heads to see the value of information literacy instruction they may
well influence their colleagues. At least that's what some studies
indicate and what my experience showed me: In my role as academic
technology specialist for the humanities I worked for a number of
years with my school's librarians and English and History department
heads to integrate information literacy into the curriculum. I met him
first with department heads to discuss skill-development goals and
identify common ground between the teachers, librarians, and tech
staff. In meetings the department heads would readily acknowledge that
their students did not possess the information literacy skills needed
to navigate the Web and e-databases effectively in an open-ended
research activity and that these skills are crucial for college -- and
increasingly important in the 21st century workforce. So, they
clearly saw the value of research activities. They were also willing
to let information literacy instruction "cut into" content coverage,
to a certain degree. Yet, there had other concerns. They were
uncomfortable in leading information literacy instruction themselves
-- not an area of expertise -- yet they did not want to relinquish
classroom instruction fully to the librarians, or to me. So, I met
with the librarians and laid out departmental goals and concerns and I
think they did a wonderful job of tailoring instruction to meet the
needs of the students and the time constraints set out by the faculty.
They developed a series of web-based "pathways" to relevant databases
and provided tips and tutorials that saved a lot of time. I chipped in
with some Web and database instruction for both teachers and students.
I'd say it took a few years to develop the desired cohesion between
the teachers, the librarians, and tech staff but I don't think anyone
is looking backwards.
Tom
--
Tom Daccord -- educational technology trainer and author
tom@edtechteacher.org
Best Ideas for Teaching with Technology: A Practical Guide for
Teachers, by Teachers (M.E. Sharpe, 2008)
http://tinyurl.com/6cpx87
The Best of History Web Sites (Neal-Schuman, 2007)
http://tinyurl.com/6hna27
edtechteacher
http://edtechteacher.org/
edtechteacher blog
http://thwt.typepad.com/edtechteacher/
Teaching History with Technology
http://thwt.org/
Best of History Web Sites
http://besthistorysites.net/
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