Optimizing Students Information Interactions Through Mediation Experiences

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Optimizing Students Information Interactions
Through Mediation Experiences

• Dr. Heidi Julien Dr. Lisa Given
• School of Library Information Studies
• University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
• I3 Conference, Aberdeen, June 2009

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Web 2.0 context

• Characterized by decreased focus on mediated
  information experiences
• Librarians continue to play significant role,
  especially in academic contexts
• Providing instruction in multiple ways
• Thus, mediation remains important

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Potential for mediation

• Help point learners to appropriate resources
• Mediate discussion to help learners to discern
  quality, engage in critical dialogue
• This mediation is demonstrably necessary (cf.
  Sundin et al., 2008)

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Examining mediation (instruction)

• Focus points
• Conceptions knowledge, attitudes
• Practices pedagogical skills
• Goal ensure that prepared, engaged, effective
  information professionals have the tools to
  mediate information skill development for
  optimal student learning outcomes
• Learning outcomes include effective
  transferable decision-making skills

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Method

• Integration of interview data from two initially
  separate studies
• 1. exploration of librarians experiences of the
  teaching role
• 2. exploration of librarians perspectives on
  undergraduate student success
• Data collected in 56 qualitative interviews, with
  librarians from a diverse range of institutions
  and geographic locations in Canada
• Grounded theory approach to analysis

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Focus of data analysis

• Potential impacts of information mediation
• Changing role of librarians as instructors
• How ambivalence about teaching can affect student
  learning, engagement, success

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Librarians as teachers

• Instructional focus increasing in academic (and
  public) libraries
• Many staff who are being asked to do this work
  are ambivalent, who didnt sign up for this,
  who are uncomfortable in the teaching role for a
  range of good reasons

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At the same timeShifts in Technology and
Priorities

• Theres just going to be fewer people doing the
  instruction workthe in-person, in the classroom
  I think a lot of the professional time is going
  into providing web services We make printable
  web pack binders, sothey can print it off
  because so many of the resources are
  electronic... So we put effort into trying to
  create support by subject through our website and
  I think thats just going to go through a natural
  progression to make it more customized, more
  value-added, more targeted and relevant for
  certain disciplines (Penny)

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Place of instruction in professional identity

• Integral to professional identity for some
• A duty or expectation for others
• An imposition for a few
• Often discussed as of second level importance,
  behind faculty members roles as (content)
  instructors

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Preparation for instructional work

• A minority of librarians are formally prepared
  for instruction
• Few have deep pedagogical understanding
• Many rely on experience and instinct
• Many equate presentation skills with teaching
  skills

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Enjoying instructional work

• Many librarians enjoy instructional work
• appreciate the light-bulb moments
• experience satisfaction from seeing student
  learning outcomes
• building relationships with students and teaching
  faculty plays a primary role in the enjoyment
• enjoy learning from students, as well
• you see their faces light up when you show them
  how to get to a PDF filelike an electronic
  journalsuccess! (Robert)

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Challenges of instructional work

• Lack of preparation for the teaching role
  (leading to lack of confidence and challenges
  engaging students)
• Challenging relationships with teaching faculty
• Lack of administrative/managerial support
• Resource constraints time, facilities,
  technological challenges (broken equipment,
  changing interfaces)
• Teaching clients with few computer skills, and
  with varying language abilities and learning
  styles
• Teaching students who believe they do not have
  anything to learn
• Reframing stereotypical notions of what the
  library is for and how librarians can help
  students with academic work

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Re-visioning the Librarians Role a Strategy
for Success

• First we have to break down the barriers that
  were scary, shushing people and you knowpart of
  that is the body language, part of it iswhen you
  see people enough in the halls you kind of nod
  in recognition, so we try to be
  approachable.Part of it is to teach them how to
  evaluate resources which is, you know, very big
  in Education. Its also very big in Business and
  we have a lot of people that confess that they
  were on Google for hours and didnt find what
  they thought they should find and we say, well
  thats not terribly surprising but look at these
  products we have for you. (Melissa)

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Positive affect

• Related to relationship with students, especially
  focused on visibility of outcomes
• Related to affirmation from students, teaching
  faculty
• I realized right off the top was thething that
  I enjoyed the most was actually the
  teaching...it is the funnest part of the
  jobbecause you get that immediate feedback and
  you get that connection and youkind of connect
  with peoplesomething thats going to make their
  lives easier. (Lisa)
• when you see a student realize oh my goodness,
  this is going to be so useful and they get
  excited. Thats really rewarding as an instructor
  because you feel like youve kind of gotten there
  with them (Kerri)

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Internalized Pedagogical Knowledge

• I have 155 students and Im trying to show
  them database searching, why the internet doesnt
  have everything, why they should need these
  skills when they graduate, patents, standards,
  its way too much, to do at onceAn instructor
  told me years ago that if you do a class and try
  to teach a student three different concepts in 50
  minutes, youre good. (Robert)
• I dont know why it took me about 17 years to
  realize that I should have instruction handouts
  hole-punched before I hand it out. (Robert)

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Valuing Student Engagement

• Just now, I had a student and sat down with him
  and he said, can I show you my way? I said,
  take the keyboard. which I was going to give
  to him anyway, becauseI want them to doIm not
  saying watch me. No good. But that was
  interesting and he ended up going to a place that
  I didnt think was good, explained to him why and
  took him back and let him go in another way and
  to him that was a measure of success (Robert)

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Negative affect

• Negative affect associated with distance from
  students, and invisibility of outcomes
• Describes a talking head session it was a
  nightmare (Kerri)
• It was so devastating.I came at them with my
  usual, I came at them with something different
  and I tried to, and they just kept on staring at
  me (Colleen)

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Disconnect with University Goals

• I think teaching is not a high priority for a lot
  of faculties. (Madelaine)
• I dont know if the library sends any clear
  message on its role in academic success of
  students. ..There may be factors in our strategic
  planning documents that are things that we are
  trying to aim for, but there is no clear message
  on what our role is to students. When we go in
  and actually talk to students were very focused
  on the practical. Were Here. You have an
  assignment. Lets introduce the resources that
  you need or Hello, this is a new subject. These
  are the resources in that subject. All very
  practical. (Penny)

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Focus on Emotional labour

• An occupational stressor referring to managing
  emotions and emotional expression in order to be
  consistent with display rules
• Includes both emotional display and suppression
  (which is more stressful)
• Relates to conflict between real and required
  feelings (emotional dissonance)
• Results in intense emotional toll
• Some research on emotional labour in academia
  (teaching faculty)

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Coherence between experience and emotions

• Steve expressed his confidence in his unique
  contributions to students success, revealing
  coherence between his experience of teaching, the
  experiences of the students, and the outcomes of
  his instruction
• This group is always most appreciative and we
  always end of up spending a lot of quality
  time.
• Colleen said, you know immediately that you are
  having a major impact on their academic
  careerthats when Im happy.

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Dissonance (emotional labour)

• Need to suppress feelings of boredom arising from
  repetitive teaching experiences, in favour of
  external expressions of emotional engagement and
  enthusiasm
• Self-talk and rationalization can be expressions
  of emotional labour
• Amy described a class where few students showed
  up that onedidnt quite work out the way I
  thought but, you know, thats all right.

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Dissonance

• Reflection has an impact on emotional dissonance
• Shelley describes her affective response to
  unresponsive students I got flustered by
  everything that was going wrong, when in reality
  not everything was going wrong, but I couldnt
  see that, and I was really hard on myself. She
  then reflects on the influence of class context
  on participation and concludes, but when they
  non-participatory classes happen now, I feel
  like Im better prepared.I learned from freaking
  out.
• Amy spoke directly to the role of reflection
  This diary has been reflection.I have found it
  very useful in helping me identify what it is I
  am happy or unhappy with and it makes me focus on
  the big picture and not worry so much about
  details or small victories/disappointments. I am
  still not doing much teaching and lots more
  administration and planning but I think that any
  teaching I do informs the other parts of my job
  and I still appreciate and enjoy those
  activities.

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Dissonance

• I used to have much, much higher expectations,
  that I would be memorable and that I would have
  these wonderful instruction programs and students
  would be inspired to come to the library after
  hearing me speak, but no you know youre not
  going to turn down a time to go and teach if a
  faculty members away at a conference. Youre
  not going to say, no thats not appropriate
  timing. Its not close enough to an assignment.
  Its not marked. Its not youre not going to
  say all that. Youre going to say, yes. And
  youre going to go because you have contact and,
  because otherwise you wouldnt have it. (Penny)

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A Disconnect on campus with Librarians as
Teachers

• On some parts of campus
• the students didnt take it too seriously
  because there was no real mark attached to it.
  It was credit, pass/fail, and I know theres been
  a real push on, for many years, to see that the
  faculty should develop this into a course, which
  has credit (Winnie)
• But, not others
• I think that whole movement of evidence-based
  medicine helpsbecause the librarians role in
  all of this has become very prominent (Donna)

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Deferring to Faculty

• we do get some complaints from students, like
  why didnt you teach us this before? And our
  response is, well its your curriculum we have to
  deal with We always hear them say, you know we
  sure could have used this before and we go,
  well, we had to come to you when that type of
  class exists (Robert)
• We always refer them back to their profs. We say
  if youre not sure, youre not comfortable, go
  back to your prof So I think we try to work
  very closely with the profs and give them the
  credit because they are the people running the
  class, not us. (Melissa)

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Contradictions a need for human contact in the
digital world

• One student said Its just good to know that
  you guys are out there, because we dont really
  know that until you come and talk to us and then
  let us knowthe mystery and awe of the library
  diminishes when they know theres humans in
  there (Robert)
• Winnie noted an upswing in attendance at
  library orientation
• I think part of it is because we do so much
  electronically, they still want a person.

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Conclusions

• data point to mediation impacts
• mixed experience of mediators affects outcomes
• Next steps
• Complete analyses
• Theoretical lenses to apply to the data
• Role theory (sociology)
• Identity theory (symbolic interactionist)
• Roles and identities have been challenged
  particularly by power relations on campuses and
  by technological change