Document Type

Presentation

Conference Name

Georgia Library Instruction, Teaching, and Reference Conference (GLITR) 2021

Publication Date

6-11-2021

Abstract

The onslaught of the pandemic in 2020 has required us all to rework how we approach instruction. This presentation will focus on how a liaison librarian leveraged their growing knowledge of their university’s learning management system (LMS) to design active-learning information literacy modules for several humanities courses. Faculty at this large state university were expected to take a 4-week intensive course on “mastering online teaching,” offered monthly beginning in spring 2020 by the campus teaching and learning center. This course, taught via the LMS, was also designed to familiarize instructors with teaching with the LMS. As a result of taking this course, the librarian acquired new teaching skills and a shared vocabulary to use with instructors who were also having to quickly learn their way into more active use of the LMS. After requesting a “sandbox” LMS site, the librarian was able to design modules using asynchronous active-learning activities drawing on LMS tools (announcements, discussion forums, and quizzes) alongside embedded LibGuides. Once added as an instructor or full-access TA to a particular faculty instructor’s course, the librarian was easily able to import each module into a coursepage. This presentation will discuss three specific LMS modules developed: 1) one co-designed and co-taught with an archivist colleague for a Philosophy graduate pedagogy practicum, which involved both asynchronous and synchronous instruction; 2) two parallel modules designed for two upper-level Religious Studies courses, using instructional videos recorded as conversations with the faculty instructors and discussion forums where students could practice the skills taught in the videos and receive feedback from the librarian and the instructors; and 3) a module designed for two large sections of the 2000-level Journalism methodology course, which included how-to videos recorded by the librarian, an exercise/quiz on reference mining, quizzes to assess learning, and a survey on the module’s effectiveness developed by the instructor. The presentation will discuss the development of each model and lessons learned from each, and will also include discussion of the general pros and cons of this model of actively embedding into the LMS for particular courses.

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