Instructional design provides a systematic approach to designing, developing, implementing and evaluating library instruction with the goals of improving student research, effective use of resources, and information literacy. A review of the literature found that while libraries currently use instructional design principles in some ways, there is potential to expand its use in the future to make library instruction more effective. Overall, instructional design can help academic libraries better achieve their mission of teaching patrons research skills through more rigorous, well-planned instruction sessions.
1. Instructional Design in Academic Libraries Presented by Karen Viars http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeffreykeefer/774414328/
2. Objectives Define Instructional Design Explain why ID is relevant to academic libraries Provide an overview of the literature on ID and academic libraries
3. What Is Instructional Design? A systematic and systemic approach for the design, development, implementation and evaluation of instruction. Adapted from The Systematic Design of Instruction by Walter Dick and Lou Carey, 6th ed., 2005.
4. Why Is ID Important in Academic Libraries? Effective research Use of resources Information literacy
Good evening, everyone! Can you hear me?Great. I’ll be speaking tonight about instructional design in academic libraries. So let’s begin by talking about what instructional design is. Who can give me a definition of instructional design? Put your answers in the text chat.[pause for answers, change slide]
ID is a relatively new field, based in behavioral psychology and a need to train soldiers quickly and effectively for WWII, so there’s some quibbling about the ideal definition. This is the definition I prefer, adapted from The Systematic Design of Instruction, which was the primary textbook in my ID program at Georgia State. Let’s talk about what is meant by “systematic”—it’s an organized, deliberate approach, making sure that all significant areas of instruction are addressed. It’s also systemic, meaning that changing any one part of the instruction affects all other parts. Most ID models encompass the areas listed here: design, development, implementation and evaluation, with, as I mentioned, some debate about the best terminology, or how one specific area relates to the others.
So what does all this have to do with academic libraries? Well, a school or university’s success is measurable, in part, by the scholarship that its students and professors create. Part of an academic library’s role is to teach people to research so that they can become good scholars. Researching effectively leads into the next point, use of resources. We’ve discussed the rising cost of library resources several times, and teaching people to use the resources helps to ensure that those resources are actually used; it helps to clarify reasons for non-use, as well: if a database, for instance is accessed three times in a year, is it because nobody finds that information relevant or is it because nobody knows how to use it?And finally, information literacy—the skills of research are important in a more global perspective than just a research paper or a class project; ID is a way to give students those resources that they’re going to need for all kinds of information seeking.
Here’s a quick summary of what I discovered while researching for this project, in terms of how instructional design is currently being used in academic libraries. There are some articles that are intended to be an way to make librarians more aware of ID. Those are a sort of kind and gentle introduction to ID, but also advocate for its use in libraries, in a general way.Some journal articles I found call for the use of ID in specific contexts, such as the reference desk, or in distance ed courses. Some of these were focused on advocacy—about what we should do, and some were case studies, more focused on what was done in a specific context at a specific time. One of the most interesting ones I found was an older paper—from 1980, written by a student in a library sciences program, who was evaluating the availability of ID classes in library programs in the southeast. I think she was on to something: it’s going to be progressively more important that we know how to teach well in order to meet the needs of our patrons.If we consider the increase in resources that’s occurred in the last 100 years, it can be overwhelming—which means that navigating information resources is only going to become more complex, both for students and faculty, which renders instruction a major part of the role of an academic library.
Tonight, we’ve discussed a definition of ID, why it matters to academic libraries, and some of the ways that it’s currently being used. It’s exciting to see the ways that ID is already helping academic libraries, and I think that it has untapped potential for the profession as a whole and plenty of room to expand in the future.I appreciate your attention.
