(ALA) - Crossing our own borders: Partnering with Faculty and Instructional Designers in the Online environment

Citation

Weaver, S.L. and Timmann, C. (2003), "(ALA) - Crossing our own borders: Partnering with Faculty and Instructional Designers in the Online environment", Library Hi Tech News, Vol. 20 No. 8. https://doi.org/10.1108/lhtn.2003.23920hac.008

(ALA) - Crossing our own borders: Partnering with Faculty and Instructional Designers in the Online environment

American Library Association (ALA) Annual Conference

Crossing our own borders: Partnering with Faculty and Instructional Designers in the Online environment

Sherrill L. Weaver and Claudia Timmann

The ACRL Distance Learning Section (http://caspian.switchinc.org/~distlearn/) program, "Crossing Our Own Borders: Partnering with Faculty and Instructional Designers in the Online Environment," was co-sponsored by the LITA Distance Learning Group (http://mccoy.lib.siu.edu/lita/) and the Canadian Library Association for Distance Learning Interest Group (www.cla.ca/about/igroups/distance.htm). Moderated by Alexander Slade, co-author of the annotated bibliography Library Services for Distance Learning (http://uviclib.uvic.ca/dls/bibliography4.html), the program featured four approaches to the role of instructional design in the development of library services to distance learners. In each case, presenters noted that attempts to cross the organizational borders between instructors, librarians, and instructional designers were hindered or facilitated more by professional practices than by technological resources. The panel consisted of Howard Carter, Jeremy Mouat, Steve Schafer, and co-presenters Marian Press and Carol Calder.

Slade started the program by voicing the concern that librarians are left out of collaboration processes with faculty. She stated that, in a 2000 ACRL survey, distance learning was included for the first time and the results revealed that librarians are not directly involved with online course development.

Howard Carter, Manager of Instructional Support Services (ISS) at Southern Illinois University Carbondale (SIU) (www.lib.siu.edu/hp/isshome/) and co-chair of the LITA Distance Learning Interest Group, described his work with faculty who come to ISS unaware of opportunities to link library resources to course Web sites. To raise faculty awareness, he suggests a three-step process. In the first step, the instructor, librarian, and instructional designer "become aware of what is possible" in an initial planning meeting. Based on their plan, the support team takes the next step by developing a site with relevant resources such as digitized course materials, interactive quizzes, and links to library databases. In the final step, a librarian identified as the course liaison provides bibliographic instruction and individual research support, participating in online course discussions and further development of instructional materials for research assignments.

Carter further described how librarians might better fit into this type of collaboration between librarians and faculty. He encouraged librarians to partner with the faculty to further the collaboration, including suggesting resources to integrate into the course curriculum. Carter stated that it seems necessary to put a link on the professor's site, stating "The librarian for this course is____." This link would provide the students with a direct contact to the library.

Teaching students to use online research resources was the focus of the second speaker, Jeremy Mouat, Professor of History in the Center for Global and Social Analysis at Athabasca University (AU) (http://global.athabascau.ca/). He recounted his own online research experiences that led to his commitment to integrate information literacy into his courses. The result, "Accessing Information," is a course developed with university librarians that changes in content as additional resources become available, but is consistent in its goals to teach students "to discriminate, evaluate, and translate information into understanding." Based on his experience with this course he has identified three issues that instructors, instructional designers, and librarians need to address:

1. 1.

   collaboration challenges the paradigm of the self-contained discipline held by many instructors;

2. 2.

   instructors need to be persuaded that collaborating on course development is to their advantage; and

3. 3.

   instructors, librarians, and instructional designers need to assume constant changes in the online environment and be open to changing instructional strategies.

Mouat elaborated on his experiences when collaborating with librarians. He observed:

• •

  The online environment changes constantly, so partnerships should be flexible.

• •

  Although professors are considered "experts" in their discipline, the online environment challenges this view.

• •

  Partnerships work best if each party respects the other.

Mouat stated that AU is the good model for "course teams" when creating these resources. The "course team" includes the copyright office, librarians, and faculty in collaboration.

Two librarians who have successfully addressed these three issues are Marian Press and Carol Calder at The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT). They developed a seven-module, non-credit course for graduate students, "Virtual Library: Information Retrieval in the Library and Beyond," (www.oise.utoronto.ca/library/virtual.html) that has been integrated into an online graduate course in education. The success of "Virtual Library" arises from the linkages between the module and course assignments as well as from online discussions between students and librarians, with participation in both areas counting toward the students' final course grades. Although they were excited about the online course collaboration, Calder and Press expressed a few of the unexpected barriers to access such as older Web browsers, older Acrobat Adobe readers and difficulty with proxy server accounts and library identification numbers. As these problems occurred, they were dealt with so that access could be granted. Through their experiences with this and two other collaborations with instructors in education courses the librarians have come to the following two conclusions: first, that library instruction modules need to be sequenced in the course after initial activities in which students become adept at communicating online, and, second, that module content needs to be frequently updated as course content and library resources change. Their plans for the future include developing self-paced modules.

In the final presentation, Steve Schafer, Director of Library Services at Athabasca University, offered an account of the development of a learning object database, the AU EduSource Digital Repository (http://library.athabascau.ca/drr/index.html). The repository provides instructors, instructional designers, and librarians access to content in various formats. In addition to taking leadership in addressing repository construction issues – such as compliance with open source, metadata, and object standards – the librarians and instructional designers have developed guidelines for instructors in the use of content builders. Repository development is an ongoing project that involves testing frequently, including users in object design, demonstrating how to integrate objects into course curricula, and training users.

Questions from the attendees surfaced three underlying themes of the four presentations:

1. 1.

   the importance of responding promptly and positively to faculty seeking assistance with online course content;

2. 2.

   the success of promoting the integration of library services into online courses by building relationships with individual instructors; and

3. 3.

   the necessity of securing staffing adequate to providing effective instructional design support.

For more information: Knowledge Forum – www.knowledgeforum.com; The Digital Reading Room (DRR) – http://library.athabascau.ca/drr; Canadian Core – http://eduspecs.ic.gc.ca/OverviewofSpecifications/cancore.html

Sherrill L. Weaver(weaver@oakton.edu) is a Professor of Library Services at Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois, USA.Claudia Timmann(timmannc@u.library.arizona.edu) is an undergraduate services librarian at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, USA.