- Example: “What makes this article a good choice for your paper?”
- Example: “Why might certain members of the community have wanted to ban this book?”
- Example: “What steps could we take to improve our online security?”
- Example: “How might the repeal of net neutrality impact online access?”
- Example: “How might social media change if people had to pay to use platforms like Facebook and Twitter?”
- Example: “What are some of the main takeaways from today’s discussion?”
While open-ended questions are typically best suited for discussion, Wiggins and McTighe (2005) point out that some closed-ended questions can be good entry points for discussion, especially if a broad question is likely to be overwhelming for the audience. For instance, a yes-or-no question like “Is this a trustworthy website?” could be followed by a question like “How do we know?”
Be Comfortable with Silence
Any instructor who has asked what they believe is an engaging discussion question only to be met with a wall of silence knows how nerve-wracking such silence can be. However, we also need to understand that some silence is expected and can even be productive. Learners often need a few moments to gather their thoughts before they volunteer to speak, and good discussion questions are meant to be thought provoking, so we should anticipate some time for students to process the question. Unfortunately, many instructors are uncomfortable with silence, often misinterpreting it as a lack of engagement or understanding and rushing to rephrase the question or provide the answer themselves. Such actions actually discourage discussion, suggesting that the instructor is not really interested in hearing from students and signaling that if students just wait, the instructor will give them the answer.
Herman and Nilson (2018) suggest that most learners need at least 15 seconds to gather their thoughts before joining a discussion, and they point out that English language learners, neurodiverse students, and students with learning disabilities might appreciate even more time. The authors suggest alerting students that you will pause for 15 or 30 seconds after asking the question, so they understand that the pause is intentional. Announcing the pause might also relieve anxiety for those students who need the time to think. Even just a few extra seconds of waiting after posing a question can increase the overall number of students who participate.
Create a Safe Climate
Discussion is a higher-risk activity than passive listening or watching, and learners might be reluctant to participate in discussions for fear of embarrassing themselves. They might be concerned that they will give an incorrect answer or that they will be criticized by the instructor or their peers (McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006). We can help mitigate these fears by creating a safe classroom climate that encourages learners to participate. One step to ensuring a safe environment is to establish some ground rules for the discussion, which should include active listening and respectful dialogue. Instructors can outline these guidelines at the beginning of class, or they can hold a “discussion about discussions” in which the class works together to determine its own guidelines (Howard, 2019). This approach models the democratic classroom favored by humanists and provides learners with some feeling of ownership and stake in the process.
We can also model active listening and respectful participation ourselves by providing supportive and constructive feedback to students during the discussion. Even if a student’s answer is off topic or includes inaccurate or misleading information, we can usually find a way to acknowledge the contribution even as we redirect the conversation or correct the inaccuracies. Usually we can build on some part of the response, while we respectfully challenge another part, perhaps saying something like, “I am really glad that you brought up this point, but I wonder if there are other ways to look at it?”
Finally, we can find alternative ways for students to participate beyond having to share their own thoughts in front of a large group. For instance, we could end a think-pair-share activity by asking the class, “Whose partner had a great answer or interesting idea?” This question invites learners to share their partner’s idea rather than their own, which might be easier and feel less risky for some students. Another option is to allow students to participate in online discussions. Some learners prefer online discussion because it gives them more time to organize their thoughts and craft their answers, and it removes the public-speaking aspect. One of the book authors creates an online discussion board she calls “continued conversations” for her face-to-face classes. At the beginning of the semester, she lets students know that the discussion board is optional, but any posts will count toward their participation grade. For many learners, these options will be first steps, and, as they gain confidence, they will be able to participate more easily in regular in-class discussions.
Manage Dominant Talkers
The flip side to quiet learners who are reluctant to participate are those who volunteer immediately to answer questions, interrupt others, or otherwise dominate the discussion. While these students might be well meaning and eager, they reduce opportunities for others to participate. One strategy for dealing with dominant talkers is to avoid immediately calling on the first people to raise their hands, but use the conscious pause described earlier to give more people a chance to volunteer. If some students have already talked quite a bit, we can thank them for their contributions but say that we would like to hear from some other voices as well.
McKeachie and Svinicki (2006) suggest assigning dominant talkers to be “observers” with the responsibility to listen to the discussion and summarize key points at the end. We can establish a guideline that once a person participates, that person cannot speak again until two other voices have been heard, or we can give each student three chips at the beginning of class and ask that they deposit one in a jar each time they speak (Herman & Nilson, 2018). Once learners are out of chips, they cannot participate any more. Herman and Nilson warn instructors to notice if students are asking questions that are off topic or of very narrow interest and, if so, to invite them to meet after class in order not to waste other students’ time.
Managing Challenging Comments
Some discussions will center on sensitive or controversial topics that might be challenging to navigate, and occasionally learners might make problematic statements or assertions. As discussed in Chapter 5, instructors must acknowledge and respond to such statements but should also “realize that rarely is a student’s intent harmful, so avoid an accusatory approach” (Herman & Nilson, 2018, p. 47). The exact response will depend on the context, but Herman and Nilson (2018) offer helpful strategies. For instance, if a student uses outdated terminology, the instructor should note that different language is preferred. If learners’ remarks are provocative or disrespectful, the instructor can remind them of the discussion guidelines established at the beginning of the session. If a statement is relevant to the course, the instructor could open it up for further discussion but must be sure that only the underlying ideas are being challenged, not the student who made them. If the discussion becomes heated or emotional, the instructor should step in to calm the situation, perhaps by asking learners to take a short break to reflect on and even write down their thoughts.
Summarize the Learning and Takeaways
Some students are resistant to discussions because they do not see value in them (Herman & Nilson, 2018; McKeachie & Svinicki, 2006). They might resent time spent listening to their peers when they believe the teacher has the knowledge and the “right” answers, and they might also view the discussion as a test to see if they can guess the answer the instructor wants, rather than seeing it as a true exchange of ideas. In addition to explaining the purpose and learning goals of the discussion at the outset, we can demonstrate the value of discussion and surface the learning that takes place by periodically summarizing the discussion and identifying the key takeaways. These summaries help make the learning visible and give the instructor an opportunity to fill in any gaps, correct inaccuracies, and answer lingering questions.
Despite some challenges, discussions can be effective and engaging activities. We can generally overcome any barriers by anticipating them and planning for discussion just as we would any other instructional activity. See Activity 10.4 for a brief exercise related to discussions.
Activity 10.4: Building Better Discussions
Below are three brief scenarios. Read each one and respond to the reflection questions.
Scenario 1: Lisa is an academic librarian who has been asked to guest lecture to sophomore-level psychology students preparing to write a research paper. Lisa is determined to make her presentation engaging, and she begins by asking the class if anyone would like to share a research topic so she can use it as an example for her search demonstration. A young man in the front row speaks up immediately. Lisa writes his topic on the board and then asks the class to suggest key words related to the topic. Later, she asks the students to suggest ways to combine the keywords and asks them which databases they think she should search. Before long, Lisa realizes that the same young man is answering all her questions. Occasionally, another student will raise a hand but, even if Lisa calls on others, the young man tends to jump in and talk over them. After giving the students time to search on their own, Lisa asks for volunteers to demonstrate their search for the class. The young man is the only volunteer.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion:
- What strategies could Lisa use to manage the young man’s participation?
- Why do you think other students were slow to respond?
- Lisa is frustrated that the young man is the only one to volunteer to demonstrate his search. How might she handle the situation?
Scenario 2: Mike is a high school librarian. Mr. Smith has assigned a research paper to his 12th-grade history class and asked Mike to lead a session on plagiarism and show the students how to prepare bibliographies. Mike starts the class by reading from the student honor code and explaining that students can fail the assignment and face suspension if they plagiarize material. He then asks the class if anyone can explain what plagiarism is. One student timidly raises a hand and says, “Lying?” Mike shakes his head. “No,” he says, looking around the room again. “Anyone else?” No one else volunteers, so Mike defines plagiarism for them.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion:
- Why might students have been reluctant to answer Mike’s question?
- Imagine you were a colleague observing Mike’s class. What advice might you give him?
Scenario 3: Angela is leading a workshop on evaluating health information. During the workshop, an older man raises his hand and says that he is afraid to get the flu shot because he has heard shots are not safe. Before Angela can answer, a woman near the front of the room complains that “anti-vaxxers” are making other people sick and tells the older man that the CDC recommends the flu vaccine and says it is safe. The man responds by saying it is “crazy” to trust government sites like the CDC. Angela can feel the tension in the room growing.
Questions for Reflection and Discussion:
- How might Angela respond to the two patrons in her workshop?
- How can she calm the tension in the room?
Flipped Classrooms
A flipped classroom is one in which content is delivered outside of class time so that the instruction session can focus on hands-on practice and activities to apply the learning. This model “flips” the traditional classroom approach in which instructors deliver content during class, often through lecture and demonstration, and students apply the learning outside of class through assignments and projects. Learners gain background knowledge or “first-exposure” information (Walvoord & Anderson, 2010, p. 81) before class begins so class time can be spent on higher-order thinking skills and processes, such as evaluating, synthesizing, and creating. Further, because application is happening in the classroom, the instructor is available at the point of practice, where students are more likely to have questions, and where instructors can provide immediate feedback and guidance.
The flipped classroom can be implemented in different ways. Often, instructors will use video lectures and readings to deliver content before the class meeting. Of course, for the classroom activities to work effectively, students must have completed the pre-work. Walvoord and Anderson (2010) suggest incorporating exercises or other assignments into the pre-work to hold learners accountable. For instance, instructors could assign a brief questionnaire about the lecture and reading or ask students to write down the main points. In addition to holding students accountable, these checks can work as assessments, showing the instructors if there are misunderstandings or gaps in knowledge so they can be addressed before launching into activities.
In class, instructors can use any combination of active learning techniques to engage learners with the material. Students in a science class might conduct experiments, history students might examine primary source documents, and media students might use specialized equipment to create presentations. Library instructors can have students conduct their own searches and evaluate the materials, explore different technology platforms and applications, create projects in a makerspace, complete a scavenger hunt or play a game based on the content presented in the pre-work, or engage in peer instruction.
Librarians outside of a K-12 setting might face some challenges implementing a flipped model. The flipped model depends on learners completing some out-of-class work prior to the session, but academic and public librarians delivering one-shot sessions might find it challenging to assign pre-work, and learners in these sessions might not feel obligated to complete the assignments. Despite challenges, many librarians have successfully used the flipped model in their classrooms (see, e.g., Datig & Ruswick, 2013; Coan, 2016; Loo et al., 2016; Tingle, 2018). Some academic librarians have collaborated with faculty to integrate pre-work for a one-shot session into the larger course (Berg, 2018; Pannabecker et al., 2014). Faculty will include library tutorials or readings as an assignment and might offer students credit for completing the work. Datig and Ruswick (2013) assigned tutorials they had already developed for asynchronous and self-paced learning as pre-work for face-to-face sessions, thus getting more use from those materials. They found the flipped classroom more engaging for both the learners and the librarians, who had been experiencing “lecture fatigue.”
Some public libraries have implemented flipped classrooms by asking patrons to complete some work prior to the session. Public librarians in Georgia implemented a flipped-classroom model for some of their programs, providing content through videos and other formats ahead of sessions (Logan & Hadzhieva, 2018), while those at the Twinsburg Public Library in Ohio (2020) promote flipped English as a Second or Other Language courses, where learners watch videos and complete tutorials outside of class time. The Skokie Public Library in Illinois created a Massively Open Online Course (MOOC) on HTML and web design for its patrons using a flipped classroom model (Coan, 2016). Pre-work should be clearly described in the promotional or registration materials for a workshop and made easily available.
Problem-Based Learning
In problem-based learning the instructor presents a messy, fuzzy, or ill-defined problem which the class works to solve, often in small groups. Rather than listening to lectures or following step-by-step experiments or demonstrations, learners must use their knowledge, engage in research, and test ideas to develop a solution or answer to the problem (Kretchmar, 2019). To be effective, the problems presented to students need to be complex, should not have a single right answer or a single path to a solution, and should be based in the real world. For instance, a library instructor could ask students how to combat the spread of disinformation or “fake news” on social media.
Problem-based learning is student-centered, and the instructor acts as a guide or facilitator rather than as an expert directing the learning. The instructor will present the problem, and then step back and let student groups devise not only a solution but a plan for engaging in whatever research and exploration they need to arrive at the solution. The instructor is on hand to offer guidance as needed but typically will not provide direct answers to questions, instead coaching students to think through the problem and find the answer for themselves. The process of investigating the issue and developing a solution is part of the learning, meaning that the process is as important as the content (Kretchmar, 2019). While the research suggests that overall levels of learning are similar in problem-based and traditional classrooms, students in problem-based classrooms report being more satisfied and have more positive attitudes toward the learning (Kretchmar, 2019).
True problem-based learning is very time-consuming, so it is unlikely that library instructors would be able to integrate it into a one-shot session or workshop. However, we can certainly integrate elements of this approach. For instance, rather than presenting students with a checklist of criteria for evaluating information, we could begin a class by posing a question, such as “How do we know which information to trust online?” We could then give students different news stories or resources and ask them to work together to decide if they would trust a certain source and why. As students report on their work, we can develop a list of criteria that will largely mirror the one we would have presented; however, with this approach, learners will have discovered those criteria on their own.
Games
Games are a fun way to engage learners, and they can be used at any age level and in any setting. Games generally incorporate an element of competition, either between individuals or groups or with single learners challenging themselves, but a game’s purpose is to impart information or develop skills. A lot of writing on game-based learning focuses on online learning objects that function like video games. For instance, Liberation: Referencing is an online tutorial on citation styles that challenges the player to order components and identify proper formatting and punctuation, all while keeping a cat named Harvey alive. Analog games can be just as fun and usually take fewer resources to create. A scavenger hunt can get learners into different parts of the library and introduce them to the library layout and classification system. Instructors can adapt popular game shows for the classroom. For instance, in library Jeopardy, instructors present library terms, services, or concepts, and students volunteer answers—in the form of a question, of course.
Peer Instruction
As discussed in Chapter 4, a different way of flipping the normal classroom is to give learners responsibility for the instruction. Peer instruction gives students a chance to share their knowledge and expertise with one another, and learners are often particularly engaged by their peers. Peer instruction is not only engaging, it can lead to deeper learning by requiring students to put concepts in their own words and reinforce skills through practice. During peer instruction, the instructor should stay engaged and offer feedback or redirect if the peer instructors are providing inaccurate information.
Think-Pair-Share
Also discussed in Chapter 4, think-pair-share is one of the most popular active learning techniques and can be used in classes of all sizes, with all different ages. Because it incorporates time for learners to gather their thoughts before responding and requires students to interact only with one other person, think-pair-share is relatively low risk even for introverted or anxious students. Depending on the size of the class, the instructor might have each student share their thoughts with the class or ask for a few volunteers to sum up their discussion for the whole group.
Polls
Polls are a relatively simple and quick way to add some interaction to the class. Poll questions can be content-based questions of fact, or they could be scaled questions asking learners their level of familiarity with a concept or confidence in a task. Polls can be done by a show of hands or with polling software like Poll Everywhere or AnswerGarden. Many learning management systems and conferencing tools like Zoom have polling software embedded.
Writing Exercises
The process of putting concepts into writing requires learners to reflect on what they have learned, recall bits of information, and translate the ideas into their own words, all of which help reinforce and deepen learning. These exercises are flexible; we can focus them on almost any aspect of the content, and we can devote as much or as little time to them as we want. Some writing reflections require only one to two minutes of class time, making it easy to adopt them even in short workshops and one-shot sessions.
However, just as some students are less comfortable joining discussions or speaking in front of a group, other students find it difficult to articulate their thoughts in writing. In library classrooms, we will encounter learners with a wide range of literacy, language, and writing abilities. English language learners, younger patrons, and patrons with low literacy, among others, might find writing exercises particularly challenging.
Several best practices can make these exercises more effective, even for patrons who are less comfortable with writing. We can emphasize the low-stakes nature of the activity by explaining that the purpose is not to critique learners’ writing but to give them an opportunity to reflect. We might even say that writing “does not count,” or that we will not be paying attention to grammar or spelling. Often, librarians are not giving learners grades on their activities anyway, and this helps to keep the exercises low stakes. When appropriate, we might also offer learners different options for reflection, such as drawing a picture or providing a demonstration of a task, rather than writing out the steps.
This section provides a brief overview of some sample writing exercises. You can find many more examples online.
Pre-writing
Pre-writing is a form of brainstorming or capturing ideas before delving more deeply into a lesson. For instance, instructors might ask students to brainstorm paper topics or keywords and synonyms for their topics before beginning a lesson on searching. Learners could jot ideas down on paper, organize their thoughts into a concept map or list, or use a graphic organizer.
Minute Paper
The minute paper is meant to be very brief, typically just two or three questions. While we can ask any type of question, minute papers usually pose reflective questions, asking students to think about what they have learned and whether they still have questions. Common minute-paper questions include: What are one or two new things you learned from this lesson? Can you describe one or two ways you can use what you learned? What remains unclear from the lesson? What questions do you have about today’s lesson? Instructors can respond to students’ questions in writing or leave enough time to flip through the responses and answer questions at the end of the class. Minute papers can be left anonymous to keep the exercise low stakes, but in that case, we should take time to answer outstanding questions at the end of class, since we will not be able to follow up with individual students.
Graphic Organizers/Lecture Outlines
Graphic organizers and lecture outlines are a form of guided notetaking; they provide students with a framework for the lesson, drawing their attention to important points. As their name implies, graphic organizers are generally visual tools, such as figures or infographics, with space for learners to take notes or label parts of the figure. For example, during an orientation, librarians could provide patrons with a blank map of the library and encourage them to label the spaces on the map as they move through the tour. As another example, Chapter 3 provided you with a blank table to track learning theories, including the names of the theorists and the key points of each theory. Similarly, instructors can provide learners with a partial outline of a lecture, leaving spaces for students to fill in the missing information. Many learners, especially those who are new to a topic, can have trouble picking out the essential information from a long lecture or discussion. As a result, they either try to write down every word or leave with no notes at all. Tools like lecture outlines and graphic organizers can make lessons more engaging, and the prompts can help students identify the important points. Example 10.1 shows a sample lecture outline.
Example 10.1: Lecture Outline
Below is an excerpt of a lecture outline for a library instruction session on plagiarism and citations. The session starts with a brief lecture on plagiarism, including a definition and examples of when citations are needed. Next, the librarian explains the purpose of citations and demonstrates how to format citations according to APA guidelines by showing learners an example of a book citation and walking them through each element. Learners are encouraged to fill out the outline as they listen.
Plagiarism 101
Plagiarism is using someone else’s _________ or ___________ without giving them credit.
I should cite a source when:
Following is a book citation in APA format. Label the author, title, publication date, publisher.
Riordan, R. (2008). Percy Jackson and the lightning thief. Disney Hyperion Books.
Group Work
According to the constructivist and social constructivist learning theories introduced in Chapter 3, human beings create meaning and new knowledge in part through their interactions with other people. Group work provides learners with opportunities for peer interaction to facilitate that process. Small groups can give everyone a chance to participate, even in larger classes, and many learners will find it less intimidating to talk and share ideas in a smaller group.
Several best practices apply specifically to group work. First, we need to be clear about the purpose, expectations, and tasks involved. Without clear directions, groups will be unsure of how to engage and are likely to end the activity feeling they have not been productive. Before starting any group activity, we should lay out the goals and provide directions, including any guiding questions or specific tasks. We should also be clear about the outcomes and any deliverables. Are groups expected to produce something tangible, like a concept map? Should the group take notes and be prepared to discuss its activities with the class? Providing a handout or displaying a slide with the directions can help the group stay on track.
Since group work tends to be more self-directed than other strategies, some instructors are unsure of their role and might disengage from the class. Even while groups work independently, we should be active in the classroom. Circulating throughout the room helps ensure groups stay on task and provides opportunities to respond to questions or concerns. We should be careful to allot an appropriate amount of time for the tasks. Too little time can be frustrating and leave groups feeling dissatisfied with their level of discussion, but extra time will probably lead to unrelated conversations. Circulating through the room and checking on progress also give us a chance to gauge the time and decide when to wrap up the activity.
Dozens of small group activities exist, and many instructional activities can be adapted for groups. For instance, scavenger hunts could be done in teams, or students could work in groups to complete worksheets or graphic organizers.
This section offers a few examples, and you can find many more online.
Guided Discussion
Provide learners with a question, scenario, case study, or similar prompt, and have them discuss their answers in small groups.
Jigsaw
Break the class into groups and give each group an aspect of a topic to research or discuss. These groups develop expertise on their aspect of the topic. After a set amount of time, shuffle the groups so each new group has one representative from each original group. As students share their research from the original group, the new group will develop a full picture of the topic.
Circle of Voices
Break students into small groups and ask them to sit in a circle. Each student gets two to three minutes to speak without interruption in response to a question or prompt. Once everyone in the group has had a turn, the group can have a more general discussion on the topic. Students should try to build on their peers’ responses, rather than offering only their own ideas.
Debate/Pro-Con
Discussions can be structured to examine different perspectives on a question or the merits of different strategies. For instance, we could ask groups to debate the merits of using primary versus secondary sources when researching a historical topic or create a list of the pros and cons of different online browsers.
Combining Strategies
Teaching guides like this textbook tend to describe each instructional strategy separately. While this approach is useful for providing in-depth overviews of each approach, it can give the false impression that the strategies are mutually exclusive. In fact, few instructors will use only one instructional strategy in a lesson. For instance, flipped classrooms generally incorporate lecture; the difference is that those lectures are delivered outside of class time. Even in a problem-based classroom exercise, instructors often use lecture to provide background information or demonstrate methods students might use to research the problem and develop solutions. In other words, we can mix and match instructional strategies in any classroom. Brookfield asserts that we should think of strategies such as lecture, discussion, and other active learning techniques as “symbiotic” (2006, p. 98). We simply want to make conscious decisions about which strategies we are using and consider why those strategies are appropriate.
Lesson Plans
Our instructional design decisions should culminate in a written lesson plan or detailed outline of the session. Some instructors might question whether a written plan is necessary, but putting the plan into writing ensures that we are addressing all the necessary details and thinking carefully through each decision. It also creates a record of the lesson, which can aid us in reflecting on the session later and implementing lessons consistently over time. Also, a written plan can be shared with colleagues, which can also ensure consistency when multiple people are teaching the same lesson.
Different models and templates for lesson plans exist, but most lesson plans start with the learning outcomes to set the purpose and expectations for the session. Including brief notes about the intended audience, length of the session, and any materials or equipment that will be necessary to carry out the lesson can also be helpful.
The bulk of the plan outlines the content, instructional strategies, and assessments for the lesson. The lesson plan should provide a step-by-step overview of each section or “chunk” of the session, with a brief explanation of what will take place during that section, including the instructional strategies and any assessments that will be employed. The plan should include enough detail that a colleague could envision or re-create the lesson but should not be a word-for-word transcript. Include only the major points of lecture content or the basic directions for an activity.
Each segment should include a time stamp, or a note about how much time is allotted for that section or activity. Instructors can find it challenging in the beginning to gauge the time needed for different activities, but the authors’ experience has been that new instructors often underestimate how much time they need, and, as a result, rush to fit all their material into the session. To be safe, you might allot more time than you initially think you need for each segment but have additional examples or backup activities that you can use if you have extra time at the end of the session. Conversely, you can note activities or examples to cut if you run out of time. Example 10.2 offers a sample lesson plan for a public library workshop on “fake news.” See Appendix B for additional sample lesson plans on different topics for a variety of information settings and audiences.
Example 10.2: Lesson Plan for an Instructional Session on Fake News
Fighting “Fake News”
Introduction
This session takes place at the Anytown Public Library and is geared toward a general adult audience. The session will run on a weeknight and midday on a weekend to reach various segments of the audience.
Running Time: 60 minutes
Materials
- Laptop and screen projector
- Flip chart or whiteboard
- “Sample News Stories” handout
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this session, participants will be able to:
- Apply criteria for evaluating news stories.
- Discuss strategies for responsible sharing of news.
Outline
I. Welcome (5 minutes)
- Introductions and overview of learning outcomes
II. Lecture (10 minutes)
- Instructor will start by asking participants:
- What is the impact of fake news?
- What sources do you trust for your news?
- Historical examples
- Current landscape
- Definitions
III. Activity (25 minutes)
- The instructor will share two brief excerpts of current news stories from sources of varying reliability. Participants will have 5 minutes to read the excerpts individually; then, working in pairs, they will have 10 minutes to answer the following questions:
- Does this story seem trustworthy? Why or why not? List as many reasons as you can.
- What additional information about the source or the details of the story would help you evaluate this story? How could you find that additional information?
IV. Debrief (10 minutes)
- The instructor will review the list of criteria and discuss how they can be applied, filling in any gaps in the list. The instructor will share another short news excerpt and ask the group as a whole to evaluate the story, making explicit connections to the list of criteria. Participants will discuss which stories they would share stories based on those criteria.
V. Wrap-up (5 minutes)
- Instructor will return to learning outcomes and highlight main takeaways.
VI. Reflection (5 minutes)
- Instructor will pass out a “minute paper” sheet asking participants to list two things they learned and any questions they have.
- Instructor will review the papers and answer outstanding questions.
Conclusion
In the final stage of Backward Design, we select the strategies we will use to interact with students and deliver the content of our lessons. For many instructors, this stage is the most fun because it centers on that part of teaching with which we all have experience as students—what happens in the classroom. The main points to keep in mind during this stage of instructional design are as follows:
- Best practices include focusing on active learning techniques to keep students directly engaged with content, scaffolding material to support students’ journey from simpler to more complex knowledge and tasks, making explicit connections between new information and prior learning, and selecting strategies that are appropriate for our audience, content, and time frame.
- Lectures have received some negative attention in recent years, but as an instructional strategy they have some advantages. We can take steps to make lectures interactive and engaging.
- Good discussions take planning and management, but they are an effective way to engage students and bring active learning to the classroom.
- We can choose from an array of active learning techniques, including those that can be completed by groups and those that can be done by individuals, those that take substantial class time and those designed to take only a few minutes. Regardless of the size of the class or the amount of time we have, we virtually always can find a way to incorporate some active learning.
- Our Backward Design should culminate in a lesson plan that lists the learning outcomes; identifies our topic, audience, and materials; and outlines the instructional strategies and assessments we will use.
Suggested Readings
ACRL Framework for Information Literacy sandbox. (n.d.). https://sandbox.acrl.org/resources
The Association of College and Resource Libraries has compiled this open access collection of lesson plans focused on The Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. Users can search for lesson plans and activities, along with a host of other materials, and can limit by frame or discipline. All materials are licensed through Creative Commons and can be reused and adapted with limited restrictions. The materials are designed for a college audience, but many could be adapted for other audiences.
Barkley, E.F. (2010). Student engagement techniques: A handbook for college faculty. Jossey-Bass.
This book offers a wealth of information and advice on how to engage students. The first section provides background and theoretical information on student engagement, while the second section offers tips for motivating and challenging students and implementing active learning. The third section outlines 50 “student engagement techniques” or active learning activities. Each section describes the “essential characteristics” of the activity, its description and purpose, directions for implementing the activity, and concrete examples of the activity. Barkley also offers ideas for varying the activities and adapting them to an online environment.
Denver Public Library. (n.d.). Technology classes and workshops. https://www.denverlibrary.org/ctc-classes
The Denver Public Library provides free access to high-quality lesson plans and related materials for its technology workshops and classes. From the events page, click on a workshop title, and follow the link for class materials, all of which are licensed through Creative Commons.
Green, L. S. (2019). Flipped learning environments: An introduction for librarians who design and teach. Library Technology Reports, 55(5), 11-16. https://www.journals.ala.org/index.php/ltr/article/view/7067
In this brief paper, Green offers librarians straightforward guidance on how to implement a flipped classroom, with some attention to the theory and the pros and cons of the approach.
Harrington, C., & Zakrajsek, T. (2017). Dynamic lecturing: Research-based strategies to enhance lecture effectiveness. Stylus Publishing.
In this volume, authors Harrington and Zakrajsek make the case that lectures can be active and engaging. The authors offer clear, research-based advice on how to plan, structure, and deliver a lecture that engages students and incorporates activity and reflection.
Herman, J. H., & Nilson, L. B. (2018). Creating engaging discussions: Strategies for ‘avoiding crickets’ in any size classroom and online. Stylus Publishing.
This excellent text offers a clear and thorough guide to implementing discussion successfully. The authors offer 12 principles for good class discussion, as well as advice on addressing common issues, such as learners who talk too much or too little, students who are not paying attention, microaggressions, and controversial topics. The second half of the book is a series of case studies that present specific strategies or activities for successful student engagement.
Marcotte, A. (2019). Tech trends: Library tech leaders recommend their favorite tips and tools. American Libraries, 50(3/4), 5-7.
The author shares detailed overviews of a range of teaching technologies with an emphasis on free and open access tools. While geared toward the flipped classroom, these tools could facilitate active learning in many formats.
McKeachie, W. J., & Svinicki, M. (2006). McKeachie’s teaching tips: Strategies, research, and theory for college and university teachers. Houghton Mifflin.
This handy volume provides clear and concise advice on a range of pedagogical topics. Chapters are brief and to the point, and integrate concrete examples and supplementary readings. Topics include effective lectures, facilitating discussions, active learning, problem-based learning, teaching culturally diverse students, and motivating students.
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