BUBBL.us….the neat brainstorming tool!

space travel: a keyword brainstorming chart

I have been looking for tools that would easily help students brainstorm key words and ideas as they begin their research (though their is no quick-fix, easy way to do this!). I work with undergraduates, and have had success using tools like WORDLE and other tagging tools to “teach” research. As instructors, we know a huge obstacle is conveying the importance of experimentation and creativity with keywords in order to help students (re)shape their inquiries. Students will often do one–maybe two searches–and then give up after locating little useful information. Add to that the constraints of time, bad traditions, and curricular limitations and no one librarian gets much more than 50 to 75 minutes with a group of students. Were we given more time, and were we stronger collaborators with other teachers, we would be able to spend an entire 50 minute session on KEY WORD activities.

A worthwhile keyword searching activity utilizing BUBBL.US might look like this:

1. Students get into groups or work individually
2. Students brainstorm key words that represent each concept within their research inquiries
3. Students use tools like Bubble.us to create a word web or map for their topics
4. Students test key words in catalogs and search interfaces
5. Students adjust their webs to include key words and subject headings found during the 50 minute session
6. Students re-test their searches with newfound terminology
7. Students record the results of their findings and document their most effective search strategies

**A completed key word brainstorm chart may look like THIS

At the end of this type of class, students would have a solid understanding of how to be creative, patient, and inquisitive when doing research. If more instructors and librarians would be open to spending time in the classroom this way–instead of repeating the old worthless demo–students would be well equipped to tackle research. Boolean operators, truncation–basically all of the “skill sets” that dominate information literacy sessions–would come later. Those are little details–things that students can learn after they have hands-on experience with articulating an inquiry, locating precise language, testing search terminology, and re-evaluating their initial inquiries. “Big Picture” instruction is something we can and should be pushing for; but it’s certainly difficult to break bad habits.

Anticipating “Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods”

I’m going to try something I’ve never tried before: leaving a blog post short and sweet. Who knew?

Anyway, I was *so excited* that Library Juice Press will be releasing Critical Library Instruction: Theories and Methods, edited by Emily Drabinski, Alana Kumbier, and Maria Accardi, in Fall of 2009. Since the day I first picked up the orginal 1972 Revolting Librarians, edited by the late Celeste West–in additon to Elizabeth Katz and others–I have not been the same.  I was shocked that Revolting Librarians and its successor, Revolting Librarians Redux, were not required reading while I was in library school.  The core values of civic mindedness and social responsibility are what drew me to librarinaship in the first place and are inextricably linked to the work of the librarian. I see that now. Subsequently, I’ve been thinking about how I can incorporate these values of critical librarianship into all of the work I do as a librarian. As an Instructional Services Librarian for Undergraduate Students, I would consider myself a librarian-teacher and have recently considered how I can approach instruction from this critical/progressive perspective.  I am thankful that the editors and Library Juice Press are putting this book out there. Many thanks!

Librarians and Composition Teachers Should Join Forces

It wasn’t until recently (seriously–like, today) that it really dawned on me that information literacy “programs” are most effective when librarians and compositionists combine forces. (Apparently, I felt that a picture of famous Ghostbusters “[Don't] Cross the Streams” image would illustrate this necessity.)

That said, I have begun building what I hope will be a beautiful relationship with the English Department on campus. I have been particularly interested in the relationship between Librarians and Composition Instructors in part because I have experience in both areas. For a brief two year stint, I taught basic composition to college freshman and have an understanding of the concepts and practices instructors try to instill in students through regular writing assignments that culminate in a large research paper.

Enter my librarian self. Having a past life as a composition instructor, I certainly feel more equipped to deal with some of the challenges of teaching the writing and research processes. As a composition instructor, I liked to think I had some knowledge about conducting sophisticated research inquiries (I had, after all, composed a Graduate Thesis). But I found that I didn’t know much more about finding information than my students did. I could suggest databases I had used, but I was in no position to articulate key difference between subject and general datatbases, subject searching versus key word searching, or expanding thesauri  to determine the anguage being employed to classify information.

Long story short, I wanted to be able to find information. Good, reliable, and worthwhile information. But I’ve discovered that the research process, like the writing process, is tedious, laborious, and discursive. The reductivist approach to writing (“master your skills in a semester!) and research (“get certified in library skills in one visit!”) is just a bunch of malarchy that misguides and disillusions.  Composition and Rhetoric Instructors and Librarians are in a unique position to support each other and to join forces for a common cause. We just need to decide on what that cause will be, and how we will “teach” research and writing. Is our cause responsbile citizenship? Critical, lifelong learning? Praxis? (Whoa….I said praxis. I never say praxis. And I think I got that from Paulo Freire)

In an article called “First Year Writing Teachers, Perceptions of Students’ Information Literacy Competencies, and a Call For A Collaborative Approach,” (availabe here )Elizabeth Birminham of North Dakota State University and Company address th opportunities that librarians and writing instructors have to form alliances. Really, after I read the piece, it just confirmed my suspicions that we are not getting together as much as we should–that there is a great disconnect between librarians and instructors of writing which I can certainly feel.  Part of the problem is that we’re not seeing how we are striving toward common goals–to challenge students to enter into a larger conversation, to question actively, and to contribute to that conversation. And one solution would be that librarians and composition instructors go beyond their own disciplines and seek out pedagogical and theoretical underpinnings in each other’s field for a more wholistic understanding of the writing and research processes. To quote a poignant statement in the above named article, “the writing process does not begin where the research process ends” (19). Too often, I think we’ve unwittingly compartmentalized these two processes and presented them as skills to be obtained (they are….but you know, they’re not).

I’d be interested to hear how other librarians and composition instructors are collaborating to offer students opportunities for engaging the research & writing process(es). I’d like to hear, too, how other instructors from other disciplines are teaching research and writing which is not strictly limited to English Departments and Libraries….or at least should not be.

Can I help you find anything? No thanks, I’m just browsing!

In a previous post, I mentioned an article I read by Anne-Marie Deitering. She talked about using Wikipedia as a browsing platform in the information literacy classroom; or at least that perhaps it’s better suited to browsing then the databases we’re advocating. Inspired by her article, I decided that most web 2.0 applications are better tools for teaching students how browsing is different than searching. I also decided that because browsing is overlooked in favor of searching (or we assume the student has already gone through those motions prior to coming in for library instruction), I wanted to emphasize the importance of browsing as a crucial component of the research process because it leads to discovery.  Instead of just saying that, however, I wanted to actually host a browse session.

After doing some ice-breakers and introductions, I opened the class with a browse session. In other words, I created a fun handout in which I encouraged students to think about topics that “boiled their blood” or “confused them beyond belief.” (Students were in between assignments when they came in.) The handout had a picture of a woman pushing a shopping cart through the aisles at walmart. Below that, I urged them to choose topics guided by their own interests (the former composition instructor in me.) I provided a list of news portals (BBC news, CNN news, Yahoo news, Youtube, New York times, etc.) and gave them 7 minutes to peruse the headlines noting things that caught their attention. (Only a 50 minute class…)

What I found was a little shocking, though: students were really browsing AND writing things down! What joy! As I walked around the room, occasionally glancing at monitors, no students were checking their email, looking at their facebook page, or playing solitaire. It was a miracle. I was witnessing the beginnings of the research process and it was a beautiful thing. I really hated to have to stop them because I could tell they were really using their time productively.

I asked them: “so you just did a brief browse session to see what kinds of things are out there. What’s the difference between “browsing” and “searching”?

One student is always willing: he said that you search when you want something in particular, but you browse when you don’t have anything in mind. Indeed! Here, I insert a little anecdote about shopping with my mom. A clerk would always ask: “is there anything I can help you find?” My mom replied: “No thank you:) I’m just browsing.” I think this little anecdote exposes my humanness and clarifies the differences between searching and browsing quite simply.

I was pleased that students got to see that browsing is a crucial part of the whole research process…AND the library was a premiere space that celebrates and facilitates that discovery and curiosity! The browsing activity was a great segue into the group work that proceeded it: how you can begin to create a search strategy and brainstorm key words.

All of this experimenting with browse sessions and collaborative group work hints at my obsession with how NOT to teach information literacy to undergraduates. (That wretched demo comes to mind here in which the instructor stands like a statue at the front of the classroom while students sleep or talk to their friends.) We are always walking a fine line in the information literacy classroom, and students’ “success” comes from the balancing of engaging instructors on one hand and and motivated students on the other. It get’s really exciting somewhere in the grey areas.  I am trying to be careful not to place all of the burden of effective teaching on the shoulders of instructors alone. (You may have heard musicians talk about the energy exchange between performer and audience: there are bad audiences–the unaffected or uninspired.) But the best of instructors or performers have the ability to shape an experience and draw people into it, even if only for a little while.  (Bill Hicks did this often. He worked with “tough crowds” that were virtually unresponive and was able to amazingly reinvigorate them.)

That said, it’s tough NOT to talk too much when you’re an instructor. But I’ve been getting away from talking the more I teach. My last two classes, I think, were far more engaging then any other class I’ve taught. I included a mixture of mediums in the classroom to better serve a multiplicity of learning styles. (I had some individual work, collaborative work, and integrated web 2.0 technologies like Youtube in addition to the browse session.) For the most part, the students were always doing something.

It’s easy to do boring demos,  but I can’t do that anymore in my work with undergraduates. Maybe that I’m a new librarian makes me overzealous. But when you lose the responsiveness of an audience, you lose the energy that propels the class forward. It’s the energy and motivation that make a classroom environment stimulating and meaningful; and I think you can get that by creating a space of action or hands-on learning rather than the space of sedation or passivity that just won’t cut it anymore–if it ever did.