Gill, N. & Springall, E. Making instruction more sustainable through collaboration and reflective practice
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This document discusses how two librarians at the University of Toronto, Elena Springall and Navroop Gill, collaborated on instruction projects to support undergraduate students at scale. They piloted projects in architecture and math courses. For a first year architecture course, they provided a lecture, trained teaching assistants, and led tutorial sessions. Feedback noted improved citations but opportunities remained. For the second iteration, they extended TA training. Outcomes included increased capacity and strengthened faculty-library relationships. The librarians emphasize the value of collaborative reflection to continually improve instruction through experiences sharing, critical feedback, and assessing community needs.
Gill, N. & Springall, E. Making instruction more sustainable through collaboration and reflective practice
- 1. THROUGH REFLECTION AND COLLABORATION E L E N A S P R I N G A L L N AV R O O P G I L L MAKING INSTRUCTION MORE SUSTAINABLE
- 2. ABOUT US ELENA, LIAISON & EDUCATION LIBRARIAN Bea NAVROOP, TEACHING & LEARNING LIBRARIAN Morgan
- 3. UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO • Research-intensive university • 1000 programs of study • 97,000 students • 40 libraries, 17 centrally governed
- 4. SCALE CONCERNS A typical semester: • Around 44,000 undergraduate students at the downtown campus • Concerns about scale of information literacy efforts, equitable access to services, skill building support
- 5. TEACHING AND LEARNING PROJECT Pilot project formed in 2019 Goal to support undergraduate instruction at scale 1 full-time librarian, 1 20% librarian Environmental scan
- 6. SUSTAINABLE INSTRUCTION PROJECTS • 2 in Bachelor's of Architecture • 1 in Math • Recruited to: • Increase capacity of solo librarians • Take a new approach to longstanding large classes
- 7. CASE STUDY: FIRST YEAR ARCHITECTURE
- 8. TAKE ONE: Our approach: • 30-minute lecture on finding and citing academic sources • 1-hour training and consulting session with Teaching Assistants (TAs) • 7x50-minute tutorial sections led by three librarians, with TA support Learning objects: • Lecture slide deck • Pre-tutorial student worksheet • TA training slide deck • Tutorial slide deck and lesson plan
- 9. REFLECTION What worked? • Citations, overall performance slightly improved • "This created an important learning opportunity and the foundation on which they can build upon and develop their research skills as they progress in the program. What better way to start their academic experience?!!" Opportunities for improvement: • Use different teaching example(s) from assignment topic • Empower teaching assistants to lead tutorial • Have students articulate their search process for assessment
- 10. TAKE TWO: Our approach: • 1x 1.5 session to walk TAs through the planned tutorials and gather their feedback on the plan, adapt as necessary Learning Objects • Same as before + • Student tip sheet • Marking guide for TAs
- 11. OUTCOMES • Scalability • TA training approach taken • Capacity of solo librarians increased • New relationships, strengthened bond between faculty and libraries
- 12. THE VALUE OF COLLABORATIVE WORK
- 13. LEARNING AS A SOCIAL PRACTICE • Form "personal connections with colleagues that involved experiential learning, whether through mentorship, observation, or collaborative teaching" Booth. C (2011). Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators. ALA Editions
- 14. CRITICAL FRIENDSHIPS critical friends are "people who collaborate in a way that encourages discussion and reflection in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning" Farrell, T. (2001). Critical friendships: Colleagues helping each other develop. ELT Journal, 55 (4), 368–374.
- 16. "Reflection is deliberate and intentional. It is a process that we consciously undertake, in the professional sense, in order to take stock of our practice by interpreting, analyzing, and questioning the way we work. It is the first step in the process of looking at ourselves critically, questioning all of the assumptions that we have been operating on, and refashioning, reformulating, and reinventing the way we do things" (Reale, 2017, p.2) REFLECTION AS PEDAGOGY
- 17. INTENTIONALITY • Iterative Practice • Creating the time • Weekly check-ins, instruction debriefs • Learning from others • Other disciplines and experiences
- 18. OUR WORK OVER TIME • Adapting during the COVID- 19 pandemic • Connecting during research leave
- 19. SUGGESTIONS Start by assessing community needs Work with new people Schedule regular check-ins Take time for reflection Have fun together
- 20. QUESTIONS?
- 21. LET'S CONNECT Navroop Gill Teaching & Learning Librarian University of Toronto Libraries Email: nk.gill@utoronto.ca Elena Springall Liaison and Education Librarian University of Toronto Libraries Email: elena.springall@utoronto.ca
- 22. REFERENCES Booth. C (2011). Reflective Teaching, Effective Learning: Instructional Literacy for Library Educators. ALA Editions Farrell, T. (2001). Critical friendships: Colleagues helping each other develop. ELT Journal, 55 (4), 368–374. Patel, A. & Plowman, S. (2022, August 17). The increasing importance of a best friend at work. Gallup.com. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397058/i ncreasing-importance-best-friend- work.aspx Reale, M. (2017). Becoming a reflective librarian and teacher : strategies for mindful academic practice. ALA Editions, an imprint of the American Library Association.