Kadavy, Casey, and Kim Chuppa-Cornell. "A Personal
Touch: Embedding Library Faculty
into Online English 102." TETYC 39.1 (2011): 63-77.
into Online English 102." TETYC 39.1 (2011): 63-77.
In an online English 102 classroom, Kadavy and
Chuppa-Cornell point to the benefits of teaching online, but also view the challenges
and increased feelings of isolation, both for students and faculty. Pointing
specifically to the teaching of research, while also acclimating students to an
online classroom, The authors note that students often resort to open web
sources, unaware that library resources are readily available, as students are
distanced from both physical and personal library presence. To remedy this, they collaborated on embedding
a librarian in their course through a “Personal Librarian” model. Studies examining
students’ online search behavior explain that there is a “need for greater, not
less, library instruction in the online environment” (64). Beginning
researchers are “easily overwhelmed and confused” by the amount of information
available to them as Alison Head, Director of Project Literacy stresses that
while students may use and be familiar with the online environment, this “does
not mean college-aged students are natural-born researchers” (quoted in Kadavy,
64).
An embedded librarian can provide research support to
students, while offering point of need instruction through tutorials,
discussion forums, and assignment feedback.
Kadavy and Chuppa-Cornell posit that students’ research needs are best served
through personal contact within an online course. By stressing that the Personal Librarian was “an
ally in the researching process,” they were able to build personal librarian
attention and library support into the online class that they felt was lacking
from what students experienced in face-to-face classes (65). Modules of
information literacy directly tied to the class content and assignments were created,
while a Personal Librarian provided a consistent presence, offering feedback
and support to the students. Short videos provided navigation and research help,
depending on class needs. Student feedback was positive for this model as
students learned about resources and gained skills that would help them in
other classes. The students also showed a dramatic rise in their research
abilities after implementing the Personal Embedded Librarian model, with a 24%
increase in their knowledge of source quality and use of resources in their
writing.
A personal or embedded librarian within a class is a
familiar, but underutilized model. As the authors note, it relies on cooperation
and collaboration between teaching faculty and librarians. This model can
benefit students and faculty, as beginning courses often require research, but
students do not always have these skills in their first year of college. My
concern is that only brief mention is given in the article to the difficulty in
making these connections with faculty and convincing them that embedding a
librarian in a classroom is of direct benefit to the students. Problems in planning
time, concerns about loss of authority, content coverage or even library staff available
can be possible concerns. However, none
of these outweigh the potential benefits for students. Personal approaches
using embedded librarians, with tiered information literacy skill-building and direct
ties to the curriculum offer students the most opportunities for success, especially
important in an online classroom where distance can often be isolating.
Hello Carol - You bring up some interesting points. I have never used an embedded librarian in any of my courses, so this is a new concept to me. I was wondering if the embedded librarian would take up the roles of the writing center, as it seems that some of the roles that you described overlap with the tutors in the writing center.
ReplyDeleteI think it depends on the size of the institution and the relationship between the library, writing center, composition program and first year instructors. Where I'm at, we don't have a composition program, just FYS and our writing center has a director, but is run by student fellows, so it opens up more collaborative possibilities just because the need is there and writing is a topic that crosses across the disciplines and the entire first year program.
ReplyDeleteAs part of critical thinking and resource understanding, as a librarian, we help students think "about" resources and how to locate, and begin to understand "how" to read academic sources. When it comes to the actual help with writing, I would say the librarian's role usually ends there, as we suggest the writing center fellows whenever students begin to ask for actual writing help, over help with utilizing the sources. But as a composition instructor and a librarian, in my own classes I teach, it's much murkier as I don't always distinguish one hat from another and I'm up front with my students that they are getting the best of both!