library+instruction+technology

I'm not attending ODCE this year since I'm going to ACRL in three weeks. People are starting to post to the conference blog. Chad Boeninger is blogging the sessions he is attending. Other blog posts are also starting to show up on Technorati. It's almost like being there…

The last session of the day was the continued discussion with the keynote speaker Dr. Mark Taylor. During lunch Dr. Taylor gave an excellent presentation on the Millennials. He spoke about the generational cycles and what is assumed and true about the habits of the current generation of college students.

He continued his earlier discussion by focusing on the need to change to a pedagogy of engagement, activity, and options. Instructors continue to use classic teaching methods (e.g. lectures), which don't engage post-modern learners. His pedagogy of engagement is based on information/knowledge/content, application/skills/utilities, and meaning/value/caring. You have to start with information, show the application, then help the learner connect it to other experiences for meaning.

Class time is to valuable to teach information that can be easily found elsewhere. It is more important to relate knowledge to student's experiences and must show practicality.

He stressed the need for instructors to obligate the learner to come prepared to class and then class time can be spent on application and meaning. Instructors should also articulate their expectations of engagement, preparation, and participation.

Dr. Dave Dalton from Kent State University presented the fourth session that I attended. His presentation was very detailed. The presentation covered PBL basics, talked about how to create a problem, how to use it in the classroom, and how to assess learning.

He focused the majority of his time talking about the various model units that have been developed. He gave examples in math, science, language arts, social studies, and fine arts. His examples are from the K-12 setting. Most could be modified for use in a college classroom. He recommended two of Ann Lambros's books, Problem-based learning in middle and high school classrooms : a teacher's guide to implementation and Problem-based learning in K-8 classrooms : a teacher's guide to implementation.

He is developing a databases of PBL templates which will eventually be available on the instructional technology web site at Kent State. 

The second session I attended featured Kelly Broughton and Bonnie Fink from Bowling Green State University. Their session focused on the intersection of online instructional design and problem based learning. Kelly described her experiences designing and using an information literacy module developed for an apparel marketing course. Bonnie spoke to her experience developing an online research module for technology students. Bonnie also spoke about designing instruction for adult learners.

The big points I came away with:

• start with an audience analysis to balance the competing nature of perfect instruction with how student's will use it
• context is critical for on-line learning
• the experience must be memorable and influential
• including quality feedback mechanism helps to validate and refine

After their presentation they distributed an annotated suggested reading list. They both recommended Michael Orey's eBook Learning, Teaching, and Technology and Martin Ryder's Instructional Design Models web site as excellent resources for online instructional design. A participant also recommended the PBL Clearinghouse at the University of Delaware as a good problem based learning resource.

There was a lot of discussion at the end about when to use PBL. Many participants felt that PBL works best with juniors and seniors. It was also suggested that if PBL is used with freshmen and sophomores the exercise should be smaller or the problem should be more defined.

Dr. Christina Bonner, Reference & Instructional Services Librarian at Ohio Dominican University Library presented the first session I attended. Christina described how they have developed an online information literacy and library orientation module that is used by their first year instructors as part of their seminars. The module includes a virtual library tour and four sub-modules that cover library research. The sub-modules include auto-graded quizzes.

The primary issues that came up during this project included: major time commitment, expectations of this module…not designed to replace face-to-face instruction, coordinating communication among all invovled, instructors having varying comfort levels with course management system, and gaining full participation by the first year instructors. Christina involved those in attendance by trying to think about the different roles a librarian might play in a similar project.

I sat next to Christina during lunch and had a chance to ask her about how they did first year library orientation and instruction prior to this online module. She indicated that they use to have an opportunity to meet with the students twice, but that number had recently been reduced to a single visit and they were trying to figure out how to fit everything in.  I told her we were in the same position here at Muskingum and we're still trying to find a better way to get the first years comfortable with the physical layout of the library as well as get them prepared for finding, evaluating, and using information effectively. 

Christina's slides, course syllabus , and selected reading list are mounted on the ODCE site.

I'm long overdue sharing what I learned at ODCE 2006. I only attended one day this year, March 7. This is a very good conference that brings together faculty, librarians, and instructional technologists from Ohio and some neighboring states. 

The sessions I went to this year ended up having a theme, problem based learning:

• Convergence of the Library and Freshmen Experience: Instructional Collaboration and the Online Environment
• Modules and Online Instructional Design Promote Problem-Based Learning
• Spinning Hay into Gold: Moving from Information to Scholarship
• Developing Engaging Learning Units with PBL Templates
• Continued Discussion of "Meeting Generation NeXt: Today's Postmodern College Student

Many of the presentations from the two days have been added to the ODCE web site. They have also created a conference blog.

I was able to attend the ODCE conference which was held this past Monday and Tuesday in Columbus. Two colleagues at Courtwright Memorial Library at Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio presented on e-marketing. Otterbein has been using a blog for keeping the campus up-to-date on Library activities since this past fall.