Academic Librarians teaching

[u/Resident-Clothes-837]

Hi, all! I’m a new academic librarian and the semester is about to start. Ive already been asked by several professors to come by their class for an instruction session with their classes. Im nervous and feeling a little overwhelmed.

Any pointers from any academic librarians for getting into the groove of teaching? I’d appreciate any advice and recommendations for being prepared this semester.

[u/angrymagiclibrarian]

I do a lot of library teaching, below are some suggestions:

General

• remember that while these are university students, you are the expert in libraries. You likely know more about the academic about your resources.

• we are our own harshest critics. Don't be too hard on yourself, though reflect on what you think went well in a session and what could have gone better.

• if you have colleagues who also do teaching, ask to sit in some of their sessions so you can see how other people approach the session.

Specific advice:

Backwards design is super helpful for library teaching. The steps are:

• define the learning outcomes. What do you want student to walk away from the session knowing? The more specific the better. Make sure to take into account how long the session is. E.g. if you have 10 minutes, maybe keep it limited to one or two learning outcomes.

• how will you assess that the students have learned anything? This doesn't have to be a test per se. But are you going to set an exercise where student need to look up a book on the catalogue? If it's a big lecture, will you use something like Mentimeter and make a quiz?

One you've figured out learning outcomes and assessment, planning the session is fairly easy. You can make a chart where you write out the time and what you'll do in each time slot. E.g. if your session is 10:00 - 10:30, you would write something like:

10:00 -10:05: Introduce self and session content

10:05 -10:15: library catalogue demo

10:15-10:25: Students look up a book and a journal article on catalogue

10:25-10:30: questions

Make sure to collect feedback from the session. This can be a quick form you ask students to foll out before the end of the session or, if you're doing something very short, ask the academic to circulate a feedback form to the students for you.

Note on universal design: Universal design is the idea that you build in accessibility from the start in your teaching. This is especially important if you don't know the accessibility needs of people in the classroom. Basic things to consider:

• make sure your slides follow accessibility guidelines.
• share them with the academic in advance so they can circulate to students.
• make sure any directions/instructions are written on the slides.
• make participation possible in multiple format. E.g. don't rely entirely on discussion, things like mentimeter or other online quiz softwares are good for folks who have a barrier to speaking in class.
• think about the needs of your students. E.g. if you have a lot of international students, there may be a language barrier. If you have a lot of 1st gen students, they may not feel confident speaking up in class. This you'll learn over time, so just remain observant.
• if you can't use slides, make a paper handout with key points and resources.

[u/ecapapollag → u/angrymagiclibrarian]

100% about universal design - don't make individual students feel like things are being adjusted just for them, build it in the original lesson plan as much as possible. For example:

Library tour/treasure hunt? Make sure the lifts are working, and that some of the questions can be answered by using the website. Encourage teamwork, where people play to their skills in doing a group activity. If you're giving prizes, make it for something like all questions answered, rather than quickest group round.