Articles on Active Learning

"Simple ways to add active learning to your library instruction" provides practical tips for adding active learning to your class. I think I'm going to try the Group Search idea in an upcoming class. Has anyone tried this? One student is the Navigator and leads or steers the group. The second student is the Helmsperson, s/he does the searching on behalf of the group. A third student is the Recorder and fills out a worksheet (I guess I have to design the worksheet, huh). And the fourth student is the Reporter and does a short presentation to the class. I'll let you know how it turns out.

"Making the most of the one-shot you got" presents the Direct-Instruction Teaching Model. Jeff Lyles has also written about this model, so it must be a good idea. The only confusing part of this model is that the author of the article states that it's teacher-centric. But he also says that it has active learning components built in. To me, it seems to be a good balance between a teacher-centered classroom and a student-centered one.

Constructivist or Behaviorist?

Here are two videos - one demonstrating a constructivist approach to library instruction and the other showing a behaviorist approach.

What's the role of the librarian in each video? What are the students doing? How is the librarian presenting the concepts? Do you think students learned more with the constructivist or the behaviorist approach?

Standards and Guidelines

Are you all aware of these?

Guidelines for Instruction Programs in Academic Libraries
Standards for Proficiencies for Instruction Librarians and Coordinators