Competency K

"Each graduate of the Master of Library and Information Science program is able to...design instructional programs based on learning principles and theories."

Introduction

Librarians are natural teachers. It's in our blood. We catalog information, we organize information, move it around, learn about it, synthesize it, massage it, and do whatever we can to make it accessible to the greatest number of people possible. Part of making it accessible is teaching. Librarians have been teaching since 1876 when Melvil Dewey said "the library is a school, and the librarian is in the highest sense a teacher..." (Dewey, 1876). Current trends for many libraries include instruction for using computer equipment and software, maker spaces, even software program coding. This creation culture (Fontichiaro, 2015) requires a new set of technology skills that must be understood and taught to some degree by librarians.   However, to be of greatest help, librarians need to teach patrons how to use the library, how to find the information they need, and how to be able to pick out the good data from the bad. With the digital age comes an explosion of information. This means librarians need to help patrons learn to "navigate and evaluate a wide range of resources both in and out of the library so that they are able to participate in today's information society" (Cunningham & Rosenblatt, 2015). Likewise, in these critical times of teaching-to-the-test in U.S. public schools, public libraries can take up the mantel for teaching our kids to be leaders and how to be innovative and creative.  Finally, with the disappearance of many school librarians due to budget cuts (American Library Association, 2012), exposing kids to S(cience), T(echnology), E(ngineering) & M(ath) concepts will help prepare them for a future in which the growth of STEM jobs means they have a shot at achieving the American Dream (Monthly Labor Review, 2013). As a librarian, I believe that part of our job is to help patrons learn whatever they are interested in, and to prepare our kids to compete in an increasingly global economy by helping them learn.

 The skills librarians need to be effective teachers are those that involve designing instructional materials based on a careful analysis of the information needs of the target population, presentation skills, and the ability to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction. Designing instructional materials requires the librarian understand how people learn, including the leading theories on the psychology of learning.  Current models of learning include the behaviorist, the cognitive, and humanist models (Grassian and Kaplowitz, 2009).

Behaviorist Model

The behaviorist model is the oldest of the learning models and is based on B.F. Skinner's research (Skinner, 1938). Probably the most recognizable characteristic of behaviorism is the idea that behavior is environmentally controlled and can be guided with external rewards or reinforcement. Behaviorists believe that learning occurs by doing. Characteristics of the behaviorist approach for learning include mastery by breaking materials into small units and testing, allowing students to move at their own pace, the active participation of students, immediate feedback to students, reinforcement of positive behaviors, and modeling by the instructor of desired behavior (Grassian and Kaplowitz, 2009, chapter 3). Librarians responsible for designing instructional programs using this approach might create learning objects that use hands-on practices, active question and answer sessions, and problem solving exercises.

Cognitive/Constructivist Model

 Cognitive psychologists believe the behaviorist model to be too limiting and rather than focus on breaking learning into simplistic steps to be mastered or understood, the cognitive approach to thinking focuses on patterns or situations. People build mental models about situations they encounter. Mental models describe how a person perceives and conceptualizes the world around them. If a mental models don't match up with whatever a person is experiencing or learning, a cognitive disconnect occurs that causes them to reconstruct their mental model about the situation (Grassian and Kaplowitz, 2009, chapter 3). Characteristics of the cognitive model include the belief that in order for knowledge to be retained, it must have personal relevance and meaning; that learning is social; that the learner must be at the right state of preparedness for learning the material; and that metacognition is important for assessing the effectiveness of learning. Librarians utilizing the cognitive approach to instructional design might create materials that emphasize learning through self-discovery and create opportunities that allow learners to interact with the learning material in such a way as to promote a feeling of accomplishment by the learner. Additionally, they create situations in which learners can try things out without fear of failure and be able to reflect on what they have learned.

Humanist Model

 The humanist model focuses as much on the feeling of learners as on the content to be learned. Like the constructivist model, the content to be learned should have personal meaning for the learner. The humanist approach assumes people are intrinsically motivated to learn rather than motivated by external rewards. There is an emphasis on the affective aspect of learning. This means that how learners feel affect how they learn (or don't learn) (Grassian and Kaplowitz, 2009, chapter 3). Characteristics of the humanist model include a learner-centered approach to teaching, emphasis on self-actualization and self-efficacy as well as the ability for learners to be self-directed in their learning. Librarians can design effective instructional materials by creating a warm, inviting, environment and encouraging students to develop their own goals and objectives within the learning situation. They can also develop materials that allow students to progress at their own pace as well as provide opportunities for students to self-reflect on their learning.

Evidence

The first opportunity I had for designing instructional material was for a LIBR-250 course I took in the summer of 2013. During this course, I designed a course for parents and school staff of elementary schools who wish to start up a Junior First Lego League (FLL) team. The evidence I chose, "LIBR_250-11_Marie_Vans_Learning_Activity_5_Summer_2013.docx" clearly demonstrates my ability to effectively design an after-school program aimed at STEM programs and can be found on the evidence page. JuniorFLL clubs are something that many libraries are interested in implementing today (Curtis, 2013).

FLL Lego robotics has become a world-wide, typically after school, program for kids aged 8-14 that incorporates STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, & Math) concepts. The FLL framework is designed for teams of kids to use in order to create solutions to real-world problems. A venue for showing off their work in the form of competitions that increase geographically as teams advance, injects a cultural aspect to the experience as well. The challenge involves a single real-world problem such as global warming or food safety. A related program for younger kids has been incorporated that focuses on “bringing up” the younger ones in FLL, known as JuniorFLL. It was created so that the younger kids understand how FLL works before they begin the more involved program geared towards 8-14 year olds. The biggest obstacle to getting schools and libraries to adopt an afternoon FLL program is the complexity of starting up, organizing, and running a team. Many school staff and parents do not understand the steps required to get going, nor do they have the time to do the research and make the connections that would help them. I designed a short, face-to-face, course for teachers and interested parents where they can learn what it takes to start up and run an afternoon JuniorFLL team, take part in competitions, and let the kids have fun while they are learning.

For the design, I conducted a needs assessment, developed a comprehensive set of instructional goals, generated the instructional analysis by determining all the steps required to start up a team, discovered the entry behaviors and learner characteristics, produced a set of performance objectives and instructional strategy, designed the instructional materials, determined the evaluation procedures, and described the instructional design implementation. The learning model used here was a cognitive/constructivist approach in which prepared short lectures were followed by hands on activities designed to cement the ideas presented in the lectures. Interestingly, I was actually able to help start up a JuniorFLL program at my son's elementary school in the fall of 2013.  Each season since then, we have continually grown the program to the point where this past fall we had 3 JuniorFLL teams and two 8-14 year old FLL teams. At the end of each season, the coaches and I meet to reflect on issues that came up during the season and how we can address those in the next season.

The second opportunity to apply what I have learned about instructional design came as the major project for INFO 287: Seminar in Information Science — Virtual Environments: Immersive Learning for Libraries and Archives in the fall of 2014. This course, conducted entirely within the virtual world Second Life, had a requirement that we create a learning experience in a virtual world. I chose to create a virtual exhibit on the Story of Science. I am using this experience as a second piece of evidence because it demonstrates an important aspect that librarians must embrace in this increasingly digitally connected world where people from all over the world can learn on-line, rather than face to face and in person.

The paper,  "Vans-287-17_StoryOfScience_Paper.pdf" describes the project in detail and was subsequently accepted for publication in a soon to be published book on education in virtual worlds (Franks et. al. 2016).  This can also be downloaded from the evidence page. The design of the exhibit was very different from the design for the face to face short course previously discussed. Here, the learners were people behind avatars who would go through the virtual exhibit at their own pace. In contrast to the course described above, the Story of Science exhibit utilized a more humanist approach. A learner-centered approach that allows people to interact with the learning materials works well for immersive environments (Dede et. al., 2005) (Noteborn et. al., 2014). Specifically, the exhibit utilized an Inquiry-led strategy in which users develop their own objectives about what they want to learn. They can work at their own pace to create personal meaning from the material (Merchant, 2014).  Support for this approach is in the form of basic information about a visible object, advanced information, and references to additional information should the user want to further explore the idea. The user is basically a consumer of the information (Nelson, 2012). However, there are also a few objects the user can interact with, such as a working telescope. The use of imagery is a basic form in education. It can be used to highlight information that viewers might not otherwise notice or not consider important. Also, information can be presented from a different angle that helps link it to other concepts. By using applied visualization, for example using a working telescope, the learner is able to interact with an object in a way that helps cement the knowledge (Ollé and Kristó, 2013). Figure 1 shows the entire exhibit while figures 2 & 3 show the philosophers ad experimentalists section of the exhibit. The attached evidence contains many more images of the exhibit.

In addition to the paper being published as part of a book on teaching in virtual worlds, the exhibit itself was on display at the SJSU iSchool virtual island through the spring of 2015. For privacy purposes, I did not track the number of people who saw the exhibit, but at the end of the spring, I was invited to bring my exhibit to Rocca Sorrentino, another island maintained by the Missouri Humanities Council (Giglierano, 2014). This virtual space has a vibrant and active community with several events regularly occurring every weekend. The exhibit remained in their showcase gallery for the duration of the summer, 2015.

 Figure 1: The entire exhibit from outside looking in

  Figure 2: The Philosopher’s subsection with table of artifacts in front.

 Figure 3: The Experimentalists subsection with table of artifacts and books for each scientist

Conclusion

I have shown that I am able to develop instructional material for both face-to-face instruction as well as for distance education. The venues can be as diverse as local elementary schools, public libraries, or virtual spaces in which people from all over the world can learn. In addition to the JuniorFLL league developed at a local elementary school, I have also designed and implemented a Minecraft Club for kids at the same school, which we run every spring. The work that I have done with the school will be showcased in a poster at the 2016 ISTE Conference in Denver in June, 2016.  I have been approached by the Director of Instructional Technology from our school district, to come in and talk to teachers about how to start up both FLL and Minecraft Clubs. I believe these opportunities show that I would easily be able to take the face-to-face and virtual instructional design skills to any other school or public library.

I have also developed advanced skills in the use of virtual spaces. I am currently the director of the largest virtual library in the virtual world, Inworldz, where we have several virtual exhibits that include books and multimedia, as well as art. I am involved with frequent temporary exhibits such as those focused on Science Fiction, Literary Fantasy, and Folklore. Each exhibit is designed to teach those who are interested in various literary genres about the genre and help them to find good examples for reading. The fact that I was invited to become director of this library shows that I am able to bring educational experiences to virtual spaces as well.

Librarians are probably most well-known for teaching information literacy and digital citizenship. But with the sheer amount of available information and the technology needed to access it, librarians have become more and more involved in teaching patrons how to use the technology they need to process information. Life-long learning is an important goal for librarians and patrons alike and the ability to help people learn how to learn is another important skill for librarians. If we want to be able to be informed citizens, the rapid pace of change in information and technology requires us to understand what to teach and how to teach it.

References

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Cunningham, A.D. and Rosenblatt, S. (2015). Teaching users. In S. Hirsh, (Ed.) Information Services Today (pp. 159-172).

Curtis, L. (2013). Guest blog: How to start a LEGO® club in your library.  Star-Net libraries, Science-Technology Activities and Resources for Libraries. http://community.starnetlibraries.org/2013/06/guest-blog-how-to-start-a-lego-club-in-your-library/. Accessed February 14, 2016.

Dede, C., Clarke, J., Ketelhut, D. J., Nelson, B., & Bowman, C. (2005). Fostering motivation, learning, and transfer in multi-user virtual environments. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Conference, Montreal, Canada. Retrieved from: http://muve.gse.harvard.edu/rivercityproject/documents/Dede_Games_Symposium_AERA_2005.pdf. Accessed February 14, 2016.

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Franks, P.C., Bell, L.A. and Trueman, R.B. (Eds)(2016). Teaching and learning in virtual environments. Archives, museums, and libraries. Libraries Unlimited, ABC-CLIO, LLC, Santa Barbara, CA.

Giglierano, G. (2014). Missouri Humanities Council’s Online Immersive Learning Study Project: Rocca Sorrentino in “Second Life”. Web publication. http://www.neh.gov/files/divisions/fedstate/missouris_second_life.pdf. Accessed February 14, 2016.

Grassian, E. S. and Kaplowitz, J.R. (2009) Information literacy instruction, 2nd edition. Neal-Schuman Publishers, Inc., New York.

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Nelson, B.C. & Erlandson, B. (2012). Design for learning in virtual worlds. Routledge, New York, NY.

Noteborn ,G. , Dailey-Hebert, A., Bohle Carbonell, K., Gijselaers, W. (2014). Essential knowledge for academic performance: Educating in the virtual world to promote active learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 37. Pp. 217-234.

Ollé, J. and Kristó, Z. (2013). Learning, teaching, and developing in virtual education. Web Book, http://www.eltereader.hu/media/2014/01/Olle_4_Learning_Teaching_READER.pdf. , Eötvös University Press, Budapest.

 Skinner, B. F. (1938). The behavior of organisms: an experimental analysis.