Curriculum changes sparked a review of how the librarian taught library instruction to First-Year Seminar freshmen. By applying schema theory, the students (re)discovered their autonomy in their decision-making research strategies through several group activities.
Providing face-to-face instruction to hundreds of incoming freshmen is challenging. Striking the right balance between not enough information and too much information is fraught with second-guessing (and hindsight). We want them to know everything there is to know about the library, its resources, its services, and its librarians – in one 65-minute session. But guess what — they don’t need to know everything right now. So there is a new challenge – how to introduce the library without introducing the whole library.
Building on learning theories that students have pre-existing structures and processes and that they adapt their prior knowledge to new experiences, the librarian jettisoned the traditional information transfer instruction approach – highly structured, librarian-guided hands-on searching in Primo and a database – in favor of active learning, discovery activities.
Fall 2019 FYS students (re)discovered their autonomy in their decision-making and evaluation strategies through a series of activities. They concluded that their existing skills easily transferred to an academic library setting – all without the instructional librarian turning on a computer or showing a single PowerPoint slide. In other words, they know substantially more than they think they know, and they didn’t even know they knew it.
In conclusion, the presenter and attendees will engage in conversation about the efficacy of the activities mentioned in the presentation and whether they provide a credible forum into the research process. The presenter will share the positives, the challenges, and lessons learned in the new redesign as well as share in-class and post-class assessment techniques.
Participants will:
• define and apply constructivist theory (active learning) techniques to their own instruction program/class.
• create experiential learning activities that reinforce students’ prior knowledge in the research process.
For an optimal experience, attendees should have access to a device with Internet connection to participate in the activities.
Intended audience: Brand new to the topic, At least some experience with the topic.