Competency K
Design training programs based on appropriate learning principles and theories
Librarians must work as informational guides for a variety of patrons and in some way we must act as one-on-one teachers and in some instances a librarian may teach a class or teach a seminar. Understanding how to develop a training program and write supplemental information packets integrating learning principles and theories is important for anyone in any type of organization. As librarians we must sieve vast resources of information and distill the most important bits in a manner that can be efficiently and quickly understood by others. Some areas of information can become routine for a particular field of study and librarians help to create resources that saves librarians and patrons time in understanding information. Librarians can work in many different manners to be guides of information some of those can be instanced through the development of reference guide pathfinders, seminars taught to patrons of public libraries in usage of the libraries resources, citizen ship classes, English preparation and other beneficial areas. In other realms a librarian may be working in an academic or corporate area and must explain how to utilize information technology services. Accessing online catalogs and databases, inputting information in a database, and a variety of other opportunities.
Librarians must place themselves in a position that their services are indispensable especially in the contexts of for-profit companies. We are constantly moving forward and embracing new ideas and technologies that make our organizations more valuable and ourselves less replaceable. Some organizations have a position in place for the concept of learning and development and librarians should be able to spread that concept to many organizations. We can develop materials to teach new concepts to coworkers that can continue to focus on their own responsibilities instead of being burdened with finding new avenues of increasing their work efficiency.
In LIBR 210 we had to develop a speech on how we would incorporate instructional strategies in an organization. For that example I chose to represent a public library that wanted to work with a local public school and its students. Each school year the library would receive an influx of students working on various required reports and librarians would be inundated by these reference questions. For this example I decided that the library should form a cooperative association with the school to ensure that the library could handle the needs of the students based on the teacher’s requirements for an assignment. By working together the libraries could develop its own instructional materials that would be focused on the teaching requirements of the classes that period of time. For example the teachers would let the library know that their students would come requesting information for a biographical report on a famous American. The reference librarians would utilize their training on learning strategies and develop graphic organizers based on the homework assignment. In this manner the process in helping the student could be streamlined and allow them to focus on the important aspects of information literacy and not become sidetracked by what in particular to include but how to find the required information.
I referred to the website called the Big6 that focuses on information literacy for children. One important tactic that the Big6 encourages and that education scholars advocate is work that engages and guides students. One of those is graphic organizers and I created a mockup of a graphic organizer for a presentation on how a librarian could work with students that come in for help on an American biography project. In the example that I created there are two sheets. The first sheet involves basic facts that the student would have to report on for their biography. The second sheet involves guiding them on the path of finding that information. Using the KWHL format the student writes down what they know about the subject, what they want to learn about the subject, how they are going to find resources about the subject, and what have learned while conducting research. This type of rubric simplifies the assignment for students and for librarians conducting help with students. Going through this process the students are guided as to what the next step is and librarians can inform them on how they can go about finding information on their biographical subject.
I advocated that librarians could do more to assist their community by integrating those educational standards into their reference work. While graphic organizers are a great starting point other elements can be introduced utilizing the research backed methods pioneered by Robert Marzano. Marzano notes that there are nine instructional strategies that educators can utilize to improve student performance. Those are identifying similarities and differences, summarizing and note taking, reinforcing effort and providing recognition, homework and practice, non-linguistic representations such as mental images, graphs, acting out concepts, cooperative learning, setting objectives and providing feedback, generating and testing hypotheses, and activating prior knowledge through questions, cues, and advanced organizers (Marzano, 2001). While implementing all of these strategies would be difficult there are many areas where these instructional strategies can have an important impact. Some public librarians teach classes in job searches, technological literacy and classes to assist English language learners. In other areas librarians and information workers must present seminars to discuss a new concept or idea that an institution is adopting. In all of these avenues instructional strategies will have a beneficial effect in teaching and conducting seminars.
I have been proficient in putting into effect instructional strategies in my professional life. When I was working with Ashford University there were times when it was required to develop process sheets for students and coworkers in understanding how to use technologies related to online education, databases, and processes for work flow. During that time I was successful in writing detailed guides and conducting seminars on time management techniques. Certainly these skills can be applied to a host of different areas.
References
Marzano, R.J., Pickering, D.J., & Pollock, J.E. (2001). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.