H AVE THE PEDAGOGIES USED FOR LIBRARY
INSTRUCTION CHANGED TO REFLECT NEW
THINKING BY PROGRESSIVE EDUCATORS ?
Prepared by Stephanie Rosenblatt
Education Librarian, California State University Fullerton
SCILWorks 2009
srosenblatt@fullerton.edu
H OW DO STUDENTS LEARN ?
H OW DO LIBRARIANS TEACH ?
scaffolding
student-centered lessons
authentic activities
clickers
collaboration with faculty
contextualized instruction
meeting ACRL standards
active learning
paying attention to how students feel as researchers
modeling
questioning
trying to connect concepts to what students already know
W HY DO WE TEACH THE WAY
WE DO ?

It’s how we’ve seen our colleagues teach.

It’s how we learn.

It works with our students.

We’ve read the literature.

It’s considered “best practices.”

We don’t know any other way.
W HAT THEORIES HAVE INFLUENCED OUR
UNDERSTANDING OF HOW PEOPLE LEARN
BEST ?
Behaviorism
Cognitivism/
Constructivism
B EHAVIORISM

Humans are animals. Our thought processes are
based in biology and are behaviors that can be
studied. Learning has occurred when a person can
choose the behavior that yields the desired results in
a particular context. The use of this behavior can
then be extended to new, but similar situations.

Prominent researchers: Skinner, Pavlov, Thorndike

Ideas: individual differences, behavior modification,
programmed instruction, learners are active, learning
is incremental, learners need feedback, stimulusresponse
C OGNITIVISM /C ONSTRUCTIVISM

The brain is imagined as processor with different
modules responsible for various purposes.
Emphasis is placed on how the mind works
during the processes of attention, perception,
learning, and memory.

Learners construct their own understanding of
the world based on personal experience.
Learning takes place as people actively make
sense of the world. What a person learns is
influenced by the situation and needs of the
learner. Learning is a social process.
C OGNITION /C ONSTRUCTIVISM II

Prominent researchers: Dewey, Bloom, Vygotsky,
Piaget, Gardner, Montessori,

Gagné
Ideas: zone of proximal development,
scaffolding, schema theory, cognitive
apprenticeships, situated cognition, learning
styles, information processing, learning
hierachies or taxonomies, criterion-referenced
instruction, ADDIE, backwards planning, chunking
L OOKING AT THE EVIDENCE I

What are the goals of this Digital Learning Material?

How is it intended to be used? By whom?

How does the user interact with the material?

How is learning assessed?

What theory or theories of learning influenced this
DLM’s creator(s)?

Do you think this DLM is effective? Why or why not?

Do the premises behind this DLM’s creation resonate
with your own ideas about how people learn best?
L OOKING AT THE EVIDENCE I

Visit this workshop’s website at
http://users.library.fullerton.edu/srosenblatt/digi
tal_learning_materials_SCILWORKS2009.htm

Open one of the Behaviorist/Constructivist
Comparative Summaries for reference

Choose a tutorial and work with a partner to
analyze it using the questions provided.
M Y PHILOSOPHY OF
E DUCATION
I think everyone can learn. I think it’s my job, as the teacher, to assess my
students’ needs, then craft a learning experience that directly addresses the skills
and understandings they need to successfully complete the assignment . I believe
it’s my job to try to connect what I’m teaching to my students’ prior knowledge
through questioning or drawing analogies. I think students need to be actively
engaged to learn and that they will only retain knowledge that they need to apply.
I don’t think it’s effective to conduct library instruction workshops for students who
don’t have an information need. Students won’t learn if they’re just shown
something; they need time to practice and explore. Students can learn from a
more experienced model. This model can be a teacher or a peer. Some students
benefit when interior processes are made explicit through think-alouds. Students
need feedback so they know they’re on the right track. Learning is social and
uncomfortable. People learn better when they feel safe. One way to meet both
needs is to offer students the opportunity to work with a partner or small group.
Students should have some degree of choice in an instruction session: part of what
they need to learn is what choices to make and how to be resilient when their first
choices don’t work. Students have different learning styles and it’s important to
provide materials and use methods that can support various styles. I think there’s
a natural tendency to teach using the mode you prefer. The only way to know if
students are learning or if your instruction is effective is to assess for your learning
objectives, either formally or informally. The only reason to assess students is to
use that information to correct misunderstandings or to improve your instruction.
Our society prizes a very specific set of intelligences and modes of communication.
It is our job as a teacher to deconstruct these assumptions for our students so they
can understand that they are constructed by other humans and can change. This
way of deconstructing the world can be extended to explaining why certain sources
of information are deemed acceptable in the Academy.
L OOKING AT THE EVIDENCE II

Visit
http://users.library.fullerton.edu/srosen
blatt/

Choose any one of the tutorials on the
page.

Analyze the tutorial using the same
criteria as before.

Are my tutorials consistent with my
stated philosophy of education?

How would you improve them?
C ONCLUSION

Librarians are teachers.

There is an extensive body of literature about
teaching and learning that lies outside our field, and
we should consider it.

Each teaching librarian should take the time to
consciously craft his/her own philosophy of
education. The librarian can then use this philosophy
as a touchstone when reflecting on his/her own
practice. This practice extends out of the classroom to
the reference desk, the web, collection development,
advocacy, etc.