A collaborative analysis of web tutorials and digital learning objects

1. Have the pedagogies used for library instruction changed to reflect new thinking by progressive educators? Prepared by Stephanie Rosenblatt Education Librarian, California State University Fullerton SCILWorks 2009 srosenblatt@fullerton.edu A collaborative analysis of web tutorials and digital learning objects

2. How do students learn?

3. How do librarians teach? scaffolding student-centered lessons clickers authentic activities collaboration with faculty contextualized instruction meeting ACRL standards active learning paying attention to how students feel as researchers modeling questioning trying to connect concepts to what students already know

4. Why do we teach the way we do? • It’s how we’ve seen our colleagues teach. • It’s how we learn. • It works with our students. • We’ve read the literature. • It’s considered “best practices.” • We don’t know any other way.

5. What theories have influenced our understanding of how people learn best? • Behaviorism • Cognitivism/ Constructivism

6. Behaviorism • Humans are animals. Our thought processes are based in biology and are behaviors that can be studied. Learning has occurred when a person can choose the behavior that yields the desired results in a particular context. The use of this behavior can then be extended to new, but similar situations. • Prominent researchers: Skinner, Pavlov, Thorndike • Ideas: individual differences, behavior modification, programmed instruction, learners are active, learning is incremental, learners need feedback, stimulus-response

7. Cognitivism/Constructivism • The brain is imagined as processor with different modules responsible for various purposes. Emphasis is placed on how the mind works during the processes of attention, perception, learning, and memory. • Learners construct their own understanding of the world based on personal experience. Learning takes place as people actively make sense of the world. What a person learns is influenced by the situation and needs of the learner. Learning is a social process.

8. Cognition/Constructivism II • Prominent researchers: Dewey, Bloom, Vygotsky, Piaget, Gardner, Montessori, Gagné • Ideas: zone of proximal development, scaffolding, schema theory, cognitive apprenticeships, situated cognition, learning styles, information processing, learning hierachies or taxonomies, criterion-referenced instruction, ADDIE, backwards planning, chunking

9. Looking at the evidence I • What are the goals of this Digital Learning Material? • How is it intended to be used? By whom? • How does the user interact with the material? • How is learning assessed? • What theory or theories of learning influenced this DLM’s creator(s)? • Do you think this DLM is effective? Why or why not? • Do the premises behind this DLM’s creation resonate with your own ideas about how people learn best?

10. Looking at the evidence i • Visit this workshop’s website at http://users.library.fullerton.edu/srosenblatt/digital_learning_materials_SCILWORKS2009.htm • Open one of the Behaviorist/Constructivist Comparative Summaries for reference • Choose a tutorial and work with a partner to analyze it using the questions provided.

11. My philosophy of Education I think everyone can learn. I think it’s my job, as the teacher, to assess my students’ needs, then craft a learning experience that directly addresses the skills and understandings they need to successfully complete the assignment . I believe it’s my job to try to connect what I’m teaching to my students’ prior knowledge through questioning or drawing analogies. I think students need to be actively engaged to learn and that they will only retain knowledge that they need to apply. I don’t think it’s effective to conduct library instruction workshops for students who don’t have an information need. Students won’t learn if they’re just shown something; they need time to practice and explore. Students can learn from a more experienced model. This model can be a teacher or a peer. Some students benefit when interior processes are made explicit through think-alouds. Students need feedback so they know they’re on the right track. Learning is social and uncomfortable. People learn better when they feel safe. One way to meet both needs is to offer students the opportunity to work with a partner or small group. Students should have some degree of choice in an instruction session: part of what they need to learn is what choices to make and how to be resilient when their first choices don’t work. Students have different learning styles and it’s important to provide materials and use methods that can support various styles. I think there’s a natural tendency to teach using the mode you prefer. The only way to know if students are learning or if your instruction is effective is to assess for your learning objectives, either formally or informally. The only reason to assess students is to use that information to correct misunderstandings or to improve your instruction. Our society prizes a very specific set of intelligences and modes of communication. It is our job as a teacher to deconstruct these assumptions for our students so they can understand that they are constructed by other humans and can change. This way of deconstructing the world can be extended to explaining why certain sources of information are deemed acceptable in the Academy.

12. Looking at the evidence II • Visit http://users.library.fullerton.edu/srosenblatt/ • Choose any one of the tutorials on the page. • Analyze the tutorial using the same criteria as before. • Are my tutorials consistent with my stated philosophy of education? • How would you improve them?

13. Conclusion • Librarians are teachers. • There is an extensive body of literature about teaching and learning that lies outside our field, and we should consider it. • Each teaching librarian should take the time to consciously craft his/her own philosophy of education. The librarian can then use this philosophy as a touchstone when reflecting on his/her own practice. This practice extends out of the classroom to the reference desk, the web, collection development, advocacy, etc.