This week I held two work sessions for faculty members so that they could receive help on completing the annotated bibliography from the Info Lit training packet. I think the sessions were quite revealing.
We began by going over the history of the Info Lit committee and the introduction included at the beginning of the packet. After highlighting the contents of the packet, I explained the purpose for the annotated bibliography component, and then we went to work. There were very few questions about the packet, and I was never asked why they were being given a task to complete.
Seven instructors and campus leaders (all of whom teach classes now and then) attended. Within the group, there was quite a range of experience with scholarly research and library databases. Some were old pros and got right to work; others could not log into the portal or find the databases without assistance. (Two who couldn't log in had attended database training a year ago, so that shows me how little they've used what I taught them.)
One of my intentions in holding a work session was so that the instructors could share strategies and learn from each other, and that is exactly what happened. I was impressed at the amount of peer teaching that took place. Also, I had hoped that holding a work session with librarian and peer assistance would decrease the anxiety of those who were less familiar with research and citations. I think that was accomplished, but to a lesser degree.
So what did I learn?
1. I need to make a quarterly effort to provide database instruction to adjuncts and full timers, regardless of how long they've been teaching here or whether they attended an intense training session a year ago.
2. Even if someone has been taught how to access to resources, they may not have ever used the electronic library or catalog in a practical application. I think that's true not only of faculty but also of students.
If you have not already done so, I'd encourage you to host a work session for your faculty members as they complete their annotated bibliographies. My faculty members expressed that they were grateful that I had held the sessions.
On building the capacity to find rest.
1 day ago
2 comments:
Great job on your achievements - and for the advice for the rest of us. :)
I also held two sessions last week for faculty for the information literacy annotated bibliographies. The first was on Thursday night and the work session was on Friday morning. The Thursday night session was well attended and the faculty members who were present said that the session was very helpful. I presented what is available for the library resources on CHIPSnet and walked through several NoodleBib examples.
What I learned is that the faculty here are not that experienced at locating the library resources available to them, but a few were aware of NoodleBib and what databases we have. I will need to continue these sessions with new faculty in the coming months when they come on board.
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