  departmental curricula

School of Information Interns
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Shared Materials/Shared Ideas

• Proficiencies 1, 6, 9, 12
• Clearinghouse of Library Instruction Materials
• Shared directory or wiki
• De.icio.us
• Diigo

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RIOT The Journal Club

• Proficiencies 1, 3, 6, 7
• Topics include learning styles, active learning,
  assessment, technology, outreach

MIT Science Library Journals by nic221,
http//www.flickr.com/photos/nic221/391536867
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Assessment of Student Learning

• Proficiency 2
• Pre/Post tests
• Tips Techniques for Library Instruction
• Assessment bank SurveyMonkey

Finals by Shaghaghi www.flickr.com/photos/shaghagh
i/73645535
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Workshops Discussion Groups

• Proficiencies 1, 3, 6, 9, 12
• Discussion groups 1 theme with facilitator
• Workshops presentation active learning

• Topics active learning, embedding in
  Blackboard, learning styles, assignment design,
  etc.

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Questions?
Question mark? by Leo Reynolds www.flickr.com/phot
os/lwr/12364944