Instruction
Many of my perceptions of instruction were shattered when I began the distance program. While I would see my instructor the first week of the quarter; most of the instruction took place on the internet through chats, online discussions, and group collaborations. The instructor changed from the role of lecturer and became instead a guide. The first quarter of the MLIS program was difficult; trying to master both the technology and the form of communication. Working through the process shattered some myths for me about teaching and pushed me to explore alternate forms of instruction. During my degree program, I had several opportunities to expand my knowledge and ability to instruct. These opportunities included my position as a reference assistant for the University of Washington Engineering Library as well as two unique directed fieldwork opportunities. These are described in detail below.
Engineering Library
Before coming to the iSchool, I had no practical instruction experience. As a reference assistant at the University of Washington Engineering Library, I had the chance to teach the library's quarterly research database class. Each quarter approximately five groups of students from the technical communications department attended a 50 minute introduction to the libraries databases. Typically these classes were held in a computer lab; however one quarter we found had to use a lecture hall without computers for the students to use. I had to create a means for the students to retain what I was telling them so they wouldn't walk away empty handed. With the encouragement of my supervisor, I created a worksheet for students to follow during class. This turned out so well, my supervisor used it for her classes. This experience really challenged me to rethink how I approached the class and what tools could be used to aid student learning when they didn't have the benefit of a computer to follow along. The very action of learning how to adapt to new challenges in the classroom will help me with future teaching opportunities. My success creating the worksheet was a helpful insight in how to overcome classroom obstacles and still be able to accomplish the desired tasks.
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City University
During the Winter quarter of 2006, I completed a directed fieldwork at City University's Dr Vi Tassler Library. This fieldwork was an opportunity for me to work not only in a different library, but as a reference provider to other distance students. Part of my work there included a reference shift where I would respond to student requests for assistance via the Question Point email reference tool. Distance students don't have the luxury of being able to come to the library for reference instruction, so it was very important to make sure that my communication with them gave them clear steps and explanations of everything I did, so they could reproduce the process themselves. Following City University's reference model, I learned quickly the importance of writing clear, detailed explanations of steps to search databases or navigate the library website. I also developed an appreciation of the difficulty of responding to email questions when the request may not be clear. In some cases I had to guess what it was the student was requesting, and give them several options as a reply. In the beginning, the librarians at City University offered a lot of guidance on which options made the most sense, because they had encountered similar questions. The longer I worked there the more I learned about their reference tools and could make these judgments on my own. This really reinforced the importance of knowing the breadth and limits of your reference sources. I further explored virtual reference skills working for with the University of Washington's Ask A Librarian service and as a volunteer for the Internet Public Library.
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Besides providing reference assistance, I worked with the Systems Librarian at City University to create story boards for online tutorials. I then created tutorials using Captivate. To help reach students at a distance the college was in the process of creating tutorials for various information groups. The library needed tutorials on using the library catalog. Before creating the tutorials themselves, I took screen shots and walked through each section of a process to make sure all the steps were covered and explained.
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University of Washington Libraries Information Literacy Steering Group
Spring quarter of 2006, I was engaged in a different kind of fieldwork. My previous quarter working at City University had piqued my interest in instruction and during spring quarter I had the opportunity to work with the University of Washington Libraries' Information Literacy Steering Committee. My task was to assess an existing set of online materials created to help librarians with instruction. During the quarter we completed a survey of librarians to assess their needs and the value of the materials. Working with the Steering Committee, I started the process of revising the online material to better meet those needs.
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I am so grateful for the opportunities I have had to learn about instruction in libraries, an area that was altogether foreign for me at the onset of the MLIS program. I feel the coupling of my experiences working as a user interface designer and learning how online tools can help instruct users has offered me a new perspective that I hope will assist me throughout my career
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