What the new year shall bring - Detroit-based work

The winter/holiday break that academics and students receive is much needed, but the itch to get back to work is just as important.  As such, 2012 is shaping up to be a fantastic year.

One of the initiatives on which I'm most excited to work is at the Detroit Center.  There are many connections to make, many collaborations to develop, and many people to meet.  The UM Library is just starting work there to connect librarians to the projects at the Detroit Center.  Many of the projects are health-based, social work and leadership based, connected with urban planning, engineering, and much more.  There are many ways that librarians can assist this work; as UM is a research institution, the projects it supports need to be research-based.  UM librarians can work with the project coordinators to inform their work so that it can benefit the UM community, Detroit community, and citizens worldwide.

The University of Michigan is dedicated to working in Detroit.  Just today, as I was searching for UM-based Detroit work, I came across a very interesting website from The Office of the Vice President for Communications at UM entitled The University of Michigan and Detroit: A Parternship for Progress.  The website details UM's commitment to work in Detroit and discusses the "base of operations" (the Detroit Center) and lists projects associated with UM's work in Detroit.

The Detroit Center is the base of operations for many of U–M’s Detroit–focused programs. Established in 2005, the 10,500 square–foot facility provides space for offices, classes, meetings, exhibitions, lectures, and collaborative work while serving as a home base for students and faculty working on projects in the city. The U–M Detroit Admissions Office is also located here.

• ARTS & CULTURE

• COMMUNITY ACTION & SERVICE

• ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• GOVERNMENT & PUBLIC POLICY

• HEALTH & SAFETY

• INSTRUCTIONAL SERVICES & OUTREACH

• LEGAL RESOURCES

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SERVICES

• SUSTAINABILITY & THE ENVIRONMENT

(Source: http://vpcomm.umich.edu/issues/detroit.html) 

UM's work in Detroit also relates to UM President Mary Sue Coleman's Third Century Initiative which I learned about through Arts of Citizenship's Associate Director, Elizabeth Werbe.  The Third Century Initiative aims to, "use $50 million in existing funds during the next five years to develop innovative, multidisciplinary teaching and scholarship approaches to such topics as climate change, poverty and malnutrition, energy storage, affordable health care and social justice challenges. It will encompass teaching, research and service efforts" (http://www.ur.umich.edu/update/archives/111005/thirdcent).

The Partnership for Progress and the Third Century Initiative are just two of the many reasons that the Library should forge forth with creating a partnership with the Detroit Center.  The possibilities for collaborations are abundant, and it will be exciting to see and be a part of what's to come.

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. 

How People Learn Chapter 6 & Sadler

How People Learn Chp. 6
I find "How People Learn" to be such an engaging text to read. It is straight-forward, clear, and to the point. Yet, it's full of practical and interesting information.

Chapter Six on "The Design of Learning Environments" not only gave valuable inforamtion about different learning environments, but it also made a great deal of sense. That's easy to say, but when discussing such an important topic, that the text is coherant and complex is very refreshing. Chapter Six discusses the different ways that learners should be engaged. Through a mix of learner-, knowledge-, assessment-, and community-centered, one can see how people could truly becoming high-level thinkers who can analyze their own work and build up on it. That the authors started with learner-centered made me happy (OK, I know readings for class shouldn't and won't always make me happy, but its' nice when they do...). I have always thought learner-centered environments where the learner's backgrounds and prior knowledge are considered, has been the only way to educate. We are not in factories, as the system is designed, we are in a learning environment! One can only really learn if they can connect the material to their own lives and what they want to do.

However, I think I often don't regard the other parts of this chapter as as important as the learner-centered part, so it was great to read about how although knowledge-centered environments are necessary, they too can become more learner centered. The idea of "progressive formalization" (pg. 137) was a new concept to me, and one that completely makes sense. That students would progress during the learning process only seems obvious (though it doesn't always happen that way).

Further, assessment is something I've always been skeptical of because I have never believed that tests are the way to evaluate learning, it was interesting to read more deeply about what makes a formative assessment good and what makes it work. That students receive feedback throughout their learning process so that they can gain understanding and not just facts, that it is continuous and self-monitoring, means that students can truly engage with material and actually learn (not memorize).

Finally, the section about community-centered learning was something I was so glad to see in this reading. Part of my background is in afterschool, and the idea of "Learning Beyond the Classroom." To my earlier point, students cannot really understand material that doesn't make sense to them or their lives. I believe this is our current education system's biggest downfall - what students learn in school does not relate to the lives they lead outside. Community-centered learning where learning is coordinated and cooperative through the community (e.g. bringing in mentors from the community to help students learn) can only help learners become more engaged citizens, which is good for everyone.

The alignment of these will allow students to truly gain knowledge while becoming real "thinkers" where they can analyze and actually use information they learn.

Sadler
 Sadler's piece on formative assessment was also a useful text to read in the context of learnign and instruction. That learners are assessed by means of multiple criteria and have the ability to self-monitor their work means they can be more engaged and empowered during their learning process. Sadler's discussion of what it takes for a learner to be self-monitoring was very in-depth and interesting. That a student has to "(a) possess a concept of the standard(or goal, or reference level) being aimed for, (b) compare the actual (or current) level of performance with the standard, and (c) engage in appropriate action which leads to some closure of the gap" (p. 121) is very relevant to the "How People Learn" discussion of feedback. Further, that assessment should be guided but direct and authentic as well as cooperative gives instructors many ways to allow their students the opportunity for formative assessment and self-monitoring.

Reflections
This week's readings on environments and assessments was very personal for me - I've always felt that the environment in which one learns can affect everything they learn and that assessment is done in the completely wrong way for students.  From experience, I've seen how engaging, trusting environments can foster student growth and learning.  That students receive feedback and that their experiences are acknowledged is a very important part of my educational philosophy.  Further, that students are allowed to learn and not recite seems critical to a true learning process.  That education is plagued by federal and state laws that place emphasis on tests and that they do not have the time or resources to always provide formative assessments would be two things I am passionate about changing in the future of education.