Location
Chateau Sugarloaf Hill, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia PA
Start Date
27-4-2018 1:15 PM
End Date
27-4-2018 12:00 AM
Document Type
Poster
Description
After a long period of exploration, in 2015, Cabrini University added an information literacy component to its freshman seminar, Engagements with the Common Good (ECG). Librarians teach 25% of the course. Class content mirrors the progress of the course topic, which varies by professor. This requires that the librarian go beyond the traditional supportive role of providing students with skills necessary to complete course assignments, and make significant contributions to the teaching and learning of course topics and themes.
Overall response to the component is favorable, but librarians note challenges that impact the quality of the course. Currently four librarians teach weekly in 13-18 sections in addition to their other duties. The signature writing assignment structure is inconsistent across sections. Syllabus changes leave librarians scrambling to adjust lesson plans with short notice. Librarians and faculty have been asked to design an online version of ECG, a class that has relied on face-to-face “learning communities” of students, for an all-online major. In response to these challenges, we consider possible improvements in course content delivery, including schedule variations, staffing changes, and reworking our relationship with the professor and the course.
Our poster will speak to the evolution of this course – how we got to this point, changes we’ve made in response to what we’ve learned, and the new challenges we anticipate going forward.
Included in
Librarians as Partner Teachers: Rewards and Challenges
Chateau Sugarloaf Hill, Chestnut Hill College, Philadelphia PA
After a long period of exploration, in 2015, Cabrini University added an information literacy component to its freshman seminar, Engagements with the Common Good (ECG). Librarians teach 25% of the course. Class content mirrors the progress of the course topic, which varies by professor. This requires that the librarian go beyond the traditional supportive role of providing students with skills necessary to complete course assignments, and make significant contributions to the teaching and learning of course topics and themes.
Overall response to the component is favorable, but librarians note challenges that impact the quality of the course. Currently four librarians teach weekly in 13-18 sections in addition to their other duties. The signature writing assignment structure is inconsistent across sections. Syllabus changes leave librarians scrambling to adjust lesson plans with short notice. Librarians and faculty have been asked to design an online version of ECG, a class that has relied on face-to-face “learning communities” of students, for an all-online major. In response to these challenges, we consider possible improvements in course content delivery, including schedule variations, staffing changes, and reworking our relationship with the professor and the course.
Our poster will speak to the evolution of this course – how we got to this point, changes we’ve made in response to what we’ve learned, and the new challenges we anticipate going forward.