The Accidental (Online) Library Instructor
This post is post 1 of 4 in a series by the authors of Instructional Design for Teaching Information Literacy Online: A Student-Centered Approach. For more information about the entire series and to meet the authors, check out our welcome post.
Post Playlist:
I Think I Lost It - Lucinda Williams
The Long Way Around - The Chicks
Looking Out - Brandi Carlile
There is a book (and subsequent movie) called The Accidental Tourist. If you’ve read the book or seen the movie, bear with me. If you haven’t, I’ll explain why I’m mentioning it. It’s a story about tragedy, the grief that comes after, losing love, and finding love again. What has that got to do with library instruction? Good question! The main character of the book, Macon Leary, writes travel guides for people who have to travel for business but dislike doing so. No job is perfect, right? But if you’re lucky, you find a line of work that you can enjoy most of the time and deal with the parts that aren’t so enjoyable OR those that you haven’t been trained to do. And that’s how it happens for many of us who are in the library field---we are accidental instructors.
It’s no secret that the typical library school curriculum does not prepare us for the amount of formal and informal teaching we do beyond the reference interview, though reference work does inform teaching practice. We mostly learn on the job, through trial and error, through observing our peers, using our network of resources, professional development and, when we have the time, continuing education. But there is never enough time.
Now consider the fact that most of us must teach face to face and online. I remember when my institution began to expand its online courses and degree offerings and became too big for one online learning librarian to support. Quite suddenly, my colleagues and I, who were used to teaching face to face classes, were required to teach online. Training for specific skills was offered, but many were rightfully nervous about mastering them.
There have been a few times in my professional life when I have encountered a problem and felt strongly compelled to solve it. One of these times was the scenario I described above which resulted in the development of 13 Things in Blackboard, a self-paced online professional development program. I wanted it to be incentive based and when I was unable to get funding through the libraries, I applied for an ALA grant…and won. While I wouldn’t describe myself as an overconfident person, I could not let the thought go that I had stumbled upon a really good idea and couldn’t stop until I got what I felt the project would be successful. When I described this feeling, this drive, to a friend of mine, she mentioned that Rick Rubin describes the same thing about the creative process. So of course I had to look it up and I really like what he has to say about it. (Note to self, read Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being.) Here’s a quotation from the OnBeing interview that’s linked just above:
But I’ll say that I learned something through the book, which is when I realized that not all of the four periods of work — so it starts with the seed phase is the first phase, and the second phase is the experimentation phase, the third phase is the craft phase, and the fourth phase is the final completion editing phase.
It struck me as I read this, because it sounds a lot like instructional design. When I became immersed in instructional design as I was working on my MEd, so many things began clicking for me as a library instructor. 13 Things in Blackboard was a good start, but it wasn’t enough. Library instructors needed the same kind of support and education to develop information literacy curriculum I was fortunate enough to access. Not everyone is able to complete a second master's degree, but we can learn on the job.
When I entered, as Rubin calls it, my seed phase, Valerie, Christopher, and I worked together on the same team focusing on online learning. We already had a solid collaborative process established. So I pitched the idea to them and asked if there was anyone else who should be involved, someone who would bring some sort of missing element to the table and we agreed that David was that person. And so the process of writing our book began.
In our book, Instructional Design for Teaching Information Literacy Online: A Student-Centered Approach, we offer this: The book is a unique and updated approach to instructional design while using the classic tenets of the ADDIE Model. Readers will also be able to fill in the gaps of the ADDIE Model to create flexible online learning experiences for diverse student populations via the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and asset-based pedagogical techniques, and boost student engagement and connections by utilizing the Community of Inquiry Framework.
Our book is for everyone who supports online information literacy instruction. We break down instructional design in an approachable and fun (we include playlists) way, and most importantly in the context of information literacy and library work. We center the student in learning, offering examples of how to work towards creating instruction informed by UDL and asset-based pedagogy. We also offer support for the library instructor, acknowledging the emotional aspect of teaching online. Whether you’re an accidental library instructor or you sought out a position with instructional responsibilities, this book is for you.
Want to learn more about this series? Head over to the welcome post for the details and to meet the authors.
Interested in your own copy of our book? You can purchase it on the Association of College & Research Libraries website.
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