Golden Nuggets of Information - Finding What Absolutely MUST Be Taught

I've been seeing a lot about participatory learning and librarianship in the mainstream library twitter-sphere recently. Articles have popped up like this one, as well as a project for new media literacies and even transliteracies. All areas discuss ideas that can be used to bring new, yet practical, learning opportunities into the classroom. So, as an instructor of information literacy, I have already been diving deep into the literature for this type of instruction environment. Imagine my pleasant surprise when I entered a faculty in-service (on a Saturday morning mind you) today that spoke to this same idea of participatory learning. I was not looking forward to this at all - having to give up a Saturday is NOT something that makes me happy - but the information was very beneficial and I have walked away with new and refreshed ideas. The talking points will be covered first with my ideas of incorporation as a conclusion.

The in-service today covered a presentation from Magna Publications titled: What Should You Teach When There Isn't Time To Teach Everything? Ruth Rodgers discussed three main steps to making sure that information is being given to students in a manner that embraces lifelong learning.

Ruth began by speaking to the stereotype of new instructor behavior. Oftentimes, new instructors (myself included along with many adjunct faculty) are being placed in the classrooms with very little preparation time, in part because the position needs to be filled quickly. Many of my colleagues where I work experienced this exact scenario the first quarter our information literacy course was introduced. The curriculum team was still revamping lessons even as the course began. Many of the instructors were forced to review the material a day before (and for some, even the day of) the class session. Thankfully, my campus decided to hold off for a quarter in order to let the kinks be completely worked out. I say all of this to reiterate the point that Ruth makes: "most [instructors] concentrate on covering the material and find there isn't enough class time to cover it all." Much of what we new instructors do is brain dump all of our information resources, knowledge, and experiences onto the students. Oftentimes, we don't look beyond the content to create an engaged classroom. Thankfully, the course curriculum that I teach is designed to be engaging, but it's still a work in progress.

Consider the three points below when creating a participatory learning environment:

1. Recognize that information is ubiquitous - What aspects of the curriculum material MUST students learn or practice to be successful?
   Instructors are no longer the #1 source of information. Information is literally everywhere. Our job now is to instill a sense of lifelong learning by providing the skills necessary to be successful in the students' chosen career (skills such as critical thinking which is so very hard to teach). Students need to recognize that continuous learning is a necessity (especially for career colleges like mine) for any career path!
   In recognizing this first point, instructors should find and teach course information that is absolutely necessary for success in the classroom, as well as in a career.
2. Define the processes that are CRITICAL for success - What questions should students be asking themselves?
   For information literacy students, this question is an easy one to instill. Students learn to think very critically about a topic, looking at it from every angle and brainstorming keyword supplements using basic who, what, when, where, and why questions. For medical students, it seems the main question for them is "why" (why is this patient on this particular medication? or why is this patient reacting in this way to a certain drug?). If we are successful in getting the students to ask questions of themselves, of the coursework, and of the information they find, they truly are learning critical thinking skills that will be extremely useful in the workforce.
3. Define continued development that is necessary for students - What lifelong learning habits must students develop?
   Again, this an area that speaks directly to information literacy. I can give my students many of the tools and skills necessary to being successful in information retrieval and evaluation, but if it stops once they exit my classroom, have I really done my job? Somehow a sense of lifelong learning should be taught.

What I plan to incorporate next quarter (which is coming way too soon!):

1. What MUST be taught/learned for students to be successful in my course?
   a) Understanding that information is everywhere and there is no set schema to finding information.
   b) Finding information by using library catalogs, online databases, and the world wide web
   c) Learning to evaluate and think critically about the information found
   d) Learning to properly cite the information to give credit where credit is due
   e) Organizing information using online tools
2. What questions should students be asking themselves that encourage critical thinking processes?
   I've already mentioned the who, what, when, where, and why research questions, but I also want to create participatory learning activities that force students to think critically about how they search for information. I plan to set up learning groups where regular activities are designed for students that are in the same program of study, so the material covered becomes practical - they should not longer think of this class as a class that helps them learn how to research for a paper...rather, a class that teaches them skills in finding credible and reliable information for research and everyday life.
   
3. What lifelong learning habits must students develop?
   If students can grasp the concept that no career is a career that has stagnant information, then my job will be complete. Students will learn tips and tricks to help them embrace change in technology, information, and processes. They also have to understand that they can't learn everything there is to know in a 2 year program! They need to be self motivated to continue learning and growing with changes. In doing so, they will begin to develop a self worth that so many of our students need these days. I will be using a lot of program specific topics that students can research in their learning groups to reiterate the need for finding credible information. (How would you go about researching a new drug? or How would you find information on a new technology?, etc...)
   

Hopefully if you're still reading you have found a helpful nugget of information that will be useful to you and your classroom (if you teach). And for me, just when I thought I had my class material just about set - I'm off to change it up some more...