Presented at LILAC 2019

1. Willing to fail:
Using failure
to motivate
change in
teaching
library
instruction
sessions

2. Hello!I’m Matt Rohweder
I am the Business & Economics Librarian at Wilfrid Laurier
University, specializing in Library Instruction and online
learning.
You can find me at mrohweder@wlu.ca
2

3. About you…
I’d like to start by learning a little bit about you…
1

4. Agenda
▪ Failure & why it is important
▪ BU111 – a case study in failure
▪ Directions for the future
4

5. Agenda
▪ Failure & why it is important
▪ BU111 – a case study in failure
▪ Directions for the future
5
Today’s learning objectives:
• Begin developing an understanding the importance
failure has in our teaching;
• Discuss ways to use instances of failre to improve
future classes;
• Discover how to integrate active learning into online
tutorials

6. “It’s more useful to think of
myself as a progressive
teacher who’s willing to own
both my successes and
failures in the classroom
bell hooks
6

7. Failure & It’s
Importance
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8. Let’s blue sky
this.
o Get into groups of 2-
3
o Discussion question:
o what does failing in
the classroom mean
to you?
8

9. Failure can indeed serve as
an eye-opener…Does failure
equate with mistake? Not
always.
- Bengt-Arne Vedin
9

10. Why is failure important?
 A favorite anecdote:
Dreaming is taking a risk to
fail
 No educator plans for
instance of failure
 Failure can help us find new
directions in our teaching
 Students can learn just
about from our failures as
they can from our
successes
10

11. BU111: A Case
Study in Failure
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12. BU111: A Case Study
Context:
 Mandatory first-year year
business course
 Upwards of 4000
students
 Library sessions – for
extra credit – to assist
with their major project
 Designed 8-9 sessions
over the course of the
semester12

13. BU111: A Case Study
 Initial plan:
 Sessions of 130-150 students
 Lecture style with some large
group discussion
 Assessment: quiz through a
Learning Management System
 The assessment was later
revised to a group project,
where students emailed me
results
 Later revised:
 Use of a google doc to
facilitate group work and
active learning
13

14. BU111: A Case Study
Why was this a failure?
 Managing a quiz for 130+
students was nearly
impossible and did not
promote learning
 Organizing and managing
active learning in a large
lecture based class – did
not promote learning
 Students were not learning
material
14

15. BU111: A Case Study
Why was this a failure?
 Managing a quiz for
130+ students was
nearly impossible and
did not promote learning
 Organizing and
managing active
learning in a large lecture
based class – did not
promote learning
 Students were not
learning material15

16. BU111: A Case Study
Reflections :
 Despite wanting to
integrate lecture and active
learning, doing so in a large
classroom was difficult
 Instructions need to be
extremely clear
 Sessions were not
structured towards a
specific assignment,
meaning students were not
as focused.16

17. Directions for
the Future
17

18. Large Classes – Dos & Don’ts
 Active learning can
be very difficult,
though think-pair-
share is always a
good choice
 How to best manage
group discussion?
 Depending on
unfamiliar
technologies can be a
detrement
18

19. Future Plans
 Reorienting the design of the
BU111 library sessions
away from being lecture
based
 Instead – will develop a
series of online learning
modules that the students
can access and complete for
bonus credit
 Offer drop-in sessions for
student consultations
focused on a specific
assignment or project
19

20. Moving away from in-class instruction
 Allows students to pace
learning at their own rate
 Students can revisit content
when needed
 Allows for a flipped
classroom approach during
drop-in sessions
 Greater focus on
assignments
 Increase active learning
20

21. In-person
In-person active learning
can take many forms:
- think-pair-share;
- Concept mapping
- Telephone game
- Mini-charrette
The main concept is
finding ways to get
students engaged in their
own learning
Active Learning
Online
There are many tools that
you can use to help
facilitate active learning in
an online environment.
- Mentimeter
- Nearpod etc.
- LibWizard
Try to think of ways to
engage students outside
of the normal video
tutorial21

22. What I learned (or how I failed forward…)
 Even the most thought out plans
can go awry
 Failure does not make me a bad
teacher, it makes me a stronger
teacher
 Structure is key when organizing
IL sessions
 Things will not be perfect right
out the gate
 Failure can lead to successful
new interpretations
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23. Take a
second…and share
Does anyone want
to share a fail &
recovery story?
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24. Further Reading
Talking about failure is not the easiest thing to do, but there are
resources out there to help guide you…
Article: Derrida, Teachind and the Context of Failure, by Ian Munday
(2011)
Active learning strategies in higher education : teaching for
leadership, innovation, and creativity by Misseyanni, Anastasia (ed).
Productive Failure by Noa Kageyama
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25. Keep in Touch
Matt Rohweder
mrohweder@wlu.ca
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26. Credits
Special thanks to all the people who made and
released these awesome resources for free:
▪ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
▪ Photographs by Unsplash & Death to the Stock
Photo (license)
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27. Image Credits
Slide One: Photo by Philippe Bout on Unsplash
Slide Two: Personal photo
Slide Three: Photo by Roman Mager on Unsplash
Slide Seven: Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash
Slide Eight: Blue sky with kite, by Tom Brandt:
Slide Nine: Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash
Slide Ten onwards: Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
Slide Eleven: Photo by Ross Sneddon on Unsplash
Slide Seventeen: Photo by Tom Fejér on Unsplash
Slide Twenty-One: Photo by Evan Kirby on Unsplash
Slide Twenty-Two: Photo by Ian Kim on Unsplash
Slide Twenty-ThreePhoto by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash
Slide Twenty-Four: Photo by Nicole Honeywill on Unsplash27

28. Matt Rohweder
Business & Economics
Librarian
Wilfrid Laurier
University
Email: mrohweder@wlu.ca
Telephone: 519-884-
0710x4855
Twitter: @MattJeffreyR