K. Design Training Programs

Introduction to Core Competency K. Design training programs based on appropriate learning principles and theories.

My experience with designing instructional programs for postsecondary students stems from past training in teaching English as a second language and English composition. I taught ESL, linguistics, English composition, and reading at universities overseas and at community colleges in the Bay Area. The teaching skills I learned are transferable to library instruction and teaching information literacy.

My past teaching experience has encouraged me to prepare for a position as an instructional librarian. With this in mind, I completed LIBR 250 Design and Implementation of Instructional Strategies for Information Professionals. In this course I completed a Collaborative Information Literacy Project (CILP) for which I contacted a community college instructor in Computer Information Systems (CIS). My contribution to the instructor's term project for her CIS 03 Business Information Systems course was an information literacy component.

CIS 03 Term Project is designed to give students the opportunity to demonstrate the technical and critical thinking skills they have learned during the quarter. The goal of the project is to help students understand the use of data processing and communications in business by completing a study of a data processing and communications application, acquisition, or issue. The project will also enables students to demonstrate their ability to use word processing, spreadsheet, database, presentation, and Web design software programs. Students achieve these goals by researching information sources, sharing findings with team members, writing a business report, preparing an oral presentation, and preparing a printed report. The Term Project is grounded in the constructivist theory of learning where successful learning occurs when instruction is connected to real life experience and when students learn by doing.

For this project I develop performance indicators and measurable outcomes for the ALA-recognized Information Literacy Standards that were applicable to this learning situation. I also developed learning objectives that outline outcomes that successful students must demonstrate. I developed evaluation strategies that use rubrics to measure the effectiveness of the instruction.

This project creates steps that the content course instructor can follow from start to finish. The information literacy components are independent modules that can transfer to other class projects within Computer Information Systems, and with adjustments in the library databases and the Internet resources, to class projects outside of CIS. The project teaches research strategies, tools, and resources, how to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, how to judge quality and reliability of information on the Web, the difference between scholarly journals and popular magazines, about style guides and how to correctly cite sources.

I created and administered a User Survey for De Anza College Library prior to creating the CILP. This brief questionnaire was administered to Reading 101 students in the De Anza College Readiness Program. I used it to get a sense of the information literacy instruction that De Anza freshmen were receiving and student use of library resources. I discovered that most students had not had any instruction in information literacy, library resources, or even a library orientation.

In preparation to writing the CILP, I explored theories and strategies for undergraduate library information literacy instruction. Measuring Success: Successful Theories and Strategies for Undergraduate Library Instruction analyses the theories and strategies used by instructional librarians in collaborative projects that provides class-specific instruction to undergraduate students. I discuss the difference between a learning theory and an instructional theory, effective learning theories and strategies used by library instructors and students. My conclusion is that one-shot library instructional workshops generally are not effective.

The essay, What Kind of a Teacher Are You? Instructional Styles, Instructional Theories, explores instructional theories and styles in terms of my experiences as a student and as a teacher. I conclude that good instructors need to adapt their teaching styles to meet the needs of their students. I examine the constructivist approach to learning as one that engages students in problem-solving activities. I define teaching styles as attitudes that teachers hold about teaching, and teaching strategies as ways that teachers present and carry out classroom activities.

The Special Populations Project proposes a multimedia component for an after school youth boxing program for middle school children. I created this multimedia component for the Boxing Program at Columbia Middle School in Sunnyvale, an after-school program for at-risk youth. I elaborated on the theme of boxing to enhance the athletic program with a library and media portion that encourages participating student to build bridges between their worlds of sports and academics. The project is ready to implement and includes learning objectives, activities, measurable outcomes, a budget, marketing strategies, and multimedia resources.