It's been a while since I wrote about instruction, which was one of my first major blog topics (you can see some of my older posts on my first instruction experience, the value of observation, some overall reflections and and my most recent instructional post).
And the one thing I've really learned about instruction is that there is always more to learn. Just yesterday I had yet another new experience... developing a workshop outline from the ground-up by myself and teaching it. (Well, I didn't develop the outline just yesterday, but the instructional session was yesterday.)
The University of Michigan has recently begun officially using Google Apps, which includes Google Docs. I've not written much about Google, but if you know me personally, you know that I am kind of obsessed with Google for work and personal productivity. I make spreadsheets and docs for *everything* (even my book club) and have started a Google Calendar with my girlfriends for easier scheduling purposes. That said, when I was asked to develop and teach this workshop, it was exciting.
Then I sat down to do it. I know Google Docs pretty well, simply because I use them. So I decided to "go with what I know" and not make the workshop too structured, because the best way to learn to use Google Docs is to do it. I wanted to teach the various features and options within Docs while allowing the workshop participants to play. I had feedback from my supervisors, and a friend who had taken a Docs workshop a couple of weeks back. So I felt fairly confident that the workshop I planned was on track.
But now here's the thing. I think it went well. It was so difficult to tell. When teaching Word for Dissertation - a workshop with a specific purpose where you can tell if people are following along - it's a bit easier. I never expect workshop participants to walk away remembering everything but it's good to know they learned something. In the Google Docs workshop yesterday, people were asking questions, playing around with Docs while I was talking (which was great!), and some stayed after to ask questions. So I think it went well.
But how to tell? Just another challenge in instruction. :)
Showing posts with label instructional design. Show all posts
Showing posts with label instructional design. Show all posts
Friday, June 22, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
Enriching Scholarship: A Transformative Week for Instruction and Reflection
Before I started writing this, I reviewed my post about last year's Enriching Scholarship session. Just a quick review, Enriching Scholarship is a, "week of free workshops, discussions, and seminars has become an annual
event each May for instructional faculty and staff, and showcases over
120 sessions that address the role technology plays in fostering
engaging and effective teaching, learning, and research"(http://www.teachtech.umich.edu).
Last year, I considered teaching The New Basics: Computing 101 to be my first official instructional experience. I wrote that after the session, we realized we needed to tweak the workshop because there was too much content for too little time. So in between last year and this year, my co-instructor and I taught a Web Basics class, which went pretty well. This year for Enriching Scholarship, however, we decided to not only teach The New Computer Basics: Understanding the Web but also The New Computer Basics: PC Desktop Computing. The Understanding the Web session had several participants, many of whom seemed to appreciate the information we provided about clearing your "cache" and downloading images. And the few participants in the PC Computing class appeared to enjoy learning about how right-clicking can make moving around the computer easier and more efficient.
In my post from May 2011, I wrote about practicing instruction prior to actually instructing. Many of my other posts over the last year have covered this as well. So now might be the proper time to reflect. To start, I'm more comfortable teaching - especially something I've already taught. Secondly, I've become better at being patient while instructing - I've learned the goal is not to get everything done (especially in computer basics workshops!) but to teach at a pace that is both effective and appropriate for the group's learning processes. Participant's learning is the goal!
A third "lesson learned" is that I still get nervous teaching something I've never taught before, but that I've learned how to combat this. Prior to the PC Basics workshop, I spent hours preparing and getting materials ready and arrived much too early the day-of to make sure the computers were loaded with the proper documents and that the handouts were printed and correct. But through this I also learned that that helped me to feel more comfortable with the instruction. Instead of stressing, I built that time into my work schedule and was feeling prepared to teach when the time came.
Most of all, instruction is a process. Having taught the Web Basics three times now, we're still finding things to change and pieces of the workshop to adapt, and that is OK. In fact, it makes instruction fun because I've realized that nothing is perfect and that we can always do better for our participants and ourselves. The process of instructing is part of the learning process for us all (I always learn something new while teaching) - and having the opportunity to do both at the same time is something for which I'm grateful.
Last year, I considered teaching The New Basics: Computing 101 to be my first official instructional experience. I wrote that after the session, we realized we needed to tweak the workshop because there was too much content for too little time. So in between last year and this year, my co-instructor and I taught a Web Basics class, which went pretty well. This year for Enriching Scholarship, however, we decided to not only teach The New Computer Basics: Understanding the Web but also The New Computer Basics: PC Desktop Computing. The Understanding the Web session had several participants, many of whom seemed to appreciate the information we provided about clearing your "cache" and downloading images. And the few participants in the PC Computing class appeared to enjoy learning about how right-clicking can make moving around the computer easier and more efficient.
In my post from May 2011, I wrote about practicing instruction prior to actually instructing. Many of my other posts over the last year have covered this as well. So now might be the proper time to reflect. To start, I'm more comfortable teaching - especially something I've already taught. Secondly, I've become better at being patient while instructing - I've learned the goal is not to get everything done (especially in computer basics workshops!) but to teach at a pace that is both effective and appropriate for the group's learning processes. Participant's learning is the goal!
A third "lesson learned" is that I still get nervous teaching something I've never taught before, but that I've learned how to combat this. Prior to the PC Basics workshop, I spent hours preparing and getting materials ready and arrived much too early the day-of to make sure the computers were loaded with the proper documents and that the handouts were printed and correct. But through this I also learned that that helped me to feel more comfortable with the instruction. Instead of stressing, I built that time into my work schedule and was feeling prepared to teach when the time came.
Most of all, instruction is a process. Having taught the Web Basics three times now, we're still finding things to change and pieces of the workshop to adapt, and that is OK. In fact, it makes instruction fun because I've realized that nothing is perfect and that we can always do better for our participants and ourselves. The process of instructing is part of the learning process for us all (I always learn something new while teaching) - and having the opportunity to do both at the same time is something for which I'm grateful.
Thursday, December 1, 2011
Instructional Reflections
As it's nearing the end of the term and I'll be attending the HASTAC Pre-conference Workshop called Alt-Ac: Alternative Academic Careers Workshop in just around an hour (which I'll blog about next week), tonight's post is taken from a draft of a chapter that I'm writing for my Information Literacy course this semester. For the class, we had to observe 20 hours of instruction and then teach two information literacy-related courses (all of which I did at the UM Library), and then write a chapter about it. The chapter will part of a book that includes chapters from each student and will be published as an e-book and then also printed by the Espresso Book Machine. So, with no further ado, here's a portion of my chapter...
What you learned that other people should know about to improve their own practice
Instruction at the library is something many librarians can do by choice. It’s a requirement for some positions, and is expected that should assistance be needed to instruct or float (walking around to help students stay on track during the session), librarians will step up. There are library resources for instructors including teaching outlines, informal mentors, and research-based practice on which to draw. However as a beginning instructor teaching topics on which I needed fluency, I needed to do a significant amount of work on my own. This pre-work came to be what made me comfortable teaching, and it has played an important role in my teaching effectiveness. So, to all instructors just starting out (or those who want to revisit their practice), I present to you my lessons learned and recommendations for diving into information literacy-based instruction as an information literate instructor.
1) Observe sessions
I had the chance to observe many types of workshops with different instructors (and one at another local university) and was able to glean an incredible amount from actively observing. I learned about keeping energy up (especially if you’re teaching undergraduates at 8:30 in the morning), being prepared for the topic, and different strategies such as walking around the room while talking. Observation time can give you the chance to sort out your teaching style and think about what you like and didn’t care during different types of workshops.
Take the time to sit in on a variety of instructional sessions and don’t be afraid to step out of the box to observe workshops that are in a different field or even location (such as a public library or other university, if you’re an academic librarian). Ask colleagues in your workplace if you can watch their sessions, or even float if you feel comfortable. Sit in on technology workshops, citation workshops, database workshops, and other types of sessions that can give you a varied view of instruction. While you may be teaching workshops on how to format citations, the instructor for that database class might have a teaching style that is more “you.” By observing different instructors in different settings with different topics, you’ll gain a more rounded view of what instruction means for students and for you as an instructor.
2) Consider your audience
Instructing undergraduates, PhDs, faculty and staff within a few weeks of one another really caused me to think about the audience of the workshop while I was preparing to teach and actually instructing. Teaching different types of groups requires thinking about the prior knowledge of the participant (while admitting it’s impossible to actually know this - especially when teaching a one-shot workshop), the basic skills they may or may not have, and why they are attending the session. More specifically, undergraduates may or may not have visited the library before, and one can cautiously assume they are familiar with computers in terms of web browsing, but they quite possibly are only at the database workshop because it’s required for their class. On the contrary, participants who attend the computer basics workshop are presumably there because they feel they are lacking computer skills and really want to absorb the workshop materials.
3) Conduct background information on previously taught sessions
Most of the sessions I taught had been taught before by many different people. I was provided with teaching outlines, but this only gave me part of the story. It was incredibly useful to talk to instructors who’d taught the session before to find out what works well and what doesn’t work so well (for example, some databases might not handle simultaneous use as well as others - and that’s helpful to know!), and how participants might react to the material. In a database workshop I co-taught, by talking with my co-instructor prior, I knew that one part of the workshop might take longer than predicted, so we needed to keep an eye on the time. Again, this was useful knowledge to have before getting in front of the class.
Reaching out to other instructors to prep and debrief workshops is an effective way to network with colleagues and improve your instruction. Looking back up to lesson learned #1, see if you can observe a workshop you’ll teach in the future and then chat with them afterwards to talk through some of the parts that were great or a bit confusing. Most colleagues should be open to this discussion.
4) Practice, and then practice again (by self and with others)
This might feel like an obvious step to take, but I’ve observed instructors who were clearly not as prepared as they could have been (and I’ve been there too!) - one of the steps for moving through the session was out of place, their designated search didn’t bring up the right results, or they left out a major part of the workshop.
Prior to teaching, I set aside time at least one week in advance to talk with colleagues and then actually sit down to practice working through the material. I follow all of the prescribed steps for the workshop (“now we’re going to go to the library homepage, and in the main search bar type ‘Children and Media.’ This will bring up a page that...) and talk myself through what I’m going to say. When time allows or I’m feeling particularly uncomfortable about a topic, I will practice in front of other colleagues or classmates to get feedback. By practicing , and practicing, and practicing, I’ve learned that being prepared is huge in feeling effective and comfortable in front of a classroom. I’ve also learned that you can’t predict everything that will happen, but that by being prepared for what you can control, the moments that you can’t are much easier to handle.
5) Co-teach
Not everyone might agree that co-teaching is effective or even something they want to do, but if you can find a colleague with whom you work well, having a co-instructor can be very useful to learning instructional skills and teaching styles. I found a co-instructor who’s teaching style and prep style both compliment and supplement mine. It’s been a great experience to work with someone who has his own teaching identity but who is willing to talk through instructional strategies and sessions (part of the practice part in #4!) and who is there for support during the workshop and after to provide feedback (see #7). Co-teaching can be a great way to start getting your feet wet in the vast instructional waters.
6) Teach!
Dive in and do it! Until you start teaching, you can’t possibly start to reflect and improve on what you can do better. When I started teaching, I did not have a teaching style and was merely trying to get through the material. By working with a co-instructor, having my mentor observe my sessions, reviewing the workshop evaluations from participants, and reflecting alone I was able to get critical feedback that has improved my teaching. I found that the more I taught, the more comfortable I got with different audiences (making quips about dissertation writing with PhDs, telling undergraduates that this tool will really save them time - because who wants to spend more time on citations then you have to) and the more comfortable I got in general. And the only want to do this was to start teaching - ready or not!
7) Reflect and debrief
This may be the most important step, not necessarily to start instructing, but definitely for becoming a more effective instructor. Having a co-teach or observer at some of your first sessions (and even as you progress) can make all the difference in being a great instructor. At the beginning of my teaching, I stayed behind the podium and, as mentioned earlier, just tried to get through the material. After receiving feedback, I started walking around the room, pointing more to the screen and became more interactive in my teaching style. I also worked through some of the examples in the workshop that simply didn’t work as well as I wanted. Additionally, reflection has helped me consider what I need to do more of in terms of preparation -- more practice, more background information, whether I want a co-instructor or not. These are valuable lessons on which to build for each and every instructional session I teach. Don’t be afraid to do this outside work - take this time in your office to write notes, or wait til you get home and can sit and think for a few minutes outside of the setting. It will be critical to improving your teaching to debrief each session, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Think about what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you can improve on next time. A couple of bullet points can put things into perspective. And if a session had a lot of issues, think about how you can prevent them if possible, and more forward to making the next workshop that much better.
What you learned that other people should know about to improve their own practice
Instruction at the library is something many librarians can do by choice. It’s a requirement for some positions, and is expected that should assistance be needed to instruct or float (walking around to help students stay on track during the session), librarians will step up. There are library resources for instructors including teaching outlines, informal mentors, and research-based practice on which to draw. However as a beginning instructor teaching topics on which I needed fluency, I needed to do a significant amount of work on my own. This pre-work came to be what made me comfortable teaching, and it has played an important role in my teaching effectiveness. So, to all instructors just starting out (or those who want to revisit their practice), I present to you my lessons learned and recommendations for diving into information literacy-based instruction as an information literate instructor.
1) Observe sessions
I had the chance to observe many types of workshops with different instructors (and one at another local university) and was able to glean an incredible amount from actively observing. I learned about keeping energy up (especially if you’re teaching undergraduates at 8:30 in the morning), being prepared for the topic, and different strategies such as walking around the room while talking. Observation time can give you the chance to sort out your teaching style and think about what you like and didn’t care during different types of workshops.
Take the time to sit in on a variety of instructional sessions and don’t be afraid to step out of the box to observe workshops that are in a different field or even location (such as a public library or other university, if you’re an academic librarian). Ask colleagues in your workplace if you can watch their sessions, or even float if you feel comfortable. Sit in on technology workshops, citation workshops, database workshops, and other types of sessions that can give you a varied view of instruction. While you may be teaching workshops on how to format citations, the instructor for that database class might have a teaching style that is more “you.” By observing different instructors in different settings with different topics, you’ll gain a more rounded view of what instruction means for students and for you as an instructor.
2) Consider your audience
Instructing undergraduates, PhDs, faculty and staff within a few weeks of one another really caused me to think about the audience of the workshop while I was preparing to teach and actually instructing. Teaching different types of groups requires thinking about the prior knowledge of the participant (while admitting it’s impossible to actually know this - especially when teaching a one-shot workshop), the basic skills they may or may not have, and why they are attending the session. More specifically, undergraduates may or may not have visited the library before, and one can cautiously assume they are familiar with computers in terms of web browsing, but they quite possibly are only at the database workshop because it’s required for their class. On the contrary, participants who attend the computer basics workshop are presumably there because they feel they are lacking computer skills and really want to absorb the workshop materials.
3) Conduct background information on previously taught sessions
Most of the sessions I taught had been taught before by many different people. I was provided with teaching outlines, but this only gave me part of the story. It was incredibly useful to talk to instructors who’d taught the session before to find out what works well and what doesn’t work so well (for example, some databases might not handle simultaneous use as well as others - and that’s helpful to know!), and how participants might react to the material. In a database workshop I co-taught, by talking with my co-instructor prior, I knew that one part of the workshop might take longer than predicted, so we needed to keep an eye on the time. Again, this was useful knowledge to have before getting in front of the class.
Reaching out to other instructors to prep and debrief workshops is an effective way to network with colleagues and improve your instruction. Looking back up to lesson learned #1, see if you can observe a workshop you’ll teach in the future and then chat with them afterwards to talk through some of the parts that were great or a bit confusing. Most colleagues should be open to this discussion.
4) Practice, and then practice again (by self and with others)
This might feel like an obvious step to take, but I’ve observed instructors who were clearly not as prepared as they could have been (and I’ve been there too!) - one of the steps for moving through the session was out of place, their designated search didn’t bring up the right results, or they left out a major part of the workshop.
Prior to teaching, I set aside time at least one week in advance to talk with colleagues and then actually sit down to practice working through the material. I follow all of the prescribed steps for the workshop (“now we’re going to go to the library homepage, and in the main search bar type ‘Children and Media.’ This will bring up a page that...) and talk myself through what I’m going to say. When time allows or I’m feeling particularly uncomfortable about a topic, I will practice in front of other colleagues or classmates to get feedback. By practicing , and practicing, and practicing, I’ve learned that being prepared is huge in feeling effective and comfortable in front of a classroom. I’ve also learned that you can’t predict everything that will happen, but that by being prepared for what you can control, the moments that you can’t are much easier to handle.
5) Co-teach
Not everyone might agree that co-teaching is effective or even something they want to do, but if you can find a colleague with whom you work well, having a co-instructor can be very useful to learning instructional skills and teaching styles. I found a co-instructor who’s teaching style and prep style both compliment and supplement mine. It’s been a great experience to work with someone who has his own teaching identity but who is willing to talk through instructional strategies and sessions (part of the practice part in #4!) and who is there for support during the workshop and after to provide feedback (see #7). Co-teaching can be a great way to start getting your feet wet in the vast instructional waters.
6) Teach!
Dive in and do it! Until you start teaching, you can’t possibly start to reflect and improve on what you can do better. When I started teaching, I did not have a teaching style and was merely trying to get through the material. By working with a co-instructor, having my mentor observe my sessions, reviewing the workshop evaluations from participants, and reflecting alone I was able to get critical feedback that has improved my teaching. I found that the more I taught, the more comfortable I got with different audiences (making quips about dissertation writing with PhDs, telling undergraduates that this tool will really save them time - because who wants to spend more time on citations then you have to) and the more comfortable I got in general. And the only want to do this was to start teaching - ready or not!
7) Reflect and debrief
This may be the most important step, not necessarily to start instructing, but definitely for becoming a more effective instructor. Having a co-teach or observer at some of your first sessions (and even as you progress) can make all the difference in being a great instructor. At the beginning of my teaching, I stayed behind the podium and, as mentioned earlier, just tried to get through the material. After receiving feedback, I started walking around the room, pointing more to the screen and became more interactive in my teaching style. I also worked through some of the examples in the workshop that simply didn’t work as well as I wanted. Additionally, reflection has helped me consider what I need to do more of in terms of preparation -- more practice, more background information, whether I want a co-instructor or not. These are valuable lessons on which to build for each and every instructional session I teach. Don’t be afraid to do this outside work - take this time in your office to write notes, or wait til you get home and can sit and think for a few minutes outside of the setting. It will be critical to improving your teaching to debrief each session, even if it’s only for a few minutes. Think about what went well, what didn’t go so well, and what you can improve on next time. A couple of bullet points can put things into perspective. And if a session had a lot of issues, think about how you can prevent them if possible, and more forward to making the next workshop that much better.
Friday, August 5, 2011
Instructional Reflections and Feedback
Last week I wrote about participating in lots of instruction over the coming week. Well, that was this week, and this week is nearly over!
On Monday, I participated in orientation workshops for incoming freshman (I did this Thursday as well), and also completed a Word for Dissertation workshop. On both occasions, I had the chance to collaborate with colleagues, which was a great experience. Co-teaching has allowed me to feel more comfortable with instruction and has also provided me with the confidence that I could probably have done both on my own if I absolutely needed to. Working with my colleagues was great, though. It was wonderful to have someone there who could help answer questions or jump in if I forgot something, however it was also simply nice to work with people whom I respect and admire.
The orientation sessions were a nice "warm up" for my later Dissertation workshop. Talk about different audiences! I went from working with 18-year-old-incoming freshman to mainly doctoral students of all ages. The freshman were tired - it was early morning and they were there because they had to be. The doctoral students were fully interested and engaged as this was something they chose to attend on their own and something they knew would be helpful throughout their long dissertation process.
The freshman orientation provided little to no feedback, other than what we could see. Some students asked great questions while others struggled to keep their eyes open. Most participated in our polls via iClicker but other than that, it was impossible to tell how effective of an instructor I was. I did receive some feedback from my co-instructors, which was helpful because they could do this presentation in their sleep and have a good deal of instructional experience.
The Word for Dissertation workshop, on the other hand, provided more and different feedback. I not only received tips from one of the facility's main instructors, but also from 7 out of the 9 workshop participants. The feedback from my instructor was very helpful - she talked about not saying things were simple or easy (because they may not be for everyone!) and also about leading into topics with analogies and in simpler terms. Extremely useful information that I can carry across my instructional experiences.
We also received feedback from the participants via an anonymous evaluation system. The numbers that we received were good - no negative feedback, a few neutrals, and mostly good. The comments, however, were one of my first lessons of criticism in the way that I could not ask for further information or could not really use the information to be constructive. I received a comment that said it looked like I was nervous and made a lot of mistakes by having to go back and repeat myself. I read this comment, and of course, felt a little bad. The same commenter had said my colleague had a nice presence about him, so he clearly did not see that same confidence in me. I did, to be completely fair, mess up right at the beginning of my transition... which probably through this person off. But it was hard to read the comment and not be able to follow up, ask what I might do better, or simply realize that the beginning of my half of the workshop was confusing for people and that I need to practice more for next time. Which I will, regardless :)
The point of this post is just a reflection on my instruction this past week. It also is a beginning thought on how we could make our assessment of the workshops better in a way that might provide more constructive feedback. I'm pretty sure that there will nearly always be "that person" or people who don't respond at all, but as I am more confident in teaching certain workshops, I would like to evaluate the assessment that goes along with them. The one-shot workshop model might be something I re-visit when this time comes.
On Monday, I participated in orientation workshops for incoming freshman (I did this Thursday as well), and also completed a Word for Dissertation workshop. On both occasions, I had the chance to collaborate with colleagues, which was a great experience. Co-teaching has allowed me to feel more comfortable with instruction and has also provided me with the confidence that I could probably have done both on my own if I absolutely needed to. Working with my colleagues was great, though. It was wonderful to have someone there who could help answer questions or jump in if I forgot something, however it was also simply nice to work with people whom I respect and admire.
The orientation sessions were a nice "warm up" for my later Dissertation workshop. Talk about different audiences! I went from working with 18-year-old-incoming freshman to mainly doctoral students of all ages. The freshman were tired - it was early morning and they were there because they had to be. The doctoral students were fully interested and engaged as this was something they chose to attend on their own and something they knew would be helpful throughout their long dissertation process.
The freshman orientation provided little to no feedback, other than what we could see. Some students asked great questions while others struggled to keep their eyes open. Most participated in our polls via iClicker but other than that, it was impossible to tell how effective of an instructor I was. I did receive some feedback from my co-instructors, which was helpful because they could do this presentation in their sleep and have a good deal of instructional experience.
The Word for Dissertation workshop, on the other hand, provided more and different feedback. I not only received tips from one of the facility's main instructors, but also from 7 out of the 9 workshop participants. The feedback from my instructor was very helpful - she talked about not saying things were simple or easy (because they may not be for everyone!) and also about leading into topics with analogies and in simpler terms. Extremely useful information that I can carry across my instructional experiences.
We also received feedback from the participants via an anonymous evaluation system. The numbers that we received were good - no negative feedback, a few neutrals, and mostly good. The comments, however, were one of my first lessons of criticism in the way that I could not ask for further information or could not really use the information to be constructive. I received a comment that said it looked like I was nervous and made a lot of mistakes by having to go back and repeat myself. I read this comment, and of course, felt a little bad. The same commenter had said my colleague had a nice presence about him, so he clearly did not see that same confidence in me. I did, to be completely fair, mess up right at the beginning of my transition... which probably through this person off. But it was hard to read the comment and not be able to follow up, ask what I might do better, or simply realize that the beginning of my half of the workshop was confusing for people and that I need to practice more for next time. Which I will, regardless :)
The point of this post is just a reflection on my instruction this past week. It also is a beginning thought on how we could make our assessment of the workshops better in a way that might provide more constructive feedback. I'm pretty sure that there will nearly always be "that person" or people who don't respond at all, but as I am more confident in teaching certain workshops, I would like to evaluate the assessment that goes along with them. The one-shot workshop model might be something I re-visit when this time comes.
Friday, July 29, 2011
Instruction, Instruction, Instruction (and..... we're back!)
I did the bad blogging thing, I dropped off for several weeks and am now diving back in with the hopes that my few gentle readers will forgive me and again read my posts.
Interestingly enough, my last post talked about how I was thinking about starting my next instruction project with a colleague and between then and now, we not only taught one workshop but are gearing up for our second on Monday!
The first workshop we taught was on RefWorks, a bibliographic management tool. We ended up following through on simultaneously editing a Google doc, each creating our own specific outline, and then practicing once before the workshop together. Of course we each prepared on our own, but knowing that we worked well together, the one practice together was enough. And the workshop went well! It was a program we were both fairly familiar with so we were able to get smoothly through the tech parts and trade off well. Another great part of practicing, at least, was working with my colleagues. We were able to provide ample and productive feed back to one another both during the practice session and after the workshop which was helpful. It was also helpful that we are both very able to take constructive criticism so that we could help each other improve.
Monday is our next teaching session, this time on instructing Microsoft Word for Dissertation. This program is quite a bit more complicated and there are always things that can go wrong with not a lot of explanation. Because the first session went so well, we decided to use the same planning method as last time. EXCEPT, we practiced more. We have had different levels of feedback during each session - all of which have been very helpful in thinking about our session on Monday. It's been very useful to have the different levels of feedback; by levels I mean our levels of preparation paired with different levels of novice/experts.
During our first practice session, an expert in instruction and Word for Diss helped us through and showed us how she generally teaches the workshop (effectively). It was so useful to have this during our first run through because we inevitably forgot content or needed refreshers on the "why" we do this or that. During our final practice session, we had observers who were less knowledgeable about the program (though still experts compared to the workshop constituents) and who were not experienced in instruction. Their feedback on the content specifically was very helpful.
This planning workshops thing is getting easier, but no matter how experienced I get, I'll always remember the planning process, and even more importantly as I move forward, the evaluations.
Getting evaluations from the first workshop (which only had a few people) was very exciting because no matter how we thought we did, if our participants didn't learn something, our workshop was less successful. In the future, after I have more of the workshop content and know-how down, I think it would be interesting to re-look at the evaluations and see if there are questions I'd like to incorporate or take out. All comes in time, but this instruction thing is pretty interesting.
Oh, and happy summer!
Interestingly enough, my last post talked about how I was thinking about starting my next instruction project with a colleague and between then and now, we not only taught one workshop but are gearing up for our second on Monday!
The first workshop we taught was on RefWorks, a bibliographic management tool. We ended up following through on simultaneously editing a Google doc, each creating our own specific outline, and then practicing once before the workshop together. Of course we each prepared on our own, but knowing that we worked well together, the one practice together was enough. And the workshop went well! It was a program we were both fairly familiar with so we were able to get smoothly through the tech parts and trade off well. Another great part of practicing, at least, was working with my colleagues. We were able to provide ample and productive feed back to one another both during the practice session and after the workshop which was helpful. It was also helpful that we are both very able to take constructive criticism so that we could help each other improve.
Monday is our next teaching session, this time on instructing Microsoft Word for Dissertation. This program is quite a bit more complicated and there are always things that can go wrong with not a lot of explanation. Because the first session went so well, we decided to use the same planning method as last time. EXCEPT, we practiced more. We have had different levels of feedback during each session - all of which have been very helpful in thinking about our session on Monday. It's been very useful to have the different levels of feedback; by levels I mean our levels of preparation paired with different levels of novice/experts.
During our first practice session, an expert in instruction and Word for Diss helped us through and showed us how she generally teaches the workshop (effectively). It was so useful to have this during our first run through because we inevitably forgot content or needed refreshers on the "why" we do this or that. During our final practice session, we had observers who were less knowledgeable about the program (though still experts compared to the workshop constituents) and who were not experienced in instruction. Their feedback on the content specifically was very helpful.
This planning workshops thing is getting easier, but no matter how experienced I get, I'll always remember the planning process, and even more importantly as I move forward, the evaluations.
Getting evaluations from the first workshop (which only had a few people) was very exciting because no matter how we thought we did, if our participants didn't learn something, our workshop was less successful. In the future, after I have more of the workshop content and know-how down, I think it would be interesting to re-look at the evaluations and see if there are questions I'd like to incorporate or take out. All comes in time, but this instruction thing is pretty interesting.
Oh, and happy summer!
Friday, June 3, 2011
Working Together
So, I finally have a workshop scheduled to teach! All on my own! Well, wait... not all on my own. In fact, I'm team teaching... with a colleague... who is teaching his first workshop too...
We're really excited to get started on instruction, but I really did not know where to begin when I was asked to do this. I've learned some on this topic, and feel confident that we'll be able to produced a productive session, but it was kind of a deer-in-the-headlights moment when I knew I would actually have to conduct a workshop. My supervisor offered to send me their latest outline of the session that I'll teach, but I didn't just want to do what someone else did because that was the way it was done. I searched our old instructional outlines and found four more. Now, where to start with that?
In the planning meeting with my colleague, he had a great suggestion. Why don't we just start a google doc, go through these outlines, and pick out the things we like? So that's what we decided to do. Hopefully after we come up with our own outline, we can add some interaction and our own personal touch. However, as the first workshop, it might be good to do it, get comfortable and then start playing around. Any thoughts or suggestions on this?
We're really excited to get started on instruction, but I really did not know where to begin when I was asked to do this. I've learned some on this topic, and feel confident that we'll be able to produced a productive session, but it was kind of a deer-in-the-headlights moment when I knew I would actually have to conduct a workshop. My supervisor offered to send me their latest outline of the session that I'll teach, but I didn't just want to do what someone else did because that was the way it was done. I searched our old instructional outlines and found four more. Now, where to start with that?
In the planning meeting with my colleague, he had a great suggestion. Why don't we just start a google doc, go through these outlines, and pick out the things we like? So that's what we decided to do. Hopefully after we come up with our own outline, we can add some interaction and our own personal touch. However, as the first workshop, it might be good to do it, get comfortable and then start playing around. Any thoughts or suggestions on this?
Friday, May 6, 2011
My First (Official) Instructional Experience and Enriching Scholarship
This week at the University of Michigan, Enriching Scholarship consumed my time. Enriching Scholarship is an annual week-long technology event (FREE to anyone with a uniqname) around the University presented by many departments including Literature, Science, and Arts, the Duderstadt Center, Communications, the Library, and many more. For a little history on the people who produce Enriching Scholarship, taken directly from the Enriching Scholarship home page:
Additionally, I had the opportunity to co-teach one of these sessions: The New Basics: Computing 101. What a valuable and great experience! Our session was attended by very receptive folks who gave us great feedback about what they wanted to know and about what they learned in the session.
While it seems our participants had a valuable experience, I learned a lot too. Not so much about Computing 101 (though I did learn some tricks and tips too :) but about presentation style, preparedness, and adaptation during workshops. As this was the first iteration of this workshop, we planned too much (or differently) than the participants wanted or needed. The first part of the workshop - browsers, bookmarks, tabs, etc., took much longer than expected but it was mostly because people were asking so many (great!) questions. So, timing of the workshop will need to adjust - either into a Comp 101 and Comp 102 or adding another half hour, or... so many possibilities!
Secondly, I could have been more prepared. Part of me is always hesitant to actually practice presentations (which I did, but not enough). I need to get over that and just practice, practice, practice! Which actually leads to my third point - adaptation. I had practiced, but only to the point where I could pretty much repeat information - and this did not serve me well when we had to adapt. I got frazzled and tried to do way too much in the last 15-20 minutes, which I think was confusing for the participants after the first 1 1/4 hours was at the perfect pace. But, the participants stayed after and asked questions so I think people were truly interested in the topic and glad to be there.
I am excited to reflect on and revamp this workshop with the feedback and observations that were made on Tuesday. Plus, I got the first instructional experience out of the way and am more confident moving forward knowing what I can do better next time :)
The TTC is a group currently comprised of staff from these units across campus. An annual initiative of the TTC is Enriching Scholarship, a conference offered for instructional faculty every May, showcasing over 100 workshops and sessions that address the use of technology in teaching and research.Anyway, Enriching Scholarship is pretty great. It brings together people who know technology, who want to know technology, and who want to share information about technology. I attended four sessions - one each day - and learned about Productivity Tips, Tools and Tricks, Embracing Facebook in Your Teaching, Using Everyday Technologies for Teaching, and Find, Use, Remix and Create Open Learning Materials. Each of these sessions brought something new to my work and gave me ideas to move forward as I think about instruction and my professional practice.
Additionally, I had the opportunity to co-teach one of these sessions: The New Basics: Computing 101. What a valuable and great experience! Our session was attended by very receptive folks who gave us great feedback about what they wanted to know and about what they learned in the session.
While it seems our participants had a valuable experience, I learned a lot too. Not so much about Computing 101 (though I did learn some tricks and tips too :) but about presentation style, preparedness, and adaptation during workshops. As this was the first iteration of this workshop, we planned too much (or differently) than the participants wanted or needed. The first part of the workshop - browsers, bookmarks, tabs, etc., took much longer than expected but it was mostly because people were asking so many (great!) questions. So, timing of the workshop will need to adjust - either into a Comp 101 and Comp 102 or adding another half hour, or... so many possibilities!
Secondly, I could have been more prepared. Part of me is always hesitant to actually practice presentations (which I did, but not enough). I need to get over that and just practice, practice, practice! Which actually leads to my third point - adaptation. I had practiced, but only to the point where I could pretty much repeat information - and this did not serve me well when we had to adapt. I got frazzled and tried to do way too much in the last 15-20 minutes, which I think was confusing for the participants after the first 1 1/4 hours was at the perfect pace. But, the participants stayed after and asked questions so I think people were truly interested in the topic and glad to be there.
I am excited to reflect on and revamp this workshop with the feedback and observations that were made on Tuesday. Plus, I got the first instructional experience out of the way and am more confident moving forward knowing what I can do better next time :)
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Learning Methods, Tutorials, Modules, and how it all comes together
This weeks readings provided a very interesting way to think about instruction and learning methods. Building from week ones readings about how people learn, it was helpful to read and consider how many different tools and resources are available to help people learn in a variety of ways.
With the aid of technology, there are now so many ways that people can choose to both provide instruction and learn. Online modules and tutorials, and infinite types of software are available for people to use in their learning and teaching process. As Yelinek says, teaching software is a matter of teaching procedure (p. 101) but that the learner's procedures will yield different outcomes based on their reasons for wanting to learn. Instructors will need to take into account materials and learners as well as research on instruction. As well, instructors and learners will want to consider the variety of software that is available to aid in their learning process; that is, sometimes free resources do not always provide what is necessary for the learning. While free resources are flexible and can be used in many online spaces, they may not have everything that the instructor wants (Griffis). As Johnston's collection of research points out, there are many ways that students should learn, but that accessible, usable and useful information to learn information literacy is crucial. This should all be considered when creating a workshop in a (library) instructional atmosphere.
The one-shot library workshop article considers all of this as well as the educational psychology involved in creating a workshop. It asks how instructors want to and do create workshops (e.g. via making an outline, students ask questions then instructor answer?, lecture and demo?, use a colleagues outline and wing it?, create a worksheet and shape workshop around it?). The article focuses on systematic instructional design, ADDIE - analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation.
Analysis: background work - why does someone want this workshop?
Design: Content areas, objectives, ongoing assessments
Development: Workable lesson plans
Implementation: Tested and implemented
Evaluation: Evaluate feedback and redesign (parts) if necessary
This instructional design method allows for long term use, flexibility, stakeholder input, consistency, training, professional development, and quality. It also helps an instructor think about whether to design a workshop individually, individually with feedback, with a group, or with a partner. Time and money are also factors to consider.
This information is extremely relevant for me; I am going to begin observing library workshops and am on track to begin instructing by the end of this term. As well, I am creating and editing tutorials that focus on current software that the library has. Currently, I am editing a RefWorks handout that helps U of M students and faculty use the bibliographic software. I found particularly interesting, then, the piece about how research shows that users want more graphics and less written text (Yelinek, pg. 103). I will incorporate this into my edit of the tutorial. Further, when I am observing workshops over the next few weeks, I will think about how the idea of information literacy is embedded into the subject of the course. Tomorrow, Jan. 24, I am observing an English 125 workshop on library usage and know that the idea of information literacy will come out in a group of second semester freshmen. It will be particularly interesting to think about their age group (18-19), current information literacy skills (probably high) paired with their knowledge of the library system (probably very little). Hopefully, the workshop will give the students tools they can use when they leave, that it will be student-centered. It will be interesting to see if the instructor balances face-to-face interaction suggestions with online tools (such as remote chat or email reference through Ask a Librarian).
As the semester progresses and I consider developing workshops, I will think about the ADDIE structure. I may even try to ask librarians who have developed current workshops their method of instructional design. Having many ideas of how this happens will be useful to my learning and career. Personally, I have always found that getting input from those who the workshop is for, and focusing on evaluation are critical to successful learning. If the instructor doesn't know what the learner wants, they cannot effectively teach. And, if assessment isn't taken on the success of the workshop, the instructor will never know what they could do differently or better. I will consider these as I move forward as well.
With the aid of technology, there are now so many ways that people can choose to both provide instruction and learn. Online modules and tutorials, and infinite types of software are available for people to use in their learning and teaching process. As Yelinek says, teaching software is a matter of teaching procedure (p. 101) but that the learner's procedures will yield different outcomes based on their reasons for wanting to learn. Instructors will need to take into account materials and learners as well as research on instruction. As well, instructors and learners will want to consider the variety of software that is available to aid in their learning process; that is, sometimes free resources do not always provide what is necessary for the learning. While free resources are flexible and can be used in many online spaces, they may not have everything that the instructor wants (Griffis). As Johnston's collection of research points out, there are many ways that students should learn, but that accessible, usable and useful information to learn information literacy is crucial. This should all be considered when creating a workshop in a (library) instructional atmosphere.
The one-shot library workshop article considers all of this as well as the educational psychology involved in creating a workshop. It asks how instructors want to and do create workshops (e.g. via making an outline, students ask questions then instructor answer?, lecture and demo?, use a colleagues outline and wing it?, create a worksheet and shape workshop around it?). The article focuses on systematic instructional design, ADDIE - analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation.
Analysis: background work - why does someone want this workshop?
Design: Content areas, objectives, ongoing assessments
Development: Workable lesson plans
Implementation: Tested and implemented
Evaluation: Evaluate feedback and redesign (parts) if necessary
This instructional design method allows for long term use, flexibility, stakeholder input, consistency, training, professional development, and quality. It also helps an instructor think about whether to design a workshop individually, individually with feedback, with a group, or with a partner. Time and money are also factors to consider.
This information is extremely relevant for me; I am going to begin observing library workshops and am on track to begin instructing by the end of this term. As well, I am creating and editing tutorials that focus on current software that the library has. Currently, I am editing a RefWorks handout that helps U of M students and faculty use the bibliographic software. I found particularly interesting, then, the piece about how research shows that users want more graphics and less written text (Yelinek, pg. 103). I will incorporate this into my edit of the tutorial. Further, when I am observing workshops over the next few weeks, I will think about how the idea of information literacy is embedded into the subject of the course. Tomorrow, Jan. 24, I am observing an English 125 workshop on library usage and know that the idea of information literacy will come out in a group of second semester freshmen. It will be particularly interesting to think about their age group (18-19), current information literacy skills (probably high) paired with their knowledge of the library system (probably very little). Hopefully, the workshop will give the students tools they can use when they leave, that it will be student-centered. It will be interesting to see if the instructor balances face-to-face interaction suggestions with online tools (such as remote chat or email reference through Ask a Librarian).
As the semester progresses and I consider developing workshops, I will think about the ADDIE structure. I may even try to ask librarians who have developed current workshops their method of instructional design. Having many ideas of how this happens will be useful to my learning and career. Personally, I have always found that getting input from those who the workshop is for, and focusing on evaluation are critical to successful learning. If the instructor doesn't know what the learner wants, they cannot effectively teach. And, if assessment isn't taken on the success of the workshop, the instructor will never know what they could do differently or better. I will consider these as I move forward as well.
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