Instruction Guidelines: How We Achieve It
Best Practices
- We collaborate with course instructors to the fullest extent possible to structure instruction sessions to establish learning outcomes and activities most beneficial to the students’ needs. We consider collaboration opportunities as ongoing and seek to establish relationships with course instructors to create and maintain opportunities to expand and deepen instruction.
- In addition to course-based learning outcomes, the ACRL Framework for Information Literacy is engaged to create philosophically-informed instruction.
- The design and development of effective curriculum is furthered by participating in Instructional Services Department meetings and keeping up with trends in instructional design, instructional technology, and relevant literature. Library instructors add to their instruction toolboxes by a variety of means: C&RL News, ili-listserv, Project Cora, and other relevant listservs, local, regional, and national conferences, to name a few examples.
- When possible, if curriculum has been standardized for a commonly requested class, instructors use the recommended lesson plan, available in the Curriculum Tools and Guidelines folder. These live documents are available for library instructors to save and customize to one’s preferences.
Planning Instruction
Create lesson plans that follow the practices of backward design and that incorporate all of the following: the ACRL Framework, course-specific learning outcomes, active learning opportunities, modes of assessment, and the following guidelines for lesson development:
- Identify learning outcomes: Collaborate with course instructors to determine learning outcomes that engage with the ACRL Framework
- Determine who the learners are: Collaborate with the instructor to determine the needs of their students and the types of support they may need to achieve the learning outcomes
- Develop a customizable lesson that addresses the learning outcomes: Utilize the Curriculum Tools and Guidelines folder and personalize the tools to the particular lesson plan
- Embed active learning opportunities: Integrate active learning, such as group work or peer teaching
- Assessment: Instructors integrates immediate assessment into their practice. Examples include but are not limited to:
- Formative Assessment: pre-test, in-class, post-test survey/evaluations
- Peer observation: 360° feedback model
- Self-reflection: The instructor uses information gathered from the formative assessment(s) and peer observation to reflect on the lesson and whether the students meet the learning objectives
- Statistics: Springshare, Qualtrics, and Google Forms data
Use of Technology
Instructors use current technology practices as applicable to the course goals to enhance their instruction. Instructors are familiar with:
- Use of classroom technologies such as overhead projector and connected computer
- Library databases such as EBSCO Discovery Service (EDS), JSTOR, and others
- Library technology tools, such as the Springshare platform
- eCourseware course management system for embedded librarianship
- Cloud-based instructional software, such as BlueJeans
Instructional Facilities
Each smart classroom is equipped with a computer, a laptop, input, and an audio system. Larger computer-lab style classrooms may be reserved in other buildings.
- Room 225 is a computer-lab-style classroom ideal for hands-on learning, in-class research, group work, collaboration, and meetings; seats 34. Computers have Microsoft 10 and RefWorks Write-N-Cite add-in in Microsoft Word.
- Room 226 is a lecture-style classroom ideal for group work, collaboration, instruction, and meetings; seats 40.
