last module session

i went to the last cohort session for the instruction module taught by marybeth mccartin this morning. we had computer issues in the regular meeting room so we had to switch to the meeting room behind circulation. they have a much bigger and nicer room, including a huge whiteboard on one wall...

first thing we discussed was the chapter we read in How People Learn. marybeth drew out that the concept that really stood out to her was metacognition. i agree that reflecting on the process is just as important as doing the research. i brought up that the end of the chapter really struck me. it discussed how teachers are not really learning how to teach these new methods because they're not willing to take the risks and there's no support for change. i used my math classes as examples.

then she introduced steps outlined in Veldof's Creating the one-shot library instruction workshop and went through several of the steps. we discussed some and applied it to a theoretical BI. of the three types of evaluations, we went most in depth with the behavioral one, which is essentially trying to get the student to reflect on the research process (metacognition!) by doing some kind of write-up (like a research log).

she kept talking about working with the professors and i wonder how many professors actually (1) take advantage of the library's services for their classes (like a BI) and (2) really work with the librarian. marybeth mentioned a lot of preparation work that needs to be done before teaching the actual class, like assessing the composition of the class, knowing what the assignment is, figuring out if there are problem areas to be addressed, etc. that requires a lot of communication with the professor at the beginning, but also at the end. she mentioned doing a post analysis, like requesting to see the end product (ie what sources the students used), and to have a discussion with the professor.

we wrapped up with discussing the BIs we observed. only three of us came to the session today and i was the only one who had attended a BI. on reflection, knowing the steps we could take to construct a BI, i think alexa did an even more awesome job than i had realized when i did my observation! she really incorporated a whole slew of techniques into her session (lecturette, demonstration, hands-on aka "jigsaw") and she covered the essentials, plus what the professor asked her to squeeze in (a refworks acct setup and general intro).

thank you, marybeth, for this awesome end to the module. i feel more confident about teaching (though not confident enough to actually do it yet).