Preparing Instructors

It’s proved to be a good strategy for a class so large. IU’s Department of Communication and Culture offers about 60 sessions in the fall semester and 50 in the spring. Two key assignments involve library research: one, a group assignment requiring students to analyze a speech; another, a persuasive speech that must be supported by facts.

Because of the class size, Smith’s main role is to manage and support the 25 or so graduate students who teach it. “They teach the course independently,” Smith says of the instructors.“It’s not a lecture-lab. They’re responsible for everything.”To help them prepare, she conducts a weeklong training session for them before the semester starts. Some of the instructors are new to IU, some are from outside the department, some have never taught before. “They are all intelligent, thoughtful people,” Smith says.“But that is the only thing I assume.”

For such a diverse group, getting to know about IU’s library system and its resources is important, so she’s invited Donovan to be a part of her training. Donovan talks to the instructors about the experiences she and other librarians have had with C121 students in the past. And, she encourages the graduate students to schedule an instruction session with a librarian one or two times during the semester. “I talk about the benefits it will bring to students,” says Donovan, “and how it will enhance their final research output.”

“What I want those instructors to know,” Donovan says, “ is that the way that you talk about research and the experience you allow your students to have in the libraries as they prepare for their presentations is going to help them throughout their career at IU and even beyond."

"They’ll learn things about finding information, using it, finding out what’s good information, and they’ll be able to draw on that knowledge for years to come.”

Smith, too, values the skills librarians can teach the undergraduates. “There are so many resources on the Internet these days,” she says, “and that can produce a lot of junk if you’re not careful.” She wants her student to ask themselves: How do you evaluate the quality of the Web site? How do you know if something is current and updated? How do you evaluate the overall quality of the source?

Simply figuring out what information to present and knowing it’s accurate can help relieve the anxiety of public speaking, Smith says. “That really reduces the students’ stress level when they’re preparing for an assignment and ultimately helps them make a more confident presentation.”

“We introduce students to the library in a way that they never expected they could see it or understand it,” Donovan says. “We connect it to what they’re doing in their class—the kinds of things they’re talking about or reading in class. So that’s great for us, because it’s more fun, but it’s also great for the students because they can see a direct application of how the libraries can help them succeed in their class. ”

And as for the graduate students, Donovan looks to the horizon. She recognizes that many of today’s graduate instructors may eventually become faculty members elsewhere. “It’s kind of a little hope I have,” Donovan says,“that wherever they’re going to be instructors, they go to the library and ask, ‘Who’s my librarian? How can the libraries support my students in their research and learning?’ I hope that having had this experience here they’ll also see how the library can be connected to what they do in their future careers as faculty. “