As research indicates students do not retain as much from traditional "one-shot", lecture-based library instruction sessions as they do from active learning sessions, I set out to create a different model for freshmen library instruction. The foundation of that model is ongoing faculty/librarian collaboration; its cornerstones are the recognition of the unique research habits of millenials, the understanding those students have individual learning styles and the belief that both ongoing and formative assessment are necessary to gauge the success of the library instruction.
The three goals of the lesson are clearly stated as are the three outcomes associated with each goal. Those outcomes outline the increasingly complex tasks students must master to reach their stated goals. The result is a lesson design that involves several face-to-face meetings between the librarian, the professor and the students during the course of the semester as well as ongoing online discussions between all parties through the course management system. The plan features a number of active-learning and problem-based learning exercises which provide multiple avenues for differentiated instruction as students can engage with their questions and their information sources in a variety of ways. Numerous opportunities and mechanisms for formative and summative assessment are provided.
Technology plays a critical role in this lesson, with students using proprietary databases, course management software and familiar web-based tools. The use of Google and Wikipedia, which professors sometimes discourage, is highlighted in this lesson, which was heavily influenced by George Siemens' Connectivism theory.
As educators of millenials, we must respect how our students access data and understand their preferred methods of searching for information . The Living in an Open World Model developed by Dr. Thanh Nguyen stresses that students must learn incrementally, starting with something that is familiar to them (2011). This lesson employs that approach by using Wikipedia and Google as steeping stones to the examination of rich information sources, such as proprietary databases and discipline-specific resources. Wikipedia and Google need to be included because we must acknowledge that these popular resources are some of the most important information nodes for our students - critical tools they use as they work to craft their own connections and build their own knowledge.
Hopefully this lesson plan will make those connections stronger.
